Page 56 of Fated Exile

Roarke steps out of the shadows and calls out to the pack, "If you're going to stay, at least make yourselves a little more scarce. We've all seen Delilah survive the mating bond, and we all know she can accept more than one mate. Perhaps it's time for a little privacy. The elders can stay behind to watch things as they normally do."

Some of the pack melts away. Others mill nearby, where the punch and snack tables are, thankfully no longer manned by Cat or Kerry, who seem to have gone home as I requested. Soon there are no more than perhaps a dozen bored eyes watching us, all belong to pack members in their seventies and eighties, very used to this sort of thing and uninterested much in the scandal of it.

Grateful, I reach out and squeeze Roarke's hand. "You didn't need to do that, but I'm glad you did."

"Anything for my alpha." He smiles at me, his eyes drifting downward briefly towards my naked body, then jerking back up towards my face. In a low voice, he admits, "I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about tonight. It's turning out to be a little easier than I'd feared."

"Oh?" I raise my brows, brushing my awareness against him and feeling nothing but frustration from him. "Are you sure that's true?"

"I am," he says cheerily, "because I haven't strangled or disemboweled Finn."

I laugh open-mouthed at that, pure joy leaving me. As my laughter peals out, Roarke says the sacred words again, not even needing the notecard this time.

"Earth and sky, land and prey, all must come together today. We witness here a bond that forms between two souls that become more. As your alpha, bold and true, I call you here to join as two."

All around us, the Mating Circle lights up with threads. They point South this time—towards Elder Ewan, the very first alpha of the pack, its very founder and the representation of the pack itself.

Their color is gold.

And they wrap around both me and Roarke.

Twenty-Two

Delilah

Ican feel his yearning like a living thing. It flutters inside his chest, a butterfly with fragile wings, beating desperately. Even without reaching my awareness out, I'm aware of Roarke the way I'm aware of my own fingertips, my toes, and the tip of my nose.

Maybe it's the childhood we share or the alpha nature inside him, strengthened by the bonding we just did to the pack. Whatever it is, all I know is that somewhere between where I end and where Roarke begins, there's an overlap. And it tells me that he yearns for me, even as he finds that he has me, completely.

So I'm the one who takes a step forward. I press my naked body against him, sliding my hands up his chest and resting them on the collar of his nice shirt. It brings a smile to my face, the buttons that climb his chest, the pressed neatness of the collar at his neck. Of course Roarke dressed up for tonight. Even with everything all around us, he wanted to look nice. For the pack, but also—I know—just for me.

In a rough voice he says, "I'm not sad this is happening in front of everyone. It's sacred, and that's the way we do things. But I wish that I could have you in some private and precious place, where no one else could see."

"They're all turned away," I point out, tilting my head and feeling out towards the few pack members who remain, the elders, and the other guys. "I think Kieran just got some towels for Finn and Lance."

"Finn wouldn't stop making dick jokes. He kept using it to demonstrate things. I could've done without the repeated visuals."

I laugh a little. "You could've made him stop."

"I did." He grumbles. "If this is what being alpha is going to be about, then I'd like to undo it. I'm not made for the responsibility."

"Yes you are."

"Yes I am." Roarke sighs, and I draw my palms slowly down his chest, enjoying the way he swallows suddenly, heat licking up his skin. He brings his hands up to my arms and rubs them gently, the summer blue of his eyes reflecting the endless gold that swarms all around us. "Our golden threads are glowing towards the statue of Elder Ewan. What do you think it means?"

I arch a brow at him. "I think it means that you're stalling for time because you're nervous."

"Of course I am." He smiles down at me, and I feel the warmth in that smile, even as a strange and hollow feeling radiates out from his chest towards me. "I've wanted this so badly for so long. I have to savor it. I have to..."

"Kiss me."

He does, sliding his hand along my neck and guiding my mouth to his. His fingers support me gently, his other hand dropping to my bare hip and pulling me towards him. I sink into his mouth, pushing my fingers into his soft golden hair, which parts like perfect silk around my touch.

Roarke makes the kiss deep and long, drawing it out moment by moment. I feel his yearning nervousness settle within him, replaced by a sharp arousal that settles heavy in the air around us. My body responds to his, heat growing inside me as he licks inside my mouth and nibbles at my lips.

Just when the kiss could end, he draws it out further, adjusting the angle of his mouth and deepening it with sharper heat. His hand drops to my back and pulls me to him, fingers curling possessively into my skin. I slip my touch across his shoulders, enjoying the broadness of them, down his strong arms and to his back. Feeling bold, I yank his buttoned shirt from his pants, and Roarke steps back to arch a brow at me.

"I thought I saidsavor,Delilah."

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