Chapter Fifteen
Cian
WE SPEND ALL DAY OUT in the fields and forests, foraging for berries and nuts, green leaves, and flowers fresh from the vine and root. But too soon, the afternoon closes in towards evening.
Hunter shifts first. “Come on. No sense putting this off.” He rises to his feet and extends his hand to me.
I shift and grab it, letting him pull me up. This is it. The challenge. By law, it has to happen, but nothing says it must happen in front of the court.
“What will you do?” he asks, his expression serious.
His glance takes in Ayala, who remains in doe form, for which I’m glad.
Nakedness among our people is second nature, as it is for all shifters, though it’s polite to wear clothing when in human form.
But I still prefer Hunter to see her with her fur on.
“After? We’ll leave. I’m thinking of Tauro. They’re friendly, they practice earth magick, and I’ve had favorable dealings with their king. He’ll accept us, I’m sure of it, especially if you send us with a diplomatic sigil.”
If anything, Hunter only looks sadder as he nods his assent. “This is intolerable, Cian. Because you had to mark her, I’m losing my best friend, the closest thing to a brother I’ve ever known. It’s not fair.”
“No.” It’s not. But it still feels right, though I’ve betrayed my god, my kingdom, and my best friend. “Anyway, we won’t stay away forever.” Though we might.
He nods again before looking up. “I don’t feel... Wishful thinking, I suppose, but I was about to say that I don’t feel an enormous change in the power radiating from you.”
“There’s a difference. I can feel it. I don’t know if it’s half, but it’s lessened in me.”
“But maybe that’s still enough to rule?”
I clap him on the shoulder. “I have no regrets. It’s time. Issue your challenge.”
Suddenly, he reaches out, his hand cupping behind my neck as he drags my forehead against his. We breathe each other’s breath as he forces resolve up from his heart to do what must be done. “I. Challenge. You.”
Whisps of air blistered with three words, but everything changes.
When we break apart, we walk ten paces in opposite directions, and when we reach our mark, we turn and charge each other.
Human forms: more breakable, less deadly. Not all challenges end in death.
At first, I think to simply fall to my knees under his grip, but then the training of my youth kicks in. We’ve wrestled a million times. I’ve always been stronger, but he was nearly my equal.
Now, though, I find myself slipping as we rain fists, kicks, and will against each other. Just a little. Not a lot. Just enough to know I’m going to lose.
The reality of what I’ve chosen hits me like a crumbling wall of stone. After he lands a blow to my thigh, I dodge and try to grip him around the waist to take his back to the ground, but he spins and lands a blow to my shoulder.
And I can’t get up as I used to. Instead of a flood of power, there’s a numb sensation in my limbs. My breath isn’t bolstered by enough magick. I pant as he remains unaffected.
Except his eyes. He’s crying. By Cernunnos, he’s crying... and I can’t gain my breath. I can’t move, not even when his hand flies out and grips my neck, but from somewhere I find the strength to tumble him over my shoulder, breaking the bond before I surge backward.
I catch sight of Ayala. She’s also crying, and like Hunter’s tears, these rip me into shreds. Does don’t normally cry in shifted form. To see it destroys whatever resistance I hold. Fighting... fighting and winning means losing her to assassination eventually. I know it as sure as I breathe.
And I can’t bear the thought. Better to end the fight now. It’s already lasted longer than I imagined it would, because Hunter was right: I may not be as powerful as I was, but I’m still strong.
He grips my throat and takes me back down to the ground. I go limp. No sense fighting any longer.
“I cede.”
Hunter releases me before hauling back and punching me square in my jaw.
His lip curls as the blow radiates pain through me.
“You fucking, fucking bastard. You didn’t lose an ounce of strength.
You lost your will.” He spits on the ground next to my head before rising to his feet.
“I could hate you if I didn’t love you so well. ”
Before I can respond, he stalks off, shifting mid-stride and continuing in a run so fast, it seems he’s chased by a thousand demons.
Ayala shifts back into human form and throws herself to her knees beside me. I catch her in my arms and spread her small weight over my aching bones. It wasn’t much of a fight, but it was enough to leave me winded and bruised.
“I’m so sorry, Cian. I’m so sorry.” She’s sobbing into my neck, distraught by what she witnessed and, maybe, from a guilt she shouldn’t own.
All of this was my doing. She isn’t used to men trying to tear each other to pieces.
She can’t know that both Hunter and I held back the worst of our brutality so as not to seriously injure each other.
“It’s fine. I’m fine. Sshh.” I use my abs to lift my head and grab her face in my hands to better spread kisses over her skin until our lips meet and hold. She kisses me like I’m all the lost answers she’s always sought. I know she’s mine.
Suddenly, with a growl that’s the cutest imitation of my own, she pushes at my chest. I fall back easily. The sweetness of her pools in my bones.
“Ayala...”
“Shut up.” She runs her cunt up over my stomach and down.
.. and down... until she finds my cock, already hardening.
Reaching back, she maneuvers over me until I’m centered.
And throbbing. I’m already throbbing for her.
Slipping inside on a glide of wetness as she sinks upon me, I hiss at the incalculable fire that lights my entire being.
By Cernunnos, nothing has ever felt this good. Only her. And I still don’t understand why.
But maybe the why of it all doesn’t matter. It just is: a lightning strike, a flame, a need.
“Oh, that’s so good,” she whispers. “You’re stretching me so wide. I’m so full, like I’m going to burst.”
“Good girl, such a good girl for your mate,” I croon, urging her on.
It’s what I admire about her. Lowborn she might be, powerless before today, but she takes risks that most highborn never would.
And now she’s seeking to tame me, which just melts my heart a little bit more.
Up and down, she rides my cock, picking a rhythm that’s slower than I prefer, but one that hardens my balls into aching nuts. She’s beautiful above me with her cheeks flushed and her eyes sparkling—with her mouth bowed with lust and desire.
And when her legs lose their rhythm, I take over, moving her up and down over me, angling so I find the spot I need to unwind her. Her breath comes in pants. Red flushes her skin. Her nipples, fine points, burn into my palms as I squeeze them for her greater pleasure and mine.
And somehow, somehow, I don’t come like a green youth, even though the pain of holding in my seed is like acid bile. I wait until she screams her pleasure before I spurt like an unending fountain.
When she collapses down atop me, I hold her close, spreading kisses and caresses. “I love you, Ayala,” I whisper in her ear.
“I love you too, Cian,” she says, breath hot against my chest.
And all is right with the world.