Tavion gently grasped my wrist, guided my hand to his chest, flattened my palm over his thundering heart. “Here. Send your magic here.” I refused to acknowledge how warm his skin was, the emotion in his gaze, how every heartbeat seemed to echo within my own. Absolutely refused.

Nerves, this was just nerves and when Tavion was himself again, me and the arrogant bastard could go right back to our old ways. Enemies. Forever.

“Ready?” I was surprised at how steady my voice was, and at his nod, I let my magic off its leash. A drop. Just the barest drop and yet, Tavion jerked as though he’d been struck, his body going rigid and tight against mine.

“You can do this.” I said, because I didn’t know what else to do as he shivered against me. “You can do this, Tavion. We need you to do this.” I swallowed. “I need you to do this. I need you.” There it was, and it wasn’t even a lie. “I need you.” I repeated, not sounding quite so desperate this time.

“You always find a way to solve a problem, you always figure out what to do next. Now concentrate and shift. Now.” I put a little more force behind that last word than I intended, but ever so slowly, Tavion changed.

Silver fur melted away, replaced by pale, smooth skin. His size shrank down and down, until my arms went all the way around him. The scales were the last to go, disappearing slowly, his soft groan making me wonder if that part hurt. And when Tavion raised his green eyes to mine, they were fully, completely Fae.

Only a hint of the ravening wolf left behind, something I found I liked, just a little.

Then I realized I was sitting on a dusty floor in nothing but a damp towel, holding onto a very naked Tavion Montgomery like I couldn’t fucking let him go. I released him and edged away.

Tavion shot to his feet, and I tried to look away fast enough—gods, did I try—but not before I got a godsdamned good look at my husband. Every fucking glorious inch of him.

He bent down, slid his fingers beneath my chin and forced my eyes up to his. “It’s only fair, you know, after what you did to me in your chamber at the Keep.”

I shut my eyes. Gods, I’d forgotten about that shameful little episode that seemed like eons ago. “Not that I haven’t thought about how you looked, every fucking night since.” His smile was pure wolf, and I knew right then that everything had changed between us, even before he said,

“Now you’ll be thinking about me, too, princess, in your bed all alone.”