Just as she picked up her pace, Jake grabbed her by the waist and stilled her. Cassia thought her eyes might be as wild as she felt, because if he didn’t let her come soon she was going to kill him.
“Hey.” He looked as pained as she felt, but concerned at the same time. “I know when you were a Guardian you could choose if you wanted to get pregnant. But now…”
The thought of raising a child or children with Jake warmed her from head to toe. “If I can have your baby,” she said as she looked at him, “I want to.”
A huge smile spread across his face. “Yeah, I’d like that, too.”
Jake rolled her onto her back, suddenly fierce and intent.
He kissed her hard as he moved in and out of her. The sounds rising in her throat became louder and her breathing heavier.
So close, so close—
And then she was there.
Spasms gripped her body, and heat and tingles spread throughout her and she moaned loud and long. Her orgasm was so intense and wonderful.
Jake followed her and she felt his semen pump inside her as he pulsed while her core throbbed.
A sensation of weightlessness took over Cassia’s body. She scooted into the crook of his arm as he rolled to his side and brought her close to him.
She sighed as they snuggled together, feeling more happy and more content than she had ever felt in her very long life.
52
It surprised Cassia at how calm she was throughout the ceremony. The monumental moment had come and she was ready, so ready.
Cassia faced Jake on the landing of the sweeping staircase of the marble rotunda in beautiful San Francisco City Hall. Now that she would be living with Jake in her adopted city, they had decided on a simple ceremony by a Justice of the Peace.
Jake looked sexy and handsome in his official police dress uniform. His muscular form filled out his shirt and pants so well they hugged every hard inch of him. His gorgeous blue eyes never strayed from hers and sent butterflies racing through her belly.
Cassia wore a backless turquoise dress, and Kellyn had woven blue-green diamonds in her hair again. The dress reached just above Cassia’s knees.
Kellyn had been allowed to transfer through the veil from the City of the Light Elves to be Cassia’s maid of honor.
Kellyn had been Cassia’s best friend over the centuries, other than Kael, and Cassia hadn’t wanted to choose from among the five remaining gray magic D’Anu witches. She loved each of them too much to select just one.
Kael rested on his haunches on the other side of Kellyn, and Cassia sensed that he was pleased for her.
David Bourne stood at Jake’s side as his best man, looking incredibly handsome in his Marine dress uniform. He had a thick scar from a deep cut on his forehead, thanks to one of the Stormcutters in the final battle. A D’Anu witch had treated it, so it had almost completely healed.
Perfume of roses, lilies, and orchids scented the air from all of the vases filled with bouquets their friends had surrounded them with. The air was cool and not stifling in the gorgeous open rotunda.
Before they had walked into City Hall, glittering San Francisco lights relieved the darkness. Somehow that had been comforting, knowing that the world would gradually return to normal.
The officials had consented to allowing the ceremony in City Hall at night, and a few Drow were able to attend, including the King. Inside, the lighting spilled over everything in a soft, warm, golden glow.
Jake and Cassia had joined hands and held onto each other tightly as they exchanged vows.
After promising their hearts and souls to each other, the Justice of the Peace pronounced them “spouses for life.”
Jake grinned and claimed Cassia in his embrace before taking her mouth in a fierce, loving kiss. Applause broke out, along with excited chatter, but Cassia enjoyed the kiss far too much to pay attention.
When she didn’t think she could breathe any longer, Jake raised his head, only to take her mouth hard again, as if he couldn’t get enough of her.
Love and need for Jake filled her heart and soul like warm honey. It replaced every bit of the emptiness that had been inside her since the moment her magic had been taken.
Eventually Jake seemed willing to part long enough to let their friends congratulate them.
After Kellyn gave Cassia her tearful well-wishes, Cassia was immediately swallowed by groups of their friends and drawn away from Jake. He was tall enough that she saw his dark head over the crowd, but no one gave her a chance to miss his closeness.
PSF Officers Marsten and Hopper were the first to get to Cassia. She knew Jake missed his friends, Lieutenants Fredrickson and Landers, along with the other officers who had died during the many battles over the past weeks and months. Cassia’s heart ached for every loss of life.
