Page 118 of Queen of Diamonds

“I’m…” I gritted my teeth, stars bursting to life in my vision as his tongue ring brushed my clit again. “I’m yours.”

“No, Baby, that’s not what I said.” He nipped the soft part of my inner thigh and I let out a squeak, but he’d already dragged his tongue up my centre again, fingers curling deep into my core.

I couldn’t think straight, my mind already racing toward the edge of another climax. I whined as he sped up, slick pooling around his fingers as my body trembled with pleasure. Everything he’d asked of me, gone.

I cried out when I came, shaking violently as he dragged the climax out again until I was shuddering with bliss.

Then he was caging me in, fingers holding my chin as he forced me to look at him. “You’re not ours,” he growled, nipping my lip. “We’re yours.”

I stared at him, chest heaving in relief, the slightly too intense heat of my stomach dissipating already.

“I love you so much,” he breathed, dragging me into his arms. “Until you feel better, you are never going to be alone.”

Alone...?

I’d almost... been.

Forever.

Without him.

And now, I was in this grand bedroom, with sunlight filtering in, surrounded by cream wallpaper and a glittering chandelier of light above.

It didn’t feel real.

“Glade, look at me,” Kyan murmured, sitting down beside me. I blinked up at him. I would never get tired of those beautiful jade eyes. “He will never touch you again.”

That promise was like a precious little flare, dancing to life, yet still, I couldn’t go near its warmth.

“You don’t...” My voice was choked. “You don’t understand.”

“I understand more than you know,” he replied. My eyes snagged on his. “You think another Alpha could claim my mate, and I wouldn’t watch his every move?”

I froze. “I don’t understand.”

“I’ve been with you, always,” Kyan breathed. “My only mistake was thinking...” He frowned. “I thought you’d chosen to move on... I remember why you fell for us.”

I shut my eyes, another tear leaking down my cheek.

A choice.

That’s what Zed had offered, the thing I’d found irresistible. And it was, in the end, the thing that had kept him away.

Kyan didn’t want to take that from me again.

“You never came looking for us,” he said. “So I thought...” His gaze darted to the side, but I felt the bundle of nerves from him in this new connection.

He’d thought I didn’t want him.

“I never wanted to hurt you,” I said. “You couldn’t be involved in this. If you’ve been watching, you know what he’s like?—”

“I wouldn’t make this promise if I couldn’t keep it,” Kyan cut me off, drawing me closer. “He will never find you in your sleep, or take you from us; he will never touch you again.”

I stared at him, trying to reject that promise, trying to keep it at bay before I tumbled headfirst into a feeling I couldn’t afford.

“You aren’t alone anymore.” I felt his end of the bond open, and my heart clenched, chin quivering. “And you will never be alone again.” He took a breath, drawing me closer, a low purr rumbling in his chest.

I broke, years and years of terror splintering me open as tears flooded my cheeks, soaking his shoulder.

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