Page 337 of Lodestar

“Your general,” she whispered.

That hurt to hear. It hurt, even more, to admit, “Yes. We were just soldiers to him.”

“Do you feel the same way about your ma?”

“No. She loves us. She’s weak, but aren’t all humans?”

“True.”

“I had proof of that love when I saw what happened after Aoife cut her off. It hurts her. Physically hurts her.”

“Maybe that’s a wound time will heal?”

“I doubt it. Aoife’s angry. Rightfully so. Why do you think my brothers have rallied around her? Because of their wives?” I scoffed. “They’re whipped, but not that whipped.

"They know what Ma did was wrong, they know that they’d do exactly the same as Da did for their women, so they made adjustments…”

She reached up and slipped her hand around my nape. Using that as a support, she pulled me down until our foreheads could touch again. “Why did you lie to Troy about that tonight?”

“No one else outside of the inner circle knows the truth.”

“I’m in the inner circle?”

“You sound surprised.”

“I am. I’m…”

“Cancer. I remember. Luckily for you, we have great treatments out there nowadays.” I hummed. “Of course, you’re inner circle. You wear my ring, don’t you?”

“I do.”

I wanted to hear her say those words in front of a priest.

Until then...

“Don’t cut me out, Star. Don’t make plans on your own. Don’t act like you’re a team of one. I’m with you on this. One hundred percent.

"Whether it’s regarding the Sparrows or things that come up in the course of a long life together?—”

“Teamwork makes the dream work?”

My lips twitched. “Exactly.”

She angled her head and this time, I let our mouths collide. When she slipped her tongue around the soft lines of mine,I permitted her entry and didn’t even tense when her fingers slipped through my hair.

They were her fingers.

This was my Star.

I’d been waiting for her for fucking years—now that I had her, not evenshewould keep us apart.

I didn’t fuck around, didn’t want this to be slow. I wanted us to reconnect and that wasn’t gentle—it was power.Wewere power. Together, we could make the world burn or we could douse the flames.

I shoved at the waistband of her borrowed sweats, sliding my hand beneath the elastic so that I could delve between her legs.

She sighed into my mouth as I found her slit and started to trace my fingertips over her clit. She was warm but dry, so I was careful as I stroked the nub, my mouth doing most of the legwork to get her hot.

Her moan as I took over the kiss waseverything. Each of my nerve endings felt the aftermath of it as I thrust into her mouth, taking her there like I’d take her later.

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