Page 24 of A Sky of Emerald Stars

“My mind should be in a thousand other places right now,” I panted, dropping my head back onto his shoulder.

“Those thoughts can only do so much,” Grae whispered into my ear. “You cannot save everyone from worry alone. We are heading to Taigoska to take action, but if you are so exhausted and broken down with concern, you won’t be able to help anyone.”

“It feels selfish to take care of myself right now,” I said, gasping as his finger trailed higher.

“Maybe it is,” Grae said, parting my flesh and coating his fingers in my wet heat. “Maybe you need to be selfish enough to keep yourself whole. If you chip off a piece of yourself to every moment of suffering, without taking the time to put yourself back together again, there will be none of you left to help fix this broken world. And wewillfix this, little fox,” he said, swirling his finger around my throbbing clit and making me moan. His calming words coalesced with the pull of lust, making me melt farther into my body and away from my mind. “We will save Damrienn, just as we have saved Olmdere. We won’t stop fighting until Aotreas knows peace for humans and Wolves alike.”

“I—” The words fell out of my brain as Grae pushed two fingers inside me. My breath hitched as I relished the feeling of him massaging his rough fingers over my inner walls.

“If it helps, think of it asmebeing selfish. Let me take your worries away.” Grae pressed the heel of his hand against my aching bud as his fingers moved in and out. “Let me be the calm in your storm. Please?”

I swallowed, barely able to nod as he kept working me,building me higher and higher. I felt the outline of his erection against my backside, and I ground against him, eliciting a low rumble of pleasure from him. I turned to face Grae, his fingers still inside me. His lips captured my own, his tongue tasting me as his hand moved.

I pulled back and he released me as I commanded, “Take your clothes off.”

He stepped away from me, a smug smile curling his lips, a satisfaction in his eyes that he had won this battle with my fraught doubts. He put his wet fingers into his mouth, smiling as he tasted me, before they moved down to his belt buckle as I sauntered over to the bed, unbuttoning my nightdress. It skimmed down my body and fell to my feet, leaving me bare. Grae’s umber eyes heated as they roved my naked body.

“Do you remember how desperate you were for me to fuck you the last time we were in this town?” he asked as he hauled his tunic over his head. My eyes feasted on his broad chest and chiseled torso.

“I would’ve had you take me on those rainy ruins if it meant having you,” I said, my eyes dropping to his cock as it sprang free from his trousers. I inched up on the bed and spread my legs, giving him a full view of my glistening core that I knew would snap any thoughts left in his brain. The snarl that escaped Grae’s lips was pure wolfish desire.

He stepped out of his trousers pooled around his feet and prowled forward. Each inch he crawled up over me filled me with carnal delight, the anticipation making me writhe underneath him as he lowered his mouth to my peaked nipple and sucked.

A deep moan pulled from my lips as he swirled his tongue around one peak and then the other. My hands threaded into his hair, and I yanked, pulling his mouth up to my own. His tongue dipped into my mouth as he guided the head of his cock to my slick entrance.

Grae’s thumb slid under my chin, and he tilted my face so he could stare deep into my eyes as he pushed into me. I’d never get over this. This feeling of free-falling into his endless gaze. Our bodies joining. Our souls colliding.

I saw it all in his hooded stare as he filled me to the hilt—my mate. Every inch of him claimed every inch of me. My fingernails scratched down his back and kneaded into his ass as he rolled his hips in and out. The friction sent lightning through my veins, white-hot desire sizzling out to my very fingertips.

Grae moved faster, dropping his head into my shoulder and testing the flesh of my neck with his teeth. He trailed his love bites up to my earlobe as he thrust into me. I hooked my ankles over the small of his back, angling myself to take him deeper. My chest heaved, everything feeling heavier and lighter in me all at once as I danced higher and higher to the edge of release. Relief and pleasure warred for pride of place in my mind, finally free of the burdens of the day and tumbling into bliss.

As my moans turned breathless, Grae’s movements lost all control as he drove into me in a frantic rhythm.

“Yes.” The words barely escaped my lips as I clawed up his back. “Make me come.”

Grae’s lips found my own again, a desperate groan on his tongue as it licked back into my mouth. The fingers of one hand rolled my nipple while the others clenched my hip, pinning me to the mattress as he pounded into me harder. My eyes rolled back, my sounds becoming more frenzied. He worked my body with such skill as if he could feel every ounce of my ecstasy he unspooled from me, drawing each pleasure out until I had no choice but to combust.

With one final thrust, I shattered. Grae absorbed my hoarse cries of pleasure with his mouth, battling my clenching core as he spilled over the edge of his climax and rode me through the last echoes of my release.

When our breathing had steadied, he rolled to his side andgathered me into his chest, kissing me deeply. Sleep danced with pleasure as my sated body finally relaxed. I knew the feeling would be fleeting, knew I’d wake to new anxieties, new horrors. But just for a moment I indulged in the feeling of being safe and whole in my mate’s arms.

Sadie

“Father.” I carefully held up my hands in placation and wandered into the restaurant. The tables were all vacant apart from the corner booth. The squat, bald-headed bartender stood frozen behind the bar, his cheeks tinted scarlet, seemingly paralyzed by fear.

“Sadie.” My father said my name like he’d caught me sneaking sweets at a full moon service. He tipped his chin toward the booth, a silent command to sit.

My father scrubbed his fingers down his weathered face that had always bent toward a frown. His broad, stocky build was crammed into the center of the bench by the two Wolves who sat on either side of him—his brothers, Aubron and Pilus—all three of them close friends to King Nero.

“Lord Rauxtide,” Maez said awkwardly beside me as the two of us walked tentatively forward. “Pilus.” She nodded to the lanky older man. “Aubron, looking handsome as ever,” she added with a wink.

Aubron had a long black beard that was braided to a point and a completely bald head. A wide scar snaked down his eye socket from where King Nero had cut it out. I remembered that day like it was yesterday. I saw it behind my eyelids still. I was seven years old, and Aubron had been pulled up onto the daisby the King’s guard and accused of spying. Accused bywhowe never knew. Accused ofwhatwe never knew, either. Now, I understood that King Nero didn’t need to have a true reason to show his dominance. No one would ever question him... except Calla. Calla was the very first Wolf to dare to go against Nero. But then, we thought,This must be justice. He must deserve this.

Now I had my doubts.

Maez dropped onto the bench across from my father and uncles and I slid in beside her. Navin stared straight ahead as if he were afraid to even shift his gaze lest he be stabbed by my father’s blade. I wondered if he was reliving the last attack when Ora was kidnapped. He seemed still enough to know that a knife to his throat from this trio was no idle threat.

“So,” Maez asked, propping her elbows on the table as if we were all just catching up for a pack dinner. “What brings you to Valta?”

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