I grinned at their banter. Happy for it.
“Well, on top of disregarding my medical advice to rest, you also refused to let me give you a salve to ease your other discomforts.”
“What?” I asked Maddox. “Why?”
His jaw tightened. “Because my men need the medicine more than I. The healing elixir that closed my wound will suffice. The other discomforts, as you call them, are nothing more than slight aches and bruises. I’ve had much worse and healed fine on my own.”
“You really are stubborn,” Briar said. “You’re lucky I didn’t tie you down and treat you anyway.”
A challenge sparked in Maddox’s blue eyes. “I would’ve enjoyed seeing you try.”
Before Briar could lose his shit—aka, drag Maddox upstairs and throw him in bed, forcing him to rest—the four of us made our way upstairs.
Maddox turned to me in the hall and cupped my cheek. “Will you sleep beside me tonight?”
I nodded. There wasn’t anywhere else I wanted to be than in his arms.
He glanced at something over my shoulder. “I believe someone wishes to say goodnight to you first.”
I followed his gaze, seeing the flash of a white tail as Lake went into the guest room. He left the door open for me. I patted Maddox’s chest before walking that way, poking my head into the room.
“Hey,” I said. “Can I come in?”
“Of course. You never need to ask.” Lake sat on the bed and removed his boots. More bashfully, he turned away from me as he took off his tunic and then crawled under the covers.
I plopped down on the edge of the bed and tucked the top sheet in around his body. “There. Snug as a bug.”
“A bug?” Lake’s ears did that adorable perking thing in his awed curiosity. That earned him a kiss, and when he smiled against my lips, my soul stirred, as though with each kiss we shared, the fateful ties that bound us together strengthened.
“You know you can sleep with us if you want,” I murmured, hoping he’d say yes but suspecting he wasn’t quite ready for that. While he seemed more comfortable in many aspects, intimacy with me for one, he was still guarded around everyone else.
Lake froze. “I… I’m not sure I—”
“It’s okay.” I rubbed our noses together once and pulled back. “Just know the offer is always open if you change your mind.”
He tenderly smiled. “See you in the morning.”
“See you in the morning,” I echoed before kissing him one final time—because how could I not when he was so fucking cute?
I left the room and closed the door. He didn’t like to sleep with it open.
Light spilled out into the hall through the cracked bathroom door. I padded that way and slowly pushed it open. Maddox was in the process of removing his armor, discomfort etched into his face as he tried to unfasten his chest piece.
“Let me help,” I said before going over and replacing his hands with mine.
He watched me as I worked off one piece of armor, then another. Surprisingly, I didn’t fumble with the clasps and strings like I usually did when trying to get him naked. This was a different type of intimacy, not one derived from lust and the urgency to be fucked hard. It was more tender.
My hands shook as I unfastened his shirt and helped him maneuver it up and over his head—which he had to bend down to make possible.
Deep bruising spanned across his upper torso and there was a mark from where the dagger plunged into him. The elixir had closed the wound, thankfully, but the evidence was still there, in the form of an angry looking scar that would fade over time but only reminded me right then of how close I’d been to losing him.
“Don’t cry,” Maddox whispered.
“I’m not.” I wiped at my eyes.
He took my wrist in a gentle hold. I didn’t know why but it made more tears spring forward. He pressed his lips to my knuckles, locking our gazes. Long black lashes and blue eyes deeper than the ocean. The heat of his stare slammed into my heart and enclosed it in an iron fist.
“My life is yours, Evan,” he softly said. “How could I ever surrender it to anyone else? Nothing can take me from you.”
