Page 84 of The Barbaric Fae's Soul
“I like you.” He brushed his lips over my forehead. “In fact, I love you.”
I laughed softly. “I know. You said that about a hundred times while you were banging me earlier.”
He laughed, his chest rumbling beneath me, and my smile was so wide it stretched my cheeks. “Because I’m a damn lucky man.”
“You are,” I agreed, voice sleepy and playful. “And I love you too.”
“As you should, Thorns.”
Another laugh escaped me, and I snuggled up closer to him. He squeezed me tightly, and I closed my eyes.
Everything had changed when I came to Vevol… and it had all been for the better. I had been scared of everything before, but now, I wasn’t afraid of anything. Not even the future.
And that was a damn good feeling.
Twenty-Two
Aev—A Few Weeks Later
“Makesure you hang onto the back of your attractive male companion, no matter what!” Dakota called to the crowd of female ex-human life-bringers, who had paired up with the single male fae. Vuvim and Summer stood beside us, along with Oren and Blue, and Rosalie and Devv. Each couple was holding hands, though Oren still looked a bit uncertain about it.
The stiff bastard would come around, though. His smiley human mate was already making sure of that.
Two weeks before, we’d traveled back to the klynnas’ cliffs with all three other couples, so the women could bond with the beasts. We’d needed a few more connections to establish security before we brought a larger crowd of the newer ex-humans. They still scared easily—both the new humans, and the klynnas.
But with four solid bonds between our people, and a caution to the klynnas that each woman would be arriving on the back of a man, we were fairly confident there wouldn’t be any problems. Nothing was ever certain, but that was simply a part of life in Vevol, with all of the magic running rampant.
And usually, it made things more interesting.
Dakota called out, “Men, remember to stay in the order we assigned you, so we can keep things organized. We’ll be spending a few nights in the forest, so stay civil. You know Aev isn’t afraid to kick your asses, seelie and unseelie alike.” The chastising look she sent the men made me hold back a snort.
“Don’t make me laugh,”she warned me mentally, fighting a grin.
Everyone knew my female was the happiest in Vevol though, so her smile and laughter wouldn’t surprise anyone. It certainly wouldn’t scare them.
They would stay in line with me watching them, though. Even the seelies weren’t usually willing to risk pissing off my mate when they knew it would mean coming face-to-face with my ice magic.
“Ready?” she asked me, aloud this time as she flashed me that grin she’d failed at suppressing.
“Ready,” I confirmed, grinning right back at her. I swept her into my arms and kissed her.
Whoops and cheers went through the crowd of my men—and some of the seelies hollered, too. The dividing lines between our people were becoming impossibly thin, especially since most of the Wild Hunt men had stopped leading in any capacity now that they were mated. Teris was still absent, but no one was worried about him or Naomi. They would kick each other’s asses if they needed to, and if they were gone long enough, we’d send a search party.
I kissed my female again before shifting forms and pulling her onto my back.
As I took off into the forest, I heard swearing and laughter as everyone started shifting quickly so they could catch up with us.
My lips stretched into a grin as I ran, and my mind touched Dakota’s.“I’m really damn glad I have you.”
“I don’t even want to imagine life without you anymore,”she murmured back.
Her fingers buried into my fur, tugging lightly, and we both focused on the beauty of the forest around us as we ran.
As beautiful as it was, I had Vevol’s greatest treasure snuggled up against me, and I’d make damn certain not to forget it.
Epilogue
Naomi