Page 17 of Night’s Fall (The Four Realms #1)

But my costumes got good reviews.

When I was there, I didn’t have a lot of time to explore, and I’d always wished I had. Off -planet travel was expensive, and I didn’t know when I’d get another chance.

Still.

“I don’t get bored easily. The thing is?—”

His brows shot up. “ Would you like to come?”

I started laughing as I reached high to press my fingers to his mouth.

Those weren’t hard like his chest; they were soft and lovely.

“Can I finish a sentence?” I requested playfully.

He took hold of my wrist, kissed my fingers, then pulled my hand back to his chest.

Mmmmm .

Nice move.

“Continue,” he urged.

“I just wanted to say…”

Dang.

How to say what I wanted to say?

A breeze ruffled his hair and picked up mine, so he pressed my hand to his chest as indication he wanted me to keep it there, then he reached out and gently tucked my hair behind my ear.

I felt his touch shiver down my neck in a tender way that settled right in my heart.

Okay then.

I knew how to say it.

“Thank you.”

“Pardon?” he asked.

“Thank you,” I repeated. “ Thank you for being normal. Thank you for letting me grill you at dinner. Thank you for taking me somewhere fabulous, but not making a big deal out of it. It was an exceptional dinner, but it wasn’t an event .

It wasn’t, look! Prince Aleksei is out on the town, squiring his latest squeeze. Thank you for making it just…us.”

“That is what we agreed, Laura ,” he reminded me.

I shook my head. “ Maybe you don’t understand. What I’m saying is, you could do that by just being you. Instead , what you did was you gave me you , the real you. That’s what you gave me tonight. And I really enjoyed having it. So …thank you.”

When I stopped speaking, he made a rough noise deep in his throat.

I felt that noise drive deep between my legs.

And then his hand was sliding along my jaw, back into my hair, and I could feel the heat from his body beating into mine.

I thought he was going to kiss me.

He didn’t.

“Come with me,” he murmured.

“To see the troll skin?” I breathed, so caught up in him, I was no longer following.

“To Thoth .”

Oh dear.

“I want that,” I whispered.

“Then it’s done,” he growled.

Growled!

That drove between my legs too.

Focus, Laura !

“Aleksei—”

“I’ll comm Allain to make arrangements.”

He shifted to move away, it seemed in order to pull out his Palm , but I caught his wrist this time, keeping it where it was and him where he was.

“Something to know about me,” I started quietly, and I had to admit, a little worried (right, more than a little worried) about what I had to say.

“Yes?”

I took in a deep breath and gave it to him.

“You’re going to show me that troll skin, and I’m going to get inspired.

Then I’m going to descend into a place where it’s all about the script, the characters, the possibilities.

By the time you get back from Thoth , I’ll have several options to present the director, with a full complement of sketches to back them up, because I’ll become obsessed.

” I squeezed his wrist. “ This is not about you. It doesn’t reflect on me wanting to spend more time with you and get to know you.

It’s just how I am. It’s how my process works.

And part of that will be frenzied trips to half a dozen fabric stores to pull swatches, and I’m not sure they’ll have what I need on Thoth .

I could design while you go to your meetings, or whatever.

But it’d be incredibly frustrating not to have access to a plethora of textiles to feed the obsession, the vision, and see what it’d be in execution. ”

Aleksei said nothing.

I said nothing.

This was becoming familiar.

He spoke first. “ Then you won’t go, and I’ll rearrange the meetings so I can be back in time for your friend’s showing.”

Oh, this sweet beast.

“That’s really thoughtful,” I whispered. “ But unnecessary.”

“This showing is concerning me greatly, Laura .”

It was?

My question must have shown on my face because he answered, “ It will be very difficult for me to know you’re among unattached males without me in your presence so I can mark you.”

Hunh?

“Why?”

“Why?” he repeated after me.

“Yes. Why ?”

“Because you’re mine.”

“You’ve said that before, but not counting Captain Jacques’s , which maybe I should,” I shot a tentative smile to his attentive ( Lilith save me from a male who was genuinely attentive when I spoke), handsome face, “we’ve only had one date, and it isn’t even over yet.”

His brows drew down.

Heavily.

It showed severe confusion.

But still, it was ominous.

“I could understand your hesitance to move forward with this because of all the baggage I carry, but I have to confess, your apparent confusion about what we have is…odd.”

Uh-oh.

Maybe we were going to talk about what this was on the first date.

He assumed a suspicious expression. “ Did you not feel the connection at the club?”

“You’d marked me.”

“I felt you before you even entered the room. Did that not happen to you?”

I thought about the hot flashes. My phantom beast. The fact I looked right his way the minute I exited the scanning tube.

“You’re my mate, Laura ,” he declared.

Ummmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!

Holy Hecate !

Shock jolted through me physically, I let his wrist go and tried to step away.

Alas, his hand was still in my hair and it tensed, keeping me where I was, and if that didn’t do it (which it would have), he curled an arm around my waist so my breasts brushed his chest.

Uh-oh!

“Did that not happen to you?” he pressed.

“It…was that…is that how…?” My voice pitched higher. “ We’re mates? ”

“You’re very lovely to look at. And you have a definitive style and bearing that’s insanely attractive.

I’ve also never had anyone be so honest with me within seconds of being in my presence as you were with openly showing how pissed you were at having to curtsy to me, and then going into your Captain Jacques’s diatribe. ”

I felt heat hit my cheeks and mumbled, “ It was hardly a diatribe.”

He smiled. “ You’re right. It wasn’t. What it was, was hilarious.

