them?” This part I found fascinating. I mean, I knew Imogen was special, it was never about that. It was he just seemed so normal. He didn’t act like he was some high and mighty royalty of some elite supernatural beings. He was simply our Imogen, our mate.
“I am third in line to the throne with a known threat after me in a hostile world,” he replied with a lopsided grin. “Ten is what I talked my uncle down to. They were harsh negotiations. I agreed to never leave my strong kitten’s side, offering to handcuff myself to you always if it would appease him and he let me leave with only ten guards.”
“Yeah, so strong that I got badly hurt and couldn’t come with you on your visit.” I wasn’t mad that he went, I was upset that I hadn’t been able to go with him. Those things were after him specifically and he shouldn’t be going anywhere alone.
“Warriors get injured in battle, Sasha,” he said firmly and took my hand in his after letting Aaron’s go. “There is no shame in that. And I can honestly tell you that my uncle is thrilled about our mating. He says he’s met your father Martin and respects him.”
“I’ll have to ask my dad when I talk to them. It was just a quick conversation, and I said I’d call them after the honeymoon heat, which was today.” My dad knowing his uncle would go a long way in smoothing out some of the wrinkles in our mating. And if the king trusted my dad, who trusted Conley, who trusted Aaron, maybe that would help, too, in a backwards, convoluted way.
“Oh right,” Aaron said sheepishly and cringed. “Your mom’s on her way. Well, Trey said she’ll be here in the morning. I forgot to tell you. I guess he was pissed before we talked to him while you were sleeping, and rightly so, of course. But he called her for reinforcements to help kick our asses, I guess, and I was supposed to tell you she’s coming. Please don’t be mad that I forgot.”
“Aaron, it’s okay.” I giggled and pulled his chair closer to mine. “It’s understandable you’d forget something like that with everything going on.” I felt the drugs really kicking in, so all the pain was pretty much gone, and all that was left was the dopiness. “But if you wanted to make it up to me, I have several ideas of how you could do that.”
“Oh really,” he drawled and ran his hand under my shorts and over my thigh. “You’re too injured to have sex, Sasha. As much as I’d love to make sure I got back into your good graces before your mother gets here, I won’t hurt you. From what Jasper and Addison told me, that woman is scarier than Hades.”
“She can be if you mess with her family or mates. But if you’re good to the people she loves, she’s the sweetest person in the world.” I was gentle in the way I said it, but I let him know my tone said I wasn’t messing around or allowing anyone to badmouth my mother.
“Of course,” Aaron said quickly and kissed my cheek. “He said she was a wonderful woman but never, ever fuck with her. I didn’t mean to imply she was unreasonably scary. We would deserve it.”
“We would?” Imogen asked with a cute little smirk.
“Yes, because we fucked up, remember?” Aaron growled, and I swear he tried to kick Imogen under the table. I felt something move, but I couldn’t be sure that’s what happened.
“Of course, we owe penance for that,” Imogen agreed and gave me his brightest smile. “Now on to the part where we make up for the pain we caused our lovely mate.”
“Kiss-ass,” I mumbled as Aaron helped me to my feet. But then I had an idea. Okay, it was underhanded and probably immoral to guilt them into what I wanted, but at this point I wasn’t above that. “Honestly as tempting as you guys taking care of me sounds in the dirty, naked way you’re implying, there’s something else I’d rather have tonight that I know will make me feel better.”
“Anything, our feisty kitten,” he said immediately and wrapped an arm
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