King of the Asheville Coven (Winterset Coven #1)(19)

He twitched his chin toward the hallway, and her smile deepened. She squeezed Dawn’s shoulder as she passed and made her way to him.

“I missed you,” she murmured as she snuggled into his arms. And then she rested her cheek against his chest and went to purring like she always did when he came home after a shift.

He lifted her chin, brought her gaze to his so she would see how much he meant his next words. “I missed you, too.” And then he leaned down and kissed her, his hands sliding down her neck and arms until he reached her waist.

She was always so reactive to his touch, and then she was reaching again. “Love, love, I love him, love him. I love Aric.”

He chuckled and nipped at her lip. His mate was a loyal creature who loved with her whole heart, and she’d somehow chosen him. He was so damn lucky to have landed in Winterset. So damn lucky to have landed in Sadey’s arms.

“Get a room,” Garret called across the couch.

Fine by him. Aric waved goodnight to his coven and hugged his mate tightly as he walked her backward down the hallway.

Sadey wrapped her legs around his waist. “Night, vamps,” she called over his shoulder.

“Night.” The coven’s murmurs bounced down the hallway after them as Aric maneuvered them down the stairs to the basement rooms.

“Tell me about your day, mister,” she murmured, resting her chin on his shoulder.

Aric kicked open the door to their bedroom and closed it with his hip, then murmured, “It was an easy one. No calls. The town was quiet tonight. And Chief Lang pulled me in his office at the end of my shift.”

“What for?” she asked as he settled her onto the wood floor.

Aric shook his head, still barely able to believe it himself. “He said I was an asset to the truck and he’d made the right decision in hiring me.”

Sadey’s beaming smile stunned him into stillness. “So are you still the King of the Asheville Coven?” she asked innocently.

He could see it clear as day what she wanted him to say. He’d balked before tonight, but now it felt right. “No. Now I’m the King of the Winterset Coven.”

“So we’re staying. Officially, this is home?”

The excitement in her voice was catching, and he laughed. With a nod, he murmured, “We’re home.”

The notes of Garret’s favorite country song floated down through the ceiling. Aric held Sadey as gently as she deserved and rocked them side-to-side in a slow dance. Resting his cheek against her hair, he murmured, “Before I met you, I was so angry. I couldn’t get over Arabella stealing the sunlight from me. I couldn’t be the king I wanted to be because of my unhappiness with her betrayal.”

Sadey clutched his shirt and sighed, relaxing against him as they slow-danced. “And now?”

He leaned back and searched her gorgeous eyes. Slowly, he pressed his hand over her chest where her content purr rattled on. “And now I think I was supposed to find you when I did because you banished the dark parts of my life right when I thought I would be lost.”

She was flowers in the garden and secret smiles. She was love, happiness, and echoing laughter. Somehow, she’d come in and become the glue for his coven—the glue for the pieces of himself Aric thought he had lost.

After everything, she had chased the shadows away, and now he didn’t have to mourn his old life or the things he’d had to give up.

Because Sadey—his fiercely beautiful, playful, tender-hearted Sadey—had turned out to be his sunlight.