AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I’d already checked out the bathtub in the suite’s bathroom. Like the bed, the circular tub was plenty big enough for five. Four should be a piece of cake. I turned the taps until the water was gushing out in a steamy stream. A handful of sea salt to make it nice and invigorating—perfect!
“I take it we’re all invited?” Nate said, strolling in afterme.
“The more the merrier. I’d like to think of it as a big, wet reset button in this visit. Good-bye, rogues! Hello, whatever the heck shifters usuallydo!”
“There’s plenty of time for you to learn all of that,” Aaron said. He slipped his arm around me and pressed his lips to my shoulder. “And I look forward to guiding you along theway.”
“Hmm. Me too,” I said with a suggestive waggle of my eyebrows that made himlaugh.
As I plunged into the hot water, West finally emerged from the bedroom. He took in me already submerged and his fellow alphas climbing in after me, and shrugged. “Whynot?”
Well, that was about as much enthusiasm as I could hope for from my wolfshifter.
The whisper of the water against my skin brought back the memory of the more pleasant activities I’d gotten up to this morning. My little interlude in the pond with Marco. All the fun that could be had while playing around in the water. I licked my lips, looking around at my mates. Then a deeper urge gripped myheart.
I could have lost any of them today. If one of them had been caught by the wrong bullet, like Coreen’s husband had... Just the thought of it wrenched atme.
They needed to know just how much they meant tome.
I glided through the water over to Aaron. He smiled, reaching to cup my cheek. I settled on his lap and leaned in for a kiss. His other hand settled on my waist, his thumb stroking over my side as our mouths pressed together slickly. I was plenty hot and bothered already by the time I eased back. But I held myself a little away from him and gazed into his bright blueeyes.
“I love you,” I said, the feeling of it rushing through me as if saying the words out loud had uncorked a whole new bottle ofadoration.
Aaron’s face lit up. He kissed me again, even more deeply this time. Then he said, with his lips just an inch from mine, “I love you, Serenity.Always.”
I drifted from him to Nate beside him. The bear shifter welcomed me into his arms, already grinning. I snuggled into his embrace and kissed him hard, wanting him to feel how much this mattered to me. He rumbled in his chest, his fingers caressing my back. I touched the side of his face as I pulled away to meet his warm browngaze.
“I loveyou.”
“I love you too,” he said. “Don’t you ever doubtit.”
I brushed my lips to his again. Then I turned. West watched me from the opposite corner of the tub. His body was tensed, but his dark green eyes looked softer thanusual.
“Come here, Sparks,” he said. “I might as well get mykiss.”
Did he think he wasn’t getting the rest? Well, maybe I wasn’t totally sure either. It was a little hard to follow how I felt with all the push-pull between us. But if he was offering a kiss, he’d better believe I was going to takeit.
I floated over to him, half expecting him to change his mind. Or to grab me and plant one on me so hungry it made my headspin.
He reached for me, easing his fingers around my wrist to tug me a little closer. He teased his other hand into my hair. We held each other’s gazes for a moment, his strangely searching. A flutter passed through my chest. Then he drew me the rest of the way tohim.
His mouth claimed mine with a tenderness I couldn’t have been prepared for. His lips coaxed mine apart to deepen the kiss, and just like that, I was lost in him. Lost in the gentle passion of his embrace, lost in the smell that lingered on his skin as if he’d brought the forests of his home here withhim.
This was the man I’d known my mate could be. The one I’d caught glimpses of in the rare moments when he let his guarddown.
My headwasspinning when he released me from that lip-lock. I stared at him for a second, catching my breath, my whole body aflame with both lust and a more heartfelt longing. I drew in a breath to say what I’d said to the others, what felt undeniably true now—and the door thumped in the otherroom.
As I swiveled around, Marco strode into the room. He was frowning, his eyes dark withconcern.
“A few of the rogues escaped,” he said. “Not so many that we’d need to worry about them on their own, but—my people’s reports say they headed north. Straight toward a troop of vampires that just annexed my New York property and is now moving on from there. It looks like the rogues have even more allies than we realized. And they’ve just incited a full-scale paranormalwar.”
I groaned, tipping my head back against the cushion of the water. So much for resting. But the resolve I’d felt during the battle only hardened insideme.
“Fine,” I said. “They’ve got no idea what they’re getting into when they mess with a dragon. It’s time to showallour enemies what a bad idea that is, once and forall.”
* * *
* * *
