Page 95 of Whisper Woods

I’m going to miss my friends. After we leave here, we are taking them to the portal to return home. They need to get back to their lives, which I understand. Just like they understand I’m going to stick around here. I don’t know for how long, or what’s coming next. But that’s okay. Rafe and I will figure it out.

They’ve promised to talk to my parents. And now that the walls have dropped, I even have the tiniest scrap of mobile service. I’m going to try to callmy folks later from the top of the hill.

“What are you thinking about?” Rafe whispers, laughing when Estella nudges Roan a little too hard, pushing him over in her enthusiasm for more pats.

“Just… happy. I know that’s probably fucked with everything. But…”

“I understand,” he says. There is a warm throb in my chest, right in that spot that I’m always seeing Caelan and Tor rub whenever they look at each all mushy eyed. “I feel it, too.” Rafe understands. Healwaysunderstands. Always has.

A wind whips past us, the chill in the air getting biting as the weather turns.

“I love you, Rafe.” I whisper, and his claws clench on my arm. I can feel his breathing stop, a tingling anticipation in that connection between us. “I just… I needed to say it.”

His breath whooshes out of him and he spins roughly in my arms. The air feels fuzzy around us as he quickly changes back to his human face, the smooth, olive skin of his neck blending with the midnight blue scales on his chest.

One clawed hand cups my cheek, his calloused thumb stroking gently. His eyes are so intense, even the milky white one feels hyper focused on me. “I love you, too, Seff. With everything in my spirit. I love you.”

“Woah.” I breathe, just before his fingers wrap around the nape of my neck to pull me in, crashing our lips together in a breath-stealing kiss.

My mouth opens on a whimper, arms tightening around his waist to haul him against me—chest to chest, toe to toe. His tongue sweeps inside my mouth, claiming, seeking, tasting—making my knees weak with the heat rampaging through me.

Rafe’s claws tighten on my neck, and he snarls, angrily pulling back to suck in a breath before diving on me again. He nips at my lower lip with teeth still too sharp to be human, then moves along my jaw, snorting animalistic little grunts that drive me crazy and make my cock ache. Roughly using my hair as a tether, he yanks my head to the side, to suck at the pulse in my neck. His free hand skates down my side to grip my ass as he grinds into me.

“Oh fuck,” I moan a little too loudly, completely forgetting myself.

My friends remind me. Laughing and wolf whistling like a pack of idiots. It’slike a bucket of ice being thrown on the fire Rafe was igniting. In my pants.

He stiffens against me. I can feel the predatory anger he’s wrestling with inside. His horny for sex instantly switching to horny for the blood of those who interrupted. It’s funny to see. Well, it would be, if I wasn’t the one about to get dicked down by my hot beast mate. It’s been fucking days and I feel like I’m dying. How the fuck did I manage to go literally months before all this?

“Yeah, Seffy-baby! Get it!” Seldon hollers. With a frustrated groan, Rafe withdraws, gnashing his teeth like he still has his fearsome dragon face. It’s fucking adorable.

Unfortunately, we’re further interrupted by the sound of hoofbeats. Everyone’s hollering, sobering quickly as we watch the rider in their palace guard uniform approach.

“What the fuck?” I hear the angry whisper behind us.

“Vylushkiva.” That was definitely one of the Tathissian guards. They curse and mutter, leaving Estella to stand with Rafe and I who are waiting shoulder to shoulder for the rider.

The guard eyes Estella warily, their horse pawing the ground nervously under them. I try not to be cocky about their nerves about the dragon. I was shitting bricks when I came here last time.

“Rafe Miyares, I have been sent by the High Eminence.” He ignores the rest of us. Rafe nods in acknowledgement, folding his arms over his chest and glaring at the guard imperiously. Sometimes I forget that he’s, like, a big deal here with a family legacy dating back forever or whatever. But then there are moments like this and it’s like… woah.

“Yes?” His voice is completely emotionless, and it’s scary as fuck. The guard eyes the dragon nervously and then the dangerous claws on Rafe’s feet.

He swallows deeply and regains his composure. “An audience has been requested. Immediately.”

Well shit.

Rafe doesn’t show a flicker of anything on his face. “We are seeing our friends to the portal. Seff and I will attend after we have seen them safely there.”

“The order is—" Rafe cuts him offwith a snarl.

“I will be there after our friends are safely gone.” And then he turns his back on the guard, stalking over to Estella to give her a final pat. I shoot a wide eyed look at Edith and Theo, who just shrug and go to join Rafe with the dragon. After another moment of hesitation, the guard leaves and I enjoy the last moments with my friends before they return home.

Rafe

Seff sits beside me,his hand in mine on the arms of our chair. The simple touch is enough to rally me. My energy completely faded after the exertions of the day. It had been a long journey to the dragon fields, and then the portal, before travelling home. And the goodbye to Seff’s friends had been emotional on top of it all. Even though we promised we’d see them soon.

We are sitting around the small table in Lia’s private quarters. Lia has obviously joined us. Paler than usual, a haunted look in her eyes, only surpassed by steady determination. Grand Master Yorin also sits at the table, looking a decade older for the recent events. Concerningly, there is one unoccupied chair and a heavy sense of foreboding in the air.

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