Page 30 of The Gargoyle’s Glade (The Gargoyle Knights #3)

Coltor

I came back from my patrol to find Merry waiting for me on the little porch of my hut.

My heart dropped into my boots as I tried to discern her blank expression.

I’d spent all night twisted up in my thoughts, wondering what she’d concluded after my revelation. I felt like one massive, exposed nerve.

“Merry? Is everything alright? Feeling okay?”

Her voice was painfully neutral. “I’m fine. I brought dinner. More leftovers from the party. If they don’t get eaten, they’ll go bad.”

“Okay. I could eat.” I wasn’t sure that was true, but I would try. “Did you rest?”

“A little.”

I opened the door and gestured for her to go in before me, thankful I kept everything tidy. Plates were already made up and set for the two places. I went to the kitchen sink and washed up, trying to breathe through the anxious heartburn that had cropped up.

Once we were seated at the table and making a half-hearted attempt to eat in the heavy silence, Merry finally started talking.

“I have three siblings. For nearly their whole lives, I was as much a parent to them as our mother was to any of us. She married and divorced three times after my father went missing and struggled to function when things got stressful.” She set her fork down, no longer even pretending to push things around on her plate.

“Things were nearly always stressful.” I nodded softly in empathy.

“I raised her children while I still was one. Granted, I was a teenager by the time Mattias came along, but I was the adult and bore the weight of responsibility for us all.” Her gaze met mine, and I hated the hesitation I saw there.

“I don’t want my own babies, Coltor. Not now, and likely not ever. ”

I stared back at her. Of all the directions for the conversation to go, this was not one I would have chosen. “That’s… completely understandable. I think perhaps the Fates took that into consideration when they chose you to be Keeper, actually.”

She frowned. “What?”

“Someone responsible for all of creature-kind probably won’t have time to be chasing tiny humans around as well. So, it follows that your lack of desire to have your own children was part of the equation.”

She started laughing, and it escalated quickly to the point she had tears running down her face. I worried they weren’t only from amusement. “You rarely say anything I expect you to.”

“Thank you?”

“Coltor, do you want children?” Her exasperation with me was plain in her tone.

“Not really. I’m not good with noise, and younglings are very loud.

They’re messy and unpredictable, and I imagine that if I find myself craving interaction with one there are plenty of children at the conclave I could talk to.

Maybe one of my siblings will have a child and I can just be the strange uncle who lives in the ruins.

” She flopped against the back of the chair, mouth half open. “Did I say something wrong?”

She shook her head. “No. Not at all. I’m… confused.”

“About what?”

“I was quite sure that was going to be a significant problem.”

I frowned. “Is that really such an issue for people?”

“Absolutely.”

“Odd creatures, humans.” I was only half serious, but it made her smile which brought me much joy.

“You want to be stuck with such an odd creature for eternity?”

My heart flipped in my chest. “I’d never be bored.”

Merry stared at me again, and I finally relaxed, allowing the smile I’d been fighting to come out. “Have you been teasing me?” she asked.

“Only a little.”

“I’ve been a wreck all day. Terrified. Nervous.”

“Me too, Firebird. Are we through with all that now?”

“Yes, I think so.”

“Good.”

Anticipation built up around us as we stared at one another across the table. My senses were all tingling, my chest a hot ache. Merry was on her feet a split second before I was. She launched herself at me, arms winding around my waist and face pressed into my shoulder.

“I’m scared that something will happen and it will end and we’ll both be badly hurt.”

“I can’t promise that isn’t a possibility, but I can swear to try to be worthy of you every single day.”

“Ugh, why are you so sweet?” She gazed up at me in a way that made me want to carry her off to my bed and keep her there forever. I leaned down slightly, and she pounced, crushing her mouth to mine, hands on my shoulders as she lifted herself up on her toes.

I groaned into her mouth, all the anxiety of the day melting away as our tongues tangled and she pressed her body against me.

“I’m not,” I insisted, breaking away to take a few panted breaths.

I grabbed her ass in my hands and lifted, forcing her to lock her legs around my waist. “I will get overwhelmed,” I warned, pressing her up against the wall.

Her legs tightened around me, and she tilted her head back.

The scent of her heavy in the air between us, I leaned in, licking a line up her throat before pressing an open-mouthed kiss over her pulse.

“I will sometimes need space. I might lash out, but I will always apologize and mean it.”

“Me too.” She moaned out, making my blood roar as I nipped down on the tendon in her throat.

“All those things.” Her center ground against me, friction building through the cloth.

“Animals will show up at terrible moments. I will be needed by others and have to sometimes choose my duty as Keeper over you.” Merry’s fingers were tugging at my shirt, trying to get it untucked from the waist of my pants.

“I’ll have to do the same. I am at the mercy of my command.

I could be sent to the training outpost for weeks at a time or be stationed somewhere else.

” The very notion made me feel like raging, but I didn’t focus on it.

I pulled my shirt off in one swipe, returning my mouth to hers as she wiggled against my grip.

“There is no going back, Merry. You will be mine and only mine.”

“Good. I don’t share well either. At least, not anymore. I’ve been spoiled since I got here, I find I rather like having things all to myself.”

I growled, the sentiment speaking to the more primal parts of me. “Too many clothes.”

She squeaked as I spun us both and walked her to the bed.

I set her down on the mattress, tugging at her leggings while she pulled off her tunic.

I dropped to my knees, and she rose up on her elbows, the heat in her gaze making my cock throb behind the stays of my trousers.

We both stopped, the only sound in the tiny hut our mutual panting.

