Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 25186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 126(@200wpm)___ 101(@250wpm)___ 84(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 126(@200wpm)___ 101(@250wpm)___ 84(@300wpm)
I was weak in the knees and languidly slid down, pulling her into my lap when my ass hit the ground. Burying my face in her hair, I panted, filling my lungs with her scent.
“Holy shit, love,” I grunted. “You are way too fucking good at that.”
Celeste hummed contentedly as she snuggled against me. “That was a delicious meal.”
Laughter bubbled up in my chest. “I lo—you’re so fucking perfect for me.”
She sighed sweetly and wiggled on my lap. Even though I’d just had a mind-blowing orgasm, I went as stiff as a board under her juicy ass.
“My turn,” I growled, suddenly ravenous.
I spent the rest of the night and well into the day fucking my consort until we passed out around six at night. Only a few hours before we normally get up for our day. I was impressed by how quickly Celeste had acclimated to the new schedule.
The sound of my phone vibrating with a text woke me around midnight, and I grunted in annoyance at the interruption. Ignoring it, I tucked Celeste in closer and dozed off.
It buzzed again, and Celeste stirred, turning over to face me. “We’ve slept really late,” she said sleepily. “Maybe you should check it.”
I muttered a curse as I reached behind me and grabbed my phone. Another curse popped out when I read the message, and I just barely refrained from throwing it across the room.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah,” I sighed. “I forgot to cancel my training appointments for tonight.”
“Training?”
“I guess I forgot to mention that,” I mused. “You know I have my fingers in many things that make my life comfortable.” She snorted at my characterization of my massive wealth, making me smile. “And that I spend a lot of my time hunting nightwalkers and protecting consorts. But a few centuries ago, I helped a young nightwalker struggling to master any fighting skills. I decided to work with him personally, and eventually, he was able to learn everything he needed. He just required a little more time and practice than others, but instead of working with his limitations, most had simply written him off as untrainable.”
I shrugged as I sent a text to my trainee, apologizing and telling them it would be a few weeks before I was back to work. Then I emailed the rest of my appointments to let them know about my schedule change as well.
“I trained Braeden’s consort Callidora for a couple of years before they discovered they were mates. And, of course, I work with all my nieces and nephews.”
“Wow,” Celeste grinned. “You’re kind of a badass.”
I smirked. “According to my cousin’s daughter Sheridan, who I also trained, I have ‘mad skills.’”
“Yes, I’ve experienced a lot of those ‘mad skills’ recently,” she quipped with a wink, making me laugh.
A thought occurred to me, and I scratched my head as I considered it. “Have you been trained to fight, love?”
Celeste’s brow rose in surprise. “Physically?”
I nodded.
“No. Witches—especially ones with my power level—use magic to fight.”
Sitting up, I tugged her with me to the edge of the bed, doing my best to ignore that desire that coursed through me at the sight of her naked body.
“I’m completely sure you can protect yourself with magic,” I told her honestly. “But I’d feel better if you were able to handle an enemy in every way.”
Celeste frowned at me as I stood and pulled her up with me.
“Why?”
I cupped her face in my hands and stared into her gorgeous eyes. “Because I can’t fucking live without you, baby. I need to know you are safe, or I won’t be able to spend more than a few minutes away from you.”
She melted into me, her expression going soft. “Okay.”
“Thank you, love.” I gave her a long, deep kiss but tore my lips from hers before I got carried away. “Come on, let’s get dressed, and I’ll take you down to the training rooms in the basement.” I winked. “I’m looking forward to pinning you.”
Celeste laughed and shook her head as she sashayed toward the closet. “Good luck.”
She took me to the ground several times at first, but after lecturing her about not using magic, she finally relented. However, once I had her pinned, we got in a whole different kind of workout.
7
CELESTE
With the strength of my magic, I never thought I would need to learn how to fight physically. But as each day of training with Ren passed, I discovered additional benefits. As my body grew stronger, so did my confidence. And my magic.
Being more in tune with my body from the drills Ren put me through had caused me to reflect upon how spells could be tweaked depending on the opponent I faced. My connection to the elements could be used for both offensive and defensive purposes, but my mother had never focused on how I could use the spells she’d taught me to defeat another witch. And I couldn’t help but wonder if her reason for avoiding it was because she knew that we’d face off against each other one day.