David Bourne gave Cassia such a crushing hug that she lost her breath. “Welcome to being a Marine wife.”
“Jake’s not a Marine anymore,” Cassia said with a smile as she tipped her head back.
“Bull sure is.” He winked. “Once a Marine, always a Marine,” he said, before letting a few more of Jake’s old Marine buddies shake her hand and congratulate her and “Bull” on their marriage.
Bull? Cassia thought, a little bewildered. Interesting. She’d have to ask Jake about that one.
They’d only invited twenty-six people to their small ceremony, but it seemed like a hundred, as crazy as everything had gone since she and Jake were officially joined.
Every well-wisher had to raise his or her voice to be heard over the excited din.
Part of Cassia wished they could also have an Elvin ceremony in Otherworld, but still she was content, and happy to be with Jake any way she could.
Cassia’s smile broadened when Daire stepped forward with Kat DeLuca close beside him. Like Kellyn, Daire had arranged his hair so that his pointed ears didn’t peek through.
Daire hugged her and pressed his lips to her cheek before drawing away. “I am happy for you, Princess Cassiandra.” He gave a formal bow and rose with a smile.
“Cassia.” Her cheeks heated a little. “No more of this Princess stuff.”
Kat hugged Cassia, her exotic scent matching her dark beauty. “Jake’s a great guy.” She separated herself from Cassia and took Daire’s hand. “A real keeper.” She looked up at Daire, who met her gaze. “Almost as special as the one I found.”
“Are you two…?” Cassia let her question drift away.
“Yes.” Daire gave Kat such a look of love that it made more joy rise in Cassia’s heart. “The Great Guardian has consented to let us travel through the veil to live part of the time in Otherworld, and the other part here in San Francisco.”
Cassia smiled for them, even when she felt a sense of loss for herself at not being given the same gift. She could cross occasionally, but had to have someone who was at least part Elvin help her.
“I’m very, very pleased for you,” she said, and meant it.
Daire kissed her cheek again, and Kat gave a regal nod of her head before they moved away.
“Finally!” Silver caught Cassia by the hand and dragged her to where the other D’Anu witches stood with their husbands. “We’ve been waiting forever to get you away from that mob.”
Silver’s snake bracelet gleamed in the soft lighting, and her silvery-blonde hair flowed around her shoulders. Cassia was pleased to see her friend wearing a short, thigh-high skirt, silk blouse, and three-inch heels, just like she had before the madness began.
Another touch of normality. Only Silver had apparently obtained a size bigger than normal for her to accommodate her growing belly from her pregnancy.
Cassia hugged Silver tight, breathing in her sweet scent of lilies and enjoying her friend’s comforting embrace.
When they parted, Cassia glanced up at Silver’s D’Danann husband, Hawk. “You two are going back to live in Otherworld, yes?”
“Pretty much.” Silver looked up at her husband. “Hawk’s been away from his dau
ghter far too long, and he misses her so much.”
Silver returned her gaze to Cassia. “I don’t blame him for never wanting to leave Shayla again for such a lengthy time.” She squeezed Cassia’s fingers. “But I am coming whenever I can to help the Covens rebuild.”
“I’m so, so glad.” Cassia couldn’t help her broad smile. “And we’ll get to see the baby in just months.”
Silver rested her palm on the small pooch. “You’ll all have to come to Otherworld as soon as he’s here.”
“I’ll be there faster than you can blink.” Her smile turned wry.
Hawk grinned with fierce pride. Cassia gave him a quick hug. If it wasn’t for Hawk breaking D’Danann rules, and Silver breaking D’Anu rules, San Francisco would have been overtaken long ago.
He was also the first one to suspect Cassia of being other, and that she wasn’t merely a D’Anu witch.
“I’ll miss being around you both when you’re away,” Cassia said to him.
With a slight nod, Hawk said, “As we shall miss you.”
The corner of his mouth curved even more. “And I shall miss your chocolate chip cookies.”
Cassia had to laugh at that. “I promise to bring a batch when the baby is born. A huge batch.”
