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“I thought you’d drag me back to Highwick.” I settled my head back against his chest. “I thought a lot of things... that I was doing what was right for my pack. That Briar’s marriage was the only way to save Olmdere. That you were going tobewith her.”
Grae’s chest vibrated below my cheek as he snarled. His voice was low and quiet. “I thought going along with the arrangement would keep you safe, both of you. But I never intended to be with her like that.”
His confessions in the snow flashed into my mind—about his childhood, about his mother. “I understand that now.”
“But you defied my father. You left even though you knew what it would cost you.” He sighed. “You’re braver than me, little fox.”
“Or more stubborn.”
“That too.” He chuckled, his hand resuming its circles down my spine. “I’m glad you ran. I’m glad you fought. You made me rise up to meet you and I’m stronger for it. I won’t tiptoe around my father and his tyranny anymore.”
“I know you won’t.” I stroked a hand down his stubbled jawline, gazing up into his eyes. “And I won’t let him hurt you, either.”
I watched the power of my words land as his eyes bracketed with pain. He needed to know it wasn’t his burden to carry alone. Just as he was determined to protect me, I’d protect him. That is who we’d be together.
“When we take Olmdere,” I said, “we’ll need to act quickly—send messengers and promise your father mountains of gold in exchange for Briar’s safe return. We can’t go back to Damrienn.”
“Agreed.”
“Like Queen Ingrid, I’ll take my parents’ throne, not through you, but of my own birthright.”
I knew Briar would be proud of me in that moment. She had never wanted to be Queen; she went along with it to protect us, to save our people. But she didn’t have to brave that title now. I would take that place and grant her the life she’d always wanted. I felt so certain of it now. I was the Marriel who was meant to rule.
“You will make a fierce and beautiful queen.” Grae brushed a soft kiss against my lips. “You are the ruler Olmdere needs.”
My lips silenced him as they covered his mouth in soft, lavishing kisses. I breathed in his scent as I deepened our kiss. He grunted as the tip of my tongue brushed his, lifting one hand to cup the back of my neck, the other trailing down to cup my ass. I rolled my hips against him, feeling him harden against me.
With nothing between us, I reached down and positioned him between my legs, making him groan. He pushed into me slowly as our sleepy hands roved each other’s bodies.
My breath hitched and my eyelids drooped at the feeling of him inching deeper inside me. The sensation that had been foreign to me the night before now felt so familiar, so right. I tilted my hips, finding that sweet spot inside me that made my toes curl. He gripped my waist tighter and rolled his hips, his mouth parting against mine as he groaned. Gods, that sound, that silenced groan, that hint of a growl that disappeared into a heaving breath. I could come from that sound alone, knowing how I made him feel, and it made my core flutter around him.
I pushed on his shoulder, rolling him onto his back and keeping him buried inside of me. His hands found my hips as I stared down into his lust-filled eyes and parted lips. I lifted and lowered slowly, feeling every spot inside me that he touched. One of his hands drifted from my hip to my pulsing clit and began circling me.
I moaned, my nipples tightening as I rode him faster, grinding into his fingers as I chased my release, knowing now exactly how to take my pleasure from him as well as I knew how to give it. He thrust up, my breasts bouncing as I met each of his pumps, our rhythm growing frenzied. I clawed my fingers down his chest, trying to fight that maddening pull within me, like the heavy rip of waves pulling back out to sea.
He thrust deeper, bucking me up and down, as his fingers circled my clit faster. I cried out as my climax roared through me, shuddering ecstasy from the crown of my head to the tip of my toes. Grae groaned, that glorious sound heightening my pleasure, as his breathing faltered and he came inside of me. I rode him through those rolling waves of pleasure, wringing out the last of our releases, before finally collapsing onto his sweaty chest.
I traced slow kisses over his collarbone, a wicked grin on my face. “Now we can go.”
We ran another hour north, our Wolves easily closing the distance to the Olmderian capital. We stuck to the eastern forests that wove around the fjords before cutting inland toward the city and the towering castle in the center of the lake. Farmhouses appeared through the trees, and we shifted back into human form.
My bare feet padded across the mossy forest floor. I brushed my hair over my shoulder and glanced back at Grae. The claw marks down his chest were gone, but the heat in his eyes remained, along with the clear evidence of his arousal.
I smirked, shaking my head. “We need to find you some clothes.”
His proud grin was all Wolf.
My hands trailed over the underbrush, and I paused at a bush covered in crimson berries. Serilberries. I popped a few ripe ones in my mouth. They were very sour raw, usually cooked with honey, but the zing on my tastebuds woke me up and freshened my mouth.
They were used for flavoring recipes and in many medicines, too. All the known spots to forage serilberries in Allesdale were picked clean each season . . . but out here, far from any town, little red fruits filled the bush. They would probably be a worthy payment for whoever we took clothes from. I snapped five branches laden with berries and kept walking with the bouquet in my hands.
Another half hour down the trail, we finally passed a house with washing on the line—trousers, tunics, dresses, and aprons. I had no clue if the sizes were right, but they’d have to do. We heard people talking in the barn, but it was obscured from view by the house and I prayed no one would walk around the bend.
We approached the garden hedge, crouching and peeking over the untrimmed shrubs.
Grae glanced sideways at me, a mischievous grin curving his lips as if we were children playing a prank. “Ready?”
I gave a quick nod and we darted out to the clothesline, snatching a bundle of garments. I dropped three serilberry branches as payment and darted back to cover.
