Chapter 29 Avery
AVERY
“What?” Kit was on his feet and striding around to the front of his desk before I could fully process what I was seeing. He leaned over my shoulder to stare at Aiden’s screen. “Like the plant? The deadly nightshade?”
“Too close, Kit,” Aiden growled.
I managed the wherewithal to punch Aiden in the arm. “Quit it. He’s fine.”
Kit chuckled under his breath and leaned in further, studying the photo.
“Fascinating. A potent magical conductor, though it has little utility in modern shifter apothecary practice. Did you know, Avery, that some literary scholars theorize the deadly nightshade is what Romeo and Juliet used to shuffle off this mortal coil?”
“Way to mix your Shakespeare,” Aiden muttered.
“I did, in fact,” I replied diplomatically. “I’ve recently learned quite a bit about this plant, actually.”
Kit shifted from hovering over my shoulder to leaning against the edge of his desk, facing me, his legs crossed casually and splayed out next to mine. He folded his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes at me. “What is the significance of the belladonna to all of this?”
Aiden vibrated next to me. He glared at Kit, as was his usual setting in our instructor’s presence, but behind those softly glowing hazel eyes there was… pain?
Despair?
I shook off my concern, at least for the moment.
The discovery Aiden had just made with Kit’s assistance was monumental.
“The belladonna is a symbol tied to the group of people responsible for the murder of my mother and Elijah’s,” I replied.
Kit didn’t need to know the finer details.
“And, thanks to you, we now know that what happened to Elijah’s mom is connected to what happened the night his fathers died.
And we have a family name to look into. We really appreciate your help, Kit. ”
I elbowed Aiden.
He cleared his throat. “Right. Yes. This was extremely helpful. Thank you.”
“Of course,” Kit said, smiling at me. “I’m happy to continue assisting with anything you need as you investigate.
For my part, I’ll work on tracking down any other records from that 2006 lunar eclipse in our archives to see if there is anything that respectable Guardians of the time left for us that may shed some light on things. ”
“That would be great,” I said.
He reached out and gave my shoulder an affectionate squeeze. “I look forward to working with you once you become a Guardian, Avery. You’re exceptionally talented.”
Heat crept into my cheeks at the compliment, but I managed a professional smile.
Aiden remained silent, but the sharp bite of his jaguar pulsed, saturating the air.
He was holding on by a thread, on the edge of violence, which was entirely unnecessary for the noncombative situation in this office and inappropriately directed at Kit given the vast power imbalance between the two of them.
It was time to go.
Kit had taken the hint and returned to his side of the desk, looking both annoyed and resigned. I stood up and grabbed Aiden by the arm. “Thanks again, Kit!” I waved at him over my shoulder as I dragged a stone-faced Professor Blackwell out of the room.
Ward’s office, a few doors down from Kit’s, was empty. We had about half an hour before we had to report to our afternoon combat session, so he was probably out on the field with Commander Moss, prepping for whatever they had in store for the day.
I shoved Aiden inside the office, shut the door with a firm click, then lifted my chin to stare him down. “What is your problem?”
He appeared more bemused than murderous now. He sat down on Ward’s desk and leaned back on his hands. His taut forearms flexed. My tiger purred, and I mentally swatted her on the nose.
Don’t get distracted.
“What do you mean?” he asked innocently.
“Kit was helping us. You asked him to help us. And we discovered something crucial to solving this mystery. We are light-years ahead of where we were even a week ago. I can’t wait to tell Elijah, and I know you feel the same.”
“Of course I do—”
“And yet,” I went on, “after all that, you looked like you couldn’t decide whether you wanted to tear Kit’s head off, which is not okay, or jump off a cliff, which is even more not okay.
I get that you two were academic rivals of sorts, and I get that he’s a little flirtatious, but you guys have been mostly better about all that cave-beast possessive shit, except around the Crimsons, which I also kind of get, but Kit’s not—”
He shoved off the desk, and in two strides of his long legs, he was on me, pressing my back against the door and obliterating the rest of my thought.
“Were you trying to torture me?” he growled, caging me with his strong arms, his eyes ringed in turquoise. “By letting Kit be that close to you? By letting him touch you?”
