Red and Her Wolf (Kingdom, #3)

“Aunt Mir,” Violet whispered.

Eyes, nearly entirely black, glanced at her kindly. Her Aunt looked so young, so beautiful. As she’d remembered her in the beginning. Her Aunt had held her when she cried at night, read to her when storms raged beyond their home, cooked, cleaned… loved her.

“I love you.” She didn’t say the words so much as breathe them from the depths of her heart.

Aunt Miriam nodded, a serene smile graced plump pink lips.

Heart shattering, Violet squeezed her eyes shut, wishing she could crawl inside Ewan’s skin, nestle always in the warmth of his body. Forget this night, the look of acceptance in her Aunt’s eyes. Her Aunt had a stubborn streak, she might seem meek and mild, but when Miriam set her mind to something, she’d never veered off her course.

Violet hiccupped, gulping down the hot ball in her throat.

“Ssh, Red,” Ewan crooned, his hand trailing fire and goose bumps along her skin. Over and over his hand ran up and down, down and up.

Violet lost herself in the hypnotic rhythm. Ignoring the bright flare of light behind her lids. She wouldn’t look. Couldn’t see what her Aunt had done to herself.

“Oh, Mir,” Danika sniffed. “My sister, my sister.”

“It is done, Red.” Ewan’s warm breath caressed the side of her neck.

Terrified, she took a deep breath, and like ripping off a band-aid, looked.

Danika was kneeling, murmuring softly to the earth.

“Where did she go?” Violet pleaded, glancing around, desperate to see her Aunt. But there wasn’t a trace of her in the trees. She’d gone, vanished.

Ewan led her toward a softly crying Danika.

Violet frowned, glancing at him, a question on her tongue, when she noticed Danika gently cradling a black seedling. Its long stem swayed in the gentle breeze.

Danika looked at her. “The roses, now I know what she meant.”

Reaching out a hand, Violet silently asked to hold the seedling. With a trembling shudder, Danika passed it--almost reverently--to her.

Violet ran her finger along the smooth stem.

“The tree is a giver of life. Though full of dark magic, its wooden heart will always remain pure,” Ewan whispered.

Danika knuckled tears from her eyes. “Miriam did know how to contain the Black’s soul. Her sacrifice will not be in vain. I will plant her in the roses. It’s what she wanted.”

Violet wasn’t sure, but when she closed her eyes, it felt like her Aunt’s voice filled her head with a bell like strain and the words: I love you too.

Chapter 18

Violet ran, bare feet kicking up stones. Her heart pounded. Snow fell in thick clusters. She couldn’t escape him. He was so close.

Then she heard him.

He was running, panting.

“No,” she yelped, and then he was on her, tackling her to the ground.

White light exploded off his body like flames, then Ewan was kissing her face, her nose, her chin. Growling as his hard erection drove into her thigh.

“I won,” he snarled, voice more beast than man, and he nipped her chin.

She laughed, blood singing, adrenaline pumping. “No fair. I told you to give me a ten second head start.”

Golden eyes glowed in the deep twilight. “I lied.”

“Oh, who cares,” she moaned, desire coiling down her stomach, making her toes curl.

His body was warm, like a thermal blanket, heating her even as the snow drifted lazily around them.

It’d been a year since that night, a year of laughs, sadness, and hope. Hope because Violet knew she was more than the darkness inside her. Ewan had showed her. Loved her.

“I adore ye, Red,” he whispered in between trailing hot kisses along her throat.

She thrust her hips up, excited by the friction of his skin rubbing along hers. Wet and ready, she moaned.

“I love you too, Ewan. Always.”

She bit him, just like he liked it. Marking the spot above his heart with her teeth. He hissed, and thrust harder.

“You’re mine. All mine,” she said, pressing a kiss against the bite.

He tugged on her nipple, and she arced, gently scraping her nails on his head.

Desire flooded her, made her moan and groan. Her nails pierced the sensitive skin of his skull.

He growled, white teeth bright in the liquid moonlight.

She traced the curve of his lips. “My, what big teeth you have.”

Ewan snapped them at her. “The better to eat ye with, my dear.”

Violet laughed, a sound of pure unadulterated joy. “Then what are you waiting for? Need you now,” she mumbled, dizzy with pleasure.

“Mmm, like this,” he rumbled, deep voice a hot caress against her breasts.

Then his hot hard length slipped inside and Violet rocked on him, riding the spiraling staircase that would take her beyond the here, above the clouds.

“Forever,” he whispered.

And that’s just how she wanted it. In his arms, making love… forever.