Chapter 5 #3
The words he uses should shock me, but it doesn’t because, the truth is, I had a suspicion the moment I saw her.
I didn’t want to believe it at first, but the markers are there.
I think she’s gorgeous. I want to fuck her every waking moment, and so does he.
I want to talk with her and be in her company.
I want to listen to her thoughts… And I can if I focus.
I can fucking feel things, hear things from her that she hasn’t said.
The dragon is nodding sagely. As it should be. She is ours.
What about Tor?
I feel his joy that our friend is more himself.
Because of her, he says. Our friend will no longer wish to end his existence now.
I look at the human in my arms, reaching out with feelers to see what I can pick up from her.
She’s upset. Hurting. But, also, rapidly becoming content in my arms.
You see? He says smugly. She does not ail even after we corrected her for putting herself at risk.
No more punishments, I tell him silently, but he ignores me.
I feel Mari relax and her breathing evens out as she succumbs to sleep, and that’s where Tor finds me several hours later, staring into the fire with our human slumbering in my arms.
He looks surprised when he comes in and opens his mouth to speak, but I put a finger to my lips.
‘Let her rest,’ I whisper.
He sits in the other chair without a sound and looks at me expectantly.
‘My dragon punished her for going outside,’ I say quietly.
His brows rise. ‘You lost control.’
I give a small nod, but he doesn’t look angry. He looks thoughtful.
‘Is she all right?’
‘She says so, but he wasn’t…gentle.’
‘I’ll heal her if she needs it,’ he says, looking her over with a sharp eye.
He looks at me again. ‘When was the last time he was able to take over without you letting him?’
I shake my head. ‘Not since I was Orin’s age.’
He leans back in the chair, staring at the glowing embers of the fire. ‘Your dragon thinks she’s his mate,’ he murmurs.
My eyes cut to him, and he gives me a bored look. ‘You think I don’t know the signs? The protectiveness? The obsession?’
‘You felt that with Fiona?’ I ask.
He rests his head on the back of the chair. ‘I loved that woman with every fiber of my being. My dragon did too. In all my centuries, losing her and Toramund was by far the worst thing that ever happened to me.’
He opens his eyes and looks at me. ‘But, no, I never felt…like this with her.’
My mouth falls open. ‘You as well?’
He nods and looks back at the fire. ‘Irrefutably.’
My arms tighten around our human. ‘This complicates things.’
‘Yes.’
We let her sleep for as long as we can. I take her back to the bed we claimed her in, and she never stirs, exhausted by what we’ve done to her already. Thankfully, Tor heals the injuries to her ass while she sleeps, much to my dragon’s disgust.
How will she remember to follow the rules if she doesn’t suffer when she breaks them, he huffs, pacing around my head. But I keep my barriers strong. I don’t need him breaking out and tanning her behind again just to prove a point.
But besides making sure he can’t take over, I largely give him the cold shoulder. Whatever his motivations, what he did could have gone horribly wrong. I need to keep her safe, even if it’s from the other side of myself.
Safe.
And yet we’re taking her to the veritable belly of the beast.
‘I hate this,’ I mutter.
Tor nods as he gets things ready. He’s already cleaned up after us and restocked the freezer with the meat he brought back from his hunt. Now, he’s making sure there are enough furs so that Mari doesn’t get cold while we travel.
‘All we can do is explain to Drey.’
I snort softly. ‘Will he even believe us?’
Tor pauses and looks at her. ‘I don’t know,’ he says finally. ‘He’s never had a mate either. But we have to take her back or we’re dead, and then she’s Aziel’s anyway.’
‘This is a fucking nightmare,’ I snarl.
‘Yeah.’
Our human stirs in the bed with a small sound, and before I know it, I’m focusing on her completely, trying to glean whatever I can from this connection I now have with her.
Is she upset? Will she be terrified of me now?
But all I get is sleepy contentment.
You see? my dragon interjects unhelpfully from the shadows of my mind. The female understands better than you do.
I roll my eyes just as Mari’s open and her gaze meets mine.
She blinks and then yawns.
‘It’s time,’ Tor says gently and her expression shutters.
I pick up on her trepidation immediately, and her heart rate increases suddenly.
‘We’ll keep you safe,’ I murmur, trying desperately to allay her fears even though I hold the same ones.
‘We’ll travel for several hours. When we get there, you’ll be unveiled as the Tribute that’s been chosen by Fate. You’ll be brought before Dreythos, the Commander of the Stormriders.’
I take her hand. ‘But Tor and I will already have spoken to him. Told him that you’re ours.’
‘What happens then?’ she whispers.
‘We hope and pray to whatever gods we still believe in that he has listened.’
‘But.’ She sits up. ‘I thought the sex marathon was a sure thing.’
I chuckle in spite of the seriousness of the situation.
‘Sex marathon?’
