Page 46 of Avaritia
I leaned into him, pressing my nose to Theon’s throat and attempting to gather up the scattered pieces of my composure. I was pretty great at maintaining a healthy—or possibly unhealthy—separation between sex and feelings. I’d gone into this with my eyes open, more open than Theon’s even, since he hadn’t bothered learning the ramifications of mating before biting me.
But he kept saying things and doing things, and it was messing with the neat demarcation in my mind. Worse still, as I snuggled into him, a purr rumbled to life in his chest, wrapping around me like a cozy blanket.
How was I meant to not get attached to a guy whose sex drive was in advanced mode just for me? Who made me jewelry, and explored my more obscure kinks, and said he’d give me loads of babies?
It was like Theon had been plucked directly out of my dreams. And he was mine, all the way mine. Marked and claimed. Signed, sealed, delivered.
Would it be the worst thing if I allowed myself a smidgen of emotion for him?
Theon grabbed a washcloth from the edge of the tub, dragging it through the water before bringing the material to my chest, cleaning up the mess he’d made of me.
I closed my eyes and let him work, giving myself just tonight, just this moment of peace in the darkness, to appreciate him. To savor him. To be quietly grateful that he’d stormed into that party and demanded an ex-Hunter of his own, and that I’d been filled with enough ennui to volunteer. To be grateful that he had no concept of social mores and had sunk his teeth into me on that very first night, because he’d wanted me.
Maybe the rose-tinted glasses would come off eventually, maybe they wouldn’t, but for now, I would let myself have this moment with no guilt or self-loathing.
Somewhere along the line, I’d come to really like my mate.
Chapter 15
Iwoke up in my own bed, back in the pajamas Theon must have stripped off me, no mate in sight, but with Fester wrapped around my outstretched arm like a koala, snuffling in his sleep.
If my skin didn’t smell like Theon’s heady scented soap, I’d have thought I imagined the whole night. I still wasn’t entirely sure I hadn’t.
Unfortunately, cracking the door open on those squishy feelings had probably been a mistake, because it wasn’t quite as easy to close as I’d hoped it would be. My dreams had been haunted by shadow tentacles and mind-melting orgasms, followed by cuddles and long soaks in the tub. My heart had fared a lot better when the porno reel in my brain cut before the aftercare scene started.
“Hey,” I grumbled, wiggling my arm to wake Fester up. “The least you could do is wake me up early so my dreams don’t start spiraling out of control. Since when do you sleep in?”
He turned his head to the side, immediately falling back to sleep.
Fucker.
Eventually, I managed to shake him off, climbing out of bed to fill his food bowl and get ready for another day of Extreme Home Makeover: Library Edition. Damen hadn’t been by yesterday, so I opted for a pink fleece sweater with a wide neck that could zip all the way up to my chin to hide the bitemark, pairing it with matching leggings and white sneakers.
Confident that my sweater would do the heavy lifting, I piled my curls on top of my head in a high bun so it would be out of my way while I worked, and grabbed the necklace Theon had given me at the last minute, tucking it beneath my shirt so it lay next to my skin.
Not that I wanted to carry a piece of him around with me all day or anything. That would be dumb and embarrassingly sentimental.
I didn’t have any other reason for wearing it, but that was beside the point.
As always, I made for the small sitting room where Aderith always magically appeared with my breakfast. The porch was covered, and the wind was blowing the rain away from the house, so I let myself outside, closing the door behind me so Fester couldn’t escape, and taking a seat on the deck.
I thought the incessant mist of rain would bother me, but for the most part, I’d found it kind of cozy. Perhaps because the manor was so large, I wasn’t at risk of cabin fever any time soon.
Aderith appeared with my morning tea—I loved meat, but I couldn’t stomach it first thing in the morning—and I counted my blessings as I sat under the dry porch, sipping my tea and watching the world go by.
I wasn’t worried about how I was going to pay my rent, or where my next meal was going to come from. Fester was happy. I was happy. Theon was… happy? Wasn’t he? He was definitely fed, and that was an improvement from when I’d first met him. Overall, this weird situation we’d found ourselves in seemed to be working out pretty well across the board.
I straightened in my seat as Damen appeared from the vegetation-covered path that led to the entry room, immediately spotting me and giving a little wave.
“I’ll come up!” he called, heading for the front door. I leaned back in my seat, zipping up my sweater and sipping my tea, confident that Theon would storm up here first and take the one remaining seat just to be an asshole.
Hiding the bitemark wasn’t a sustainable solution, but the longer I was here, the less of a big deal the news would be. Maybe we could manage it for a couple more weeks and then I’d make the announcement? I doubted Theon would mind if I told everyone, he appeared only to be going along with it out of respect for my wishes.
Aside from the fact that he’d been a little too bite-happy in the first place without discussing it with me first, Theon had actually been incredibly accommodating of my wishes.
Before I could begin to process that, Theon and Damen came out onto the deck together—one looking significantly happier to be here than the other. I set my teacup down on the table, standing to greet our guest.
“How are you, Verity?” Damen asked with a beaming smile that was all teeth. “Always a pleasure to see you.”