Page 89 of Winter Unleashed
My wolf stirred. “That’s a good idea.” I placed a hand over my chest. “She wants out anyway.”
He slid his hand down my arm to take mine and lead me out of the room. We walked out of the house through his yard into the trees. For the first time in months, we could take a walk without worrying about being attacked by vampires or pixies.
“It feels weird being able to walk freely without a care in the world,” I said after a few minutes. “It almost feels wrong.”
“We got used to being on guard all the time. Relax and enjoy the peace.” He stopped walking and used our joined hands to pull me to him.
The world melted away when our lips met. Sparkles of pleasure coursed through my body as the kiss deepened.
I slid my hand between us to cover his heart. “Every time we kiss it’s like the first time. I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to you, to what you do to me.”
“Good,” he whispered. “Ready to shift?”
My wolf nudged me to tell me I’d better be ready. “I am. Though, even if I weren’t, she isn’t giving me a choice,” I said with a laugh.
We undressed and shifted, letting our wolves hunt and play while making their way to the lake. Our lake.
When our wolves were full of rabbit and squirrel, we shifted back and stepped out of the trees.
“Oh! When did you do all this?” I asked with a flutter of excitement.
A thick blanket covered with pillows lay on the ground in the middle of a ring of candles. In the center sat two glasses and an ice bucket chilling a bottle of wine.
“Philip set it up while you were with Belial.” He led me to the center of the blanket where I lowered myself to sit and watched him kneel next to the wine. He poured two glasses and handed me one. “To our last night as residents of Cullum County.”
“Our last night.” We clinked glasses and sipped the wine. It was delicious but settled sourly in my stomach. “Will we ever see our friends again?”
“Yes, of course. We can visit them or bring them over to visit us.”
That made me feel a little better but did little for the knot in my stomach. I no longer felt like drinking wine, so I placed my glass aside and settled back against a pile of pillows. “Tell me about Ulfurjord.”
He moved to lie beside me, and we gazed up at the stars while he spoke. “It’s a wolf’s paradise. We’ll live in perpetual autumn in a wood cabin in the center of a massive and dense forest. You’ll love the yard. It’s not much different from my current one, but instead of a pool, there’s a huge firepit and an even bigger gazebo.”
“It sounds lovely.”
“It is.”
When I glanced at him, I saw his mouth had pulled into a dreamy smile. I lifted my hand to run my thumb over his lips. “You like it there.”
He turned to look at me. “I grew up there. There are memories, some good, a lot of bad, but overall, it’s home to me.”
I rolled to my side, stretching my arm out to embrace him. “Then I’m glad we’re going.” I shivered as a strange energy trailed over my skin. “Do you feel that?”
“Yes.” He shifted to sit up. “We’re not alone. Hello, Artemis, Vinur,” he said with a slight bow of his head.
I turned my head so quickly it made me dizzy. There they stood. The Fae Queen, and her mate, the first shifter ever created. They were both close to seven feet tall, but where Artemis was slender, Vinur was built.
Vinur’s shoulder length black hair had the infamous white streak down the center, and his golden-brown eyes made me feel safe when I looked at them. Artemis’ long, straight black hair fell to her ankles to brush the hem of her flowing gown, and her bright blue eyes twinkled as she looked at us.
Shifters don’t normally have an issue with nudity but lying there naked in front of the two most powerful beings alive felt strange. Liam must have sensed my apprehension because he wrapped his arm around my back and held me in a way that blocked most of my body.
“Liam, my dear, it’s lovely to see you,” Artemis said. Vinur simply nodded. “Ember, I hear you rid the world of Celeste and stopped her ridiculous plan to kill me.”
“Mm-hmm, sure,” I said, suddenly tongue-tied.
“Thank you for all you’ve done. Both of you. My daughter was a terrible menace, and I’m sorry I didn’t take care of her sooner.”
I chose not to respond to Artemis’ admission. A common theme among the few fairies I’d met was they always regretted not taking care of something sooner. Something my friends and I ended up having to take care of for them. I’d gotten lucky with my smart mouth and Astrid, but I had a feeling my luck wouldn’t go as far with Artemis.