Instantly , I couldn’t believe my luck. At once, I had a mate who was shy and strong, knew herself but could be adorably awkward, spoke her mind, didn’t hide her reactions, had a sense of humor, good taste, and bonus, she had gorgeous legs, fantastic hair, a beautiful face, and pardon my vulgarity, but also a tremendous ass and a great pair of tits. ”

“So…this is…” I couldn’t bring myself to say it.

“This is us getting to know one another before we let the world know we’ve found each other, something that will throw you into a unique form of hell before I can sort it out for you, which will mean me mostly helping you get used to it.

And then we’ll do what mates do. Get married. And have babies.”

By Lilith !

My breath came so fast, I was pretty sure I was hyperventilating.

“You didn’t know what you were experiencing,” he noted softly.

“No!” I cried.

“Didn’t your mother?—?”

He cut himself off as I jerked my gaze to his broad shoulder.

“Look at me, bissi ,” he whispered gently.

I forced my eyes to his.

“We’ll have to discuss them,” he remarked.

I nodded stiltedly.

Then I shook my head vehemently.

“We will,” he asserted.

Drat!

“Right,” I forced out.

“I thought you knew.”

Royal protocol lessons. Getting my own detail. The strength of my feelings, the connection between us being so intense, my psyche formed a phantom beast to accompany me through its first moments. One of his close friends greeting me like I was his long-lost sister.

It is their due .

Because you’re mine .

I should have known.

“I didn’t know. And no, I’m not an idiot. I just didn’t…put it all together.”

“I don’t think you’re an idiot.”

“Are we going to have a midnight mass wedding?” I asked.

He drew me closer so my breasts were in full contact with his chest.

Gods!

“That is the tradition, though I’d like to strategize it with you.

Guard our time together as we come to know one another.

It’ll give me the opportunity to do what I can to help you understand what’s to come, and ease you into a public life, so the onslaught of the media won’t make you run very far away from me. ”

He’d kissed my fingertips after I shushed him with them.

It was our first date (or, arguably, second), but I wasn’t sure anything could make me run far away from him, even if he wasn’t my mate.

But he was.

Prince Aleksei was my mate!

How in any level of hells did this happen?

“So that mass will be some time from now,” he concluded.

“That’s…um, good. No offense,” I said the last quickly.

Another smile and, “ None taken. I can imagine this is a lot to digest.”

“Mm-hmm,” I mumbled my understatement.

His smile turned into one of his devastating grins and he said, “ You’ll have to design your own wedding gown.”

Oh my gods.

That devastating grin turned roguish. “ But I’ll state my preference now for what’s under it being akin to what you have pinned in that frame on your wall.”

He wanted sexy, vintage-style, lacy, practically see-through, corseted, be-ribboned underwear.

I shuddered.

He pulled me even closer.

Oh gods, please kiss me.

No, don’t.

Yes, do.

No, don’t.

(Please do.)

“Calm, bissi ,” he murmured to my mouth, which, incidentally, did not one thing to assist in calming me. “ You’ve processed a good deal just now. I’m not going to give you our first kiss in the midst of that.”

Okay, good.

And that totally sucked.

His eyes lifted to mine. “ I’ll want you to remember every second of it.”

Argh!

He was killing me!

“Maybe you should let me go,” I suggested.

“That is physically, mentally and spiritually impossible.”

Gah!

Totally killing me.

“Aleksei—”

He wrapped his hand around mine still at his chest and pulled it to the base of his throat. I felt the strength of the corded muscle there, the heat of his skin, the pulse of his heart, but I couldn’t focus on any of them with the look that was in his eyes.

“Are you pleased?”

Was I pleased…about him being my mate?

Was he really asking me that?

Was he…?

I looked deep into his searching night eyes.

To my shock, I got it.

He had everything. He was everything.

And when you didn’t have it, you thought it would be awesome.

But when you had it, everything was far too much.

He was about to give me everything.

And he, Prince Aleksei , True Heir to Night’s Fall , was worried I didn’t want it.

“I’ve had a crush on you since I was six,” I admitted.

His face started to shut down, and I understood.

He had that already from practically every female in four realms, possibly all twenty of them.

It wasn’t what he needed.

“But I had no idea until I had normal Aleksei tonight how much there actually was to crush on, because you are very correct. Laser jousts are stupid. So , well, I guess I have an even bigger crush on you now.”

He changed his mind about kissing me, obviously.

Because I barely got out the word “now” before I was plastered to his long, hard body, up on the very tips of my toes, and his mouth crushed on mine.

So, yes.

I was in for a credit, in for the whole line.

I parted my lips.

I got that rough noise again, this time it filled my mouth, which made my knees fully buckle. His arm tightened to hold me close, he cocked his head, and his tongue swept inside.

He tasted like cognac and Sirk’s pastry chef’s chocolate, almond, cherry soufflé, and he felt like warmth, safety and protection.

Naturally, receiving all those gifts from him, I leaned all the way in, because I’d always wanted all of that, and here he was, offering it to me in one delicious kiss.

He lifted his head, breaking our intimate contact far too soon, sliding his hand out of my hair and swiping a thumb along my lower lip.

Another smooth move.

And one could say I was moved, down to my soul.

His sleek voice was husked with velvet when he said, “ You have sketches to draw. I have meetings to attend. We’ll continue that thought when we have plenty of time to enjoy it. Now , let’s go look at troll skin.”

I wanted to laugh. And cry. And immediately comm all my gals to let them know that maybe they weren’t crazy to get in my face about daring to dream.

I did the first, tucking my own hand in his elbow and shifting to his side.

And together, we walked to the entry to the Catalogues .