PRIVATE MOMENTS
14
- MALAKAI -
M y plan to head straight to the caves has been diverted by a problem in the small village of Reapwood, just a few hours ride from the village of Vrolstead where a soldier frantically rode into right as I was leaving, his clothes splattered in blood. “We need help!” he shouts, dust still swirling around his horse’s hooves. “Ghouls have overrun the town. Please! I only have a small number of soldiers with me, we need any help we can get.”
His eyes hold the manic gaze of someone who has seen too much and doesn’t know what to do. Standing next to the local butcher, I turn to the few soldiers who were ambling out of the inn just across the street. “Grab your weapons and spread the word. Everyone should stay in their homes until the threat to the area passes.”
It takes longer than I’d like to get there, what should have been two hours tops turned into three so that we could warn any civilian we passed about the threat. When we arrive, all we find is mayhem. The dirt is soaked with blood. The small village only has a handful of shops formed in a semi-circle facing the main road. Houses are sporadically placed here and there. Bodies are scattered throughout the town, laying in the streets, or half inside a shop as if they tried to escape but didn’t make it. A few ghouls remain, gorging on the feast of their making. A woman catches my attention as she tries to crawl to safety, her leg bent at an odd angle. One of the ghouls spots her and begins walking towards her, its movements jerky and disjointed as it crawls on all fours. The creature’s neck tilts so far to the side as he examines his next meal that his head is almost completely sideways.
It reaches for her and her bloodcurdling scream splits the air. Just before it can dig its claws into her leg, I cut clean through its arm with my sword.
It turns its soulless black eyes to me, its mouth turning into a crooked smile, teeth dripping fresh blood. When it lunges at me, I slash it clean through its stomach. The ghoul shrieks as sludge oozes out, the sound so shrill that my teeth ache. In its writhing moment of pain, I cut its head clean off.
One glance around the carnage lets me know that the ghoul problem is not abating. If anything, they are attacking in populated areas more frequently than ever before. I walk to the soldier who came and retrieved me, his body beaten and bruised.
“Send word back to your commander. Have them send a unit to help rebuild the town and lay rest to its people. I’ll send word to the king and queen.”
When he departs, I spare a glance down at myself and grimace at the blood soaking my shirt, the fabric sticking to my skin. I pull it off and toss it into the pile of ghoul bodies that the soldiers are setting fire to.
Looks like I will be making the trip to the caves shirtless.
- ALANIS -
The chirping of birds wakes me. For a brief second, I think I’m back in my cottage in the Outskirts, though that’s a thought quickly lost when I register the hot as hell Fae wrapped around my body. I wiggle around, trying to get comfortable, when I hear him groan.
“Sunshine, I’m going to need you to stop moving.”
Pausing, I immediately feel his hard length against my ass. My cheeks redden and I’m at a loss for what to say.
I feel his smile on the back of my head. “Something wrong, sweet cheeks?”
“No,” I squeak. Damn my stupid voice.
“No?” he asks as he pushes his hips into me.
I gasp at the size of him. These damn Fae males are going to be the death of me. How is a girl ever supposed to enjoy a human man again if this is what they’re packing?
I wriggle around to face him, running my fingers up his throat and along his jawline. I lean up and, before I can convince myself not to, lick up the side of his throat all the way behind his pointed ears.
He shudders, but before he can do anything, I yank myself free.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he practically growls at me.
I give him the sweetest smile I can. “To get breakfast, of course. Better hurry, lollipop, wouldn’t want you to go hungry.”
I give him a wink and flit outside. Hearing him curse and grumble makes me laugh so loud that it draws the attention of every person around the campfire catty-corner from our tent. When I just wave, the soldiers return to their eating, the sound of metal spoons clanking inside bowls the only sound. I spot Hannah, but have no time to say anything before she is launching herself at me.
“Don’t you ever scare me like that again.”
“I’m so sorry I scared you, Han.”
“You look much better this morning,” Siveral says as I join him at the campfire.
“Are you saying I looked like shit before?” I tilt my head at him and prop my hands on my hips.
“Dear Gods, you are a ball buster. I almost feel bad for Kailu.”
I laugh, bumping my shoulder into his.
“She really is a pain in the ass. I wasn’t being dramatic.” Kailu’s deep voice fills the space.
“How are you doing this morning? Hopefully it wasn’t too hard waking up.” My innuendo isn’t lost on him as he pulls his lips back in a feral smile. “Let me guess. He shifts into an opossum. A rabid one.”
Siveral coughs to cover up his laugh. I wink at him before turning to grab some food, the oatmeal now cold and slightly congealed. And yet, as I settle in to eat, I become abruptly aware of the way everyone is looking at me.
It’s Siveral who breaks the silence. “Alanis, I know you went through hell yesterday, but we have some questions.”
The blond Fae I don’t know snorts. “We all went through hell yesterday.”
