some prenatal vitamins delivered to your apartment. I want you to take one a day.” Sofie taps on her tablet.
Sitting up, I secure the tattered edges of my nightgown more firmly around me and swing my legs over the edge of the bed.
“Do either of you have any questions about the pregnancy?” Sofie asks, looking between Ash and me.
“Can we still have sex?” Now that I know the babies are fine, I ask the question that’s top of my mind right now.
I feel Ash’s eyes on me, scorching my skin.
“Yes. You and the twins are in excellent health. Sex will not hurt the babies. They are protected in your uterus, in their amniotic sacs,” Sofie replies.
“Your body is producing more oxytocin, the love hormone, than ever before,” Max adds. “So you’ll release more when you orgasm. That’s going to feel very good, be very relaxing.” Max shifts his attention to Ash. “I’m sure I don’t have to tell you this, but keep your weight off her. Other than that, you can resume the sex life you shared in your prepregnancy days.”
Ash nods his head but doesn’t take his eyes off me.
“Some positions will be more comfortable for you than others, Nina. Try sex side-lying, from behind or you on top. On top, you’ll have control of both penetration depth and clitoral stimulation,” Sofie says as if she’s still talking about vitamins and not sex acts I’ll soon be performing with Ash.
“You heard the doctors.” I grin widely at my husband, and he gives me a pussy-melting smile back.
The door to Sofie’s office pops open, and Gia, Kat, Ben and Luke spill into the room. I raise my eyebrows at Ash in surprise.
“I sent Ben a text. I thought you’d want to see everyone,” Ash says, answering my unasked question.
Gia reaches me first and throws her arms around my neck, peppering my face with a thousand kisses.
Luke dips his head to me. “Welcome home, Nina.”
“Gia, stop and let someone else have a chance,” Kat says, wrestling Gia out of the way and grabbing me around the shoulders in a firm, one-armed hug. “Where have you been, Nina? You scared us half to fucking death.”
“I know. I’m sorry. There’s a lot of news to share. And since you’re all here, I can fill you all in at once,” I say, the side of my face pressed into Kat’s shoulder.
“Start talking.” Kat steps back to look at me, all business and efficiency.
Before beginning, I quickly look at Ash to make sure he’s got Archer under control. “I—”
“Let me get my hug in before the talking starts.” Ben grabs my hand and notices that it’s tethered to Ash’s. “What’s this?”
“An insurance policy to make sure she doesn’t disappear again anytime soon,” Ash says as if I’m wearing a new tennis bracelet and not dragon-magic handcuffs.
Ben drops our hands and slings his arms around me, pulling me to my feet and fully up against him.
I pat him on the back with my free hand. I’m about to launch into my story again when Ben pulls back with a quizzical lift of his brows.
“Wait a minute. Are you knocked up? You have a belly, and these are much bigger.” Ben puts his hands out like he’s going to grab my boobs.
“Don’t even think about it, Ben.” Ash points to the flat-screen monitor on the wall, and Sofie presses a button on the remote control to display a still image of the babies’ faces from the ultrasound. “And yes, Nina’s pregnant. We’re going to have twins.”
This brings on a whole new round of hugs, kisses and congratulations.
After we accept everyone’s best wishes, Ash kisses my temple. “Tell us what happened to you, Nina.”
Surrounded by the love of Ash and our friends, I start at the beginning—when I walked into Elle’s office and found Franco Rossi. I tell them about Elle’s wanting to kill me so she could join a black-witch coven, Franco’s desire for my death in retribution for Nicky’s death and both of their wishes to steal the children.
The room is filled with angry murmurs, gasps and “my gods.”
The muscle in Ash’s jaw twitches as he takes my hand, encouraging me to carry on.
I fill everyone in on the binding curse, being imprisoned in the subbasement, and the other girls being held for blood to fire Elle’s spells, including the one that makes her appear human. I explain finding the portal to get in and out of the subbasement, my short-lived sprint for freedom and being attacked by the guards.
