Chapter 17
Chapter
Seventeen
LASH
“So, uh, we should probably talk,” Felicity said between bites of the crisp red apple she’d picked out for her breakfast. She’d only woken up a few minutes ago, and the tangle of furs was still draped over her crossed legs.
Leaning against the far wall of the cave, I cocked my head to the side. Other than a routine and groggy good morning, these were her first real words I’d heard he speak since last night.
Even though it was hours ago, the sound of her calling out my name in ecstasy still rang through my head. Unfortunately, she didn’t sound anywhere near as enraptured now.
“About what?”
“Lots of things,” she answered somewhat hesitantly. Suddenly, all her attention focused in on the apple in her hand. “Starting with what happened last night.”
“What’s there to talk about?” I said. “We mated. I’m sure we’ll do it again tonight.”
That got her attention. Her gaze shot up. “Don’t be so sure about that.”
The sight of petty annoyance flashing like blue fire in her eyes pulled at the corners of my lips. Damn, her anger was adorable.
“But I am sure,” I said, pushing myself off the wall and closing the distance between us in just a couple of steps.
I lowered myself down, resting on my haunches so we were face to face.
“Absolutely certain. Yesterday, you couldn’t stop begging me for more.
What makes you think today will be any different? ”
“Oh, please.” She rolled her eyes. “You seriously think I can’t control myself around you? I hate to be the one to break it to you, but you’re not that attractive.”
“Maybe not to anyone else,” I conceded. Since the day I’d come of age, I’d been a warrior.
I knew how rough and scarred my features were.
But since I’d believed the Fates hadn’t gifted me with a mate, I’d never cared.
“But to you, I’m downright irresistible.
Admit it. Even now, you’re itching to reach out and grab me. ”
“You conceited ass. This isn’t uncontrollable lust you’re looking at. It’s anger.”
That much was true.
Right now, Felicity looked furious enough to slap me…and part of me wished she’d try. If only so I’d have an excuse to grab her arms, and lower her down against the bedding, and turn all the darkly arousing fantasies floating around in my head into reality.
But somehow Felicity managed to keep her hands to herself, so I pushed her a little further. “What do you have to be angry about?”
That did it. Her face lit up, turning a fiery red.
“What do you think?” she hissed. “You bit me last night.”
Yeah, I did.
“Is that all?” My smile grew. Even now, I was itching to spin her around, toss her hair over her shoulder, and take a look at the mark that proved who she belonged to. “It’s a claiming bite. Don’t worry, it shouldn’t give you any trouble. Hannah’s bite only took a day to scar.”
Felicity’s expression tightened at the mention of the other kirre.
“I’m not worried about the wound,” she insisted. “God knows at this point I’m covered in more cuts and bruises than I can count.”
Her brow crinkled as she looked down at the bare arms and legs. Even though a few of the deeper cuts still showed scabs, the rest of her skin was smooth and flawless.
“At least, I was.” Her sapphire eyes flashed up at mine. “Did you slip me some medicine when I wasn’t paying attention?”
I chuckled. Only this kirre could find a way to be upset over healed wounds.
“Now that I’ve claimed you, your physiology is changing,” I explained. “You’ll heal quicker. Not as fast as a ferus, but faster than you’re used to.”
She shook her head. “I didn’t ask for this.”
“You didn’t have to,” I said. “It comes with being my mate.”
“Don’t call me that,” she snapped. “I never agreed to being your mate.”
“Are you sure about that? Because I vividly remember you screaming, ‘Yes! Yes!’ for hours.”
The corners of Felicity’s mouth pulled down hard. “The point is you can’t just bite me.”
“And I won’t have to anymore,” I assured her. “Not now that you wear my mark. Now that every ferus in the Wilds will know you’re mine.”
Her eyes narrowed. The flat line of her lips hardened.
“That’s another thing we need to talk about,” she started before drawing in a deep breath, no doubt getting ready to start into another tirade.
But before she could make a sound, I swept my hand around the nape of Felicity’s neck, my fingers sliding over the raised marks that branded her as forever mine, and pulled her in for a searing kiss.
At first, she tensed, but all it took was the press of my mouth on hers, the mingling of our breath, and the tickle of my tongue along her lower lip for her muscles to melt under my touch.
Within seconds, she was kissing me back, her fingertips raking through my hair, her spine arching, her breasts flattening against my chest. I felt the drumming of her heart against my breastbone, picking up speed. Her eyes closed. Her shoulders fell.
Only then was I confident I’d proved my point.
Slowly ending the kiss, I shot her a self-satisfied smile as I rose back up to my feet. “You were saying?”
In a flash, all the hardness came flooding back into her eyes.
“You’re an asshole,” she said, hurling the insult like she was the first to think of it.
“So, I’ve been told.” I stopped at the bag of supplies on my way back to the wall to grab a plum. With my back still to her, I asked, “What else did you want to talk about?”
