*Isla*
“It’s not even in the way she talks or handles business between the servants,” Poppy says as she winds a lock of my hair around a curling iron. “There’s just something strange about her.”
“And Trinity hired her,” I add, dusting my cheeks with blush.
“Yes, and that,” Poppy grimaces, starting on a new curl. “She probably just looks forward to the day I leave, Isla. If I leave. I don’t fall into the ‘be sweet and silent’ type of maid that she prefers, you know? And based on what you just told me, she thinks Trinity is dumb–”
“She didn’t say dumb,” I laugh, smiling at Poppy through the reflection in the mirror. “But she did allude to Trinity being inexperienced and… well, I don’t really know how else to describe it. I want to like her because she’s done a great job in the role so far, but if Trinity is up to something… how can I trust her, or anyone in this house, for that matter?”
“Well, Maddox will be home any minute now, and you won’t have to do all of this on your own anymore,” Poppy grins, raking her fingers through my hair. “You need a haircut pretty badly, Isla. You’re almost sitting on your hair. It’s incredibly long!”
“Another time,” I say, sighing as I tuck my makeup back into the drawer of the vanity. “I have too much to do today already, and I want to go sit with Mystica for a while before Maddox gets here.”
“She was awake about an hour ago,” Poppy says sadly. I pause what I’m doing and try to swallow but find it almost impossible. I hate that we’re just waiting for her to… die. I hate that she won’t let me help her. “You could just… spike her tea with your tears–”
“I’ve thought about it,” I admit, standing up and walking to the dresser. “She told me she’s ready to go. I can’t… I couldn’t live with myself if I went behind her back like that.”
I leave out the fact that she’d told me my powers would be needed for a greater purpose, a thought that had been nagging at me since yesterday even when I’d knelt by her bed and held her cold, trembling hands.
“Anyway, Hestia sent for an accomplished healer from a nearby pack, and it was confirmed this morning that Mystica had a stroke. A few small strokes, actually. I… I don’t think my powers could help her even if I tried. They’re weaker than they once were.”
“Do you think that’s tied to the diamond being placed in the temple at all?” Poppy asks as she gathers my discarded pajamas and drops them in the laundry basket. I pull on a light blue, flowy top and matching pants, a summery outfit that seems like a perfect choice for the day. It’s already hot, and I’m thankful to Poppy for curling my hair and twisting it into a messy bun on the top of my head instead of keeping it long and loose.
I can use my hair as a scarf now. Maybe it is time for a haircut…
“I want to think it has something to do with the diamond,” I reply, sliding my feet into a pair of sandals. “But it could be because I died and came back to life again. I don’t know.”
“Well, don’t dwell on it. I miss you being all peppy and annoyingly cheerful all the time.”
I give Poppy a look as I reach for the jewelry sitting in a bowl on my vanity and start putting on my rings and bracelets. “Annoyingly cheerful?”
Poppy makes a face at me and lifts up the laundry basket, wincing as it presses against her bruised stomach.
“It’s not entirely your fault. You’re the Luna now. Being all haughty and serious is in your job description,” she teases. My mouth drops open, and I scoff, narrowing my eyes at her playfully.
“I am not haughty and serious!”
“You’re going to get lines between your eyebrows from scowling so much, Isla!” she chimes, shaking her hair over her shoulders as she walks toward the door.
“You’re in a mood today, Poppy,” I laugh, following her out. “I’m your Luna, now. Remember? Let me carry that for you–”
She shifts the basket away from me, giving me a look. “Hestia will chew me out if she sees you carrying a laundry basket in my company. I’m just your lowly lady’s maid, remember?”
“Where is Antony? Why are you trying to get a rise out of me instead of harassing him like usual?”
“Because he’s been seeing red since the night we got attacked,” she says, sighing as we reach the hallway leading to the servants quarters. “He wants nothing more than to kill the warrior, and slowly, judging by the look in his eyes–”
“I’ll let him once I have a chance to interrogate the man.”
We both turn to the deep male voice in the foyer. Poppy smiles, and I let out my breath in a whoosh before running and throwing my arms around my mate, squeezing tight.
* * *
The back garden is in full bloom as I lie with my face to the sun.
“Why are you making that face over and over again?” Maddox asks, chuckling as Isaac coos happily from where he’s laying between us.
“Are you talking to me, or our son?”
“To you,” he replies. I open one eye, seeing Maddox smiling down at me.
“Poppy said I’m going to get lines between my eyebrows from scowling.” I scrunch up my face and then relax before rubbing the space between my eyebrows.
“Why have you been scowling?”
