Page 68 of Own to Obtain

Shaya looked nervous, as though she was afraid to touch anything in the temple, but he took her around the temple, showing all the places that he was shown when he was a child. He explained to her what all the rooms were for and showed her private quarters at the back where the high chief lived with his family. That was now their new home.

“How do you know all this?” Shaya asked as she looked around the elaborate bedroom.

“Each year children of a certain age visit the Central Island and learn all about the temple,” he told her.

“So why didn’t you move here when your father became high chief?”

“That was the plan, but then my mother died, and it made more sense to stay with the tribe because there was a chance I would become tribe leader, and I needed to gain the experience.”

“So who will be tribe leader now that you’re high chief?” she asked. “You said before there is no one suitable.”

“No, but two people might be.”

“Who?”

“Rozalia and Zolt.”

Shaya’s brows shot up. “Can two people lead a tribe?”

“Until a new tribe leader is chosen, yes. Or it may be that the tribe chooses to keep them both in charge for a while—they are both skilled and capable in different ways.”

Shaya nodded and then grinned. “Did you know Zolt likes Treska?”

Kardos scooped his Omega up in his arms and lay her on the bed, transfixed by the smile on her face. “I suspected it.”

“You did?” Shaya made a face. “Then why didn’t you help them get together?”

Kardos slowly ran his hand up her tunic, over her thighs, and across her stomach. “Zolt is an Alpha,” he said, his voice low. “If he truly wants something, he will make it happen. He needs no one interfering.”

Shaya huffed, but as she wriggled under his touch, it was more of a sigh. “She might be with someone else by the time he gets to it.”

Kardos chuckled as he lowered to kiss her stomach. “I very much doubt he would allow it. He has known her since she was a child. I’m sure that is stopping him from taking her the way he should.”

Shaya could only hum as Kardos kissed up her stomach to suck on her nipple.

“I cannot wait until you are round and fat with my child, Shaya,” he murmured. “I have been waiting for this for so long.”

Shaya half-heartedly made a face. “For me to be round and fat?”

Kardos made a rumbling noise at the back of this throat. “It will be the height of your beauty, little bird.”

“I won’t exactly be little,” she muttered, but he silenced her with a deep kiss and tore her tunic off her as she hummed in delight.

He knew he would never get tired of hearing her moan or feeling her clench around him or the taste of her slick as it coated his face. She was so special—beyond anything he had expected or had even looked for, and now he had the rest of his life to show her how much she meant to him—to correct the feelings of worthlessness he had instilled in her by the misunderstandings he had not corrected.

And as he thrust her into her, watching for the moment he loved, he knew that in all the known and unknown Lands, there would never be more stunning vision than his gorgeous little bird in her ecstatic flight.

EPILOGUE

SHAYA

Shaya breathed heavily, tensing as the pain ricocheted through her, seizing her whole body.

“You’re late!” Kardos said sharply.

“I only just found out that she was in labor, Kardos,” Rozalia shot back as she placed down the bag and crate she was carrying. “And I thought you were going to take her to Nyek to have the baby.”

Kardos’ slow look of incredulity was so comical that Shaya had to laugh.

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