Chapter 2
CHAPTER 2
TRYST
“ I t is the answer to everything we have ever wanted,” Havoc purrs, his wings humming with excitement that only echoes the emotion overflowing through the hive bond as he holds the sack aloft in front of my nose.
I give it a skeptical look, my nose wrinkling slightly with distaste. “And a bone fairy gave this to you. Whom you trust explicitly in this matter.” I arch an eyebrow to emphasize my point.
Havoc’s good mood shifts as quickly as the mid-spring weather with an incoming snowstorm as he picks up on my reluctance, his dark brows drawing down into a thunderous scowl. “I have explained it. It was compensation.”
“Oh yes. You explained,” I agree airily with a flick of my wings as I turn away from him and bring my flute back to my lips, uninterested and unconcerned about the peevish turn in his temper.
I start to play a note only for it to go sharp as Havoc bats my instrument down, away from my mouth. I lower it the rest of the way to my lap and give my hive brother a flat stare.
At length I sigh and drop into my hammock—my sole solace as I have watched the countless seasons pass. My wings flutter lightly as I make contact, and the hammock dips into a rocking swing that sweeps my feet from beneath me. I turn to bring them onto the hammock, crossing my legs at the ankles as I regard him.
For the life of me, I cannot fathom his excitement. Any time I get even remotely wistful regarding mating and queens, he locks up tighter than a valve in the colony’s hot bathing pools. Now he has a change of heart all because a scary horror fairy decided to present him with a questionable gift. I shake my head, utterly perplexed.
“I do not understand, Havoc. Were you not the one who said you were not interested in finding a queen?” I ask, both of my brows rising in polite inquiry, waiting for him to attempt to refute me so that I might pounce.
I am quite surprised when his mouth tightens sourly, his dark violet wings dropping as they spread in a belligerent angle at his sides. His chitin chimes in a whisper of annoyance, and I lean forward in fascination as a mulish look crosses his face. Does he really mean to go through with this?
“How can I ignore such a gift?” he demands in a soft growl that makes my cock tighten in memory of better days in our youth. “We cannot even attract a suitable number of males to our nest much less a queen, no matter how much work we put into it. It is worth the risk of tangling with fairies if it means changing things and finding a queen of our choosing.”
“At least you admit that gifts from the fairies are tantamount to suicide,” I mutter. “Glad to see that the Dark Forest has not stolen your sanity.”
Havoc’s snort makes my lips twitch with amusement. Somehow that alone makes me feel better about this situation. Recklessness when it comes to something he truly wants that is just within his grasp is classic Havoc, and seeing him come to life in such a way is reassuring. This Havoc is not the complacent, half-dead male I have been living with. His spark is back and I truly think that he is unconquerable now. He sees the dangers as clearly as I do, but he will steal all that he wants and will not fall to them.
Clearly the bone fairy does not know what she is getting into by making a deal with pixies of the Dark Forest colonies. I barely bite back a chuckle of delight. I am just so thrilled to see my hive brother returned to me. I could almost track down and kiss the bone fairy myself if it were not the most repugnant thing I could possibly imagine.
“I am not a juvenile,” he retorts, but a sly smile tugs unexpectedly at his lips—a smile I haven’t seen in more years than I can count.
For a moment I cannot breathe, afraid that the moment is an illusion that will pass if I dare to draw in a breath or even blink. It is the sort of feral wildness that made him practically a god of chaos among the colony regardless of our unsuitability as mates. One that would have drawn many young queens to him as a bed partner if we had been willing to abandon our hive and become castri, the infertile pleasure workers of the colony.
His wings fan slightly, his chitin trembling with a sweet note of a shiver. “I admit that I was tempted to explore some illicit mingling of magic if she were so inclined—but not without considerable caution. This, however,” he murmurs, brushing his fingers in a caressing graze along the bag, “is far more interesting. It is the promise of plucking the choicest female and keeping her for our own.”
I rub my jaw as I listen to him, my eyes narrowing with interest on the sack. “You wish to ambush and trick a female into being our mate?”
My hive brother gives me a flat look that makes me chuckle and twitch my wings in a helpless shrug.
“You are right, you are right—since when has any pixie of the Dark Forest been above such things?”
His lips curl triumphantly, his wings springing up as he steps closer to me, his hand curling possessively around my neck in a hold that makes me tremble. He leans forward, his lips brushing in a soft trail along my neck as they come level with my ear.
“I am suddenly feeling quite anxious to find the queen that will complete our hive… Are you?” he rasps, his tongue flicking out to brush my ear.
I jerk, a sharp pant rushing from me as I quickly nod. Gods, yes. I will hunt, deceive, and seduce without remorse our chosen female to finally have the missing piece of our family. And the magic of the fairy will bind her life to ours.
An eager tremor rushes through me as he nips the chitin beneath my ear with his fangs, sending a rush of sensation to sensitive flesh beneath it. If he is like this now, feeling the first blush of heat coming to life again with the promise of a queen, I can hardly wait until we have our soft little queen captured between us.
“I am ready,” I rasp, my body going weak with delight as his palm comes up and lightly pats my cheek.
I smile and lean into his touch, my pulse hammering with excitement for what is to come. Finally—a queen.
“Then let us go and hunt her out,” Havoc purrs, his smile growing into a wicked grin as he draws back away from me. “We will chase her to the ends of the earth if we must. Our little wingless zini… How sweet her surrender will be.”
I blink at him and nod, my hand tightening around my flute as a flush rushes through me. My wings hum eagerly, my chitin trembling and dancing over my skin in my own unique song. My fires stir within me, my deep blue light leaping up and illuminating my belly in a flickering dance.
Havoc’s gaze slides over me, approval glimmering in his eyes. His dark hair falls forward, partially concealing his face as he backs away. His wings flutter once—twice—and then without any further warning, he zips up into the air with shocking speed. My tongue slides over my bottom lip as I watch him, my breath catching just a little as I see his violet light weave between the dark branches of the trees. I dart up into the air from the branch as Havoc streaks through the sky ahead of me.