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Ash swore again before handing Aurora to me and stomping after Helian. Oh, it was going to be a long day.
Chapter Three
Shiri
Iclung to Drae while he flew above the white sandy beach, gentle waves lapping at the shoreline.
“Land there!” I called to him.
He slowed to a gentle glide and landed in the shallow surf, water spraying everywhere as he used his wings to stop us.
I squealed with delight as cool water soothed my skin and soaked my slippers. I wasn’t worried about wet clothes when my fire mages could dry us off later. Coupled with the warm ocean air and heat from the overhead sun, my soul felt cleansed anew.
He whistled to his brothers as they circled above us. “Check the perimeter for threats.”
He gently set me in the water, and I turned into him, running my hands down his bare chest before reaching for the drawstring on his trousers.
“Slow down, my love.” He laughed, grabbing my wrist. “Let’s wait for Nikkos and Blaze.”
“I can’t wait.” I licked salt and sweat off his neck while cupping his bulge. “I need you now.”
He nibbled my ear. “We didn’t satisfy you enough after breakfast?”
“I’ll never get enough,” I said as I boldly slipped my hand beneath his trousers, rewarded with a very hard, very large silky shaft. “Besides, my monthly flow is coming soon, and I want to make love as many times as possible before it hits.”
He pulled back, looking at me as if I’d grown a second head. “Your monthly flow?”
I gave him a questioning look. Surely, he’d been around enough women to know. “Yeah,” I said, “that annoying thing girls get.”
“I know.” He frowned. “I was just hoping you wouldn’t get it.”
I gaped at him, my hand instinctively flying to my womb. “You want me to have babies now?”
“Not now.” He slanted a smile. “Nine months from now, and I’d settle for one.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. My mates and I hadn’t talked about having children yet. Then again, in the two weeks I’d known them, we hadn’t exactly had much time to discuss growing our family, not when we were too busy trying to survive demon attacks and my evil aunt’s court. Besides, we already had two children, my nieces, and they’d been more than enough. A blade twisted in my heart, for they were ours no longer now that we’d found their parents.
I tried to push the thoughts of losing my darling girls from my mind as I looked deeply into his eyes. “The Avias women always give birth to twin girls first.”
His eyes flared as he slanted a smile. “I’d love it if you had our girls.”
Our girls. That blade dug in deeper at the thought of replacing Ember and Aurora. It felt like a betrayal to want other children, to love other children, when my nieces already had half my heart. I swallowed back my rising sorrow while averting my gaze. “Is it wrong that I want it to just be us for a while?”
“No, not wrong at all.” He wrapped an arm around my waist. The heat from the fire in his blood was like my personal furnace. “My next question was going to be how were you adjusting to all this?”
I caught the pity in his gaze and then looked away, shame and humiliation heating my face. “All what?” I pretended not to know what he was talking about. Avoiding the question seemed less painful than answering it.
He gently stroked my cheek. “Tari and her mates have taken over caring for the girls.”
I resented the sympathy in his voice. “As they should.” I refused to look into his eyes, fearing I’d fall apart at the look of pity I’d see reflecting in them. “They’re their parents.”
“Shiri.”
I pulled away, wrapping my arms around myself as I stared at the endless cobalt ocean spread out before us. I thought I spied the Caldarian shoreline in the distance, though I knew it was only an illusion. Caldaria was a day’s flight from here. “There’s nothing I can do about it.” I couldn’t keep the bitterness from my voice. “I’m just the aunt.”
“You’re more than just the aunt. You’ve been their mother for two years.”
I winced at Drae’s words, for I was their mother no more. My breathing turned shallow.
