“Take me,” she whispered, and was thankful she did not have to ask again. He wrapped his arm around her waist and sank into her.
It was like coming home. He’d saved her, fought for her, and didn’t stop until he had her. Whatever they faced, she knew she could trust him to face it at her side. Emotions welled up within her, sending her heart pounding.
She intertwined their fingers on the bed and rocked with him.
Feel my love.
Her lips glided over his arm as he blanketed her. Heath turned her head and captured her mouth, palming her breasts and tweaking her nipples. Asherah moaned, slamming her body into his. He was so hard, so thick, deep inside her. She could not imagine letting anyone take her the way he was. No one.
Ever.
“Harder, Heath,” she urged, and he obliged.
He pulled away from her and adjusted them before sitting on his knees behind her. Pushing her chest to the bed, he angled her hips so he could slide home. She screamed underneath him, but he pushed her harder. He jerked her back to meet every one of his punishing thrusts. Over and over again, he surged into her heat until she was tightening, holding him like a vise.
Asherah froze, her pussy tensing for a moment, and then she came apart in his arms. She yelled, fingers twisting into the covers under her as her core milked him. Heath surged, once, twice, a third time, and exploded with her.
This was heaven. This was the afterlife she had always wanted. Right here, with Heath. Right here.
“I love you. More than my life,” she cried out.
“We’ll face Skuld, and when we do, we will win.”
She could trust him, believe he was telling the truth.
She had to because Skuld was coming, and they had better be prepared.
Epilogue
“Who are you?”
Heath swallowed, unsure of what to say. In the time he’d been away, somehow, Lorenzo had grown into a man. His navy suit was cut to his form, showing off his broad shoulders, and when Lorenzo let go of the open door to his house, Heath had no doubt Lorenzo was prepared to grip his gun and fire.
“Damn, thought you’d know me.”
Lorenzo blinked. “What the fuck?”
Heath hadn’t used his glamour. No, he’d come to his former friend as he truly was, the Unseelie male who’d made so many mistakes but had finally found a way to feel whole.
Heath tucked his hands in the pockets of his black jeans and shrugged his shoulders. The white t-shirt was a nice touch. A bit of who he used to be. The style he’d always favored when running the streets of Encantado acting like he was nearly eighty years younger than his true age.
It was foolish, stupid, and immature. But the bonds he’d made with Cin and Lorenzo had been real. Hell, he’d gotten a chance to take back the youth he never had.
Heath shook his head. “Man, this is fucked.”
He wasn’t prepared for Lorenzo’s fist plastered against his jaw. The bastard can pack a punch. He was more aware of the next pointed jab and ducked out of the way.
“Heath?”
“In the flesh.”
“Motherfucker.
Another wild hit, and only Heath’s preternatural speed saved him from another chin check. Dominic had definitely been teaching the mage how to work with the limitations of his body. He may not have been a wolf, but he fought just like one.
“I know you’re mad.”
“Mad?” Lorenzo stalked Heath, backing him into the driveway of his one-story house. “I was mad when you called. I was mad when you sent me that fucking piece-of-shit message. But now? Now I’m fucking … ugh. You broke her fucking heart, man. She shattered to gods damned pieces in my arms thinking you were gone.”
Lorenzo had tears in his eyes, and Heath knew, without a doubt, he’d broken Lorenzo too. He’d blown his friends into pieces as they mourned his death. It had probably driven Lorenzo crazy to shield Cin from the truth that Heath was alive.
Heath stopped, letting Lorenzo land a hit right on his temple. “I’m sorry.”
A vein bulged in Lorenzo’s forehead as he pummeled Heath with all the pent-up anger he could muster. He struck body and chest blows until he rested his head in the center of Heath’s chest and bawled.
Heath wrapped his arms around his friend, the only thing he could think to do, and held him while he cried. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
“You could have told me anything. Anything. I was jealous of you at first. Cin had stars in her eyes every time she looked at you, but I knew I could give her what you never could. I love her with everything inside me, and I had to pick up her pieces.”
Heath gripped Lorenzo harder. “There was no better man for the job.”
After a moment, Lorenzo sniffed and stepped back. He looked away, his face red and his eyes swimming in unshed tears. “Did you fix it? Did you find what you were looking for?”
Yes, but Heath would be working for years to repair the damage left behind. Romano wouldn’t forget almost losing his mate. Dominic would always be watching him. Heath may have gained his past and found his Foraltae, but he would have to win back the trust of the Lombardi Pack, if it were even possible.
But he’d have to start with Lorenzo.
No matter what Heath did, if Lorenzo hated him, nothing else would ever matter.
“I did. I know it’s not going to take any of this shit away, but I learned what really happened. I know now who I am and I don’t have to hide anymore. But I can’t do this, I can’t come back, without you.”
