Page 23 of The Witch’s Shifter (Season of the Witch #3)

Alden

AFTER A DELICIOUS BUT AWKWARD dinner during which the shifter did little but grumble and glare, Rowan kisses Aurora on the cheek and then leaves the cottage to head back to the guardhouse, albeit hesitantly.

Before Faolan’s arrival, he and I would often switch out who slept upstairs in the bed, the other either heading out for the evening or opting to sleep on the couch.

I’d typically be willing to go back to my cabin, but I’m so exhausted from my trip that I can barely keep my eyes open.

I fear I’d only make it halfway down Brookside Road before falling asleep in the bushes and downed leaves.

“You want tea?” Aurora asks me as I start up the stairs.

Her hair is loose around her shoulders, framing her face in a color like summer, and her belly is round beneath her dress.

She’s a picture of beauty. My beauty. And that’s never been clearer than now, after meeting back up with Belinda and choosing to walk away from her.

Aurora is the one I choose. She’s the one I’ll always choose.

“Alden?” She tips her head curiously, forehead furrowing. A question hovers in her green eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Better than okay. Just tired. And a tea sounds nice.”

“All right. I’ll bring it up soon.”

“Thanks.”

She gives me a soft smile, then turns and walks back into the kitchen.

Faolan is in the parlor, and when I glance over my shoulder, I can just see his shadow flickering on the boarded-up window. I planned to get the glass in tonight, but I’m much too tired, and my full stomach is only serving to make me sleepier. It can wait one more day.

With a small sigh, I start up the stairs, thinking of everything on my list: I need to get back into Faunwood tomorrow and resume my work at the Golden Lantern; I need to get the boards removed and fit the new glass in the parlor window; and it’s now become clear that I’m going to need to build either a bigger bed for Aurora’s bedroom—not sure how she’d feel sleeping crammed between two of us—or perhaps a bed for the second bedroom, but I know Aurora intends for that room to be the nursery.

The cradle is still on my to-build list.

This cottage is the perfect size for a small family, but assuming the shifter is here to stay, there are going to be four of us crammed into this space, not including Harrison and the baby.

I might need to build an addition... An extra bedroom and washroom would probably be enough. Off the parlor, maybe.

The stairs creak underfoot, though I’m not sure if they’re agreeing or disagreeing with my thoughts. I’ll run it by Aurora when I’m not so exhausted. If she does want to expand the cottage, I’d prefer to get started on it before the snow arrives.

Upstairs, I peel off my tunic and trousers, then crawl into bed.

The sheets are soft and cool and familiar against my weary skin.

Aurora already had a fire going early this evening when I arrived, and it’s heated the room to a cozy temperature, which only makes my body feel heavier in the embrace of the mattress.

I close my eyes and breathe in the scent of the pillows—they always smell like lavender, like Aurora . Pulling one close, I bury my face in it, then laugh at myself. I was only gone for three days and two nights, yet being away from her for that long felt like a lifetime.

By some miracle, I’m still awake a few minutes later when the door creaks softly—add that to my list—and Aurora pads in on quiet bare feet.

“Are you still awake?” she whispers.

“Mm. Barely.”

She pushes the door closed, and then the bed dips as she sits beside me. “I brought your tea. But it’ll need a few minutes to cool.” The porcelain clinks softly as she sets it on the bedside table.

When I open my eyes, I find Aurora gazing down at me. The fire at her back casts her partially into shadow, while outlining her body with golden light. I reach out and brush my hand over the wisps of hair illuminated in the warm glow.

“I bumped into Belinda in Wysteria,” I say.

Aurora’s brows rise.

I spent the entire wagon ride back to Faunwood wondering if I should tell her or not. And I decided I want to. There’s nothing I want to keep from her.

“She asked me to dinner.”

Aurora’s hands are in her lap, and I notice she’s twiddling her thumbs. “Did you go?”

“Yeah.”

The look that comes over Aurora’s face is complicated. I can tell by the pucker of her lips and the line between her brows that she’s troubled, but she doesn’t say anything. That’s unlike her. She usually speaks her mind so freely.

“How did it go?” she finally asks, though I know that’s not what her real question is.

“It was... illuminating.” With a grunt, I push myself up in the bed and lean back against the headboard.

