Chapter Eleven
brIGID
You are so dangerous to me.
My hand hovered above Torion's sleeping face, tracing the shadow of stubble that'd grown over his jaw in the night, down to the long tendon of muscle in his throat.
The sun hadn't risen over the horizon yet, but night had eased away enough for me to make out the thick of his lashes, the lock of hair that plastered to his cheek, engraved there by his pillow.
His wings were stretched out behind him, and his bare skin was pressed to my side, heating me through my shift. I'd woken with my toes still tucked against his calves. His arm was heavy over my belly, elbow bent so his hand cupped the outside of my breast.
We'd fallen asleep still kissing.
This was terror and temptation, so easy to fall into it made my heart thrash in protest. Was it too late? Had I already let myself enjoy this man too much to brace against the disappointment when it came?
Biting my lip and eyeing the first rosy glow out the window, I started to twist away, inching to the edge of the bed.
Torion's arm tightened around me, hand shamelessly squeezing my breast.
"No," he growled, his other arm snaking under my hip, tugging me back into the long stretch of his body. His cock prodded against my bottom, but he didn't grind against me.
"It's time to get up," I said, fighting the urge to wiggle into him.
"I know, but…no," he answered, burrowing his face into my hair, his hands moving over my belly and arms wrapping me in a tight hug. "Another minute like this first."
I squeezed my eyes shut. He was too sweet. It crushed me. It showed me all the ways Malcolm had truly demonstrated how little interest he'd really had in me.
"I'm sorry," Torion sighed out, and I flinched. "You're so tense. I shouldn't—"
"No," I blurted out, covering his hands with one of mine, forcing myself to relax against him once more. "You just…surprise me sometimes."
Torion hummed, but I was grateful he didn't ask me to explain myself for once. His chin tucked over my shoulder, breath stroking down my chest, our fingers tangling together beneath the sheet.
"I'd like there to be a feast at the keep after the selection ceremony," Torion murmured, his voice so deep and soft, it sank into my bones, into my core, warming me from the inside out.
The selection ceremony. Where he promised not to choose an omega to replace me. I tried not to care.
"I'll make sure we're ready," I said. "But I… It's time to gather certain herbs from the woods. I know I might not be doing so much healing lately, but I would still like to be prepared. I usually gather near the cottage, but I think I could find some of what I need nearby."
"Let me fly you," Torion said.
I tried to look at him but ended up just bumping our noses together and receiving a soft peck of his mouth against mine. "Don't you have something you need to do?"
He huffed a laugh against my jaw, nuzzling his scruff into my throat until I shivered.
"I've been busy because I like to be. Today, I can be busy helping you.
Besides, you should check on your cottage.
I've had a man visiting, keeping an eye on it, but you'll know if there's anything else that needs doing there. "
Please don't, I thought. Please don't be so kind. Please don't help me. Please don't make me spend the day so close to you.
My daily reprieves from Torion's tender company had been keeping me sane, keeping me from sinking into the ease he created between us. But flying would save time, and I had been gone too long. And I needed to plan a feast here at the keep now too.
"Brigid?"
"Hm?" I was frowning as he pulled away and rolled me gently onto my back, my head still trying to stomp away fondness and feelings as he appeared above me, perfectly handsome and rumpled.
"There's something I've been meaning to do too," he said.
I blinked at him stupidly. He grinned and tossed the sheet back.
"Spread your legs for me, omega."
My breath caught in my chest. I hadn't really thought he'd meant the promise to start a morning kissing me between my legs. I'd been almost afraid to let him do it again, afraid of how good it felt, how much I liked his mouth there and his eyes staring up at me.
But not so afraid that I hesitated for even a moment to do as he asked.
"Is this—"
"That's poisonous," I snapped, huffing as I straightened up from my work to glare at Torion.
His hand hovered just inches away from the flower.
"Did you already touch it?" I asked, scowling at the alpha who stood there, sheepish as a boy.
