Chapter Twenty #2
Cocking a brow, I leaned further into my seat. There were moments when she seemed to want what was between us to be more than it was, and she always put on a brave front, but I wasn’t sure if it was all an act.
Lips stretching, I spread my knees and patted one thigh, invitation clear.
Serenya was tucked fully in Kael’s lap, cradled in one arm with her feet in the seat beside him.
She usually laid her head on his chest if she wasn’t involved in our discussion, and no one questioned it since she was his korravai.
But Taryn was new. We had yet to bond, and the chance that she might do as Rowena had and reject me before she went into heat likely hung in the back of everyone’s mind.
It didn’t matter how torn I was inside, I couldn’t let that happen. It needed to look like everything was fine and there was no question we would bond.
Taryn’s eyes moved between mine and my leg several times before she drew in a breath and swallowed. Her steps were careful, as if she expected me to rescind the offer at any moment, and she hesitated again as she moved between my thighs.
Her gaze searched my face, something in her expression making me freeze.
Was I at risk of being rejected?
Had I pushed her that far?
My chest didn’t move until she turned and lowered herself onto my leg, barely perched on the muscle as if ready to take flight at any moment. My tail curled around her legs as my hand found her hip, anchoring her in place.
I told myself it was to be sure she didn’t startle and fall off, or try to run away, but I couldn’t deny the way my shaft pressed against the material pinning it down because of the feel of her plush ass against me.
Even if it wasn’t where I longed for it to be.
I could barely focus during the meeting, but thankfully there wasn’t much need for me to.
Rath and the other Morraki vessels trailing the Skarashk colony ship had been given approval to take it out once its destination was clear, another ship was on its way to the area for support due to the Qy’shaeuhl’s belief that our chance of success was lower than what Kael believed, but nothing new had developed.
The minor problems discussed were Kael’s issue, and I had nothing to pull my thoughts from the female seated on my thigh.
I had hoped training would go better, but if anything, it was worse. Not because I was distracted by Taryn, but because others were.
Warriors were missing strikes that should have landed. Squabbles were breaking out over nothing. Injuries that could have been avoided happened.
All because an unmated omega watched from the shade.
And the possessive rage inside me grew until my kethra rivaled Earth’s sun, and I took on an entire unit myself.
And then another.
And then another.
Until I dripped sweat, chest heaving, and no alpha on the sand dared turn his eyes or nose in her direction.
And Taryn watched, sitting in the place where Vorrashan and the wind couldn’t reach.
Fingers curled over the edge of the shelf she sat on, legs swinging forward and back as if she watched alphas fight over her every day, those blue eyes begging me to come flip her over and rut her in front of them all, so they knew who she belonged to.
Snarling, I barked orders for extra training and stomped to where she waited. It was earlier than I usually left, but if we remained, something was going to snap.
My control.
Someone’s neck.
Either way, it wouldn’t end well.
“Let’s go.”
Even with her mouth and nose covered I knew she smiled as she stood and followed me without a word.
The steady growl rumbling from me wouldn’t stop until we were outside the walls and I used the excuse of the wind to put my arm around her, my sweat soaking into her thavren and marking her with my scent.
I didn’t miss the way her head turned towards me, her little sniffs almost too quiet to hear beneath the hiss of sand blowing by, but it eased some of the irritation that had me in its grip.
Her omega side acknowledged me, some part of her knowing what it all meant even if it didn’t register consciously.
Being in the kennels was a bit easier since there were less Morraki and I had every reason to focus on her.
As she kept to her promise to be careful, some of my worry eased, and I pretended to review reports on the datapad I carried as she questioned new handlers, learning what she could.
She never seemed to run out of questions, and after the initial surprise of being approached by a Human who smelled like an omega, the handlers seemed happy to discuss their charges with her.
It could have been my turn to grow bored, but I never had the chance. She held my attention, every fiber of me straining towards her. I fought it, tried to ignore her for my reports, but nothing worked.
And possibly worse than anything, I realized she was right. She knew how to approach the varkuun. To seem non-threatening without looking like prey. They barely reacted to her presence, as if she were something that had always been there.
As if she belonged.
My gut churned as I fought to subdue feelings I shouldn’t have had.
Worries that made no sense with the evidence before me.
As new as she was to the planet, it was clear she knew creatures, because she asked the opinions of some of the seasoned handlers, offered possible training options, and they all agreed with her.
How could I keep denying her what I knew she wanted most, when everything she did proved she was right?
That she might be able to help.
The next day was a repeat.
Council. Training. Kennels.
Torture in the River Caverns.
Agony lying next to what I couldn’t touch.
Except for the subtle changes that made it monumental. She barely hesitated before sitting on my leg, and leaned into the pressure of my tail and arm around her. She took the thavren I unwound from my face the moment we were through the gate and offered to hold it for me until we left.
She was learning, adapting, and taking action to find her place.
While I stood, stubborn, resisting the inevitable that loomed like a veyr’karin, ready to rip me apart.
Tension growing as restraint became more difficult.
Mood deteriorating as the fight within me grew desperate.
She wasn’t supposed to mean anything. I couldn’t let her. The past had proven Shaevrin had cursed me. I would lose anything I valued, and Morrakan couldn’t afford the loss of another bond with the Humans.
But I was failing.