A Promise so Bold and Broken (Compelling Fates Saga, #2)

by Sophia St. Germain

But as she leaned into Merrick, letting his touch distract her for the second she needed to draw a steadying breath, she forced the fear out of her mind.

“You just fucked up, regent.” Merrick threw his head back. “I do not decide what she does or doesn’t do. She is her own person, and she makes her own decisions. While I am hers and she is most definitely mine…” He emphasized the last word by sending a death glare Loche’s way. “I do not own her. No one owns her.”

“You’ll have that again.” He pulled her to him, and after placing a whisper of a kiss on her lips, he rasped, “Better. I’ll make sure you have it all. If you’ll let me.” She smiled against his mouth. “I’ll let you do anything you want.” Merrick blinked. Then he claimed her lips with a fierce urgency that drove any lingering wistfulness from her mind. She would have it again. Better. Because she’d have Merrick as well. You and me.

Where?” Merrick’s arms wrapped around her, lifting her up, and she giggled at the wild look in his eyes as he scanned the house for a bedroom with the same seriousness as he usually searched for danger. “My bedroom is upstairs, but…” Merrick had started stalking toward the stairs but froze at the final word. The worry in his eyes faded when she winked at him. “So impatient.” Nuzzling his face into her neck, he growled softly. “Make fun of me again… and I might need to punish you.”

“Get them off,” she begged when his hands roamed over her, cupping her breasts, then moved down her stomach to tease the skin between her jacket and trousers, only to go back up again, making her squirm with want. “Please, Merrick.” “Fuck. Say my name like that again,” he rasped as his fingers dug into her hips. “Merrick,” she whispered. “Merrick, Merrick, Merrick.”

His lips brushed her ear as he drove into her, so deep that stars—like the silver flecks in Merrick’s eyes—danced before her closed ones once more, exploding into pure light when he whispered, “Mine. You’re. Fucking. Mine.”

Telling him wouldn’t change what would happen. So she didn’t. Instead, she whispered, “You’re mine,”

Please don’t be the last time. Please don’t be the last time.

i shit u not "the last time" by taylor swift starting playing as I read this

Fate. She knew she should be grateful for it. It had brought her Merrick, after all. Had offered her a soulmate.

“I know you’re keeping something locked up within you, and I won’t push you… but Lessia, I’m here. I’m with you. I’m always with you.” Merrick’s gaze drifted out toward the sea, and as she followed it, she realized they were facing east, the way Amalise and the others would hopefully soon come.

Others might be annoyed with Merrick for his unforgiving truthfulness. But she loved him for it. He wasn’t one to offer false hope, so when he told her she was strong enough or pushed her to train harder, she knew it was because he believed in her.

“Then we fight.” Merrick clasped her closer to his chest. “You can handle yourself, and besides… I will not leave your side.” Then we fight.

“I never thanked you enough for giving me this dagger.” The smile she threw Merrick as she spun around to face him came easier. “It’s… it’s beautiful.” Merrick’s lips curled, a half smile playing across his face as his hand brushed the hilt of his sword. “Like you. That’s why I gave it to you.” As she stuffed both the daggers into their sheaths, her brows crashed. “This was a mating gift, wasn’t it?” The corners of Merrick’s lips lifted higher. “It was.” “But…” Merrick wrapped his arms around her again, leaning his hands on the railings as he kissed her, softly this time—with no urgency, as if they had all the time in the world. “No but.”

“You have given me everything.” Merrick leaned his forehead against her own, his eyes refusing to let hers break away. “Everything, Elessia. If I die tonight, I’ll do so having everything I ever asked for and many things I never thought to.” Her throat constricted at the raw emotion in Merrick’s eyes, at the slight tremor of his voice as he yet again whispered “You’ve given me everything,” and she was just about to respond when an apologetic voice broke in.

Merrick’s scent was so strong that she almost swayed. Her body reacted instantly, and that heat—that overwhelming heat—licked her veins.

Merrick shook his head, but when he tried to pull his eyes away, she wouldn’t let him. You and me.

Then she turned to Merrick, and she wished she could freeze time just then because the love that shone in the Death Whisperer’s eyes knocked every sense out of her.

Almost tangible, like a tether, something within her whispered the words back to him. You and me. And she could feel it. Could feel Merrick’s love for her as if it were the air traveling into her lungs.

But as he imagined all the ways he’d kill those bastards, the softest, the most beautiful cry drowned the raging whispers. Muted them like she always did when she spoke, when she touched him, when she looked at him. You and me.

He was going to kill him for putting his lips on his fucking mate. For being dumb enough to not only take away their powers but to step up beside him when they knew—when they fucking knew!—the curse talked of a Fae and human loving her. Then he was going to kill the fucking king for daring to take Elessia away from him. He would destroy the world until he found her.