Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
WOLFE
Time was not welcomed here in our little hideaway, the space we’d created outside a world that wanted to tear us apart.
We wouldn’t allow it.
The daughter of the hourglass banished the minutes from us, whether by her will or simply by ignoring it.
It didn’t matter. Time didn’t exist for us as long as we were touching each other.
I had no problem with that.
I couldn’t stop touching her.
We hadn’t stopped. We’d made a bed on that stretch of grass and lay our naked bodies together, becoming no different from animals whose only care was to mate.
Hours had rolled by with us devouring each other.
Night had fallen. Actual night. I was aware enough to note that the time here passed in stages. The fireflies returned, but even they respected the realm’s need for the darkness and dimmed their glow.
It made no difference to us.
There was a clusterfuck of problems to discuss, but they could wait.
In fact, the way I was feeling, they could wait forever.
All I wanted was more of my mage. I wanted everything.
Elariya responded to my thoughts by kissing me harder. I pulled her closer.
My bare skin against hers was magic.
She was magic.
This woman had worked some kind of spell on me right from the moment we met.
How many moons ago had that been?
Now she was mine. For however long that lasted.
The desolate thought tasted acrid in my mouth, and I shoved it aside.
Instead of dwelling on things I couldn’t control, I lifted her up and lay her down on her stomach, then spread her legs wide, so I could thrust into her from behind.
I was a fucking liar if I thought I could get enough of her.
And I’d be deluded if I thought this was the last time before we slept.
No fucking way.
I had no plan to stop. The more I took from her, the more I wanted to feast. I wanted to take so much from her, she’d never think about finding a way out.
Buried to the hilt, I pounded into her, savoring the way the walls of her tight pussy wrapped around my cock like a vice.
Fuck.
I needed her. Always and forever.
I didn’t know how to be without her now that she’d been mine. I didn’t even want to consider it. But nothing had really changed.
I was still the male in the dark, the creature wanting the mage he couldn’t have.
“Gods,” she moaned, coming already.
“Stay with me.” I meant that in every way it could possibly mean.
Don’t leave.
Don’t change.
Don’t stop me from taking more.
She stayed, and as I fucked her, I found every which way to wrench one orgasm after the other from her glorious body.
I was intoxicated by her. Addicted. To her scent, her sound, her mind.
Elariya Nightblade had crept under my skin and owned me.
My thrusts became more profound and maddening at the realization.
I wanted to worship her entire body again and again. But even I had my limit.
I climaxed, groaning out as hot cum flowed from my cock into her body.
She cried out, and her whole body shuddered.
Her shoulders sagged first, and she crumpled against the grass. I pulled out of her and pulled her against me so she could lay against my chest.
When her breathing calmed, she turned inward to face me and searched my eyes as though checking I was still here. Still hers.
Elariya didn’t speak. She just reached up and cupped my jaw.
I caressed her shoulders, running my fingers over her perfect, sweaty skin.
We maintained the silence, none of us speaking the words that needed to be said. People in the mortal lands talked of elephants in the room when they encountered awkward situations. Well, we had a whole heard of them.
I was just trying to pretend for a little longer that they didn’t exist.
A few more hours passed and the light from the fireflies faded all the more. Elariya and I could still see each other, but just barely. Just enough.
Light fingers fluttered over my chin, and I met Elariya’s beautiful eyes in the dark.
She ran her finger over the scar on my cheek, her gaze transfixed.
“You always keep it.” Her voice was soft in the silence. “Does it never heal?”
“Yes and no.”
“What happens?”
“A dragon rider shares the scars with his dragon. No matter how deep. It’s a sign of honor. Mine can be healed through the air or on its own, but I chose to keep it.”
“Does Pyrion have the same sort of scar?”
“Yes.”
The night we met—properly—I told her my dragon clawed me. That was true. Pyrion was pissed as fuck when I rode her through a fire storm near the dragon isle.
We got hit and fell out of the sky. On the way down, she clawed me, not on purpose, but I knew she wasn’t happy about my chosen activities that night.
She got hurt badly and was down for weeks.
A fire ball the size of a wheel hit her in her side and took her out. The event occurred nearly a hundred years ago, but to this day, the wound still troubled her.
I gazed down at Elariya. She was suppressing her worries.
I caressed her cheek, and she offered a little smile.
“You fought well today.” I was still pissed that she went out on her own and crossed paths with danger, but she needed to hear the praise.
