Page 38 of Hers to Rule

He moaned against her, wanton and nearly feral with need. A part of her she barely recognized looked on with growing satisfaction the more undone he became. She spent a few minutes dragging her fingers along his horns and driving him higher and higher with her power before finally taking pity on him.

“Come, Francisco, but don’t make a mess, or you’re licking it up.”

His tail tightened around her ankle. He turned his head with a growl, driving his fangs into her thigh with a fierce bite that parted her skin. The pain burned along her nerves, twirling around the pleasure that she’d allowed to build up. She drove both of them back into him through his mouth where it touched her, knowing that would seal the bite and set the mark. His entire body tensed, and she heard his breath catch on a cry of relief that left him shuddering.

She reached over his back and ran her fingers along the arch of one wing while he calmed, smiling when the sensation made him shiver.

He nuzzled his face against the place where he’d bitten her, then sat back on his heels to look up at her, a question in his eyes that she read effortlessly. Gargoyles marked their partners with bites, but because of the differences in biology, those bites rarely took when applied cross-species—unless magic was used to set them.

“I wanted to.” She smiled. “To mark this moment.”

“It was a hell of a moment.” He kissed the spot reverently. “I’ve never let anyone order me around like that before.”

“I had a feeling.” She toyed with his curls idly. “Thank you. I still don’t know if I want the throne, but now I think I might be able to manage it if I do decide that I want it.”

He grinned, showing his fangs. “I’m content either way, worshiping at your feet or putting you on your knees.”

She knew the offer was sincere because she’d felt how much he enjoyed both. Maybe the answer was more complicated than one or the other. She’d have to think on it more before she could come to a decision. “Let’s go home.”

“You sure you don’t want me to…” He lowered his head to kiss her thigh again, his eyes tilting up, offering her anything she desired with his glance.

She laughed. “Very tempting, but I don’t want to waste the magic.”

“Home is such a long way off.” He kissed slightly higher, letting his lips linger on her skin. “And we have so much magic.”

“You have no idea how much magic we have.”

“No,” he murmured into her thigh. “But I do know how much sex we’ve been having.” He nipped lightly, making her jolt. “And it’s a lot.”

She pushed him away regretfully, and he didn’t resist, though he did pout, and it was adorable. “We do have a lot, but we don’t know if the changes at the club are going to cause a problem.”

“Fair enough.” He kissed her once more before sitting back and wiping himself off with her panties. After tucking them away in his pocket and doing up his fly, he rose to his feet and held out a hand to her. “When we get home, I’m going to have Rio hold you down while I make you come with my mouth until I’ve milked every drop of magic from you.”

His words and the wink that accompanied them made her stomach clench with desire as he helped her to her feet. He spent a moment straightening her dress and then held out his arm for her. His smile when she hooked her arm around his was brilliant.

When they stepped through the portal to go back to the front of Mon Petit Chou, the world was in chaos. James sat on the ground behind the splintered remains of the host’s podium, holding one hand to his side. While she was still trying to figure out what had happened, Mari was pressed to the ground by the weight of Cisco’s heavy body. The sounds of gunfire registered an instant later.

With his wings forming a shield around her, Cisco repositioned them so Mari was next to James and sheltered against the podium, and then peered over the wreckage to assess the situation.

“We should be safe in here as long as I remain conscious,” James said in a strained voice. “I put up a shield after the first volley.” He took a ragged breath. “Esmé and her people are pinned down outside.”

That seemed to indicate that Esmé probably wasn’t the person who had sent the first group after them.

“Where’s Rio?” Cisco growled.

“He went out as soon as he sniffed at one of the bullets.”

Cisco pulled what remained of a bullet out of the podium and touched it to his tongue. He dropped the twisted hunk of metal and spat. “Iron coated with belladonna.”

Mari’s chest tightened. While a normal bullet had little chance of doing any lasting damage to a gargoyle, the ones their adversaries were using had been custom-made to kill him, and painfully.

When he moved to rise, she grabbed his forearm. “You’re not going out there. You’re the target.”

He shook his head. “You’re the target. They just knew they had to get through me to get to you. One of those bullets will take you down just as easily as if it was coated with witchbane.”

James grunted his agreement.

“I need to help him,” Mari said with a glare meant to keep Cisco next to her.

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