Chapter 43 Dove
forty-three
Dove
Leaving his hands seems like a chore. One my body is unwilling to comply with.
He so easily shuts parts of himself on and off .
Parts he doesn’t let himself linger within for too long.
We have that in common, except I don’t know how to stop the memories that have slowly been working themselves past the dragon that now lies in slumber at my heart’s gates.
It’s as if the more I’m opening myself up to the bonds and Gideon, the more within me is making itself known.
It’s overwhelming in the most heartbreaking way. Fury is letting me see a side no one else will get. The shadows of his soul meet mine, dancing together—a harmony I’ve always felt within him.
Not only does he open up his heart to me, but also his power. It is a physical force that zings down our bond. I could drown it in. I don’t know how Fury is standing before me without combusting.
That’s where we are different. My human body is no match for everything he possesses. I can’t be what he needs.
It’s a fleeting thought. He catches it, my eyes unable to leave him. “Don’t you ever think that again. Do you hear me, Dove? You are everything I need. You are all I need. And nothing will stand in my way of having you—not even you.”
I’m a mouse, caught, the prey of a bird swooping down to steal me away.
I haven’t moved away from his body yet, even though he told me to.
My eyes move down the smooth, grey lines of his face until I get to his lips.
They part, a black tongue poking out to wet dark lips.
Heat pools within my stomach. My body aches to touch those lips to mine.
“Do it,” he goads in my mind. “Claim what is yours, Pet.” The prick of his clawed fingers glides up my neck, across my scar—the part of me that once had me wallowing in regret.
Now, all I see is the fire underneath my skin.
My eyes close involuntarily as I sway towards him.
Sparks fly in the cells of my body, our bond weaving me closer to him with every moment.
“My black, shadowed heart is yours. You are my first and my last.”
Our connection consumes every part of me. Fury’s claws draw my head up so I’m standing on my toes, angling my face his way. His lips are the only destination I’m interested in.
He has to meet me halfway, his head moving down to brush against my lips. A soft moan leaves my lips. I try to push the pads of my toes off the ground to claim him fully. Fury chuckles, rubbing his nose against mine. “I think I quite like you desperate like this, Pet.”
He nips my lower lip, smacking my arse before coming up to his full height, a smirk plastering his face. I puff out all the air I am holding, my body still a torrent of emotions, desperate to feel him.
“I’m not…” I look towards the two males watching us warily, my body wobbling back to the base of my feet.
“You’re not desperate for me?” he asks, my eyes once again drawn to him.
He knows I’m desperate for him. I can’t escape him. That familiar and welcome fire starts to blossom in my chest, making me bite back.
“Get over yourself, Fury. If I need my needs met, I have Rivern and Gideon.”
The darkness in his eyes starts to push past the silver. I sense possession and mirth down the bond, which comes out in a full laugh, throaty and raw. “Fates, I knew it would be good, but never like this.”
“What?” I snap back.
“You.”
I find it hard to breathe when he talks like that.
I want to savour it. Savour him. Underneath it all, I remember there are reasons I should hate him.
Right now, when the fire in my chest backs off and Argus opens an eye, curious to see who’s setting me on fire, all I can do is shake my head and walk away.
We are a contradiction.
We shouldn’t be.
Here we are, bonded to each other. His string tugs as tight as Rivern’s in my heart.
Stepping back out of the electrifying bubble we’ve created, I break eye contact, staring down the wolf and fae watching us.
“Come on, we have a kingdom to save.”
Calypso and Moyrie weren’t in any hurry to follow Gideon and Rivern into the tower after us, so they stayed outside, waiting and marvelling at the dragons.
An understanding has seemingly fallen over Moyrie, now that she has seen Saff with her youngling.
I don’t think the Silver Sands princess understood what she was holding the red dragon back from all this time.
“Can you tell Saff she still has a safe home in the Sands, if she wishes it?” Moyrie stares forlornly at the purple baby dragon attempting to set fire to the air.
My face turns to the glistening scales of the small female with slitted eyes. “Okay.”
Staring at the mother and her baby, Moyrie adds, “My people promised to help her find her young, but we never did. We used that egg as leverage.” Her gaze turns to mine.
“She was just a mother, looking for her baby. For centuries, we promised our aid, yet in mere turns, you were able to accomplish a goal we barely scratched the surface of. We owe her.”
She may have been betrothed to Rivern, but this female is becoming more than that now. I admire her ability to take responsibility for her people’s wrongs and move forward without grievance.
Calypso walks over from the sea, her newly formed bubble bobbing along the ocean edge, yet never moving from the spot.
“I am ready,” the queen of the mers states, interrupting us.
With my eyes still on Moyrie, I don’t miss the quiver that moves through her body at the queen’s words.
“Tell the princess that once we arrive back within my home, we will rest for an evening before heading back to her lands to spread news of our breeding.” The matter-of-factness to Calypso is so jarring I can’t help but turn back to Moyrie and open my mouth like a dead fish, before closing it again.
Moyrie exhales loudly. “What did she say?”
I reiterate word for word the queen’s message, adding “good luck” at the end before sending them off, letting them both know I will send word of our progress in Haven—they have both become invested after I told them the story of the king who mistreats his people.
The queen and princess believe leaders should create kingdoms of safety and community. I agree.
