Page 49

Njáll

M aurice pushes me over to the bathroom as soon as we are back at the clan house and in my rooms. We have been stopped numerous times on our way here, and he has done his best to be patient, I can tell, but now his fingers bite where he holds me, a growl rumbling deep in his chest.

He wants me. I know that. I want him too, more than I have wanted anyone in my entire life. But I do not know how far that goes.

No, I do. I am not willing to admit how far it goes, and that I return his feelings just as strongly.

He reaches past me to turn on the shower, one hand still curled around my hip. “Maurice,” I say as the water begins running, and he turns his face, pressing it against my throat.

“No words,” he says and nips the skin underneath his lips.

“ Yes , words,” I reply. I turn in his arms and press him back against the sink. I do not know what it is, but I can feel his magic now, the way it sparks when his eyes flash with amusement. “You are part of the Wild Hunt again?”

“Yes.”

“Is that what you wanted?”

He studies me in silence. Steam begins to fill the room around us.

“It is,” he admits. “I came here… I wanted to find you because I knew I didn’t want to be part of your clan without you.”

“And now?”

“I suppose I don’t know if I can be part of your clan, but I am yours, Njáll. Yours .”

“And his.” I don’t know why I am so focused on this, but Maurice smiles up at me, and his hands on my hips drag me closer.

“I am not without leverage,” he says, “and I can survive without my magic. It is more the purpose than the man, Njáll. You would never have liked me so much if I were a lazy vampire.”

I huff. It is true, perhaps. “It will be dangerous.”

“You’re the crai of all of London’s vampires. I think we’re both in dangerous positions.”

“With everything that’s going to happen—”

“We’re both in dangerous positions,” Maurice repeats. He searches my face. “You understand that, don’t you? Meilyr was the first to think of exploiting the treaty, the relationships between you all, but he will not be the last. You are strong, Njáll. They will come after you.”

“And you?”

“As long as they aren’t high fae, you have no need to worry,” Maurice says, and I think he’s only exaggerating a little. “And after the Huntsman has spent time in the Otherworld, I do not believe we will see another high fae for a while.”

I hum and wrap my arms around him, and we both desperately need to shower, but I am content here for now.

My eyes slide shut, and Maurice’s breaths are warm and even against my throat, and we might only have two days—because I know the Huntsman has given him a respite that he did not have to—but maybe we can stay like this for the entire duration.

“Shower,” Maurice says. “And bed.”

I am exhausted, despite all the blood I consumed at the pack house, and though Maurice and I help each other out of our clothes, and my heart beats a little faster at the sight of all his skin, I am not roused beyond that.

He ushers me into the shower ahead of him and washes my hair first, grumbling only a little when I wash his in turn.

The sun is rising by the time we make it through to the bedroom. True to Afsaneh’s word, Maurice’s bag sits at the foot of the bed, though he does not stop to look in it. He pushes me under the duvet instead, still naked, and then curls up behind me, tangling his legs with mine.

“Sleep?” I ask, and Maurice huffs.

“We have two days,” he says, “before I will have to go somewhere to deal with some fae who should not be causing trouble. Or who need help, maybe. I want to rest.”

“Oh. I thought—”

Maurice leans up and pulls me onto my back. His hand lands on the centre of my chest, magic pulsing against me for a fleeting moment.

“When we wake up, we can have all the fun we like.”

“Fun?” I do not know where I want this conversation to go, but this… We are circling the truth, aren’t we, even after everything. “In two days… you’ll come back?”

Maurice narrows his eyes. “Try that again, Njáll,” he demands.

My heart beats faster and he doesn’t move his hand, so he must feel it. “You’re coming back. After you’ve spoken to Vlad and got your job, you’ll finish it and come back.”

“Yes,” Maurice says. He leans down and brushes our lips together; the touch is too soft and too brief, but his hand means I can’t get up and chase his mouth. “Tell me why I’m coming back.”

“Because you’re mine.”

He kisses me again, deeper, and something in my chest warms with every touch. I pant when he pulls back, resting our foreheads together. “I am that,” he says.

“And I’m yours.”

“You were from the moment you saw me.”

I snort, though in hindsight he may not be far off in that estimation. Of course I will not give in that easily, and he knows it; his eyes glitter with his own amusement.

“There is a part of you that belongs to the clan,” Maurice says, “and a part of me that belongs to the Hunt, but the rest of you, the rest of me…” He kisses my mouth again. “This is mine.”

My breaths come faster when he kisses my throat, tongue flicking over the final scar to mar my skin—my turning bite. “And this.”

He kisses over my heart, and I lift my head to meet his gaze. “Tell me.”

“That’s yours, too,” I say.

His smile makes my heart skip a beat, and he kisses under my ribs, declaring that space as his, and the crease of my hip, and—

My cock is not hard, but it twitches in interest when Maurice brushes soft lips along my shaft. “This is all mine,” he says, his gaze challenging me to argue, but why would I?

“And you?” I ask instead. “All of you…?”

“Even my magic, if you want it.”

“I don’t.”

“It’s yours all the same, Njáll. I wouldn’t have given it up for anyone else.”

I surge up before he can stop me, but he doesn’t even attempt to prevent me from kissing him, hard at first, melting into something slower and sweeter as I drag him into my lap.

I fancy I can sense his magic still, a separate, questing thing, trying to feel me out, but it is not as important as Maurice is, here and now.

He tangles his hands in my still-damp hair and tugs my head back. Maurice is straddling my lap now, his arse pressing back against my steadily more interested cock. “We did not have nearly enough time before.”

“I think we did well enough.”

“I promised you a great many things.”

I grin. “You did.”

“I said you would not remember a time before me.”

“I don’t.”

Maurice goes still. He is a warm, welcome weight on me, but we both know I want more than that— he wants more than that.

He groans and ducks his head, and when his teeth latch onto my throat, my hips buck up and I almost throw him off. “Maurice…”

“I cannot give you everything I promised right now,” he says, sounding frantic, breathless. “I do not have the patience.”

“I don’t care.”

“Later. We have two days. I’ll make you beg. I’ll give you everything you want.”

“ Maurice . Fuck me.”

He lifts his head, eyes dark and frantic, and before I can say anything else, he is digging through the bedside table to find what he needs. I kiss his shoulder, down his chest, and he swears when I suck on one nipple, his entire body shaking at the first touch.

I like that. That he is as desperate as I am has me on more of an even keel. My hands map paths over his thighs, his hips, and he growls when I take hold of his cock, feeling it thicken in my hand.

When I move to wriggle lower, to taste him, Maurice growls and pushes me back against the mattress. The lube I keep in there but hardly use lands next to my head, and I reach for that, but he catches my wrists and holds me still.

“You’re going to be trouble, aren’t you?”

“Isn’t that why I had a bodyguard in the first place?”

“No. It’s why you needed one, but no one knew that about you.”

“Are you going to talk all day?”

Maurice arches an eyebrow. “Oh, my apologies. I didn’t realise I was boring you.”

“Maurice…” My whine is pitiful, but that only makes him smile. He knows what I mean. What I want. I don’t want to wait all day for it.

“I’ll give you what you need. All of it. Just be patient.”

I grumble because I don’t want to do that at all, but when he lets go of my wrists, I keep my hands where they are, and it’s worth it for the dark, hungry look that flashes over his face.

“That’s it,” he says and snatches up the lube. “Now you’re getting it.”