Page 69 of A Fate of Ice and Lies (Fated #1)

Chapter

Twenty-Eight

TEDDY

Early morning rays cast a glow over Elias’s inky hair. His face was softer when he slept. His lips slightly parted, the sharp planes on his face smooth and not drawn or tight with worry.

To me, he was everything. Like a star that set the scene for dreams at night.

I couldn’t help myself when I kissed his forehead, when I brushed the strands of hair from his face. When I kissed his lips after he blinked awake and smiled at me. A slow, sleepy smile that was both sweet and sexy.

His fingers were tender on my face. Not quite so tender when he pinched my nose.

“You sleep loud.” His voice was all gravelly and rough.

I poked his side, where his stomach was lined with gorgeous muscles I’d touched and tasted last night, never getting enough. He jumped, and it made me smile. I loved that he was ticklish. It was such a normal, human thing that I hadn’t associated with him or other fae.

“You sleep loud,” I countered, which was a lie.

While Ryenne had told me several times that my snoring could wake the dead, Elias slept quietly with these soft, warm breaths that puffed across my face.

“And you’re a cover hog.” Another lie, I noted when most of the covers were around me while he only had a small piece that barely covered his back.

He tugged the covers off me and drew his heated eyes over my legs, across my covered chest. Settling on my throat, where he’d bitten me three times.

While I hadn’t bitten him, I had drawn his blood and drank it.

I still wasn’t sure what overcame me, but I was glad I’d done it.

It had unlocked this inner desire that only he could fulfill.

It was nothing like the drops of Brenton’s blood I’d drunk. Where Elias’s blood appeased me, the tiny bits I’d taken from Brenton had made me want to gag. Now, because of blood and magic, I had two bonds with two very different males who completed me in spaces I hadn’t known were lacking.

“I don’t see why you need covers at all when you can use me.” With that, he draped his perfect body over mine with his head resting on my chest, careful not to put his full weight on me.

I ran my fingers through his hair, my chest tightening when he started to purr.

Inching his face up, he nipped my chin. His tongue skimmed over my lips that parted for him before I shoved him off me.

He let me, propping himself on one elbow as he shifted to the side, although he drew his brows together in confusion.

I covered my mouth and said, “I don’t know about you fae, but us humans have some awful morning breath.”

With a light chuckle, he pulled me to him and placed a kiss to my temple, my nose, and then my lips. “Don’t care,” he said.

I ran my hand over the wide expanse of his back before I poked his side again.

He jumped, and on a laugh, I rushed out of bed and into the adjoining bathroom.

Just as he once promised, he left me aching in places that made me think of him with every step I took.

I opened the wrapping for the new toothbrush Ryenne had left me last night and brushed quickly.

Apparently not fast enough, as Elias stalked into the bathroom while I was rinsing out my mouth.

He shot me an annoyed glare so I raised my unused hand and lifted my middle finger at him.

With a shake of his head, he tossed a hand towel over my head.

Once I finished, he hauled me over his shoulder and took us back to bed.

I squealed, and his rumbling laughter made me feel alive.

On the bed, he shifted me so that he cradled me in his arms while he lay back down. After finding the blanket, he covered us up.

I let out a happy sigh as I snuggled closer, tucking my head against his neck while I traced circles over his muscular arm that held me close.

“I think we should stay like this for the rest of the day,” he said, kissing the crown of my head.

“What about—” I started, but he covered my mouth with his hand.

His body went tight, though, and I could almost hear the thoughts that started trampling him. He had so many worries that awaited him outside this room. If he wanted to put them off a little longer, I could do that for him.

I kissed his lips once before I slipped out of his embrace. His sigh was heavy, and already I could see the weight that started resettling on his shoulders.

I nudged his side, a light touch that didn’t make him jump. “Roll over,” I said. “Get on your stomach.”

When he did, I climbed over his back to straddle his waist. I dug my thumbs against the taut muscles on his lower back, taking my time to work out the tension and knots.

He made a soft noise that made my core tighten. I loved the feel of his heated skin on my hands, the way his muscles twitched and rippled at my touch.

I worked my way up his tall frame, stopping to work out the tension along his back.

