Page 87 of All the Devils are Here

“Oh.” That was going to be strange. “I’m confused about that.”

“Confused?”

“No.” I shook my head and placed my hands on his shoulders. “That’s not the right word. I’m—” Words weren’t usually this much of a problem, but I was still muddled from sex and the dream. “Let’s pretend there’s nothing happening but the five of us.”

Laurent nodded. “All right.”

“Is there any world in which we don’t end up bonded? I’m not saying I don’t want it or anything, I’m just…” I blew out a shaky breath. “If this is all the time we’re going to have—”

A growl snarled out of him, and he froze, transforming it into a purr that was deeper and rougher than Ban’s. “It won’t. I swear it, Meg.”

“Just humor me,” I said. “I don’t quite know what bonding means, and of course I’m nervous. Not scared, just nervous. But if there’s any chance of not being able to have you, I don’t want to wait.”

Laurent pressed his forehead against mine, the purr getting stronger. Fuck, I loved my men and their purrs. It was so soothing. “There are a couple of different answers in there, sweetheart. First, no. If there was nothing happening around us, and we had all the time in the world, I don’t think there would be a world without you being bonded. I certainly hope not.

“Secondly—and I know the others would agree—a bond should never be made out of fear. It doesn’t matter what’s going on around us. A mating bond is something so deep and so… we want you to be sure. Not because you feel pressure.”

It made sense. “And what if I decide I am ready?” I asked quietly. “Are there rules? Do you all have to do it at once?”

“No.” He turned and dropped a kiss on my cheek. “Whenever you’re ready for each of us is enough. Not to say that whoever isn’t bonded won’t be jealous. They probably will be. But normal relationship issues happen with mates, too.”

“You’re jealous?”

His dark chuckle raised goosebumps on my skin. “Not while I have you naked underneath me. But at some point I will be. I don’t ever want to stop touching you.”

I pulled his mouth to mine. He couldn’t say things like that and expect menotto kiss him. Shifting, I was suddenly fully underneath his body. Everything lined up perfectly. “And don’t think I missed you changing the subject,” he murmured in between kisses.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t you?” He purred. “You never told me what thought made you blush.”

Clearing my throat, I wrapped my arms around his neck. “I just never thought ‘good girl’ was my thing. And I was kind of out of my mind last night, so I don’t completely remember you saying it.”

“I see.” Laurent’s eyes went dark, showing me the monster within, and I shivered. “Do you need to be reminded?”

Maybe, but right now I couldn’t even breathe.

“I believe my hand was here.” He lifted a hand and wrapped it around my throat.

The sound that came out of me was completely involuntary. It was needy and desperate. The barest flex of his fingers had everything tightening, and I was wet, which I was sure he knew.

“I know you, Meg,” he whispered. “And I know what an incredible woman you are. Responding to this doesn’t make you weak, and it doesn’t mean anything more than your deepest instincts are waking up. Because I’m your mate, and yoursoulrecognizes that.”

Something in me relaxed. It wasn’t a fear that had risen consciously to the surface, but he’d still addressed it.

“And there it is,” he said. “Just like last night, you let everything go for me.”

Mouthing his lips to brush the shell of my ear, goosebumps covered absolutely all of me. “Good girl.”

Pleasure spiked through me, causing me to writhe and stretch underneath him. I didn’t understand it, and I definitely couldn’t explain it. “Fuck.” My voice was ragged.

Laurent chuckled again, and I swore I was going to come at the sound of his voice alone. “Good girl, sweetheart.”

“Okay,” I said. “I was very wrong about it not being my thing.”

He was smiling as he kissed me. “Noted, mate.”

I breathed in the rich, spicy scent of him, and we rested together for long moments. “Want to talk about your dream?”

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