The walls had buckets overflowing with herbs and flowers, as well as floating shelves decorated with obscene toys. There was a stockade hidden behind a sheer curtain, and a sex swing hanging near the corner. Khell and I were sitting inside of a round pit of bedding, and near the stairs there was a water pump poised to fill a large brass tub.

"It's the woods and the den and the dungeon all at once," I whispered, eyes still flashing to every new detail. There were mushrooms growing out of sacks near the sex swing, which was a sort of baffling sight.

"I couldn't decide between the three," Khell admitted. "You don't mind me doing all this without asking?"

It might've been a fun project to blog about, although the explanation of what this space was seemed intimate and personal. Anyway, there was really only one answer.

I leaned down and kissed Khell. "I love it. This makes it our home."

Khell's purr was a roar, and his arms wrapped tightly around me, holding me in place for his kiss and the gentle bucking of his hips. He tossed a little remote aside—that must've been what controlled all the little twinkle lights—and used his free hand to grasp my ass and bounce me on his length.

"You're sure you're ready?" Khell rasped out, brow furrowing, his other hand sliding up to cup the back of my neck as he grazed kisses over my lips.

"I'm positive," I whispered, before sucking on Khell's full bottom lip. "You're my mate, Khell. I choose you, and at the same time, it isn't even a choice. You're mine."

Khell's purr vibrated all through his body and into mine too, my eyes falling shut at the thrill.

"I'm going to take such good care of you, petal," Khell said, and he sounded so winded it made me grin.

I sat up and opened my eyes again. The play room he'd built us was whimsical and dark, like one of my illustrations. It was perfect.

Khell was perfect for me.

He hogged the covers and always bought more than we needed at the grocery store, and it was absolutely useless offering to drive because he was such a control freak. He brought home fresh flowers every time he went out and was building me a cabinet just for all the bath products he approved of. He made me feel like the most precious woman on earth, while also the filthiest and most sexually deviant.

"I love you, beast," I said, one hand planted on his chest over his drumming heart, the other cupping his jaw.

Khell's eyes flared fire-bright, his nostrils flaring, and I gasped at the kick and swell of his stav inside of me. "Petal," he growled, and then seemed to choke on the words, surging up instead and crashing his lips to mine.