A Dawn with the Wolf Knight (Married to Magic, #5)

by Elise Kova

“We ride them,” Aurora explains. “I’m…sorry?” I look between her and the wolves. “It’s faster than walking.” She starts for Bardulf. “Would you like to—uh—ride Evander, instead?” I fight laughter at the absurdity of the question. Must my mind really venture to the most inappropriate of places? Aurora bites her lower lip, holding back a chuckle. She must’ve known where my thoughts wandered. “He wants you on him.” A snort escapes me. Her grin says the phrasing was on purpose.

“I will always be on your side, Faelyn.”

“Even someone of the least skill, and smallest stature, can do incredible things. I might be a ‘little witch’ but I am also your friend’s ally and currently her best chance to be free. Do not mistake stature for capability.”

“Hoping for reason and seeing the best in people are hallmarks of a good heart. They’re not a reason to be upset with yourself.”

“I thought of…you, and me…” “Oh, Faelyn.” He chuckles darkly. The man is enjoying this. If the torture weren’t so delightful, I might resent him for it. Evander hooks my chin with his fingers, guiding my face to his. But he does not kiss me. His lips hover just off mine. “You have to give me more detail than that, or I might misunderstand.” “I think of you, touching me.” My words quiver slightly.

“Tell me what you want,” he growls against my mouth. “You,” I say instantly. “You know that’s not good enough. Be specific.” “I want to taste you.” My voice is not my own. It’s deep with desire and heavy with need. “I want to feel you against me. I want to have you fill me to the point that I can’t worry about anything else.” Make the world fade away.

“You want to hold me?” A slight smile curls my tired lips. All the muscles in my face, so recently twisted in pleasure, in the pain of keeping in my moans, relax. “I didn’t think this was that type of relationship?” “If I am completely honest with you, Faelyn, the warmth of a woman next to me is more satisfaction than the act of having her,” Evander says. “But to answer you directly, yes, I want to hold you. I want to know a different kind of intimacy with you.”

“Look after her, Evander.” Aurora locks eyes with him. “She’s yours to care for.” “With my life,” he vows.

“Every day, I cursed his name. I wasn’t sure why I allowed myself to be taken alive. There were nights I wished I would never wake from. Days I would push every boundary in the hope that Conri would just end it.” “Evander…” “But now…now I am grateful for every breath. Every gnarled scar on my flesh and heart is like a map that led me to here, now, with you. I wouldn’t change any second of pain because forsaking it would also mean forsaking the pleasure of your company, your smiles, your body.”

“Have me again,” I whisper against his mouth, raking my fingers through his silken tresses. “Not because of Conri’s charm. Or because of unfulfilled urges. Have me because you want me and I want you. Because you feel this draw as much as I do.” As I talk, his hands slide up my back. They spread across my shoulder blades. One slips up to grab my hair at the nape of my neck, pulling my head back, as it makes a fist. Evander draws a quivering breath against the soft skin of my neck. “I could have you a thousand times, and only want you a thousand more.” “I welcome the challenge,” I breathe.

“You are but a small witch,” another soft voice says, as whispering as water against rock. Evander’s eyes go wide and I follow his stare over my shoulder, back to the water and the source of the voice. “But you are more than enough.”

“I will enjoy having you all to myself for one more night out here, where I can tremble the stars with your cries of passion.”

“I should be thanking you.” He twists to plant a kiss on my forehead. It is so tender compared to the beast that just ravaged my body. Two sides of this man—gentle and ferocious. I love both. “That was…the best I’ve ever had.” I sit and slap his shoulder playfully. “Oh stop, now you’re just trying to butter me up to get me to go again.” He smirks. “Is it working?” Laughing, I stand, and my legs wobble, which only causes me to laugh more. Evander sits quickly and I wave him away with a grin. “I’m fine. But that thing you did with your tongue…it has my knees a bit weak, still.” “So do that first, that way you have the most time on your back to recover. Noted.” I laugh harder. “You are insatiable.” “Only for you.”

“Why…” I stare up at Evander, his silver eyes shining as if he, too, wept. “Why did you come?” “You called.” Two words. So simple. Somehow better than every “I love you” that could’ve ever been said.

“If I had known what was going to happen—what misfortunes were about to befall us both—I would’ve never. Faelyn, if I could go back, I would have never crossed the Fade and made my oath.” “But you…” “I would’ve rather lived a lifetime, ignorant as a human man, and have forsaken the magic of my forefathers—I would’ve forsaken all the magic in the world to be with you… rather than where we find ourselves now.”

“So much of my life was spent with the love of my family—the love of a soulmate,” I whisper. “I never realized how good it felt to have the love of a friend.” It is a different balm to the loneliness I felt and feared. One I wish I’d had years sooner. “That is a lesson we both learned.” Aurora tilts her face to the sky. “As long as the moon shines, Faelyn, you will never be alone.”

“My heart is knotted.” “Then allow me to untie it.” He opens his eyes again. “I do not wish to leave you. I will spend forever with you, whether forever is years, or one last night. If forever is free, or chained.”

The heaviness of my body slips away and I give in to the fantasy. That long-forgotten dream. Evander is there with me, existing in this place constructed by our hearts and shared wish. He inhales sharply as, in my mind, we come to a stop before the redwood. His lips move soundlessly against my skin as he recites simple and pure vows to me. And I do the same. We exist beyond our mortal shells. Are more than flesh and bone. “I love you,” he breathes. “And I love you.”