Chapter Twenty-Eight
Elaina
The curtains were closed behind me, muffling the sounds from the Bonding Hall enough that they were little more than ignorable whispers. I knelt in the middle of the mattress, blankets clutched against my chest, soft enough that my fingers sank into them, but I couldn't seem to make myself move.
Nest.
The word echoed around my head with all the strangeness of an alien custom.
Humans didn't nest.
The Karzhari had looked at me as though I should know what to do. Drazien’s words had convinced me it wasn’t as hard as it felt, and even my instincts seemed convinced I understood something my mind stubbornly refused to grasp.
The empty mattress beneath me certainly didn't hold any clues.
The dais was larger than I'd expected, its smooth stone floor almost entirely hidden beneath an enormous mattress raised just enough that it seemed to float.
Curtains hung from the top of the cavern far overhead, like walls around the edges of the platform, and when I tipped my head back, I realized there was an opening directly above me.
Burgundy clouds churned overhead, but somehow, no sand poured in.
Sighing, I focused on the space around me once more.
The Karzhari had offered me every color blanket imaginable, even several patterned fabrics woven with threads that shimmered whenever they caught the light.
I’d snatched up several, the softness of them making me want to wrap them around myself, until I was overwhelmed with too many choices.
I looked around one last time, hoping for some sign of how to proceed, before setting my armful down near the center of the mattress.
I frowned immediately, glaring at the pile as if it had offended me somehow. The colors were jumbled together, overlapping, in a tangled maze that hurt my head.
I picked them up again, trying to figure out what to do. Each time I tried to set the pile down to dig through it, the sight of it on the mattress made me want to growl.
A frustrated noise escaped me before I could stop it.
“This is ridiculous.”
No one answered, because for the first time in what felt like days, I was alone.
The quiet beyond the curtains made the cavern more intimidating. I would have preferred them to be drawn back so I could see what was happening, but I also didn’t want anyone watching me as I fumbled through what they expected me to do.
Couldn’t we just skip this part?
The idea of Drazien fucking me in front of who knew how many Morraki made my stomach squirm in an odd way that wasn’t quite unpleasant, and it was better than the idea of the curtains pulling back to reveal my utter failure.
What did they expect of me?
On Earth, birds built nests. Animals lined dens with leaves and fur. Humans... bought furniture.
I buried my face in one of the blankets with a groan.
“I don't know what I'm doing.”
The fabric smelled faintly of cedar and sunshine, clean in a way that somehow reminded me of the laundry room in my mother's house.
A memory flashed through my mind unexpectedly. She'd always insisted that the spare quilt belonged at the foot of the guest bed because a person’s feet got cold first. Plus, it was easy to find if you needed it elsewhere.
I blinked. There was no chance of me getting cold on Morrakan, but I still found myself folding one of the heavier blankets across the end of the mattress.
I frowned at the rectangle of color. The rest of the bed was so drab, and the blankets were far softer than whatever material the mattress was made of. I had more of them, so there was no reason to only place one at the foot.
I folded a couple more, placing them beside the first. Then I took one that was a gorgeous teal and stretched it over more of the mattress.
A pair of larger cushions found their way to the opposite side, where they could support someone's back. It was hard to say where the head and foot were on a round bed, but with the cushions stacked together, I could pretend they were a headboard.
I stared at the growing arrangement, but some part of me wasn’t happy with the straight line bisecting the round mattress.
I was losing space by making it straight, so I pushed and prodded until they curved along the edge.
It provided more room in the middle, and with how large Drazien was, we’d need it.
The thought of him lying in the bed made my breath catch, and wetness slid down my thighs. It kept happening, no matter how many times I tried to wipe it away, so I’d given up, but at least the cramps had eased.
Trying to picture him with his head on the cushions, I reached for more blankets and selected a thick woven throw in deep violet.
It reminded me of the evening sky just after sunset on Earth, when blue surrendered to darkness, but the stars hadn't appeared yet, and it matched the color of his kethra.
It belonged in the center.
I didn't know why, it simply did, so I didn’t fight the urge to put it there.
Once it lay spread across the mattress, I added two softer blankets along the sides, then several pillows of different sizes along the edges, until I could see him resting comfortably, head and shoulders supported, arms draped overtop the extra pillows.
The knot in my chest eased and I breathed deeper. I adjusted one of the cushions, then another. One seemed too firm, so I replaced it, and the patterned throw looked better folded than spread flat, so it was switched with those at the foot.
Without realizing it, I found myself humming quietly beneath my breath while I rearranged everything for what had to be the twentieth time. Eventually I sat back on my heels, inspecting the bed.
The mattress had disappeared beneath layers of fabric.
It wasn't elegant or symmetrical. It certainly wasn't anything an interior designer would photograph for a magazine.
It looked like something some eclectic grandma would have in her bedroom, with piles of books and reading glasses scattered around, light refracting off the crystals sitting on the windowsills.
It felt like the home I’d always wanted.
My breath caught as I realized it was exactly what my bed would have looked like on Earth if I’d been given free choice of anything I wanted.
“Nessha.”
A cozy little safe space where I could hide from the world.
I smiled despite the heat building beneath my skin. I should have had more faith in instincts. I knew how powerful they could be.
Reaching out to smooth a wrinkle, I startled when the sound of a horn echoed through the cavern. Low and powerful, the vibration rolled through the stone beneath the mattress as the curtains lifted, leaving me staring into the dark cavern beyond the little space I’d made mine.
My smile faded as clarity returned for a moment.
The ceremony.
My pulse quickened as I looked around. Dark shapes now filled the tiers that had been empty when I’d walked past them, the quiet shush of motion impossible to ignore once I was aware others were there.
Watching.
