Page 70 of His Realm

“Mine,” he said, his breathing ragged, his voice guttural, still more animal than man.

“Always,” I promised, feeling the orgasm build, my skin so hot, straining for release, each rolling thrust bringing me closer. “Varic.”

“I have you,” he promised, and that was all before my whole body clenched at once, everything, every muscle, as I came, the rush unbearable for a moment, roaring through me, making me shudder.

He was seconds behind me, crying out before he collapsed on top of me, pinning me under him.

I was panting, he was heaving for breath, both of us consumed with the simple act of drawing air into our lungs.

It required long minutes to recover, for him to lift off me, easing so tenderly from my body. My muscles clamped around him even then, when I was oversensitized almost to the point of pain, but still, I didn’t want him to move.

He lay beside me, flat on his back, the two of us once again smeared with cum, our skin covered in sweat.

“I shifted,” he whispered like that was news.

I laughed. I couldn’t help it.

“You’re an ass,” he grumbled, but his eyes were warm when he looked at me.

“And you, sir, are the king of stating the obvious.”

He scrubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands, and I knew he was crying.

“You didn’t hurt me,” I said softly. “You’ve never hurt me, and your wolf and I are friends. We get along well since he always wants to claim me and I’m a big fan.”

“You should see your shoulder. It’s all chewed and⁠—”

“Which I will heal quickly, as I do,” I reminded him. “Not as fast as the rest of you, because you know, matan, not vampyr, but yanno, it won’t be there tomorrow.”

When he turned to me, his eyes were red and puffy. “I shouldn’t be away from you for long periods of time. It erodes my control.”

“Well, then,” I whispered, moving, though it was hard, my muscles didn’t want that, until I curled into his side, head on his broad chest, arm around him, my right leg draped between his. “Let’s never do that again.”

“Never again,” he agreed, hand in my hair as he kissed my forehead. “I love you more than you know.”

“I have a pretty good idea. That’s why I wasn’t worried about Cirillo, even though he’s really pretty.”

I got the chuckle I was after as he wrapped me in his arms. “You are smart not to concern yourself with Cirillo, or anyone. You alone hold my heart.”

I knew that. I did. I drifted off, confident in that knowledge as always.

When I woke up, I noted that the privacy screens, the Louis XV-style giltwood and tapestry ones, were set up around our bed. That meant there were other people in the loft. The space was basically like an atrium, rising several levels, all open but for loft areas accessible via metal stairs. It was walled on three sides with gorgeous smooth marble, and then floor-to-ceiling windows on the fourth. The kitchen was on the bottom floor, along the wall closest to the sliding warehouse door, the dining table and chairs next to it. Couches were scattered around near the windows, and the TV was on that side as well, and then on the other side was our bed, normally out in the open, the bathroom through a wide arch there down a short hall. Whenever Varic left me in bed, he got out the screens because he didn’t like anyone but him watching me sleep. He felt no one but him should see me that vulnerable.

“Varic?” I called for him.

“Coming.” He came around the screens seconds later, carrying a tray of food for me—one of Dae-Jung’s amazing charcuterie boards—a bottle of water, and a glass of pomegranate juice, which I’d been drinking a lot of lately. There was a large black-velvet box on the tray, as well as a small ring box. “You need to eat to keep your strength up while I show you some things, and then afterward, you need to shower so you stop smelling like sex so we may take a walk.”

“I like smelling like sex,” I confessed, grinning at him.

“Well, I want to make sure you have a wedding cake, a small one at least, because I understand it’s important to keep some part of it, freeze it, and eat it on our anniversary the following year.”

I squinted at him.

“Ode informed me it was quite imperative that cake be procured.”

I shook my head. “It’s not.”

“In these matters, I will defer to her, as you do everything for me and nothing for yourself, so cake you shall have.”