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“It is,” he called from the other room. “Every animal urinates, Nai.”
“I’m flipping you off from in here,” I tossed back.
He laughed. “You know that turns me on, baby.”
I bit my lip to fight the grin that was threatening to emerge.
I hadn’tforgottenhow fun he could be when he was comfortable and happy, but it had been so long. And things had been so damn intense, out in the forest and then in the cave.
I dried my hands with my flames, and then slipped out of the bathroom. Teris was waiting for me just outside, leaned up against one of the walls. He dragged me to his chest and buried his face in my hair as he hugged me fiercely tight.
“Damn, I love you,” he murmured.
My throat closed, and my heart just about stopped.
He stroked my hair, and my back.
I got the feeling that he wanted me to say it back, but my feelings had led me astray so many times. And I wasn’t positive it’d be true if I did say it, so… I kept my mouth shut.
“My new name full name is Viola,” I finally whispered, wrapping my arms around his back too. “In case something happens, you should know.”
“Your mom’s name?”
My throat was still swollen, so I just nodded against his chest.
“She’d love that,” he said softly.
My eyes stung. “I think so.”
He buried his hand in the back of my hair and just held me. I hugged him back tightly, immensely grateful that he knew me as well as he did, even though there had been so much of each other’s lives that we’d missed.
“I feel like I need a recap of the past two decades of your life,” I told him quietly. “It feels like I don’t even really know you anymore, but we’re mated, and I’m still more comfortable around you than I am around anyone else. It’s kind of trippy.”
“I’ll plan us one of your human dates, for tonight, then. I can cook you something new, and we can spend a few hours talking about life like we used to.”
My lips curved upward, only slightly sadly. “I actually know how to cook pretty well, now. I don’t know what all of the ingredients are called, but I had a lot of free time to figure out how to use them. Maybe I can cook for you this time.”
“Even better.” He brushed his lips against the top of my head. “I’ll go find us some things to cook with.”
Ten
Before Teris could go anywhere,someone rapped against the wooden plank that functioned as a door, and my head jerked upward. He just grimaced.
“There’s a huge group of your poisonous dragons headed our way,” a male fae yelled. His voice was so muted through the wood that I could barely make out the words.
“Send the unmated men!” Teris shouted back, pulling me closer.
The man knocked again, harder.
“Shouldn’t have soundproofed it,” Teris muttered into my head, brushing a kiss to my forehead before he strode over to the gap that functioned as a doorway. There were wooden rungs in the wall, I realized, when he used them to climb up, and then unlocked and opened the door. “Send the unmated men,” he repeated to the guy outside.
“The female fae are all looking for mates, and holding competitions to determine the strongest males as we speak. Most of the unmated won’t consider leaving the area until the competitions are over and their mates are decided.”
Teris growled. “The female fae aren’t even making an attempt to look for love?”
“They believe love is a choice, so they prefer to decide based on strength.” The other guy sounded about as impressed by that idea as Teris did. “I have January tucked away in my cave. We can put your female there too, if you’re worried about her safety, but we need more manpower.”
Based on the fact that he was talking about January, I was going to assume the guy outside was Lian. The Wild King, as the unseelies tended to call him. At least, they’d called him that before all the shit had gone down after he ended up mated.
