Chapter 10: The Greenhouse

By Saturday the greenhouse had thyme, sage, and a long bed of lemon balm coming up green.

It rained all afternoon.

I stood on a bench with a hose in my hand and watched water run down the glass.

The new moon was in three days.

I hadn't mentioned the mark.

Alaric hadn't either.

He came in at dusk, soaked from a patrol, with his hair stuck to his forehead and rain running down his throat.

"The glass in the north corner is leaking," I said. "I told you."

"You told me."

"Your boots are making mud on my floor."

"I'll buy you a new floor."

"You'll take your shirt off before you catch a cold," I said.

He stopped.

I realized how that had sounded, and I didn't take it back.

He pulled his wet shirt over his head and dropped it on the nearest pot.

The scar across his ribs was pale in the dusk.

I stepped down from the bench and crossed the floor to him.

"Does it hurt?" I said.

"Only when you look at it."

I laid my palm over the scar, the way I had in the kitchen.

This time he caught my wrist and held it there.

"Wynne," he said, low. "Tell me what you want."

"I told you on Tuesday."

"Tell me again."

"I want you," I said. "On the bench. Now."

He made a sound I felt in my knees.

He picked me up and set me on the potting bench, and the clay pots rattled.

He kissed me hard.

I pulled at his belt. My hands were not steady, but I got it open.

He slid my skirt up around my waist.

"No underwear," he said against my mouth.

"I was planning ahead."

He laughed, rough and surprised, and bit my lower lip.

Then I did something I hadn't done before.

I slid off the bench and dropped to my knees on the wet stone.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Rejected by My Mate, Claimed by the Alpha King from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.