Chapter 10
brYN
My body is stiff, still healing, but the potions have worked wonders already. I’m well enough for this. Even the wound in my stomach only aches a bit, and it’s nothing compared to the ache I feel elsewhere.
Gods, how I want this. I hope that Locke doesn’t try to stop me.
'Bryn,' he chokes out as I move above him in earnest.
One hand cups the side of my jaw.
'Is this something you need or…’
His words turn garbled as he hisses out a harsh breath, feeling the same pleasure as I do.
I know what he's asking. Am I in the grips of that desire, the one I feel sometimes?
I don’t believe I am, or at least I can still think, still decide for myself.
And that’s enough.
'No,' I say. 'This is something I want.'
He looks relieved, and then slightly worried. 'This isn't something I'll ever say no to,' he grinds out. 'But why?'
'Because I think I forgive you.'
'I don't deserve?—'
I put my fingers to his lips.
'Stop speaking,' I say, pushing him down and moving against him.
He relaxes a little under me and glances toward the closed door before he seems to make a decision. He grabs my waist gently and hauls us both up with ease. He turns us and puts my back to the wall carefully, reverently.
'Gods, how I’ve wanted this,' he grinds out, echoing my thoughts, thrusting up into me, taking control from me.
But I don't mind. This is how I want it. He is by nature overbearing and dominant and I wouldn’t want him on his knees sniveling before me.
He holds me gently, surging into me, pushing me up the wooden slats.
Then, he eases back and looks at me, taking in my breasts with a fire in his eyes that makes my stomach flip.
But then he pulls me from the wall and eases me down onto the bed, this time beneath him.
He covers me but is careful not to put his sizable weight on my body.
His lips find mine with a fervor that I've never felt before, and I find myself kissing him back, nipping at his tongue when it enters my mouth and sensing his surprise. He kisses a trail down to my chest and finds my breasts, holding them as he suckles my nipples.
'Gods, yes,' he says against my flesh. 'I’ve fallen asleep every night listening to Jak and Morgan wring pleasure from you, human, fisting my cock raw to thoughts of you open and willing under me. I want you mewling and whimpering for me at least once because you want it, not because you need it.’
He pulls away, and I let out a sound of discontent as he slides out of me, but he replaces his cock with his fingers as he leans down and parts my legs, beginning to lave me with his tongue. It feels glorious, and the pleasure builds quickly as I stretch toward him like a flower craving the sun.
'I want this, Locke,’ I mutter. ‘Please.’
He lets out a growl of pleasure against my core, his fingers increasing their pace. Another digit enters my back passage, and he works both my channels with his hand.
He’s good at this, I remember. I came to pleasure quickly in the Dark Realms under his expertise. But this is a thousand times better.
Because I truly want it.
Lost to the sensations he coaxes from me, I squeeze the bedcover under me with my hands, my hips undulating against the bed as I find my peak.
It roars through me like an unquenchable flame, making my body shake with the force of it.
The satisfaction I see in his expression gives me a deep contentment, and all at once I'm glad that we have this moment, even after what it took to get here.
His fingers release me and are immediately replaced by his thick, hard staff.
He pulls me up to straddle him and holds me close as he takes me.
His arms encircle me, holding me against him, and it feels as if this isn't simply some carnal need between us, but an intimate interlude that I want to repeat in the future. Many times.
I realize that I care for this fae male, even after all he's done. He is flawed, as we all are.
As if sensing my thoughts, he gives me a small smile and kisses me gently before he leans back and finds his release deep within me, throwing back his head with his mouth opening on a silent yell.
Afterward, he relaxes against me, pulling me close and cuddling me but doesn't pull away. He holds me as if he cares deeply for me.
I’d stay like this forever if I could, I think.
But we only have a few moments before we hear a commotion out in the main part of Gwen’s house. I tense, and so does he. Have those men come to finish the job? The fae?
But when the door opens, it's Morgan. He looks thunderous. Jak is behind him, appearing equally as furious, and I wonder for a breath if I wouldn’t prefer my enemies instead.
‘Bryn,’ he mutters on a breath like a prayer. ‘Thank the Gods.’
‘Locke found me,’ I say, suddenly glad beyond measure that they’re both here as well.
They’re safe. We’re all safe.
‘We know he did,’ Jak says through clenched teeth, and I frown at him.
Why are they both so angry?
But he steps into the room and looks me over with a healer’s eye before relaxing minutely, not glancing at Locke even once.
‘Are you well, Bryn? Do you…need anything from Morgan or me as well?’
