Page 80 of Ira

“Sebastian?” Meera asked.

“Yep, he’s there too. Big day for him, finding out the big secret,” Jade chuckled. She was friendly, albeit slightly terrifying. For the most part, Patrick was the one I spent time with. He’d become a true friend to me—more than even the Shade friends I’d had, who’d distanced themselves at the first hint of a scandal. My parents had been silent since I’d given up my position and Osric had taken over, but I suspected it wouldn’t last forever. They were too opinionated to stay quiet for long.

Harlow was bouncing on the balls of her feet when we arrived, standing uncomfortably in front of the portal with an audience of Shades and ex-Hunters around her. Fortunately, Astrid had stationed herself next to her as a bodyguard, which probably somewhat helped with the nerves, but it was still a lot of unfamiliar faces to be surrounded by.

“There you are!” Harlow said, perking up at the sight of Meera. “How’ve you been? I see you’ve got yourself a mate. Good for you. Was this your silent buddy when you came to visit? Nice to finally meet you.”

“Yes, this is Verner,” Meera replied distractedly, grabbing my hand and pulling me in close. “Are you okay? Has something happened?”

“I’m just here to report on some arrests,” she said cheerfully. “Randal Jackman, Moriah Nash, Giles Nash, Bradley Gilmour, Vivyan Woodham, Tatyana Sherburn.” She paused for a moment. “Oh! And Eddie Harrison. A clean sweep, baby. Thecharges are all slightly different—lots of variations of conspiracy and fraud, though.”

“What?” Sebastian rasped, clutching his chest. “What do you mean? Oh my god, I need to get back to the human realm. What is going on?”

“Might be an idea,” Astrid agreed, always happy to see the back of him.

“I need to talk to Iris,” Meera said, giving me a panicked look. She’d been hoping that Iris’s parents weren’t involved so that this conversation wouldn’t have to happen, but luck hadn’t been on our side in that particular case.

“A lot of conversations need to be had,” Ophelia said faintly. “This changes everything.”

Harlow looked around awkwardly, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. “Is it cool if I go? It’s just that I was kind of in the middle of a raid—not a real-life one, I mean on my computer—but I wanted to share the news with you guys, so…”

“You can go,” Astrid said, clapping her on the shoulder. “I appreciate you keeping us updated. I’ll head over in a few hours to see what’s going on, okay?”

“I’ll break out the pickles. See you in a bit.”

“Wow,” Meera breathed, leaning heavily against my side. “It really happened.”

“You really did it,” I corrected quietly.

She bit down on her lip to hide her smile. “I really did.”

“Come here.”

I nearly stumbled over my feet, knowing exactly what that soft, husky tone meant. My mate had needs, and I was going to fulfill them if it was the last thing I did.

She was sitting in the enormous armchair in the corner of the apartment, her chin propped up on her hand, watching me with faint interest while I’d put away the supplies I’d gotten from the market.

“Where do you want me, my love?”

She spread her legs wide, patting the space between them for me to sit in front of her.

I was panting before I even sat down, my shadows disappearing of their own accord and my cock hard.

“You know where I want you.”

I did. I leaned back, angling my body to one side so I didn’t crush her, but moving close enough that she could reach around to grab my cock. She was so much smaller than me, but she’d learned exactly how to position me to make me feel vulnerable and her powerful.

“You’re so good,” Meera whispered in my ear before dragging her teeth along my shoulder, already pumping the base of my cock just the way I liked to stimulate my knot.

“My love, you know I don’t last like this,” I groaned, thrusting up into her hand instantly.

“You’ll last for me.”

“I won’t. Meera, I won’t. You’re too good at that—” I sucked in a breath at the perfect twisting gesture she did with her wrist. She knew how helpless I was against that.

“Don’t come yet, Verner,” she chided. “I have to sit on your face still.”

The base of my cock was aching, my knot already desperate to expand. Nothing was sexier to me than the confidence she’d gained in the past few weeks.

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