Ash shifts silently beside me, rage evident in every line of his body.
“Those fuckers,” Kat whispers.
I conclude with being strapped to a table for a cesarean section and my death only moments away when Avalon pulled me home. When I finish, I’m exhausted from reliving the memories of the last six months and lean against Ash and he wraps an arm firmly around me.
“How do you want to retaliate? Nina? Ash?” Ben asks.
“Right now, Nina needs to rest. We can discuss retaliation later,” Ash answers, brooding and ferocious.
“You’re right. Today is for celebrating her return.” Ben’s brown eyes take on an uncharacteristic seriousness. “Thank the gods you’re back, Nina. I don’t know how much longer Ash was going to be able to hold it together.”
“Ash held it together for all of us.” Kat comes to stand beside Ben. “He never wavered. When months passed, and there was no sign of you, each of us had our moment of doubt, of losing hope. Even me. But Ash wouldn’t let us give up. He said he knew you were alive, and it was only a matter of time till we found you or you made it home. And he was right.” A single tear courses down Kat’s cheek.
Kat is not one for public displays of emotion, so that little tear touches a part of me not easily reached. “Thank you for not giving up on me,” I choke out. “Even though I couldn’t respond, Ash talked to me every day using our mate bond. Knowing that you were all out looking gave me strength to go on. If it wasn’t for your love, I may not have made it.” My words are for everyone in the room, but my eyes are all for Ash. I’m starting to think it wasn’t just Avalon that pulled me home, but Ash’s love through the mate bond, too.
He’s my everything for all time.
“I’m taking her back to our apartment,” Ash says to the group. “Ben, can you call Mom and Dad and let them know Nina’s back safe and sound? Please tell them to keep it quiet until we know what our next move is. And don’t tell them about the twins. We’ll tell them in person when Nina’s had some time to recuperate.”
“No problem.” Ben slaps Ash on the shoulder before giving my arm a gentle squeeze. “Get some sleep, little sister. I’m glad you’re home.”
“Kat, would you mind letting our Earthside leaders know that she’s returned safely? But again, they should keep that information confidential and don’t mention the babies yet.”
“Of course,” Kat says.
After goodbye hugs and promises to talk tomorrow, Ash jumps us back to our apartment, and we land in the bathroom.
Standing facing each other on the cool tiles in front of the shower, Ash pushes my nightgown off my shoulders, and it falls, catching on the handcuffs that bind us together.
“Can you release me long enough to get rid of the nightgown?” I ask.
“Nope.” Ash tears the nightgown, and it falls to the floor. “I’m not releasing you yet. I can’t. I missed you too much. Every day you were gone felt like a lifetime.”
“I missed you, too. Longed for you with a force stronger than a thousand dark moons. But I’m home now.”
His expression turns pensive for a moment before he reluctantly mutters, “I can probably give you a little more space.”
I don’t know what he does, but the magic arcing between us grows about two feet, and he steps back to take a long look at me.
A blush creeps over my cheekbones at his scrutiny. I saw my body grow and change slowly, a day at a time. My belly swelled, my hips, thighs and boobs filled out. What does Ash think?
“You’re beautiful. Your body is lush and full of life. I can’t wait to get to know it all over again. Come shower with me.”
“I didn’t mean to put that in the mate bond,” I say.
“You didn’t. I saw the question in your eyes. Your terrible poker face, remember?” Ash leans into the shower and turns on the water. Then using one hand, he rips his T-shirt to get it off without removing the cuffs and strips out of the rest of his clothes. We step into the shower together, and Ash quickly soaps up his body.
With the weight loss, his muscles are more defined than ever. Slack-jawed, I watch the soap and water run in rivulets from his traps to his pecs, over his abs and down to the deep V on the insides of his hip bones, which points right down to his big dick.
A dick I want.
After he rinses off, he begins soaping up my body. His big hands roaming over my new curves. “Your ass is fuller, rounder. I love it even more if that’s possible,” he says. His hands come around my front to wash my neck and the top of my chest and down my arms before cupping my breasts. “And these, these are much bigger.”