My eyes widen. He thinks I’m in bed with Locke because I needed him to fuck me, I realize.
‘No, I?—’
'We’ll speak on this later,’ Morgan interjects. ‘Now, we need to go.'
Locke shifts.
'Wouldn’t it be safer to spend the night here and go back to Halsford at first light?' he asks, sounding oddly calm in the face of his two friends’ turbulent emotions.
'No,’ Jak answers, eyes still not straying to Locke. ‘Lia found us while we were searching for Bryn. We aren't to go back to the village.'
'Why not?' I ask.
'A bird returned from Kitore. There’s a festival there that begins tomorrow. The biggest of the year. Thousands will be in attendance. It’s believed to be the one Fiana’s agent spoke of. We’re to go there.'
He raises a bag in his hand. ‘She gave me the supplies we’ll need, and coin to buy whatever else we lack.’
I pull from Locke's embrace, ignoring my state of undress. ‘Tonight? Where is Kitore?’
‘Far from here. Across the mountains. But we’ll go via the Breach.’
Morgan’s eyes traveling over me, over the new marks left on my skin. His eyes narrow, but he says nothing. Instead, he takes two giant steps across the room and pulls me close, his breath shuddering.
'I was worried for you when you didn’t return, my little human,' he murmurs.
I sigh, wrapping my arms around him.
‘Where were you?’ he asks.
'I found her by the river. Brought her here,’ Locke says, still sitting on the cot.
‘You were hurt?’ Morgan rumbles.
‘Yes. She was badly hurt. Thrown from the ridge and beaten. Stabbed.’
‘Who?’ Morgan snarls, his muscles coiling in fury.
I let my body relax against his. ‘Some of the fae lured me there, but they ran off. It was four human men. They knew where to find me. They had healing potions with them to take when Fate hurt them back.’
Morgan’s arms tighten around me as I speak.
‘There was a conjure worked upon her,’ Locke continues when I fall silent. ‘Her injuries couldn’t be seen, nor scented. She was unconscious. I thought it was just cold and tiredness. I had no idea until I got her here that she was badly hurt.’
I frown. I hadn’t remembered any of that. ‘Voss.’
All eyes snap to me.
‘What?’ Jak asks, his tone lethal.
‘It was Voss,’ I say again.
‘You said you didn’t remember,’ Locke says and I hear him standing, putting on his clothes.
‘I don’t,’ I say. ‘But he…he has that power.’
Jak’s eyes close, as if he doesn’t truly want to ask the question, but he does.
‘How do you know that, Bryn?’
‘During the interrogation…he beat me. He found out what I was and hurt me to prove it. He took healing vials so that he could keep doing it even when Fate retaliated, just as those men did.’
‘Bryn,’ Morgan rumbles, horror in his countenance when I look up at him. ‘Why didn’t you tell us?’
I give him a sad smile. ‘Because your positions here seemed as precarious as mine, and because he made it so that no one would know. Who would have believed me?’
I pull out of his embrace. ‘Lia suspected. She gave me a healing potion when she took my hand. I drank it later in the cottage.’
‘Why didn’t she say anything?’ Morgan snarls.
‘Likely for the same reasons. The Harbinger may be powerful, but Lia is seen as a sentinel, a guard to the Underhill. Most have never even seen what she can do, and because she’s human, she’s been kept off the councils. She has little political power, regardless of her friends...’
Locke stops speaking and the males are silent.
'I will kill every single one of them,' Morgan suddenly snarls.
Remembering the man from the alley and his disappearance, I give Morgan a genuine smile.
He would destroy all my enemies for me if I needed him to.
I hug him hard, and his arms come up to hold me closer.
But, despite what he would do to protect me and how deserving those men are of Morgan’s brand of justice, I’m glad we won’t be going back to Halsford tonight. I think all three of them would do violence if they got their hands on my attackers.
I might as well.
'This is from Gwen,' Jak says, putting the pack he’s carrying on the floor and pulling a dark, homespun dress carefully over my head. 'It should fit you well enough. Now, come. We’ve tarried too long.'
'How?' I ask. ‘Did the fae give you one of those amulets that summons the Breach?’
‘No,’ Morgan shakes his head. ‘I don’t think they know about this. Perhaps that’s why Lia told us not to return to the village tonight.’
He shrugs.
‘You know how long it takes for them to decide what to do, and I think the bird from Kitore only arrived this afternoon. If we wait for the Council Five to deliberate, we could miss our chance entirely.’
‘Would that be such a bad thing?’ Locke surprises me by asking. ‘If we miss it, Bryn doesn’t have to be in harm’s way.’