I bared my teeth at him even as his fresh woodsy smell and his nearness had heat pooling between my legs. “You’re being ridiculous—”
“I deserve it,” he rasped. “But I don’t have to like it.
Maybe you like it, though, just a little bit.
Tell me, sweetheart, do you like that Kit thinks he has a shot with you?
That he thinks you’re just an ordinary female, destined for an ordinary mate bond with a guy like him, and not one of the most powerful Prime shifters alive, destined to be the beating-fucking-heart of my quad? ”
I gasped as he pressed his hard body fully against mine and wrapped my ponytail around his hand. “Aiden.”
He ran his nose from my collarbone to my ear, his voice a vicious whisper.
“You like driving me mad. You always have, even before we fucked everything up. Sitting in my office with your big, beautiful eyes and your tight little body and your dazzling fucking mind. Kit sees it, baby. He wants it, and he thinks he can have it.”
“Aiden, that’s not—ah.” I bit off a moan as he nipped my earlobe with his teeth. My tiger was off her leash completely, seeding the air with unadulterated beastly lust, impossible to resist for the jaguar who’d cornered his prey.
“He can’t have you,” he growled against my ear. “I’ll do whatever it takes to be worthy of you, Avery. You are my mate, and I can’t stand the fact that Kit’s the kind of male who’s already worthy of you. One who’s never hurt you like I have.”
The room lost its edges. The only tangible things were Aiden’s body enveloping mine, his lips pressed to my jaw, and his hand in my hair. I grasped at his back, and his tight muscles danced under my fingers. “It’s not…. I don’t feel that way about Kit,” I whispered.
It was the truth. Maybe in another life, he would’ve been the ideal man.
Attractive, wildly intelligent, combat trained, and dedicated to service in the Guardians.
He’d treated me with respect and admiration since the day we met.
A fox, like my brother and dad, and the kind of male that was much less likely to care that I was a female with a beast.
But this was not that life.
Kit would never be able to stoke the fire in me that the man in my arms could.
Aiden dipped his nose into the crook of my neck. “Fuck, you smell good.”
“Aiden,” I whined.
“I know, baby. I’ve got you.”
The hand that was not fisting my ponytail dipped under the waistband of my shorts, slid down my heated skin, and skimmed a fingertip over my clit.
I moaned into his shoulder, and he increased the pressure, making tight circles on that sensitive spot, enough to send me skating along the edge but not enough to push me over.
“Feel good, sweetheart?”
“Yes,” I hissed.
“Want more?”
“Please, Aiden.”
He plunged two fingers inside me and let out an obscene groan at the wet mess he found there. “Fuck. Is this all for me?”
“You know it is,” I ground out. “Move, please.”
He sank his teeth into the crook of my neck. “No. I’ll give you what you want if you make me a promise.”
Don’t like that. I worked my hips on his hand, chasing the relief I was desperate for.
He yanked firmly on my ponytail, tilting my head so that I was looking him directly in his shining hazel eyes. “Behave. I said I would take care of you. I’ll always take care of you. Do you understand me?”
He looked like he’d set fire to the entire camp if I asked him to. “Yes,” I whispered.
“Good.” He moved the fingers inside me lazily, the heel of his hand pressed against my clit. “Promise me that you’ll wait for me, baby, and I’ll make you come.”
I frowned. “Wait for you—oh.”
He moved his hand faster, hammering into me, and the knot of pleasure coiled tighter and tighter. “Promise me that you won’t go to Kit or someone like him. I know I hurt you, sweetheart, but promise me you’ll give me a chance to earn your forgiveness.”
“I—oh shit—I….”
He stopped, and I let out a frustrated cry. “Say it,” he growled.
Through the fog of lust, I grasped for my reasonable mind. Was there a chance I’d want to date someone else? Someone who hadn’t hurt me like my Fated had? I’d come to camp determined to hate them, but desire for other men had never entered my brain.
And after all these weeks, I didn’t hate them anymore. I trusted them, as partners on the battlefield and now partners in the hunt for my mother’s killer.
