Page 105 of Joy Guardian

“Yes. Lots and lots of dicks. A whole cluster. And they will all want to fuck you.”

“Fuuuuck!” Kurai bellowed behind us, speeding up as if the mention of sex added strength to him.

“That’s how they reproduce,” Dawn clarified.

“I have toreproduce?” My voice cameout in a shriek.

I’d always wanted to have children. Dylan convinced me to wait until he was done with his studies. I’d also thought it’d be a good idea for me to get a college degree before starting a family. But secretly, I always wished I could start a family sooner rather than later.

But not like this.

Running down a dark corridor in a dungeon from a man I’d just confessed my love to? This was not how I had envisioned it.

“Tell me you don’t want to be with him,” Dawn said.

“One word from you, Ciana, and I’ll have the guards detain him,” Prince Rha assured me.

“And then what? What will happen to him?”

“If his mating fever is not tended to. He’ll probably die.”

“Probably?” I froze on the spot, unable to make another step away from Kurai.

“Well,” the prince said. “No one knows for sure, since so far, the only mating fever between a shadow fae and a human happened between Dawn and me, and…it was welltendedto.” He smiled, sliding a warm glance at Dawn.

Kurai caught up with us in two wide leaps. He grabbed me around my middle and tossed me over his shoulder.

The prince drew his sword. His guards did the same, surrounding Kurai as far as the space in the narrow corridor would allow.

Clamping a hand around my thigh, Kurai growled and bared his fangs.

“Wait!” I pleaded with the guards. “Please don’t hurt him. I want to be with him. I want to spend the rest of my life with him. I’m just…”

It all had been happening so fast. Kurai’s transformation had been too sudden. My head was spinning. And now, I was hanging over his shoulder with blood rushing to my brain as he marched along the corridor toward the exit of the dungeon.

The guards flanked him but didn’t stop him without an order from theirprince.

“Okay, listen carefully…” Dawn ran after Kurai, giving me last-minute instructions. “Mating fever is brutal for shadow fae. They feel no pleasure from sex, just an overwhelming need and a lot of pain. Um…” She glanced at the matte spots on his upper arms. “What happened to his tendrils?”

I pushed my hands into Kurai’s back, lifting up to see her face. It wasn’t easy to have a conversation in this position.

“I cut them off.”

“You did? But why?” Dawn stared at me in confusion.

“It’s a long story.” I waved her off. “I’ll tell you later. But what do I do now?”

“Right. Well, without the tendrils, he won’t be able to connect to you. Which means he won’t feel your fear or your pain. He can hurt you and wouldn’t even know. It’s not good, Ciana. Maybe we should lock him up in here after all?”

We passed through a room with the dungeon guards sitting around a wide wooden table. Spears and axes hung on the walls, along with chains and various restraints.

Kurai grabbed a thick chain with a pair of rusty manacles on both ends.

“A chain will not hold a fae in mating fever,” Prince Rha warned.

“I’ll make sure… it holds…” Kurai rasped through his hard, labored breathing.

Hearing his voice gave me the reassurance I needed. His transformation might alter him in some ways, but it couldn’t possibly change the man into a beast completely. He was still the Kurai I knew, the man I fell in love with, the fae who vowed to cherish my love and my trust.

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