Page 432 of Flirting with Darkness

ROYALLY EMBRACED

CATHERINE BANKS

1

Rhys: Be ready to run in ten minutes.

Receiving a text like that so early in the morning might have been disconcerting for most people, but I was not most people.

“Five more minutes,” Foxfire grumbled as he rolled over and pulled the blankets over his head.

My elf mate was fighting a hangover, a rare occurrence for him, and I almost felt bad leaving him to run off with Rhys, my dragon mate.

Instead of waking him up to tell him goodbye, I slid out of bed and closed the door as quietly as I could, slowly easing it closed and releasing the handle.

“Sneaking out so early?” Deryn, my werewolf mate, asked behind me.

I flinched and turned to face him. “No?”

He snickered as he pulled me into his arms, lowered his mouth to mine, and nibbled at my lips gently before deepening the kiss with a soft growl. My body melded with his and I moaned at the feel of his hands sliding over my waist and down to cup my butt even as his mouth possessed mine.

Crap, I had to stop before we finished this in the bedroom.

Stepping back, incredibly reluctantly, I put my hands out. “I have to go.”

“Rhys?” he guessed, his eyes glowing amber.

I nodded and continued to walk backwards, slowly.

“Caleb?”

“With Dan,” I reminded him. Our son often went to my mates’ parents’ houses to have quality grandparent-child time and learn more about each race from the current monarchs. Dan, Deryn’s father and King of the Werewolves, took every opportunity he could to spend time with Caleb. “You’re supposed to go pick him up after dinner.”

“Tonight, once Caleb is in bed, you and me,” he ordered.

“Okay,” I said, my body warmed at the deepness in his voice that promised a fun and sweaty evening.

He turned towards his bedroom door and I took the opportunity to spin and run to my room. First rule of dating predators, never run from them, but if you have to run, do it when they aren’t facing you.

Grabbing an outfit from my closet, I bolted into the bathroom where I changed, brushed my teeth and hair, before running up the stairs to the rooftop, making it with one minute to spare.

I watched Rhys, my handsome dragon prince, fly towards me, his scales glinted in the early morning sun like diamonds as he dove towards me.

Rhys landed on the roof in his dragon form and squatted down so I could climb atop him, using his leg to boost me up higher.

“Deryn almost made me late,” I huffed as I settled in the center of his back, laying down so I wouldn’t get blown off or fall off.

Rhys growled softly, but there was no real vehemence behind it. He loved his friend and wouldn’t have been upset if I had been a little late due to Deryn’s…distractions.

He jumped up into the air, beating his wings hard a few times to get us up over the tops of the trees, and headed towards downtown as the sun rose behind us, chasing the shadows away.

Peering at the landscape passing beneath us I took a deep, cleansing breath, basking in fresh, crisp air and the stillness of the morning. After nearly losing everything when we’d fought against vampires and dhampirs hellbent on destroying the clans, I had sworn to appreciate every moment with them since. Thankfully, the last few years had been fairly peaceful and we had fallen into a peaceful existence the past few years.

We’d fallen into a steady rhythm of work, family, and fun.

The normally busy city streets were fairly empty, thanks to it being so early in the morning on a weekend. Rhys landed in the middle of the street in front of my favorite breakfast café without impeding traffic.

I slid off his back and smoothed down my hair and clothes. Even with his magic, the wind often messed up my hair.

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