Page 111 of Starry with a Chance of Nightshade

“He knew the gargoyles would intervene if they were really needed,” said Marcy, easing away from Bram and edging closer to a foot that hadn’t burned away fully.

Elis beat her to it and kicked it away.

Torid darted to it, grabbed it with his spindly fingers, and then popped it in his mouth. “Yum-my.”

“My father is Frankenstein’s monster?” muttered Astria, looking around at what remained of the creature attack. “No.”

The lightning went from flashing in an annoying fashion to deadly on a dime. A bolt of it streaked toward her.

Stratton shut off, fear for her leaving him acting on impulse. He ran, drawing upon his power to control the elements, and put his body around hers, bending, pulling his magik around them. The bolt struck the absorbent barrier he’d erected, dissipating without doing any real harm.

Torid hissed and came flying at Stratton, only to have Dave manage to wrangle him to the ground.

“Enough!” shouted Dave to the goblin. “He’s her mate!”

Much to Stratton’s surprise, the goblin listened.

Astria twisted in Stratton’s arms, partially bent, her eyes wide as she locked gazes with him. “You’re him, aren’t you? The man who stopped my mom from…”

“Yes,” he whispered, his lips close to hers, his power still riding high in him.

The fear drained from her face, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tight.

Relief rushed through him as he stood with her, holding her to him. He kissed the top of her head, his mind reeling with the knowledge that Fate had put him next to her more than once in her life. It had set his mate before him thirty-six years ago to protect and then had given him yet another opportunity when she was college aged. And now, here she was again. He dipped his head and kissed her, clinging to her, scared she’d vanish again.

As their tongues intertwined, Stratton became vaguely aware of the area around them lighting up. Reluctantly, he ended the kiss, dragging his gaze to the side where he found his magik swelled around them like a protective bubble. A plasma ball of sorts that seemed to be attracting the lightning strikes.

Everyone else had wisely moved back a safe distance, leaving him and Astria there.

She noticed it too as the light made fractal patterns on the dome above them before changing into purple shimmering stars. Her eyes lit. “It’s so pretty.”

He smiled, remembering her response to his power when she’d been a child. “I’d offer to trade you my ring for your goblin, but I lost my ring during the chaos in Tarrytown. And then there is the fact you made it very clear you don’t trade your friends for anything.”

Astria’s brow creased a second before she reached into her shirt and withdrew a chain. On it was the pendant he knew was used to contain the goblin and something else. Something he never thought he’d see again.

His ring.

They locked gazes as he reached up, putting his hands around hers, which held the ring. In the next breath, Energy surged through him, making his entire body buzz with power and pure desire. Drest’s words echoed in his head about Fae mating energy and the frenzy it caused. He’d thought his cousin had been full of shit. That Drest had used stories of old to justify his lack of self-control. As the energy continued to pulse through him, Stratton strongly suspected he was going to owe his cousin one hell of an apology.

Astria’s eyes widened as her markings began to take on a faint bluish-purple glow. Her gaze snapped to his mouth and her chest heaved.

Stratton didn’t care that they were basically a giant semiconductor. All that mattered was getting to touch her, so he did. He kissed her and jerked her hard against his frame, wanting to be buried in her sooner rather than later. Her arms were left pinned between them, her hands still clutching the ring and pendant.

White light surged around them. When he realized it was emanating from the ring, fear slammed through him. All he could think about was her being harmed or sent states away again. That his mate would be ripped out of his life once more. That the light would clear, and he’d be in Chicago again, unable to get back to Grimm Cove. To get back to her.

ChapterThirty-Six

Stratton

Stratton held so tightlyto Astria he worried he might actually hurt her, but he didn’t dare let go. As the white light dissipated, and she was still with him, not states away, he didn’t stop to think much beyond the fact they were in a bedroom. It wasn’t his or one he’d been in before, but he didn’t care. They were alone and together.

Nothing else mattered.

Her markings weren’t glowing any longer. But the buzzing energy was still going through him, still igniting a fire of desire. Their gazes collided and Stratton lost his battle with his willpower, succumbing to the mating energy. In all honesty, he’d not bothered to put up much of a fight.

With a sense of urgency, he claimed her mouth with his, his intent to claim the rest of her next.

She became malleable in his arms, allowing him to tongue her fervently, his slacks getting tight in the groin. Astria tugged at his shirt with an assertiveness that would have made Peggy proud.

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