I trusted them with my safety. Aiden had killed someone to protect me.
Did I trust them with… all of me?
That was something to ruminate on later. Right now, I only wanted Aiden to do what he promised and release me from this delicious torture.
“I promise,” I said hoarsely. “No other men. I don’t want other men.”
That, at least, was the Moon’s honest truth.
“Good girl,” he purred, and then he hammered his fingers into me again, sending me into the stratosphere.
I screamed as my climax shot through me, and he smothered the noise by slamming his mouth onto mine, consuming my every moan and whimper until I was boneless in his arms.
His kiss gentled. His grip on my hair remained firm and bossy, but the way he angled my face where he wanted it as we lazily made out was soft.
Reverent, even.
With one last kiss, he withdrew his fingers from my body and let go of my hair.
And then he looked me in the eyes, neon ringing his irises, as he sucked the taste of me right off his fingers.
I smothered a tortured moan.
He grinned wickedly and then went right back to business. He straightened my shorts, smoothed my shirt, and tucked a stray lock of my hair behind my ear, all while I stood there in stunned silence. “Ready to run around a field in formation while Commander Moss yells at us?” he asked.
I sighed. “Yeah. I hope Ward isn’t planning on using his office anytime soon. It needs time to… air out.”
Aiden chuckled, his eyes dancing behind his sexy glasses. “Do you think Ward would be anything other than thrilled that you’d allowed yourself to indulge in one of us in that way?”
“No,” I said with a huff. “I suppose not.”
Ward was ready to add me to his pack of daughters at my earliest convenience.
We left the building and headed out to our combat session.
Aiden held my hand until we crested the small hill and came into the line of sight of the trainees gathered on the field.
Then, he dropped my hand and positioned himself off my right shoulder and just behind me, as if I were his quad leader.
I smothered the smile that pulled at my lips. Game face, Avery.
We located the others milling around amongst the herd.
Heath was warming up his sword arm, swinging his saber in fast, precise strokes.
Wyatt was stretching, his long legs spread and his shorts riding indecently up his thick thighs as he bent over to touch the grass.
Elijah idled on a nearby bench, his face tipped up and his eyes closed as he sunned himself, reminiscent of another snake I knew.
Heath’s face lit up as we approached, and then his nostrils flared. His grin turned lascivious. “Did you two have a private meeting after you met with Kit?” he asked, handing me my sword harness.
I took it from him and stuck my nose in the air. “Maybe.”
“It was a negotiation,” Aiden added, a smug grin directed at his brother. “We came to an acceptable agreement.”
Wyatt ambled over, his ax resting on his shoulder. He ran a hand down my back and stuck his nose in my hair. “Fuck me,” he groaned. “That’s the stuff right there.”
And, of course, Elijah was now alert. He licked his lips and shot me a wicked smile. “There is nothing more divine than the taste of your pleasure, Dove.”
I huffed and shook Wyatt off. “Cut it out, all of you. Aiden and I have something really important to tell you.”
They sobered immediately. Aiden and I relayed what we’d learned in Kit’s office. The temperature of the air around us had dropped ten degrees by the time we got to the belladonna boldly growing at the gates of the Fordham family compound.
I reached for my beast and sent soothing energy toward Elijah, the equivalent of her licking him in the face. He blinked away the slitted pupils of the basilisk and grinned at me.
Heath’s brow was so furrowed, I worried he’d get premature wrinkles—difficult to do for a shifter. “Shit. I don’t know that name. Clearly a shifter family of wealth, but not part of my parents’ loose social circle. What in the world is going on here?”
“We’ll figure it out,” Aiden said with finality. “Camp ends a week from Sunday, and then we have a few weeks before school begins. We’ll get through patrol, and then we’ll give this the focus it requires.”
On cue, Commander Moss’s voice boomed across the field. “Trainees, you better be in unit formation and on the field in the next fifteen seconds!”
I sucked in a breath and tightened the straps of my harness.
A week from Sunday.
We were almost there. Camp would be over, and then I’d get to spend a few weeks at home, away from the Guardians.
Away from my Fated.
For the first time, I found that I wasn’t particularly excited by the thought.