Page 66 of Magic and Muffins

In the background, I heard Vena say, “I’ll go without Everly if I have to.”

“We’ll be there in twenty,” Shepard said.

I hung up the phone and noticed the absence of even the slightest fae pull. The place was completely empty.

“What is Effora going to do with the ring?” I asked after we were back in Shepard’s SUV.

“I don’t know.” Shepard cursed and slammed his hand against the steering wheel. “I fucked up. We shouldn’t have gone there alone.”

I ran a soothing hand down his arm. “Anyone with us would have been in the same situation. Who knows what would have happened then?”

He looked at me, his gaze going from angry to tender to guilty.

“I’m so sorry.”

“The only one who should apologize is Effora.”

“No. Not that. I mean, losing the ring is not good. But I mean…fuck, Everly. I shouldn’t have marked you like that. Not here. Not in front of her.

“I was so out of my mind. And so were you. You didn’t consent to any of this. I’m so sorry.”

He looked miserable, and his hurt tugged at me. “I don’t regret you marking me, Shepard. Yes, I wish it would have happened any place other than at Effora’s house, and definitely not with her there and touching me, but I’m okay with what happened between you and me. I love you.”

He tugged me to him, hugging me. “I love you so much. I swear I’ll make this right. She’ll pay for today.”

His body trembled from the force of his emotions. I hated that Effora did this to us, but I meant what I had said. I wasn’t upset with what we’d done, only that she forced something that should have naturally happened.

“Switch places with me,” I said.

“What?”

“I’ll drive while you make the calls I know you need to make.”

He nodded, and we quickly switched spots. As I drove, he kept his hand on my thigh and made two calls. One to Hugh, letting him know what had happened and the seriousness of the issue. One to Doc since he was second in command and needed to know.

I peeked in the rearview mirror at my shoulder, since it throbbed, and saw the two puncture wounds from Shepard, not dissimilar from the ones Cross had given me. They hurt a lot more, though. I didn't say anything since I didn’t want him to feel worse than he already did.

When we arrived home, Shepard told me to wait and hurried around the car to help me out.

“Does anything hurt?” he asked.

“Yes, but in good ways, not bad, okay?”

He nodded but didn’t look convinced, so I captured his face between my hands and pulled him down for a quick kiss.

“Shepard Ulv, I will have dreams about what we did together today. Dreams that will wake me up desperate to do it again. Am I lying?”

A tremor ran through his body as his eyes filled with gold.

“No,” he said roughly.

“Then stop apologizing for showing me an amazing time and focus on figuring out why that sexed-out lunatic took what she did.”

He exhaled heavily and was a little more his controlled self as we went inside.

Cross was in front of me the moment I opened the door to the second floor. He gently pulled the collar of my shirt, revealing the bite mark. His eyes flashed black at Shepard.

“She’s bruising. You promised not to hurt her,” Cross said.

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