Page 163 of May: Bloom & Bane

Ashán. I wish you were here.

“Wait,” I call. My wings slowly unfurl, reluctantly pulling away from Eden like a shadow retracting into the corners of a room. I keep one arm firmly around her waist, anchoring her to my side. “You cannot walk wherever you’re going like that.”

He stops but makes no move to turn around.

“You do not want us here,” he says, his voice still carrying that soothing hum.

“I do not,” I admit, my chest still tight with the lingering scent of another male in my space. “But I will not have your blood on the ground of my meadow after you used your strength to carry me to my mate.”

Eden melts into my side, and I feel her question before she asks it.

No, Eden, no. Please don’t ask.

“Sage.” She looks up at me with her big green eyes. “He’s staying here.”

The growl slips from me before I can stop it. I have to lock my jaw to keep it from snarling at the woman I love.

“Eden. I don’t think you know what you’re asking.”

“I do.” Her thumb moves slowly over my sternum. “He can barely walk to the door, Sage. You said it yourself, you don’t want him bleeding out in the meadow. That’s not who you are. That’s not who we are.”

“I won’t impose,” he says to Eden. “Your mate’s instincts are tearing him apart just looking at me. I can feel it from here.” He inclines his head toward me. “We’ve taken enough from you, Reaper.”

Eden’s chin wobbles.

My instincts are screaming. They will scream all night. I know this the way I know the shape of my own bones. And yet, I do it anyway.

“You’re not going anywhere.” My arm stays locked around Eden. “You’ll stay on the far side of the house, far away from where she sleeps. Our bedroom is upstairs, the first room on the right. Do not cross that threshold.” I meet his stunned eyes. “But you will stay. I will not repay the male who split himself with another death.”

Follow Droot, Patchwork Bird, Droot chirps. Droot knows the softest bed.

Eden’s relief floods the bond so brightly it nearly buckles my knees. She presses her face into my stomach, and I feel her smile against my skin.

I am trying. For you, I will always try.

“Thank you,” she whispers.

“You can thank me later,” I murmur, hooking a claw gently under her chin and tipping her face up to meet mine. “However you see fit. Preferably with the door locked.”

It’s exactly the kind of joke Ashán would have made right now…

CHAPTER 46

double stuffed

—ASHÁN

The dream dust felt like liquid lead poured directly into my veins, pinning me beneath a mountain of suffocating sleep. I spent hours screaming into the void, tearing at the chains that held me down, while outside our mind, the scent of her bloom practically set the walls on fire.

She was ready. The altheria was singing in her blood, calling to us, begging us to claim her and plant our seed. And the whole time, a rogue male sat on our couch while both of us were incapacitated. I wanted to paint the kitchen walls with whatever silver fluid kept his mismatched limbs attached to his torso. Instead, Sage gave him a room in the far wing of the house.

I will kill him while he sleeps, I hiss, tendrils of my consciousness whipping violently against Sage’s.

No, Sage shoots back, exhausted as he guides Eden up the stairs. He carried us across the meadow. We owe him a debt, Ashán. Control yourself.

I hate his honor sometimes.

I understand the dust can be disorienting, but you’re being aggressive… even for you.