He was quiet for a moment, still. Then released her. “No,” he admitted, looking down into her face. Her scarred face. “I didn’t see a great many things. I’m afraid I’ve been feeling rather sorry for myself lately. Do you know anything about that?”
Her chin quivered. What was he doing? Why was he toying with her? Had he seen his mate today? Would he take her to the greenhouse tonight?
His eyes softened to liquid lavender. “Did you even want to be seen, Lia?”
The question startled her. “What?”
He took her in his arms again, forced her to look up at him. “You have been hiding here, haven’t you? My Temple Blade?”
Tears pricked her eyes and one started down her face in a casual path to her upper lip. Cas reached out and wiped it away.
“Last night,” he began. But she interrupted.
“Was a fantasy. An illusion, my lord.”
His grip on her tightened. “Don’t call me that. I’m Cas. To you, I’m Cas.”
She cried out. Not from any physical pain, but the pain in her heart. “I’m not the female you bedded last eve, goddammit! Look at me.”
“I am looking at you,” he insisted with ripe passion. “I see you, Lia. Perhaps you don’t see yourself. Your worth. Your beauty.”
“Beauty.” She laughed bitterly.
He held her still with one hand and reached up with the other, ran his index finger over the scar on her face.
“No,” she groaned, trying to fight him.
“Don’t you understand? This makes you even more beautiful than you were last night. This demonstrates your bravery, your skill, your perseverance.” His eyes penetrated her very soul in their ferocity.
Tears spilled down her cheeks. “My leg…you can’t possibly want—”
He had her in his arms in seconds and was carrying her to the bed.
“What are you doing?” she cried.
“Showing you how inconsequential that is.” He placed her on her back and started removing her clothing. “Unless it pains you. You must always tell me.”
Lia’s heart was beating a mile a minute. She glanced at the door. Closed. “My work,” she started.
“Is done. Over.” Once he had her naked, he started on himself. “You left my bed and my life once already. I will not allow it to happen again.” Gloriously naked, he came to rest over her, careful not to put too much weight on her. “Does this pain you, my sweet Lia?”
She shook her head, speechless, breathless. How was this happening? Was she still in the greenhouse, dreaming?
Cas leaned down and kissed her softly on the mouth. “You are mine now, do you understand? My one and only. And I am yours.”
She gasped, then he kissed her again, and gently splayed her thighs.
“But your mate—” she uttered when he came up for air.
He lapped at her lower lip. “Yes. My mate.” Then kissed a path up her scar and back down again. “My Temple Blade. My warrior. My lover.” He grinned, his eyes locking with hers. “You are my mate.”
She felt him at the opening to her body and inhaled sharply. All that he’d said, all that it meant…
One black eyebrow shot up. “If you’ll have me?”
As she cried out her happiness, her acceptance, and the true happily ever after to an impossible hope, Cas pushed inside her. He felt so warm, so right. It was like coming home. They belonged like this, together. One.
Mates.
Minutes expanded to hours, and as daylight turned to sunset, and another climax was taken, Lia knew true happiness for the first time in years. She had the male of her dreams. Her Master. Her lord. Her prince. And she was never letting him go.
Tired and sweaty and smiling, she curled up against him and prepared to sleep. And she must have, for when she woke it was dark except for one candle burning on the bedside table, and Cas’s cell phone was buzzing beside it.
She felt him reach for it, turn off the sound. Then his body stiffened. She looked up. Cas had the phone in his hand and was reading the screen intently. Where he’d been relaxed and languid and hungry and sexual for the past several hours, he now appeared strained.
She came up on one elbow. “Is everything all right?” she asked, then leaned in and kissed his shoulder.
He turned to her and his eyes warmed as he took in her face. “It’s Tiege, Master of Furia. My love, there is much I must tell you about my dealings with the other Masters.”
She raised a brow at him. “Is this good news, or…?”
A slow grin touched his features. “Very good, I believe. We can finally figure out how to rid ourselves of Marakel. Once and for all.”
Lia’s Blade radar went off. She knew Marakel, and what this could mean for both Incubi and Nephilim.
“I must leave to deal with my Incubi brothers as soon as possible,” he said. “But first…” He was moving down her body in seconds, eyes flashing with hunger and desire as he settled himself between her already trembling thighs. “I must have your cream on my tongue once again, Lady Trevanion.”
She laughed softly and canted her hips. “Oh, my lord, I will always feed my mate.”
His possessive growl rent the air.
“And his demon, of course,” she added, then gasped as Cas’s tongue slipped through her * lips and found the swollen bud beneath.
The Next Day…