Page 38 of Wrath

Yet, even as I said that, I craned my head to grant him better access. His teeth grazed my pulse point before he reluctantly pulled away.

“I’m not stupid, Z. I know I’m a liability in this damn chair.”

“That’s not true?—”

“It is.” Dair shook his head and then offered me a tight smile—one that resembled shattered glass, effectively cutting me up inside. “I actually lost my ability to walk shortly after you and Bash disappeared. I didn’t have any vials on hand until Paco appeared. He gave me one, and it worked…but only for a few hours. I thought that there was a problem with the potion. Maybe he brewed it differently? But Paco told me—in his weird, creepy way—that I had worked up an immunity over the years.The next vial I took lasted less than an hour. The third one?” He huffed out a dry, humorless laugh. “Nothing happened.”

My stomach pitched. “Oh…Dair.”

“This is my last option, Z. If this spell doesn’t work, then I’ll be stuck…” He swallowed and lowered his head.

Pain barreled through me, but it wasn’t my agony I was feeling. It was his. Not literally, of course, but I swore I could feel his anguish as if it were my own.

“Even if you’re in a wheelchair for the rest of your life, that won’t change anything for me. I’ll still love you. And I’ll still think you’re way too good for someone like me.” I ran my fingers through his golden hair as I spoke.

“How can I protect you when I’m in a chair?” Dair asked, his voice a whisper. “How can I be what you need?”

The more he spoke, the tighter my chest coiled.

“I don’t want you to think like that,” I said softly, grazing my fingertips over his jawline. “I shouldn’t have implied that you needed to be able to walk. I’m sorry. You’re perfect the way you are.”

“Now you’re just trying to make me feel better.” Dair, almost absently, fiddled with the straps of my shirt, pushing them down my shoulders until the tops of my breasts were visible.

Two lines knit between his eyebrows as he stared intently at the cleavage revealed.

“Remember our promise to each other?” I asked, watching as my shirt slid down even farther until both of my breasts were entirely bared.

Dair immediately cupped them in his hands and began to run the pads of his thumbs over my nipples. Heat reddened my skin and prickled my fingertips. My hands flexed where they rested on Dair’s shoulders.

“We’ve made a lot of promises to each other,” Dair said lightly, ducking his head to take my breast into his mouth.

His tongue tantalizingly circled the tip, flicking my nipple back and forth, before he sucked it into his mouth.

I almost lost my train of thought, consumed by sensation. It took considerable effort to focus on the conversation.

“We’ve promised to say one thing we love about each other every day.” I fisted my fingers into those golden waves as his fingers pinched and plucked at my neglected breast.

I could feel him growing hard underneath me.

“Then I have a lot of days to catch up on.” Dair’s breathy chuckle reverberated through me. “Well, I love your tits.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“And your nipples. I could play with them for hours.” He sucked on one for emphasis before releasing it and planting a chaste kiss to the tip. He moved his lips up my breasts to my shoulder, and then to my neck. “I love your laugh. Your smile. The way your nose wrinkles when you’re annoyed or confused. That furrow between your brows whenever you’re contemplating someone’s murder?—”

“I don’t have a murder furrow,” I protested.

“You totally do.” I could feel Dair’s grin against my skin. “You probably have it right now.” His hand left my breast, crept up my side, and then settled directly between my eyebrows. He pulled away at the same moment to stare up at me and grinned. “Yup. There it is.”

“Shut up.” But my voice was breathy with desire.

I’d just had sex with Ryland and Bash, but I wouldn’t be sated until I had all of my mates. I needed Dair just as much as the others. I had to tell him that he was perfect the way he was, that he didn’t need to be standing for me to love him. That he?—

“My eyes!” The dramatic voice was followed by a masculine cry of pain.

I turned, scrambling to shove my breasts back into my shirt, to see B standing in the entrance of the tent, his hands coveringhis face. Devlin stood behind him, glowering, and Bash stood to his right, a wide, shit-eating grin on his face. Ryland snickered from somewhere farther back.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Bash said, though he sounded more smug than apologetic.

---