She blushes and I let out a groan. I already want to taste her, hold her, feel her come apart under my tongue or around my cock even though it’s not been long since I last did.
‘That ensures the others can’t have you,’ Tor explains. ‘But it doesn’t stop him from keeping you from us.’
She sits up straighter. ‘What will happen to me if he does? Keep you from me, I mean?’
My eyes meet Tor’s. I don’t want to lie to her, and I see the same sentiment in his expression.
‘We don’t know,’ I admit, and I feel her anxiety increase.
‘But Drey is fair. Just. He’s not unduly cruel,’ Tor says, coming closer and taking her other hand. ‘You’re ours by scent. There’s nothing he can do about that. The Nesting Law is absolute. He’ll be obliged to keep you safe, Mari. He won’t hurt you.’
‘Where will you be?’
She doesn’t want to be away from us. My heart soars even though it’s probably just because she’s terrified and she knows us at least a little.
Tor regards me solemnly. ‘At the moment, part of my role in the faction is making sure that trade routes aren’t disrupted, and that our outposts are kept stocked, secure, and in working order. It means that I’m gone sometimes.’
He winces.
‘A lot of the time,’ he amends. ‘But I will be requesting that someone else take over for me and I’ll take my rightful place in the faction. I will be with you. I promise. It just might take a little time.’
‘And you?’ She looks over at me.
‘I’m Drey’s second in command,’ I say. ‘I’ll be close, but,’ I grit my teeth, ‘he might not let me near you.’
‘He can do that?’
I nod. ‘I don’t think he will. He’s still our friend. But things are difficult in the faction right now. Sometimes he has to be a leader first.’
Tor lets out a long breath. ‘We just have to hope that he doesn’t feel the need to make an example of us for the others’ benefits.’
He straightens and gestures to the pile of furs he’s prepared for her. ‘Put these on. We leave in ten.’
‘Can I shower?’ she asks.
‘Best not,’ I answer. ‘It’s better if you smell as much like us as possible.’
She gets up and gingerly starts sorting through the clothes that Tor has laid out for her. When she pulls the large sweatshirt over her head, I turn away and I notice Tor does the same. We don’t have time for another sex marathon no matter how much we’re tempted.
‘You contacted him?’ he asks, and I nod.
‘He’s expecting us.’
‘Did you give him a heads-up?’
‘No. I don’t want Dom getting wind of it first. You know Drey sometimes gives that pencil-pusher his phone.’
I turn back around to find that Mari is already in the thick trousers and is wrestling with the layers of clothes she needs to put on before the furs.
‘Is all this really necessary?’ she asks.
‘Your spit would freeze before it even hits the ground out there,’ Tor tells her. ‘In the air, it’ll be colder than that. We’ll be flying for at least seven hours.’
‘What time of day is it?’
I check my watch. ‘It’s about seven in the morning.’
She frowns as she draws on the thick fur-lined trousers and tucks her layers into them to keep them up.
‘How long has it been since we…met?’ she asks Tor.
‘Five days. Almost six.’
‘Five days? That’s all?’ she murmurs with a shake of her head. ‘It feels like a lot longer, doesn’t it?’
I find myself nodding along with my friend even though I’ve only known her for three.
‘Come on,’ Tor says, holding out his hand. ‘It’s time to get going. There’s another storm on the radar. It’ll hit in less than eight hours. We don’t want to be flying in that.’
‘We can’t…’ She glances at us both. ‘Stay longer?’
I envelope her in my arms and relish the way she leans into me.
‘We want to,’ I confess. ‘Fuck, I’d stay here forever with you if I could, and I think Tor would too.’
Tor nods grimly.
‘But we can’t put it off any longer, or Aziel will probably make sure one of his allies is sent to find out what the delay is.’
‘And that would be a disaster,’ I interject. ‘At least this way, when we get there we control the narrative.’
She nods, straightening, gathering her courage around her like a shield.
Fuck, she’s braver than half the younglings.
My dragon agrees.
We leave the room with her between us, Mari covered in furs, and Tor and I nude. We go through the dam structure and up to the top where the old helipad is. The wind is whipping over the wall when we get out there. My body starts to feel it quickly so it must be colder than hell.
Tor helps Mari into the center of a wooden pallet encased in a thick layer of fur.
‘There’s hot chocolate in the thermos,’ he says, ‘and food in the pack. If you need us to stop,’ he looks at me hard and smirks. ‘Just think it and Brax will know.’
She stares at me with wide eyes and then nods, getting onto the raft-like structure and sitting down. She buckles herself into the safety belt in the center.
Tor transforms immediately and grabs the bundle that Mari is inside. His powerful wings flap and he rises, battling the strong winds as he takes off.
I let out a steadying breath and take a running jump off the side of the dam, morphing in midair and swooping low over the reservoir where my female almost met her end.
She was right. It feels like forever ago. So much has altered for us all in so little time.
Now, we just have to make sure that these changes don’t bite us in the ass.