Discovery of a Queen: Chapter 27

When I wake the next day, I’m too sore to move. After catching up with everyone, I decided the best thing to do was to throw myself right back at it and insisted that Caleb spar with me. We spent a few hours training, and now I’m regretting every life choice I’ve ever made. I wouldn’t have guessed that my body was able to deteriorate so much in only six weeks. Then again, six weeks isn’t exactly an insignificant amount of time.

I lie in bed, pinned under Caleb’s weight, which only makes me hurt more, and try to think of a game plan. We hadn’t settled on anything concrete yesterday, knowing that we have a lot to do and wanting to take stock of that first. But I can’t just sit here and do nothing while my sisters are out there. I can’t be sure that Malick doesn’t know about them already. I keep replaying my time with him in my mind, and I’m fairly certain I didn’t say anything about them. But they also drugged the shit out of me.

Groaning both from my train of thought and from my current attempt to run my fingers through my hair while my arm muscles scream in protest, I try to stop worrying about my sisters. I need to have faith that my mother’s spells will protect them until I can find them and wake them. I need to focus on rebuilding my strength. Caleb and I didn’t even spar that long yesterday, at least not based on what I was used to before I’d been taken. I’m embarrassed I’m this sore.

Caleb shifts beside me, sitting up and looking down at me. He smiles before heading into the bathroom. I hear the toilet flush and then the water starts. Is he drawing me a bath? Hopeful little love bubbles rise up my chest and pop in my throat in excitement. I sure hope he’s drawing me a bath.

Caleb chuckles through the bond.

More of those little love bubbles explode in my chest. He comes into the bedroom, dressed only in boxers, and my mouth instantly waters at the sight.

“None of that now, ma’am.” Caleb grins at me. “If we do anything like what you’re thinking, you won’t be able to move for another six weeks. Now come on, hold onto me and I’ll put you in the tub.” I do as he says and wrap my arms around his neck as he picks me up bridal style. Since I slept naked, it’s easy for him to just smoothly slide me into the bath.

He even added a bath bomb. I become one giant love bubble and tears sting the back of my eyes. I’m one lucky lady.

“Thank you.” My voice is quiet as I stare at the water in front of me. “I love you, you know.” Caleb stills, caught midway between crouching and kneeling on the floor next to the tub. His eyes fly to my face, locking on mine.

“I could feel it,” he murmurs, “through the bond. But I wasn’t sure if you were ready to say the words yet.” A breathtaking smile breaks out across his face, and my heart stutters in my chest. To cover it, I playfully splash some water at him, narrowing my eyes.

“I seem to recall you saying you loved me while I was dying.” I splash at him again. “That is terrible timing!”

“Excuse you,” he counters while looking offended and fully sinking to his knees next to the tub. “I said I love you before you started dying on me! I’ll forgive you because shortly thereafter you did start to die.” He chuckles. I roll my eyes and cross my arms over my chest with a huff.

“I suppose you might be right.” A grin breaks out, ruining my attempt at pretending offense. “But I do. I love you, Caleb.”

“Och. I love you, you batshit crazy woman. I’ve loved you since the moment I saw you, floating there in the sky, surrounded by a ray of sunshine, shimmering like a damn beacon of hope. I should have told you sooner. I should have known what you truly meant to me. You’re not just my mate, Ayla.” He pauses, his hands tightly gripping the edge of the tub. “You are bloody everything.” He reaches out to trail his fingers lightly along my arm, his eyes following the movement closely.

“When I realized Malick had taken you. I…” His voice breaks, and he rests his forehead against the side of the tub. I take his hand, lacing our fingers together and squeezing gently. “I went out of my mind. Malcolm needed to knock me out for a while. My dragon went insane. I went insane.” He lifts his head to look at me and the depth of emotion in his eyes leaves me breathless. “I’d realized, too late, that the Council didn’t matter, being alpha didn’t matter, none of it bloody mattered. Except you.” He brings our joined hands to his lips and places a kiss on the back of my hand.

My throat closes as love, so bright and fierce, grips me. This isn’t the sweet kind of love people write about in love stories. It’s visceral, raw, overwhelming, and so damn deep. Without him really needing to explain how he felt, I knew. I knew because if he had been taken instead of me, I would have felt the very same way. I’d experienced something very similar when I woke up and realized what had happened. My reservations about the Council were bullshit. Pure bullshit that I used to keep myself safe. If I had all my memories when we met, maybe I wouldn’t have pushed against this so hard. My heart aches thinking about all the time I wasted being a twat.

