Chapter 252: Marked

Kael's pov

I finally give in and tear off the weak restraint around my wrist, my hand going around Aria’s neck, pulling her down into a kiss.

I take my time to devour her lips, pouring all my love into it. My mouth slides down to her throat, over to her neck, my tongue flicking over the braise mark I put there and I feel her shudder.

“My turn,” I whisper against her neck.

With superhuman speed, I have her out of the bed, pinning her against the wall. Then I wrap her legs around me, driving into her wet pussy so deeply she screams my name. I pull back out, and drive back it and feel her legs start to vibrate around me. She throws her head back, moaning, her breast pushing up and I take her hard nipple into my mouth, grabbing her ass as I drive into her pussy, again and again.

I get lost in the feeling of her around me. Everything feels different this time, stronger, and yet the same. I lost myself in her for hours, connecting in ways I hadn’t known is possible. I can’t tell which feelings were mine or Ghost’s, which were Aria or Lux’s.

When the sun already set, I finally surface from the hazy fog and look down at the woman sleeping against my chest.

The woman who had claimed me.

The fresh mark on my neck throbs but it will look like Aria’s in a few days. My fingers drift over it before moving to the matching mark on her neck, gently trailing the raised pattern and she stirs. She looks so drained even in her sleep.

She should be, given what she just did to me.

A smile touches my lips.

Aria spoke to her wolf, and then her wolf chose to claim me. I feel a sort of electricity running through my body that I can’t explain. Something I know instinctively that I have to hide from Benson and the council members.

A loud rumble comes from her stomach, followed by the smallest crease forming between her brows. My poor baby wouldn’t have eaten lunch if Thallia and Nerezza locked her away in the library to keep her from rampaging, and we completely missed dinner. I have to feed my mate to get her strength back up for what is coming.

I press a kiss against her forehead before gently untangling myself from her. Finding a pair of boxers, I pull them on and quietly head downstairs.

It’s funny how taking care of my mate’s needs had become a priority above everything else, even with certain death hanging over us.

I only just open the fridge when I sense someone behind me and just like that the real world crashes back so quickly it pisses me off.

I close my eyes for a second before sighing and turning towards the Fae. Professor Claude tilts his head toward the basement, and I follow him in silence until the door closes behind us.

“I don’t know how they found Roderick. I masked him and the house I put him in. He was supposed to be safe there.”

“He wasn’t staying with you?”

“No. After you told me how easy it is for them to spy, I put him somewhere else,” Professor Claude says, running his hand through his hair. “He should have been safe there. I don’t understand.”

“It’s probably the council members,” I say. “Aria wants us to trust them but my guts tells me not to.”

I can never trust any of them. Since Aria’s wolf is speaking to her now, maybe she can convince her.

“We will just take our chances at it. It’s fifty fifty, but my strongest guess is that he is an earth fae because of how vast and strong the forest is. We are out of time,” he says.

“How do we kill an earth fae?” I ask

“Me. Whatever makes me stronger weakens him and I will try to amplify my powers as much as I can. And since we haven't found whatever artifact he's using to strengthen the dark forest, we'll have to hope the forest itself has already weakened him enough for us to finish the job. We will also need to identify which of the council members is feeding his powers and remove that advantage. I will return first thing tomorrow with what we need, iron, Ash and the rest. I also need to see how Aria is doing.”

He looks like he is about to do his disappearing thing when he pauses, studying me.

“What?”

“What did you do?” he asks.

“What do you mean?”

“You don’t have my protective magic anymore,” Professor Claude says.

Shit. That’s all we needed on top of everything else.

“But I still can’t get into your head,” he muses.

Okay, what?!