Page 50 of I Married Amreth

“Who is taking care of your Sector right now?” Ciara asked, reaching for a towel.

“My best friend, Kronos. He’s the Warden of the Sector right next to mine. My cousin Arthas is also on standby to assist if needed. But I’m feeling guilty about my absence,” I admitted sheepishly, while extending a hand to take the towel from her.

To my surprise, my mate ignored my hand and proceeded to dry my chest. Although stunned, I didn’t push back.

“Is it a serious problem? Could it undermine your status as Warden of your Sector?” she asked with a sliver of worry.

That touched me more than I could express. I didn’t need to be a genius to know she had reservations about settling on Molvi. Someone else might have rejoiced at the thought of my extended absence possibly making me lose my position so that they wouldn’t be stuck moving there with me. That her concern should immediately be about me said a lot about her.

“No,” I replied in a reassuring tone. “It would take something extremely serious for a Warden to be removed. It is more that I hate being an inconvenience to others. Kronos already has his hands full with his own Quadrants not to mention the fact thathis human mate is well advanced in her pregnancy with their first child. I should be there supporting and calming him rather than being a burden.”

I barely managed to finish that sentence, my brain getting distracted when Ciara poked her index finger through the plush fabric of the towel to carefully trace around the barbell piercing in my left nipple. The way my mate circled around the areola left no doubt in my mind that she was purposefully teasing me.

She deliberately avoided making eye contact as she finished drying my chest. She brought the towel down to my pelvis. For half a beat, I believed she would pursue the journey down to my cock. I held my breath, bracing for it, only for the wretched female to swipe the towel to the right as she circled to the side. The smug, borderline malicious grin that stretched her lips made me want to put her across my knees and spank her raw.

“Maybe you’re not being an actual burden,” she said nonchalantly while drying my arm. “If he is so nervous about their first child, you might be doing his wife a huge favor. If he’s constantly fussing over her or panicking any time she so much as sneezes, she might be itching to knock him unconscious so that she can get some peace. Keeping him busy might be a blessing.”

I snorted and slowly nodded. “Malaya might have yelled at him once or twice about how she was just pregnant and not invalid,” I replied with a chuckle.

“See?” Ciara said triumphantly. “But I get it. I also hate when my workload ends up getting dumped on someone else because circumstances make it impossible for me to handle it myself.”

An involuntary purr rolled out of my throat when she began drying my back. She likely accidentally rubbed that sensitive spot right at the upper corner near my spine where my wing attached to my back. I wouldn’t actually call it erogenous and yet rubbing the muscle right there was always highly pleasurable. It wasn’t the type of pleasure that would make you climax, butthe type that made you become languid like during a full body massage.

“Oooh! Someone liked that!” Ciara said smugly.

“Someone certainly did,” I said, my voice sounding deeper. “That’s my weak spot. It’s extremely relaxing to have it massaged.”

Ciara snorted. “Well, that was subtle…”

“Whatever do you mean?” I asked in an overly innocent voice that didn’t fool her in the least.

To my shock—and utter delight—she kneaded that muscle with a bare hand, sending a violent shiver down my spine, followed by another rumbling purr, almost a moan. My mate chuckled, pursuing her ministrations for a few more seconds. I almost whimpered when she stopped.

“Weak spot duly noted. Expect me to shamelessly abuse it to get you to cave in to whatever unreasonable demands I may make in the future,” she said with an unrepentant grin.

I laughed. “For that, yes, I would likely give you my soul.”

She laughed and resumed drying my wing.

“But what of you, Ciara? Why was such a beautiful, smart, and successful woman like you still single?” I asked.

“I was engaged to a douchebag, who fooled me for the longest time. After dumping him, I became a lot pickier,” she replied dismissively. “I paid closer attention to signs that the person might be a user or a narcissist. For what it’s worth, I did meet a few decent men, but something was always missing. Getting into a relationship that was doomed from the start felt pointless. So staying single was simpler.”

“As much as I hate that you got hurt, I’m glad that fool showed his true colors before he could claim what was mine. I would have broken the law to get rid of him,” I said in a factual manner.

“Amreth!” Ciara exclaimed, her outrage laced with a hefty dose of wonder and amusement.

I glanced at her over my shoulder with an unrepentant expression. “It appears that finding my mate has unlocked my darker side.”

“So it seems… And it’s rather sexy,” she whispered with a smile.

I opened my mouth to reply, but only a shocked gasp escaped me. Eyes locked with mine, she ran the towel over my behind. She lifted my tail, wiping its entire length, her hand closing around the tip before gliding back down, as one would stroke a cock. I swallowed hard as she got back to my right butt cheek. Shifting to the side, Ciara circled back in front of me as she dried my right thigh. I held my breath as she boldly rubbed the towel over my cock. My lips parted, and I sharply inhaled as she wrapped both hands around it to wipe its length. I hated that towel between us, cheating me out of direct contact with her. My mate then took her sweet time wiping my balls, giving them a not-so-subtle squeeze in the process.

My fangs burned with the need to sink into the tender flesh of her neck and bind her to me.

Far from done, Ciara finally broke eye contact as she slowly crouched before me. She carefully dried my legs, each one in turn, her gaze locked on my length. A bolt of fire exploded in the pit of my stomach as she examined it closely. It wasn’t my piercings that held her attention, but the chevron-shaped scales that covered the top part of my shaft and the soft spikes that lined its sides. She leaned in so closely, for a split second, I believed she would actually press her mouth to it.

To my dismay, the brat glanced back up at me with a mischievous smile and a provocative glimmer in her eyes.

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