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"Very well, but I think we'd better stop there," Asterion laughed. "Any more of us, and Birsha will hear the stampede from across the continent. We'll seek out information about Rolant and where he might be, and then we'll make a decision together on how to act."
I frowned at my minotaur until he caught the look. He answered it with a small smile, and my heart stuttered in my chest as he tipped his head to the door.
"Go on," Hywel murmured, although Conall relinquished my hand with a little more coaxing.
The room was thick with conversation, lovers making safe promises to one another and monsters planning. Asterion caught me around the waist, lifting me easily off my toes and striding out the door of the study.
"Asterion, you're not—"
"I'm not running,théa," he said before I could finish my question. We hurried into the next room, a small sitting area with a lit fire, and he settled us on the settee together, my legs spread over his lap. He squeezed my hips briefly before cupping my shoulders, bowing his head to rest our brows together. My own greedy grip reached up and caught him by the horns, holding him tightly in place.
"Birsha was likely seeking to trap Hywel and Laszlo, if not all of us."
I shivered, and Asterion rubbed his hands up and down my arms as if to warm me. "That means he is seekingyoutoo, Asterion. I don't want—"
"It will be all right,théa," Asterion whispered, tugging his head back just long enough to nuzzle against my face.
"Maybe Conall should—" I started in a small voice, hating the words.
Asterion snorted. "I meant what I said. Until Conall settles his mark on you, he won't be able to stand being out of your sight. Same goes for Hywel, and the dragon certainly won't let his mate leave the nest without him."
"Oh, and I should?" I muttered, trying to turn my pout into a respectable glower.
Asterion was silent for a moment, one hand sliding up my shoulder to catch my chin and lift it high. His eyes blazed down on me, soft and hot all at once. "Am I yourmate,théa?"
I twisted nervously on his lap for a moment. "Asterion, you're the one who said…" He glanced away, a low sound of assent in his throat, and suddenly the answer was on my tongue. "Yes. You are."
Asterion's breath froze in his chest, eyes snapping back to stare at me. I don't know which of us moved first, but in a moment I was pressed tightly against Asterion's chest, our arms so fiercely fastened around one another, I could scarcely breathe.
I would rob us of the truth no longer.
"You are my mate, Asterion. I never feel as safe as I do when I'm with you. You've possessed me from the first moment you touched me, and I—"
"Evanthia," Asterion groaned, burying his face against my slender neck.
"I love you," I whispered directly into his sweetly furred ear, trailing a fingertip up the back of it and smiling as it twitched. "For sheltering me. Waiting for me. Feeding me and watching me and knowing me better than I know myself."
Asterion's breath was heavy and fast, rushing over my skin and down under the collar of my dress, making my breasts ache as I arched into his embrace. "I thought…I thought it would be enough to know," he said, rough and aching. "To know what you were to me. I could never imagine how full my soul would be when touching you, fucking you,lovingyou,théa. My little goddess. Mymate."
I dragged his face up, pressing my lips to his. For all that our features were a mismatch, there was a perfect rightness to kissing him, one that brought tears to my eyes.
"Show me, Asterion. Before you go. Show me again what it is to be yours."
Asterion groaned but relented, lifting me from the couch in the cradle of his arms, carrying us both up to the nest.
"Amon will have his way with plans while I'm not in the room," Asterion muttered, but his hands tightened eagerly on me, and I knew any concern over plots and plans would wait until we were satisfied with one another. If that was even possible.
CHAPTER41
SETTLE THE MATTER
Our company was in accord the next morning at dawn, all of us together outside of the castle, tearful kisses and whispered goodbyes exchanged, hands shaken and backs clapped between friends.
"I love you, mate," I whispered once more into Asterion's ear, my legs dangling over the ground as he held me in a firm hug.
"I love you,théa. I'll be back soon."
I pinched the back of his neck. "You'd better. No more tarrying in London or—"
