To Ashes and Dust (Shadow and Moonlight, #3)

by Luna Laurier

He’d been hesitant to really talk with Cassie, to get to know her more, but

he needed to. Elena’s loss had been painful to endure for him as well. For while Elena was my mate, she was his sister.

Though she housed such power, power that could destroy my brothers and me, power that had wiped out armies of darklings, she felt so small, so... fragile. I knew she wasn’t, though. She was stronger than anyone I’d met, but that strength had been wavering lately.

Nothing would make me happier than to see her carry our children, mother them the way I knew she could.

She was a sight I could watch endlessly. I walked over and pulled her against me, leaning my forehead to hers. Her laughter filled my senses, the most beautiful music to ever grace my ears. “Not as beautiful as you, mea luna.” My moon.

If only she knew how special that name was for us. If only she knew I didn’t call her my moon as a simple term of endearment. She was truly the light in my life, the light in the darkness guiding me forward. She’d named me her sun, without whom she could not glow as brightly in the darkness. And I would bask in her glow until the end of time.

I had to swallow back the overwhelming instinct to peel her out of the black leather armor and bury myself deep inside her until the world shattered around us.

I swallowed at the sight of her ass as she turned in place, my gaze dragging down the length of her legs clad in black leather. It would only take a simple phone call and Zephyr could arrange another set of warriors to fill in for us.

“Too good. I’m contemplating stripping you down and not leaving this room for the next twenty-four hours.”

“You once worshipped me.” I lifted my eyes to meet his as he stared down at me. “Let me worship you now.”

“If only I could find the words to express that it’s me who’s the lucky one—to have finally found you again.”

“I love you, mea sol, and to be at your side means more to me than you will ever know,”

Moira, For too long, have these Kyrios gone without the rule of a queen. Prove to these males that, though beautiful, you are lethal.

She didn’t waver, her head held as proudly as any of her past lives had done, and I wanted to kiss her. My mate. My queen. Mine, and mine alone.

“I’m yours,” I whispered back when he couldn’t bring himself to say another word, our breaths mingling.

“Sometimes...” He took my hand as he lowered himself to my level and cupped my cheek with his other hand as he forced my gaze to him. “Sometimes, I fear you’re too strong, mea luna, that you’re willing to sacrifice too much for others. I don’t want you to suffer any more than you already have, and to see someone you love and them not see you, not know you... It’s more painful than words can describe.”

“No matter how little time we have left, I’d rather spend it together as a bonded pair, as one. Nothing would ever change that.”

“I vow to protect you. My goddess. My queen. My mate,” he said, and my heart fluttered, his thumb brushing over mine as he continued. “Until the end of everything. Until the sun burns up and the moon crumbles to dust.

I will always love you. I will always be at your side. I will always

be yo...

“Until the end of everything. Until the sun burns up and the moon crumbles to dust. I will always love you. I will always be at your side. I will always be yours.”