Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Violet
The next morning I rise more determined than ever. But I have also reflected upon their motivations. They are only concerned for my safety, and in the honesty of this moment, I love them more for it.
Forces beyond earthly understanding are pulling me. A compulsion so strong, it defies logical explanation. I am unwaveringly set upon this course.
“Did you find a stable for our horses?” I ask casually as we sit down for breakfast in the main tavern room. It is early, but the sky beyond the window is already showing the promise of a cloudless day.
“We should head back before the weather turns,” Rafe says like a dog with a bone. “Lark and I can find work easily enough back at—”
“No, thank you.”
“You’re stubborn,” Rafe grumbles.
“Correct,” I reply tartly.
“It’s dangerous to go trekking up the mountain now. What if you experience another… fever?”
I slam my mug of tea down and glare at him.
The way he always skips over the word fever like he knows it is not really a fever makes my blood boil every time.
Worse, I know I’m overdue for my heat, and that trekking up the mountain is a bad idea for reasons other than the damn weather, yet I cannot let this go.
“Aye, better than a bard’s tale, watching you two engage in verbal sparring,” Lark muses.
I glance across to find him leaning back in his seat, watching us with a smirk.
“We are leaving for the shepherd lodge. But if not, I shall be.”
“Damn brat,” Rafe mutters, his eyes narrowing. “Don’t make me put you over my knee.”
My heart does a little ba-dump. I snatch up the tea I just thrust aside and take a gulp.
It is not often that he deems me in need of discipline.
The last such incident was after I waded into a river without checking with them.
In my defense, they were busy setting up the camp.
How was I supposed to know it had strong currents?
That I nearly drowned was surely punishment enough, but no, I had to go over his knee for what he called ‘temperament adjustment’.
My cheeks grow warm just thinking about it.
I nearly blurted out that I loved him and begged him to fuck me afterward. I went into heat the very next day, so I put my reaction down to that.
Still, I’ve thought about the incident more than I should. It’s not like we have that kind of relationship. He’s not my husband… I’m confident I would not allow even a husband to get away with such an outrageous act… So why do I allow Rafe?
I think about more than the spanking… increasingly unhealthy and wistful musings where I’m married to them.
Only how can I marry them? It’s not like I could ever pick one over the other.
We have been on this adventure too long, and my feelings for them are too strong and intertwined.
Only there is more to the problem than merely choosing when I’m an omega with unnatural fixations…
It’s not like I even want a husband or mate.
I definitely don’t appreciate being taken to task for a simple mistake like wading into a deadly river.
All I learned is that Rafe has a large palm and skills when it comes to generating heat in my behind.
“She’s thinking about you spanking her,” Lark taunts knowingly. “Aye, her ass looks pretty with a blush.”
I nearly choke on my tea. This is one of those times when I wish he had a better censor between his thoughts and his mouth. Not that I want him thinking about it either!
And now I’m tingling all over.
“Shut the fuck up,” Rafe growls. “Fine, I will stable the damn horses, and we can be on our way to the damn shepherd’s lodge.
” He scrapes his chair back across the wooden floor and rises.
“Wouldn’t want to be the man holding you back from your adventure, your ladyship.
Then you can be rid of us and find a nice husband to settle down with. ”
The rebuke is harsh and stings. Rather than tempering the strange tingling, his aggression seems to ramp it up.
He strides off.
My eyes follow him. Well, that was… What the hell was that?
“Don’t mind him,” Lark says. “He always gets a bit surly when you’re close.”
My hand goes to my throat. “Close?”
His pretty blue eyes hold mine. Today I see something in them I haven’t before. He looks away before I fully place the strange, unsettling feeling. It was almost like he is… attracted to me? Not in the teasing way he sometimes says things, and which are meant in jest, but in the real way.
But he can’t be. Goodness knows Elisa has pointed out often enough how ugly I am, and while my other sisters were swift to counter her meanness, they were only being kind.
I’m a broken omega, who has fever episodes in place of heat, nothing but a mousy little bookworm with no feminine skills, and ugly to boot.
