Page 132 of Demon's Bane

The press of her fingers into the seam where wing meets shoulder, stroking me firm and slow just like I taught her, sending wave after wave of impossible pleasure coursing through me.

The soul-rending knowledge of hertrust, her beautiful heart cracked open wide to let me in.

As we slowly return to sanity, I pull my fangs from her throat and kiss each bit of skin I can reach. Her cheeks and chin, the line of her jaw, even her closed eyelids, which flutter like moths’ wings as I brush my lips gently against them.

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” I murmur, smoothing a strand of hair away from her perspiration-damp forehead.

Joan shifts in my lap, and with my cock still half-hard and buried in her, I let out a brief growl of amused warning.

“Be still, witch,” I tell her, nipping at her jaw. “Unless you’d like to remain stuck this way for the rest of the afternoon.”

She glances down to where our bodies are joined, and desire darkens her eyes as she sees where she’s still stretched wide around my knot.

“I could think of worse ways to pass the time.”

Another growl, this one deeper and less controlled. “Answer the question, little mate.”

“I was just thinking about the practicalities of… all this,” she says, waving her hand vaguely at the room around us. “You being here in this realm. Feeling like you’ve got… I don’t know. A purpose here. Something other than me that would make leaving your realm feel worth it.”

Though I don’t want to let anything intrude on this moment, nor can I let my mate think she isn’t the singular purpose worth braving any realm, making a place for myself wherever she is, as long as it means I get to remain by her side.

“You are worth everything, Joan.”

Her eyes shimmer with emotion, and even at risk of drawing forth those unshed tears, I need her to hear me.

“We have time,” I tell her gently. “Time to figure it out. Time for me to explore where I might fit into this realm of yours. And until then, I want nothing more than to be by your side as you live your full, beautiful life here.”

I hope she can hear the sincerity in my voice, hope she can believe what I’m telling her. After these last few days and the way I’ve been so damned stubborn for so damn long, I wouldn’t blame her for holding on to a few of her reservations.

And even if she can’t fully trust it yet, I intend to show her. By word and action and time, I’ll show her.

“We have years and decades,” I continue. “The rest of our lives to decide what path we want to take.”

“Then we’ll figure it out together,” Joan whispers. “Everything. All of it. We do it together.”

“Together,” I agree, the word an oath.

43

Joan

I’m not sure how long exactly Rhett and I stay tangled together on my couch.

It's long enough for his knot to subside, and for Rhett to band two muscular arms around my back and stand. The shift in position makes me acutely aware his cock is still lodged firmly inside of me, and I squirm on him as my cheeks heat. In response, Rhett reaches a hand down and gives me a light, teasing swat on the ass.

“Be still, witch. I’ll take care of that in a moment.”

Swallowing my sound of mingled protest and embarrassment, I do as he says as he walks us both naked down the hall toward my bedroom.

He pauses on the threshold, long enough that I lean back and look up to meet his gaze, trying to figure out why he stopped.

Rhett catches my eye and a crooked smile turns up the corner of his mouth.

“What?” I ask.

“I just… wondered. What this space was like. What it might be like to share it with you.”

I turn my attention to the open door in front of us, trying to see my room through his eyes.

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