Chapter 21 Eveera
Eveera
He stares at me, mouth gaping, while I do very little to keep control over my emotions mingling with my Wield.
"What the fuck, did Max mean?" I ask again, my serpents slithering until they’re coiled around my neck, their stares zeroed in on Rorin.
His nostrils flare, and I can see the muscle in his jaw flex as he clenches his teeth."He didn't have the right to say anything." Rorin growls.
I can't help but scoff at him, my arms folding across my chest, "that doesn't answer my question. Why would Sorrel take issue with us?"
"I did what I had to do." He mutters.
"What does that mean?" I shout, and he advances quickly, pushing my body up against the table. My stomach dips the way it does every time we’re this close to one another, and I watch as pain flashes through his face.
His chest rises and falls rapidly against mine, his breath ragged as he rakes his hazel gaze over me. "It means I did what I had to do to get you back, Eveera. No matter the cost. I didn't care. I didn't care about anything other than bringing you home."
His voice chokes on the last sentence, and I have to suck in my next breath through my nose so that he doesn’t hear my resolve cracking. "What did you do?" I whisper, trying desperately to avoid looking at his very close and – other than the bandages – very bare chest.
"He took you, and no one could tell me where you were." My heart thumps in my throat, and I fight the burn behind my eyes. "So I took everyone else. Everyone who thought they'd seen you but hadn't. Everyone who led me a step backwards from where you were."
"Rorin–"
He shakes his head, leaning further into my space until I’m forced back onto the table, caging me in with his arms. "You are insufferable, you are maddening, you plagued me then and… you plague me now, Eveera."
I pull my lip between my teeth, trying desperately to hold in my reaction to his words.
"And now… ha." His face tips up towards the ceiling, a growl rumbling through his chest, "I've been patient with what you want." He tips his chin back down, and the anguish that was previously in his eyes has been replaced with unrestrained heat.
"Rorin." I try again, but he clamps a hand over my mouth and closes whatever space there was between us.
His forehead falls against mine, the warmth of his breath coasting across my skin.
"I am a starved, desperate man, and I am done being patient.” He plants a whisper of a kiss on my brow, pulling back to look at me.
The molten honeyed center of his eyes blazes the more intently we gaze at each other.
"Fuck me…" He groans, moving his hand from my mouth to rest against the side of my neck, pressing his thumb down on my pulse point.
The words sit out in the small sliver of air between us, and I can’t discern if they're a request, a plea, or just a form of expression from the tension spilling over us.
Maybe all three. I muse. I try to look around the room, hoping we’re alone, but his hand squeezes against my throat, forcing me to keep his stare. “Unh-uh.” He says, tightening his grip a little more, until my chin is tipped fully up to him. “Eyes right here, Nightmare.”
The heat in my stomach drops between my legs with the tenor of his voice, and all of the anger I've felt at him for these past several weeks momentarily abandons me. "I—"
"Any more of your objections will have to wait." He breathes, before slamming his mouth down onto mine.
Rorin's tongue runs along the seam of my lips, probing them apart until I feel the tip of it flicking against the roof of my mouth.
A moan slips from deep in my throat, and Rorin mirrors it, his hand falling from the side of my face all the way down to my hips.
Gripping either side, he lifts me on top of the table and nudges his thigh between my knees to fit himself between them.
He nips at my bottom lip and draws out another groan from my throat.
I push my face forward, desperate to keep our mouths fused, and slip my tongue through the part in his lips.
His right hand continues to wander – skimming along my waist, the side of my breast, the column of my throat…
until his fingers pluck out the pin holding my hair together.
Fisting the curls, he tugs my head back, taking his kiss from my lips to my jaw and then my collarbone.
“Ror…” I gasp, the heat that’s pooled between my legs now spreading down them as he marks my skin.
Unable to take much more space between us, I lock my ankle behind his knee and force him closer. The motion has us falling backwards onto the council table. Rorin catches us with his palm – barely – before my back hits the stone.
"Fuck…" Rorin's voice vibrates against my lips, sending a thrill down my spine. I drag my hand up the corded muscle of his arm, and feel him tense, jolting me out of my lustful haze. My eyes fall to where my left hand is pressing over where I’d stabbed him only hours ago.
