Chapter Thirty-One
Drazien
The first thing I noticed when I awoke was the wet heat wrapped around my tail. No matter how we fell asleep, it always seemed to find its way to her core.
I gave it a tentative wiggle and felt Elaina tense, a wave of pleasure pouring through the link between us. Focusing on it, I tried different motions until I found one that increased her pleasure, and kept going until she clenched around my tail, slick gushing from her center.
I had her on her back and my head between her thighs before her orgasm finished, lapping up her fluids. She was sweet and musky, her flavor laced with traces of mine after days of rutting and knotting her until her heat finally broke.
“Drazien.”
I growled when her hands closed around my ridges, a shock going straight to my shaft and making it twitch against the nest. I was ready for more, but I could feel how sore and tired she was, so I pulled away and smoothed my palms up her legs as I crawled back up to lie beside her.
“Yes, rethari?”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Are you ever going to tell me what that means?”
Lips pulling back, I traced a finger over her new luth’rein. They had changed to match mine once I’d claimed her, and the violet branches looked just as good on her tanned flesh as her Shavari’zorr had.
“What do you think it means?”
A crease formed between her brows, but I could feel the war within her. My touch, especially when I brushed over my bite marks, was distracting, arousing, and it only made my grin wider as I continued and she struggled to think past the lust.
She might be sore and tired, but she still wanted me as much as I did her.
Unfortunately, her needs outweighed our wants.
“Well, I know ari means little or small, even though it’s not always a reference to size. But I haven’t heard anything similar to reth.”
I hummed, letting my finger dip down to trace the bite I had left around her nipple. Her kethra rippled, flaring brighter as I circled it, the flesh tightening.
“Reth is…”
I paused, making her wait as I switched to tracing the other bite I’d left on her chest, right over her heart. I hadn’t even thought about it at the time, but I was a bit surprised that they had all become part of her luth’rein, even the ones on her thighs and ass.
I felt her impatience, so I finally gave in.
“Thorn. Barb. Something sharp that causes annoyance.”
She gasped, her eyes going wide as her mouth popped open, but despite her fake affront, I felt her amusement.
“Little thorn? Small and annoying? That’s what you call me?”
Chuckling, I threw back the blanket and climbed from the bed.
“In my defense, it was, is, accurate.”
A pillow smacked into me from behind and I turned to arch a brow at my omega.
My mate.
I still wasn't used to the word. I doubted I ever would be.
My eyes dragged down her body, every instinct in me urging me to climb back into the nest and lock my knot inside her once more, but she needed more than rutting.
She’d barely drunk more than a few sips of water or eaten anything over the past few days of her heat, and while an alpha’s seed provided enough to support an omega during that time, she needed more sustenance now.
Her brow was raised when I dragged my attention back to her face, and I realized I’d lost track of what we’d been saying.
“What?”
“You were staring.”
I shrugged, turning to fully face her, and I wasn’t the only one distracted by a nude body.
“I’m allowed to stare at my mate.”
She huffed but her eyes didn’t leave the stiff shaft twitching under her attention.
“Are you?”
My, “Yes,” was decisive.
She finally met my gaze once more, a smile on her lips and amusement flowing between us.
“Is that a Morraki law you forgot to mention?”
My grin spread.
“Oh no, I distinctly remember telling you an omega is expected to be available to her alpha at all times within the meyr’kal.”
She scoffed, turning to climb from the bed herself.
“I also remember a certain female who refused to follow the rules.”
The amusement I felt through the bond was stronger than the hint of it she allowed to show, and something in my chest warmed.
I liked this. I liked knowing how she felt. The bond didn't give me her thoughts, I couldn't reach into her mind and read whatever thoughts formed there, but I could feel enough that we couldn’t hide anything anymore.
That was good.
After weeks of wondering what she was thinking, I was beginning to realize how often Elaina was amused by me. While that was better than hating me, I wasn't certain how I felt about her finding me more hilarious than fearsome.
I watched as she shrugged into the special silk robe she’d worn to the bonding hall. She’d been fine with leaving everything behind when we returned to my home, except that.
“What are you doing?”
She gave me a bland look as she tied it closed, covering all of her marks except the one on her neck. It made me want to snarl, but I also appreciated the reduction in temptation.
