"I think I'm jealous."
"Oh honey, do you miss your mom?" Aiden looked down at his mate anxiously.
"Huh? Oh yeah. But that wasn't what I was talking about."
"Then what."
"I want to jump into pie and eat it too," she sighed.
"Meryn, I love you," Kendrick announced, shaking his head.
"An enlargement spell?" Justice wondered out loud.
"It's doable," Law agreed.
Thane blinked at Meryn. "Gods, I think I want to try that too."
As the debate raged on how to make a slice of pie large enough to jump into, Oron leaned down and whispered four of his own magic words. "Let's go to bed."
*****
"Did you really have to go to the Dark Forest?" he asked as they were undressing for bed. Even though she had spent the afternoon ogling half-naked buff goblins, the sight of her mate's bare skin still wreaked havoc with her body.
"Yes, at the point you told me not to go, it became a physical compulsion; besides, it wasn't even dangerous," she pointed out.
"When did you meet up with Gilheim?"
"Right after we entered under the shade, he was running patrols."
"So, you were basically escorted the entire time?"
Izzy climbed under the covers as she thought about that. "I guess you could say that."
Oron lifted the covers and slid in next to her. "I wasn't exaggerating the dangers, my love. The goblins may not have been a threat, but the other creatures there are. They aren't feral, attacking you would be in their nature."
"Like wolves?"
"If they felt like you had invaded their territory, yes."
"I can only promise to go with an escort," she said, turning in his arms to face him. This was how she liked him best, completely open to her.
She reached up her hand and touched the wooden necklace. "Does it hurt to lay on that?"
Oron touched his torc. "I forgot it was there to be honest. I don't even feel it."
"Your neck is lying on a piece of wood," she pointed out.
"But it doesn't feel that way. It's very comforting to me."
"Meryn's bracelet caused Dav's bar to grow branches and roots; evidently, it was made of elder."
Oron stared down at her. "Seriously? Good to know."
All throughout dinner, she noticed the slight change in her mate. He had sat a little straighter, met everyone's eyes, and spoke up more. It was as if he had been freed from the weight his old family name.
"Look at me, I'm being absolutely scandalous. I'm in bed with this Oron Vi'Eirlea. Who is this brilliant stranger who has slipped into bed to seduce me?"
His normally honeyed brown eyes darkened. "Seduce you, eh?"