Chapter 4: After the Kiss

Azandra POV

“You want me to kiss you?” she asked, stunned at hearing her voice sound so … so … seductive.

It shouldn’t sound so confident, so bold, so sure of her own appeal. Because she didn’t feel any of those things. He asked her to kiss him. Why?

Maybe as a way of getting out of this insanity? She could hardly blame him given her parents, and the way she threw herself at Dane and treated Lilia in a way that had Tulaska yelling at her and making her pick the smelliest, most disgusting herbs she could think of.

Or maybe Kyon had gone slightly loopy, because he growled seductively in answer.

Her eyes went wide.

Her wolf, Melina, approved in a big way. Oh, did she ever.

That growl, probably from Kyon’s wolf, said: You are mine. I want you. Surrender.

The very last thing she expected from Kyon Cresta.

He fidgeted and looked like he’d been caught sneaking food out of the kitchen before dinner. His eyes brimmed with worry. “Did I scare you?”

The silly fool! She could never be scared of him. Thrilled, maybe.

“No … no.” She threw her arms around his neck. “I don’t scare easily. And you are a big old bear cub most of the time.”

“Shhh. If my brothers hear that, I’ll never live it down.”

She lifted her face to his. She couldn’t stand the sad-pup expression. Better to kiss it all away. He wanted a kiss? He’d get one. The kiss of his life. A kiss to make him forget all those girls he’d liked who thought he was too big and too much of a beta, even as a Cresta, to attract their interest. He’d forget to be sad. He’d agree to pose as her fated mate. He’d …

Her lips met his.

Once, as a wolf pup, she’d run outside during a storm, jumping in mud puddles. She loved the squish of the cool mud and the clean, pure scent of the rain. Then, she looked up at the sky and saw the lightning growing across the heavens. Her fur stood up and she felt the energy from the lightning in her bones. The most wonderful and thrilling feeling in the world. She felt safe from the storm, especially when the Cresta boys hurried her back indoors so she could watch the lightning from their house.

Kyon’s kiss made her feel thrilled and safe and electrified all at the same time, energy shooting through her body. Her lips fused with his soft but firm ones, her teeth turning sharp and bumping up against his. She closed her eyes.

Moon Goddess. This would ruin her for any man’s kiss from now on.

His hand stroked her hair, winding it around his fingers. His other hand glided down her back, kneading and massaging the way he worked the clay in his studio. She envied that clay. He pressed her firmly against him and took her mouth more fiercely, encouraging her lips to part. When they did, his tongue swept her mouth, then plundered it in a gentle but demanding way.

Who knew Kyon Cresta could kiss like this?

It felt and tasted hot and sweet like the most potent herbal tea or that goldenberry dessert Lilia’s mother Ravyn was always making.

She let her hands explore the velvety flesh of his back, feeling the powerful muscles beneath her fingers. Did she dare? He had a gorgeous behind, so pert and sculpted. She’d admired it for years. She blushed and broke the kiss before she lost control.

Kyon sighed against her mouth. “Thank you, sweet one. My beautiful one.”

The words sounded so romantic and courtly.

“Thank YOU,” she murmured against his lips, her hands returning to less tempting and dangerous territory as she caressed his face. “That was …”

Right. So right. In a way that eclipsed anything she’d felt with Dane.

“My answer is yes,” he said softly.

It took her brain a few moments to comprehend what he said. But the joy cleared away the fog of pleasure. “Really? You mean it?”

He leaned in and kissed her again.

It was the only answer she needed.

Such a perfect, beautiful moment … until Kyon stiffened, and all h*ll broke loose behind them.

* * * * *

Kyon POV

CRASH.

Kyon jumped out of Azandra’s arms and let loose with a roar at his two very infuriating, exasperating little brothers, who both looked like all their Moon Goddess Feast Day presents and birthing day presents had just arrived.

Patch, who had Kyon’s brown eyes but none of his seriousness or sense most of the time, howled with glee, while his frequent partner in mischief, Dirge, jumped up and down like the wet-behind-the-ears pup he still was. Even after winning a major fight against the Crimsontails, his brothers always treated Dirge as that pup. Kyon tried not to, but some moments made that harder. Like now.

On patrol. Patch was on patrol. He must have hurried back when he sensed Kyon in trouble or someone told him about the mate bond.

Just when he felt like he was floating in the clouds, his little brothers had to show up and send him crashing down to earth.

“Oh, the pack is gonna hear about this,” Patch said to Dirge.

“It’ll be all over the territory before dinner,” Dirge piped up, his smaller, rounder face and sea-blue eyes shining.

“I thought the shield was supposed to keep them out,” Azandra muttered.

“That was just to keep out your parents, not my brothers,” Kyon responded. “That last part is impossible, no matter how good the spell is.”

The two imps chorused, “Shield? What shield?”

