Page 78 of Claimed By Prince Daddy

Drake crouched down beside me, running a soothing hand down my back.

“Are you okay?” He asked me, concern lacing his voice.

I nodded. “Yes, I’m fine. Just overjoyed.”

He smiled softly at me, and I remembered the words he’d spoken to me when I was chained to the wall. I blinked up at him.

“You…told me you love me,” I said in a breathless whisper.

Drake’s smile turned sly. “Took you that long to figure it out?”

I slapped Drake’s arm, to which he laughed. He cupped my cheeks with his hands.

“Yes, Ember, I love you. I loved you from the first when I encountered you in the garden that night.”

Tears pooled in my eyes, and Drake swiped at them with the pad of his thumbs. “I will always love you. Until the last breath I take. You are my heart.”

I sniffled. “Oh, Drake. I love you, too. I have since I stayed with you in the palace during our engagement.” My gaze dropped. “After you rejected me, I felt so heartbroken. So betrayed that I didn’t want to believe you could love me. I-I didn’t want my heart broken, so I pushed you away.” I sighed. “I was wrong.”

“No, Ember, no,” Drake said. “You weren’t wrong for trying to protect your heart.” He rubbed his thumbs along my cheeks. “I was wrong for rejecting you. I did so because of a stupid promise I made to a female I didn’t love. I thought I was being true to my late friend by fulfilling the promise. But I should’ve been true to my heart. True to you.”

I encircled my arms around Drake’s waist. “Well, it’s all over now. We’re together. At last.”

Drake nodded. His eyes dropped to my mouth before flicking upward, asking for permission.

I smiled up at him. Reaching upward, I pressed my lips against Drake’s in a soft kiss. Drake sighed into my kiss. He wrapped his arms around me and gathered me into my arms, deepening the kiss. His tongue flicked across my bottom lip, asking for access. I parted my lips, and his tongue thrust into my mouth, twining around mine. The taste of him flooded my mouth, and I growled in pleasure. We sat there on the floor of the summer palace as we shared our first kiss as true mates.

Drake teleported us into the entrance of the shadow fae palace. Melodina and the former queen stood toward the back of the castle, flanked by guards. Melodina caught sight of us first. She broke away from her grandmother and darted toward us.

“Momma! Papa!” She cried.

“Melodina!” I rushed forward, meeting my daughter in the middle of the corridor. I scooped Melodina into my arms and swung her around before pulling her close to me. She wrapped her small arms around my neck and buried her head into my shoulder. Tears pelted my shirt as she cried in joy.

Drake stepped forward and wrapped both Melodina and me into his arms. He hugged us close to him, and the three of us were reunited. My heart swelled to near bursting as I basked in the love of both my mate and my daughter.

“We’re right here, Melodina,” Drake murmured. He pressed a kiss atop our daughter’s head.

Melodina lifted her gaze, her eyes round with sadness.

“What is it, sweetie?” I asked.

She looked between Drake and me. “We all won’t be together.” She turned her attention to me. “We have to go back home, don’t we, Momma?”

I looked at Drake, and we shared an amused look. I giggled.

Melodina pouted. “What’s so funny?”

Turning back to my daughter, I told her, “We are home, honey. With your father.”

Melodina’s eyes widened with excitement. She screamed with joy and pulled us into a hug, her little arms wrapping around our necks.

Later that night, after we tucked Melodina into bed, I lay in bed with my mate. I was tucked into the crook of his body; my head rested on his chest. He kissed my brow with such tenderness it brought tears to my eyes. I pressed a kiss to his lips, and he turned me slowly onto my back, straddling me.

He kissed a path down my throat. Our clothes ended up tossed on the floor. Our sweat-slicked skin melded against one another, my fingers digging into his back, his trailing a path down my sides as he thrust into me. We rose the tide of pleasure together until it crested in a glorious orgasm that nearly rended me in two. Drake roared his release. We ended the night cuddling against one another, secured in our love.

EPILOGUE

EMBER

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