ChapterForty-Three
KINGSTON
Isnickered as Sunday tugged on the neckline of the leather corset she was wearing as we approached Blackthorne Hall. We’d hopped the fence and no one seemed the wiser, but I couldn’t ignore the flash of discomfort that had washed over Sunday’s face as we breached the wards.
“You okay?”
“Leave it to Lilith to dress me up like a dominatrix,” she huffed.
“She didn’t have to provide us with any clothes. Then we’d be arriving back here like Adam and Eve leaving the Garden of Eden.”
“You wouldn’t be so cavalier about it if she handed you a pair of assless chaps or something.” A smile twitched across her lips, there and then gone.
“Wouldn’t I? Saddle up, darlin’.”
She laughed then, warm and open and exactly what I needed to hear. “You have to stop shredding my clothes.”
“Nope. Never gonna happen.”
“Then you better be prepared to start replacing them, mate.”
“A sexual incidental fund? I like the sound of that.”
“Emergency sex fund. We’ll make sure to label the account so we know exactly what it’s for.”
I wrapped my arm around her, tugging her into my side, inhaling her scent. How had I not noticed the difference in her before? The richness of the honey over the lilacs. The heady aroma making the changes in her body known.
“I love building a life with you. Including the mundane shit like special accounts to replace clothes and baking pies together.”
“Pretty soon it’ll include changing dirty diapers and sleepless nights.”
That made my chest go tight and heavy all at the same time. “I can’t fucking wait.”
She shook her head, her nose adorably scrunched as she studied me.
“What?”
“I just can’t believe how easily you slid right into the daddy role. It’s kinda hot.”
I waggled my eyebrows. “Oh? You got a daddy kink, Sunshine?”
Her cheeks went crimson. “No...”
I snaked my arm around her waist and nipped at her neck. “Liar.”
Before I could do more than tease her, a scream tore through the night air.
“What the fuck was that?” I tensed, head snapping toward the sound.
“Someone messing around?”
“With all the attacks around here lately? Not fucking likely. Come on, let’s get you inside.”
But then chaos erupted all around us. Creatures shuffled out from the shadows like a small swarm of demonic insects, except infinitely larger and more terrifying.
My heart stopped. There was no way I could protect her on my own. Not in this form.
“Motherfucker,” I whispered. “Get behind me.”