Page 156 of A Fate of Blood and Magic
“Let’s take a shower.” He stood off the bed and offered me his hand.
Yes, a shower sounded heavenly. I ran my eyes slowly over his well-built body.
“You’re looking at me like that again.” He growled the words at me, his eyes turning black again.
When I walked past him, I decided to tease him with a careful brush of the side of my breast across his arm. At the bathroom door, I turned to smile at him.
“What are you going to do about it?” I asked.
He prowled toward me, his hands encasing me against his chest where I felt his chest vibrate with another growl. I grinned wider, eager to feel all the ways my mate intended to ravage me.
Chapter
Thirty-Two
ELIAS
We hada full house with the girls back from Alastor’s. Neither Brenton nor Alastor had felt comfortable going home, so they took one of our many spare rooms. This somehow led to Everly and Ryenne wanting to join our impromptu slumber party, so Donnie, Nate, and George decided to stay too.
It helped knowing each traitorous fae and human Pietro had named were held within my uncle’s old home while lirio, nyxx, and dragons guarded them to ensure none escaped.
For the time being, at least, Niev was safe. Or safer.
At first, I’d been hesitant to have George over, but Alastor had used his magic to reach out to Javier, explaining what had happened to Teddy and me. Although he’d originally worried about us, he stayed resolute in his need to stay away from us, but he graciously allowed George to check on us and see the girls. Thankfully, George didn’t hold grudges, and his concern had wrapped around me like a warm blanket.
Kieren had used his mind-speak magic to enable Javier to speak to Delaney, which meant she also stopped by.
Pride filled my chest. Whether Javier ever spoke to me again, I was proud to know what an incredible and thoughtful young male he was.
While Delaney wasn’t staying the night, she did agree to have dinner with us. We passed around sandwiches from the bakery in Somnio, although Ryenne grabbed one of the fruit bombs instead.
“I want dessert before dinner,” Jasmine said, pouting at Teddy and me.
“Sorry,pequen—what’s that word again?” Ryenne asked.
My heart thudded at the reminder.
“Pequiñita.”Teddy forced a grin I knew she didn’t feel.
“Yeah, that.” Ryenne pointed at Teddy before taking a large bite. With food still in her mouth, she continued. “When you’re an adult, you can make horrible, horrible dietary decisions like this.”
Teddy rolled her eyes as she went over to the box of fruit bombs. She grabbed two and handed one to Jasmine while she tried to give me the second.
Smiling, I shook my head.
I couldn’t eat. To be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure how I was still sitting up. While I hadn’t felt the full scope of the pain I was in when I’d first regained consciousness and definitely hadn’t felt it when I brought Teddy to ecstasy on our bed and then again in the shower and a final time on our bed again, the pain on my burned skin was unfathomable.
I knew Teddy sensed it just as I still somehow sensed her emotions despite the severance of our soulmate bond. It was a gift I didn’t question but welcomed into my soul.
It wasn’t exactly that I hadn’t felt the pain before, but simply that my desire for Teddy took precedence. It hadn’t feltlike a simple hunger, but a deep-rooted need. The pain on my skin hadn’t mattered. Only Teddy.
My fiercely brave mate. She’d leaned into her mage blood, using the magic that was inherently hers. She’d taken charge of Pietro’s magic and commanded it to her will. She’d saved us. She’d savedme.
And in the moments that followed when I’d woken up, all I wanted was to have her fill me so completely that she was all I felt.
Teddy pinched her lips, drawing her brows together in worry. With my unburned hand, I patted the couch I leaned on from where I sat on the floor.
“Sit,” I told her.
