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My cheeks flushed with warmth. “You’ve mentioned it once or twice.”

“Not nearly enough then,” Lazarus answered, voice muffled against my skin. “It is a heady mixture made all the sweeter by the added scents of my nieces. Your love of Vidia’s offspring is intoxicating. I had not thought I could find you more attractive. Obviously, I was wrong.”

My breath caught, heart speeding, fighting against the exhaustion tugging my limbs and pulling my body down. I wanted so much more with this wyvern who’d captured my heart, and yet I feared my body would be severely lacking given its current state.

As if reading my mind, Lazarus tugged me toward what had once been my bedroom, now large enough to accommodate not one, but two. “Will you allow me to hold you while you sleep?” he asked. “Nothing more. You need rest and a little heavy petting. Your body will require far more restoration and stamina for any future coupling.”

I stumbled, mouth slipping open. Words needed to be said. It just took me a moment to find them. “That sounds…” I was still lost for words. Wonderful, exciting, hazardous, intense… I could think of a thousand and one descriptive words, and yet none of them felt worthy enough.

“I believe the word you’re searching for is magnificent,” Lazarus replied as he continued leading me toward our bedroom. “I assure you, Keir, when the time comes for us to officially mate, you won’t be leaving this room for at least a week. Perhaps longer.”

“Oh.” Oh? That’s all I had, or at least it was all I could manage to gasp.

Lazarus’s soft chuckles didn’t sound so much mocking as endearing. I was glad Lazarus found my ineloquence amusing instead of off-putting because I continued standing there like a lump as Lazarus calmly and slowly removed my clothing. Leaving me in nothing more than a pair of boxer briefs. His sapphire eyes glowed from within as his gaze roamed me from stem to stern.

“Beautiful,” Lazarus whispered, a trail of smoke exiting his nostrils as he exhaled. “Best crawl under the covers before I lose what little control I have.”

Doing as told, I slid beneath the covers. Lazarus left his clothes on and stayed on top of the blanket when he cuddled up to me, wrapping me in his arms. At my questioning look, Lazarus smirked and said, “I’m afraid skin-on-skin would be a little too tempting right now. I believe my list of complaints against Jaakobah are mounting. Having to wait for us to claim each other is yet another grievance I’ll gladly make him pay for.”

I didn’t bother telling Lazarus that it was me that needed to make Jaakobah suffer. I had a feeling Lazarus would still find pleasure in Jaakobah’s defeat even if it wasn’t by his hands directly.

As my eyelids fluttered closed, I thought back and couldn’t pinpoint an exact time when Lazarus asked me to mate him. Gryphons considered it bonding. I’d heard Lazarus refer to it as both. Either way, neither of us had officially asked the others’ permission. It seemed more of a given than a question. Something so natural that it was simply assumed.

Lazarus was wyvern, not gryphon. Species didn’t matter. Not to me. Jaakobah and I might share a species, but Lazarus and I shared a heart and soul.

I woke to the feel of a tug on my hair. My first waking thought was Lazarus. A harsher, more painful tug eliminated Lazarus as the culprit and brought Henry to mind. Irritated, I started to bat away the offending individual when a distinctively not-Henry sound reached my ears. The odd screech pulled other images into focus. Another loud squawk followed by an even more intense tug made me sit up. Vi fell from my head. I reached out and caught her, but it felt like Blu was still all twisted up in my hair.

“Hey,” I scolded. “That hurts.” Blu let loose a mournful trill, rousing Lazarus.

“Now, now.” Lazarus joined my scolding. “Did you get your claws caught?” I felt Lazarus moving behind me before the weight tugging my hair lessened. “She’s well and truly twisted up, Keir. Give me a minute and I’ll get her loose.” Lazarus’s chuckles blew warm breath against my exposed skin, making me shiver in all the best ways.

“There,” Lazarus said, pulling Blu closer. Vi immediately launched off my hand and tackled her sister, sending them both sprawling along the sheets in a blur of turquoise and violet.

Leaning against the headboard, I raked my hands over my face, scrubbing at my eyes. I wasn’t certain how much time had passed. Evidently it was long enough for the girls to wake up before us. I vaguely wondered if Eldon was awake also.

“How long was I asleep?” I asked Lazarus.

“Hopefully long enough,” Lazarus cryptically answered. When I raised an eyebrow and gave him a questioning look, Lazarus just sighed and said, “I won’t apologize. Obviously, your body needed the rest.” Lazarus had a distinctly stubborn set to his jaw that set my nerves on edge.

Swallowing hard, I managed to ask, “How long?”

Lazarus’s gaze flashed my way before focusing on our acrobatic wyvern young. “Seventeen hours,” Lazarus finally answered. “Give or take an hour.”

My mouth parted, brain momentarily blanking. “Seventeen hours.”

“Give or take,” Lazarus repeated.

“Wh-what? I mean… Goddess, Eldon!” I started to get up, determined to check on my brother. Lazarus’s firm grip stopped me cold.

“Your brother is fine. I checked on him twice and Eldon even fixed his own meal a few hours ago. Vi and Blu have been fed. Elvira’s been keeping an eye on the skies, and Martin has been handling anything council related. There is nothing you need to concern yourself with.”

I slumped, my back hitting the headboard as Vi jumped up and landed on my legs. Oblivious to anything but her current play, Vi launched off again, tumbling into her sister. I stared at their playful banter and wondered how much longer I would have slept if they hadn’t woken me.

“That’s too long,” I absently said.

“Evidently not,” Lazarus argued. “You’ve been pushing your body too far. At some point, something had to give. Last night it did. If our roles were reversed, you would have done the same.”

I wanted to be angry and part of me was. A larger part struggled where to direct that anger. Finally, I settled on, “But you’re still healing.”