by Lily Archer
“Try and stop me.” She snaps her teeth at him.
The Phalanx rises, battle-worn but victorious.
“Hey.” I turn to Leander. “The prophecy came true.”
“How so?” He pulls me close.
“‘She alone can start the war, and be victorious, win or lose.’” I press my cheek to his chest. “I struck the first blow against Shathinor. I started the war. And then I lost. I … died. But here we are.”
“Victorious.” Leander rests his chin on my crown. “Because of you.”
I snuggle against his chest. “I mean, I totally flew us out of danger. I’m kind of a big deal. Hey.” I turn to look into his dark eyes. “If I remember correctly, you mentioned something about worshiping ‘this body as it deserves’ if I got us down to the ground safely?”
His low purr rumbles through me as he lifts me in his arms and stalks through the scrub brush and stone at the base of the still-crumbling mountain.
Gareth clears his throat. “Leander, we should go now before—”
“Wait for us.” Leander’s command leaves no question.
I press my lips to his throat. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
“Don’t be?” I grip him tighter as he jumps a ravine. “I betrayed you, had you locked in a cage, let your friends get captured and hurt. Of course I’m sorry.”
He smirks. “I rather like the feral side of you.”
“What?” I’m certain my eyes are wider than they’ve ever been in my life.
“The betrayal wasn’t my favorite, I admit. But treachery aside—” He shrugs. “I’m eager to learn every bit of you, no matter the form. And the wings?” He makes a whistling sound as he sits me on a rock ledge. “Undeniably sexy.” He runs his hand down one, and a shiver courses through me. Pressing his forehead to mine, he says, “I’ll take you however I can get you, little one.”
A purr rolls through my chest. “Is that—”
He mauls me with a kiss that is as rough as it is welcome. I grip his shoulders as he spreads my thighs on either side of his hips. His hands go to my bottom and squeeze as his tongue does deliciously wicked things to mine. By the time he pulls back, I’m panting. And when he drops to his knees and presses his wide open mouth to my core, I moan and grip his hair. He thrusts his tongue inside me, and I strain to open my legs even farther. He doesn’t need encouragement, his wide palms splaying me as his mouth owns every bit of my flesh.
Gripping his hair, I grind my hips against his face, unabashedly chasing my release as he licks my clit, grazing me with his fangs. He doesn’t stop, and it’s as if he knows just what I like.
“I do.” His voice is inside me, the bond bright and alive. As if to prove his point, he runs the broadside of his tongue along that nub of sensation, and my back arches.
“Leander,” I moan his name.
But then the perfection of his mouth recedes. He stands and yanks down the top of my dress, his mouth going to one nipple as his cock presses against my entrance.
I run my hands down his back, my nails digging in and drawing blood. His purr escalates, and mine matches it. His cock rubs against my clit, up and down, coils of delicious arousal winding tight inside me.
“My mate.” He growls and thrusts hard.
My toes curl as he pumps hard, his hands on my ass making sure I take every inch. I crane my head back and moan to the dark sky as he sucks my breasts, feasting on me as he makes me his again and again. I draw my knees up, spreading so that I get every bit of friction between us.
“My perfect mate.” He kisses to my mouth, heightening the pleasure of his hard thrusting, his hands, and the feel of him against me.
I lean back and catch his gaze, then run my fingers down his throat. “I want to mark you.”
His cock gets impossibly harder, his rough strokes verging on animal. “An honor.” He pulls me close and grinds into me so perfectly I think I might pass out before I finish.
Some deep, dark instinct drives me, and I strike at his throat, burying my fangs in him as he roars to the top of the mountain. Our bond, already so strong, seems to go supernova, obliterating all that came before and promising love eternal.
