Page 166 of A Promise so Bold and Broken

Especially if some of the older children joined them now that her own, Merrick’s, Raine’s, and Kerym’s magic was stifled.

Lessia tried to put the guilt of bringing them into this mess out of her mind when Merrick gently lifted the spider silk out of the way and with a firm press of his hand opened the creaking door.

She watched him as he surveyed the space—dark eyes trailing up the spiral staircase leading to the bedrooms, to the empty shelf hiding the hallway with the other bedrooms—the one that’d been filled with soft taps of feet as the children hurried into their rooms whenever they’d been out of bed later than they were supposed to—to the door beside the staircase, the one leading to her office.

“So this is your home?”

Merrick eyed her as she nodded, unable to speak due to the large lump bobbing up and down in her throat, and the slight smile on his face faltered.

“You miss it.”

There wasn’t any accusation in his tone, no sorrow at her missing a time when he hadn’t been in her life—at least not in the way he was now.

Lessia nodded again.

She did miss it.

So damned much.

Even if she’d been blood-sworn to Rioner the entire time she’d called this house home, living with that dark cloud over her head, it was the first time since she’d left her family that she’d been truly happy.

It was the place where she’d found a purpose—something to atone for the horrible thing she thought she’d done.

It was the place where she began trusting people again—where she’d dared let people into the shattered pieces that were her heart.

Merrick bowed his head—that awareness flashing in his eyes—and his lips lifted again.

“You’ll have that again.” He pulled her to him, and after placing a whisper of a kiss on her lips, he rasped, “Better. I’ll make sure you have it all. If you’ll let me.”

She smiled against his mouth. “I’ll let you do anything you want.”

Merrick blinked.

Then he claimed her lips with a fierce urgency that drove any lingering wistfulness from her mind.

She would have it again.

Better.

Because she’d have Merrick as well.

You and me.

It was as if his voice was forever embedded in her mind, and even when he kissed her senseless, his sharp teeth rasping against her skin as he moved down to her neck, she could hear it in every breath, in every moan, in every growl.

“Where?” Merrick’s arms wrapped around her, lifting her up, and she giggled at the wild look in his eyes as he scanned the house for a bedroom with the same seriousness as he usually searched for danger.

“My bedroom is upstairs, but…”

Merrick had started stalking toward the stairs but froze at the final word.

The worry in his eyes faded when she winked at him. “So impatient.”

Nuzzling his face into her neck, he growled softly. “Make fun of me again… and I might need to punish you.”

Her face heated, both at his words and at the sharp need that surged within her at the thought of him…

No.

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