Siveral ignores the interruption. “Alanis, what did the Banshee say to you?”
I suck in a breath, my mind immediately latching back onto raw fear. Something changed, though, when I refused to cower.
She changed.
Became more human.
She became who she was before the curse. I swallow hard and look into each set of eyes around the fire. They are on this dangerous journey, too. They deserve to know what they’re walking into. So I tell them everything, leaving no detail out—save for my plan to set her free.
- KAILU -
I don’t take my eyes off Alanis the entire time she tells her story. Anyone with eyes can see her physical beauty, but she is so much more than that. She’s whip-smart and has one of the purest hearts I have ever seen.
She let go of her fear as she faced the Banshee and saw her for the human she used to be rather than the cursed monster the rest of us saw. She saw through this creature down to its core and brought back the human that has probably been gone for centuries.
Of course, Orion, the blond Fae bastard, has to ruin the moment. “That’s all well and good, but I think we need to focus on the fact that the creature flat-out told Alanis she is being targeted. Which, might I add, brings the threat of death to anyone near her.”
I grind my teeth together, taking a deep breath. Out of the corner of my eye I see Alanis pale, but she nods her head in understanding.
“If anyone does not feel comfortable continuing on this mission,” I say as calmly as I can, “please speak now and I will make sure you get assigned somewhere new. I need everyone here to be focused and willing. I will not force you.” I take a pause and wait.
It’s Hendrix and the humans who stand. “We will continue and help save our men. We won’t leave them behind.”
I look to Siveral next and he gives a nod. I already knew he wouldn’t be going anywhere. Not just because he wants to save our men, but I think he may have a thing for the little blond, Hannah. Gods bless him if she’s as stubborn as Alanis.
“Orion brought up a good point, though,” I continue. “With these creatures actively hunting Alanis, we can’t risk them following her into towns and villages. If we need to venture into more populated areas, a group of men will stay back with Alanis while the rest of us go. Is that acceptable for everyone?”
Everyone nods. Orion stays quiet.
I look to him, unable to mask the annoyance on my face. “We’re all waiting on you, Orion. I don’t need any weaklings slowing us down.”
Orion bristles at the insult. “Yeah, sure, let’s get on with it.”
He gets up and stomps to his horse like a petulant toddler.
Everyone clears away from the campfire, each packing up their campsites. By the time I’ve packed the bedrolls and tents and given them to the few soldiers who take care of the packhorses that carries our supplies, I find Alanis petting Zephyr, so I sneak up behind her, snaking my arms around her waist.
I lean down to whisper in her ear. “I think we have some unfinished business.”
With a snort, she glances over her shoulder at me. “Oh, we do? I’m sure I have no clue what you’re going on about.”
I growl in her ear and she shudders. “Insufferable woman.”
Pulling her with me, I try to gain some semblance of control. We are just out of sight of the camp, tucked behind a birch tree so no wandering eyes can see, and a good distance away that Siveral and the other Fae won’t be able to hear…much.
I spin her, pushing her back against the skinny white trunk of the tree. I’ll be damned if I have her like this the first time, but a taste won’t hurt. I encircle her wrists with one hand and drag her arms above her head, pinning her wrists to the tree. She smirks at me, arching her hips forward.
I trail kisses along her throat, pressing my hips into hers. She lets out a breathy moan that makes me weak in the knees. Dear Gods, this woman is going to be the death of me. I walk my fingers down to the button on her trousers and pop them open. I’m so engrossed in everything Alanis that I don’t hear when someone approaches.
A throat clearing jerks me out of my trance and Alanis jumps, her cheeks instantly turning a bright red.
“Glad to see you two finally getting along and not going for each other’s throats…” Siveral pauses. “Well, I guess technically you still are. But in any case, we need to get moving.”
“Yeah, yeah, we’ll be there in a second.” I straighten, helping Alanis fasten her trousers, her breathing still ragged. Leaning in, I give her a quick kiss. Anything more and I will lose myself in her again.
The next few days play out the same. Alanis and I sneak off after breakfast to learn one another’s mouths. But we never get the opportunity, time, or privacy to go much further since Fae hearing wouldn’t even make our tent private. We steal glances and sly touches, but still bicker over absolutely everything.
I refuse to tell her how much I enjoy it, scared that emotions will get involved.
Every night we set up camp, Alanis retreats to the tent she shares with Hannah almost immediately after dinner. Sometimes, though, I wake up in the middle of the night to kisses being planted up my chest.
Those are the best nights.
Those are the nights that my nightmares don’t plague me.
It’s just reaching midday on the fourth day when I slow Zephyr at the sight of twinkling lights just ahead. I stop at the two massive willow trees, water in a stream trickling past. Their long branches cloak the entrance, creating a soft green curtain in front of the cave’s mouth. A damp, earthy smell seeps out from the dark opening.
“The Celestial Cave,” Alanis breathes.