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For a moment, I can’t remember where my free hand is. Then I recall one is strapped to hers overhead on the wall. We’re holding so tightly, my circulation prickles, but I don’t let go, will never let go of this—of her.

On the verge of losing my voice, I crash my mouth to hers. Lark moans and kisses me back, our tongues fighting.

My cock whips through her folds, splitting them with swift, shallow thrusts. My fingers tease her clit until her cries taper, and her pussy tenses.

We go still for an instant. And in that instant, our open mouths press together.

Then we shatter.

Moans vault from our lungs. Heat and blood collide where my body throttles into hers. It hurls us over the edge, pleasure spasming from my crown and quaking with her own climax.

Lark comes with a splintered cry, a violent tremor rushing through her body. At the sound, I shout against Lark, my cock spilling into her warmth.

Our hips ride the climax, rolling lazily, then ceasing. We collapse against one another and go limp. My face rests against hers, our bodies heaving for air, and her fingers drape through my layers.

A breeze rustles the curtains. I thumb her cheeks, overwhelmed.

Outside these walls, the mountainous panorama surrounds us. Yet here, with my mate, I’m more home than I’ve ever been.

Her body wraps around me, my cock still lodged inside her. Tangled and naked, we pull back and stare at one another. Remembering where we are and how many residents must have heard us, we break into exhausted laughter.

“Whew,” Lark compliments. “Your stamina is one sexy turn-on. I’m impressed.”

“I wouldn’t compliment me so soon, my only one.” I quirk a devious eyebrow. “If I recall, you told me not to stop.”

Lark yelps when I fly us to a window ledge, prop myself onto the sill, and set her ass on my lap. My torso aligns with her back, so that my chin settles on her shoulder, and she faces the mountain panorama. While cupping her breasts, I roll my hips, entering her slick pussy from behind.

Her head flings back. Another moan surges from her as she grabs the overhead arch, enabling her body to take my thrusts. Our waists grind in sync while facing the open range, swatches of wind chasing through Lark’s hair.

When I tilt my hips in a new angle, Lark cries out with enthusiasm. Her walls spread for me once more. She moves in cadence to my hips, her buttocks swaying on me, her lovely spine revolving.

She’s enjoying the view and the sinuous pump of my cock under her. Oh, but when my mate requests that I keep pleasing her, I always honor my promises. She loves the heights, and I’m going to make her come at the top of the world, where she belongs.

5

The door slams shut. My heart clatters as the bars shudder around me, the cage trapping me in its maw. Hinges screech on impact, the sound cutting into my ears like an owl crying in pain.

The human hands that bolt the trap vanish, its male owner dashing into the woods while carrying a metallic net. Nearby shouts collide—the lilting calls of my kin and earthen hollers of the enemy. The clang of steel pierces the night. So many shrieks and bellows overlap, because they’ve attacked my home, and they’ve taken our animals.

They have taken my family. The humans have taken them all.

Father? Where are you?

My small fingers lurch out to clutch the grille. Yet the instant my skin makes contact with the rods, the reek of charred flesh invades my nostrils. Smoke curls, the tendrils singed at the edges. I see it, see how the air burns.

I yank my fingers back in shock. A guttural noise shreds from my mouth, but I clamp my lips shut to conceal the scream from being audible, airborne, apparent. If the mortals hear me utter a sound, they’ll slice off my tongue, for fear of trickery. They know better with Faeries.

My digits tremble. The pads blister as if I’ve dipped them into a cauldron.

Iron. They’ve thrown me into an iron cage.

Please come! Please help me!

A merciful breeze filters through. I grasp it desperately and try to communicate with someone, anyone of my world. I don’t know where I am, but my rescuers can follow the wind if I deliver it to them carefully, like a trail of breadcrumbs.

Éck er jérna!

I’m here!