Chapter 17 Theron
THERON
I can’t stop thinking about her.
It’s been days now, and I can’t get the curvy little priestess out of my head.
Every time I try to focus on something else, she slips back in.
The look in her eyes…the sound of her moans when she was coming so hard for me…
the way her body trembled when she stood in front of me, begging for something she clearly didn’t want but needed so badly…
Fuck.
I drag a hand over my face and stare down at the half-finished blade on my workbench, the metal cooling too fast because I haven’t kept the heat steady. The forge crackles beside me, throwing off waves of heat, but it doesn’t matter. My concentration is shot…again.
This is the third time I’ve ruined a piece today.
I mutter a curse under my breath and set the hammer down harder than I mean to. The clang echoes through the smithy, sharp and hollow, and for a moment I just stand there, staring at nothing.
Why can’t I stop thinking of her? The curvy little priestess with the wide blue eyes and the soft voice that didn’t match what she was asking for…what she was begging for.
I clench my jaw. I’ve heard what happened to the others–the priestesses who gave in to the curse.
Hard not to–the whole damn town’s been talking about it.
A bunch of young priestesses, all begging for the roughest males they can find to take them and coming back ruined.
Bellies swelling, eyes changed, cast out of their precious temple and sent off to some halfway house for unwed mothers.
Then the whole lot of them giving birth to half-breed children.
They’ll never be able to go home again–Fae society doesn’t allow half-breeds. Especially when the half-breeds have any kind of animal in them.
Of course the males who got them that way don't care. Why would they? A quick fuck, a warm body, and then they move on. No responsibility. No consequences.
It makes something dark twist in my gut. I’m glad I didn’t do that to her–Gods, I’m fucking glad I didn’t take her like she begged me to.
But knowing she escaped that fate doesn’t stop the ache when I think of her. If anything, it makes it worse.
Because now I know what she feels like in my hands. I know the sound she makes when she’s coming. I know how soft she is, how warm—
“Mine.”
The word cuts through my thoughts, low and insistent.
I freeze as my Drake stirs under my skin, restless and sharp, pressing against the edges of me like he wants out. He’s been like this since our time with Elowen—more active, more aware. More…focused.
On her.
And he’s been talking–communicating–something he was never able to do before. I thought it was impossible–he’s just an Ash Drake after all. But it seems that the curvy little priestess woke something inside him.
“She is ours,” he rumbles in my head. “She needs us.”
I grit my teeth.
“She doesn’t need anything from us,” I mutter under my breath. “She’s back where she belongs–at the temple. And they don’t exactly welcome males there.”
I tell myself she’s safe–untouched. And not carrying some bastard’s illegitimate child.
But my Drake doesn’t like that answer. He shifts again, a low, simmering presence, pushing inside me.
“Not safe,” he growls.
I exhale sharply through my nose.
“She’s in a temple full of priestesses. How the fuck is that not safe?” I demand.
I get no answer–just that same restless pressure and the image of her.
The way she looked when she left me–still flushed and trembling. Still needing something she didn’t fully understand.
I close my eyes for a moment, trying to shake it off–to push the thought of her out of my head. It doesn’t work. Nothing’s worked.
Not the forge. Not the work. Not the long hours beating out hot metal, trying to wear myself out so I can sleep without seeing her face every time I close my eyes.
It’s like something hooked into me during that one encounter we had together and never let go.
“Go to her,” my Drake urges. “Must go to her. She needs us.”
“Fuck,” I growl softly and run a hand over my horns. All right, I can’t fucking stand this. I have to see her with my own eyes–I have to know she’s all right.
I grab my coat from where it’s hanging by the door and shrug it on without really thinking about it.
This is a bad idea–I know it is. Going anywhere near the temple is asking for trouble. Males aren’t welcome there, and if the Sisters catch me lurking around, I’ll be lucky if I just get chased off.
Still…my hand tightens on the doorframe.
I just need to see her…make sure she’s all right. That’s it–nothing more. As soon as I’m sure she’s fine, I swear I’ll leave.
I step out into the late afternoon light before I can talk myself out of it and head for the temple of the Goddess of Nature.
I have no idea that what I’m about to find there will change my life forever.