Wicked Prince: Book Two in the Territorial Mates Series

by Twomey, Mary E.

  Salem flips the hem of my nightgown over my backside and kneads my butt, his fingers dipping under the fabric of my underwear in intervals I can’t predict and desperately need. All I can do is hold on and kiss him harder, telling him that I want his hands exactly there. Exactly everywhere.

  He rolls us over so he’s on top, and I reach for his belt, eager for all that he is. “Wait,” he breathes, and it’s then I realize he’s panting, his eyebrows stitched together with fear. “I need… Give me a second. Something feels off. When shifters get overexcited, they can…” He shakes his head. “I don’t want to shift in the middle of… I’m not sure if tha’s what’s happening, but something feels strange.”

  My arms find their way around his neck, inviting him to lay atop me, crushing me into the mattress under his massive weight. His breathing is ragged and unsteady, which I take as a compliment. I don’t exactly have much experience with this sort of thing. My body just knows that it wants Salem, so parts of it gravitate to his touch.

  “Strange?” I question. “I was hoping you were feeling good, not strange.”

  He has the wherewithal to chuckle into my hair. “More than good. But something’s building in my chest. Like a heart attack I really want to happen.” He shakes his head and then kisses me. “I’m not explaining it right. Feels like the first time I shifted when I was younger.” His kisses connect us in pitters and patters of pleasure mixed with peace. “It’s good. Very good. Just more intense than I ever knew something like this could be. My body’s trying to figure itself out.”

  Even as he’s trying to calm himself, we sneak in kisses that are exchanges of affection and reassurance. But after only a handful, they come like a tidal wave, rocking us both out to sea, and so very far from the safety of the shore. I cling to his neck as I’m swept away, trusting that he’ll be there to anchor me when life has other plans.

  He kisses me like I’m the only woman in the world. His eyes are scrunched like his joy is causing him actual physical pain.

  My leg coils around his, trapping it and keeping it as my treasure. Salem groans as his pelvis sinks into mine, rocking us both with pangs of pleasure and permanence. All this time, he’s wanted me. All this time, I could’ve been his.

  My nightgown rides up, and his fingers find their way to trace a heated line up the top of my thigh, scorching me so it feels like my whole body burns for him. When his thumb loops in the band of my underwear, heat shoots through me from my hip all the way through my legs, pushing my knees further apart.

  His eyes are still scrunched like he’s in agony, grunting and groaning through the undulations of desire he’s pressing between my legs. When I manage to unhook his belt, he lets out a bleat of fear. “Lily, don’t let me shift!”

  My hands take on a new purpose, derailing my mission to get him naked as soon as possible. Instead I trail my fingers up and down his broad back, loving the feel of his tufts of silver hair bristling across my nails. “It’s okay,” I reassure him. “Nothing bad’s going to happen. It’s just you and me. Whatever shifter craziness is going on in your body, I’m not afraid of it. If you shift, it doesn’t ruin anything.” He’s breathing like he’s in the middle of running from a monster, so I kiss his nose and gaze adoringly up at him. This man has mattered to me for so very long. When I open my mouth, my words hold no hesitation. “I love you, Salem.”

  His breathing slows as he takes in the scope of my affection for him. He brings his hand up to trace the curve of my cheek. “I have loved ye for so very long. You’re it for me. Since the first time I met ye, I haven’t so much as looked at another woman.”

  My mouth draws to the side. “You stood back and let Des and Lexi marry me. I don’t understand.”

  His gray eyes are filled to the brim with light and sincerity. Though the lamp gives the room a subtle amount of brightness, it feels like Salem’s eyes are the only stars in the universe. “I was certain ye would never lower yourself to be with a shifter, but I wanted ye safe. It killed me to see the men at the bar leer at ye. So when Alex came up with the marriage idea, I suggested ye because I knew ye would be good to Des, and Des would keep ye safe. If I couldn’t have ye, I at least wanted to be sure ye didn’t end up with a man I’d have to gut in his sleep for being disrespectful.”