“I’m going to go look at the plans again.”
My brows lowered and all amusement bled away.
“No.”
Her expression matched mine and I felt a surge of hurt through the bond.
“No?”
Closing the distance between us, I put my arms around her, trying to soothe both of us as I explained.
“Your heat just ended. You need to eat and rest. The plan can wait.”
The stiffness in her body eased and she leaned into me, her hands coming up to rest on my chest. There was a tangle of emotions inside her too complicated to read, but she didn’t leave me wondering for long.
“The rebels didn't politely agree to stop plotting while we were busy.”
My eyes narrowed but she’d never taken my threats seriously. And I had learned that arguing with Elaina when she'd decided she was right rarely ended with her admitting otherwise.
The bond only confirmed it since I could feel her stubborn certainty.
“You are eating first.”
She sighed but nodded acceptance. If she hadn’t I might have been tempted to lock her in our room until she agreed to cooperate.
I bent, sliding one arm beneath her knees before she could protest. She frowned as I turned, but she didn’t stiffen until I headed for the door.
“Drazien.”
“You need food, and if you don’t want me knotting you again before we make it to the Archives, we need to wash the scent of slick and heat off of you.
The irritated pulse through the bond made me grin, but she didn’t give voice to any protests.
“Drazien—”
“Rethari?”
She glared but I kept my smile in place. If anything, being able to feel the emotions she tried to hide when I teased her made it more fun.
“I have two feet.”
Turning my head, I looked at them as if just realizing they were there. There was a tap on my shoulder, but if she’d meant it to hurt, she needed to strike a lot harder.
“You do,” I confirmed as I met her narrowed eyes again.
“I can walk.”
I turned sideways to pass through the door as I smoothed my expression and nodded gravely.
“I know. But you are slow, and we have things to do.”
Her growl echoed in the tunnel before it was drowned out by my laugh. I’d always wanted an omega, but Elaina was making it far more fun than I’d imagined it to be. Irritating her was almost as exciting as being inside her.
The real reason I carried her was because I could feel the soreness in her muscles and the exhaustion pulling at her.
She was right that the rebels hadn’t taken a break while she was in heat, but she still needed to recover.
Most newly bonded omegas remained in their nest even after their heat ended, but if mine insisted on going out, then I was going to do my best to ease the strain.
It was why I carried her straight back to the soaking pool we had used prior to her heat, in a deeper part of the River Caverns where many didn’t bother to go. There was a pair of young warriors using it when we arrived, but the lift of my lip was all it took to send them to a different pool.
Adjusting her in my arms, I urged her to wrap her legs around my waist so I could push the Shavari’zorr from her shoulders.
“Don’t let go,” I ordered as I lowered us into the water.
There was only a thin lip around the edge of the pool to sit on, but I wrapped the rope around my waist to make sure we were anchored safely while being able to keep my hands on her.
I’d had every intention of giving her a break, of letting her body recover from days of knotting, but when she sighed and leaned back to float on the surface, her center pressed over my straining shaft and my bite marks showing, instinct kicked in.
“I need you.”
The words were out before I knew they were coming, and they carried so much more weight than a simple physical desire for her.
I was the warrior the Torvakai sent when he needed someone silenced. The one the Torashkar released on enemies who deserved the worst. I was the shadow that stalked the tunnels of Morrakan, and the night that descended on those who stood against the Morrak.
Even amongst my own people, I was seen as dangerous. I stood alone, separate even from the unit I led when others were needed in my missions.
And I had desperately needed something to anchor me.
Someone to be my soft place.
My home.
Elaina sat up, the shift of her core against my shaft making both of us breathe deeper. The green in her eyes was lost in the dimness of the River Caverns, but I didn’t miss the softness there as she raised a hand to stroke the side of my face.
“I am yours.”
Her response was simple but just as loaded. I felt the depth behind the words, how she meant it in the same way I had.
She was the one who moved to slide me inside, letting out a breathy sound as she sank on my shaft.
My hands remained on her hips, hers on my shoulders as I leaned back against the stone of the pool.
The contrast between the hard rock at my back and the soft female against my chest only heightened my awareness of her and how right it felt when we were connected.