Chapter 39
Raven
After what happened at the outpost, I need to just relax and soak away the carnage.
The water is blissfully hot, steam rising from the surface in lazy curls that drift toward the vaulted ceiling of the bathing chamber.
I sink deeper, letting the heat seep into muscles that still ache from battle, letting it wash away the grime and blood and ichor that cling to my skin like memories I can’t shake.
They were in my territory. On my lands. And I didn’t know.
The thought gnaws at me, sharp teeth worrying at my peace.
I’m supposed to be the dominant dragoness of this continent.
I’m supposed to know when enemies cross my borders, when threats gather in my shadows.
But they slipped past. They set their trap.
They nearly killed my nest father before I even realized something was wrong.
Shaking my head, I submerge fully and dive to the bottom of the bathing pool.
The water closes over me like a cool embrace, muffling the sounds of the world above. Down here, there’s only the pressure against my eardrums, the faint blue glow of bioluminescent tiles set into the pool’s floor, the gentle pulse of my heartbeat echoing in my skull.
There’s peace in the embrace of the deep water.
I lay on the bottom and close my eyes, letting the weight of the water press against every inch of my body.
My wings spread out on either side of me, the leather membranes drifting with the subtle currents, my hair floating around my face like black silk.
The pressure soothes something in me—something primal, something that remembers when my ancestors hunted in the depths of ancient seas.
Part of me wants to go to my private hot spring, the one just beyond the egg chamber that I carved out of solid rock with my acid. That place is mine alone—a sanctuary where I can truly disappear, where the volcanic sand cradles my body and the absolute darkness hides me from the world.
But I need to be found quickly. If something happens, if Nova needs me, if another attack comes—I can’t be hidden away in my secret place. So the family’s bathing chamber is the most accessible option. A compromise between the solitude I crave and the responsibility I can’t escape.
There’s a disturbance in the water.
I feel it before I see it—a shift in pressure, a ripple of displaced liquid, the subtle vibration of someone entering the pool. My dragoness stirs, instantly alert, but the familiar scent that reaches me even through the water makes her settle.
Keir.
I roll over onto my stomach and watch, my sapphire eyes tracking the dark shape descending through the water above me. By the build—lean and muscular, moving with the fluid grace of a predator—I know it’s him. My blink hound. My safe place.
Slowly, I swim forward, propelling myself with gentle kicks, and surface a few feet in front of him.
“Holy shit!”
Keir yells and falls backward into the water, his arms pinwheeling, his stormy gray eyes going wide with shock. Water splashes everywhere, droplets catching the light from the torches mounted on the walls, and I can’t help it—I laugh.
The sound echoes through the chamber, bouncing off stone and water, and it feels good. After everything that happened today, it feels so good to laugh.
I move to the side and lean on the edge of the pool, my back facing him. The stone is cool against my forearms, a pleasant contrast to the heat of the water lapping at my shoulders.
“Sorry.” I rest my head on my forearms and close my eyes. The apology is halfhearted at best—I’m not actually sorry at all.
“It’s fine.” I can hear the smile in his voice, the way his breathing is already settling back to normal. “I had a bet with Hemlocke about which body of water you’d be in. Apparently, I won.”
I look over my shoulder to see him grinning at me, water streaming down his face, his dark hair plastered to his forehead. Those stormy gray eyes are churning with amusement, the colors shifting and swirling like clouds before rain.
“You’ve always had a knack for finding me.” I lay my head back down and close my eyes again, letting the warmth of the water and the steady presence of my mate soothe the jagged edges inside me.
“Need to talk? Or just want someone close?”
I feel his hand rest on my lower back, just above my hips, and I sigh at the contact. His palm is warm against my skin, his touch gentle but sure. The tension I’ve been carrying since the outpost loosens slightly, like a knot being carefully worked free.
“A little of both.” I keep my eyes closed, focusing on the sensation of his hand, on the steady rhythm of his breathing, on the way the water ripples around us both. “Today was a lot.”
I feel Keir press his body against my back, the solid warmth of him molding to my curves.
The fabric of his swim trunks brushes against my bare skin, and I notice—he’s the only one of my mates who lets me tell him what I want.
Who waits for me to set the pace. The others know I can’t resist them naked, and they use that knowledge shamelessly.
Keir gives me a choice. Always.
“What’s bothering you?” He kisses the side of my neck, his lips soft and warm, before moving off to the side to lean on the edge of the pool with me. His shoulder presses against mine, a solid point of contact that grounds me.
“I turned four mages to stone in human form.”
The words come out flat, matter-of-fact, but beneath them is a churning sea of emotion I’m still trying to navigate. I lift my head and then my left wing, draping the leather membrane over his back and pulling him closer. He fits perfectly against my side, as if he were made to be there.
“Seeing Abraxis rendered defenseless, the magic chains they had on him.” I shake my head, the memories flashing behind my eyes. His massive drake form bound and helpless. The fear in his eyes—not fear for himself, but fear for me. “How I saw genuine fear in his eyes.”
I turn and wrap my arms around Keir, pressing the bridge of my nose to his throat. His pulse beats steadily against my skin, and I breathe him in—the clean, electric scent of ozone that clings to all blink hounds, underlaid with something warmer. Something that’s just him.