  My eyes widen at his declaration. “I honestly had no idea you liked me at all.” I steal a second to kiss him again, since it’s clearly been too long since I’ve tasted his full lips. “I thought I was a tricky fae to you, that you hated me. You barely talked to me at all. Froze every time I touched you.”

  “I was trying not to say something stupid. Nervous, I guess.”

  My thumb traces the delicious arches of his upper lip. I’ve seen myself do this so many times in my imagination; it’s surreal to be able to act on the urge. “Are you nervous now?”

  His chin moves from left to right. “Terrified.”

  “Then let’s go slower.”

  When he kisses me this time, the rhythm is steadier, measured and more purposeful. There’s no harried grabbing. My nails take their time appreciating the spiky quality of the freshly-cut hairs in back. He smells like the woods, and I love it. I want to roll around just like this in the grass with him, taking our time and letting nature cradle our trembling limbs.

  “It’s happening again,” he warns me. “Tha happy heart attack feeling.”

  “Should we stop?” Please don’t tell me to stop. I’m fairly certain I might cry.

  The corner of his mouth drags upward. “Never.” Another kiss, and another. “Ye won’t be frightened if I shift in the middle of all this?”

  “I love your wolf. I’m not sure why you think anything about you might put me off. It’s you I want. All of you.”

  I love his low growl, and devour the sound that vibrates my lips. His moans of contentment begin to mutate further and further into pangs of worry, building with more distress after every few kisses. I let him control the pace, and he seems to want to keep going through the pain of whatever’s happening inside of him.

  Then something switches—a turn of the air that pushes him to speed up, embracing the heart attack that fuels him to kiss me deeper, his tongue parting my lips. His fingers don’t just tangle in my hair, they grip and pull, jerking a strangled noise of ecstasy from my lips as he kisses his way down my throat. “Salem! Honey, I need you. More!” I’m demanding as my body arches for him, giving him access to whatever parts of me please his roving hands.

  “It’s happening!” he shouts, fear laced in between his cries of desire.

  His whole body heats up, nearly too hot to touch. My hands fall away. “Salem?”

  His head jerks back and he howls—a purely wolf sound while he’s still wholly man. I don’t understand it, and by the looks of the panic on his face, neither does he. He’s suddenly sweating, and I’m starting to worry that maybe he is having a heart attack. I’ve seen him shift before, and it’s nothing like this.

  His back bows so he’s propping his upper half a few feet angled away from me, like he’s readying to address the ceiling. “It’s trying to get out of me. Take it!”

  “Take what?”

  It’s then I see it. A ball of light is calling out to me, glowing from his bare chest like something too spectacular for this world to quantify. I touch it, and my hand bounces away, the heat too much for my fingers to be near.

  “It’s burning!” he shouts, breathing through his teeth.

  “What is it?”

  He shakes his head, clawing at the mattress on either side of my head. “I don’t know, but it wants to belong to ye. Get it out!”

  “How?”

  Before the next breath finds me, his mouth descends on mine. The ball of heat burns my chest as it climbs up through his body, along his throat and makes its way into his mouth.

  My lips part, his tongue strokes mine, and I take the thing that’s causing him so much agony. Whatever it is, I’ll endure it so he doesn’t have to. I’m scared but certain I’
ll do whatever I have to so Salem isn’t hurting any longer.

  But the second it slides from his mouth into mine, the inferno quiets to a cozy purr, warming me like a pleasant evening by the fireplace. “There. That wasn’t so bad. You feel any better?”

  Salem’s answer is to pass clean out on top of me, all breath leaving the both of us in a gust. I manage to slide him to the side so he’s only half atop me, which suits us both just fine.

  The warmth I’ve swallowed from him envelops me from head to toe, filling my insides and painting every wrong thing in the world with an ethereal light.

  Salem’s here, so I find that I’m not as bothered by the General’s presence in the palace. I’m not worried about how we’re going to unite the three territories.

