Novels by Alicia Garrett

I was trying to be careful about how much I was actually leaning back into Xavier, considering I didn't want to aggravate his still-healing ribs, but that didn't last very long. His arm tightened around my waist, hand splaying across my stomach as he pulled me back even further into his warm embrace."Relax, Ari. You're not going to hurt me. You're too small to actually press on anything hard enough to hurt me, and even if you did, I'd still prefer to hold you closer, princess." He whispered against my ear, sending a shiver down my spine, but I had already lost the fight as I allowed my body to all but melt back against him. "When we get there, stay close, and make sure they do as well. King Titus has a habit of trying to draw pretty things away and keep them. One of the advisors to the throne already tried to get their hands on you, and if they find you alone there in any capacity..." He left the statement open-ended, but it wasn't hard for me to fill in the blank. "If

He woke me up early Monday morning, making me smile as he slowly kissed along the side of my neck before I turned into him and captured those lips with mine."Do you want to come with me this morning?" He asked as he pulled back just enough that he could press another kiss right under my ear, and I grinned."I think you already know the answer to that question, otherwise you wouldn't have already woken me up," I whispered right back before trailing my fingers over his sharp jaw as I leaned back for another kiss.I was more than happy to get another chance to see him shift; there was just something about it that drew me in. I always loved how he reacted when I would run my hand over his scales or press my cheek to his. Every single time, he would lean into my touch, almost to the point of accidentally knocking me over sometimes, but I wasn't about to complain.Once we came back off the mountains, we ended up grabbing an early breakf

Xavier held the door, ushering us all inside his office before shutting it behind us and coming over to where I was leaning back against his desk from where I had set Bane down onto it. "Do you mind?" He asked, and I just looked at him for a moment before realizing that he wanted the missive. I quickly fished it back out of my bag before handing it over to him.He quickly read back through the mission before shaking his head as he went over to one of his bookcases and pulled out a large rolled piece of parchment. As he set it on the desk, I moved to stand behind it with him as he unrolled the map, setting a couple of heavy books along the edges to hold it in place before looking over it for a long moment with a sigh. Lexi and Genie both came up to the other side of the desk to see what we were looking at as we all looked over the map, just as Xavier pointed out Celestia's capital city of Elysium."The first problem with this mission is that coming from Elys

"I can carry my own familiar, Ari." Xavier protested as Bane made himself comfortable in my arms, but Bane and I both just looked up at him before Bane rubbed his cheek over mine. He placed both front paws up on my shoulder as he lay his head across Nova's back and his long tail wound around my waist. Xavier just raised an eyebrow, causing the dragon to grumble at him as he curled in even further around me, making Xavier sigh at him. "I'm starting to think that he likes you more than me." I just giggled as I felt Bane rub up against me once more, very obviously agreeing with his statement."I mean, you have to admit, I'm pretty likeable. I got your surly ass to put up with me, that has to say something." I shot back, and he just grinned at me with a slight shake of his head."I'm still not sure if that's something that's actually entirely in my control." He teased right back, making me grin."But you can't tell me that you don't like it."

As he got cleaned up, I changed the bedding so it was clean for him to lie back down, and Nova had all but forced Bane into the bathroom shortly after Xavier had started the shower up to clean up as well. After he was done, he did in fact come back and almost instantly go back to sleep, but this time I was very happily curled back against his chest, absently rubbing over Bane's chest scales as I was all but squished between the two of them. I'd be lying if I had said that I didn't like it, though.Between the comforting weight of Xavier's arm over my side, the feel of his breath as it stirred the hair on top of my head, and the warmth of him pressed against my back, I hadn't even realized I had drifted off to sleep myself until a sharp knock on the door had me jumping awake. Xavier let out a soft groan in his sleep, but his grip on me only tightened, pulling me further back against his chest. As much as I liked the fact that even in sleep, he was unwilling to let go of me, I really ne

When we had made our way upstairs, Bane reached a wing out for Lexi and Genie to touch as we entered Xavier's room, allowing them through the wards before I shut the door behind us. Then I quickly walked over and set Bane back down beside Nova. She happily rubbed up against him before he moved further up the bed, pressing in against Xavier's side as he lay his head up on his shoulder. Xavier was still completely out, but, with what Bane had told me earlier, I really wasn't too surprised at that one. Lexi set the tray of food down onto the dresser as I turned to look at the two of them still standing back in the doorway. I still didn't like the fact that I was bringing them into Xavier's personal space without his knowledge of it, but it made me feel at least a little better that Bane had approved of it. Although at the same time, I really needed to know that he would actually be okay. "Would you mind checking him too?" I asked Genie, and she looked from me to Bane with a wary gaze.