Lorenzo finally looked at him. “You were my best friend.”
Were. Past tense. “Yeah.”
“I don’t know if you are anymore.”
Heath sighed. “I have to accept that.”
“Is this how you really look?”
“Yes.”
“How old are you?”
“Ninety-four.”
“Fuck.”
Well, yeah. He’d been acting like he was a teenager when he hung out with Cin and Lorenzo. He could see how that could be a mind-blowing moment.
“I’m … happy Dominic didn’t kill you.”
Heath laughed, but it wasn’t a joyous one. “Yeah. Me too.”
Lorenzo studied him for a moment. “You’re not so angry anymore. You used to always have this chip on your shoulder, you know? Never knew what would set you off.”
“Finding my other half and getting knocked on my ass did that for me.”
Lorenzo snorted. “Yeah, I could see that.” He looked back toward the house. “Cin isn’t here. She’s traveling for a couple of weeks for her jewelry to different portal cities. She’s in New Orleans right now.”
“Her stuff really took off, then. Good.”
Lorenzo nodded. “I don’t know how I’m going to tell her all this.”
“You don’t have to tell her you knew. Start from when I got back. Let me be the bad guy.”
“I don’t think you’ll ever be that for her, not really.”
“And for you?”
“Let’s just start with this. My name is Lorenzo DiPace, adopted member of the Lombardi Pack, husband to Cin DiPace.”
Heath swallowed. “I’m Kieran of the Shadow, but I like to be called Heath, Unseelie, and Fated to Princess Asherah Danaan of the Sea.”
“Damn. Princess, huh?”
Heath smiled. “Silva’s sister.”
Lorenzo whistled. “Nice. Want a beer?”
“I’d kill for one.”
A beer … and maybe the first step to gaining back his friend.
He could only hope.
Skuld screamed into her scrying mirror and threw it across the room, only partially satisfied when it shattered to pieces.
They are together.
The Sun and Moon. Asherah and Kieran.
The Tethered. Pasquale and Giuliana.
The Blood Pact. Dominic and Zoey.
Ales and her Cosantiór. Kalinda and Niamh.
They even had the gift of Life. Romano and Zoey.<
br />
If Skuld didn’t do something, and fast, all she’d planned would be for naught. She would not die. She would one day see herself in what may be. Time in the In Between moved differently than that of the Fragile, and it allowed Skuld to monitor things more closely, but she’d never seen Kieran being able to come to Asherah.
She’d been blinded to how he got there.
“Urd.”
There was no one else who could hope to challenge her. Verdandi was nothing more than a flighty twit living in the present moments.
It didn’t matter. Skuld would reign supreme. She would kill the exiled Queen and her sister. She would destroy any chance of the future remaining the same. Without these pairings, none would have any chance to stop her. And Skuld would remake the earth in her image.
“They will all bow to me.”
But first, she had to wipe out those who would stand against her. Skuld conjured her darkness, wrapping it around her body, spewing more power into it.
“Rise, my servant. It is time for you to feed.”
Rage. Despair. Terror.
They’d all die.
Fabiana splashed black all over her canvas, mixing it with the red bodies broken and littering the floor. Dead. They were all dead. Silva. Kalinda. Romano. Dominic. Zoey. Everyone. Death was coming, and no one would be spared.
She fell to her knees, exhausted, tears sliding down her face.
Everyone was going to die—except Fabiana.
“Come to me. It’s time.”
Carlo sat up in bed, chest heaving.
“Mine.”
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About The Authors
Georgette St. Clair writes hot, sexy romances starring Alpha heroes. The road to love may be rocky and fraught with peril (and humor and scorchtastic sex and healthy heapings of snark), but her shifters will stop at nothing to claim the women they love.
Georgette has worn many hats in life: newspaper reporter, EMT, internet marketer, cocktail waitress, temp, nurse’s aide (not in chronological order).
When she’s not rescuing fur-babies, she spends her days in a fantasy universe where she nudges her smart-mouthed, take-no-gruff heroines onto paths which will set them on a collision course with true love.
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Writing professionally since 2008, LeTeisha Newton's love of romance novels began long before it should have. After spending years sneaking reads from her grandmother's stash, she finally decided to pen her own tales. As many will do during their youth, she bounced from fantasy, urban literature, mainstream, interracial, paranormal, heterosexual, and LGBT works until she finally rested in contemporary romance.
LeTeisha is all about deep angst and angry heroes who take a bit more loving to smooth their rough edges. Love comes in many sizes, shapes, and colors, as well as with—or without—absolute beauty and fairy tale sweetness. She writes the darker tales because life is hard … but love is harder.
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Fated to the Traitor (Portal City Protectors Book 4) Page 18