“Hush now, love,” Caleb soothes, picking up on my inner turmoil. “We both made mistakes. What matters now is what we do moving forward.” I nod, tears silently sliding down my cheeks. He wipes them away and leans in for a gentle kiss. “You’re right, we need a new leadership structure, and I’m more than happy to give up any claims to fame.” He leans back again, still clutching my hand in his.

“I don’t have the faintest idea how to go about constructing anything like that from the ground up. Caleb, I’ve only been the leader of this community for a short time, I don’t think I can be this shining beacon for all of supernatural kind.”

“You don’t have to do that alone. Once we find and wake your sisters, there will be six of you. You’re not going to have to do any of this alone. You aren’t in hiding anymore, Ayla. You aren’t running.”

He’s right. I’m not running anymore, and I won’t need to do all of this alone.

“So let’s go sit down with my fellow queens and figure out what the hell we’re going to do now.”

Olivia, Kelly, Darcy, and I are all sitting on the floor by the fireplace in my study. Caleb and the rest of the guys have all gone off, doing rounds and checking in with the trackers who are trying to find Malick.

“We’ve got a lot on our plate. Why don’t we at least list out things that need to be handled or started immediately?” Kelly has a notebook and pen in her hand. That woman is literally ready for anything, and I live for it.

“We need to discuss a new leadership structure. Caleb is going to be abolishing the Council, but we can’t go back to the way things were before with the old queens,” I point out. “That’s how they were all so easy to take down. They were alone.”

“I agree,” Olivia states. “While coming up with a firm leadership structure isn’t necessary right now, trying to establish a loose idea is best. We should plan for a gradual transfer of power. We don’t want to take on too much before we’re really ready. Especially since Kelly and Darcy haven’t come into their queen powers yet, and Ayla’s sisters are still M.I.A.” Everyone nods.

“We also need to come up with a plan for Ireland. If we need to go there to get information about the prophecy and Ayla’s sisters, we should make sure we’re planning for anything that could happen.” Darcy looks at each of us. “We can’t assume it’s going to be an easy journey.”

“That leads to figuring out what to do with Sorcha and Isobel. Who do we go after first? How are we supposed to wake them?” Kelly sighs as she quickly scribbles everything down in her notebook. “While that’s only three things, there are a lot of subcomponents, so why don’t we tackle these things first and handle anything else as it arises?” We all murmur our agreement.

For the next several hours, I sit by the fire with my bond sisters and plan. Food and drinks come and go, and we only get up to use the bathroom, but we stay and hash out everything. Given that I just woke up yesterday, I’m exhausted by the time we decide to call it quits for the night. We haven’t finished everything we need to, but we’re well on our way to a solid strategy.

Caleb is waiting for me in bed, his laptop open on his lap. We got a new bed brought to the room this morning and had Kelly reinforce it with magic. Hopefully, I won’t be able to break this one. He glances up when I walk into our bedroom. I pause. Our bedroom Goddess, I love the sound of that. With a dopey grin spreading across my face, I make my way over to his side of the bed and lean down to press a kiss to his cheek. Knowing that he’s here to talk things out with takes a lot of weight off my shoulders. It’s certainly going to take some getting used to, but I think I like it.

I strip down and crawl into bed beside Caleb. He finishes on his laptop and puts it on his nightstand. He opens the drawer and pulls something out, keeping it hidden in his hand. When he turns to face me, he’s got this nervous look on his face. My heart drops slightly. Something’s happened.

“What’s wrong?” I reach out and touch his arm, needing to reassure myself that he’s safe and real.

“Nothing!” he says quickly. Too quickly. “Nothing is wrong. I’m hoping this is actually a good thing.”

“Okay…” I drag out the word, thoroughly confused. “What the hell is happening right now?”

“Well, it’s a tradition in my family.” He clears his throat, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. “The males typically give their mate a gift once the bond is finalized.” My heart rate picks up, and I stare at his closed hand in his lap. “I, uh, I have this for you.”

This is the cutest damn thing I’ve ever seen him do. He’s nervous about giving me a mating present? My insides go all gooey, and I’m pretty sure I have little animated hearts floating around my head.

“Here.” He holds out his hand and slowly opens it.

The ring inside takes my breath away. Its band is platinum and studded all the way around with tiny diamonds. But the real showstopper is the top of the ring. Arching up in intricate, yet exceptionally delicate Celtic knots, sits a spectacular morganite stone. It’s a gorgeous salmon pink color and is cut in a square. It’s surrounded by light-colored sapphires and rubies. I’m stunned, and I can’t stop staring at it.

“It—” He swallows. “It was my mother’s. My father gave it to her when they mated.”

