One more hard thrust stopped her confession. The release he’d built picked her up and slammed her into a sea of sensation. She floated in the unending waves. Colors dimmed. Sounds faded. Blackness encroached but a pair of blue-ringed eyes centered her. She latched on to their image and let paradise have its way with her body and soul.
After what felt like forever, the jerking of Calan’s cock eased, and the waves along her inner muscles slowed to gentle ripples.
“Not even like this, angel. Save those words. Make sure.”
She tipped her head to stare into his face. “Nothing will change the emotion behind them. It’s built from the moment I first looked into your eyes, and tonight…” She laid a hand against his stubble-covered cheek. “Tonight has made me realize the truth I’ve known for years.”
He separated their bodies, turned her in his arms, and lifted her until they were eye to eye. “Okay.” He grinned. “Okay, my beautiful little flower.”
He set her on her feet and strode across the room. From the table on which a bowl of luscious strawberries sat, he picked up a pitcher of water and a napkin. He returned to her and dropped to his knees. He wet the cloth and gently wiped away the evidence of their loving. Her heart flipped over. She bit her lip and focused on what Calan was doing to her, not the emotion threatening to consume her.
He tugged up her pants and stepped away. She followed his movements as he dressed in modern clothes he pulled from a closet. The sight of his hard body in jeans and a tight black T-shirt reignited the sparks of arousal. He looked damn good in the clothes he shouldn’t own. She considered asking him about it, but compared to everything else she’d experienced over the years, his magical wardrobe didn’t concern her as much as the thoughts flying through her head.
For the first time in her life, she wondered if she really could find happiness. She didn’t know if it was possible, but she was determined to find out.
Harley lifted her hand. One black circle shone against her pale skin. The other still hadn’t formed. Only the innermost arc showed. Her love. She had to declare her love.
She smiled and curled her hand to hold the sign of Calan’s commitment close. She’d give him her love. Soon, very soon. Then she’d get to keep her ghost man for…eternity.
Yeah, she liked that idea. Liked it a lot.
Chapter Sixteen
Calan took his time getting dressed. For one, he enjoyed Harley’s heated gaze on his ass every time he bent over. The main reason, however, stemmed from guilt. He took a few moments visiting each of his siblings, even the ones who’d long since stopped speaking. It felt wrong to leave them behind. Necessary, though.
He was the only one who hadn’t been condemned to suffer under the fairy curse. No, his punishment was worse. He’d been forced to stare at the dagger that would free his siblings, knowing he couldn’t use it.
Knowing he had failed in his duty to protect.
He hung his head.
“Why do you delay?”
Calan paused with his fingers around the laces of his boot. He drew Rhys’s image close. “I don’t want to leave you.”
“No lies, brother. You feel guilty because of the pleasure you’ve found in your fairy lover’s arms.” Rhys focused narrowed eyes on him. The disapproval in them was clear.
Calan held his brother’s stare without responding. He refused to argue with Rhys about Harley. There was no point. She was Calan’s choice.
Finally, Rhys shook his head. “You’ve told the others about your mate?”
Calan closed his dual-ringed eyes. “I can’t exactly hide it.”
“You’ve made a horrible mistake.” Rhys waited until Calan met his gaze. “The female is not worthy of you. She’ll cling to you and use you, not sacrifice and be the mate the leader of the Hunt needs to remain honorable.”
Harley stepped behind him and slipped her arms around his waist, pulling his attention from Rhys. She rubbed her cheek against Calan’s spine, and the tension in his muscles eased. “Are you okay? You’ve been staring at your shoes for several minutes.”
He pulled her in front of him and lifted her. She automatically linked her arms and legs around him. He kissed her deeply until the desire only she could stir in him flared.
He broke their lip lock and met Rhys’s eyes, the image of him held inside his mind. “She will be.” At Rhys’s sigh, Calan laid his cheek over her curls. “She is.”
“For all our sakes, I hope so, my brother. Go now. We will endure until you return.”
He let the connection to Rhys’s mind break. The loss of him hit Calan with another wave of guilt. Once he stepped out of his prison, he wouldn’t be able to connect with Rhys. Without Calan to keep his siblings linked, each Huntsman would suffer alone.
Harley skimmed her hands over his back, once more redirecting his thoughts to her. Harley’s touch soothed him. He greedily took the comfort she offered even though it shamed him to do so. His siblings had no one to offer the same to them, no one to even talk to.
“We’ll free them, Calan.”
He turned his head, and Harley’s sultry eyes came into view. “I will free them once I transfer the curse back to Dar. I don’t want you anywhere near him.”
“Now that I’m mated to you, Dar will come after me, won’t he? To hurt you through me.”
He cracked his jaw. What worried him more was why Dar had allowed her to reach fairy adulthood. Harley’s maturity made her his equal. He should’ve ensured her obedience and her acceptance of her heritage, not allowed her freedom.
Calan couldn’t come up with any plausible reason why, other than the one she offered. Yet why hadn’t Dar come? Calan had half expected him to show up. It’d been part of the reason why Calan had insisted Harley mate
