She steps toward me and takes my hand. “They left because I asked them to. I wanted to talk to you. Spend time with you. Alone,” she adds.
My anger instantly dissipates. “What did you wish to speak of?”
She reaches up to touch my cheek, and I go still, waiting to see what she will do. “You said you loved me.”
I place my hand over hers. “More than anything, Ella.”
“Then, why did you leave? Why have you been avoiding me these past few days?”
I turn my face into her palm and close my eyes briefly against the pain. Sadness fills me so great I feel as if I am drowning in it. “You said you hate me. And I—” my voice catches. “I cannot bear it.”
She places two fingers up under my chin, tipping my head up to hers. “I don’t hate you, Kai. I was angry. I’m sorry.”
I barely manage to nod as painful memories rush through me. “It is all right. I am used to rejection.”
“What do you mean?”
I hesitate, uncertain if I wish to share my past with her.
“Kai,” she whispers. “Please, tell me what you mean.”
With a slight clench of my jaw, I draw in a deep and steeling breath before I begin. “I was rejected by my family after I left. All of us were taken for training when we were children because we had the mark.” I look down at the mark on my left forearm.
“Why did they reject you?” she asks, her gaze pinning mine full of sadness. “Why would they do that?”
“Because bird shifters are a tightly knit family. Our bonds are some of the strongest among our kind. When the Elders removed me from my parents and my siblings... they had to sever the bond to my family. They did this to bond me to my brothers.”
“Sever it? What do you mean?”
“They used magic to break my familial bond with my parents and siblings. If they had not, I would have been unable to bond with my brothers.”
She gasps as tears fill her eyes. “Oh, Kai, I’m so sorry. You gave up so much to be my guard, and I—I’m not worth it.”
I grip her chin firmly, tipping her face back up to mine. “Yes, you are. You are worth every sacrifice I have ever made, and if I had to choose to do it all over again, I would. Now that I know you, I cannot imagine dedicating my life to anyone else, Ella. You are brave, smart, and beautiful. And if you think I do not love you, you are wrong.” I pause. “I love you so much that I would let you go... marry the prince even if it would kill me inside, because it would mean that you would live, my beautiful Ella.”
She shakes her head softly. “But don’t you understand? I don’t want the prince. I want you. All of you. And it’s not just the bond making me feel like this.”
I blink at her as hope flares inside me.
She continues. “When you found me, after I’d killed the wolf shifter, I was so glad to see you, Kai. I swore to myself then that because I had lived and been given a second chance, that I would give myself to you. I love you.” She takes my hand and places my open palm directly over her heart. “In my heart, I knew when I first met all of you that you were mine. And not just as my guards. I knew you were supposed to be my mates.”
She cups her hand to the back of my neck pulling my face down until it hovers just above hers. “You say that you love me,” she whispers. Her luminous ocean-blue eyes search mine. “Show me, Kai,” she breathes against my lips. “Show me how much you love me.”
I lift her into my arms and move us to the bed, gently laying her atop the covers. I place my arms on either side of her body as I move over her. Her gaze holds mine before I dip my head to the curve of her neck and shoulder. I trace my tongue over the hollow at the base of her throat, feeling the fluttering pulse beneath her petal-soft skin.
Her delicate fragrance surrounds me as I kiss a heated trail down her neck to the v of her chest. I grasp the neckline of her dress and pull it down, revealing the soft, creamy mounds of her breasts. The soft, pink nipples tighten in hard-beaded tips beneath my gaze. I close my mouth over her left breast, laving my tongue across the stiff peak.
A low moan escapes her as she arches up into me. She gasps as I take the hard tip lightly between my teeth. My nostrils flare as the scent of her arousal blooms around us.
“You still carry Nyx’s scent,” I whisper as I flick my tongue across the sensitive bead of flesh.
She inhales sharply, threading her fingers through my hair as she pulls me against her as if asking for more.
“I will fill you so full of my essence it will erase the scent of him entirely,” I growl.
She lifts her head to look down at me in confusion. “But I thought it was acceptable to take more than one mate according to your culture?”
“It is.” I press a tender kiss to her soft lips. “But that does not mean I won’t be jealous every now and then.” I gently nip at her neck and flick my tongue out to taste the sweet salt of her skin. “I will want you all for myself from time to time.”
I dip my hand beneath the hem of her dress, skimming the tips of my fingers up her thigh, seeking the warm, wet heat of her center. As soon as I reach her folds, I love that she is already slick with arousal.