  In fact, with Salem’s breath caressing my cheek, I find I can’t bring myself to worry about anything at all.

  My eyes close, finally feeling like I’m home.

  16

  Attached

  Salem

  I have to pee, but tha would also mean I need to get up. I don’t want to move. This amazing dream is better than all the others, and when I open one eye, I see tha it’s real. She’s here, sleeping soundly beside me. Her deep breathing is so soothing, I could fall asleep all over again.

  Except I really do have to pee.

  The washroom’s only a handful of steps away, but the only part of me tha is kind of okay with parting from her is my bladder, which can’t be ignored much longer.

  I move the bed too much with my bulk, but do my best not to wake her. Each footstep tha takes me away from her feels all wrong. I relieve myself and then decide tha if I’m going to be with Lily, I should bathe as often as the fae do. She might be expecting tha. I turn on the water and step under the spray, exhaling at the luxury. Showering isn’t something shifters normally can do, but I suppose I could convince Alex to meet me at the border to spray me down each time I come to see her. I want Lily’s nose buried in the crook of my neck. I want her to love waking up smelling like me.

  I dry off, pull on my jeans and lay back down beside her under the covers, sighing as the small part of me tha felt carved out and missing when distance was put between us is finally filled again.

  She’s real. It happened. I woke up to Lily, and she’s going to wake up to me.

  Is tha what she wants? The thought hits me in vibrations of panic, but they’re put to rest the moment she turns in her sleep and digs her hand under the comforter, sliding her fingers to rest over my abdomen. The little “mm” noise she makes coats my heart like honey.

  I’m what she wants.

  Her nightgown rides up as her leg coils around mine, claiming my right leg without apology.

  Take it. My whole body is yours to do with as ye please.

  Tha thought makes me still. I don’t know where it came from. It’s not untrue, but the intensity with which it strikes me gives me pause.

  Something’s different. Not wrong, exactly, but strange.

  “Is it morning?” she murmurs, her breath teasing my nipple.

  “Only if ye wish it.”

  She laughs airily through her nose. “I’m starving. Can we ignore the rest of the world and eat without having to bother with it being morning?”

  I chuckle as I kiss her, already angling my body to sit up. “I’ll bring ye up some breakfast, so ye don’t have to deal with anyone.”

  “No, no,” she yawns, sitting up beside me. “I’m being a baby. I’m up.”

  “Go get ready for the day, then. I’ll have breakfast ready for ye by the time you’re finished.”

  She opens her mouth to protest, but then shakes her head. “It might take me some time to get used to this. Thanks, Salem. That’s real decent of you.”

  I kiss her lips before I go, knowing tha she is the best flavor in the world. The moment she vanishes inside the washroom, I pull on my shirt, socks and boots and trot down the stairs. Tha void I felt earlier when we were parted by the span of a few feet comes back, growing more disconcerting with every step I take away from her. Jays, what’s wrong with me?

  She needs to eat. I’m being ridiculous.

  The fae kitchen isn’t usually a place I’m comfortable in, but then again, tha’s true about most of this place. Everything’s shiny and spotless, and I’m the big oaf who comes in with mud on his boots. The cook doesn’t greet me, but pretends I’m invisible, moving deftly around me without making eye contact, which suits us both just fine. I rummage around for a couple of apples, some icing-laced sweet rolls left over from last night’s festival we largely skipped out on, and a bowl of nuts. Then I set to squeezing her some orange juice.

  I need to get back up there. If she slips and falls in the tub, what will my excuse be? I was juicing an orange? I’m not accustomed to this level of awareness. I’m suddenly conscious of every single danger tha could befall my Lily.

  My Lily.

  I’m caught in the debate between which is more perilous—the possibility of her cracking her head on the side of the tub if she slips, or her coming down with some illness because she doesn’t have enough Vitamin C.

  I shake off my worry, wondering what in the blazes has gotten into me. “Is there a tray I can use?” I ask the cook, who hisses as if I’ve said something offensive. Fae are the worst.

