Page 86 of Sun, Moon & Shadow

Callan’s chest swelled with gratitude for the odd commander who’d taken Nova under his wing and become a friend to her. He traced Nova’s markings—the pearly scars stretching from the top of her left shoulder down to the middle of her back. The markings of a warrior.

“These remind me of the moment I first felt connected to you,” he murmured. Nova perked up, turning her head so her ear lay close to his mouth. “I found you in the clearing beneath the lycane, and I started toward you. But you cried out, and the sound froze me in place. You were so powerful, so beautiful, in that moment. I can’t explain what happened to me. It was as if I’d been trapped beneath a sheet of ice. In that instant, you shattered the ice, and I began to breathe again.” He placed a light kiss over her scars and watched her skin prickle in response.

He brushed his lips against the back of her neck. “Thorn asked if I’m bonded to you.”

She shifted on the bed, twisting to face him.

“What does it mean to be bonded?” she asked, one eyebrow raised.

Callan took a lock of her hair between his thumb and forefinger.

“It’s like being two parts of one whole. Fated to find each other, and destined to be together.”

“What, like a soulmate?”

“Is that what they call it in the Human Realm?”

“If you are bonded to me, does that mean you have no choice but to be with me?”

“Of course I have a choice. As do you.” He tucked her hair neatly behind her ear. “Common Fae still honor the bond, but for nobles, bonding has been out of fashion for thousands of years. But I believe my heart and my body will always call out to you. Will always be connected to you. And I will choose you every day for the rest of my life. I can’t imagine denying what I feel for you. I don’t believe such a thing would even be possible.”

A smile bloomed on her face, and he reached over, brushing away a tear as it slid down her cheek.

“I choose you, too,” she whispered. “I was a fool to deny this. To deny us.”

“The gods have never favored me, Nova, but if they’ve decided to make you mine, I’ll travel the Realm and make an offering to each one,” he said, stroking her bottom lip with his thumb.

Nova kissed him softly, then pushed him down onto his back and straddled his thighs. His cock rested a breath away from her core. Callan shot a glance at the sacred space between her legs, pink and wet, nestled below a patch of soft black curls. His cock stirred, instantly hardening against her inner thigh. He growled low in his throat and reached out to grasp her hips, but she swatted his hands away, a playful smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

“You took your time with me, my love,” she teased. “You can hardly deny me a chance to return the favor.”

She dragged her hands down his chest at a leisurely pace, alternating between the soft pads of her fingers and the scratch of her nails. Callan’s back arched when, finally, her fingers curled around the base of his cock. Moving her hand up and down, she pumped him slowly with a firm grip as she had watched him do before. Her mouth hung open slightly as she kept her eyes trained on him, intently observing his every reaction to her touch, as if pleasing him was a skill she intended to master.

When she brushed her thumb over the glistening tip, he bucked his hips beneath her, inhaling sharply through his teeth. He spoke her name aloud, his voice choked and pleading. Nova shushed him before leaning forward and kissing him deeply.

Repositioning herself over him, she rocked her hips so his cock slid against the waiting warmth between her legs. She teased him mercilessly, pulling away each time he tried to enter her. Taking his hands in hers, she kissed and nipped at the tips of his fingers before placing them on her breasts. She threw her head back as he massaged them, moaning softly before her gaze connected with his once again.

“I’ve touched myself with you in my thoughts, guiding my hands, but nothing compares to this.”

Callan gritted his teeth at her admission, resisting the urge to roll her over and pin her beneath him. To claim her as his own. She hovered over him for an instant. Just when he thought he couldn’t withstand another second of being so close to her but not inside her, she lowered herself onto him, taking him fully.

Nova let out a soft gasp, and her eyes fell shut as she began riding him in earnest. Her hands covered his on her chest, cupping and kneading her breasts along with him. Callan couldn’t tear his gaze away as she rose and fell above him, taking his cock deep into her warm cunt. He was so godsdamn close to her. As close as two bodies could be. And still he craved more. In truth, he knew very little about her; he hungered to know everything.

Nova’s movements intensified, and she moaned softly as a pale glow shone beneath the surface of her milky skin. Callan’s own climax built as he watched her in complete awe, afraid to blink. Nova cried out as she took him fully a final time and ground against him. The sound, a wild whimper, ignited something primal in Callan. He grasped her hips then, thrusting but finding he was as deep as he could go, and spilled himself inside her.

A moment later, Nova stretched out beside him on the bed, her head resting on his shoulder and an arm thrown over his chest. The room was silent except for their labored breaths. As Callan lay there with the length of her body pressed against his, he prayed to the gods—the same ones who had taken nearly everything from him—that he wouldn’t wake and find it had all been a wonderful dream.

Forty-Two

By the second day following their return from the northern shore, there was little more than a slight twinge in Callan’s side when he moved. Other than an itchy sensation around the newly formed scar, he felt more or less normal. Eir, the healer, had practically chased Nova from his room when she discovered them in bed together, limbs tangled. She’d dealt Callan a severe tongue-lashing for ignoring her strict orders to rest.

It was worth it.

After breakfast, Callan found himself in the Noble Lord’s study again, the intimate space crowded with Nox seated behind his desk and Nova and Lucan occupying the twin leather armchairs across from him. Callan tucked himself away across the room, leaning an elbow on the mantel and wondering why every room seemed to be outfitted with a fireplace despite Silvergard’s mild climate.

Nova had allowed her uncle to peer into her mind to hear for himself every word General Idrian had spoken to her. Callan was glad he would never hear the general’s words firsthand. The flames of his anger had been sufficiently fanned by the brief synopsis Nova had shared with him. The general was a coward, eager to sacrifice Nova’s life to fulfill his own selfish desires.

“Our scouts have returned,” Lucan reported. “Idrian remains near Schadwen Mountain. A small number of reinforcements have arrived there. The troops have set up an encampment beside the Gloaming Sea.”