House of Royale (Secret Keepers #4)(78)

Daniel wrapped me up in his arms and everything inside me sighed with happiness. Between our soul bond and my intense love for him, being held like this was singularly the best feeling I’d ever had in my life.

Well, that and sex. Which drove me absolutely crazy. I was thinking I had a problem. Might even need a support group.

“You need to stop thinking that, Callie,” Daniel murmured, pulling me even closer. “We’re in the middle of school.”

I threw my head back and laughed. “You can’t read my mind, so how do you always know when I’m thinking about sex?”

His grin was lethal; those damn dimples. “Because your eyes darken and you chew on the corner of your lips.” He rubbed his thumb across my lip. “And because I feel the emotions swell inside of you, and I know that’s exactly how I feel when I think about touching you.”

My breathing was ragged. I tried to control it, because he was correct: this was definitely not the right place for this sort of intensity. But, my God, he was going to kill me.

I got a breather when the rest of our friends arrived. The eight of us wandered up to the next level with its amazing array of food that we basically had to ourselves.

“Should we … maybe share this?” I asked. Despite my love of the privacy, it still felt wrong.

Lexen chuckled and Emma shot him a look. “I told you it was shitty of us to have all the best food up here,” she told him, “and not share it.”

Lexen leaned toward her, doing the same thing Daniel did so well, loving her with just one look. “I know, Em. Which is why….” He trailed off with a sweep of his hand.

It took them a second to show their heads, creeping up the stairs. A dozen or more students made it to our level, and they were the last humans I ever expected to see up here. The scholarship kids.

Emma legitimately had tears in her eyes when she turned back to her mate. “I love you!” she all but squealed. “Thank you.”

Lexen shook his head; he brushed a kiss across her lips. “You should know by now,” he told her in a low voice, “there’s nothing I won’t do for you.”

I’d have swooned and been jealous as hell, except I had my own. He showed me multiple times a day how much he would do for me.

Right after the incident with Rao, I was broken. I never knew my heart could hurt so much and me not die because of that pain. And the guilt. Oh, God, the guilt had eaten me alive. It helped when I saw him in the justices, but it didn’t completely erase what I had done. Whether Rao was happy or not, he was still dead because of me. He never got a chance at happiness, and that wasn’t fair.

Daniel had been so patient with me, just holding me, letting me cry and scream and rage. When some of that calmed, we went to New Orleans and stayed there for weeks. It was the best time of my life. I even said goodbye to my mother, despite not knowing the exact location of her cremation. But I knew she was somewhere in that area.

I loved him so much.

“I love you, too,” he said, pressing a kiss to the spot just below my ear. Somehow he always knew what I was thinking. He cared enough to learn my tells, my facial expressions. It made me feel loved and cherished.

I was blessed in more ways than I thought I deserved.





Bonus Scene





Maya





This school was the best! Seriously. Not only were the teachers cool, letting us call them by their first names, and basically giving us zero assignments outside of the necessities, but there was an entire level in the cafeteria with three-star Michelin-rated food.

“Why did we not go to school here our entire lives?” I asked Brad, who had been late coming to lunch but was still managing to eat more than all of us combined. Okay, not more than the overlords, but he was holding his own with them. Which was impressive.

“I know,” he said as he swallowed. “Their football team looks amazing. They were complaining about losing Lexen and his brothers halfway through the season, but they still managed to win most of their games.”

I blinked at him, shaking my head. He grinned. “Right, I know. You don’t care about football. How’s it looking for graduation?”

A happy feeling fluttered into my chest. “Great, actually. With a little help from Chase, and being able to add my charity to my résumé, it looks like I have early acceptance into my top three schools. I’m still not sure about college next year, but it’s nice to know I got in.”

For someone who had been actively hoping to avoid the college decision, this was quite the change for me. But Chase had been the empty part of my soul, the part always searching. Now that he’d filled my life, I felt freer to plan a future.

“What about you?” I asked him, having to wait while he shoveled more pasta in his mouth.

“Pribsfljsf agot got—”

“Whoa…” I held up a hand to interrupt him. “No. Just because Star is not here doesn’t mean you can act like a heathen. Swallow before you talk, dude. How many times have we had this convo?”

Brad winked at me. “You love my heathen side,” he said with an empty mouth this time. “And what I was saying … I’m not sure I want to go to college next year. Roland has a role for me in Darken, if I want to take it. And … since that’s where Star is going to be … I want it.”