Dark Promise by Annika West

43

Ichoked on my croissant.

He’d promised to end the contract.

I’d believed him.

But knowing it was happening right now was an entirely different thing.

He squeezed my hand, and the gesture went right to my heart, sending butterflies all through my system.

“It’ll only take a moment. Thank you all for your patience.” He led me up the stairs.

When we made it to his office, he said, “We agreed this would happen, Aster. Yet I get the feeling you are about to panic-ramble. As you do.”

I finished off the pastry.

He handed me a glass of water, which I chugged.

He really did know me, didn’t he?

I replied, “You know what’s worse than rambling? Being speechless. I am never speechless, Huxley Cayne the Overlord. Never. And yet in these last few months you manage to just snatch the words from my mouth. It isn’t right. It isn’t fair.”

He quirked a brow. I could tell he was trying not to laugh. “Please, accept my apology for this egregious offence.”

“Denied.” I tried and completely failed to hide my smile.

Fully smirking now, Hux pulled out a stack of papers from his desk and began to sign at the bottom of them, flipping each paper over when he was finished.

I asked, “Why are we doing this now? Don’t we have a whole world to save from wraiths?”

“It’s important to me that you know you can trust me, Aster. Our mate bond is solidified, and I made you a promise. However, you must understand that every cell in my body is against this. My training, my learned instincts, all of them are telling me to keep you tied to me as securely as possible.”

Mate. He really is my whole-ass mate.

My body thrummed in approval. This would normally be a time that the rune would light up like a Christmas tree, but now, I just felt a complete sense of warmth and contentment.

As if a puzzle piece had finally been clicked into place.

He sighed, pen hovering over the next paper. “And to be quite frank, I don’t want to allow myself a second to doubt these actions. This must be done. There’s no use waiting.”

He slid the stack over to me.

On the top of the documents read the words: Motion to Dissolve Indentured Employment, Form 3991 CE

This was the official thing.

“All of my information is typed out,” I commented with surprise.

Hux shrugged. “It’s not that I ever intended to let you go before the court-decided dates. It’s just that I enjoy being prepared. You never know what will be needed at the last second when you’re in this kind of business.”

“Shrewd and icy to the end,” I drawled, signing the first one.

“Excuse me?”

“You’re very icy. As a person.”

“I thought you felt I was explosive and dangerous? A mass-murderer, if you will. My recollection states that you were worried I’d blow up your parents’ house at Halloween if I had become too spooked.”

I snickered. He wants to pretend those fake swinging corpses weren’t creepy, but he’d totally been flinching and jumping at every fake prop. “I still stand by those statements. It’s just that you can be really mechanical about other shit, and it freaks me out.”

I scribbled my name quickly on the twelfth page and sighed. “What’s next?”

“We file it at the Council’s Chambers. As of this moment, Aster King II, you are a free citizen. We’ll have to get you a new driver’s license to display your updated status.”

“Huh. I’m a free woman.” I didn’t really feel that different, but I’m sure it would sink in soon.

“You are.”

“You know what this means, right?”

“I can no longer threaten to put you in prison if you disobey me.”

I scoffed. “As if you could catch me fast enough to put me anywhere I didn’t want to go.”

I moved around the desk and stood in between Hux’s legs.

He watched me through his dark lashes while I touched his face. “I wish I’d been the one to tell you about Creed. About everything,” he admitted. “I nearly did. In your old room, when we’d escaped into it at the haunted house.”

I frowned. “What happened there?”

Memories returned to me suddenly. My mouth fell open. “You apologized for something. You were all regretful with squishy emotions. I was so confused.”

He frowned. “Squishy emotions?”

I poked his stomach. “You heard me. Squishy. Very un-Hux like. Very… hm… mortal.”

His thighs closed into me, playful. “I don’t think your memory is serving you, Miss King. I am made only of steel and fire. I rise above such trivial things as mortal emotions.”

I bent my knee and softly wedged it forward. “Oh, I’m sure. You’re like a luxury car salesman. Or a pyramid scheme owner. Totally dead inside.”

Hux’s lids fluttered as I found what I was looking for between his legs. “Absolutely. That’s likely why I’ve been having such issues with my employees. One in particular has been demanding rather exorbitant bonuses. She often refuses to wear pants and orders me to make her ridiculous desserts.”

“She sounds like a smart woman,” I said gravely. He was hard already, and I had to wonder whether paperwork turned him on that much or if he actually liked me.

Yeah, it was probably the paperwork. Definitely not my hot mess of an ass.

His shoulders tensed beneath my palms as I continued to tease him.

With hitched breath, Hux added, “And she’s rather inappropriate in the workplace. I’m not sure I can refuse her advances any longer.”

“Poor baby CEO,” I crooned.

“I should have been harsher on my new recruits. They’re getting far too out of hand. Especially this one.”

He lifted my shirt and kissed my navel, his hot breath sending shivers down my whole body.

The mating haze was gone now that the bond had solidified, thank fuck. But I wanted him just as badly as before. More, even.

I was about to tell him exactly what kind of employment negotiations I’d be willing to consider when someone shouted my name. It echoed up the stairs and into Hux’s level. The sheer strength of volume was impressive, to say the least.

“Marigold,” I growled. “If I had a dick, it would be soft already. Her voice is like audible impotence.”

“Not if you were in my position.” Hux lifted a brow and yanked me onto his lap, where I got to feel exactly how undeterred he was.

“That’s an illegal weapon. Illegal,” I repeated.

The air hissed and crackled with energy.

We both tensed.

“What was that?” I asked, just as a new voice shouted up.

“Lovebirds! Don’t make me come up there and get you myself!”

Shit.

I groaned. “If Oz is here, then that means… so is Adair.”

“Does your mother know anything about him?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Well, shit.”