Chapter Sixteen
brIGID
Morning light was gently dulled inside of the nest, but I greeted it all the same with an irritated glare, knowing full well that I was alone.
Torion had not returned to the keep in the night, a fact I was sure of because I'd left the nest a half-dozen times and asked the guard stationed outside of the front doors.
I huffed, sitting up in the bed, a flow of pillows toppling from where I'd shoved them to land behind my back.
I was exhausted, annoyed, and fighting a nauseous worry that made me even more annoyed.
Torion hadn't strictly promised to return last night, but I assumed his eagerness to reunite with me, or at least the call of his rut, might ensure the trip was short.
Maybe it would've been if you hadn't insulted him on the way out, I thought, groaning and scrubbing my face with my hands.
A low murmur, deep in the keep, rumbled through the velvet curtains, dulled but familiar, and my hands dropped to my lap.
Torion.
It was still early morning, which meant he would've departed at dawn.
Grinning, I wrestled against blankets and pillows to reach the foot of the bed, snatching up my robe and nearly putting it on backwards in my haste to get out into the hall. It wasn't until I was opening the door that I heard the second voice.
A soft, husky feminine laugh echoed up from the great hall of the keep. "Are the beds made of stone too?"
Delusional hope flared for a moment. Maybe not all of the visiting dragonkin had made their way home yesterday. Maybe that hadn't been Torion's voice I'd barely heard, but another—
"Certainly not. Didn't you see all the sheep on the way here?" Torion asked, his voice so easy I could hear the smile he was wearing even before I'd reached the balcony.
"You sleep on sheep?" the woman teased in answer.
My heart sank, dead weight now, as I looked down to see them together, and my stomach turned. She was pretty and windblown, with dark brown hair hanging in braids over her shoulders and down her back, buxom and tall and womanly. Not a young omega, but younger than me, I expected.
"It's a better rumor than what's usually said," Torion muttered with a crooked smile, his face starting to lift, to turn in my direction. I would duck behind a pillar and then retreat to…where? The room I'd taken when I'd first arrived? My cottage?
"Quit flirting with my omega."
I froze, and Torion's gaze found me, but my own flashed toward the three men entering through the keep doors, where the words had come from. A handsome figure with dark eyes and hair and deep umber wings took long strides to reach the woman Torion had been speaking with.
"Quit accusing your friends of flirting with me," she volleyed back.
"I will when they stop flirting with you," he said, his smile lascivious and hungry as he wrapped an arm around her and drew her to his chest. But the kiss he placed on the crown of her head was tender and chaste.
"Ahh, this must be she," called one of the other men, the largest of the group, with long hair and ragged clothes but a confident sonorous voice, and I realized I'd been spotted.
Torion was still watching me, and the jealousy that had struck me hard at the sight of him with a beautiful woman sizzled away into nothing at the blatant hunger in his stare, the hope and expectation.
I caught my breath and turned for the stairs.
I was wrapped in a robe over my nightdress, but there was an ease amongst the group that spoke of genuine friendship, and they were all clearly just landed from a flight.
Torion reached me halfway up the stairs, the heat of his hands branding against my hips as he caught me, bending slightly to press his nose to my temple, the rustle of his breath as he scented me making the fine hairs on my body stand at eager attention.
"We woke you," he said, low enough for only me. I could see the others watching us over his shoulder, but I gave into the urge to close my eyes.
"No. Just drew me out of bed." When I heard your voice. Because I've been waiting for you. "Should I get dressed first?"
"We'll all go up together to freshen up. Come say hello first?" He leaned back, brow furrowed. "There are two alphas."
And I had said I found alphas oppressive. "And friends of yours?" I asked instead. I did not excel at sounding sweet, but I was fairly sure I'd managed to be less temperamental than I had the night he'd left.
"Yes, but don't let that prejudice you," he said, smiling now and stepping back, his hand finding mine to guide me down. "I…offered them all a place to rest tonight."
I resisted the urge to laugh at myself, at my silly plan to seduce and tease and bed Torion straight upon his return to the keep, but I let my smile bloom and turned it to our guests.
"We have rooms refreshed from the selection ceremony. We're well prepared for welcome guests," I said. Torion's fingers squeezed around mine.