  The cook yanks a tray from the cabinet under the island in the center of the kitchen and thwaps it on the butcher block, unable to speak to me or look in my direction.

  Grand.

  It feels good to take care of my woman like this. To give her something she needs. With every step I take back to her, tha ball of restless anxiety in my chest begins to settle. Everything unbuttoned inside of me clicks back into place.

  When I reach Alex’s bedroom, my grin fades when I hear Alex and Des talking with Lily from inside. It’s inevitable tha I can’t have her all to myself, but it was a grand fantasy while it lasted.

  “It’s a partial win,” Alex assures her.

  Lily’s voice is controlled, with none of the passion between the sheets we shared last night. “I appreciate you fighting so hard to get your father to budge on anything. I don’t know what the General has on your father, but it must be something big if he resisted carrying out the law this badly.”

  Alex’s voice sounds surprised. “You really think there’s something deeper here? I assumed it was just Father not wanting to be wrong.”

  I move into the room, and her whole demeanor lights up at the sight of me. I mean, me. “Did you really bring me breakfast?”

  “Aw, you shouldn’t have, brother.” Alex grins and reaches for one of the apples. I block his hand from taking any of my woman’s food and set the tray on the bed. She’s already showered and dressed in a white gown that hangs to just above her knees. It doesn’t have sleeves, and looks like the kind of dress fae women wear when they’re on the beach.

  “I’ll bite your paws if ye touch this tray, ye greedy mongrel. It’s for Lily and me.”

  “Speaking of you and Miss Lily,” Des says with a tease in his voice. “Alex tells me he came into his room last night to find some shifter in his bed with his wife. Funny, that.”

  “We understand each other now,” I say simply. If they need more explanation, they’re not going to get it from me. They know what’s going on. They know I’ve been smitten with her for a long time.

  Lily runs a brush through her damp hair tha’s more purple than lavender when it’s wet. She casts a wary look to the guys. “I hope that’s okay.”

  Des grins at her. “What? Is there something sordid going on that you’d like to share with the group?”

  Lily’s eyes narrow and the brush stills in her curls. “Not particularly. The three of you are… I can’t explain it. So I won’t.”

  Alex stands between us, which is not where I prefer him. “Did the two of you have sex on my bed? Because that’s the kind of thing I’d like to have been there for.”

  She gapes at him, like she’s never had a dirty thought i
n her life. “Lexi, you know we did no such thing.”

  “No such thing? So, not even kissing?”

  Her cheeks flame pink, and even though she’s squirming as she tries to slap a voice to the truth, I can’t bring myself to put her out of her misery. I want to hear tha she’s not ashamed of us. Of me.

  “Well, there might’ve been kissing.” Her jaw firms as she glowers at Alex and Des. “And being that Salem didn’t tease either of you about kissing me, I’m sure you’ll both be gentlemen and won’t pester him about it.”

  “Oh, you’re certain you’ve married gentlemen, are you?” Des teases.

  I pick up an apple and put it in her hand the second she sets down her hairbrush. “Ye should eat.”

  She takes a bite and then motions to the tray. “So should you. Are you feeling any better? Last night was intense. Are you alright?”

  I know she’s talking about me having to pause everything so I didn’t shift atop her, and then completely passing out. I take a bite of the second apple to appease her worry tha I’ll waste away. “Best I’ve ever been. I’ll get my wolf under control.”

  Des leans over her shoulder and takes a crunch out of her apple. “What happened, brother? Performance anxiety?”

  I want to punch Des in his smug face. “Nothing like tha. We were kissing, and I almost shifted. It was strange. Like I couldn’t control it. I’m not sure what happened.” I don’t know how to explain tha a ball of lava formed in my chest, came out of my mouth and slid down her throat, so I skip it, which seems to suit Lily just grand, because she doesn’t bring up the odd point.

  Alex claps me on the back. “Overexcited, eh? That’s not surprising. She’s quite a woman.”