Page 36 of Dark Witch: Entangled Fates

Stars exploded behind Edgar's eyes as he followed Jasmine over the edge and emptied himself inside the damn condom.

Still, despite the hated prophylactic, it was the best sex he had ever had by a wide margin. Clinging to Jasmine, he retracted his fangs and licked the puncture wound closed, but he didn't stop there. He pressed soft kisses to her damp temples, her cheeks, and her lush, kiss-swollen lips that were lifted in a blissful smile.

"You are incredible," he murmured, even though she couldn't hear him. "A fantasy come true."

Letting himself catch his breath and enjoy the feel of this incredible woman in his arms, he turned to his side, bringing her with him, and almost fell off the narrow bed. He knew that he couldn't stay like this forever, but for a few more minutes, she could be his Princess, and he could be her Aladdin, and the real world could wait.

Caressing her rosy cheek, Ed chuckled. His definition of the real world was very different from Jasmine's. Would Kian allow him to tell her about their world?

He'd allowed that for Frankie and Margo just because of a few weak indicators that they might be Dormants, so why not Jasmine?

If Amanda had wanted Max to check her out, she suspected that Jasmine was a Dormant as well, and she must have a good reason to think it.

Damn, he hoped that Max wouldn't change his mind and decide that he wanted to pursue her. The Guardian was an impressive guy, and Jasmine might decide that she preferred his hulking masculinity to Edgar's more slender and less macho form.

With a sigh, Ed carefully untangled himself from Jasmine's arms and pulled out slowly while holding on to the top of the condom so it wouldn't spill inside of her.

He didn't have much practice with those, and he wondered why he hadn't thralled Jasmine to forgo it. His standard modus operandi was to thrall his partners to ignore his fangs and glowing eyes, to think that he’d used a condom when he hadn't, and to forget the venom bite. He had thralled Jasmine with all save one.

Come to think of it, his subconscious had saved him from making a huge mistake. If Jasmine was a potential Dormant, he could have accidentally induced her without her consent.

She had to be told about her potential first and then decide whether she wanted to be induced and who she wanted her inducer to be. He couldn't assume that she would choose him.

Hell, she could potentially want to sample all the eligible clan males before deciding on the one who would induce her. Something told him that Jasmine wasn't the kind of woman who settled on the first option presented to her.

Rising to his feet, Edgar discarded the condom in the bathroom trashcan and turned on the shower faucet again. The towel they had used had slipped to the floor, and when he picked it up, he realized that it was still a little damp, but it was the only one she had.

As he stood under the spray, he thought about Max. Perhaps he needed to have a talk with the guy and ask him to stay away from Jasmine. If he hurried, he might even still catch the Guardian at the wedding party.

But did he have the right to make such a request of the guy?

Jasmine wasn't his girlfriend, let alone his mate, and tomorrow, she might decide to invite someone else to her bed. After Edna cleared her, which he had no doubt she would, Jasmine would be able to mingle with all the bachelors on the upper decks and have her pick of the crop. Why would she limit herself to him?

It wasn't as if they had formed an emotional connection. As amazing as the sex was, it had been purely physical.

For the first time in his life, Edgar bemoaned not spending more time with a woman and getting to know her before taking her to bed. He should have formed a closer connection with Jasmine before engaging with her sexually.

The thing was, though, Jasmine had taken him to her bed, not the other way around.

27

KIAN

Syssi leaned her head on Kian's shoulder and whispered, "What time is it?"

He glanced at his watch. "It's five minutes after midnight. We should start making our exit soon."

The wedding party was still in full swing, and they had plenty of time until the telepathic meeting between his mother and her grandmother, but before leaving, they needed to congratulate the newlyweds and say goodnight to people. Syssi also wanted to get out of her evening gown and put on something comfortable before heading to his mother's cabin.

Scanning the room for Aru, Kian found the god dancing with his mate, and when they made eye contact, Kian lifted his wrist and looked at his watch again. Getting the hint, the god nodded.

It still boggled Kian's mind that Aru and Aria could create an instantaneous mental connection while separated by hundreds of light years. The implications were so profound that it made his head ache just thinking about them. It was proof that consciousness was not bound to the material world and its rules, at least not in the way he understood the laws of physics and space-time.

Kian put down his coffee cup, pushed away the small plate with the half-eaten cake, and put his hand on Syssi's thigh. "You look tired, my love."

It was her cue to start pretending that she was exhausted so they would have an excuse for their early departure.

The queen of Anumati expected the connection to be established by one in the morning Earth time, and the meeting would start whether he and Syssi were there or not.

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