Iron Master – Jennifer Ashley Page 0,92
off to find a place of his own. People ignored him, or despised him, or felt sorry for him.”
“I felt sorry for him,” Peigi said with wry humor. “He was probably laughing his ass off at me the whole time.”
“No, he was grateful.” Stuart slid his hand under the crocheted afghan and touched hers. “Deep cover is tough, believe me.”
He took on a haunted expression, leftover from his years of moving from one identity to the next while he tried to find a way back to Faerie and home. The expression changed, however, as he met Peigi’s gaze, pain and distress leaving him. Now when he said home, he meant this house, Peigi, and the cubs.
“So that’s why he stuck with us instead of trying to escape and return to the hoch alfar.” Peigi ran her thumb across the back of Stuart’s hand. “I wish Dylan had told us. I wouldn’t feel like such a fool.”
“The fewer people who know about a cover, the less easy it is to have it blown. I know that from experience too. Dylan hold his cards very close to his chest. Not many people are on his need-to-know list. Apparently not me either, in this case.”
“I understand, I think,” Peigi said. “But why didn’t Crispin try to get home to Dylan once he was away from the Fae prince?”
“To gather as much intel on the situation as he could. Plus, I didn’t give him a lot of choice, did I?”
Peigi laughed softly. “We played right into his hands.”
“He told me today he was grateful to us. Hanging out with the hoch alfar could make anyone lonely.”
Peigi let out a breath and rested her head on the back of the chair. “I hope Ben doesn’t feel the same way about dokk alfar.”
“I think they’ll get along fine. Ben and Cian are a lot alike, doing anything to stop the hated hoch alfar. Cian will go far, I’m sure.”
“I’ll feel better when Ben is back, anyway.” Peigi turned to look fully at Stuart. “Thank you for coming home with me.”
“I had to,” Stuart said in a light tone. “I signed Noelle’s agreement, remember?”
“No, you didn’t have to.” Peigi folded her fingers around his. “You can return to Faerie, be the iron master, save the world. They need you.”
Stuart bowed his head for a time, moonlight touching his black hair. When he straightened up again, his eyes were quiet, no more indecision. “Maybe Cian and Ben will find another iron master—I can’t be the only one in existence. We’re rare but not unique.” He untangled their hands from the afghan, raised her fingers to his lips, and kissed them gently. “I made my choice, Pegs. I made it a long time ago, when I saw you walk away from Eric after he brought you here, ready to face whatever life threw at you. I fell in love with you that day, and that love has never wavered. I love you still.” He kissed her fingers once more. “And I know I’m going to love you always.”
Peigi’s heart burned with her connection to him, the mate bond, the tether that would never loosen.
“I fell in love with you,” she said, “when you were ready to give up your chances of going back to Faerie so you wouldn’t hurt Cassidy or any other Shifter. You wanted to go home so much—it was killing you—and you let it go, so others could live and be happy.”
“Yeah.” Stuart’s voice was quiet. “I’m awesome.”
“You are.”
“What is grabbing me and throwing me over the moon in that speech is I fell in love with you.”
“Well, I did,” Peigi said. “And I love you now.”
Stuart leaned closer. “Time moved while we were in Faerie. The full moon is in a couple of days, so Eric will do the sun and moon ceremonies.”
“Yep.” Peigi rested her hand on his firm shoulder. “What’s your point?”
“My point is, I don’t want to wait.”
Peigi’s mating frenzy, which she’d tamped down during their adventure and soothing the cubs afterward, roared high. She was off the chair and onto his, her legs around him before he finished the sentence.
“Me neither,” she said breathlessly, and kissed his mouth.
Stuart smiled into the kiss, which turned deep, longing, needy. He slid his hands under her shirt and up her back, dragging her against him. His hard cock fit right between her legs, rigid through the layers of fabric between them.
The kiss was a point of heat, his hands pouring fires through her. Peigi