Page 44 of Bound and Beguiled

I sagged. Then I was on my feet, cuddled against Efa’s strong body. Her hands spread, rock steady and warm on my bare back. Emyr whickered, velvety lips nuzzling my hair, and I laughed. It was barely more than a breath and carried an edge of tears, but damn, it felt good.

It was over. I’d done it.

“You fucking bitch!” Franklin staggered to his feet; his blood-streaked face twisted into an ugly grimace. “This is all your fucking fault! I’ll kill you for this!” He pulled something from the pocket of his robe, raising it to throw.

Emyr darted between us, rearing, his black hooves cutting through the air like knives.

Franklin fell back, the thing in his hand bouncing as it fell. He choked, scrabbling at the cloth twisted around his neck as Mouse lifted him by his once pristine white robe.

“You’ll do no such thing, you sniveling little pissant,” the Ogre rumbled, lifting Franklin so the cringing man got and up close and personal view of his great big teeth. “Tereza is under our protection now. You even think of touching her, I’ll personally rip your arms off. I’ll even enjoy it.” Mouse grinned, the happy expression not touching the menace in his eyes. “You come anywhere near the Cairn Riders’ territory, and you’re a dead man. So please, do make the trip.”

I’d turned in Efa’s arms, watching the drama play out, and she snuggled me close, whispering in my ear. “He tries to come near you again and Mouse will have to get in line if he wants a chance to rip the fucker’s arms off.”

“He won’t have the opportunity,” the Keeper said, waving forward two people who’d been hidden in the shadows of the Temple.

Both solemn faced with long black braids, they were dressed in the regalia of the local authorities. One stooped, inspecting the thing Franklin had dropped. He shook his head and placed it carefully into a sack that he sealed with a quick burst of magic.

The other snapped out a hand, binding Franklin in a web of pulsing light. She nodded to me. “This one has broken more laws than those your god sets forth. We will contact you if we require your further testimony.” Her face softened. “I think it unlikely.”

I nodded back, jerkily, my mind reeling. He’d tried to kill me. Whatever that thing was, it had been meant tokillme! More shocking than that, the Keepers had never intended to let me be bound to Franklin. Had they been planning this since I fought my way free of the Temple? Or had they known longer? I shied away from that train of thought. Nothing to gain from that but bitterness. I was no longer their concern, so their concern was nothing to me.

“Mother!” Franklin whimpered through the shining gag as he was hauled away. “Father! Help me!”

His mother flinched as if struck. She stood with her back to us, stooped like a woman forty years her senior. Her husband wrapped an arm around her—as much to keep her from turning as to comfort her, I thought—and without a word or a glance, Franklin’s parents walked from the square.

My mother finally looked at me. She opened her mouth, but whatever rudeness she’d planned to spout was cut off as Katarina’s mom bustled past her, cheerfully ramming her with a hip before enfolding me in a giant, sweet-smelling hug.

More hugs followed, some wet with tears, some sparkling with laughter. Katarina introduced Sid and Fenn—still in his wolf form—to her parents, who greeted them enthusiastically, then proceeded to give Katarina a stirring lecture on taking so damned long to get around to it.

Radek very casually pumped me for information about the job market and housing opportunities around my new home. When Mouse introduced himself, my cousin muttered something incomprehensible and slipped away, leaving my big, sensitive friend blinking in confusion. I patted his arm sympathetically, having seen the looks Radek sent the other man when he thought no one was looking. My cousin always had been shy.

I’d never been so grateful for Katarina’s bigger-than-life personality than I was during the trek back to the cars. She deftly managed the attention of the small crowd who walked with us—family and friends whose support I genuinely cherished—leaving me space to wrap myself in the comfort of my lovers’ presence and just breathe.

It was over.

Chapter Seventeen

Iraised my arms, shivering as warm silk slithered up my body. Hands and lips followed my dress, caressing every inch of skin with reverent touches.

“You were amazing today,cariad bach,” Kynan murmured into my hip, kissing a freckle he found there.

“An absolute goddess,” agreed Mared, tunnelling her fingers through my hair.

“I’m so proud of you, love.” Efa cupped my face in her hands, running her thumbs gently over my cheeks.

“And you were so fucking hot,” Emyr said, groaning. The way he looked at me, his hand trailing down my arm to bring my fingers to his lips, told me he still liked what he saw. His tongue flicked out to lick suggestively between my fingers, and he sank to his knees.

He ran his hand up my calf in a move that was undeniably sexy, but reminded me of nothing so much as a groom getting a horse to lift their leg for a hoof check. I swallowed back the pony joke that danced to the tip of my tongue and shifted my weight, allowing Emyr to unlace the straps winding around me from ankle to knee.

The urge to giggle faded as desire rose, growing with each soft touch and tug. When I stood before them clothed only in a fine shimmer of gold powder, I met their dark gazes one by one. You’d think their eyes would look the same, all being solid black. But, at least to me, they were as unique as the spirits that shone through them.

“Thank you,” I said. The words were insignificant, so small compared to the enormity of what I felt. “I couldn’t have gotten through today without you. If it wasn’t for everything you’ve done for me, I might be bound to Franklin right now—or halfway across the world, afraid to stop running.”

“You need to have more faith in yourself, love,” Efa murmured.

I smiled. “I’m working on it. What I’m trying to say is, I’m so thankful to have found you.”

“Youfoundus, did you?” Mared purred. “Pretty sure I remember it the other way around.”

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