He lifts me up and pounds harder as I hold on, the taste of his blood like wine on my tongue as my wet core tightens. When my release hits me, I cling to him, relishing each wave of bliss, each moment spent with him inside me. I cry against his throat, the pleasure overwhelming me and taking me deeper, melding me with him and letting me feel his fast-approaching release. When he lets go, I come again, my walls clamping down on him as he spends inside me with another primal yell that sends more rock crashing down the side of the mountain. Flashes of his feelings and love shoot down the bond, flickering like fairy lights. I bask in them, letting his soul envelop mine and hold it tight.
“Leander.” I retract my fangs and rest my forehead on his chest.
“My love.” He kisses my crown and wraps his arms around me.
“I never want to leave your side again.”
“You’ll never have to.” His low purr resumes, comforting me like the softest blanket.
He holds me for a long time, the two of us linked on every level. I want to live in this moment.
All too soon, he rubs my back and pulls away. “If we don’t return to camp, Gareth may explode from pure worry.”
“You’re not wrong.”
He tips my chin up until I meet his gaze. “Do you feel worshipped, little one?”
I bat my lashes and run a finger down his chest. “I mean, I do, but maybe you should do a little more glorification, just to be sure.”
He smirks, the sexiest fae I’ve ever seen, and pushes his hardening length deeper inside me. “As you wish, my goddess.”
20
Leander
“You’re staring at me again.” She casts me a glance.
“No.” I shrug, but don’t look away.
“You are.” She laughs. “Do you want me to change back?”
“Definitely not.” I kiss her little rounded ear. “I love you like this.”
“Okay.” She shrugs. “It’s just that I’ve been in this form for so long, you know?” She looks down at her changeling body. “I feel more comfortable than in the feral. But if you prefer the feral, then I—”
I stop her words with a kiss and send my thoughts down the bond. “I prefer you as you. Whatever makes you most comfortable. You taste the same either way. Honey on my tongue.” I run a hand up her thigh.
“Hey!” She playfully smacks my hand.
Does she have any idea what that does to me? I want to put her on all fours and mount her.
“I heard that.” She arches a brow at me.
“So, is that a yes?” I drag my fingers higher, almost to her panties.
“No.” She grabs my hand and laces her fingers through mine, then casts a pointed glance at the soldiers surrounding us as we enter Cold Comfort.
“I’d tell them not to look.”
“You’re bad.”
I kiss the back of her hand. “Yes.”
The wide wooden doors swing inward as we enter on foot, and the entire town lines the main road for us. A roar goes up as we set foot onto the Ice Road, priceless petals from the greenhouse flowers strewn along our path.
“It’s beautiful.” She stares at the granite buildings with marble doors, each one decorated in ribbons of Gladion gray and white.
I can feel her wonder filtering through the bond, and I squeeze her hand.
Children run up and hand her flowers, bunches of frost tulips—the emblem of the winter realm. A light snow falls on her brown hair, and her fur cloak ripples in the cold breeze. So much pride wells inside me that I fear I might burst.
She kneels down and takes a bunch of tulips from a lesser fae girl with little white horns. “Thank you. What’s your name?”
“Calendila.” She smiles, her front teeth missing.
“What a beautiful name.”
“Are y
ou a princess?” She reaches up and touches Taylor’s hair.
“Sort of?” Taylor laughs. “But really I’m just a regular person like you.”
“Really?” The girl searches Taylor’s face.
“Yes.”
More children approach, each of them handing her flowers until she has an arm full. I motion for Gareth, and he takes them as we continue down the Ice Road, the peoples of the winter realm getting their first look at my chosen queen. She receives several bunches of blooms, the dark fae of Cold Comfort giving their best.
The wonder in their eyes matches the love in my heart, and the cheers of approval echo down the wyvernstone streets as we finish our procession.
“Wow.” She leans against me. “That was kind of intense.”
“You’re a natural.” My soldiers surround us as a carriage approaches to take us up to High Mountain.
“You’re pretty much a celebrity now.” Beth prances past, a wide grin on her face. “Like Queen Aurentia but not as mean.”
“Thanks, I think?” Taylor sighs. “I hope I did all right.”
