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My intuition was pretty certain that they wouldn’t be back.
The visit from the police had left Theo shaky. Understandably so. He sent me back to work behind the bar, saying he needed to go work on the garden for a bit. I hated leaving him; the interview had shaken me too. But I knew he needed it. There was something about the dirt in that garden that soothed the pain inside him. So, I watched him go and went to visit the mages.
They were getting ready to leave over the next few days, Tarook making it clear that they needed to get Darius’s book as far from Edith as possible, as soon as possible. I’d lounged around on the cushions and rugs in Alain’s tent for as long as Icould, sipping at their cherry liqueur and listening to them talk until Alesander waved me from the tent, telling me to go find Theo and quit pining.
The sun had begun to set over the tavern, and I found him standing at the edge of his garden, staring vacantly at the overabundant tomatoes dripping off his plants. Not wanting to startle him, I stomped a little harder on the gravel path to let him know that I was coming, but he still jumped a foot in the air when I came up behind him. As soon as he realised it was me, though, he’d melted into me, pressing his back to my front. It was all too easy to wrap my arms around him and lean in to inhale his delicious scent.
The moment had been perfect, the night air held the remnants of the warmth of the day, despite the chill beginning to settle in. The birds sang their night time lullabies, and the trees whispered with the breeze. The tavern had always been my home, but with Theo here, it was like the last remaining pieces of the puzzle had fallen into place.
I kissed the spot behind his ear, smiling when he sighed happily, rubbing my arms around his waist.
“I’m sorry.” I almost missed the soft whisper of his apology. He turned in my arms, forcing me to lean back so I could look him in the eye. “I don’t mean to keep things to myself. It wasn’t like I was hiding everything that happened with Darius…. I was embarrassed. Ashamed. And then, with the messages, it was just too much. I didn’t want to deal with it. Not when I was finally feeling happy again. Happier than I’d ever been. I guess I felt like if I didn’t talk about it, it wouldn’t be real, and I wouldn’t have to deal with it. I was already dealing with too much and—”
I pressed my lips to his, taking advantage of his soft whimper to sweep my tongue into his mouth, eliciting more of those delicious sounds. His eyes had been half-closed and dreamywhen I pulled back. My hands came up to cup his jaw, to trace those perfect golden freckles with my thumbs.
“Theo, I understand, it’s fine.” The confused look on his face had me huffing a laugh and diving in for another kiss. When his arms had wrapped around my neck, my hands had naturally found their way to his ass, kneading the softness there for a moment before I grasped him tight and lifted him. His legs wrapped around me eagerly.
“Take me home, Roan.” His frantic words, harsh whispers against my neck where he’d bitten and kissed his way around my throat, spurred me on, and I’d quickly got us back to my house. It had been an unspoken agreement that we weren’t returning to his room in the tavern.
Once safely inside and away from prying eyes, we stripped as quick as our shaking hands had allowed. We hadn’t even made it to the bed; instead Theo had shoved me onto the uncomfortable couch and slipped between my thighs. He’d sucked my cock like he was worshipping me, reverent and needy. I’d been more than happy to return the favour, and the way he’d cried my name when he’d come down my throat would be forever embedded in my spirit.
Despite being boneless, we finally managed to make it to my bed where we collapsed, entwined in one another.
“Are you sure this is it, Roan? That you love me?” He’d whispered the words half-asleep while I stroked his hair. His voice was fractured with insecurity.
“I think I’ve loved you from the very first moment I saw you. I have always known you were meant to be mine.”
In the dark of the night, it had been near impossible to see his face. But I knew his face well enough now to know how his eyes would have shone with that vulnerability he only ever shares with me. How the slope of his eyebrows would have been drawn tight in a worried frown. How he would have sunk his tooth intohis lush pink lip to chew at it. My hand had stroked his back, his hip, his ass, mapping the hills and valleys of his body, delighting in the soft sighs of pleasure he gave me.
“Even if this is it? What if something happens and I can’t handle it and I hide again? What if I can never be as strong as you? As steady?” His body had grown rigid with his increasing anxiety. “What if I get kidnappedagain?”
His hands had been tense balls against my chest, so I caught them up, bringing them to my lips to kiss and massage the taut knuckles.
“I hope thisisit. Because this is it for me. You are it for me. And I promise to show you that every single day for the rest of our lives. That’s what this is. If something happens and you can’t handle it, you don’t have to do it alone. I’ll be right here to help you. And if you need to cocoon, I’ll build you the nest and care for you until you’re ready. We will be strong together. And in theunlikelyevent that you get kidnapped for a third time, I will find you. But I have every faith in your ability to save yourself, just like you did before. You are more capable than you know, and I have every faith in you.”
“You really are the best boyfriend, you know.” His voice was thick, and when I kissed him, just a gentle brush of our lips once, and then twice, I’d tasted the salt of his tears. The feral beast in me, my berserker instincts, twisted at the taste of them.
“Boyfriend.” I tested the word on my tongue, it felt sharp, unpleasant. “I’m not sure how I feel about that label.” Theo tried to pull back, butI wasquicker, snapping my arm around his waist, securing him in place. “How aboutmateinstead?” His sharp intake of breath tickled my skin.
“Really?” The doubt in his question was worse thanboyfriend.
“What, you don’t want to be mates?”
“No!” He’d launched himself, landing hard on my chest and shoving me back, pinning me, drawing a hard grunt from mewhen his knee landed on my hip. He quickly scrambled all the way over, leaning over me, his hands cupping my face, holding tight to my beard as if I were ever going to try to escape him. “I mean, no, I don’t notwant to be mates. No. Was that right? Fuck. Ask me again. Ask me properly.”
My smile ached on my face, my heart too large in my chest. I hoped he is always as ridiculous as he was at this moment.
“Theo Hivercouer, will you be my mate?”
He squealed. Excited and eager like a puppy, wiggling his hips where he was straddled across me, hesquealed.
“Yes! Gods, yes!”
Then he’d crushed his lips to mine, collapsing into me. I’dfeltthe emotion feeding into me, the full power of his love flowing into my spirit completely unrestrained, lighting up every part of my being. I’d been unable to hold the reins on my own magic in that moment, letting it loose to wrap around us like a thousand tendrils of light.
As we moved together, the kiss deepening, his tongue stroking mine, tasting each other, I’d felt the buzz in his body begin. As our kiss turned to touches, and the touches led to more, with Theo riding me in a slow, sensual rhythm, I’d opened my eyes to watch him, eyes closed, head thrown back in ecstasy.
When he’d finally come, coating me in his release, he’d been aglow, a halo of golden light blooming from his pores, melding perfectly with the soft, blue shimmer of my own magic to light up the room. Sated, complete, we’d finally collapsed into blissful sleep.
