Goldfinch (The Plated Prisoner Series Book 6) by Raven Kennedy

Author:Raven Kennedy [Kennedy, Raven]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-09-24T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 37

AUREN TURLEY

Thump.

Two thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven

Thump.

Two thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight

Thump.

Two thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine

I’ve been counting every single one of Slade’s heartbeats since I woke up. Hand splayed right over his pure golden scale, eyes watching the rise and fall of his breaths. Ribbons itching to trace over his muscled pecs and abs.

I’m content to watch him breathe. To feel his warmth. To marvel at the changes on his body. To simply let myself revel in the fact that he’s here and that we’re together again. That his empowering presence made our pair bond flare, destroying all the other worms writhing in my head.

They’re gone. Finally, satisfyingly, gone.

Our connection did that. Destroyed the barrier that dared try to block him from me. Because our bond is so much stronger than anything else. Than distance and time, than magic and threat.

So I count his heartbeats, and I savor.

Thump.

Three thousand

Instead of hearing the next one, I’m startled when he speaks. “You’re awake.” His voice is low and sexy, weighed down from sleep.

“I didn’t want to wake you,” I murmur. “You needed your rest.”

His hands come down to grip both of my arms, and then he drags me right up so we’re face to face, my entire length on top of him like the icing on a layered cake.

“You did have me quite exhausted,” he says with a playful smirk. “You were insatiable.”

I flick him on the nose. “That was the bond.”

His chuckle warms my entire self, inside and out. “Oh no, don’t go blaming all of it on the bond. Some of that was all you.”

He’s right.

My finger traces over the subtle scales on his cheek that are now edged in gold, and the black lines I can see through his stubble. “I like seeing you like this,” I say. “Rot and Rip together.”

“You made me whole,” he says. “Fixed how I’d been ripped apart.”

I was ripped apart too. But his presence, his aura stretching out to meet mine, it burned through every thief in my head. And my ribbons seemed to come even more alive as I looked at this spiked, scaled, terrifying male, and yet, I wasn’t afraid. Because I knew innately, he’d never hurt me.

“You fixed me too,” I tell him.

I can’t help but touch and stare at all these changes in him. I can’t get enough of him at all. Which is why even when my body aches deliciously, the space between my legs starts to tingle again as my hands rove, still seeking connection.

“You knew,” I say, eyes flicking up to his face. “You knew we were a päyur the moment we met.”

His head tips. There is no denial. “Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

His hands stroke gently up my arms. “You weren’t ready for that. You didn’t deserve to have such pressure put on you. You deserved a choice.”

I take in his words, my brow furrowing. “But we’re fated.”

“Yes, but fate shouldn’t be a noose. Bonds shouldn’t be a shackle. You needed your freedom.

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