And with that, I start crying. I hold out my left hand so he can place the ring on my finger and find that my hand is shaking. As tears stream down my face, Caleb slides the ring on my ring finger where humans put their wedding bands. The meaning isn’t lost on me, and I start crying harder. Caleb now looks more nervous than ever, his eyes flicking from my face and then around the room, unsure what to do with my weeping, snotty self.

“This is perfect. I love it.” I hiccup in a very loud and squeaky manner that has me blushing and Caleb chuckling. “I will do my best to honor it and you.”

“So long as you honor yourself. I am just so damn proud that you’re my mate.” He kisses me deeply.

Need sparks to life inside me at his kiss. Not just the need to feel him buried deep inside me, but a need to assure each other that we’re both alive, that we’re both here, real, in the flesh.

I don’t hold myself back. I push the sheet to the floor, pleased to find him naked underneath. I climb on top of him but don’t sink down on him. Instead, I pry myself from his kiss and start to lick and nibble my way down Caleb’s body, paying particular attention to my mate mark, his nipples, and each of his carved abdominal muscles. His flavor bursts on my tongue, reminding me of a perfect summer’s day right before it rains—and man. Hot, sweaty, sexy man.

Caleb’s hands fist by his sides when my mouth stops just above the head of his cock. I blow on it, watching as it bobs with the clench of Caleb’s stomach. Lifting my eyes to his, I gently trail a finger up and down his length, watching his eyes darken as he stares intently down at me. Licking my lips, I start to place a series of gentle kisses around the base of his cock, his hips arching as though trying to direct my attention to where he wants it most. But I want to savor him, savor this.

Hands tangling in my hair, Caleb impatiently moves my head so my mouth is once again poised above the tip of his cock. “Let me feel that hot mouth sucking on my cock.” His voice is hoarse, his eyes flashing to his dragon’s. My own dragon pushes toward the surface, changing my eyes. “That’s right, love,” Caleb growls, his dragon evident, “open that mouth and suck my damn cock.”

I chuckle, a grin spreading across my face. “I didn’t hear the magic word anywhere in there, sir.” I keep my tone light and teasing, averting my eyes from his so I don’t laugh. I wrap one hand around his base, giving him a swift but solid pump. “Is this the cock you want in my mouth?”

“Don’t play games, mate.” There’s more dragon in his voice now.

“Or what?” My eyes meet his again. “What will you do if I don’t do this?” Quickly, I fasten my mouth around the tip of his cock, licking the slit with my tongue before releasing him in a flash. A deep groan escapes him, and his hands tighten in my hair. “All I want to hear is a lil’ ole please.” I bat my eyelashes, and he lets out a vicious snarl. Pft. As if that’s scary.

I watch as he struggles with his pride and his need to be dominant, waiting for him to make his decision. Little does he know, I want his cock in my mouth just as badly as he does, but I’m interested in seeing what happens. He’s always been the aggressor in bed, but I want to know that I can take the lead when I want to. Caleb blinks and his eyes return to normal.

“Will you please suck my cock, milady?” I choke down a cough at how formal he sounds. I don’t dare laugh at him, not when he’s asked so nicely, but the formality of it all makes me want to cackle.

Rather than answering, I glide my tongue up and down his length before once again sealing my mouth around the head of his cock. His arms tighten, ensuring that I stay where I am this time. I fight the urge to smile, choosing to focus on his taste and bringing him pleasure. I work my mouth over him, never quite taking him all the way down my throat. He growls, arching his hips the next time I slide my mouth down on him. I take the opportunity to deep throat him, swallowing around the head of his cock again and again before moving my mouth back up to swirl my tongue around the tip.

Suddenly, his hands grip my hips and he moves my body so my pussy is directly above his face, my mouth still wrapped around his cock. I moan around him and swallow him all the way down. He instantly dives in, sliding two fingers deep into my pussy while his mouth suctions my clit. His other hand keeps me firmly planted on his face as he relentlessly brings me closer and closer to the edge. Moments later, we jump off the cliff together, and Caleb comes down my throat while I scream my release around his cock.

I lift my head when he’s finished, licking my lips and panting slightly. Caleb is still hard as a damn rock, and he’s still going strong between my legs. I let out a small whimper when he pulls my hips away from his face, but he doesn’t give me time to think. In a move that’s a blur, he’s standing and has my legs wrapped around his waist as he strides toward my bedroom door.

“Where are we going?” I really don’t care as long as he gets the hell inside me right fucking now.

“I told you I was going to take you and mark you someplace where the entire community could hear you screaming my name. I was too caught up in having you back, so I’m going to rectify the issue now.” A grin spreads across his face as he enters the hall and slams my back against the wall. “There are no sound wards out here. And I want everyone to hear you scream.”