Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 66672 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66672 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
“Baby,” Devlin said when they finally parted to get some air. He cradled Jules’s cheeks with his hands and looked at him seriously. “You still haven’t answered. Will you marry me?”
Jules laughed and kissed him again. Fuck, he couldn’t believe this was real, that this man was his.
“Of course I will,” he whispered, smiling. “But your standards are slipping, Your Grace. I thought I was just ‘kind of pretty’?”
Devlin half groaned, half laughed. “You’ll never let me forget that, will you?”
Chuckling, Jules buried his face in his alpha’s neck. “Never. I’ll be telling that story to our grandkids.”
Devlin hugged him hard.
“I’m looking forward to it,” he said, his voice full of wonder.
Jules grinned.
Epilogue
The fallout of their unexpected—and scandalous—engagement hadn’t been as bad as Jules had feared. The gossip was still terrible, of course, and while some media outlets questioned Devlin’s fickle character—because no one actually believed that he’d never been interested in Liam—the juicy scandal had far overshadowed any disgruntlement over Devlin becoming the heir to the throne. Jules was beyond relieved. He could live with the gossip—he wouldn’t have been able to bear making things even harder for Devlin.
Then there was Liam, of course. Their first conversation after the ball had been… awkward. Thankfully, Liam wasn’t really angry or all that upset—he still had a legion of suitors—but it had still been a little awkward.
“I’m not going to claim it didn’t bruise my ego,” Liam had said with a crooked smile. “It did. But it doesn’t matter if you love him. You should have told me that it wasn’t just a crush, Jules. Your happiness is more important to me than my pride.”
Jules may or may not have teared up at that.
Anyway. There had been lots of hugging, and things had been surprisingly not awkward after that conversation. Liam had been an immense help over the past few months, actually. He knew so much about royal etiquette and wedding preparations; Jules would have been absolutely lost without him.
If it had been up to him, he’d have skipped all these pointless customs and married Devlin tomorrow, but of course it wasn’t possible with who Devlin was. It was beyond frustrating, especially since they were now under the public’s watchful eye and could barely get some alone time. It didn’t help that Devlin’s new position forced him to travel all over the kingdom to participate in public events and give countless speeches.
Jules missed him, desperately.
The phone calls—and phone sex—didn’t satisfy the longing in the least. He missed him, the way he smelled, the way Devlin’s arms felt around him, his deep voice and intense eyes that looked at him as if Jules were his world. He missed him.
That was how Jules found himself sneaking into the palace that evening. Well, “sneaking” was probably not the correct word, considering that the security let him in, but he’d sneaked out of his own house and hadn’t told Devlin that he was coming. He knew Devlin had arrived that afternoon after his week-long trip to some remote province. Normally Devlin would come to the Blake house right away, but not this evening.
It was a full moon tonight.
Jules glanced at the reddish hue of the sky and wiped his sweaty palms against his pants. Xeus was about to rise. He was excited. And nervous. But mostly excited.
Raising his hand, he knocked on Devlin’s door.
The door jerked open. Devlin glared at him. “What are you doing here?” he said, his voice clipped and his dark hair unusually unkempt.
Jules drank him in. Fuck, he looked good enough to eat. Jules wanted to kiss him.
He did—or attempted to.
Devlin’s hand on his chest stopped him. “Don’t touch me,” he ground out, his expression tight, almost pained. “You should go now—before it’s too late.”
Jules shook his head and stepped into the room. “I miss you.”
Devlin’s expression softened a little, but it was still pained, a bead of sweat running down his forehead. “I miss you, too, but now isn’t a good time. Julian. Go. It’s a full moon tonight.”
“I know,” Jules said, closing the door. “I want to spend it with you.”
Devlin stared at him. “You don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
“I do. Better than you think.”
“I’ll be little better than an animal, Jules.”
Oh, “Jules” was bad. It showed how on edge Devlin already felt, as did the somewhat wild gleam in his eyes.
“I know,” Jules said, stepping closer. Devlin stiffened, watching him warily. Jules took another step and Devlin took a step back. Jules said, “I trust you. I’m not afraid of you.”
“You should be,” Devlin said, gripping the desk behind him so hard his biceps bulged under his thin white shirt.
Jules licked his lips, feeling his underwear become uncomfortably sticky. He always was insanely attracted to this man, but seeing him on the verge of losing his control turned him on more than anything ever had.