Page 37

Thoroughly sated by Luke, Blake, and Zane, I fell asleep curled up between them all. For the first time in a long time, I didn’t dream of my past or of what the others were doing. I was completely content.

I shifted in bed, between my thighs was deliciously sore. My brows crinkled. The heat I’d fallen asleep pressed up against wasn’t there anymore. The door clicked open, and familiar leather gloves slid over my bare shoulders. The prick of scruff scraped against my skin.

“Wake up, beautiful.” Gage kissed my neck, his hot breath on my ear. “We have a surprise for you.”

Groaning, I reached behind me, sliding my fingers into his short hair before tracing his bare face. “I think my legs don’t work.”

Gage chuckled. He looped his arms beneath me and lifted me out of the bed, sheet wrapped around me. “Then I will have to be your legs.”

“Where are we going?” I squealed, giggling as I clung to him.

We rounded the bed and stepped into the bathroom. Gage sat me on the counter. He flipped the water on, his eyes darkening as they swept over my sheet covered form.

“Time to get the queen ready for her court.”

“Oh?” I purred, smirking at him. “Are you going to be my attendant, Gage?”

Gage caged me in with his large muscular arms. “I’ll be whatever you want me to be.” He leaned toward me.

My hands cupped his bare face, amazed at how easily he let me see his face now. My fingers stroked his strong jawline, thumb brushing his lower lip.

“Fuck,” he breathed, leaning into my touch. “I forgot how good it was to be so exposed.”

My lips curled up. “And this isn’t even your best feature.”

Gage chuckled, and it was all man and sex and dark promises in the night. “Baby, you haven’t even gotten the full extent of it. Next time, I’m in charge.”

My head tilted up to meet his lips. He ravished my mouth, his tongue stroking and thrusting.

I moaned and arched into him. A tug and sharp pull released my body from the sheet, and my legs parted to accept him.

Gage grasped my butt, dragging me closer to the edge so he could grind himself against me.

I gasped in his mouth, still sensitive from last night, and fumbled for the hooks on his pants. I needed him out and in my hand, inside of me, right now.

Releasing my mouth with a reluctant groan, Gage grabbed my hands. “We don’t have time. They’re waiting for us.”

The desire that lit my body on fire faltered. “What? Who?”

He pecked my nose and stepped back. Those dark eyes skimmed over my naked form. I throbbed for him, my legs instinctively spreading further for him.

With a painful groan, Gage held out his hand. “Come on. Let’s get you ready to meet your court.”

Suspicion made my lips twist to the side, but I slipped off the counter and followed him to the shower. My eyes stayed on Gage while I soaped my body up, moving in slow tantalizing movements.

His eyes tracked each movement. His tongue wet his lips. Feminine pride swelled inside me.

I turned, giving him my back. “Do my back?”

His large hand took the scrubber and brushed it across my back in more of a caress than an actual cleaning. Once he got to the swell of my butt, he let out a low growl. The scrubber plopped to the ground as his hands cupped my cheeks, slick with soap and water.

“The things I want to do to this ass, Eva.” A sharp slap. I yelped and moaned. Fingers slid between the cheeks, circling my back entrance before finding me wet and aching for him. “Do you know how hard it was not to be able to touch you?” His fingers tickled across my folds, touching everywhere but where I wanted.

“Gage,” I whimpered, thrusting my hips back toward him. “Please.”

“That’s it, baby.” He pressed just the tip of one of those thick fingers inside. “I’m going to make you beg so beautifully. We don’t have time for everything I want to do to you right now but this?” He thrust the digit teasing me fully inside. “This, we have time for.”

I scrambled to find something to hold onto, going up on my tiptoes with each thrust of his finger.

Gage pressed a button on the shower controls that I’d never been able to figure out, and a sharp spray shot against my side. Gage twisted me toward it.

“Holy, fuck, Gage.” I bowed over the water pounding my clit, my thighs quaking already. “I can’t... It's too much. Please.”

I whimpered at the emptiness. Two fingers shoved back inside me, thrusting and curling inside of me until my legs gave out. Then Gage was there, holding me up, his clothes getting soaked by the sprayer.

He hit another button on the shower and the water turned off. Gage gathered me into his arms, my head lolling against his shoulder. He sat me on the counter while he toweled me down, being far gentler than he’d been in the shower. With a small spell, his clothes were dry again.

“Think you can stand?” Gage asked, his lips ticked up at one side.

My lids heavy, I placed a hand on his bicep. “You’re all wet.”

Gage chuckled. “I think that’s my line.”

“So what’s this surprise?” I asked after we entered the bedroom.

Gage helped me into the dress he’d brought. This one, unlike the sweet knee length dresses I’d worn with them before, was made of silky emerald green that smoothed over my body like a lover’s touch. A long slit exposed one leg from my hip to my foot.

Kneeling before me, Gage stroked up my calves as he strapped a pair of gold high heels onto my feet. When he stood to his full height, he reached into a pocket dimension and pulled out a golden crown with long points. No jewels decorated it, but it didn’t need them. This crown was fierce and strong.

And when he placed it on my head, I felt it.

“They may not see you as a queen, but we always will.”

My eyes burned with emotion. “Gage... I...” I licked my lips, emotion catching in my throat. “Do you remember what you told me in the park?”

Gage peered down at me, silent for a moment, then his hands were on mine. “Eva, I’ve been in love with you since the first time I saw you in the kitchen. All curious and full of wonder at this new world. It scared me.”

My heart stuttered at his words.

“Then you turned into this vicious and confident thing that had me so hard that I didn’t know how to come to terms with this new side of you.” He stepped closer until our breaths mingled.

“I love you, Eva. And I’m scared that someone or something will take you away from us. So much so that I agreed to lock you up again even though I knew it was the last thing you would want and I will spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you.”

I beamed up at him, taking in every word of his declaration.

“Say something, would you?”

Peering up at him beneath my lashes, my lips curled up at the sides. “I knew you’d give in eventually,” I purred.

Gage growled and dragged me against him, his hands on my butt. “You are just looking to get spanked, aren’t you?”

A knock on the door kept me from answering.

Luke stepped into the room, his eyes immediately finding me. “Wow, Eva. You look... amazing.”

Pulling away from Gage with a flirtatious smile, I headed toward Luke. “Thank you. Maybe you can tell me what the big surprise is all about? Gage refuses to budge.” I shot a hot look over my shoulder at the mage.

Luke looped my arm through his and led me from the bedroom with Gage trailing behind us. Their silence should have scared me.

Except I finally knew I could trust them completely. Whatever was waiting for me wasn’t going to hurt me. And when I stepped into the living room and saw my surprise, my heart swelled with so much love that I thought it might burst.

Cleric Jetta and Conjurer Carisa were bound and gagged on the living room floor, glaring up at me.