Beside me on the nightstand, the tea steams softly.

“I’m not sure what she wanted, exactly.” Even now, thinking back on our conversation, I think Belinda herself was unsure of what she wanted.

I think I was just in the right place at the right time, and like she said, she thought it could be a sign.

But all my signs point to the witch seated beside me.

I reach for the teacup, cradling it gently despite how hot it is. Even the small pleasure of enjoying a cup of Aurora’s tea is something I wouldn’t give for the world.

“I think she’s confused about her life. And when she saw me, she thought she could try this again.”

Aurora’s lips pucker harder. “What did you say?”

My first sip of tea goes down smooth, and I feel it warming me all the way to my belly. “I told her I have you. That I love you. And you’re all I want.”

Finally, the troubled crease between Aurora’s brows softens. “Really?” Her voice is wispy, like it could float away in a spring breeze.

I chuckle, then yawn. “Really. But I thought you knew that already.”

Even in the dim light, I can see the flush that creeps into her cheeks. “I do, but... If you wanted her, I’d...” She sighs, and it ruffles the hair beside her face. “Well, I don’t know what I’d do.” A few tears sparkle in her eyes.

Setting my teacup aside, I reach for her. I wipe her tears with one hand, and my other hand finds her thigh. My fingers wrap around it, squeezing her soft skin. And despite how utterly exhausted I am, my cock twitches.

Aurora sniffles softly, then smiles. She stands from the bed and tugs her dress laces free.

She’s wearing simpler garments now, ones that are easy to get on and off over her growing belly, and she’s able to easily loosen the material and drop it to the floor with a gentle rustle.

Her skin glows in the flickering firelight, and as she gently lifts the blanket and eases a bare leg over me, I get harder.

I want so badly to cover her mouth with mine and bury myself inside her, but...

“Little witch,” I whisper, reaching out to trail my fingertips across her beautiful stomach and the pink stretchmarks that have been appearing as her belly continues to grow, “I want to, badly , but I’m—”

“Shh,” she says, carefully rising onto her knees and guiding my dick to her opening. The firelight casts her form in shadow while limning her figure in warm gold. “You don’t have to do a thing. You do so much for me already. Let me do something for you this time.”

I’m about to protest, to tell her she does more than enough for me, for Rowan, even for Faolan. But as soon as her pussy wraps around my tip, I lose all words. Every time I sink inside her, I think I could possibly forget my own name.

No, make that probably .

She’s soft and warm and impossibly tight. Despite all the times we’ve made love, it still takes some time for her to stretch to accommodate me. But I’m in no rush. If I weren’t so tired, I could do this all night, let her tease me until the sun started to crest over the horizon.

I let my eyes fall closed and reach out to grip her hips. She slides another inch deeper, a tiny breath escaping her. Then another inch, and another.

With a gasp, she takes me fully.

I crack one eye open and give her a tired smile. “That was fast.”

Her lips curl up on one side. “I’ve been waiting to get you alone since you got home tonight,” she says, leaning forward to brace her hands against my chest. She slides off of me by a few inches, then right back on. She’s deliciously wet. “I missed you so much.”

My eye closes again as she leans all the way down to press a kiss to my lips. I’ve missed her taste, the feel of her mouth against mine.

After Belinda, I wasn’t so sure I’d ever fall in love again, but now I’m in so deep that I don’t think I’ll ever find my way back. Everything now is Aurora.

When Aurora breaks our kiss to resume gliding up and down my length, I whisper, “I love you.”

Her pussy tightens around me. “I love you too, Alden.”

It’s like the first time every time she says my name. Especially when I’m inside her.

I can usually last for much longer than this, but I’m too tired to hold back, and with my name on her lips like that, I’ve got no hope of holding out.

With a grunt, I grip her hips and spill everything I have into her—one of the perks of her being pregnant. She takes it with a fluttering gasp, her chest rising and falling rapidly, then leans down again and gives me a deep kiss.

“Aurora,” I whisper as she pulls away. But my voice sounds distant, like it’s drifting off, or like I’m underwater. The room is dark and warm and smells like her, and if I was exhausted before, I don’t even have a word for what I am now.

The last thing I feel is Aurora sliding off of me and cuddling up against my side, her body curling around mine, and then I’m encompassed in black.

It’s so good to be home.