Jake came up behind Cassia and she had that warm, delicious feeling she got whenever he was with her.
After Jake shook hands with Hawk and Silver, Cassia embraced Copper next. The witch was wearing one of her short skirts with her thigh-high boots. Another return to normality.
“Otherworld for the two of you?” Cassia asked Copper after she had also hugged Copper’s mate, Tiernan of the D’Danann.
“Are you kidding?” Copper’s laugh echoed in the hall. She glanced up at Tiernan with an impish expression. “I’ll be around. It’ll take some juggling, but I don’t intend to leave the Coven high and dry.”
She laughed. “But we have to get our men more used to Earth clothing. They stick out like giant sore thumbs here.”
Tiernan shook his head. “Human jeans and T-shirts are most confining.”
“Isn’t that the truth,” Jake said in a wry tone as he looked down at Cassia, “in certain situations where I wish they’d have a little give.”
Tiernan laughed and heat rose in Cassia’s cheeks yet again.
“It’ll be so good for all of us to be together and rebuild.” Copper’s mouth quirked as she looked at Hannah, who was having a civil conversation with Rhiannon. “Never thought those two would ever see eye to eye.”
Now they had something in common—Rhiannon’s father was the Drow King, and Hannah had married him—they were actually talking. Frequently, even.
After another quick hug with Copper, Cassia found herself engulfed in Sydney’s embrace. Sydney usually wore fitted suits, but today she had on an elegant purple dress that brought out the lavender of her eyes.
“You’ve been our glue,” Sydney said, and tears glistened at the corners of her eyes behind her glasses. “You’ve held us together and guided us through the worst of times.”
“We were equals and always will be.” Cassia took Sydney’s hands in hers. “We couldn’t have done any of it without each other.”
Cassia didn’t know Conlan, Sydney’s D’Danann husband, very well, but Cassia had instantly liked the green-eyed blond man with the playboy smile when she first met him.
“We’re taking a couple of weeks in Otherworld, and then we’ll be back,” Sydney said. “Can’t get rid of us.”
“You don’t know how happy this makes me.” Strong feelings rose up in Cassia, making her feel almost as giddy and light-headed as she felt now that she was married to Jake.
Once Jake had shaken Conlan’s hand, Cassia found herself in front of Rhiannon, whose auburn hair had swung forward and covered the Fomorii scars Junga had given her. Rhiannon wore brilliant colors like she had always worn and surrounded herself with before.
Cassia and Rhiannon studied each other for a moment. Their relationship had always been a bit strained, but when Rhiannon had learned of Cassia’s involvement with her upbringing—after Rhiannon’s mother was killed in an accident—she had been a little stiffer in Cassia’s presence.
“I understand now,” Rhiannon said, her voice softer than normal. “I want you to know that.”
Cassia fought back tears. Even though Rhiannon hadn’t had any idea about it, Cassia had watched over Rhiannon from a distance from the time she was an infant.
Cassia’s choice to not tell Rhiannon of her Drow King father had been a difficult one, but Rhiannon had been and still was a child of the light, like her human mother had been.
If Rhiannon had been raised underground with the Drow, her life would have been far more difficult than she would probably ever realize.
“Thank you for understanding,” Cassia said.
Even though Rhiannon wasn’t a huggy-type person, she gave Cassia a fierce embrace. “There’s nothing to thank me for.” She pulled back and smiled. “Whenever we cross into San Francisco, you have to promise to make loads of your cinnamon rolls.”
“All of your cooking,” added the gruff warrior, Rhiannon’s husband Keir. “The Cauldron of Dagda has never produced anything so fine as your creations. Especially your sweets.”
“Every now and then I’ll be sure to take packages of scones and several cakes and cinnamon rolls through the veil to you,” Cassia said with a grin as Keir squeezed her hands in his version of affection.
Lastly, Cassia stood in front of the sophisticated Hannah Wentworth, who had built from the ground up a software corporation valued at nearly a billion. Now she was married to a King. Being a Queen suited Hannah.
