“Ryder,” I moaned and cried out as the orgasm he’d created ripped through me and the world exploded into shattered, prismatic colors. I felt him grow taut, and his movements grew hurried as he joined me in release.
When his breathing grew regulated, and he stretched out beside me, I smiled like a sated cat that had just been fed a juicy, fat tuna. “I couldn’t imagine losing that,” I admitted with a soft kiss to his lips.
“I feel like I could take on the world with you by my side,” he whispered seductively.
“Good, ‘cause you may need to,” I whispered thickly. “We need to get moving so we can get started on raising support for the babies.”
“Marry me, Pet,” he whispered and my head swam with the words.
“No,” I surprised us both by saying it. “Not like this, Ryder, not because you’re upset that you almost lost me. Ask me again when we’ve had time to process everything that’s happened.”
I wanted him, and yes, I wanted to marry the beast, but he’d been through a lot. We both had. It was an emotional overload, and we were both still riding the waves of it. Faolán was still out there, wounded, but alive.
“You almost killed Faolán?” I asked, narrowing my eyes on him.
“He moved, or he’d be dead right now. If he hadn’t sifted when he did, and you weren’t bleeding out…I’d have tracked him until I found him, and I’d have killed him for what he did, for everything he’s done to you.”
“Thank you,” I said before I pulled him closer for a kiss and then pushed him away. “As much as I like our ‘talks,’ it’s time to go show Faery that I am still alive, and bring them together.”
Chapter Twelve
I stood in the nursery as Faelyn and Keeley dressed the babes for their presentation to the Fae. It was unreal to know I had three children and my beast had asked me to become his wife. Not that I wasn’t happy with him doing so, but the timing wasn’t something I was willing to chance him regretting later on.
He’d been through a huge shock, and while I was thrilled with the idea of marrying him, I wanted him to ask me because he wanted it and not because he’d thought he’d lost me to death’s cold clutches.
Danu’s plan had held merit, but in the end it wasn’t how I wanted to win the people over. We needed them to be peaceful as we presented the babes. It was imperative that they allow us to speak and bring them over to our side for Danu to draw from their strength to bless the babies.
We were pretty sure we pushed the war back momentarily with the amount of Mages we had slaughtered in both recent attacks, but it was still looming and present in our minds; however, the infants had to come first.
I had a daughter, and the thought of screwing her or the boys up was overwhelming. I knew nothing of raising children, and a daughter really scared me. I’d been a hard child, almost to the point of cold after my adopted parents had been killed. I was more afraid of these tiny beings than I had ever been of my beast.
I was standing over my daughter when Ristan and Adam sifted into the room. Both of them had bags bulging with items from a popular chain of baby stores back home. “What’s all of that?” I asked, unsure I wanted to know.