“Speak now, Merry. Is this what you want? Me? Us? This bond?”

Her curls bobbed as she nodded. “Yes. I want you, Coltor. Please.”

She didn’t need to ask twice.

I ran my hands along her delectable thighs, then hooked them under her knees and tugged her to the very edge of the mattress.

She was bare to me, already glistening with want and perfuming the air with her arousal.

I rarely struggled with the need to shift, but the challenge in her eyes had me straining to hold back.

My wings ached to come out, and my fangs had sharpened, prickling against my lips.

“Please,” she whimpered, and that broke me.

I lifted her legs over my shoulders and dove in like the starved creature I was.

I laved over her slit with my tongue, her gasps and moans rumbling through me.

When I fastened my lips around her clit, Merry’s hips rose off the bed.

The bond was roaring behind my ribs, hot and angry.

Pushing the discomfort away, I began to tease her with my finger.

“Coltor.” She panted my name, chest heaving as I played, the ache in my cock nearly as bad as the one in my chest.

I alternated the strokes—fast, then slow, and added a second finger.

The way her body responded, accepted me, pulsed against me, made me feel drunk.

When I returned my attention to the sensitive little nub, she twitched.

I reveled in the gift of surrender she was giving me and sucked hard, angling my fingers toward that soft spot that made her moan.

Merry detonated under me, her cries muffled by the crook of her elbow.

I ran the flat of my tongue over her several times as she gasped for breath, the flavor of her etched into my brain.

“I’ve needed that for weeks, Firebird.”

She answered in a noise that wasn’t quite a word, but I took the meaning well enough.

I shucked my painfully tight trousers and stood, her eyes raking over me in approval, the flush in her cheeks and widening of her eyes stroking my confidence.

As I was about to ask her to confirm her desire, she hooked my legs with her feet and pulled me forward.

“I need you,” she said, the words heavy.

I closed my eyes and breathed slowly through my nose. The bond was agitated beyond measure, burning and pounding behind my ribs.

“Forever,” I reminded her.

“I accept,” she said, hands reaching for me.

The very last threads of my will broke, and I crawled over her lithe frame, bracing my body over hers. Merry, impatient, lifted her hips and rubbed against my straining cock.

“Merry.” I’d meant it as an admonition, but instead it became a prayer.

I notched myself at her entrance and lowered my mouth to hers.

She angled herself up, drawing me inside her heat as she moved.

I gasped as the bond expanded beyond my flesh.

Nerve endings sizzled, flames bathed my chest and gathered along my spine.

Unable to contain it, my wings burst free, flaring wide as I held myself over Merry’s body with one hand.

Worry raced through me, that I’d frightened her, that this was too much. But my mate was not afraid. She was smiling up at me, her heels digging into my lower back, urging me forward.

So, I gave her what she asked for.

Fire lit up my veins as we moved together, her face growing more and more flushed as she chased her pleasure.

I helped her along, fingers slick between us as we both devolved into breath and sensation.

My name danced off her tongue once again as she clenched and cried out.

I closed my eyes and drove deep, following her right off the cliff as my release barreled through me.

I sank down to my forearms after my wings finally retracted and kissed her soft and slow. Her hands tangled in my hair and I palmed her ass, keeping her close as the world settled again.

I pressed my forehead to hers, the bond quiet in my chest, a cool breeze from her open window blowing across my back. “Okay, Merry?”

“Perfect. You?”

“You’re everything, Little Firebird.” I exhaled, a rogue auburn curl tickling my nose. “Come on. Let’s get you cleaned up before you fall asleep.”

She groaned but allowed me to pull her into the bathroom, where I washed every inch of her supple skin, carefully shampooed her glorious hair, and made sure one more time that she was thoroughly satisfied before carting her back to bed.

As she snuggled into my chest, I drifted, serene and content, the scent of her hair in my nose, and peace I could hardly believe I’d been gifted in my heart.

“I have to go run my patrol,” I whispered, deeply regretting having to leave Merry alone in my bed. I’d fallen asleep for longer than I’d expected, and was already behind, but I wanted nothing more than to continue resting with her limbs wrapped around me.

“Okay. Be safe.”

My cock jumped, at the sight of her all disheveled in my sheets, but I willed the need away. There was no time for distraction. “I will.” I pressed a kiss to her cheek, and she cuddled further under the blankets.

Outside, the stars were bright in the sky and a breeze that warned winter was on its way whipped through the trees.

I sped through my checks, still thorough but anxious to get through my duties so I could return to her side.

It was dawn by the time I was finished. I returned to my hut as soon as I could, but she hadn’t slept in like I hoped. There was a little note on the dining table, letting me know she’d gone back to her cabin for a proper cup of tea.

She smiled as I crossed her yard, rising from her seat on the top step of the porch. She was wrapped up in a blanket to protect from the cold, a steaming cup cradled in her hands.

“I’m glad you’re here,” she said, setting the cup on the railing.

“Yeah?”

“Yes. Though I don’t see a carving in your hand. I was hoping for a little creature to add to my hearth. I rather like them.”

“I was short on time, but I’m glad to hear that.” Her casual flirting had my heart thumping like I was a youngling again, and her being tousled and sleepy was perhaps the most gorgeous way I’d seen her yet.

“Join me for breakfast?”

“I’d love to.”

Merry smiled and stepped off the porch, beauty in motion.

I saw it then, my whole future in a single vision, the truth of it so powerful I held my breath. The early morning sunlight blazed behind her, curls wild and open arms lit up like wings.