His other hand glided across my hip to the small of my back, pressing me against his hard, warm strength, even as his hand tightened in my hair, holding my face close.
Heart accelerating, I instantly felt the tranquility transfusing me disappear, the emotion I had been gifted by Leric gone, and I felt my own emotions brimming…exploding inside. Adoration and love poured over me in gulfing flames, my chest aching with it, throat clogging, while his lips caressed mine again…and again…but fear overrode all, air caught in my chest. “Sin,” I whispered against his lips, gripping his shirt in my fists, “I’m okay…I’m…” Another graze of his lips over mine, soft as satin, but wicked as the night almost had my knees buckling. “Sin, I’m alright.”
Hot panting breaths brushed over my mouth as his sensual onslaught slowly ceased, lips lightly touching mine, his forehead pressed against mine. My eyes flittered open, not even realizing they had closed. I stared into glowing emerald green, his gaze severe, my own eyes glowing on his, and he breathed harshly against my lips. “If he fucking touches you again,” in any way, he left unsaid with a pause, “I will shred him.”
“Shh,” I whispered, lifting my hands to brush them over his cheeks softly, rubbing my thumbs over his temples in deliberate calming strokes, even in my own frightened, and loved, state. “Calm down…I’m here…with you.”
“Fertilizer…” he breathed brutally, not calming. “He will be fucking fertilizer for our damn flowers.”
I blinked slowly. Continued rubbing. “I remember one year we had beautiful flowers.”
Feeling his lips curl slightly against mine, my brows rose, and he murmured, “Bruno was good for something.” My eyes widened marginally, and I felt his fingers stroke gently against the small of my back, his own thumb against my cheek began running softly against my skin. “You loved those flowers.”
I swallowed. “Yes, I did.” My own lips curled. “I’ll cherish their memory even more now.”
Softly, lovingly, he pressed his lips to mine more firmly, and I barely kept from trembling as he stroked them gently once, then whispered against them, “Remember, love…fertilizer.”
I started when Elder Jacobs cleared his throat loudly, half forgetting they were there, only to hear him mutter, “Yeah…he obviously gets a spot.” Another clearing of his throat. “And apparently, you, Mr. Damon, don’t have the possessive streak most mates do.”
I froze completely.
Leric’s drawl was overly lazily from behind me. “Oh, no, Elder Jacobs…it’s there, but I’ve learned restraint in my years.” Then in my mind, a quiet purr, “Restraint that is wearing thin quickly, especially with your most recent “free-loving-spree” and now that our connection has completed…and his fucking hand had better not slip down any farther, my Chosen.”
Abruptly, I turned inside Sin’s own frozen form, he, obviously, getting the gist of Elder Jacobs words. I held up my hands instantly in Leric’s direction, Sin’s grip that had been on the small of my back now on my lower stomach, his fingers digging in as he really started to tremble against my back…and I could only imagine the mirage of emotions twisting inside him, especially because I had managed at one point to tell him in code spirits didn’t have mates. “Leric…Sin is the only person I fully trust, unconditionally love, and can truly call my own.” My jaw clenched. “So, rein in whatever the hell you’re feeling, and don’t ever threaten him, or any fucking choice you may be hoping for will be,” I blinked, then grinned cruelly, “shredded.”
Leric’s nostrils flared, and his jaw clenched tight, but he stayed quiet.
King Zeller waved an absent finger from the hand he had over his mouth, watching Sin over my shoulder. “Ms. Jules, why don’t you take Sin out of here for a bit and explain the situation to him before there’s any more bloodshed today?” Not waiting for my approval, his next words were directed at Sin. “And her bodyguards are not effective if their unconscious, so please quit rendering them so.”
Sin’s response was a shaky exhale from the breath he had been holding in, sounding half growl, his gaze surely on Leric, his posturing enough I instantly started pressing backward with my feet, pushing us toward the door, gripping his thighs to make him move, and I mumbled hastily, “We’re going to take a walk.” Sin started pressing back, wanting to do God knows what, and I grunted, putting a little power behind my efforts. “A long walk.” My wide gaze went to Leric as Sin literally started growling behind me. “Leric, we’ll talk later.” More loud growling, and a fumbling for his gun.
And…God, help me…my gaze strayed to Elder Merrick for the barest moment, seeing his body utterly relaxed against the couch, a completely fake posturing since he wasn’t moving, his lids hiding his navy blue eyes from me…right as I slipped out the door, pushing Sin in the direction of the backyard while grabbing his gun from him he had managed to pull while fighting me.
Chapter Thirteen
After somewhat calming one male, my favorite one, who was utterly torn in two between wanting to kill Leric just for being what he was to me and, I was pretty sure, half thankful I still had a choice—as I was, I had to go and deal with another male, the one I was bonded to…my One. A few things were learned in that discussion. Being the Chosen was just the feminine form of the One. And, also, the staid, and lazy demeanor Leric normally exuded…was a complete fa?ade which disappeared when upset. The man had a pair of lungs on him that literally shook the whole damn manor, all of the Elders and Rulers running into the spelled privacy room we were in, holding on to walls or furniture to stay upright. His crown had been showing at that particular moment in time, those who hadn’t seen it before stared avidly, but after damn near pushing them back out of the room, explaining to them we were having a discussion about “boundaries”, they had eventually left us to shout and holler at one another, my own calm fa?ade diminishing when he demanded I—at least—start sleeping in a room of my own, instead of sleeping with Sin every night…so then, the room and surrounding areas of the manor started shaking even more with my heated argument, the Rulers and Elders, all rushing back inside the room—Elder Farrar had appeared particularly amused from the back of the group—and glowing and pissed as hell, I had turned on my heel, pushing through the half hostile/half worried Royals, shouting to Leric, “You can suck my fucking cock, my One.”
“Real fucking mature, my Chosen,” he yelled, the room continuing to shake, then there was a lengthy pause as I shoved through King Zeller and Elder Jacobs. “And if you suck anyone’s fucking cock but my own, I will fucking annihilate him in a damn heartbeat.”
“I’m bi, if you’ve already forgotten. I suck clits, not just cocks.”
Elder Fergus choked in front of me, putting a fist in front of his mouth, and quickly made room for me when I glowered.
“Goddammit, Caro!” Leric shouted, the chandelier of the room rattling with the shaking. “I’m about to lose my fucking patience with you.”
“Already there, buddy,” Elder Kincaid muttered under his breath, also quickly moving out of my way, his gaze apt over my head, probably staring at Leric’s damn crown.
Leric bellowed, “Separate bedrooms, Caro! Make. It. Happen.” A pause. “Or I swear I will bring fucking Lissa here to stay in my room with me.”