A strong hand slid under my neck and gripped the back of my hair, bringing my head up from the pillow. Firm lips then pressed to mine. My grumpy captain. He’d returned to my side while I’d been lost in the haze of pleasure and kissed me just as that pleasure rocked my fucking world.
Lake swallowed down every drop I had to give before pulling off. Fluffy white wolf ears jutted from his silver hair, and his tail—the same color and fluffiness—flicked from side to side. A sign he was happy.
I wouldn’t mention how cute I thought it was though, at least not in front of Maddox and Briar. It made him self-conscious.
“Muffin lord down.” I sank back down on the pillow. “I think y’all killed me.”
“Yet, you’re still blessing us with that mouth.” Maddox playfully nipped at my lips. His eyes shifted to Lake. “Would you like a moment alone with him?”
My belly fluttered.
Lake had grown more comfortable being intimate with me in front of Maddox and Briar and regularly participated during steamy times like tonight. But when he and I had sex, it was just the two of us. It would take him more time to be that vulnerable around them. The fact Maddox knew that and considered Lake’s feelings… well, it showed he’d become more relaxed around Lake too, no longer seeing him as a threat.
“What do ya say?” I asked Lake with another little wiggle.
The glow of the lit fireplace reflected in his irises, making them flicker like purple flames. “No, it’s all right.” He lay over my lap, hugging my upper thighs as he rested his head on them. “This is what I want right now.”
I lowered a hand to his head and slid my fingers through the silky strands. Lake’s ears twitched at my touch, and he relaxed more against me.
“Suit yourself.” Maddox got out of bed. The logs in the hearth popped as he bent to stoke them. Firelight danced across the muscles of his back and wide shoulders.
The muscles… and the scars. A few covered his back, and more showed on his abdomen and ribs. They’d come from the Fenrir demon that had attacked him and his unit shortly after I’d first met him. It was when my affection for the surly knight had really sparked. I’d realized how much I liked him. How afraid I was of something bad happening to him.
As the flames grew higher and crackled along the logs, the slight chill in the room lifted, and warmth tingled along my skin. It warmed even more once Maddox returned to bed and settled in beside me. Briar snuggled closer on my left, and Lake continued to rest across my legs on top of the blanket, his cheek pressed to my thigh.
The four of us had found a rhythm that worked for everyone, a song we all enjoyed. Or maybe a baking metaphor would suit us better? We each had an essential ingredient that made the best muffins around.
And man, were they delicious.
“Are you warm enough?” I asked Lake. He’d covered up with a knitted blanket.
Lake nuzzled my thigh in response. Soft puffs left him moments later. My wolfy must’ve been tired.
After Briar and Maddox fell asleep, I lay awake listening to the crackling fire. I was exhausted but had too much on my mind to sleep. Nights had become that way in recent months. A lot had happened.
There was the heightening conflict with the kingdom of Haran because of the attempted kidnapping of Prince Sawyer. I had been kidnapped instead—long story. Also, worrying about Maddox and the rest of the knights should war break out.
But what had my mind racing the most? Lupin’s last visit, when he’d revealed something so profound I still couldn’t wrap my head around it.
“I’m saying the reason you never felt like you belonged in your old world and why you feel so at home here… is because thisisyour home. Both of your parents were born here. And so were you.”
My mother, Cynthia, had been called the Beauty of Exalos. She’d loved to bake, too, and had dreamed of having her own café. Just like me.
I hadn’t told Maddox, Briar, or Lake about Lupin’s visit yet. Which was kind of silly. They had accepted it when I’d told them I’d been whisked away from a different world and placed in theirs. It wouldn’t be too hard to accept that I’d actually been born there. The problem wasIhad trouble coming to terms with it.
Why had my mom given me to Lupin? What had she been running from? And what happened to her afterward?
And the bigger question: who was my dad? Lupin had been annoyingly tight-lipped on the matter, saying it was “too dangerous” to reveal his true identity. Theories bounced around in my head, none of them reassuring. Maybe he’d been a war criminal. A no-good thief. Someone who’d committed a heinous act against the kingdom.
I sighed and forced my eyes closed. Tried to force those thoughts away. A different thought then surged forward. A memory.
Rowan.
His dark auburn hair and topaz eyes. His cocky little smile. And the shake in his voice during the night of the autumn ball when he’d found me on the castle balcony and dropped his face to my throat.
“You’re a treasure unlike any other.”
Nearly two months had passed since that night, and I hadn’t seen him again. Probably for the best. I mean, hehadkidnapped me once in the hope of persuading Lord Onyx to allow him passage into the Shadow Realm. I would’ve been the peace offering for Rowan to get in the demon lord’s good graces. Why? He had mistaken me for Prince Sawyer.
