Wylfrael had very clearly verbally agreed to the first two terms of the new agreement I’d just laid out.

Only the first two. Not the third.

I almost said something, almost spoke up, but when his mouth found the sensitive place below my jaw and started to suck, I moaned instead, the sound turning to mist in the air. He dragged a heated line of hungry kisses up to my chin, my cheek. His breath was hot and quick against my skin, his fingers moulded tightly over my ass.

When his tongue tasted the place at the corner of my mouth, I parted my lips involuntarily, an instinctive reaction to let him in. Perhaps a foolish reaction – a betrayal of my body, a dangerous desire to let him further inside – but even as I acknowledged the foolishness, I didn’t close my mouth.

I was fully prepared for him to invade, for him to kiss me like he hated me, ravaging and brutal. In a way, I almost wanted it like that. But what he did instead knocked me more off balance than any bruising onslaught ever could.

He paused just above my mouth, his shuddering breath tantalizing me, making me squeeze inside. His hands slid slowly from my backside, up, up, up. Up, over my waist, over my aching nipples, until they came to rest on either side of my jaw.

The kiss started slowly. Tenderly. And that’s what shocked me so. He grazed his lips over mine, a barely-there prickle of agonizing sensation, before his tongue swiped inward, tasting.

The flare of arousal inside me was so sudden, so strong, I was sure that if Wylfrael hadn’t been holding me, I would have toppled right over into the snow. I opened my mouth further, eagerly meeting his tongue, burying my fingers in his thick hair.

Wylfrael went rigid as I kissed him back. Only for a second, though. Then, he groaned harshly into my mouth, and the kiss became what I’d expected from him all along. Possessive. Conquering. An invasion, but one that I’d invited.

I whimpered as he pinioned my tongue with his, taking over. His hands left my jaw, raking up and down my back, into my hair, then down to my ass again, as if he couldn’t decide where to touch me, couldn’t touch me enough.

When he started tugging at the laces at the front of my silk britches, grinding his erection greedily against me as he did so, I remembered that we were outside, in clear view of both the castle and the barn. I’d learned enough about Shoshen’s schedule to know that he’d be back out here soon.

I tore away from the kiss, and Wylfrael made a rough sound of annoyance.

“We’re outside! They’ll see us!” I panted.

“Good,” he shot back.

“Wylfrael!” I swatted at his chest, the cold air in my lungs starting to clear my head. “I have a new term to add to the agreement!”

A look of grim resignation passed over his face.

“What is it?”

“No getting me undressed and having... relations... in front of other people!”

“Fine,” he growled, “but I have my own amendment.”

“Alright, what?” I asked. Wylfrael released his hold on my britches’ laces. His hand came to my face, and he slipped his thumb along my swollen lower lip.

“I get to kiss you anytime, anywhere. No matter who may be watching.”

I breathed heavily, fighting the urge to open my mouth and let his thumb inside so I could suck it. Maybe even bite it, not that my flat human teeth would be able to do him any damage.

“Never figured you for the sort of guy who’d like kissing so much. Pinned you as more of a wham, bam, thank you ma’am sort.”

“Too much blood has gone to my groin for me to even attempt to understand what you just said,” Wylfrael grunted. “Do you agree or not?”

“Fine. I agree. As long as my second term overrides this one. The rule about you always stopping when I tell you to.”

His thumb continued its slow caress.

“Yes, Torrance,” he murmured. “In this, you will always be obeyed.” A wicked glint entered his gaze. “Though, when I kiss you, I do not think you will ask me to stop.”

“I just told you to stop right now!” I protested.

“Only when you realized someone may see us. It was because you were embarrassed, not because you wanted to.” He leaned down, his breath tantalizing against my neck. “You want things in the darkness you won’t acknowledge in the light.”

“Oh, you are impossible!” I said, pushing back from him, hating that he was right. I stomped a few paces away and glared at him. But just looking at him made me want to go right back into his arms. He was gorgeous, hair and muscles gleaming under the winter sun. My gaze snagged on the massive bulge beneath the dark leather of his trousers and stayed there.

“Am I impossible? Or merely observant?” he asked, smirking. “For example, I can clearly observe where your gaze has gone.”

This bastard!

I wrenched my eyes away from the thick outline of his engorged cock.

“I am going inside!” I huffed. “And don’t get any ideas, because I’m going to help Aiko make dinner in the kitchen!”

Wylfrael’s dark chuckle followed me, just as his feet did a moment later.

“After you, little bride.”

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OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER FORTY Wylfrael

When we entered the kitchen, Aiko looked up from where she was crouched on the floor with a scowl on her face. It disappeared instantly, and she flattened her ears.

“Oh, it’s you two! Welcome back! Sorry, I thought you were Brekken and Shoshen. That dog has made an absolute mess of my kitchen!”

Crystal was shattered all around, obviously having been knocked down to the floor by an over-eager hound.

“It was the tail,” Aiko said, standing and sighing, regarding the mess. “He was so excited he wagged the dishes right off the counters!”

“Oh, let me help you!” Torrance hurried forward. I liked that my bride was kind to the Sionnachans. That she so clearly respected them, and that she’d offered to help Aiko without a moment’s hesitation. But I whipped out my hand and grasped the back of her cloak, stopping her. I thought of her slender fingers getting sliced on all that crystal and hauled her back.

“Don’t move, either of you,” I said, raising my other hand. Using my power, I lifted all the shards of crystal into the air, then swept it over their heads and into a stone bin at the far end of the kitchen.

“Oh, thank you, my lord! Though you should not concern yourself with such things!” Aiko said.

“We would have cleaned it up,” Torrance agreed as I released the back of her cloak. She took it off, and I in turn took it from her to hang near the fire. The ease of that little interaction – passing and hanging up the cloak – surprised me. It felt natural, nearly mundane. Like we’d done it a hundred times before.

“You would have cut yourself and bled all over the floors is what you would have done,” I admonished softly. I couldn’t stop staring at her face. Her eyes. The black parts in the middle changed often, and I’d determined it seemed to change based on the surrounding light. Outside, the black had been reduced to mere pinpricks, her eyes dominated by bright swirling gold and brown. In here, in the dimmer firestone light, the darkness expanded, swallowing the honey, deepening her gaze.

Torrance and Aiko began to work together, side by side. I could tell by the easy comfort between them that this was something they did often. Though, as I leaned against the counter on the opposite side of the room, Aiko tossed occasional worried glances back at me, as if nervous I’d be upset that Torrance was cooking or doing parts of her chores. But it didn’t bother me at all. In fact, it made me strangely happy.