Her Noble Owl (Marked By The Moon Book 4)

by Kestra Pingree

  “You’re welcome,” Cedric replied, not missing a beat.

  Rogue laughed. “Anyway. You’ll be staying at the safe house Trinity dumped me in. Once everything has blown over, you’ll be free to go and sort out your own problems.”

  “Fantastic.”

  “It can’t be that bad.”

  “No. It won’t be that bad,” Cedric agreed. “I’ve got Stella and Russel with me.” He turned to Stella with real pain in his eyes. “I’m so sorry, Stella.”

  She knew what he was apologizing for. He saw what Tyler was doing to her, but she had no interest discussing it here and now. She was doing her best not to think about it. With Cedric and Russel safe by her side, she could forget about it. She was in the middle seat, so she extended both of her arms behind Cedric and Russel and pulled them in for a big hug. Cedric kissed the top of her head, and Russel snuggled into her side. They were both safe, and they were right here.

  The Moon had taken its sweet time to help her reach this point. In a way, it didn’t feel like it had helped her at all. Cedric saved her and Russel. All this time, they had been waiting for him to save them. To save each other. She wished they could have met sooner, but at least she had him now. Cedric was here. She and Russel were going to keep him here. The future ahead was bright, full of love and laughter. Nothing could ever go wrong again as long as they had each other.

  Together, they were as immovable as the stars in the sky.

  Chapter 17

  ROGUE LEFT IN A rush after reminding Stella and the boys once again that they weren’t allowed to leave the safe house. They were deep inside of Kansas City now, in a little building eclipsed by its much larger neighbors practically oozing with Christmas lights. It likely got overlooked in their shadows more often than not. However, it was cozy enough even though it was old and worn. Everything was in working order. Then again, any place would have been fine as long as Stella was with Russel and Cedric.

  Rogue said to help themselves to anything. He also specifically pointed out that there was food in the kitchen, but no one was feeling particularly hungry. Still, Stella decided to look inside and grabbed some cheese sticks to gnaw on. At the very least, she expected Russel to eat something, which he did dutifully, one small nibble at a time.

  “How’s your head?” she asked.

  “Okay,” Russel replied. He finished his last bite of cheese and lay down on the couch, curling up so he wouldn’t bother Stella and Cedric. He looked like he was going to pass out at any moment, but he was watching some cartoon on the TV he seemed determined to see through to the end, so Stella didn’t insist he find a bed. He had been through enough today.

  “Can we pick up my plane later?” he asked.

  “We’ll do our best to,” Cedric replied. “If we can’t, we’ll build a new one.”

  Russel nodded and closed his eyes. Stella thought they’d stay closed this time, but he forced them open again. She could understand why he was fighting sleep. It was to stave off the nightmares, but there was always the possibility he could have good dreams. She hoped he’d have good dreams because the nightmares had no place in their lives anymore.

  “Are you okay?” Cedric whispered in her ear. “I fucked up. I’m so sorry, Stella.”

  “What are you talking about?” she chastised. “You did everything you could. I’ll be okay. I’m already okay. So is Russel. Because of you. Because you didn’t give up on us.”

  “Never. I’ll never give up on you.”

  “Then I’m okay. You kept your promise.” She sucked in a shuddering breath. “Tyler can never touch me or Russel again.”

  Cedric wasn’t entirely convinced. She knew because he put up that wall again, the one where he hid what he was feeling, and his eyes became cold. The scary part was over, but everyone was still suffering from the scare they had, from the pain they shared. Cedric included. And Stella knew he was angry at himself for not being able to stop Tyler from raping her one last time. It was fucking awful like every other time, but she was doing her best to put it in the past. Yes, it hurt, but she didn’t want to think about it anymore. She certainly didn’t blame Cedric for it. Not at all. He almost died for them. He did everything he could for them. This man deserved her love, and love him she did.

  Cedric stood up and walked to the small kitchen where he started rummaging through the cabinets, apparently looking for something.

  “What do you know. Rogue isn’t completely uncivilized,” he commented as he pulled out a container of hot chocolate. “Want some, Russ? We didn’t get a chance to dig into ours.”

