The Goblin’s Bride (A Feud So Dark and Lovely, #1)

by Leigh Kelsey

"Yes," Celandrine agreed in a tight voice, her dark eyes burning through my skull. "No one in their right mind would." Good thing I'd lost my sanity long ago.

"I'm disgustingly attracted to you right now," he hissed, eyes black and nostrils flaring.

"Likewise," I bit out, my teeth bared. "I hate you so much." His mouth flicked up, his sharp-planed face taut with desire and revulsion. "The feeling, Zabaletta, is mutual."

"No. Your power, the magic—I saw the panther." Talon looked undone, her eyes startled and her black-scale uniform chewed up in places by the fog. Kier spun to face me again, even as he helped support Talon across the street. "Ah," I breathed, shifting my weight. "Yeah. Turns out I can use magic, too." "That's impossible," Kier growled, all evidence that he'd wanted me wiped away. Thank fuck for that. Talon shook her head, disagreeing. "Not if you're bond-mates."

"A mating bond is a gift from the Mother. Someone who's the perfect fit for you in every way—physically, mentally, emotionally, and on a soul level. Denying your mate is like carving out your lungs. He's an essential part of you." I suppressed a snort,

They flew open again at the gravelly voice that said, "So nice of you to finally come home, wife.

"You fascinate me," he finished, low enough that the words shivered along my skin. "I want to know every bit of cleverness in your mind, and why you have so many knives. I want to feel the bite of one on my throat as you ride us both into oblivion." I forgot how to breathe. "And if someone takes you from me before I can do that," he said, voice even lower, "I'll rip them to shreds."

"If anyone lays a hand on my wife," Kier said, scarily calm again as he descended the dais, "they lose that hand." Well. That shouldn't have been attractive.

He had a horrible habit of kissing the violence out of me, until I wanted to drown in him instead of actually drowning him.

"When's the last time you scaled a building?" he threw back, definitely panicking. "An hour ago, give or take a few minutes. I'm a thief and assassin, dear husband. I got this."