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CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

W hen she woke, it was without an ache in her muscles and to warmth and softness. Wren was in bed beside her, reading a book with a pair of tiny spectacles balanced on the end of his nose and a slightly warm glass of water sat on the table beside her.

He looked up when she reached for it, eyes gentle, and she appreciated that he didn’t immediately jump on her with a thousand questions.

Despite that she had the same number for him.

Was Romi really okay? What had Castor told him about where she’d been held?

Were her parents alright? Had his curse broken?

Instead of voicing them all, Neah finished her water and set the glass down with a quiet thump before shimmying back down and under the warm covers. She curled up next to Wren and his arm came around her, stroking through her hair as he read his book and before long her eyes were closing again.

The next time she opened them, the sun was lower in the sky beyond the balcony and Wren’s cheek rested against the top of her head. As if sensing she was awake, he pressed a kiss there and then pulled back to look at her.

“Food?”

Her stomach answered for her, growling loudly and he smirked.

“Coming right up.” His retreat from the bed stole some of the warmth, but she was content to stay there, waiting for him to come back.

When he did, he was laden down with plates of food.

Bacon, pancakes, toast and jam, sausages, eggs, and porridge and she licked her lips, wanting to inhale all of it.

“You’re the best,” she mumbled around a mouthful of sausage and then slapped his hand when he reached for a piece of toast. “Oops, sorry. Go ahead.” It had been instinct, but she would share her breakfast for Wren. She drew the line at bacon though.

Once her hunger had been sated, she used the bathing chamber to freshen up and then climbed back into bed. She wasn’t quite ready to face the outside world yet.

“Are you okay?” she asked eventually and Wren nodded and then shrugged.

“Yes. I’m glad you’re okay, that my curse is broken?—”

“Sonnet confirmed it?”

He nodded. “While you were sleeping. I still carry it though, in my blood.” Wren licked his lips. “She’s going to try and find a way to be rid of it entirely.”

Meaning his children wouldn’t also be afflicted. Neah smiled. “That’s great.”

He shrugged. “We’ll try anyway.”

Silence fell and Neah broke it first, tentatively reaching for him. “Are you okay?”

“I feel like I should be asking you that.” Wren laughed without humour. “I’m not sure how to feel about Castor. He was… I don’t know, Neah. Mad, perhaps? Feral? I think he truly hated me. He killed my father.”

Neah sucked in a breath and squeezed his hand gently. “I’m sorry.” There was nothing more she could say or do, time would have to do the healing of that wound. But she could be beside him while it scarred.

“Did he hurt you?” Wren looked scared for the answer, his worry coming through from their bond, and her eyes widened.

“I can feel you.”

Wren squeezed her fingers and raised a brow. “Yes?”

“No, I mean, the bond. I can feel you.”

Wonder shone in his eyes. “I can’t sense anything yet.”

Her smile was brief before she thought back to his question.

“No. A couple of the guards were a little rough, but most of the blood I was wearing wasn’t mine.

He left five guards, one surrendered and I killed the other four.

” She said the words bluntly, keeping emotion out of it as best she could, but despite her best efforts and the knowledge that it had been necessary, she knew their faces would haunt her the same as her other victims.

“You did what you had to do,” Wren murmured, seeing right through her.

Their lips met in a tender kiss that deepened after only a few seconds.

“I was so scared I’d lost you,” Wren mumbled against her mouth, his breaths feverish as she reached for him, pulling the shirt from his shoulders so quickly the material ripped.

“Never,” she whispered, pressing the word into his skin over and over as she tasted him, warm and sweet on her tongue. Her mouth sucked gently at his throat, nipping at the underside of his jaw, licking at his bottom lip, devouring him. She’d nearly lost him, lost everything.

“ Caritas ,” the word was a whispered groan as he arched under her mouth, and she gave him more. Her hands ran down his body, tracing every ridge and every scar on his chest and stomach, loving the way he shivered at the featherlight touch.

Wren rolled, taking her with him as he hovered over her and kissed a path of heat down her neck to her chest, worshiping her breasts with lingering, wet kisses that made her gasp. The last of his clothes were shed and hers joined his, flung beyond the bed.

Then his hands were on her, roaming her body with a proprietary grip that made her rock against him eagerly. It had only been a few days, and yet she’d missed him. Missed the feel of him against her, his scent intertwining with hers, the gasp of her name on his lips.

Her thighs fell to either side of his and she lay flush against him, whimpering when he teased her with his hand and then the tip of him, slicking through her wetness.

She wiggled, impatient, ready to demand more, and he sheathed himself in one long thrust that made them both groan.

The relief was instant, but her pleasure was cresting to a new high, like she’d had a taste in her need for him and now she wanted it all.

“I love you,” he murmured, breath warm in her ear and making her shiver as he began to move, the roll of his hips making sparks come alive in her body.

“Wren,” she gasped and his hands found her hips, encouraging her to rock against him while she squeezed her own breasts.

A glance down had him sprawled out under her like feast, the lightly mussed elegance of his hair and the satisfied all-male gleam in his eyes making her pussy tighten around his cock. “I love you.”

He ground up and into her, eyes dropping down to watch her taking him and when he looked back up his eyes smoldered. “Neah?—”

Her head fell back and she moved quicker, needing more, hovering so close to the edge she could almost taste heaven, and then his fingers pressed into her mouth and she sucked eagerly before he withdrew and pressed down on her clit with his wet digits until she saw stars.

The pleasure rippled through her, claws forming at the tips of her fingers and sending puffs of feathers up into the air from the pillows and she laughed as their pace slowed, a languid heat filling her when Wren clasped her to his chest, still inside her.

Once their breathing slowed and the sweet stroke of Wren’s hand up and down her spine had her bones feeling like jelly, he pressed a kiss to her temple. “So, mate, what do you want to do now?”

The possibilities felt endless. No more assassins, no more spying. Just family and love and maybe breaking a curse or two. Neah smiled, dipping her head for a long, lingering kiss that nipped at his bottom lip. “I can think of a few things.”

Her laughter was lost in the covers as Wren rolled them over and kissed her once more.