She was also right. I couldn’t keep her in a glass house.
“You really think so?” Her face brightened.
“Yes. Please do not take that to mean I want you to fight every battle.”
She chuckled; it was the prettiest sound. Something light in the darkness we still faced. “Believe me, I know you’re not.”
“Good.” I sighed, tracing a finger down the slope of her neck. “Alaric taught you well.” She moved like him.
“He did.”
“Was the sword his idea?” I knew what it was. I’d known it was imbued with magic from the moment I saw it. I’d felt it and saw it at work when she fought with the Skinwearers.
“Yes. It’s from the future.”
“I figured. You used it well.” She still needed work to find her footing, but I could see my brother had taken care of her. Just like he’d promised to. He’d taught her what she needed to know to survive. The sword was an ingenious idea. Very Alaric.
I missed him. I missed them all. The worst part was not knowing if I was ever going to see them again in this form.
“Wolfe… I… don’t want to leave,” Elariya whispered. The strain in her voice broke me.
I pressed my forehead to hers. “I don’t want to leave, either, Ziyka.”
“I want this moment forever.” She felt my skin. “I want you like this. I want time with you. I just… want to be your wife.”
“You are.”
“I know, but...” She sighed, slow and sad.
“I know, Ziyka. I know.”
She didn’t need to explain. She knew that I knew.
I wanted the same thing. A future. Talking about it hurt too much. Life had never been fair to us.
We said nothing more.
Eventually, my sweet mage drifted off to sleep.
But I lay awake. In the silence, the thoughts I’d staved off for so long finally resurfaced with the one thing that echoed through my mind.
We couldn’t stay here.
That was the reality.
We couldn’t stay here.
Even if I could, she couldn’t. Then there’d be no point.
Elariya was in danger here. Skinwearers were the least of our worries in a place like this.
Without my sword I could use brute strength on creatures like them, but there were worse things to fear.
Aside from being here, there was the bigger picture.
If we stayed, that didn’t change the situation in Galaythia. Zyrra and the dark forces were still a massive threat.
This whole fiasco had been going on for months, years if I took Dreynthor’s treachery into account, and nobody could put a label on the threat. I’d always known that would be a problem. You can’t fight something you can’t name.
I’d been a big threat, though.
That might be the one thing in my favor. But, there were too many loose ends to consider.
The most important was still finding the ring.
The kingdom demanded a king. The ring demanded a king. Not just to be a ruler, but a guardian of the ancient magics possessed within it, bonded to the Nightblades over centuries.
The Deathwalker curse ensured that someone took accountability and remained responsible for the kingdom and the magic within.
That person for now was me.
No matter what I felt, no matter what I wanted, I couldn’t turn my back on that.
And… I wasn’t a coward. It wasn’t in me to run, not even to be selfish with the woman I wanted.
Being me kept her alive and safe.
That was enough.
When morning crept in, I left her side. I made sure she was safe before I ventured back to the river.
Not surprisingly, the carnage from the Skinwearers had cleared. They must have made a hearty feast for the creatures who prowled around here at night.
I found a way to gather water into a hollow tree branch, and then I caught fish. I could go without food and water for days. My wife could not.
I took it all back to the cave, made a fire, and cooked the fish. It was only when the aroma of it started to spread that Elariya stirred.
She rolled to her side and looked at me. I smiled back, and she slowly got up. Remembering she was naked with no sheet over her, Elariya grabbed her shirt and covered her breasts.
“You know I’ve seen you plenty, right? And I spent half the night feasting on those beautiful things,” I tried to joke.
She pulled a face at me and dragged the top on over her head. “I’m aware. I still need to get dressed though.”
“Shame, that.”
She shook her head at me and put on the rest of her clothes. I was glad she left her hair down. I liked it adorning her face. Then again, I liked her hair however she styled it. That red hair had me hooked at hello.
She came over and looked at the meal I was preparing. The fish was almost done.
“You did all this?” She marveled at it.
“You need to eat and drink.”
“Thank you. I’m starving.” She placed a hand to the flat of her stomach.
“I know. Come sit next to me.” I patted the space beside me, and she moved toward me, giving me a kiss before she sat.
I gave her the water first, and while she drank, I took the fish off the fire and set it on a makeshift plate I made with tree barks.
She accepted it gratefully and started to eat.
“This is delicious.” She chuckled.
“I’m glad. Eat up.” She’d need her strength for the journey home.