Page 59 of Those That Defy the Realm

“But that won’t be the case forever. What about when I look twice your age.”

“You’ll still be beautiful.” Ash responds before a heartbeat passes.

“What about when I am old and fragile?”

“We’ll be here to look after you.”

For every argument Claire throws at him, Ash bats it away, easily dismissing it. I agree with him entirely, but I can’t help but listen to the niggling worry. It’ll be devastating to lose her in sixty or so years.

It would destroy me now, my heart protests. And it’s correct of course but I’m already in far too deep to let this go now.

“We can worry about the future when we get there,” I state, both of them shutting up to look at me. “What’s important is right now. And I’m all in.”

“I’m in too,” Ash replies without a second's hesitation.

Claire looks between us, her jaw clenching momentarily. “Fine. Call me a fool, but I’m in too.”

Ash leaps up, lifting Claire off the ground in one fluid motion, kissing her deeply. She has to wrap her legs around his waist as he holds her close.

I have to take my time to stand, as I still haven’t connected my leg, but as soon as I’m up, Ash is wrapping an arm around my middle to bring me into their embrace. Claire twists against him so she can face me, bringing one of her arms around the back of my shoulders. I kiss her lips before entwining my tongue with hers.

As I’m tasting my female, male lips find my neck. His slight stubble rough against my skin, his lips leaving a hot trail up towards my ear. Playfully, he nips the lobe, causing me to gasp, breaking the kiss with Claire.

I turn to admonish him but his mouth is right there, catching mine before I can form a single word. His kiss is heady, his tongue almost forceful in its ensnarement of mine. It sends hot pulsing pleasure straight to my groin and nearly buckles the leg I’m standing on.

“Shit, sorry.” Ash pulls back, feeling my momentary loss of balance.

“I’m good,” I tell him, although I keep my grip on his waist where I’d planted my hand.

“Maybe we should lie back down,” Claire says before biting her lower lip.

“Why? What do you have in mind, darling?” Ash asks.

Claire’s cheeks turn crimson as she locks eyes with Ash, but her voice is strong as she says, “How about a little three way oral?”

Ash shivers under my touch, no doubt Claire feels it too, right between her thighs. I react nearly as viscerally, my dick rushing to attention as my fangs throb.

“You have the best ideas,” Ash praises her, kissing her again.

We go down in a tangle of limbs as the remains of our clothes come off. It takes some coordination but I end up with my face in Claire’s cunt as Ash swallows my dick. Claire is sucking Ash off to connect us completely and we fall apart all together as we consummate the beginning of something new.

CHAPTER 20

CLAIRE

Why did I volunteer to be the one to tell Rory and Ty about our relationship? I’d asked it of the two males as we’d walked back from the waterfall yesterday, neither had objected in the slightest.

I thought Henry might want to have the honour, seeing as he is bonded into their pack and seems as close to Ty as I am to Rory, but he said if I wanted to tell her first then he was fine with it.

We’d also thought I’d get the opportunity immediately, seeing as they were at the house. But we got back to find Rory painting the room I’d tasked her to and Ty was pulled away on a call that added to the already heavy workload my friends were currently undertaking.

I’d left for the evening before finding out the details but invited Rory over to mine the following night—tonight—to give her a bit of a break from the ranch, and to share my own news. A reveal I hoped she would be excited about.

It was now approaching the time she’d agreed to come over, and the confidence I’d felt all day was waning. I’d had to work today so hadn’t seen either of my boyfriends, but our shared message thread had been a constant distraction.

Boyfriends. Plural. I couldn’t stop a smile lighting up my cheeks every time I thought about it, or a notification appeared on my phone. Yes, the voice in my head was still a constant companion, warning me in all the ways that I’d upset them, or how quickly they’d get bored of me. But a new voice, one gaining volume, was drowning out the negative one I’d spent too much time listening to.

Neither Henry nor Ash had given me any reason to doubt them, to be mistrustful of their words. And their actions spoke volumes. Telling them about Declan yesterday felt like I’d finally unlocked myself from the chains he’d placed around me. Seeing their appalled reactions, their reassurance that I mattered, that my opinion mattered, helped me turn a page and start writing a new narrative.