“Valse,” she said.
Ice filled my veins at the sound of the name on her lips. All thoughts of a snack discarded, I spun around…only to see that now she was the one wearing a smug grin.
“How do you know that name?” I demanded.
“Crap. So, you do know him,” she said, more to herself than to me. “Well, if nothing else, it’s interesting.”
No, it fucking wasn’t.
Valse had been one of Nelissa’s first followers, disappearing from our pack to join Nelissa the day after she’d become a fugitive. He wasn’t the greatest fighter or the sharpest tactician, but what he lacked in skill, he made up for in pure blood lust. I’d never met an alpha who loved killing more.
“How do you know him?” I repeated.
But she didn’t answer. Instead, she asked another question. “What about Rowan?”
I threw down the piece of fruit as my stomach twisted. “Answer me, Felicity. Where did you hear about those two?”
She barked a bitter laugh. “So, now you want to talk?”
That was it.
Blood boiling, I flew across the cave. Grabbing onto her shoulders, I forced her eyes to meet mine.
“This isn’t a game, woman.” My fingers curled into her arm. “Tell me.”
My adrenaline was pumping so fiercely that, even though I knew it was impossible, I half-feared my claws would emerge and slice into her skin. Fortunately, nature never allowed an alpha to hurt his mate.
Not even by accident.
“Fine,” she huffed. “They showed up in my dream last night.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“Um...” Her lips flattened. She looked at me like I was a fool. “I just did.”
“You should have said something the second you woke up.”
“Why?” she asked with a shrug. “It’s not a big deal.”
She wasn’t fooling me. Even though she did her best to sound casual, deep brackets of concern framed her mouth. She even drew in her lower lip to worry it between her teeth.
No, she knew damn well how big a deal it actually was.
“You dreamed about two other alphas, Felicity,” I roared. “What did the bastards do to you? Did they touch you? Did they?—“
Just thinking about it caused hot bile to rise up in my throat, choking off my words.
“Ew! God, no. It wasn’t that kind of dream.” She shook her head violently. “That would have been a nightmare. I don’t even want to think about it.”
That made two of us. “Then what did you dream?”
She let out a long breath before explaining how she’d found herself moving through Nelissa’s village like a ghost, and how she’d overheard the alphas before being pulled into Valse’s dream.
“I was sort of hoping you’d tell me they were just characters my subconscious had made up.” Her tone had lost all edge of bitterness by the end of her story, and she was back to sounding like herself. “But it doesn’t sound like that’s the case.”
“They’re real,” I confirmed, letting my grip loosen around her shoulders—but I couldn’t seem to let her go completely. Something inside me still craved the feel of my hands around her, hungered for the sensation of her bare skin against mine, especially as I felt a shiver shoot through her limbs.
“Is this something that happens to all the other kirre mates? Kinda like the healing thing?”
“Not that I’ve heard of.” I shook my head. “The only prophetic dreams I know are the ones shared between mates, and those usually disappear once the pair have bonded.”
“Usually?” Her forehead wrinkled. “But not always?”
“Apparently, Hannah’s dreams continued even after she’d mated with Tauren.
” It had been the talk of the village in the days after the kirre had successfully survived an attack from Nelissa’s mate.
“But her dreams were different from the start. They say she never dreamed about her mate, Tauren, directly. She only dreamed about the danger that awaited her here in the Wilds.”
Underneath my fingertips, I felt Felicity tense. She pulled back. Not far, but enough to slip free from my grasp.
“From you, you mean,” she said.
My brows knit together. What was she?—
Oh.
The memory of the lie rushed into my head.
I hadn’t been thinking of the future when I’d told her I’d killed Hannah —only convenience. Back then, Felicity had been a package to deliver. A problem to solve, and all I wanted was the easiest solution.
Telling her that I’d killed another helpless kirre had been the fastest way to shut her up. To instill fear. To assure compliance.
But now?
Now, it was just another problem to throw on top of the mountain of troubles growing at my feet. Another issue that Felicity would want to sit and talk about.
But there wasn’t any time.
Not now, at least.
The truth could wait. Felicity’s misconceptions were a minor issue compared to the other troubles we faced.
Nelissa had no doubt sent every alpha out at sunrise to resume the search for us, ordering them deeper into the Wilds. Commanding them to search high and low, in every crevice and hidden place. Directing them not to come back empty-handed.
After the one-two punch Felicity and I had delivered to both her pride and her vanity, she’d never stop hunting us. Her ego wouldn’t allow it.
Which meant if we wanted to keep one step ahead of my former brothers, we needed to start moving.
“Get dressed,” I said brusquely as I rose up and headed over to start packing the bag. “We need to go.”
“Go?” Felicity stared up at me, confusion written all over her face. “Where?”
That was a good question. Unfortunately, there weren’t any good answers.
“Somewhere else,” I said.
Right now, that was the best I could do.