Patch added, “You mean someone found a way to shut the door on Mr. and Mrs. Snobby Tail?” He imitated Titania with his nose in the air. “Oh, dear. Whatever will we do? Now we can’t come in whenever we want and parade our daughter around like some kind of trophy now since everyone is so unimpressed by our house where dirt is scared to even come in, along with laughter and fun. Oh dear, it’s such a disaster!”

A pitch-perfect imitation. Kyon really had to keep that snarl on his face, even though his sides hurt from holding his laughter in.

Azandra tried to keep a straight face and bit her nails to keep from laughing, too. “You are terrible,” she said, looking severe and disapproving. “Mr. and Mrs. Snobby Tail?”

“Oh, that’s nothing. Jiro does the absolute best imitation of her,” Dirge said helpfully. “Since you’re fated mates now, we’ll make him show it to you.”

“Who said–”

“Where did you hear–”

Azandra and Kyon’s exclamations only added fuel to the scheme cooking between the Terrible Two.

Patch smirked. “Jiro’s job is intelligence, and what good is having a brother with his nose in everything around here if we can’t occasionally get information out of him? Lilia’s an easy mark.”

“Not that easy,” Azandra scoffed. “She’s harder than Dane.”

“Well, even without Lilia, people can hear your parents having a fit over your fated matehood all the way in the human royal palace, wherever that is,” Dirge added.

Azandra moaned, “This is embarrassing.”

Kyon stiffened. “Excuse me?”

This whole thing was her idea!

Azandra gave him a frustrated look. “I don’t mean people knowing we’re fated mates, you idiot. I mean my parents’ behavior is embarrassing.”

“We agree on that,” he said, softening, keeping his arms wrapped around her and not wanting to let her go, even to thump his brothers on the head. “And it serves them right for meddling.”

He rested his chin on her head, loving the feel of her against him, in his arms. Soon, they’d probably have to face Dane and the others … and he’d have to explain everything … maybe not too much, since Lilia probably told Dane about her vision, intuition, witchy feeling, whatever you called it. The one that said Azandra was his fated mate. He’d have an easier time breaking the news than Dane had about Lilia, even though he and his brothers sniffed out their bond from the way his brother hovered over his mate.

“Meddling in my life is their full-time hobby and occupation,” she muttered.

He caught a flicker of movement and then the door opened. The Terrible Two raced out, bubbling with their gleeful news.

“No turning back now,” he said to Azandra.

She stayed quiet in his arms, and he swore he got a feeling of contentment from her. But they weren’t bonded yet … he hadn’t marked her. Maybe just wishful thinking?

“I’m ready if you are,” she murmured. “I … I’m not sorry that I came up with this idea, but I should have thought it through.”

He privately agreed, but he stroked her hair. “They didn’t exactly give you a lot of choices.”

“I know, but I just blurted it out …”

He rested his chin on her head. Moon Goddess, she felt as soft and yielding as water in his arms. He could stay with her for hours like this and forget the world

Truthfully, he didn’t feel as angry as he thought he would about her maneuver. Although he wanted to hunt down Patch and Dirge for “accidentally” walking in on them and lock them in their rooms, then hint that he’d repainted the doors and windows with silver paint.

“We should head to Cresta House and explain to the family,” he murmured.

She sighed. “They’ll think I have this weird obsession with men in your family.”

“Patch would say you have great taste,” he murmured. “That said, if you suddenly switched your affections to him, I’d have to wonder about your sanity.”

“Patch is great. Any of your family are. Infuriating and stubborn and commanding though you all are …”

He had to ask. “And Dane?”

She tilted her head back to look into his eyes. “Even more so. So much so that it took a powerful witch and the will of the Moon Goddess to bring back that boy I once knew, the one who used to laugh.”

He gulped. He wondered if she was speaking of Dane, or him. Or all the Cresta men. “He’s got a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. And maybe somewhere we can find that girl who used to jump in mud puddles and left painted paw prints all over my room whenever we did arts and crafts.”

“Ten minutes ago, you were telling me I was an adult and could make my own decisions. Now you want me to be a child?”

He rolled his eyes. “No, I was telling you to tell your parents what is so blindingly obvious to everyone except the three of you. Tulaska doesn’t just take on anyone as a student, you know.” He was frankly shocked that Tulaska hadn’t forced the truth on the Hemmings like one of her remedies.

Azandra gave him a lopsided smile. “She didn’t give Dane a straight answer about Lilia–I wonder if she’ll be as maddeningly cryptic when she hears about us. If she doesn’t know already. Come on, let’s go face the music, but first, we’ll show the rest of your family that you’re fully healed and have the strength to scare your little brothers.”

“And there will be plenty of that,” he murmured. “With a vengeance. Especially if they interrupt us again. Because you are my fated mate now and I agree to all your terms.”

If they were fated mates … it couldn’t hurt to pretend a little first, right? If they weren’t … at least for a while he’d know what it felt like to be with Azandra. She and Dane remained friends even though it hadn’t worked out. He could handle this.

And one of these days, he owed his little brothers the scare of their lives.