“I thought you liked them small.”
“I love them anyway I can get them.” He dips his head and takes a dark-pink nipple in his mouth while rolling the other between his thumb and forefinger.
My head falls back, and my eyes close with the intense pleasure, the scratch of his beard on my skin adding an extra layer of sensation. He switches nipples giving them equal attention, and I’m pretty sure I can come just from this.
Ash kneels down in front of me and washes my belly. “Knowing you’re carrying my babies is a massive fucking turn-on.”
Grabbing the shampoo, I squirt some into my hand and wash his hair. Running my fingers through the thick, golden strands, again and again.
He gently washes between my legs, his fingers lightly grazing over where I want real pressure before moving down my legs and to my feet. After he stands and rinses his hair under the spray, he slowly shampoos and conditions my hair.
“That feels amazing. The scalp is an underrated erogenous zone,” I murmur, fully submitting to his luxurious care. When he’s done, I’m so relaxed my legs barely support me.
“Let’s get you dried off and into bed.”
Yes, please.
After toweling us both off, Ash carries me to the bedroom and lays me carefully on the bed. He takes a bottle of oil out of his nightstand and squirts some into his hands, warming it up before placing his hands on my belly and massaging me. His oiled hands move up to my breasts, and then he drips some oil directly on them. He molds my oiled breasts with his hands, my nipples hardening even more in response.
Desire has my hips moving back and forth and my legs opening. My body absorbs his caresses like a plant soaks up sunlight. He drips the oil low on my stomach and on my inner thighs before kneading it into my skin.
My pussy goes liquid for him, and my swollen clit begs for his attention. His oiled fingers flutter over my clit, and I come apart in an exquisite climax, arching my back and pushing into his touch, calling out his name.
“Max was right. You do come harder now.” He gently kisses my forehead and pulls the blankets up over me. “Close your eyes, Princess, and get some sleep. You must be exhausted.”
What? It’s been six months. I push the covers back off and sit up. “Ashton Mountcastle, don’t you dare stop now. I’m not nearly done. I have all of these sexy-time pregnancy hormones floating around inside me, and you need to do something about it.”
He hesitates. “You’ve been through an ordeal. You need to rest.”
“I don’t need rest. I need you.” Right now, I use the mate bond to show him the level of my desire.
“In that case, where were we? Oh yes, right here.” He uses his fingers on me again, rubbing my clit in tight little circles until I explode violently a second time. “I need to taste you.” He lowers himself between my legs and runs his tongue from my entrance to my clit in long licks. When he slides a finger inside me, I clench around it, my body demanding to be filled.
“You’re voluptuous and luscious everywhere.” He adds a second finger and crooks them to directly massage my G-spot, causing another pulsating orgasm to roll through me. “I love watching you come.”
“I need you inside me, Ash.”
Kneeling between my legs, he drags the head of his cock back and forth through my wetness, tapping my clit with each pass. When he enters me and slowly pushes forward until he’s fully seated, we both groan.
This is home.
He braces his hands on either side of me, keeping his weight off me, and thrusts with long, steady strokes, giving us what we both need, reconnecting us in a way that goes way beyond the physical.
“I want you to come again.” He sits back on his heels and strums his thumb across my clit before lightly pinching it, and I do as he asks, panting at the peak of my bliss.
Ash rides me through the orgasm, and I pull my knees up to my chest to give him more access. He looks down to where our bodies are joined as he continues to move. “One more time, Princess.” He leverages his body, leaning over me again, and I wrap my legs around his hips, answering his challenge as another orgasm crests. When the tension breaks and my core contracts around him, he pumps several more times before spilling inside of me.
Rolling to the side, he pulls me against his chest.
“I love you, Ash.” I can barely speak. I’m so spent, every muscle turned to mush.
“I love you, Nina.”
My eyes drift closed.
“And I’m never letting you go again.”
