Page 70 of Of Magic and Murder

Then, seated on my mate’s length, I twist my head so that I can look at him again, a devilish little grin tugging my lips.

He’s so pretty. My heart flutters in my chest, but I can’t help it. I always thought he was the most handsome male I’ve ever seen, and that was when he was his suave, put-together self. Seeing him like this? After the night we shared and the morning we’re having together?

He’s heartbreakingly beautiful, and my core grips him, squeezing him, my whole body ecstatic in the realization that I get to call this male my mate.

Look at him. His dark hair is mussed in a way I’ve never seen before, no slicked-back perfection left after a night spent tangled in bed with me. There’s a faint shadow along his jaw, his golden eyes are softer than usual, and instead of the carefully controlled expression Chief Deputy Lobo wears around everyone else, Riordan is looking down at me with something that makes my heart trip and my pussy cream.

“Morning,” he murmurs, wearing a grin of his own and nothing else. “A very good morning, my sweet witch.”

I don’t know what happened to the blanket. On the floor, I imagine, and thanks to Riordan’s body heat, I don’t miss it. I also don’t miss the way his eyes seem to blaze as he looks from my face to the point where our naked bodies are connected once again. I wiggle my ass a little, giving him the invitation to move, and he uses his claws to scratch my left butt cheek.

Not deep enough to leave another mate mark, but to assure himself that I’m here, that I’m his, and that I chose him. I chose him last night when I kissed him. When I fucked him. When I let him bite me as I came on his cock, and then I let him lap at the blood he spilled so that his bite mark would instantly become my mating mark.

I chose him, not because he ordered me to and I had to obey him. Even if he hadn’t already figured out a workaround in case he accidentally told me what to do again, I… I trust Riordan. Just like I told him I did, I trusted him to take me as his mate because that’s what he wanted and what I wanted. Sure, both Hecate and the Luna might’ve picked us for each other, but I knew weeks ago that it was Riordan Lobo for me, and while his curse nearly broke me—when I thought he was as demanding and cruel as that feral who once tried to make me his against my will—it was his heart that did something to repair the fractures in mine.

Slowly, he begins to thrust. I gasp as he moves, but even as he possesses me from the inside out, I can’t keep myself from clutching his thighs, his lower abs, his hand as he claims me again. I’ll take any and every connection I can get as he dips his head, running his tongue over the mark on my shoulder before he drops a kiss to my hair.

The whole time I’m panting softly, I can’t take my eyes from him. No green. That’s as much as I can think as his cock wrecks me again. No green… no more curse.

It’s gone.

From the moment I accepted him as my mate, the wisps of green that followed him as a magic shadow since the moment he first stalked out of the Moonburrow sheriff station and nearly tripped over his own two feet—which makes a lot more sense now that I know he instantly recognized me, fresh from travel, as his fated mate—were finally gone. Just like he told me, the curse broke the instant he bonded his mate to him.

He has to know. I pointed it out last night, but as though he didn’t hear me, Riordan hefted me up easily, moving me from my back to my hands and knees so that he could take me from behind. While our first round was face-to-face, I knew exactly who I mated: a predator shifter with instincts he can’t deny. So I let him bow his body over mine while he pumped into me, understanding that he didn’t want to discuss the cursebreaking in case overthinking Penelope got it into her head that he only pursued her in order to get rid of his curse.

And, okay, part of me was worried about that. But then I thought about how he was so sure he’d never be able to claim his mate, he struggled with his curse… he even stayed away from me and Moonburrow… because he didn’t want to make his curse my problem; not even because I’m a cursebreaker, either, but because I was the only one who could break his curse as his mate. He kept the truth of my being his mate from me so that I didn’t feel pressured into agreeing to forever out of the kindness of my heart.

Silly Riordan. I’m kind-hearted and helpful, but even a witch like me has her limits. I mated Riordan because I… oh, Goddess, I love him, and I gasp it out as his next thrust hits just the right spot.

For a moment, Riordan stays buried inside of me. I don’t know if it’s because I tightened around him as my latest climax clammed into me, but when his deep thrusts become something much more frantic, much shallower, much quicker, I know it’s because he wants to show me how much he needs me at the same time as he growls under his breath.

My mate. He growls.

“Say that again.”

I lick my lip, a hint of a tease coming to my breathless voice. “You’re not cursed anymore, Riordan. And even if you were, you made it so it doesn’t work on me. Remember?”

“Fuck the curse.” Next thing I know, Riordan lifts me up while his cock is slammed to the hilt inside of me. With a quick shift of our bodies, I’m facedown on the mattress, his big body pressed against me as he buries his face into my hair. “My mate just told me she loves me. I have to hear it again.”

Oh. Got it. “I love you.”

His big body bucks as he comes. Only when he’s done giving me every last drop does he gather me up in his arms, hugging me to his chest as he says in a ragged breath, “I fucking adore you, Pen. Love is too simple a word for what you make me feel. I’ve spent so long locking down my feelings because I thought I was too good for them. I’ve made mistakes. I want to say I’ve learned. I can definitely say I’m trying. But you… I’ll thank the Luna every damn day that she brought you to me just like I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to prove to you that you made the right choice in accepting me. I swear it.”

“I know I did⁠—”

He nuzzles my neck. “And I’m going to do everything I can so you never forget it.”

Another vow, I think, as my eyes begin to close again, and one that he’s going to find very easy to keep.

Trust me. If that’s what mornings with my new mate are like, I will never forget how much I want this.

This, and him.

Three hours later and we finally get that shower. Of course, we spend most of it wrapped up in each other beneath the spray of water, but as soon as I remember that someone’s going to have to pay the water bill—and I’m not sure if it’s me or Honey, and I can’t do that to my kind friend—I drop to my knees and finish Riordan with my mouth so that we can actually scrub up and begin our day.

I get dressed before I can allow Riordan to talk me into going back to bed. Because he obviously didn’t expect last night to happen, he pulls on the same clothes he wore yesterday. I know he really does love me because he actually laughs along with me when I point out how wrinkled his expensive shirt is from spending the night crumpled up on my floor. That, or he’s just thrilled to wear the ruined silk as a badge of honor that says: I got laid last night.

One thing for sure? When we head downstairs and Honey pokes her head into the kitchen before we can make our escape, it takes one good look at the two of us together to know what we’ve been up to. Honey is a shifter. An opossum, sure, but she still has shifter senses. Just like how she and Roxy—and Ash and Max—seemed to think that I was meant for Riordan… and they were right… she can sense the change in the status of our relationship as if I took off my top and showed off the mark on my shoulder.