Page 75 of Misbehaving With Minotaurs
“I had no idea,” she says, her voice shaky as she swipes at the still falling tears.
“We love you,” I say to the inn. “Forever and always, Annabelle. You’re my best girl, right?”
The timer mewls in my ear, rubbing against the underside of it.
Catherine dabs at her eyes. “Okay, my turn! I can’t wait any longer.”
I hold Annabelle’s heart to mine as Catherine backs into my arms. With her free hand, she grabs the velvet curtain and shoves it aside to reveal an incredible painting of my view back home at the Pine Gulch property.
“I painted this for you.” She takes our joined hands and places them on the intricate strokes. “Pine Gulch will always be a part of us, and I want you to feel that every minute of every day. It means the world to me that you’re building something with me in Ever, but I don’t want that to mean you’re givinganythingup, Nor.”
She rests her head against my chest and looks up at me. “This isn’t all, though.”
I’m too overwhelmed by the incredible painting to fullyprocess it when she moves her hand from mine and electricity begins to crackle in the air. She grabs a paint brush from a nearby jar of water and dips it in black paint, then begins to paint a circle on the wall. It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell her not to ruin her incredible painting, but her magic stands all my hair on end, halting the words.
I’ve seen her succubus power to beguile many times over the years, but this is different.
This isthatmagic—the magic that built the system that protects monsterkind from the outside human world.
My heart speeds up at the surprise of it.
Catherine’s paintbrush shimmers and morphs, almost seeming to become one with the painting, flattening and turning three-dimensional once more. The art itself begins to shimmer and writhe, the entire wall twisting and curling and snapping as electricity rends the air. She remains with her back to my chest, painting and swirling as tiny green sparks fly from the tip of her brush, skirting along the painting, following the lines of her strokes until—SNAP!
With a great crack, the paintbrush becomes a flat part of the painting, and it’s as if I’m staring at Pine Gulch itself.
Catherine spins in my arms. “This is a little something from me to you, mate. C’mon.” She turns again, takes my hand, and steps forward, disappearing into the brushstrokes.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CATHERINE
Istep through the newly created portal, my shoes crunching on the tiny pebbles littering the rocky surface just before the cliff.
This view—our view—is perfection, and I couldn’t have lived with myself if I stole one of Manorin’s greatest dreams from him. Not even if he swore up and down every day that the dream didn’t fit him without me in it.
He gasps, pulling me against his big body. His chest heaves, his warm breath tickling the side of my neck. Big fingers curl into my belly and hold me tightly against him.
“Catherine…I…I’m at a loss for words.”
I spin in his arms, putting a finger through his ring and guiding his focus to me.
His black pupils overtake the crimson of his irises—he loves to be tugged around by his nose ring. “You belong to me, and as much as it’s your job to make me happy, it’s mine to do the same for you.” I slide a hand up his shirt, over miles of abs to rest over his rapidly beating heart. “I could never let you give this up, Manorin, not for anything, not even me. So I made us thisportal. We can come and go any time we want, but eventually Evenia will find out about i?—”
He silences me by bending down and nuzzling my mouth with his big lips, the closest thing he has to a kiss. He nips at my chin and bends lower, licking a hot path down the front of my neck then back up beneath my ear.
“You’re breaking a million rules, Sunshine. Will there be consequences for that?”
“Mmm.” I lean to the side, giving him an easier path to bite and nibble his way along my skin. “Not for me, there won’t. I’d like to see Evenia try.” It’s laughable, really.
I’m not going to bring up the portal, but I suspect she’ll find out. It’s mine and Manorin’s, and I’ll never tell another soul about it. Still, I know she built safeguards into the system when we originally created it.
“I want us to build here,” I say quietly. “I want us to build the property you always dreamed of, and we can come here anytime we want, Nor.” I wave around us. “You have Annabelle’s heart and the timer, so she’s with us still. It’ll be perfect. We can have our cake and eat it too.”
He sinks to the ground and pulls me into his lap, my back to his chest. “Thank you, mate,” he whispers into my ear. “You two are my gifts, and I’m not entirely sure I deserve them.”
I shrug and smile at him over my shoulder. “I suppose you’ll have to work reallyreallyhard to make sure you do deserve us, then.” I wink. “Really fucking hard, Nor.”
He chuckles into my ear, nipping at my sensitive skin. “I’m really fucking hard right now, Sunshine. Shall I start focusing on being worthy?”
