The Primal of Blood and Bone (Blood and Ash, #6)

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

I glanced at Emil. He was entirely too quiet. “You know,” I said, scratching at the stubble on my chin, “I think this is the longest I’ve gone without threatening you.”

“You’re in pain,” he said, his voice strained with anguish. “I can take it away. My blood is yours. My strength is yours.” He shuddered. “I am yours.”

“Because there is no way I’m going to lose you now.” His fingers moved on my scalp. “No way at all. I will always bring you back to me.”

“Bad Poppy,” I muttered, getting my arm around her waist. “Let go.”

It sure as fuck couldn’t be because of his personality. Because that was about as sparkling as a piece of half-burnt coal smeared in shit.

She was still the most beautiful woman I’d ever laid eyes on, and I had to be the luckiest man in all the realms to call her my wife.

I smoothed my hand down her hair. I’d managed to gather the strands and loosely braid it so it lay over her shoulder. I didn’t want her to have to worry about knots upon waking.

He would set his kingdom on fire for me, as I would for him. He had been, and always would be, my equal. He was my husband. My King. My heartmate. He was… “You’re my everything,” I swore to him.

“Your husband has the temper of a rabid cat,” Aydun said, striding toward the opening.

I sighed. “I can admit it wasn’t one of my finer moments.” “I think it was,” Casteel remarked, his voice dropping to a purr that caused the muscles low in my stomach to coil. “That’s a red flag,” Tawny murmured. “I’m a walking red flag,” he replied with a grin that brought out his dimple.

As she walked past the brothers, she did so slowly enough to give Casteel a once-over. “You’d better be treating her like the Queen she is.” “Always,” he replied. “Good.”

I let the warning linger. If she mentioned Poppy’s scars—the beautiful proof of how strong my girl was—even once, she would no longer have a tongue to speak with.