I’d seen how both the silvers and mers live. None of their people want for anything. They are not separated from their leaders. Their kingdoms are fundamentally different to everything I have grown up with in Haven.
The more I think about it, the angrier I become.
King Horus and his son, Castor, have created a divide between the people.
The farmers are forgotten about, the priestesses cloistered away.
The villagers are fed lies, and the leader sits behind his manor gates, hoarding the last of the reserves for himself.
Kingdoms should not be run on fear and separatism. They should be about creating community.
My rage is a constant simmer. The more I remember how my so-called king treats his people, starving them and blaming them for the poor decisions his ancestors have made, the more I want to spew fire.
He had a choice, just like the rest of us.
The king could have made a different decision.
Instead, he chose greed, and his kingdom has suffered because of it.
We are going to storm his precious manor and blow it up. Saff has no qualms using her fire on them. In fact, she has been relishing the moment she can take down the men who were causing the injustice within my home.
Returning to myself, I watch Calypso part the bubble for Moyrie to enter. She never did that for us. The princess gives the queen a small smile before entering the circular space, the mer entering after her. She also never rode inside the bubble with us?
My mind wants to start ticking over this new interaction.
Since Moyrie had her private meal with the queen, she has become quite enamoured with her.
Not in a bewitched way. I don’t believe the magic works on females.
However, I can see the admiration in her eyes.
I hope that means their kingdoms will now come together.
After giving them both a final wave, I head back towards my waiting trio, who are unwilling to let me out of their eyesight. Rivern and Gideon, the latter now back in his human form, stand together on one side of the path leading up to the tower, while Fury stands on the other.
The divide between the three men is evident. My wolf and fae don’t fully trust the God. However, they know there’s no other way. We are bonded. There’s nothing that will change that.
As I grow closer, I hear the words, “Dove” and “safety” thrown around from the two males huffing on one side, and a snide remark about how Fury will feed me more power from the other side. The air practically sizzles with tension.
“That is enough.” I place my hands on my hips, standing on the path before them. “You three are meant to be coming up with a plan, and all I can hear is bickering.”
Rivern is the first one to bite, pointing a finger at Fury. “He doesn’t agree that we should isolate the king and the prince. I told him you want no innocent blood spilt.”
Fury practically scoffs, his chest huffing out. I must admit, seeing the three of them so heightened is a real turn-on.
Godsdammit. Stop, Dove.
My eyes move up chiselled pectorals to a devastatingly ominous grin. “The only blood I care about is yours, Pet.” His words drip with sensual promises of lingering kisses. Damned Fury.
The mood instantly changes from the men wanting to rip each other’s heads off to ripping my clothes off. Violet, amber and black eyes stalk me.
I take a step back, unsure of this new direction. Gideon and Rivern were one thing, but adding Fury to the mix is mind-numbing. How would four of us even fit together?
“We’d fit,” his velvet tone rings down the bond. “Fuck, I can smell you, Pet, and it’s making us all crazy for you.”
Stopping in my tracks, I allow Gideon to catch up to me, the other two a foot behind, breathing down the wolf’s neck. If I don’t ground myself in his sandalwood comfort, I will float away.
His hands find the sides of my face, cupping my cheeks. Every inch of me melts into him, my body swaying towards his chest. “What will you have us do, Songbird? We live to serve you. The God is yours to control.”
And just like that, he’s given me all the power. Fury doesn’t even grumble arrogantly at his remark, the bond a reminder he is mine. It is true—my God belongs to me.
“You are everything to me, Pet.” He lets Rivern hear it down our intertwining bonds. An overwhelming feeling of love pushes through the threads, a humming vibration coursing through our souls.
Without realising it, I close my eyes and open them to find magic, strings of luminescent light connecting us together.
Gold, silver and black interlock around all of our bodies.
The only person without a thread is Gideon.
He’s at the centre of our foursome, holding me together.
My connection to him is measured in the weight of his heart, which is immense.
Pushing up on my toes, I lean into the beast before me, pushing our bodies together. He gets the hint, meeting my lips in a soft but land-shattering kiss—the kind that will never make me question his loyalty or need for me.
Two more bodies come at me from my sides, stroking hands up my clothed body. Rivern’s fingers are easily distinguishable from the clawed tips of Fury’s. My core leaks with need. I should push back from them, but there’s nowhere for me to go.
Once, this would’ve been suffocating. Now, it feels like peace.
“It’s time to make a plan, love.” Rivern’s lilting voice sways me to him.
“Or we could just go in and burn it all to the ground,” Fury remarks, twisting a tendril of my hair in his hand.
“No innocent blood spilt.” The silver dances around his onyx irises, giving me pause. He would never—he knows how much it would hurt me to harm the villagers of Haven. They don’t know any better. They require help, not an execution.
“We will hunt the king and prince down within their walls and bring them before the villagers for their reckoning,” Gideon adds, malice in his voice.
He has just as much right to this plan as I do.
The blood bond kept him a prisoner in the Kingdom of Haven for centuries.
To think if circumstances had been any different, if I’d not decided to sing Oona’s song, or if I didn’t stab the high priestess, we may never have met.
He would still be a prisoner of the king, and I would still be a prisoner of my fear.
Grasping the material of Gideon’s shirt, I pull him back to me. “That sounds like a perfect plan.” With the words leaving my lips, I move closer to him, sealing our plan with a kiss.