"I—" I croak, my head starting to clear from what I've just allowed to happen between us.
His jaw is already clenched when we lock eyes again, "Eveera," he grits, "don't." The last word is softer, the plea plain in his voice as he dips his head back down.
I try to put my hand back up, but I’m not fast enough, and I feel his teeth bite down against my pulse. "Oh gods…" I cry, my heart stopping with each flick of his tongue.
Why the fuck is he so good at that? My conscience hisses a sour feeling filling my chest at the thought of all of the reasons why.
Rorin pulls his head back, his hand coming up to grip underneath my chin, forcing my attention on his face instead of the throbbing in my neck.
"You are done running, and you are done hiding from me, Eveera.
Torture me if you must, however you damn well please, but do not make one of my punishments your absence.
" His voice cracks again, and I feel my face beginning to crumple with it.
"I cannot handle anymore of your absence. "
He left me sitting there disheveled and disoriented, his kiss still burning against my lips and neck.
"What in the bleeding gods just happened…" I mutter, sliding slowly off the table top, my knee threatening to buckle as I try to stand.
Feeling incredibly exposed, I do my best to walk quickly over to the passageway entrance, hoping that between here and the five feet I need to cross to get to the wall, no one walks in.
The passage spits me out directly into my Room and before I've had any time to even process the past half of an hour, the low rumbling growl of Vada's laughter fills the space.
"I don't want to hear it." I snap down our bond, my fingers ghosting across my swollen lips. Her laugh grows inside my head, and I sink to the floor.
"You humans are so foolish." She chides.
Unfortunately, I am inclined to agree with her. "Well, I'm sorry we're not more evolved, unlike you — you who still shits outside and has never showered." Vada huffs a roll of scalding hot steam in my direction. My head rolls forward into my hands, and I groan loudly.
"Quiet. I have no desire to hear the sounds you made with the princeling." She snarks, and I feel bile build in the back of my throat. Oh gods, I'm never going to hear the end of this. Not from her… not from, not from anyone, the moment this gets out.
Which means it can't. Nobody can know that this happened. My head shakes back and forth, the heels of my palms pushing against my eye sockets, while I drag myself up into a standing position.
"You're irritated." Vada starts again, her imposing head lowering in front of me.
"And you aren't?"
She narrows one large golden eye at me, "you don't like how he makes you feel. I don't blame you — I don't like it either."
My brows lift, "what do you mean, 'I don't like it either'?"
"We are bonded." She answers, as if that should be a good enough explanation. "And you are obnoxiously loud and persistent when indisposed. Makes both of my stomachs turn."
My own stomach churns at the thought of her listening to those thoughts… "shut me out next time!" I bark, not wanting to think on it a second longer.
"I do not understand why you are so disgruntled."
My jaw drops, and I look at her, horrified, "you were just sharing with me that you are aware of when I am 'indisposed'."
Her shoulders lift in the most natural way that a dragon can shrug, "that part is the least unsettling. Dragons are no strangers to primal couplings," oh gods — ew, I think as she continues, "it's your human feelings that are nauseating. Or maybe it's your choice in partner."
"Can we talk about literally anything else other than dragon sex and my choice in partner?" I ask, pushing against her snout as I squeeze past her magnificent form, making my way over to the weapons table.
"Have you shared with the rest of them what you've been up to on our flights?"
I freeze, my hand hovering over one of my whips. "No…" I drag out.
"You've not thought it necessary to tell them that you're attempting to Wield over the creatures?"
"Key word there, attempting," I grumble, turning around to look at her.
She huffs another hot breath, her vexation with me palpable, because I can't give her a good reason as to why I haven't said anything yet.
When I first got back, the only thing I wanted to do was continue their destruction.
To burn them all, to hack them all down.
They're the number one predator of my people — and I'm their maker.
I'm no idiot, I've heard the whispers of Eiser and Baelor making more advancements — albeit I wasn't aware of how quickly they were making their headway on Sorrel until today — that's when I first got the idea.
They may be our number one predator, but they're also the apex against anyone who dares to cross into our territory.