My eyes kept moving, searching, until I finally spotted Drazien. He was where I'd first seen him, still pacing, every muscle drawn tight across his bare chest, his usually violet kethra shining vivid blue. His braid swung as he made a sharp turn, his focus never leaving me.
Nothing else existed in that moment. Not the crowd, or the Karzhari. Not the Hall itself or the storm raging overhead.
Only those impossibly dark eyes, like black pools I could lose myself in.
Then movement shattered the moment. Shapes surged from the edges of the red circle on the floor. Half a dozen massive alphas, sprinting straight towards me.
My stomach dropped and my mouth opened, but the scream stuck in my throat.
The rebels.
The thought flashed through my mind so fast my body was already tensing for the blow I knew would come. The one that would steal the future I’d finally chosen.
“Drazien!”
His name tore from my throat before memory caught up.
The packet had mentioned alphas were allowed to challenge for the right to claim the omega during the ceremony.
That I wasn’t guaranteed to be claimed by the Morraki who chose me, because according to their laws, I belonged to whichever alpha touched me first.
My head jerked back to Drazien. He was no longer staring at me. Instead, he was focused on his opponents, the calm on his face a warning they should have heeded.
He reached one of the challengers who swung a heavy fist that he slipped past with frightening ease before driving his shoulder into the other male's chest hard enough to lift him off his feet. Another rushed at his back, but he spun to face the alpha before I could cry out a warning.
Violence wasn’t new to me. Fighting had been a necessary part of training. It was something I’d watched and analyzed more times than I could count.
But it had never made my core throb the way it did to watch Drazien’s lithe form spinning and reaching, swinging and ducking. The warriors were fighting for the right to stand where Drazien stood, to claim me, but he was fighting to keep me.
My fingers clenched around the edge of the mattress. I should have been horrified by the blood splattering around the alphas, but I couldn't look away. Every movement Drazien made was deliberate.
Calculated.
Beautiful.
He flowed through the attackers like water finding a path downhill, never wasting motion, never striking twice where once would do. Blood pooled across the stone, some of it his, but most of it belonging to those who dared try to take what was his.
Every time another warrior fell, Drazien's gaze found mine again, as if reminding himself why he was fighting. When the last challenger staggered backward, clutching a bleeding jaw, silence settled over the Hall and he finally stopped moving.
Chest heaving, shoulder split and oozing where claws had caught him, he stared at me with single-minded focus. Blood dripped from his knuckles and his lip was swollen, and when he gave me his signature smirk, his teeth were stained red.
He looked absolutely terrifying.
And utterly magnificent.
“Mine.”
My voice rang through the cavern, making Drazien’s grin grow. He began a lazy stroll towards me, climbing the three steps at a measured pace.
“There’s my rethari.”
My heart fluttered at his husky words, my world narrowed to the male standing before me. He was a shadow in the dark, only his markings and the reflection of light off his teeth assuring me he was truly there, standing at the edge of the bed.
My hand slid over the soft fabric beneath me as I leaned back, reminding me of my accomplishment.
“I made a nest.”
The words spilled out before I could catch them, silly on their own, but he looked at me like I’d said something far more scandalous.
“You did. For me?”
His fangs flashed, catching my attention. A shiver passed through me, tightening my already hard nipples as I nodded.
“For us.”
The words came out nothing more than a whisper, but I knew he heard me. Something in his expression shifted, and he reached out, running a claw down my cheek and making my heart stutter.
“For us,” he echoed.
The blood on his hands should have revolted me. Standing so close, I could see how he was speckled with it, but for some reason it only made me more desperate to pull him against me.
“You won.”
His eyes narrowed slightly and his tail lashed once behind him, his grin turning sharper.
“You doubted me?”
Shaking my head, I leaned back farther, until my spine hit the mattress, my head on the pillows.
“Never.”
I spit the word, turning it halfway into a growl, and Drazien released that wonderful vibration he’d made when I was sick. The one that sounded like a purr and made my muscles melt.
“Are you ready, rethari?”
He didn’t need to explain the question. There was only one thing on my mind, and judging by the tent in the front of his pants, he was thinking about it too.
All I could do was nod, my hands fumbling at the belt holding the robe around me. It was as soft as the blankets, the silk cool against my heated flesh, but I didn’t want anything between us, even if it would have been more modest to leave it closed.
“Claim me.”
The second the words left my lips Drazien tensed, his kethra flaring so bright I had to squint. By the time I blinked the sting away he was naked, climbing onto the mattress and up my body.
My breath caught at the feel of his rough skin brushing over mine.
He was all muscles and scars, built for the rugged world he came from, while I was soft.
He prowled over me like a predator ready to feast, his weight settling between my thighs and pressing his length against me so hard my heart skipped a beat.
Even if I’d already taken him inside me once, his size was intimidating, and this time, I would take his knot too. It had to be locked inside me when he bit me for the claim to count, but instead of scaring me the way it had before, the thought made my core clench, fresh slick spilling out of me.
Drazien leaned down, running his nose along the side of my neck as he groaned.
“I can smell you. Your desire.”
Shivering, a whine escaped my throat. I felt his tongue against my pulse, the raised lines along the top of it scraping, sending bolts of electricity straight to my clit.
I knew what they felt like.
How good he was at using them and the split tip of his tongue.
“Once you’re mine, I’m going to taste you again. I’m going to drink your slick in front of all of these alphas who wish they could have even a single drop of that sweet nectar you’re making for me.”
It was hard to think with him talking like that. The idea of him going down on me in front of everyone in the cavern should have made me uncomfortable, but it only made the throbbing in my center grow stronger.
“It’s too late to escape, rethari. You’re mine now, and I’m never letting you go.”
My purr rose to join his, because I didn’t want him to.