He nodded slowly, lips twitching, the sun dappling through the trees to gild his hair and shoulders. He looked like a forgotten idol here in the woods, divine and charmed. Golden light clung to him, dazzling me. My temper rose as I resisted the pull to move closer, touch, taste him.
"Go wash your hands in the river then," I said, trying to soften my voice and absolutely failing as I added with a mutter, "again."
"I'm of better use out of your hair, aren't I?" Torion asked, laughing.
I bit my lip to keep from answering. Torion couldn't tell the difference between a dandelion leaf and a thistle.
His boots crunched carelessly over the ground, and I stiffened, tense and trying not to frown as he approached. With arms wide to keep his hands away, he leaned in and kissed my cheek, leaving a warm sparkling spot on my skin.
"Come find me when you're ready," he said.
I sighed as he retreated, leaving me to my work.
I straightened from my crouch, letting out a small groan and resting my shoulder against a sturdy tree trunk.
Gathering herbs was always harder work on the body than I recalled, but I'd never come to the work already sore.
Sore in the hips from stretching myself over Torion's lap, my stomach muscles tired from clenching as I churned myself against my alpha.
I was getting old.
"Brigid?"
I shook the thoughts away and turned towards Torion's voice, just barely able to make out the deep shadow of his wings through the trees.
"Can I go for a swim?"
My lips twitched, and I rolled my eyes.
"I'm not your keeper, alpha!" I called back, having to fully fight my smile as Torion laughed. Damned cheerful man.
"Thoughtful," I muttered, as if the compliment were a curse. I knelt down once more to pick more of the delicate pink mushrooms that could be steeped for a strong tonic.
Heat rose to my cheeks as I recalled the slow morning in bed, the unhurried time Torion had spent with his mouth studying every inch of me. "Talented," I added on a breathless pant.
There was a bright whoop in the distance, a sudden splash, and then a howl of surprise as Torion met the sharply cold water of the river.
"Absurd," I added, smiling.
Then I scowled and focused on my work.
We'd flown to the cottage after Torion had left me so deliriously satisfied in bed, I'd barely been able to contemplate moving.
Which is likely why I hadn't protested when he'd gathered me up in his arms at the front doors of the keep, in front of all the staff and the passing dragonkin.
I'd assumed we'd fly with him as a dragon, but instead, he'd held me and chatted with me, remaining closer to the ground, acting as if carrying me in his arms for at least half an hour hadn't cost his strength in the least.
"Infuriating," I caught myself saying before snapping my lips shut.
I lost track of time, filling two baskets to carry by hand and a third I would strap to my back. The light had changed and my stomach was growling by the time I turned and headed for the sound of water.
Torion was stretched out on the large boulder by the river's edge, naked, sunlight glittering on his skin, catching the faintly hidden emerald scales, turning him into that jeweled divinity again, like one of the old dragons come back to the earth.
I shivered, hidden in the shadow of the small woods, but he turned his head, eyes opening unerringly on me, and a smile stretched his wide lips, wicked and knowing.
A part of me crossed into the sunlight, climbed the boulder, and sat astride his lap.
A part of me let him peel my dress over my head so I would be equally bare, equally alight in the gaze of the sun.
A part of me took him inside of me then, joined as we were meant to be joined, a union of flesh and breath and our eyes feasting on one another.
But that part of me was my imagination. I cleared my throat, dropped my gaze, and spoke only loud enough for him to hear.
"I just need to get these inside and do what I can to preserve them."
"Can I help?" he asked, sitting up with his hands braced behind him.
"Absolutely not," I said, more afraid that if he came too close to me right now, I might make my fantasies a reality, there on the stone, or in the water, or on the grass. Anywhere, really.
Torion just snorted and returned to his sunbathing.
My gaze slid back to him, the long endless lines of his legs, the shadow and soft flesh between them, the beautiful hooked muscles at his hips.
My throat burned with thirst as my eyes searched for a drop of water I might lick from his skin, and I hurried back to the path, to the bramble fence, to my home.
But I couldn't outrun my craving for the alpha.