Page 63 of Ensnared by the Pack: The Complete Series (Destined Realms #3)
AUDREY
I woke with my cheek pressed against Bishop’s chest and his arms wrapped around me, holding me close. An ache, not painful but certainly present, radiated from my core, reminding me of what we’d done last night, and a silly smile curled my lips.
I’d had sex.
And with a gorgeous, powerful shifter who’d wanted to have sex with me. I was no longer a virgin and it had been more amazing than I’d imagined.
A flutter of desire tightened my stomach. It wasn’t nearly as strong as the desire I’d been fighting since I’d woken in this realm, more just a memory of what had happened and how I wanted to do it again.
In fact, the more I concentrated on it, the more it felt softer and sweeter, not wild and aching and desperate.
I released a relieved breath. My heat was finally over. It had to be. Having sex with Bishop had been exactly what I’d needed. I even felt steady enough that the icy hollowness from Knox rejecting our bond wasn’t as strong, as if finding my emotional balance with my heat had helped steady all of me.
Bishop hummed, the sound rumbling in his chest beneath my ear, and rubbed gentle circles on my back with his fingers.
“Did I wake you?” I asked, glancing up at him. He looked absolutely delicious with his jaw-length brown hair mussed from sleep and an affectionate warmth in his eyes.
“I was already awake,” he said. “I didn’t want to move and disturb you. That, and you make the cutest noises when you sleep.”
Heat swept across my cheeks and I ducked my head, burying my face against his chest again to hide my blush and breathing in his comforting fresh-cut grass scent.
He chuckled softly and shifted his hand from my back to my head and stroked my hair. “How do you feel?”
His question made my thoughts jump back to last night and I squirmed, sliding my body against his and savoring the feel of our flesh rubbing together.
“Good.” So so good. “Thank you.”
I glanced back up at him and his lips curled into a brilliant, breathtaking smile. “You are so beautiful.”
My blush returned with a vengeance. “Stop saying things like that.”
“Why? It’s true.” A hint of playfulness flashed in his eyes. “I think I’ll say it every day from now on.”
“Bishop—”
“Come here and kiss me, you gorgeous woman,” he interrupted, his hands shifting to my hips to help me scoot up the bed to kiss him.
His lips were soft, the kiss tender. It wasn’t filled with the passion from last night, but a reverence, a promise of more to come, a lifetime of warmth and love. He’d said he was going to be my mate no matter what and this kiss was a reassurance of that promise.
When he finally pulled back, I was breathless and well on my way to getting turned on. And from the hardness digging into my thigh, so was he.
“We should probably go have breakfast,” he said, his voice deliciously gruff with desire. “Cyrus won’t wait all morning and I suspect you don’t want him walking in on us.”
The image of Cyrus opening the door and watching us make love flashed through my mind’s eyes. Except he was naked like he’d been after the grimalkin attack on Stonehaven and his eyes held the same hunger my dream-Knox had had.
A shiver of need rushed through me. Boy, my mind was really running away with the multiple mates idea.
But jeez. My heat was over and I was mated to Knox and practically mated to Bishop. I shouldn’t be fantasizing about Cyrus. Especially since he’d made it clear he wanted nothing to do with me.
“Yeah,” I mumbled, ducking my head and rolling away from Bishop to get off the bed. “That would be bad.”
Yes. Bad. Bad bad bad… not sexy as hell.
I climbed out of bed, my feet still protected by the linen bandages and Hallie’s soft slippers, placed them on the floor, and gingerly stood up. As I’d hoped, because I’d taken one of the guys’ precious healing elixirs, they didn’t hurt. And while the gashes in my calf still ached, it was nothing compared to yesterday.
“Your feet okay?” Bishop asked, grabbing his pants and pulling them on.
“I think so. I’ll keep them wrapped up until I find my boots, but I shouldn’t have any problem reaching the death god’s altar.”
“Good,” he replied as he leveled a hard look at me. “And on our way home, you’re going to tell us to stop when they start to bother you, so you don’t permanently hurt yourself.”
“I promise.” If, of course, the bond was broken and we didn’t need to hurry back to Whil to see if she could transfer it to Bishop.
Bishop’s eyes narrowed.
“Promise,” I insisted, grabbing the dress Hallie had given me — since I didn’t know where my clothes were or if they’d even been cleaned.
Bishop huffed as I pulled on the dress.
“You’re a terrible liar,” he said. “But I get it. Neither you nor Knox asked to be bonded together.”
And I’d promised myself I would do everything in my power to free him. I still wasn’t sure if he blamed me or not. Sure, he’d said he didn’t, but he’d been cold and distant and angry with me since the beginning — so very very angry — and the sense I got from him through the bond hadn’t changed.
“Come on,” Bishop said, pulling me from my thoughts, and we stepped out of the bedroom into the kitchen-living room.
Cyrus sat at the worn wooden kitchen table, eating a muffin with an apple core with a hank of grapes on the plate in front of him.
“They didn’t know when we’d be up,” he said, pointing to a basket at the center of the table. “So, they brought fruits and breads. Nothing that needed to be kept warm.”
“No meat?” Bishop asked.
“They’re not shifters. It probably didn’t occur to them that we need extra protein.” He shrugged and nudged the basket in our direction. “I’m just grateful for a bed and fresh food.”
“Not complaining,” Bishop said, pulling out the chair beside Cyrus and gesturing for me to sit. “Just commenting.”
I sat and grabbed the first muffin I saw from the basket, not caring what kind it was. Cyrus was too close, but I couldn’t have refused the seat without drawing more attention to myself. As it was, I felt like I had a neon sign on my forehead flashing “I had sex,” and I couldn’t stop myself from blushing.
My reaction was ridiculous and embarrassing. I was an adult. I could have sex with whoever I wanted, whenever I wanted, and it didn’t matter if Cyrus had heard us… or if I’d fantasized about him joining us this morning.
My blush grew hotter and swept down my throat and across my chest.
Oh. My. God.
“I talked to Rafe while you two were entertaining the villagers at the wedding and he says there are the remains of a village just outside Makaria’s circle of influence,” Cyrus said. “It’s three-quarters of a full day’s hike, but just like Anakar, it’s half a day to the temple.”
“So, we make camp in the remains of this village, avoid running into any spirits after dark, and get to the altar tomorrow afternoon,” Bishop said before taking a big bite of an apple.
A day and a half and then Knox and I would be free. God, I couldn’t wait. And then Bishop and I could figure out our relationship?—
Although now that I had a clearer head, maybe I should figure out myself before anything else. I really had no idea what I was doing or where my life was going. Once I was free, who was I? I didn’t want to be the same Audrey who’d been betrayed by my pack, but I had no idea where I fit in this new one.
Bishop had said he didn’t care that I was weak, but from the conversation I’d overheard in the hospital, not everyone felt that way. Did I care? If I was Bishop’s mate, it might not matter.
Except others would look down on him for willingly mating with a shifter who couldn’t even shift, and I didn’t want to just be “Bishop’s-mate-Audrey.” I wanted to be more. I wanted to be “Audrey” without anyone else attached to my identity.
But before I could figure any of that out, I needed to walk up to that death god’s altar and murder my mating bond.