Page 124 of Antiletum

He recognizes the full yielding within me, watches all of my walls fall down. He releases a relieved sigh, rubbing our noses together before kissing me soft. Eyes wide open. Never looking away. “I love you.”

“Val,” I cry.

“I’m here. I’m here.”

He gives only a few more long, intense strokes before he stills, us shattering at the same time. His forehead is right against mine when he throbs endless warm jets inside of me, making me even more hot and liquid from within, pushing his cum deep into my body.

“Fffuck. Delaney. Delaney,” he breathes heavily against my lips, voice strained, his face lined with complete euphoria.

I was wrong before, I can come harder. Val wraps an arm around my shoulders, pushing my chest into his while my pussy pulls around him in long, slow,hardpulses, reshaping me into something entirely new. He kisses me, grinding into me softly and moaning into my mouth while we ride the waves all the way out, slowing just as the last of our magic settles into the deadened conservatory, transforming it into a picture of vitality.

It lasts forever and yet not long enough, us merging in the most intense possible way. This is our union. The binding of our souls. More meaningful than our wedding as we fully accept each other and all we have to give.

Our breaths slow, heart rates settle. I wait for Val to put distance between us. To remove himself from between my legs. Instead, he stays right where he is. In no hurry whatsoever to leave from where we’ve settled, calmness washing over us both.

Gentle fingers stroke over my cheeks, my nose, my brows. Every inch of my face, Val clocking each one of his motions, memorizing the feel of my skin and the sight of his against it. He punctuates the end ofeach exploration and beginning of another with a gentle press of lips against mine.

It’s just as intimate as what we just did, never mind the fact that Val is still inside of me. I may have been afraid, in that moment of relinquishment. But in the quiet of the afterglow, for the first time in my life, I feel safe. Cherished. Accepted and desired for all that I am, wrapped in the embrace of my husband, nestling my head into the warmth of his chest.

A closeness that I will now forever crave.

28

We all know what happend

Val

“How did you get this?”

Delaney’s head rests against my chest while she drags her fingers over the scar on my abdomen. One of the worst that I own. The one that transfers all the way to my back and turned her downrightprimalwhen she touched it after I first shifted for her.

Tightening an arm around her, I laugh, free hand memorizing the ridges of her naked spine. Absorbing the heat of her breath against my skin.

“I got shot with a crossbow. For stealing a pair of shoes.”

My gaze trails out the clear wall of the conservatory, to the sprawl of lights below. The air is lighter now, green leaves and vibrant petals flowing among us. Me and my wife.

Together at last.

“Really?” Delaney tilts her head up to meet my eyes. She shivers. Though I know it has nothing to do with being cold, I pull our dark cashmere blanket up to her shoulders.

I dip my chin, smiling down at her. “Wasn’t the first or last time I met violence for being a thief.”

“It’s so close to your kidney,” Delaney murmurs, a hint of rage hidden beneath the observation. Almost like an accusation and she intends to make the offender pay. I very much like the idea of that. Seeing Delaney murderous for me. I’m nearly positive she hasn’t killed anyone before.

What an honor—for the act to be onmybehalf.

My hand digs in her hair. Gentle. Loosening the knots lovingly with my fingers. It’s too deeply instilled in me, the need to preen my partner. It’s been agonizing, having to keep myself in check and not tenderly smooth away all the bumps and grooves and edges along Delaney when they pop up. I’m as attentive and careful now as when I cleaned between her thighs after finally separating. Hours after we gave in to each other’s needs. Me offering my body, and Delaney her heart and soul.

A warm, crackling sensation rolls through me. I smile so wide my face is beginning to hurt. It’s exacerbated by the sight of thevinculumearrings she shockingly produced from her dress and asked me to place upon her. Never to be removed.

Mallin and Alaric would be beside themselves—watching me drop my scowl to grin like a loon for an extended period of time.

“I should have died. The boltdidpierce my kidney.”

Delaney hinges up off my chest, all that luscious hair waving around her shoulders and back, skin aglow in the moonlight while her blanket pools in her lap. Horrified.

Without prompting I chuckle and explain. “I survived because if I shift quickly enough after receiving a grave injury, I can heal as my owl.”