  Russel rolled off the couch and walked over to Cedric with his head down. He grabbed the front of Cedric’s shirt and rested his head against his chest. Cedric placed a hand on his shoulder.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Now that Tyler’s gone, are you going to leave?”

  “No, I’m not leaving.”

  Cedric grabbed Russel’s hand, prying his fingers from his shirt, and knelt down in front of him. He took Russel’s left arm and held out his right, revealing both of their Lunas Sigils. The mark glowed a soft blue for an instant, and Russel looked at it in wonder.

  “My promise didn’t end with Tyler, Russ. You’re mine,” Cedric said. “I’m staying. I want to keep you and Stella always. I want you to meet my daughter. You’re my family.”

  Russel gave a hesitant grin. Then he wrapped his arms around Cedric and buried his face into Cedric’s broad shoulder. Cedric hugged him back tightly. Stella was pretty sure her heart was going to explode with the love she felt for them both.

  “What do you say about that hot chocolate?” Cedric asked.

  “Yes!”

  Russel squirmed out of Cedric's arms and searched the kitchen for three mugs. He set them on the counter and looked up at Cedric eagerly. Together, they made each cup, using the milk in the fridge and the microwave to heat them up.

  “There are even marshmallows,” Russel pointed out.

  Cedric winked. “Because it’s the best kind.”

  The boys took their seats back on the couch at either side of Stella, and Cedric handed her one of the warm mugs. It felt good on her hands. She took an experimental sip and savored the creamy chocolaty taste. Russel did the same and wasn’t shy about expressing his opinion vocally in an exaggerated hum.

  “This is so good,” he said.

  “Careful not to burn your tongue,” Cedric warned with a grin as Russel was about to take a huge gulp. “We should put something Christmas related on the TV. Christmas will be here in like a week.”

  “Okay,” Russel consented and took another small sip of hot chocolate.

  “Christmas it is.” Stella picked up the remote and flipped through the channels. This year Christmas would be nice. This year she would celebrate it with the people she loved. She would be a part of the celebration instead of glimpsing it in passing.

  She ended up finding a Christmas movie about a boy and his new puppy. Russel seemed mildly interested in it, so she let it play.

  Russel rested his head on Stella’s lap when he finished his hot chocolate. She wasn’t surprised when he passed out pretty quickly after that. She lightly ran her hand through his brown hair, thankful they had all survived. Tyler was dead. He would haunt her mind for some time. He was hiding in the back of her thoughts even now, but she would get through it, and she would waste as little time on his memory and the hurt he caused as she could because she wanted to give her all to what she had gained. Tyler didn’t deserve another second of her life.

  Stella leaned into Cedric, and he wrapped his arm around her. She breathed him in. He was a bit sweaty, definitely manly—and bird. She smiled. She had fallen for an owl shifter and a Snow of all things. It was the last thing she had expected.

  “We feel the same way,” she said.

  “About?” Cedric asked as he gave her a little squeeze.

  “You’re ours. You’re our family.”

  Stella twisted slightly, careful not to dist
urb Russel, and caught Cedric’s face in her hands, coaxing him down to meet her lips. She kissed him and he kissed her, and they lingered. He rubbed his nose against hers in between breaks from his lips claiming hers. His eyes were closed, allowing only the sensation of touching her. How could she keep him? Did snowy owls claim mates like wolves?

  “Cedric,” she murmured between kisses, “how does a snowy owl claim his mate?”

  He stopped kissing her but let his lips linger near hers as he spoke. “It’s kind of not as official as a wolf’s claiming bite, or it is, but it’s more for show and something other snowy owls witness—but this is coming from a Snow. A Snow is only supposed to mate with another pureblood snowy owl. Before the sex and everything, both shifters shift into their owls and perform a dance. It involves flying and clasping talons. Sort of like a waltz in the sky, I suppose.”

  Well, Stella couldn’t fly and she wasn’t a snowy owl picked by the Snows. There had to be a way to consummate their union through more than sex. Marriage was a possibility, but the wolf in her wasn’t satisfied with either of those things alone. Even with Tyler’s abuse, she craved a mating bite because she knew Cedric wouldn’t abuse his place with her.

