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I fucking laughed. It was a condescending sound, cutting through the cold burn of Remnant’s emerald green eyes that were flooding with tears.

What I said to her was fucking true. I could not…

would not ever , live in a world where she looked at me in this way—I’d rather die on the cold edge of her sword than endure it a moment longer.

My stomach churned.

Of all the damned scenarios that I imagined when I finally had her safe in my arms, safe in my home…this was not one of them. And I had many, many, years to imagine. Almost a century to be exact.

My soulmate hated me. She thought I was a murderer…a genocidal monster.

Well fuck it.

Fuck her.

Fuck the goddess.

Fuck Faerie.

Fuck this kingdom.

Fuck everyone.

“That’s a lot of fucks that I personally know you don’t have the stamina for.” The beast commented dryly.

“Real funny cat, are you not the least bit worried for your life right now with her sword drawing our blood.” I snarled back at him.

The cat huffed. “Don't be so dramatic, fairy boy. If she was going to kill you, if she even could, you’d be dead already.”

I blinked slowly. The clarity I needed to see past the accusations she lashed upon my soul forthcoming.

The cat snorted. “Such a dramatic fairy you are but you are welcome.”

This was a Faerie fucking disaster.

“Enough.” I growled, wrapping my hand around the shadow blade and giving it a hard shove. Its dark edge sliced deep, but it was nothing against the sharp sting of her incriminations. The cut would heal but the damage being created between us may not.

Recognizing she wouldn’t be killing me either she thrusted her blade back into the void of shadow. “Well?” She snapped.

“I have proof that I did not kill the shadow fae.” I raised a brow. “I can show you, if you allow me the chance.”

“You are insinuating that our own goddess, our creator, lied when she showed me her vision?”

I snorted. “Lied? No.” I shook my head, my hair falling over my eyes. “Manipulate? Scheme? A cunning deceit?” I shot her a look of reprove. “You should know this better than even I. Your own queen interpreted her visions incorrectly all the time. It was what led her to imprison you.”

Remnant growled lethally and my entire body jolted at the sound, having the opposite effect she intended as arousal stirred deep within me.

“Screw you shifter. How could you possibly know anything about that?”

“Deirdre having the sight was known to all and trust me little umbra—” I instinctively growled back, my lust growing the longer I stood in her presence, just like it had at the cabin in the woods. “I’d like nothing better than for you to screw me.”

Her dark brows shot upwards before she scowled. “I suddenly feel the need to kick your ass just to remind you who you are talking to.”

Stepping stealthily closer to me in a threatening manner, I inhaled her concentrated scent of nighttime lilies. Desirous need thrummed through my body as it penetrated my senses and drew me in. Inhaling again, I breathed deeper this time, fully bathing in everything that made her irresistible.

Goddess, I didn't just want her…I needed her, she was my fucking air.

“Little umbra.” A deep guttural growl escaped me.

“Stay away from me.” She hissed, recognizing my need and pathetically attempting to shove me away.

She had done the same in The Under, except this time I wasn’t under the drugged influence of the ambrosia pearls and floating in fucking water.

This time I could smell her need just as much as my own, this time I could see the dark dilation in her eyes, this time the killer in her was softening and revealing the passionate female beneath.

She gasped when I captured her hands to my chest and purred deeply at the feel of them on my bare skin. She shuddered then, her eyes burning with desire snapping up to mine.

Unable to resist, I twirled her, enveloping her in my arms where her small body seemed to be swallowed by my large form—safe within my hold.

I relished in the feel of her firm back pressed deliciously to my chest and that perfect ass pressed straight into my stiffening cock.

Trailing my nose along the soft skin of her neck I realized I didn’t just bathe in her scent anymore, I was drowning in it.

Home. She was my home.

All those years of not knowing where I belonged after the darkness I lived through…only to find it was her.

It would always be her.

A deep throaty groan escaped me and Remnant gasped, a seductive sound in the glowing moonlight, and she tilted her head further back, beckoning more from my lips while the raspy words tumbling from her delicious mouth told me the opposite.

“Unhand me shifter or I will kill you before the master healer can even have you thrown out.”

I chuckled darkly, creating tiny goosebumps along the flushed surface of her delectable skin. “I’d love to see Jar try to throw me out of my own home, little umbra. Especially since he lives here in service to me. ”

“Your home, service to you ? ” She breathed, there was a long pause and I could practically see the pieces falling into place inside her. “Y our people …your colors!” She hissed angrily.

“Yes.” I rasped, fingering the elegant gold fabric of her dress at her sides. It looked like Penina’s work. “My royal colors.” I added, gripping her dress and pulling her harder to me.

I could not stop my lips from crashing down onto her pale moonlit skin, giving into the seductive madness that she created inside of me.

Hungrily, I ravished her with my mouth, my tongue, and my teeth, groaning when her own wandering hands reached back along my neck, pulling me closer to her with a shiver and a sultry purr.

She moaned, her head fell back against my chest and she reached up to drag her nails through the shaved sides of my head, pulling me even closer.

“Remnant.” It was a plea, a prayer, a curse upon my lips.

“Emon.” Her breathy hiss stole every function from me.

So much that I didn’t even notice the way she tensed, the way she gripped my neck, her subtle shift…

until it was too late. With the speed of a damned shifter she quickly dropped, pulling my entire body with her before launching me over her shoulder and sending me crashing through the healer quarters.

My heavy shifter ass was flying through the air with disbelief before my instincts finally kicked in.

Twisting just before my back slammed cruelly into the unforgiving wooden floor, I landed in a perfect plank, my nose just barely kissing its surface that would have otherwise smashed my face in while my arms shook at the sudden deceleration they were forced to control.

A small drip of blood splattered onto the pristine wooden planks.

My head snapped upwards and a slow grin spread across my face as she stared glaring down at me. Her anger was just as alluring as her arousal—she was fucking glorious.

I shoved myself upright and prowled back towards her watching me cautiously. “That wasn’t very nice, little umbra.”

“Oh are we playing nice, shifter?” Remnant spat, her face flushed with lingering lust and anger. Her shadows drew up around her. “Or should I address you as your majesty now? Would that be nice enough for your kingly self?”

I shrugged arrogantly. “It would be courteous but also I am not entirely sure you understand what the meaning of nice is.” Then I tilted my head to the side. “Although you may call me whatever you want as long as I am the one making you moan with pleasure.”

“You!” She pointed her finger at me furiously.

“You’re the fucking shifter king of the West Isles!

” She barked out an incredulous laugh and mimicked my growling tones.

“ I, Emon, vow to you, Remnant, on our very goddess and all of Faerie, that no harm will befall you from the fae of The West Isles nor from its king. ” She spat.

“No kidding, you are the goddess damn king!” She wound her hands into her hair. “How could I be this stupid?”

My shit eating grin grew wider. “That is a terrible impersonation of me. If it brings you any solace, I never wanted to be king, nor did I expect it at such a young age.”

“Young?” The cat chortled.

“I am surprised you don’t have any comments about the shadow fae throwing me across the room.”

“I attempt to stay as far away from your sexual adventures as I can, fairy boy. Foreplay included.”

I barely restrained my bark of laughter.

“What is the meaning of this!”

We both jumped at the flood of light and a very pissed off master healer standing between us in a fluffy white robe and rainbow unicorn slippers.