“You are the jewel of my crown, little one.”
Her eyes lift to my actual crown. “That diamond is bigger than my fist. I’m still not over it.”
“It’s yours if you want it.” I kiss her forehead. “Of course, we have a crown in the treasury for you, but you are welcome to choose whichever jewels you like.”
“I’ll leave that to you. Crowns are pretty much way beyond my area of expertise.”
“Treasury?” Selene picks at her new dress, the emerald green covering her odd angles far better than her tattered white funeral gown. “Anything for me in there? High witch should get something, yes?”
I’m on the verge of saying no when Taylor takes Selene’s elbow. “Well of course. There has to be something in there for you. Right, Leander?” When she looks up at me with those sparkling blue eyes, there’s only one answer that blooms on my lips: “Yes.”
I would tell her yes if she asked me to go to the Spires for her.
When one side of her mouth quirks up, I suspect she knows it.
21
Taylor
“This is … This … I …” I give up and stare.
“To your liking?” Leander carries us on the winter wind as the carriages with our friends make their way up the steep mountain.
The castle is enormous, crouching on the snowy peak like a great, beautiful bird. It’s made of the same shiny granite as the town below, but it rises in the winter sun, the turrets flying flags of gray and white as smoke floats from a dozen chimneys. A dark forest flows away from it on two sides, the rest of the peak a mix of sheer cliffs and stone, all of it covered in snow.
“It’s so beautiful.” I look up at Leander, his eyes on me. Always on me.
“It’s yours.”
“I can’t believe you live here.”
“We live here,” he chides.
“Yes.” I hug him closer. “We do.”
“Branala has been arranging the mating ceremony while we’ve been traveling.”
“Is it going to be big?” I still can’t take my eyes from the massive castle, soldiers dotted along the battlements at intervals atop the high outer wall. Inside, a courtyard is filled with people dressed in furs and thick cloaks, their dark hair and pointed ears marking them as winter realm high fae.
“The biggest mating this realm has ever seen.”
“That sounds … intimidating. And what if the nobles aren’t into having me as their queen? But maybe they’ll get used to me during the engagement and—”
“Engagement?” He arches a dark brow.
“Yeah, we’re engaged, right?”
“Engaged?”
“You know, when people are going to get married, they are engaged for a while first and plan it all and then get married.”
“This isn’t a marriage.” He presses a sweet kiss to my lips. “This is a celebration of our unbreakable bond.”
That doesn’t sound so official. “Okay.” My nerves settle a bit.
And it happens tomorrow.”
My brain seems to freeze. “Tomorrow?”
“I won’t wait to crown my queen. They will love you as I do.” His confidence in me brings tears to my eyes, and the time frame creates panic in my mind.
“Did you say tomorrow?”
“At sunset.”
“That’s so … so sudden.” I press my palms to my cheeks.
“You would prefer to wait?” A hint of hurt colors his question.
“No.” I shake my head. “No. It’s just a lot. But—” I rest my hand over his heart. “I’m ready. I’m yours.”
“As I am yours.” He tightens his hold. “Don’t worry about the nobles. They will accept you.”
“Even in this changeling body?”
“In any body you choose.” His never-ending faith in me still strikes a note of wonder in my heart.
I glance back at the waiting nobles as Leander drops us slowly to the courtyard. “I don’t think they’re going to like my ideas.”
“They don’t have to like them.” He laughs low in his throat. “I get the feeling that if they don’t accept the equality you seek, your feral side may take matters into her own hands.”
The tips of my ears prickle, and my back starts to itch. “Your feeling is dead on.”
“Control it, little one.” He nuzzles my hair. “Don’t let her control you.”
I relax in his arms, my feral heart calming under his soothing touch. “I want to be me.” I shake my head, and when I stop, my ears are pointed. “But I also kind of like the ears. Is that weird?”
“Not at all.” He kisses the tips. “They’re quite sensitive, no?”
