Maeve
I blink into the shadows of my room. The curtains are still drawn, but strips of deep, golden sunlight creep between the seams of the fabric, alerting me to the time. It’s nearly sunset. I slept most of the day, save for Cole occasionally checking on me, but now my stomach is tight with hunger, and my body feels… strange.
I smooth my hand over my belly, but the baby is sleeping, curled in a snug ball right against my ribs, her favorite place to kick.
The door creaks open. I pop my head from beneath the blankets as a tall, dark shadow steps inside the room, carrying the scent of food with him. “Are you awake?” Soren’s voice is… soft. Casual, showing no signs of pain or stress.
I lift onto an elbow as he steps into the room and walks to the windows, opening one of the curtains enough to softly illuminate the space, and turns to me, his eyes scanning mine.
“What’ve you been doing all day?” I ask, my tone lifted in suspicion. “It’s nearly nightfall.”
“I’ve kept myself busy.” He rocks on his heels, now dressed in fresh clothes–black slacks that fit him like a glove and a plain white T-shirt that shows off his muscled frame. I feel an ache bloom to life that I’ve been ignoring for months now, burying that deeply rooted want along with everything else I felt for him.
“Doing what, exactly?”
“Well, telling my entire life story to your… whatever Misty is to you. A cousin?”
“I have a large family. I’ve always considered her more of an aunt.”
He shrugs, closing the door behind him. “She likes to talk.”
“That checks.” There’s something in the air–something electric that crackles and snaps as he scans the room like he’s making sure we’re alone.
“Patton and Jane are nowhere to be found, as it stands. I hope you didn’t have a full schedule for her today.”
“Obviously whatever plans I had for the day are totally off the table now.”
“Are you hungry?” he asks, moving toward the bed.
I sit up all the way, inhaling sharply as my body protests the idea of leaving the cocoon of warmth I’ve been rotting in all day. “Are you suddenly going to be nice to me going forward?”
Soren arches a brow as he comes to a stop, his hands resting at his sides. “I feel like I’ve been about as nice as you deserve,” he replies, his voice low and teasing.
Something settles deep in my chest. A flicker of familiarity I hadn’t been able to find since he catapulted back into my life spreads like wildfire, igniting that flame once again.
He notices the change and tilts his head, looking me up and down with an appraising gaze as time slows to a crawl, and the outside world no longer matters.
I wonder if he cares that I can’t feel the mate bond like he can. It bothers me more than him, I think.
“There’s something we need to discuss,” he says, his eyes on mine as he loosens the fabric of his shirt from his belt.
“What?” I smirk. “My cousin's deception? Your mangled arm? Our friends being mates? How I’m going to tell my family about us?”
“None of that.” He takes a tentative step in my direction before halting, his fingers resting on his belt clasp. “I took care of that. It’s none of your concern.”
“I am the queen and this is my house–”
“That is what we need to discuss.” He pulls his belt free in a smooth, intoxicating motion that sends a burst of warmth licking down my spine. “You keep telling me I’m not leaving. What is that going to look like, Maeve? Am I your prisoner?”
“Yes,” I smile.
His jaw tenses as he braces his hands on either side of me on the bed, leaning down so we’re nose to nose. “If I stay,” he whispers, brushing the words over my temple, “I won’t be able to stay out of your way. Your subjects will know you have a man playing house with you. They’ll be curious.”
“Let them be–”
“A certain prince might take this as an affront.”
I blink, glaring at him as he pulls away ever so slightly. “Prince, who?” He arches a brow, and I cut a laugh, “You mean Prince Eric of Lunaria, don’t you? You know I’ve never met him face to face.”
He narrows his eyes, and I laugh even harder, teasing him. “You’re jealous, aren’t you? That’s the real reason you came back, isn’t it?”
“I don’t get jealous. I wouldn’t have let that relationship get that far, anyway.”
“Oh, you’re so scary and tough–”
His mouth meets mine, but he pulls away as quickly as the kiss began. “I don’t want to share you.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“I also wouldn’t stand beside you to rule. I’d be in the background. I’d be with her.” His hand comes to rest on my stomach. “No one would have to know who I am or even my name. It would be the easiest and safest thing to do.”
I want to say I’m not concerned about my reputation and his social status. I want to ignore how odd it is that we’re even mates given that he doesn’t have a drop of royal blood. I want to banish the questions that’ve been burning in the back of my mind about how my Firestone ancestors established their dynasties–whether love was ever involved.
But I can’t ignore the man bracing himself against the bed, his mouth chasing mine as I say, “Can you be happy living in my shadow?”
“I’m honestly looking forward to the break,” he says with a shocking amount of relief, a sigh leaving his lips before he takes mine in a hungry kiss that ignites more of the desire I’ve been tamping down.
