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Maybe I’d spoken too soon about the wholewithout privacything.
His fingers slid inside my shorts, wrapping possessively around my ass cheeks and spreading me wider.
I ripped my face away from his, the back of my head knocking into the wall as I panted, “Wait.”
His fingers clenched my ass, his silver eyes burning into me.
“We have an audience, probably.” I jerked my head toward the forest.
His head whipped around, his eyes narrowing.
His fingers tightened on my ass again, the grip so tight it hurt a little, but in the fucking best way.
“And the unseelies want a war. We have to talk to them. Afterward…” I bit my lip. “We can go back to your cave for a day or two.”
His eyes darkened, and he dipped his head in a nod.
Lian’s lips captured mine again, and he gave me one last scorching kiss before he tossed me over his back, shifting before I collided with his warm skin, and took off into the air.
My magic pulsed in my chest as we picked up speed and altitude. Flying had come naturally to me when I shifted, but there was no doubt that Lian was faster. He had done it a hell of a lot more than I had, and he was just plain old massive.
Maybe I’d eventually be able to keep pace with him, but at the moment, I was content with the fact that he could outfly me.
Despite the magic and my own yearning to shift, I felt through our bond that Calian wanted me where I was. I’d been avoiding paying attention to the connection ever since I told him I wanted space, but his emotions had still brushed against my mind every now and then. They did so enough to let me know how difficult it had been for him to give me the space I needed.
And now that we were touching again, they let me know that he needed me to remain in physical contact with him.
It was a strange thought, that he needed me.
I’d never been needed before.
As much as I hated to admit it, I liked it.
We flew for a few hours, and the more time I spent snuggled up on Calian’s back, the more I started to wonder if space was what I had ever wanted from the man at all.
Seventeen
Eventually,we landed in the valley. I slid off Calian’s back before he could grab me, managing to crash to my feet instead of the ground. When he landed beside me in his man form, his arm wrapped securely around my waist. I leaned in closer to him without thinking about it, and when I did think about it, accepted that I just wanted to be close to him.
“They don’t know what to think of you,” he murmured to me as we walked. “That’s an advantage for us. If you feel it can help at any point, speak up. No need to hide your opinions or hold yourself back.”
My eyebrows shot upward.
No one had ever told me not to hide what I was. That was the name of the game in foster care; they wanted us to become someone entirely different so we’d appeal to thebleeding heartswho might eventually want to adopt us. I had hated that so much—the insistence to be on our best behavior and show respect even if the potential families treated us like garbage. Sure, maybe some of them actually might have been good people, but I’d lived with more than a few who were just in it to make money off of us.
“You don’t want me to stay quiet?” I asked, as we reached the entrance to the pyramid-shaped building.
“Not unless you prefer to.” He squeezed my hip lightly, and our eyes met.
The contact made me bite my lip to suppress a wave of emotions I couldn’t control or understand.
We stepped into the building, and I let my gaze trail over the room.
It was the same as it had been before, but there were a few more people inside. Three unseelie men I didn’t recognize—one of which was wearing a crown that was just as big as his gigantic head. It gleamed like some kind of black metal, but my attention didn’t linger on it.
It lingered on the woman next to him.
She was tall and willowy, with piercing blue eyes and thick, dark hair. Her skin was a dark tan color, and one of her arms was coated in spiraling letters that weren’t English, but looked like some other language’s version of cursive. Though she stood next to the guy wearing the crown, there were at least two feet of distance between them, and her posture was stiff.