“Abraxis has a long military career.” Keir’s voice is soft, thoughtful. His hands come up to hold me, careful of my wings, cradling me against his chest. “Until Thauglor hatched, he was the strongest black dragon on the continent.”
He presses his lips to my cheek; the kiss lingering.
“Kids always have a hero worship of a parent. You knew of his history before his injury. So seeing that strong male helpless—it messes with your head.”
“Yeah.” I pull back slightly, looking into his eyes. The stormy gray depths are calm now, steady, reflecting my face back at me with perfect clarity. “It bothered me more when I carried him home, then came back here.”
I pause, organizing my thoughts, trying to put into words the revelation that’s been settling into my bones since I held my nest father while he cried.
“I’ve misunderstood him all this time. He wasn’t mad at me.” The truth of it still stings, still shames me. “He was jealous. Jealous that I healed and can fly like nothing happened, while he’s still grounded by his injury.”
I turn and walk Keir backward through the water, guiding him with gentle pressure until he sits on the submerged steps at the shallow end of the pool.
The water laps at his chest, droplets rolling down his skin.
I climb onto his lap, facing him, my thighs bracketing his hips, my wings spreading slightly for balance.
“Jealousy does funny things to people.” Keir smiles up at me, his hands finding my waist beneath the water, his thumbs tracing small circles on my hip bones. “Like... I get jealous that Solaris had the first baby.”
His admission surprises me. Keir rarely talks about wanting children—rarely talks about wanting anything beyond my happiness.
“But then I remember that I’m the one you always go to when you just need to be held.” His smile softens, becoming something tender and vulnerable. “I’m your safe place. And that means so much to me, especially since I’m not a dragon.”
He holds my gaze, those stormy eyes churning with emotion.
“You trust me to keep you safe.”
The words hit me somewhere deep, somewhere I didn’t know was bruised until he touched it. I reach up and cup his face in my hands, feeling the slight stubble along his jaw, the warmth of his skin.
“You protect my heart so fiercely, I would swear you are a black dragon at times.” I smile as I lean forward and kiss his lips softly, tasting the mineral tang of the bath water, feeling his breath catch against my mouth.
When I pull back, his eyes have darkened, the gray deepening to something closer to slate.
“So what’s next on your list of things to do?” He tilts his head to the side, watching me with that patient, knowing expression he wears so well.
“You, if I’m lucky.”
The words come out lower than I intended, husky with a need that has nothing to do with the day’s violence and everything to do with the male beneath me. I scoot forward until I can press my chest against his, feeling his heart beat fast against my skin.
“Are you sure you’re okay with that?” Keir’s hands tighten slightly on my hips, but he doesn’t move. Doesn’t push. He always checks to make sure my head is in the right place, always gives me the space to change my mind.
It’s one of the reasons I love him.
“Yeah.” I nuzzle against his jaw, pressing a kiss to the spot just below his ear. “I’ve missed you. Tonight’s your night with me.”
My hands slide down his chest, feeling the planes of muscle beneath my palms, the ridges of his ribs, the trail of hair that leads down from his navel. I find the string on his swim trunks and tug it loose with practiced ease.
The second it’s untied, I slip off his lap and float back slightly, giving him room.
“Get undressed.”
Keir grins at me—that mischievous, boyish grin that makes him look younger than his years—and winks.
Then he blinks out of existence.
The water rushes into the space where he was, a small whirlpool marking his absence. I have just enough time to laugh before he reappears, rising from the water like some kind of ridiculous sea god.
Naked. Hard. Arms thrown wide in a theatrical presentation.
“Tada!”
I can’t help it. I laugh—really laugh, the sound echoing off the stone walls, my whole body shaking with it. His antics are ridiculous. He’s ridiculous. And I love him for it.
“Silly male.” I push him to sit back on the stairs again, my hands on his shoulders, guiding him down.
Then I straddle his lap and sink down onto his hard length, taking him in one smooth motion.
The feeling of him filling me steals the breath from my lungs. My head falls back, my wings spreading wide, my fingers digging into his shoulders as I adjust to the stretch, the fullness, the perfect way he fits inside me.
For a moment, we’re both still. Both breathing hard. Both caught in that exquisite tension between movement and stillness.
Then Keir’s hands grip my hips, his stormy eyes lock onto mine, and we move together—finding our rhythm, losing ourselves in each other, washing away the horrors of the day in the oldest comfort known to any species.
We take our time worshiping every inch of each other as we move slowly together.
Every stroke, every caress, I swear he’s saying I love you.
He kisses me softly as he lifts me up and lets the water support my weight as he moves.
I feel his knot inflate, that mass hitting my sex drives me nuts.
When I least expect it, he drives it home, sinking deep into me.
We’re locked together and I cry out as my orgasm washes over me.
He follows me over the edge, and I am so very grateful we’re in the water.
His knees give out just as he reaches back for the stairs.
He pulls me up to sit and just holds me.
There're no words needed for moments like this with Keir.
Sometimes just being with him is enough to heal my battered soul.