Page 52 of Reigning
And then Sinister’s pulling me away again.
* * *
The little cottage with the small garden in front has a companion now that was not there this morning. When we stride down the dirt path to Agatha’s house, a matching, slightly larger house rests at its side. It’s identical in structure, a replica, except it’s completely perfect. The wooden siding is freshly painted white, the windows shine with the reflection of the setting sun, and the door in the center is a bright yellow, matching the tiny daisies that line the smooth brick sidewalk to the front door.
It’s like happiness threw up all over this beautiful little cottage.
“Who in the hell made that?”
“Well, again, never been to Hell, but I’ll take credit.” Sinister peers at me, his dark lashes lining his shining crimson eyes. The pink scar that slices the edge of his face makes him seem more rugged now than boyish. He’s not that boy I fell in love with all those years ago.
He’s different but the same.
“Hey, asshole, I painted.” Chaos shoves Sin’s shoulder, pushing him even closer into my side.
“You painted for an hour until Rime took his shirt off, and then I never saw you two again for the rest of the morning.” Sinister turns, and there’s a small moment where the two men are just staring each other down, both refusing to smirk first.
Until a big smile pulls across the shifter’s lips.
Strong hands push down my hips from behind, bringing me flush against him as I turn in his arms. Kain’s gaze holds so much in the depths of his eyes, and I feel all that emotion as he looks down on me, his lips so close to mine.
“We wanted to make our mate a home,” he says.
Their mate.
Something in me flutters to life, and all those feelings build within me until I can barely even breathe. They’ve all done so much for me. Given up so much.
Kain knows that more than any of them. His horns, his status, his dragon. It’s all so much. And the protective man doesn’t even pause to consider the things he’s given up for a single moment. None of that was something he ever cared about.
He’s a protector, a provider, a beautiful fucking man who I don’t deserve.
I fist my fingers into his white shirt and pull him to me, pressing my lips slowly to his.
“I love you.” My voice trembles, and then I’m looking around at all these men who I never realized I needed until they came crashing into my already messy life. “I love you,” I say again, my gaze sweeping from Sinister, to Rime, to Chaos.
Chaos comes closer, his chest brushing Kain’s shoulder until his lips meet mine. He kisses me so briefly and then says the strangest thing. “Prove it.”
My brows lower, and I’m still leaning into him but I’m no longer chasing his kiss but more his confusing words.
“Prove it?Prove that I love you?”
He nods. Rime passes a knowing look to Sinister, and Sin brings out a small glass jar. It’s tinted a dark gray, but there’s some sort of herbs at the bottom of it.
“What’s that?”
“The supplies needed to perform a mating ceremony.” Sin’s gaze holds on me, and I study the deep-green plant that seems to be dried and bundled together into a small pile in the bottom of the smoke-colored jar.
“You gathered the supplies and didn’t think to ask if I’d changed my mind?” The challenging words don’t match the smirk on my lips.
Kain takes a step closer, pulling me back until our chests are firmly against one another.
“Arlow Winters, will you be our biggest pain in the ass for the rest of our beautiful lives?”
Oh, be still my snarky heart.
I nod slowly, rubbing my fingers back and forth over the ring they gave me. It feels like a lifetime has passed since then.
And now we’re doing exactly what they asked me to do all that time ago.
