Page 82 of Bound to Three Fae Beasts

I frowned at the back of his head. “About me?”

Jasper slowed, then turned toward me. “I told him what you told me. He’s still furious, with you as much as with me. He’s confused and hurt. But I think he understands. We agreed that we would keep our distance, unless you approached us. You don’t know how hard it has been to keep that promise.”

Energy tingled through me. I wanted to throw my arms around him and kiss him, but I held myself back. “So … since I’ve approached you, will it ruin your friendship with him?”

Jasper smiled, strained but still cold. “That will be his choice.”

I studied him, then nodded. It wasn’t my responsibility to manage their relationship. Seb might rat us out, but I didn’t even care if he did. But if I kept asking these questions, I’d miss the real reason I’d sought Jasper out.

“You said you read my records. Where did my mother come from? Is she dead?”

Jasper turned back down the passage. “The records of Abigail Jones say that she died shortly after your birth, killed by your father. He was a favored human due to ancient fae ancestry, and she’d taken him as a … pet.”

My chest tightened at those words. “Meaning—”

“Exactly what it sounds like. She was engaged to a high fae. Or rather, she was assigned to be his concubine, since she didn’t have a high enough position to be made a wife. Your father killed her and the fae she was meant to be given to. According to the records, that is.”

My father killed my mother? I didn’t want to believe that. And I didn’t. Was that what the letter had meant? My father wasn’t what I’d been told. Nobody ever told me that he’d killed my mother, but it was reasonable for someone to assume that’s the story I’d been given.

“The evidence doesn’t line up,” Jasper continued. “But that’s what it says.”

We reached the Vespa room, and he stepped back to let me enter. Once the door was closed, I turned to him. Electricity crackled between us. Now that I knew what I wanted, I didn’t feel the conflicted emotions I had before.

“Jasper,” I breathed. I reached for him, and he let me touch him. His breathing grew more ragged as I moved my hands over his body, enjoying the feel of his strong muscles.

“There’s something else,” he blurted, then took off his tunic. “It’s said that shape-thieves are meant to have multiple mates. Since they hold a primordial magic, they can maintain more than one mate-bond.”

My hands paused. His blue eyes were dark with need. “I’m not a shape-thief.”

“I know,” he said. “It’s just interesting.”

He knew I was a shape-thief. He knew, and yet he was still here. He was looking at me as though I was a treasure, not something to be feared. He wanted me as badly as I wanted him. I threw my arms around his neck and drew myself up for a kiss.

Chapter 36 - Azriel

Jasper tasted comforting. I pulled myself as close as I could, impatient that our clothes were getting in the way. He seemed as eager as I was, kissing me back with a passion I’d never known before. He caught my face in his hands, pulling me up to him.

We spun around, panting and moaning into each other’s mouths. Jasper pushed me against the wall and pinned me there with his body. One of his knees pressed between my legs. I rubbed myself against it, seeking out the friction I desperately needed. My fingers dug into his back, feeling those muscles move as he undulated his body toward me. Then he broke the kiss and moved back.

“Don’t leave me,” I begged.

He grabbed the hem of my tunic and pulled it and my undershirt over my head. “I’m not going anywhere.”

His hands moved to my breasts. His palms rasped against my skin and his thumbs circled my nipples. They were so extra sensitive that I gasped at the sensation.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Jasper repeated. His voice lowered and he let out a shaky laugh. “I’m here. You’re here. We’re not going anywhere.”

I cupped his cheek with my hand, watching as tension melted away from his expression. Even his scars seemed to relax. When his blue eyes met mine again, they took my breath away. He was reassuring himself as much as me. We weren’t going anywhere. We had time.

“You’re not afraid of me, are you?” he asked, voice low.

I shook my head. “I’m not afraid of you.”

A smile spread over his face. It completely transformed him from icy and cold to warm. He kissed me again, sweeping his tongue over the seam of my lips in invitation. I opened them for him, letting my eyes slide shut as I took in all the sensations. His hands on my breasts, his skin hot under my palms, his mouth on mine. The scent of him filled me, and everything I was running from faded away.

Jasper pulled me away from the wall and his hands slid down my back, as though he was checking for any unintentional injuries. I gasped when he opened the top button on my trousers, and slowly pulled them down, kneeling as he did so. I lifted one leg, then the other to step out of them, and he tossed them onto the pile of our clothes.

I was completely naked in front of him now. He knelt before me like a supplicant, one hand resting on my hip as he pressed me back to the wall. His other hand traced up my thigh, causing me to shiver, and lifted my leg. He put it over his shoulder and kissed just below my navel.