  That was it. She found the answer she was looking for.

  “What if I claimed you?” she asked.

  Cedric raised an eyebrow at her. “Does it work that way?”

  Stella’s Lunas Sigil sent a buzz of energy up her arm. From the look on Cedric’s face, he felt it too.

  “Yes,” Stella established, figuring the Moon was telling her just that. As soon as she said it, she could feel the confirmation deep in her bones. The Moon approved of this union. Nice of it to care, she guessed. Perhaps Cedric was worth the wait. She knew he was. If many years of happiness with him were ahead, he was.

  “Then do it.” Cedric kissed her. “I’m all yours.” He paused. “Shouldn’t you talk to Russel about it first?”

  “No. I know this is what he wants. You do, too. You see the way he looks at you. He hugged you, Cedric. He loves you.”

  Cedric glanced at Russel still asleep in Stella’s lap and smiled. “I love him, too.”

  “I think the three of us were always meant to end up together.”

  “I feel that, too.” Cedric kissed her again, sucking on her lips, teasing her mouth with his tongue. “Can we get a room already? We’re going to wake him up.”

  Stella caught his face with her hands to keep him there for a moment longer as she took the privilege of controlling their last kiss before they moved. Russel was in such a deep sleep, he didn’t stir when Stella carefully placed his head on the couch. Cedric turned off the TV and turned off the light to let him sleep for as long as he could.

  Rogue hadn’t given them a tour of the place because he was in a hurry to take care of reporters and shifters potentially coming out to the world. That thought probably should have scared Stella, but she had this warm feeling that it would all work out somehow. Cedric trusted Rogue. Rogue was part of some huge and influential shifter alliance. Hell, it was all bigger than her. She just wanted to hold on to her happiness. If there was one thing she had learned, it was that she should never take anything for granted. That was why she was so eager to claim Cedric. There was no sense in waiting.

  Stella opened a door that didn’t smell like cat. Sure enough, it was an untouched bedroom. There was some water damage, but the sheets were new and everything smelled clean. “We’re claiming this room,” she commented.

  Cedric chuckled, but followed her inside and shut the door quietly behind them. Then he swept her up in his arms, her legs draped over one arm and her back against the other. She squeaked in surprise and instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck for stability.

  “Cedric!” She tried to sound cross, but she was smiling.

  “What?” He grinned back and set her down on the bed.

  “Get undressed.”

  Stella growled playfully as she made quick work of her own clothes and threw everything down on the floor. Cedric didn’t move. He watched her with hungry eyes. He looked like he wanted to join in, but he hesitated.

  He asked, “Are you sure you’re up for this?”

  “I’ve never been more ready,” she replied. “What about you? You were hurt pretty bad.”

  “I’m fine. It won’t be a problem.”

  Stella planted herself on her butt and spread her legs wide as she touched the wetness in between the folds of her sex to show him exactly what she meant. She tried not to think about how much Cedric turned her on when Russel was around, but they were alone. She could revel in it as much as she wanted to. She could share it with Cedric and make him feel good. He smelled just as ready as she felt. His scent was heady in the air, his need intoxicating.

  “Stella,” Cedric groaned as he quickly ditched his clothes.

  Smirking, Stella used her feet to push and slide on her butt back across the bed when Cedric placed his hands at the foot of the mattress. He stalked her quietly with burning gold eyes as he moved toward her, one hand and one leg at a time. She proceeded to move backward until her back hit the headboard. Then she waited eagerly as Cedric took his sweet time crawling forward. She kept her legs spread wide, inviting. Cedric crawled in between her legs and reached for her lips. He kissed her hard and possessive. Her snowy owl was losing control of himself, completely and unapologetically attracted to her despite the marks on her skin, despite her too skinny body.

  He saw her as more than those things. Besides, with Cedric her body would have time to heal. He made her feel beautiful even when she certainly didn’t think that about herself when she looked in the mirror. Maybe one day she’d be able to see herself and feel beautiful again without his words. Yes, she deserved to love herself again.

