Page 22 of Love Bites Harder (Mated to the King #3)

epilogue

KAI—ONE YEAR LATER

Clementine woke with a gasp as my vine filled her hard and fast. I pulled her over my face, my mouth on her clit as my magic fucked her until she came with a cry.

“Holy shit,” she moaned, staring down at me with a dazed look that turned to one of horror as she saw the red that had undoubtedly flooded my eyes. “Oh, fuck. Tell me it’s not starting again. We can’t be going through another eclipse. The anchor is supposed to—ohhh.” She groaned as I dragged my teeth over her clit just the way she liked, working her until she had come again.

I ripped the vine free of her body and rolled her to her hands and knees, driving into her hard from behind. She came on my cock a few minutes later, and I went with her, filling her with my release.

“Seven,” she breathed. “This is bad. We have to do something.”

“The eclipse is supposed to happen once a year. Every year,” I growled, still thrusting into her despite our combined pleasure leaking down her inner thighs.

“So it’s not bad?”

“No.”

“Oh.” She looked over her shoulder at me, her eyes widening as she considered the possibilities. “It could be fun, then.”

“We’re already having fun, aren’t we?” I sent a vine between her legs, rocking it against her clit to make her swear and buck her hips.

“I guess so,” she teased, though she was still breathing fast. “Maybe we should try to break our record.”

“You can count on it, Five.” I drove into her until she was crying out again, her body tightening around me.

We screwed until the eclipse passed shortly after the sun rose, then collapsed in bed together. I kissed her slowly, and she snuggled up against me after she pulled away, laying on my chest instead of pinned beneath me.

“I’m so glad you didn’t let me mate with any of my suitors,” she whispered.

“Candidates,” I grumbled.

She laughed softly. “Right. Candidates.”

“I was always the best option.”

“Clearly,” she teased, pressing a kiss to my throat. “I love you, Kai.”

I kissed her nose playfully, and she wrinkled it for me as she smiled. “I love you too.”

She slipped her hands into my hair. “I’ve been thinking…”

“About what?”

“Life.”

“Okay.”

I ran my hand slowly over her back.

“Izzy and Porter started trying for a baby a few months ago,” she said. “They haven’t had any luck yet, but…”

“But what, Five?”

“But maybe we should think about doing the same.”

My hand stilled.

She lifted her head, meeting my eyes. “What do you think?”

“I don’t know.”

“You usually say that when you don’t want to process things. Or when you’re not ready to tell me what you’re feeling yet.”

I grimaced.

She wasn’t wrong.

She gave me a small smile, and I knew she wasn’t pointing it out in an attempt to hurt me. “I know I sprung it on you out of the blue. I’m not asking you to be gung-ho or all-in right this second. I just want you to think about it, alright?”

“Alright. I will.” But if I was going to think about it, I wanted to know where her thoughts were at. We were a team, after all. “What have you been thinking about it?”

She bit her lip and studied me for a minute before admitting, “Life is good. So good. Fae Manor is at peace, and our city in the realm is insanely big. I’m happy. You’re happy.”

My lips curved upward.

She had a point there, too.

“I don’t think a baby would change our happiness. Things would get harder, but we could handle it. We have family, and they’d help if we needed it.”

Clem looked at me, waiting for my agreement.

I nodded. I could see her point. Everything functioned smoothly enough that we would be fine to work less than we did if we needed to.

“And think about how much fun it would be,” she said, her eyes growing wistful. “A tiny little squirt who looks like both of us. Maybe he would have my hair. Or she would have yours. We could watch them grow. Talk with them. Teach them. Laugh with them.”

“Clean up their messes,” I pointed out.

She smiled, the expression so bright my chest warmed. “That too. It wouldn’t be easy, but it would be worth it. I think so, at least. Will you think about it?”

“Of course.” I kissed her lightly and she parted her lips, deepening it.

When she finally pulled away and settled back down on my chest, she whispered, “How long are you going to need to think about it?”

I laughed.

The question was so purely Clementine.

“A few days,” I said.

“I’m going to need a more specific answer, Seven.”

“Why don’t you tell me?” I teased.

She peeked up at me, smiling with pink cheeks and hopeful eyes. “Tomorrow night?”

“It’s a date.”

She snuggled up against me. I could hear her heart beating faster than usual as I held her close.

She was so fucking perfect.

To be honest, I didn’t truly need much time to think about it. I had been thinking about it.

She would be an amazing mother. I was just worried I wouldn’t be able to match her.

“What are you thinking now?” she asked, and I let out a long breath.

“You know me too well, Five.”

“You’re my best friend. It’s in the job description.”

My arm tightened around her. “I wouldn’t know how to be a father.”

She was quiet for a moment.

A long moment.

“I wouldn’t really know how to be a mother, either,” she admitted. “I loved my mom, and always will, but she’s the one who taught me to hide behind my sex appeal. What if our kid turned out to be a siren? I wouldn’t know what to teach them. And we would have to stay Earthside until they were an adult.”

“We would love them so immensely that we would figure it out. And obviously, we could keep them safe. If they’re born a siren, our people would step up to keep things running in the realm for us,” I said. “We could handle it.”

“By that logic, you not knowing how to be a dad is something we would figure out too.”

My lips curved, slightly. “I suppose.”

“It would be a risk, in a lot of ways,” she said, her cheek pressed against my chest. “But it would be an adventure, too. I think we would love it.”

“Maybe we would.”

“You’re going to say yes,” she whispered.

“Maybe.”

She lifted her eyes to mine, and there was victory in them. Victory, and excitement. She knew what my answer would be, even if I wasn’t quite ready to give it. “Take your time, Seven. I can wait.”

I laughed, dragging my fingers through her soft, bouncy hair. “You’re a pain in my ass, Clementine.”

“You love me, though,” she said with a smile.

“More than I have words to say.”

And more than I had ever imagined was possible.

She had changed my life so much for the better that I almost regretted killing the bastard who stole her away from Earth.

Almost.