He made the introductions—the Alpha of Bleake Isle, his omega and half-brother, and the Alpha of the Craven Sea, who winked as he bent over my fingers and kissed them until Torion let out a growl.
"We'll do our best to make sure our visit isn't too taxing for you," Alpha de Roche said, eyeing me carefully, ignoring Torion's glare.
I ignored the warmth in my cheeks and tried to think of something kind to say, but Torion snorted and turned us away. "You're the only one she needs to worry about, so just mind your manners, de Roche."
"I imagine they're harder to come by when you're spending all your time on a ship with a bunch of unruly men," Alpha Cadogan said, following us in our wake, his omega tucked against his side.
At the back of the group, Niall Cadogan's voice was just barely heard above our steps. "Look, you've given them something to bond over."
"What's that?" Alpha de Roche asked.
"Wanting you to keep your eyes off their women."
"I hope the lot of you find something to do today besides bicker," Omega Cadogan murmured.
Torion waggled his eyebrows at me, and I realized I could take my time finding my footing amongst this group. They managed the conversation fine on their own.
We met a group of servants at the top of the stairs, splitting off from one another in the direction of private rooms. I tried not to be pleased by the way Torion's hand tightened around mine, pulling me urgently in the direction of his bedroom.
"I didn't mean to stay the extra night away," Torion said, his voice low as he shouldered open the door. "Oh!"
I inched closer to his back, eyeing the curtains of the nest over his shoulder, rising on my toes for a peek of his arrested expression.
And then he was tugging me inside, pushing me back against the door until it clicked shut, and I was trapped between it and his large frame.
My breath hitched as his hands mapped my hips and waist, urging me onto my toes so his hips could better fit between my thighs.
"Little witch," Torion growled, bowing his head.
I raised my mouth, expecting his kiss, and then moaned as he settled against my throat instead, nipping and kissing, suckling over the fading bruise he'd left behind.
"How did you magic us up a nest so quickly?
If I'd known it would be ready, I never would've invited guests over.
Oh, the things I will do to you in our bed, Brigid.
I can't even speak of them, or I might just start now.
Let's tell the others to leave. They can finish their flight home today. "
I arched in Torion's warm hands, trying to remember the short speech—an apology, really—I'd prepared. Not that Torion seemed to require one. His welcome of me was warm to say the least. Instead, all I managed was a garbled, "Diplomacy."
Torion snorted, softly kissing his way along my jaw, almost sweetly if not for the way his hands were groping my ass, spreading the cheeks suggestively as he nestled the ridge of his cock against my sex.
"They're allies, but they're friends. Cadogan only just made it through his rut, and he still can't keep his hands off Mairwen. He'll understand."
But his arms circled around my waist and his weight pressed still and comforting against me, our faces cheek to cheek so his breath teased warmth against my ear.
I realized too late that my own hands were cupping his ass through his kilt, as if to urge him to move against me, inside me.
I cleared my throat and moved them up to rest beneath his wing roots.
"I should've gone with you. I'm sorry I balked," I said, relieved at how much easier it was to say when I didn't have to look him in the eye.
Of course, that didn't last long. Torion leaned back, one hand reaching between us to lift my chin and force my gaze to his. "I like you," he said.
I jerked in his arms, the words striking me like a sharp arrow.
His lip quirked up in the left corner and he ducked, grazing a kiss over my lips. "I prefer you telling me when you don't approve of something, or don't want to do something. Even if I may not take it very well at first."
I couldn't speak, a small, strange sound rising in my throat, and Torion released me, let me hide my face as he stood straight and led us over to the opening of the nest. I winced at the sight inside—the bath I'd had waiting, now cooled, and the covered platters of food ready.
Torion took it all in, purring and approaching the linen around the bed.
He parted it and stilled. His wings shrouded him from my view.
"Is it…all right?"
His wings spread briefly, and Torion let out a low groan, bending forward and bracing his hands on the built up mattress I'd fashioned. "Come here, omega."
Wisely, I backed up.
Torion glanced over his shoulder, his grin feral, his laugh low. "It only needs one thing," he said.
That made me pause, my brow furrowing. "What?"
"The scent of your release all over the sheets."
My face went hot and I ducked out of the tent, fighting my own smile as Torion let out another laugh.