All Chapters of Born of Moon and Magic: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Demetrius' POVShe didn't answer right away.I'd expected a lot of things. Joy, maybe, or that stubborn little lift of her chin when she was bracing for something. What I hadn't expected was stillness, her eyes wide and bright and fixed on mine like she was memorizing me, as though I might be taken away."Say something," I said, quieter than I meant."I..." Her breath caught. "Yes. I mean, I'm not saying no. I just wasn't expecting it.""Neither was I." It was the truest thing I'd said all day. "I walked in tonight meaning to ask if you'd eaten."A laugh broke out of her, shaky and startled, and some of the tension in her shoulders let go. I took it as a gift.She went to the kitchen to find something to do with her hands, and I let her. I stood in the hall a moment longer, listening to the clink of dishes and her heartbeat, which hadn't slowed once since I'd come through the door. It was fast and light and uneven, the rhythm of someone running even while standing still.She was lying

Armida's POV"Let the girl breathe, Florence."The voice came from the doorway behind me, small and dry, and something in my chest eased before I'd even turned around. Cornelia stood there in her usual gray cardigan, a leather satchel over her shoulder and her white hair pinned back. She was the pack's doctor, and she had taken care of me after the attack from Torren's wolf."Cornelia.""Come here, child." She opened her arms, and I walked into them without thinking. She smelled of lavender and old paper and the faint bitterness of herbs. "A claw wound, a heat, and now a ceremony. You do pick your seasons."A laugh broke out of me, embarrassed and grateful at once. Somewhere behind us, one of the younger women choked on her tea."I've seen you at your worst," Cornelia went on, drawing back to study me with those sharp, patient eyes. "So I can promise you this is the easy part." Her gaze lingered a moment longer than a doctor's usually would, as if she were reading something under my s

Armida's POV I stopped. "I'm sorry?""I only mean that it's a great deal to take on." Her head tilted, and her eyes moved over me the way you look at a puzzle someone has solved wrong. "I've watched this pack all my life. A Luna isn't just a mate. She's the other half of a name, a promise the whole pack leans on. They've been welcoming you today because they love him, and because it's easier than saying what some of them are thinking."The warmth of the last hour went out of me all at once, like a door opening onto winter. "And what are they thinking?""That, it's very fast." She said it gently, with no heat at all, which was worse. "That they know almost nothing about you. That the Alpha has been, lately, a man who is very eager to hold on to something." A faint, tight smile. "I'd hate to see you mistake being chosen for being suited."The words weren't loud. They didn't have to be. They landed under my ribs and stayed there, because some small, tired part of me had already been say

Armida's POVThe hall was warm after the cold of the field, and it smelled of woodsmoke, roasted meat, and honey.Someone had hung strings of lanterns from the rafters, and the long tables had been pushed against the walls to leave a wide aisle down the middle. At the far end, on a low dais, sat two carved chairs of dark wood. Demetrius guided me to the one on the left, and when I sat, the silver circlet still cool against my brow, I felt the whole room look at me at once."Breathe," he murmured, lowering himself into the chair beside mine. His hand found mine on the armrest and stayed there. "They're only going to say hello.""There are hundreds of them.""Then it'll be a long hello."It was. And it was lovely.The first to come forward was Florence, wiping her hands on her apron as though she'd run straight from the kitchen, which she probably had. She carried a round loaf with a small dish of salt set into the top of it."Bread and salt for the Alpha and Luna's table," she said, a

Armida's POV I'd never felt anything like it. His tongue parted me and dragged slowly up through the wet heat of my pussy, and my whole body bowed off the bed. He did it again, and again, circling the swollen bud at the top until stars went off behind my eyes. His hands held my thighs open, firm and unhurried, and he made a low, hungry sound against me like he'd been starving."Demetrius," I begged. "I can't, I'm going to…""Then do."He sealed his mouth over my clit and sucked, and I shattered. The pleasure broke over me in a long, rolling wave, my fingers twisted in his hair, my thighs trembling around his shoulders, his name ringing in the room. He held me through it, gentle, licking me through the last aftershocks until I went limp and shaking.He rose over me, lips glistening, eyes blazing gold."Now," I managed. "Please. I want you inside me."He stripped off the rest of his clothes with quick, rough movements, and I looked at him, all of him, the thick, hard length of his co