If Cassia wasn’t mistaken, Hannah was wearing a pair of her Jimmy Choo black sandals, with three-inch heels and straps that wrapped around her ankles. The shoes were fabulous with her black Versace sheathe dress.
Hannah’s gold armband gleamed in the hall’s lights. Hannah had always dressed to slay, and by the look in her husband, Garran’s, eyes, she had him on his knees.
“What are your plans?” Cassia asked Hannah, having a hard time believing she’d consider living totally underground, and give up her social and business life, to be solely a Drow Queen.
Hannah glanced up at Garran and confirmed it when she said, “We had already agreed to live between worlds. He needs to be in the Drow realm most of the time, and I’ll join him at night. But weekdays I have a company to rebuild and run.”
“Then I’ll see you now and again?” Cassia said.
“Of course. I’ll be here to help the Coven when I can.” Hannah smiled and brushed her thick blonde lock against the darkness of the rest of her hair.
Hannah had never been much for hugs, either, but she gave Cassia a quick embrace. “When you and Jake get back from your honeymoon, I’ll expect someone to arrange a time for all of us to get together.”
“Honeymoon?” Cassia said, and looked up at Jake.
Before he could answer, Alaia of the Mystwalkers appeared, as if she had risen from the mist to stand beside them. Behind her stood Breacan, and she noticed Jake giving him a wary look.
Alaia wore a floor-length gown of silvery-gray, so beautiful and soft that it looked as insubstantial as mist. Her dark hair was braided as usual, a thin braid banded with white gold to either side of her face, and a long braid down her back.
Her green eyes were a vivid contrast to her unusually dark hair. “I come to give you most sincere wishes for a future of joy and happiness.” Alaia smiled. “And to tell you your mother wishes she could join you, but as you know, she cannot.”
Pleasant warmth swept through Cassia that her mother had sent such a special message. Of course the Great Guardian couldn’t leave Otherworld, but the fact that she wanted to meant so much to Cassia that her heart lifted even more.
“Tell Mother I love her,” Cassia said softly.
“I will.” Alaia tipped her head to the side. “She said she sends you two gifts for your joining.”
Cassia looked at Alaia in surprise. “What are they?”
Alaia shrugged. “She would not say what they are.”
What could the Great Guardian have sent? Cassia glanced around but saw nothing unusual.
Cassia kissed both of Alaia’s cheeks. Alaia as always smelled pure, like the unusual scent of lyria blossoms that reminded Cassia of orchids, roses, and carnations.
“Thank you for coming, Alaia,” Cassia said. “Jake and I both are pleased to have you here.”
Alaia bowed, and Cassia did the same. To Cassia’s surprise, Jake bowed, too.
“I will leave you now to enjoy your festivities.” Alaia and Breacan vanished into the crowd before Cassia had the opportunity to ask them to stay.
She looked up at Jake as she remembered what Bourne and the other Marines had called Jake. “So why do those guys refer to you as Bull?”
One corner of his mouth quirked. “For some reason Bourne thought I was bullheaded when we were in training together, and the nick stuck.”
“You, bullheaded?” Cassia held back an unladylike snort as she laughed. “Wonder where he got that idea?”
Jake grinned and kissed her hard before she gently pushed him away.
“Next question,” Cassia said, her mouth still moist from his kiss. “What’s this about a honeymoon?”
He brushed the top of her head with his lips. “I thought we could use a little break before we start helping San Francisco rebuild. I’m hoping New Zealand is one place you haven’t been in all of your travels.”
Cassia smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Perfect! It’s always sounded so beautiful, and I’ve never had a chance to go there.”
“I’ve already booked a hang gliding expedition and a helicopter ride over the mountains,” he said. “We’re going to satisfy your thrill-seeking heart.”
Cassia laughed and kissed him. “I’m so ready.”
“Bungee jumping, too?” he added with a raised eyebrow and a broader smile.
Cassia pursed her lips. “I’ll have to get back to you on that one.”
Jake didn’t seem to be able to stop grinning, and neither could she. “Two weeks I’ll have you all to myself.” He took her by her arms and brought her around to face him.
The Dark Page 42