A tingle rushes through me, and I have to pull away from him. “Stop. You’re going to have me all, you know, excited. And then the scent thing will happen. And, oh my god. I can’t have other fae smelling me.”
“If you insist.” But he kisses my ear when he sets us down in the courtyard.
We approach the nobles, many of them staring at me in open shock.
Leander’s voice booms over the crowd, power soaking every word. “I have returned from battle with the evil of old, Shathinor. With my mate, we defeated him. He is no more, his soul sent to the Spires.”
A murmur ripples through the crowd.
“He lured many unsuspecting lesser fae and changelings to his cause with promises of equality in the realms.”
I squeeze Leander’s hand.
“Shathinor lied, of course. He never intended for changelings and lesser fae to be treated as equal to the high fae.”
A few nods of approval in the crowd has me grinding my teeth.
“But that changes now.” He holds up our joined hands. “Bow before your new queen. You owe her your allegiance as the ruler of the winter realm.”
Some of them gasp, but none of them dare disobey Leander. I can see why. Fierceness emanates from him in waves of command, his demeanor one of controlled power. If I thought he was alpha before, this is a whole new level of badassery. I bite my lip as the entire courtyard kneels before me.
He leans to my ear, his voice soft for me. “I can scent you, little one. Power excites you.”
My cheeks heat. “You excite me,” I whisper back.
“Rise,” he commands, then wraps his arm around my waist and leads me into the castle as his stunned nobles gain their feet and stare.
“This place is amazing.” I catch sight of a silver throne bathed in light from stained glass windows, but Leander pulls me away.
“Where are we going?” I hurry along with him as each soldier we pass stands at attention.
“Taking too long,” he growls and picks me up, slinging me over his shoulder.
“Hey!” I cry, but he takes off, sprinting through several rooms—some grand, some rustic, each of them with a roaring fire and cozy-looking furs. “Where are we going?”
He enters a long corridor, the soldiers there s
traightening and giving Leander deferential nods as he races past.
I push up on his back and see the hall receding behind us. “What in the hell are you—”
He bursts through a set of doors and before I can blink, he tosses his crown aside and has me pinned to a huge bed, his mouth on mine and his hips settling between my thighs.
“The way the males looked at you,” he growls and yanks up my dress. “I wanted to gut them, to destroy them, to freeze their hearts, shatter them, and burn the shards.”
I whimper, my arousal hitting me like a bolt of pure heat.
Ripping my panties to shreds, he grinds his cock against me and fastens his mouth to my throat.
“I need you.” I rock my hips up to him.
He frees himself and plunges inside me, my cry swallowed by his mouth as he masters me, body and soul.
I squeal when he pulls my dress down, exposing my hard nipples, and drags his fang across one.
Sucking it into his mouth, he pumps his hips as I meet him, each impact shaking the massive bed and stoking my arousal.
“More,” he growls and rolls to his back.
I slide down onto him, my heart pounding as I savor the feel of him. He pulls my dress down my shoulders and cups my breasts as I rock on top of him.
His eyes linger on my mouth, my breasts, and then lower. “Show me, my beautiful mate. I want to see what’s mine.”
I moan and pull my dress up, and his eyes go to where we’re joined. A blast of cold hardens my nipples even more as he grips my hips.
With a hard pull, I strip off my dress and toss it to the floor.
His purr of approval resonates down the bond, and I ride him slow and sultry, learning this new position and letting my pleasure lead me. He locks gazes with me, both of us here, relishing the moment together. My hips move faster, the pleasure demanding I chase it in earnest, so I do. I grab the wooden headboard and grind on him as he leans up and licks my breasts, his hands kneading my ass.
When he moves one hand around to my front and massages my clit, I explode, a keening sound rising from me as my hips seize and my body gives itself to pleasure. He surges inside me and groans low and masculine, his cock kicking inside me as I collapse onto his chest, my body so alive it almost hurts.