“Because I’ve been dealing with a huge mess ever since you left,” I reply, but immediately regret the words. Guilt flashes over Maddox’s face, and I bite down on my lip, hating my big, fat mouth for even opening. “I’m sorry, Maddox–”
“Don’t be,” he says quickly, leaning down to brush a quick kiss over my lips. “You did a fine job. And I am sorry you had to go through all of that without me. The murder, the attack, Mystica–”
“Mystica seems to be doing better now that you’re home,” I say. I reach out to cup Isaac’s tiny foot in my hand. He’s been dozing in the sun for the better part of an hour and seems much more at peace now than he has been since Maddox went on his quest with the diamond. Maybe all he needed was his dad, which makes my heart squeeze and warm at the thought.
“I don’t know why,” Maddox replies dryly. “I don’t think she’s ever liked me very much.”
“I think you’re a comforting presence to everyone in the castle.”
Maddox furrows his brows as he looks down at me, a wry smiling touching his lips. “No one has ever said that to me before.”
“Well, at least I think it’s true.”
“That doesn’t count.”
He kisses me again, much more thoroughly this time. I feel a rush of heat ripple over my cheeks and chest before settling much, much lower. But he pulls away and turns to the patio, where two maids have just stepped outside. They curtsy, but don’t come any closer.
“Alpha King, Luna?” one of them says with a bob of her head, her cheeks going ruddy. “The nanny would like to know if she should put the prince down for his nap.”
“That would be fine,” I say, smiling as a young maid approaches. I pick Isaac up, who is fed and happy, and gently hand him to the maid. She nods her head and walks away, cradling him like he’s the most prized possession the world has ever seen.
“He’s already getting big,” Maddox says wistfully, lying back against the blanket with me.
“He better be,” I sigh, reaching up to cup my swollen, aching breasts. “He eats all the time.”
Maddox covers my hand with his, kneading softly, gently. I sigh heavily as he dips his head and brushes a kiss over the swell of my breast, just above the collar of my shirt.
“I missed you,” he whispers, his voice a deep rasp against my skin. “I thought about you the entire time I was gone, Isla. I thought of your face, your eyes….” He lifts his head, shifting his position so he’s leaning over me instead of beside me. His thumb glides over my lower lip, his eyes fixated on my mouth. “I thought of your lips, how they taste on mine.”
My breath comes out in a shudder as he kisses me deeply, his tongue grazing over my teeth, my tongue, the roof of my mouth.
“I thought of having you in bed,” he rasps, his hand leaving my breast and roving down over my belly and hips, settling over the apex of my thighs. “Of having you naked and open for me to taste.”
I’m going to lose my mind if he is just teasing me.
“I thought of your legs wrapped around my waist, and the little sounds you make when I make you come–”
“Maddox,” I try to say, but then his hand is inside my pants, his fingers gliding over my lacy panties. I’m soaked, and he can tell. And judging by the breathy moan of approval that leaves his throat as he pulls my underwear to the side and presses his fingers against my sex, he’s more than ready to take me right here in the open.
And maybe, so am I.
“Everyone will see,” I protest, but he slides two fingers inside of me, and the words are stolen by a muffled cry.
“I’m the Alpha King,” he says, his thumb circling over my clit. “And you're Luna. This is our house, and we can do what we want, when we want–” he thrusts his fingers in again, reveling in the way I arch my hips into his touch. “Where we want…”
“Maddox,” I moan, closing my eyes as he curls his fingers a bit, the act nearly sending me over the edge. With his free hand, he guides my pants over my hips until I’m exposed above the knee and then leans down. He tests me with his tongue, licking me from base to clit in one hard, wanting motion that has my toes curling and knees shaking.
Any thought of being seen rushes from my mind and is replaced with white-hot pleasure as he licks and sucks, his teeth gently grazing the throbbing heat between my thighs.
I tangle my fingers in his hair, unable to stop myself from crying out and pulling as he enters me with his fingers again.
“You taste so sweet,” he says in a sultry voice, his words laced with hunger.
I’m going to come. I can feel it building. I arch my hips toward him, grinding desperately against his tongue, but he pulls away and gathers me into his arms.
“What–”
Maddox takes several long strides into the depths of the garden, our blanket on the lawn disappearing from view as he follows a winding path leading to a covered gazebo. Ivy snakes up the column and hangs from the roof–a shelter from the sun… and a private place where he can have me alone, without prying eyes and gossiping mouths.
He’s barely set me on my feet before I’m pulling my shirt over my head. My pants and underwear are still around my knees, and I’m sure I look insane, but there is nothing but primal desire in Maddox’s eyes as he looks at me.
I reach behind my back and unclasp my bra, letting my heavy breasts fall free of their bindings.
He watches me, panting, as I step out of my pants and walk towards him, totally bared to him. Wetness pools between my thighs, glistening in the fragments of sunlight filtering through the ivy.
“How can I be of service to you, my king?” I say in a purr, pressing the heel of my hand on his cock, which is straining against his pants. I move my hand up, my fingers resting on his belt buckle.
I meet his eyes, so green and so wholly focused on me. His mate. His love.
I drop to my knees.