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Maddox wasn’t a weak man. He gave up power to keep me safe—though he should know by now that I didn’t need protecting from him.
I grinned. This new confidence could come in handy. I just needed to find a way to translate it into the bedroom. If I could do that, then we could have a very good time together. This new confidence was, well,new. I wasn’t entirely familiar with it yet.
And we didn’t have much time left. If we couldn’t stop Fenrir from devouring the world and everything in it, then there would be no time for sex.
Maddox rose from his knees. I grabbed him, spun us, and pushed him back against the same tree he’d held me against. A grin reached his lips. A sharp tooth poked out from behind his lips. The sight of it made my heart stutter. His pale hair hung over his dark, somber eyes. A flush turned his high cheeks a dark red.
I couldn’t help the smirk that twisted my lips when a thought occurred to me. Of course, it slipped out of my mouth before I could think to stop myself. “Who’s my pretty puppy?”
Maddox laughed. It was a rich, genuine sound. He lifted me from the ground and spun me around all while still laughing. The world became a blur, but that didn’t matter. Nothing needed to exist outside of us. In this moment, he was all that mattered to me.
That would change soon, seconds from now when we had to go back to the real world. For now, though, we could pretend that we were all that there was. It was only him and me, no threats against the world, no gods begging us to do their dirty work.
I craved entire days like that. I wanted nothing more than a quiet morning in bed with Maddox.
When Maddox stopped spinning, he spared a glance up at the sky. “The sun is still high. I think there’s plenty of time in the day to get married.”
Maddox opened a portal, and I let out an excited shriek as we fell into it and landed on my soft bed. The familiar smell of my bedroom rushed towards me. Potato yowled and jumped off the bed. We must have startled her with our sudden drop in.
I lifted myself up over Maddox. My hair had come undone and now hung in a veil around us. Maddox traced the lines of my lips and up along my cheek. I had a sudden urge to stay here, in bed. However, he’d promised me a binding contract, and I wasn’t about to give up on that just yet.
Still, I ducked in to steal another kiss. Somehow, we’d gone from enemies to acquaintances to allies tomarried? It seemed like a strange progression, but it’d worked for us. I rolled over and let him get up to get dressed while I watched. When he glanced over his shoulder and found me watching, he wiggled his butt just for me.
Men had the best butts I’d ever seen, and Maddox’s was no exception. I stifled the urge to reach out and bite it. Somehow, I managed to let him get dressed unmolested. Now that we’d crossed the boundary between friends and intoengaged, I didn’t know how to behave myself. I wanted to give in to every small whim that I’d ever imagined around him.
The look he gave me as he extended his hand to help me off the bed said the very same thing. He pulled me close to his body and slung an arm low across my back. For a heartbeat, it felt like we might start dancing. My heart was way ahead of us, already waltzing to its own beat inside my chest.
Our lips barely grazed before we were out the door. We raced down to the courthouse to make this official while we still had time.
Maddox
Addie didn’t pushme away. In fact, she drew me closer. The woman had witnessed the similarities between myself and Fenrir and hadn’t batted an eye. When I stole a sidelong glance in her direction, my beast preened with pride. This was the woman I was meant to love.
Maybematewasn’t the right word, but I doubted anything would fit when we rewrote fate to fit our needs. In the car, on the way to the courthouse, Addie’s eyes went wide. Her jaw dropped. She planted both hands on the center console and gazed at me with inexplicable awe.
“I sense a lightbulb moment,” I said, trying to keep my eyes on the road because Addie was too stunning to not look at.
“Fate is all kinds of fucked right now. Right?” A mischievous grin spread across her lips. “Well, what if I could fix it and put everything back the way it should be. I wouldn’t have to chain Fenrir if I could fix the timeline that let him loose to begin with. Think about it. He never would have gotten out if the weave of fate wasn’t already kind of busted.”
I parked in a lot not far away from the courthouse. The sun remained high, illuminating everyone around. There were a few people lingering here and there, but I couldn’t see their faces with the glare of the sun hitting us at this angle.
My beast fidgeted nervously. I wanted to go inside and get this done while we had the time. This conversation could wait.
But Addie wasn’t moving. She put her hand under her chin as she thought. “I would have to learn how to weave, but it couldn’t be that hard. I’m sure someone else has done it. The Greek Fates might be able to give me some advice.”
“Summoning gods is what got us into this mess to begin with,” I reminded her. I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel.
Addie wrinkled her nose. “I don’t think I’m responsible. At least…not completely. Hel is hiding something.”
I wasn’t sure that Addie was completely right, but I didn’t want to launch us into our first couples’ argument. Memories of my screaming matches with Paige came rushing back. I could almost hear her voice rising.
This time around, no matter how short it might be, I wanted to be a good husband while Addie and I were together. I wouldn’t fall into the same mistakes I’d made before. Though the thought that I could be a monster in more ways than one gnawed at my mind, Addie made me believe that I could cast that off and start new.
Still, messing with the fabric of reality had proved to be dangerous in the past. I didn’t want the community to turn on her once they realized she could be a problem. The supernatural community protected itself, and this could jeopardize everything.
“I can do it,” Addie promised me.
I pursed my lips and studied her eyes. She was telling the truth as far as she was concerned. Hope and determination swam in her gray eyes. Both challenged me to tell her otherwise. Who was I to argue?