“Then you’ll stay?”
“I’ll stay.”
“If my family doesn’t agree–”
“I told I’d handle it, and I will. It’s nothing you have to worry about.” He takes my hand. “Come, I’m going to run you a bath. Your back is bothering you.”
“How do you know?”
“I’m your mate,” he says. “I can feel it. Not like you can, but it’s… it’s bothering me that you’re in pain.”
“I’m overdue.”
“What do you mean?”
“She was supposed to be here by now.”
He chews his lip as he looks down at me. “What can be done?”
“Nothing I haven’t tried already… except…”
He arches a brow. “Except what?”
I guide his hand back to me, placing it on my side. “Come to bed for a minute.”
His eyes darken at my tone–the soft plea laced between the words.
I wait for him to tell me no, that he’s worried about me and the baby. I wait for his rejection, but he kisses me instead, tender at first, before the kiss takes on a life of its own. Memories of our kiss in the abandoned building rush through the walls I built around them, tearing down the shields I built to keep my heart from falling into unmendable pieces. I wrap my arms around his shoulders and pull him into the bed, and he rolls with me so I’m straddling him, his hand large and firm as it presses down my back, finding all the places that ache.
His other hand reaches between us to undo the button and zipper of his pants. I lift on my knees to give him room to shimmy out of his slacks and boxers, but when he reaches along the skirt of my nightgown, I pause, going suddenly rigid, my heart in my throat. My hand falls on his and presses down to prevent him from lifting the nightgown any further as uncertainty burrows through my body, making my skin heat with a rush of… embarrassment.
“I want to keep my nightgown on.”
“Why? Because you’re worried about how I’ll react when I see you naked?”
I find it hard to swallow as I look down at him, scanning the hungry, heated look he’s giving me.
“Y-yes.”
“I’ve been dying to see you in just your skin. Let me.”
“I’m–I’m different than I was the last time.”
“You’ve never been more beautiful than you are right now,” he whispers, his voice so incredibly heated it could scorch the room. His hand moves up my thigh beneath the fabric, testing, trying to creep past the boundary created by my… worry that he’ll leave again. That I’ll get hurt again. That something awful will happen to him, to us, and we have no future beyond this….
“Look at me,” he whispers, grasping the back of my neck. “I’m here with you.”
“I feel like so much has changed.”
“It has,” he replies steadily, softly, his eyes fading from that sharp black to his usual trio of colors. “You asked me to come with you once. I should have. I should have at least tried, and for that, I’m sorry. I never want you to forgive me for it. I don’t deserve it. But, I can promise I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you. I’m going to stay, Maeve. I don’t know what that’s going to look like. I don’t know what the Goddess has in store for us, but I’ll be here. I’ll be here with you both.”
“You don’t even believe in the Goddess,” I whisper, my voice edging on teasing, and he gives me that cocky smile that makes my blood simmer.
“She might have had a hand in this. I suppose I should give credit where credit is due.”
“You’re an asshole,” I laugh, but the ice between us thaws, marking the return of something that feels… normal and good.
“Maybe. I doubt I’ll change much, Maeve. So this is entirely up to you.”
“I want you to stay.”
“Then I will, but on one condition.”
“You’ve already given me conditions–”
“No more shifting into your cat form.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m terribly allergic.”
I bite back the smile tugging at my mouth, but he drags his thumb over my lower lip, forcing that smile to life. He gently guides me down to him, his mouth pressed to mine as the heat between us turns from a flickering ember to the beginnings of a flame, but then a tickle radiates through my brain a second before Blake’s aggravating, annoying voice bursts through my ears, ‘My suite, now. We need to talk. Bring your insufferable boyfriend with you.’
“Fuck off,” I growl, and Soren releases me, giving me a deeply quizzical look. “Not you,” I assure him, bracing my hands on his chest as I straighten my back. “Sorry. Blake just summoned me. He wants to talk to both of us.”
“Make him wait,” Soren suggests, but I shake my head, sliding off him. “Is there anything I should know? Any secrets you need to tell me before we face him?”
“You know everything, at least from my perspective,” he replies, following me out of bed. I watch him dress before padding to my vanity and pulling on a floor length robe, tying it over the swell of my belly, and quickly twisting my hair into a bun.
“Do you trust him?” Soren asks as he walks to my side.
I look up at him, noticing the lines around his eyes. He looks at our reflection in the mirror.
“That’s the question I’ve been asking myself since we were kids,” I admit, turning toward him, my hand pressed against the hard muscles of his abdomen. “I don’t know yet, Soren. I want to believe Blake is good, but I don’t think he is. Something happened to him. It changed him.”
“Let's go see what he wants.”