  Then there was Cedric. Perfect, sexy man. Every inch of his fair skin was tantalizing, his muscles rippling underneath, the blue of his veins. One look at him said cold, but Cedric wasn’t cold. He was warm. So warm. Not snow at all.

  His body blanketed her as he pushed forward, pressing into every inch of her skin he could manage to while kissing her like this on his hands and knees. Stella dug her fingers into his back, inviting him closer. He bit at her jaw, rested on his knees for a moment, and grabbed her hips, pulling her toward him, entirely exposing her sex. He kissed down her body, pausing at her breasts to tease one of her hard nipples. She jolted against him and dug her fingers harder into his skin as she let out a needy whimper. He moved to her stomach, pressed a delicate kiss to her ugliest scar of all, and then he plunged his tongue into her wet sex.

  She gasped. He pressed his tongue near the top of her slit, to a pleasure point she had been completely unaware of until the first time Cedric had doted on her. He circled his tongue around and filled her with an explosive energy. Her hands went to his silvery hair as she pleaded with him. His mouth felt so good. He held her hips fast as she wriggled in his grasp, feeling the need to buck her hips forward and take more.

  “Give me more,” she begged.

  He plunged two fingers inside of her, and she nearly lost her mind. It took everything she had not to scream. She didn’t know how soundproof this house was, but she didn’t want to wake Russel up. The pressure building up inside of her climaxed and released in a rush as her sex pulsed around Cedric’s fingers. He pulled out of her and grabbed her hips again, placing her on his lap. She wrapped her arms and legs around him as he kissed her lips, filling her mouth with the taste of her own sex. It was erotic as hell, but it felt right to her. Her Lunas Sigil was burning with the same energy flowing through the rest of her body.

  She held him tightly, determined to feel every inch of his skin possible. His thick erection was pressing against her sex, but he wasn’t positioned at her entrance. She wanted to change that, but first she kissed Cedric’s neck. She moved one hand to feel down his torso, to brush her fingers against his still healing stomach.

  “Feeling okay?” she asked him as she gently probed the wound, making sur
e it was sealed and that her lover wasn’t in pain.

  “Better than okay,” he informed. His breathing was uneven and his heart was beating fast. They were both manifestations of his need for her. His pupils were dilated. The large black circles reminded Stella of his magnificent snowy owl, the one that swooped down from heaven to save her and Russel.

  Stella hummed and scratched his chest. Then she dipped her head down and grazed his nipple with her teeth. He took a quick breath of anticipation. His hot and hard cock was distracting though. It was the only thing she could think about. She needed to move. She needed to join him.

  Slowly and deliberately, Stella lifted herself up and grabbed Cedric’s cock. She positioned him at her entrance and pressed down on him one inch at a time. She could feel his racing pulse in his shaft. They moaned in unison when she let him go and took him as far as she could. Her walls were tight, but she relaxed around him, stretched to fit him, more and more with each passing second.

  “Stella,” Cedric pleaded. “Move. Come with me. I can’t fucking take much more.” His eyes rolled back in pleasure as his hands trembled at her hips. “You make me come undone.”

  “Not yet,” Stella whispered. She reverently took his right arm and traced the Moon’s reflection on his forearm, near his wrist. “I’ll make the bite shallow.”

  “Make it deep,” he insisted. “Claim me like you mean it, Stella. Mark me.”

  Shocked, she looked up at him to meet his gaze. There was a challenge in his eyes. He wanted this as badly as she did. He wasn’t just going along with the bite because that was what she wanted.

  “Okay,” she whispered.

  She experimented with placing her mouth on his Lunas Sigil. She touched his skin with only her lips at first. She offered light kisses and started rocking against him. He rocked with her, and they ramped up that ever building energy between them. When Cedric’s murmurs of pleasure were becoming too much for her, she grazed his Lunas Sigil with her teeth. She picked up the pace at the same time. He didn’t miss a thing and matched her move for move. Her mind grew hazy with what he did to her, the pleasure he gave to her. She needed to claim him now before she lost it.