The King (Black Dagger Brotherhood #12)(126)
Author: J.R. Ward

“No, they show me all the love in your heart.” She touched his face. “And that is very useful.”

Wrath’s mouth came down on hers, brushing once, twice. And then he kissed her deeply and slowly.

When he finally started to right her, she put his sunglasses back into place, and facing the household, she flushed as she looked at them all. So much love all around.

It made her feel invincible against whatever came at them.

Over the din, Lassiter shouted, “A-thank you, a-thank-you-vera-much.”

Wrath bent to the side, flubbled George’s ears and took hold of the dog’s harness; then the three of them were walking down the aisle toward the dining room.

Somehow Fritz had managed to pull a banquet of food out of thin air, the table magically set during the ceremony with a simple but ample spread.

But first there was business.

As Rehv came in past the arches, he nodded to Beth and she leaned into her husband.

“It’s time to sign,” she said.

It was painful to watch her husband’s unrestrained happiness tighten right up.

“Just the same, right?” she whispered. “We’re married. We’re covered.”

“Yeah…” There was a long pause. “Yeah, I can do this.”

Except he took his time going over to where Rehv was unrolling a parchment that had red and black ribbons streaming off its lower half.

“I have a blue pen for the signature line,” Rehv said, taking the thing out of his mink coat. “This document has been prepared by Saxton, and it’s been predated to three weeks ago. He’s assured me that the wording is ironclad and nothing that they can dispute in any way.”

“Ironclad,” Wrath muttered.

Rehv put out the pen. “Sign it and I’ll take care of the delivery—with pleasure.”

Beth dropped his hand to give her man some space—but he didn’t want that, clearly. Gathering her palm back, he stood over the parchment.

“What does it say?” he demanded roughly.

Beth looked over the symbols and saw nothing but patterns of blue ink.

“It says…” Rehv leaned in. “That the union is annulled.”

“Like it never existed?” Wrath muttered.

Rehv tapped the parchment. “This is a political statement. A political function. This is not about the two of you.”

“My signature’s supposed to be on it. And her name’s on there. So it is about us.”

Rehv backed off, too. Then it was just Wrath and the writing he couldn’t see.

All the Brothers and the members of the household hung in the periphery, everyone quiet.

He wasn’t going to do it, she thought. He just wasn’t going to be able to do it …

FIFTY-TWO

Watching Selena take from his vein, Trez was totally content to blow off whatever was going on down in Caldwell for this.

He’d still been at the club, finishing up some accounting shit that should have been taken care of days before, when he’d gotten the group text about the gathering. And he’d immediately headed home—expecting to see Selena. When she didn’t show, he’d told himself to chill, let her come when she did, blah, blah, blah.

He’d lasted about a minute and a half with that shit before ghosting out, leaving iAm looking grim in the foyer with Goddamn Cat, as he called the animal, back in his arms.

As soon as Trez had gotten up to the great camp, he’d sensed Selena’s presence and become juiced—but that had all changed when he’d found her in the kitchen, in the middle of some kind of collapse. Come on, though—when was the last time she’d fed—

From out of nowhere, his c**k and balls roared at the thought of her sharing this with anyone else, and to get himself back on the side of the angels, he focused on the pulls against his wrist, the sight of her lips against his skin, the reality that he was, in fact, the one taking care of her.

For how long, though, a part of him wondered.

“Shut up.” As her eyes flipped to his, he shook his head. “Not you.”

Tracing her hair with his fingertips, he marveled at the difference in them, how soft everything about her was, how she smelled like fresh spring air even though it was winter, how her lashes were long against her pale cheeks as she closed her lids.

He could have stayed like this forever.

But eventually she released him, retracting her fangs and her mouth. And then it was time for a little torture: Her pink tongue snuck out and licked at the puncture wounds, closing them up—cranking him up.

Reclining in his arms, her eyes were fuzzy under those heavy lashes, unfocused from satisfaction.

“I haven’t stopped thinking about you,” he said softly. “Not for a second.”

“Yes?”

“Yeah.” He nodded as he brushed her lower lip with his thumb. “And not just because we have … unfinished business.”

Her smile would have knocked him on his ass if he hadn’t already been sitting down. “That we do.”

God, he loved the quiet here. No loud music, no humans cluttering the room, no pressures from the outside world—or the s’Hisbe. Not even the Brothers and their mates, as cool as they all were. Just the two of them.

As his erection thickened even further, he had to shift his hips under her head. And then he heard himself say, “I want to make love to you. Right now.”

Shit, had he really put that out there? And yet, right now, all the reasons to keep tight in the head seemed so far away, nothing but distant thunder in a night sky that was for the moment clear and full of stars.

Except then a shadow crossed her face, the lazy satiation replaced by a doubt that made him want to kick himself in the zip code.

Instead of pulling away, though, her hand reached up and caressed his face. “I want that.”

“You sure?” Fuck, he was hard. Too hard to do the right thing.

When she nodded … he knew they were both lost.

“Please,” she whispered in a hoarse voice. “Put me out of this misery, take away the burn.”

Her hand swept down her body, coming to rest on the juncture of her legs—and he almost orgasmed then and there, his balls tightening and his c**k punching against his pants, until he had to grind his molars.

His first thought was to take her where they were. Not smart.

He wasn’t going to stop, even if someone else came in.

With a surge of strength, Trez got to his feet with her in his arms, cradling her with care. “Where is your bedroom?”