I adore Rafe and Lark. They are easy men to grow to love. I’ve no idea why they even stay with me. We are worlds away from my former home. It’s not like they need to worry about my sister’s wrath.
“Why do you both stay with me?” I blurt out.
A wounded light enters Lark’s eyes before a mask comes down. He smiles and winks. “Aye, lass, your thirst for adventuring is something to behold. I’ve always been partial to adventuring. Never a dull moment. Where else would I be?”
He has a naturally easy teasing way about him; it is just one of many aspects about him that I have come to love. Only there is something off about his words today.
I want to ask him what he meant by close, only I’m suddenly afraid of the answer.
He rises, muttering about helping Rafe prepare our packs, leaving me all alone.
I stare at the remnants of breakfast.
Confused.
Strangely lonely.
Wistful for something more than adventuring.
I frown.
My dream is close enough to taste. But what after? What will I do next?
I don’t have a clue. They will leave me… go and find new adventures. Maybe I should agree to winter somewhere after all… eke out a little more time with them before we must go our separate ways.
No, this course is already set. Besides, I cannot be selfish. They have already given more than a year of their lives to me. It is time to see my griffins. And after, although it will destroy a part of me, it’s time to let them go and find happiness of their own.
Lark
I collar Rafe just as he’s leaving the local farrier with a bit of land, who was more than happy to care for the horses while we trek up the damn mountain to see a fucking griffin.
“She’s extra fucking close,” I say.
He rolls his eyes. “You think I don’t fucking know. Stubborn brat. I’ve a good mind to put her over my knee and bring it to a head. But without proper, permanent lodgings where she can be safely closeted, that could be risky.”
I grin. “Aye, she perked right up when you mentioned putting a blush on her ass. You know, every time you turn into a dominant asshole and start issuing threats to her behind, she’s practically panting. Mayhap if we were to pull those riding pants down, her pretty cunt would be dripping wet—uff!”
He slugs me.
I stagger back.
“What the fuck has gotten your panties in a bunch?” I rub my sore jaw and scowl at him.
“Me?!” he mutters, clenching and unclenching his fist like he is thinking of thumping me again.
“You can’t just go spouting about her sopping cunt without consequences.
She is close. So am I. I swear the woman has broken my fucking cock.
Her extra edge of defiance and the damn bratting are the first signs that her heat is imminent.
It’s all I can do not to toss her to the ground in the village square and rut her like a beast.”
“Well, all right then,” I say thickly. Rafe can become a bit of a bossy bastard while she’s in heat, but it’s not like I mind… “So, we get her out of the village, find a safe place to camp, and give nature a nudge?”
We share a look. One that encapsulates a year’s unrequited longing.
We are gone for her. Both of us. Looking back, I was gone that first fucking day we met when she boldly rode a half-feral stallion out of the castle and nearly got herself killed.
Tiny little thing, all feisty and defiant, but with a sweet core underneath.
She’s fucking clever too, and I’m self-aware enough to know that I’m not.
Then there is her curvy body that no amount of horse riding or journeying can ever take away—thank fuck.
All of this is more than enough to turn a man’s head toward claiming a prize afore any other bastard comes sniffing around.
I’d worship her pussy all night, every night, no problem.
Then there is that other side of her, the sensual side, the fucking siren who takes cock like a champ and whines for more—that we only see when she is in heat—and a man never recovers from it.
We both want her with the same savage tenacity. We’d both share her without missing a beat, way past any sense of decorum or propriety.
Only she’s a princess and an omega, either of which alone would be too good for the likes of Rafe or me.
Fuck that.
She has dragged us over hills and across seas, and we have followed like a couple of love-drunk saps.
Her goal is to see a griffin.
Our goal is to work out how to finally, fully awaken our princess to what we do.
Then we can breed her.
Then she will be ours.
Rafe clears his throat, like he can read all my lusty thoughts in my eyes. “Aye,” he says. “I don’t care how long it takes or what we have to do. The brat is not coming back down from that mountain until she is good and bred.”