Page 36 of Gold & Shadow

“Don’t tell me,” I said, my gut writhing with jealousy at the idea. “There’s something in me that wants to claw their eyes out for looking at you.”

“That’s the bond,” he explained, leaning down to kiss me. “Primal and uncivilized.”

“Charming,” I teased. “I thought this bond was hypothetical.”

“It was,” he agreed, throwing his arm around my shoulders. “But I think we will have to move it firmly into the realm of ‘thetical’ now.”

“Breakfast is all ready,” Lena announced, smiling as I tried to decide how I felt about this mini-revelation. Some part of me had already known it, but now I’d actually have to deal with it. “Pleased to meet you in the flesh,Mr. Asbjørn.”

“Orson, please,” he said, taking my sister’s hand in a firm grip. “Or Your Majesty, if you prefer.”

I elbowed him as Lena looked at me in question. “It’s a long story,” I sighed. “Best explained over pancakes.”

Orson was extremely forbearing with my sisters, answering their questions—some extremely personal—and good-naturedly praising Izzy’s cooking.

He explained some of the history he had told me and his ranking among the bear-shifters, leaving out the more fraught details of his past. He also promised to bring payment for my sisters in the next few days, since Victor was definitely out of the game.

By the time we left around noon to return to Orson’s cabin, my sisters liked him better than me, inviting him back for dinner and tea and target practice.

“I like how you were charming withthem,”I grumbled as we made our way through the forest, moving faster again now that Orson had been fed about nine thousand pancakes. “When you could barely be civil tomewhen we first met.”

“You broke into my cabin intending to steal from me, Little Thief,” Orson rebutted, his tone teasing. “Iwantthem to like me. I need their blessing.”

“You just don’t want to be turned into a rug,” I argued, patting his furry flank.

“Also true,” he growled.

A hoot as the cabin came into sight told me the blasted owl had also returned safely.

“How exactly did you alert the High King’s Guard of our presence?” I asked, eyeing the owl suspiciously. “I’m assuming that was you?”

“It was Owl’s idea,” Orson chuckled. “A fitting end, don’t you think?”

“You can talk to the bird?” I asked, still skeptical of its strange behavior.

“It’s complicated,” Orson replied, pushing in his front door and letting me slide down from his back while he shifted.

No sooner than my feet were on the ground, Orson shifted and swept me up in his arms. He ran for the stairs stark naked.

“What are you—”

“Fucking now,” Orson growled, his eyes heated as he threw me on the bed. “Talking later.”

It was hard to argue with this plan, and Orson didn’t give me much of an opportunity anyway, pulling my shirt over my head and burying his face between my breasts. He slowed only when he had taken a peaked nipple into his mouth, a growl rumbling through him and down my spine.

“It’s been too long since we did this,” Orson rasped, moving his mouth to my other breast as his fingers teased the nipple he abandoned.

“It’s been barely a day,” I breathed, my body arching against his as his mouth and hands pushed all rational thought from my brain.

“Exactly,” he murmured, circling my nipple with his tongue and making me gasp. “Too long.”

He pulled back, and I caught him by surprise, rising with him to stroke his length. It was far larger and firmer in my hands than it had felt inside me, and my mouth went a little dry at the prospect of having him again.

“Lis, what are you—fuck,” he growled as I wrapped my mouth around the tip, swirling my tongue across the sensitive skin there. I wrapped my hands around his base, squeezing gently as my mouth explored every inch of him. He fisted my hair, groaning as I moved.

It was deliciously hot.

“You smell like cinnamon,” I told him, sliding my tongue down his length and sucking gently. He bucked, swearing. “And forests.”