Page 28 of Caged Love

His finger traces the outline of my lips before he kisses me. Softly. Gently. Deeply. “I love you,” he whispers, making me gasp.

He cleans me up and then holds me against his body.

Skin to skin.

Nothing between us.

How we were always meant to be.

A love like this can never be caged.

“August? I love you too.”

And with that, I fall asleep with a smile on my face.

All eyes are on us when we head downstairs. I don’t know what the occasion is, but everyone is there.

“Did I forget someone’s birthday?” August smirks, pulling out a chair for me.

“No, my mate won’t stop stressing about Rion, so here we are,” Rave replies, his eyes slowly roving over me with distaste. I guess he’s not going to forgive me as easily as Astrid over the trying-to-kidnap-Vale thing.

Axe’s gaze drops to the golden mating bands around our wrists. “I guess we all have something to celebrate after all.”

“Congratulations!” Astrid beams, sharing a look with August. Her hazel eyes are filled with emotion. I know the two of them have a history, and for a moment, I almost feel like I’m the one intruding.

I sit next to Pandora, the Witch Queen. I know of her, but I don’t know her personally, although I have met her mate, Soren, at a party.

“Congratulations to you both,” she says, offering me a small smile. Her violet eyes are stunning, ethereal-looking.

“Thank you.” I beam. “And it’s so nice to finally meet you.”

She clears her throat and tucks her black hair back behind her ear. “Yeah, you too. I’m glad August found his person.”

She seems a little awkward, but maybe that’s just her personality. However, when August’s hand possessively splays on my thighs while he looks across the room at Soren, who is smirking, I know something is up. There’s tension in the room, but I don’t know why.

“What’s going on?” I blurt out, glancing around the table.

Astrid is studying her plate, and Rave murmurs something that sounds like, “Here we fucking go again.”

“Just a little karma going around,” Soren mutters softly, then grunts when Pandora hits his chest.

She slides her eyes to the side before looking back at me. “It’s nothing, really, it’s just that?—”

“August took Pandora’s virginity,” Kai blurts out, frowning when Axe slaps the back of his head. “What? It’s better she knows. I’d fucking hate it if everyone knew something except me!”

I stare at them all, slack-jawed, processing this news.

“He’s right. It’s better to get it all out in the open,” Soren agrees, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m sorry, Milana. I don’t want to hurt you. But every time I think about it, I want to kill him with my bare hands.”

August slept with Queen Pandora.

Took her virginity.

The rational side of me knows that we didn’t even know we were mates then, but the newly mated side of me?

She’s fuckingpissed.

I picture draining the woman next to me of all her magic, watching her drop to the floor in a boneless heap.

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