96

**One month later…**

Jacques’ hand tangles in Dove’s hair, pulling her in for a searing kiss while their hips move together in perfect, pleasurable rhythm. She kisses him back with fervent passion, snapping her hips at a quicker pace when that all too familiar coil tightens in her core.

Outside the door, someone mutters ‘What is taking so long?’ before delivering another impatient knock.

“Two minutes!” Jacques calls above the sound of panting and slapping skin, adjusting his hands on her hips and hoisting one of her legs onto the examination table.

Dove gasps when he enters her from behind at a new angle, slipping in and out of her wetness at an easier, smoother pace. Arching her back, she looks at him over her shoulder, committing it to memory how utterly handsome and stunning he was like this.

His breath hitching combined with soft moans, how his dark lashes flutter with every precise thrust, how his length pulses every time he bottoms out in her, and how his fingers dig into her skin in desperate attempt to withhold himself from completely ravishing her right there and then.

“I’m close,” she whimpers, guiding one of his hands underneath her shirt to cup her breast.

He groans when groping her plump mount, rolling his thumb over her hard nipple. “Gods, I love you,” the healer can only moan, his thrust becoming harder and sloppier. “Come for me, Princess. Let go.”

Dove’s back arches against his chest when he slips into her one last time, his tip colliding with her sweet spot and toppling her over the edge. His hand clamps over her mouth to muffle her moan while his hips continue their rhythm, chasing his own release. A moment later, he follows, spilling into her with burning abandon. She clenches around him when she feels it trickling down her inner thighs, ultimately feeling herself reaching a second climax at only the feeling of him in and over her.

They remain like that for a few seconds until the ripples of pleasure subside. Dove gasps when she feels Jacques sliding out of her and giving her backside a little slap.

“We really should stop taking breaks for quickies, Princess,” he says between a chuckle, grabbing a wet rag to clean them both off. “We’ll start losing patients at this rate.”

“Oh, please,” she says, rolling her eyes playfully and nodding towards the door. “We both know that Mrs. Petronella always arrives early for her appointments and then refuses to wait. We could’ve continued for another…” Checking the time on an old clock, she says, “Five minutes.”

The healer hums knowingly and smooths out the wrinkles his hands left on her clothes. “Or an hour, if it was up to you.”

“Hey, you know what you were getting yourself into when you put this ring on me.” Dove waves her left hand in front of his face to emphasize her words. On her right finger, a shiny golden ring catches the light, drawing attention to the giant blue topaz gemstone at its centre.

Breathing a laugh, he catches her hand and kisses each finger gingerly. “That I did.” Giving her pinkie a little nibble, he lets her go and tosses the rag into the basket along with the dirty ones. “Shall we get back to work? We are, in fact, the village healers who still have ten patients to see before the end of the day.”

“Fine,” Dove says, feigning a miserable sigh. Although, her eyes give away her playfulness. “But it’s your turn to examine Mrs. Petronella. She likes you more than me anyway.”

“As she should. What woman can resist all of this?” He jokingly gestures at himself and strikes a pose, and barely dodges the bundle of bandages she tosses at him.

Turning her back to prepare the table for their next patient, Dove steals a glance of her mate – and husband of a month – over her shoulder, grinning at how he welcomes Mrs. Petronella with a warm smile despite the old woman’s grumbling.

Her life is finally perfect now.

For starters, she ran away and married her best friend who turned out to be her mate. With her father’s blessing, they moved into a village only half a day away from the castle, close enough for her family and Gustav to visit, but far enough for them to start their own life together. There, they opened their own apothecary and healing centre and found themselves fully booked with patients the first week.

Chelsea went and married Rubin and moved to the Southern realm to fulfil her new duties. From her first letter to Dove, she already identified two vacant plots of land where she plans to build a school and library. And from what the younger princess now healer gathers, her sister is madly in love with Rubin, as he is with her.

And as for the alliance between Sangaris and the South, it’s safe to say that, in case of a werewolf attack or declaration of war, they had the silver-wielding humans on their side.

In only a few short weeks, Dove escaped the repetitive routines of being a princess and the duties that came with it and exchanged it for this: an eternity of bliss with her best friend and mate, and her new life as a healer as she was always meant to be.

And to think, it all started with a fever dream.

**THE END**