When I took him in, I smiled. His eyes were closed, his breaths even. Not a single line marred his beautiful face.

He groaned and licked his lips when I reached the base of his neck where I worked out a large knot. Lips parted, he let me love him. Take care of him. I worked my way to his right shoulder, down the lean muscles of his arm to his hand and fingers.

This time, he watched me through hooded eyes. I pressed a kiss to his palm, and he smiled, mouthing the words I love you, which I felt deep in the pit of my stomach.

I worked his other shoulder, and he turned his head to follow my movements as I massaged his left arm and hand.

When I finished, I dug my fingers into his scalp to the base of his neck.

This groan was mixed with that feline purr I’d come to love.

He blinked slowly, that soft smile still on his face as I gently trailed my fingers through his hair.

Grabbing the covers, I pulled it over his back and lay beside him.

He lifted his arm to drape it over me while I continued to brush my fingers through his hair and across his neck and back.

It didn’t take long for his breathing to steady as he fell back to sleep, nor did I take long to follow him.

For once, one of the creatures that crossed the veil into our realm wasn’t dangerous or terrifying.

Instead, the caladrius was more like a domesticated bird.

When we first arrived in our small downtown, one of them went as far as to swoop down and perch on my shoulder.

Which, according to Elias, was a sign of good fortune.

It left once more people started arriving. The white bird didn’t go far, though. It spread its wings, wings that seemed much too large for such a small bird, and joined its other feathered friends on a tree closest to us, perching itself on a dry, icy limb.

The last time Donnie and Elias had asked the people of our region to gather, Elias had seemed withdrawn and unsure.

Now, all I felt was his anger. An unrelenting rage that made his eyes darken to that depthless black.

Two tote bags, that neither Donnie nor Ryenne wanted returned, sat at his feet.

Although I hadn’t dared peek inside, I knew there were bones in there.

Human bones, the remains of what was left after Nalari hunted the people who’d gone to my place to hurt us.

While Ryenne had decided to sit this meeting out with Javier and the girls at her house, I’d wanted to stay. Not so much for the people of my town, but for Elias.

I ran a hand over his shirt, where his stomach muscles clenched.

His jaw tight, back rigid, but when he leaned down to kiss me, it was a gentle dance.

For those few beats, his eyes lightened to their beautiful hue, and when I touched his face, he leaned against my hand.

His fingers circled my wrist to kiss Eiran’s gifted tattoo.

Where I’d first thought Brenton’s and my tattoos were identical, we later saw that while mine was the moon, his was the sun.

Where I loved to star gaze, Brenton loved to feel the warmth of the sun on his skin.

Something he didn’t get to do all that often with the endless winter that affected both our realms, but I’d learn that for three glorious months every year, the snow stopped and allowed the fae to play in the sun.

I only hoped the same would happen here so we’d all get a break from the cold and snow.

“I’d rather you not stay for this,” Elias said, his voice both soft and hard.

I wrinkled my nose that he pinched. “It’s a shame I don’t listen.”

His brows drew together as he cupped both his hands on my neck. “What I have to do now. . . what I have to be. . .”

I got up on my tiptoes and gave his nose a quick kiss. “Be whoever you need to be so that no one threatens our family again,” I said. “I know who you are, Elias, and you don’t scare me.”

He gathered me in his arms, and I pressed the side of my face where his heart thundered. He rested his chin on my head and squeezed me tighter.

“You’re ruining my tough fae act.”

I huffed out a laugh. “Just start stomping around and yelling,” I suggested. “If that doesn’t work, toss some bones into the crowd. That should do it.”

From where he stood at the center of our downtown, Donnie looked back at Elias.

“Looks like you’re on,” I said, making sure to hide the tremor in my voice.

I was nervous for him. I was worried this meeting and the people he worked hard to take care of would hurt him. Scared of him going deeper into his primal instincts without fully being in control.

He swept a soft kiss across my hair, a contradiction to the way he held himself tighter, held his hands in unforgiving fists. I grabbed his wrist and tugged. He leaned down, and I inched closer to him so that my lips brushed the shell of his ear.

“I’m going to be disappointed if you don’t make at least one person wet themselves.”