Page 27 of Summer’s Fae (Gravenshade Vows #1)

Panting, he tilts his face toward the moon and howls like the wild creature I’m far too aware he is. Then he kisses me slowly, cool strands of inky, dark hair spilling down and tickling my skin.

After a while, he begins to move. “It’s easing,” he says, voice strained. “I have to… slowly. I’ll stop if it hurts.”

“Don’t you dare. God, Wyn, that feels…”

He swallows my words with another slow, bone-melting kiss.

“You feel so damn good, like you were made to hold me. The perfect fit.”

“Stop talking like that, or I’ll be demanding more knot swelling.”

With a laugh, he carefully moves off me and rustles through a nearby bag. “Are you okay?” he asks, producing a cloth and pouch of water.

“I’ve never been better.”

Gently, reverently, he cleans my thighs, my stomach. The cloth is warm and damp, his hands steady as he wipes, the crackle of the fire the only sound. He presses kisses on my dry skin then gives me sips of water from the pouch.

“There,” he says, looking me over as he crawls into bed. “Now you can sleep comfortably… as well as anyone can in the middle of the woods in the Land of Five. Rest easy, Summer. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pull his heavy weight onto my chest and kiss him back until we’re both breathless.

“I wish we’d done this the first day I saw you naked in my kitchen,” I say. “Think of how much time we’ve wasted.”

The scent of crushed wildflowers fills the air as Wyn lays beside me, smiling as he swipes hair from my cheek and tucks it behind my ear. “I was contemplating eating you when I met you in the kitchen. Might have been dangerous. ”

I smack his arm. “You were not.”

“Well, not consuming you whole .” He lets his gaze trail down my body. “Just feasting on certain parts of you.”

“We’re different species. I can’t get pregnant, can I?”

Sighing, he rolls onto his back, head resting on his fingers linked behind his head.

“I’m starting to think your mother wasn’t really an esteemed scholar of the Wild Folk.

” He lets out another deep sigh while I contemplate the glorious sight of his skin shining in the moonlight.

“It has been known to happen,” he admits.

“Especially when the couple are deeply connected. Fates entwined by circumstance, mutual obsession or…”

“ Love ,” I whisper. “Just like your parents. What was I thinking? Of course humans can birth fae children. I’ve just slept with the evidence.”

“That’s me—a halfling torn between two worlds and not fully at home in either.”

“Poor baby,” I say, dropping a kiss on his cheek.

“Holding you is the closest I’ve ever felt to belonging, like I’m right where I’m meant to be.”

My heart expands, my ribcage too small for the emotions swelling inside me. “I’ll be your home, Wyn. Together, we’ll be fine.”

“More than fine, little sun. We’ll be the talk of all of Faery, written into ballads and stories. Whether they despise or celebrate us doesn’t matter to me.”

When I eventually meet his sister, if she hates me, I hope Wyn won’t mind too much. That he’ll still be mine.

“Wyn, before you said Merri told you not to speak to me when I was a thrall living in your city. Did you ever disobey her? ”

Dimples pop as he grins. “Of course. Every chance I got. Following orders is not my strong suit. Danced with you, too. And when you wouldn’t stop spinning, I held you in my arms, rocking you for hours. If I couldn’t remove your enchantment, the least I could do was try to ease your discomfort.”

Warmth blooms in my chest, soft and aching. “Maybe that’s why I wasn’t afraid of you when you turned up at Gravenshade. Deep inside, I know you. Remember you as a friend.”

“Much more than a friend now.”

“Most definitely. But if we’re not friends, what are we exactly?”

“You and me? We’re everything I was told I could never have. I belong to you, Summer. I’ll crumble your realm and mine to dust before I let anyone come between us. Wherever you go, I’ll find you. Always. I think what that makes us is forever .”

Forever . I like the sound of that.

The fire crackles, the dusting of freckles over Wyn’s nose glittering like flecks of gold. The weight of his arm around my waist anchors me in place, the slight rasp of his knuckles brushing my ribs as he pulls me against his chest. I breathe in the scent of his hair—smoke, moss, and wood.

“Careful. Keep looking at me like that,” he murmurs, voice thick with exhaustion, “and I might start thinking you’re madly in love with me.”

I hum, tilting my head up to meet his gaze. His emerald eyes catch the firelight, something soft and hopeful glinting in them. “Might?” I tease. “You know I am.”

He huffs a laugh, then kisses my forehead with such soft sweetness it steals my breath away .

“Go to sleep,” he murmurs. “Even sunshine needs rest. And don’t dare put a toe off this mattress without waking me. I’m serious, Summer, don’t move without telling me. Faery isn’t a safe place.”

I tuck myself closer, my fingers curling against his chest. The worry of wanting, wondering, and waiting is gone. In its place is warmth. Safety. This man’s love. Perhaps forever as he promised.

“Wyn?” I whisper.

“Mm?”

“Don’t be gone in the morning.”

The quiet stretches between us, thick with tension. Firelight flickers across his jaw as I trace it lightly with my thumb.

Another beat of silence, then his arm tightens around me. “I marked you. You’re my mate. For better or worse, you can never get away from me, Summer.”

“Huh? You did what?”

“I said I marked you. You’re mine. Forever. This life and the next. And the next… and the next…”

“Good,” I say, watching his frown disappear. “Wouldn’t want it any other way.”

He squeezes me tight, and I let my eyes close as Wyn’s steady heartbeat and the soft crackle of the fire lull me to sleep.