Chapter 68
Chapter Sixty-Eight
Eldrick
One night lying beside Tovi turned into three, and upon their return to the Drengr Village, Eldrick escorted her to his alpha quarters inside Lār.
That night, they simply held the other close under layers of furs and talked about everything from dreams to the simplest things.
Their favorite colors. The things they loved during childhood.
Palm to palm, they studied their hands flush together, listened to the other’s heartbeat, and whispered ridiculous teases until the fire went out and they surrendered to sleep.
Eldrick woke first with Tovi nuzzled into his side. He surveyed her curved figure like it was a magnificent mountain range, stretching from the head to the foot of his bed. The peaks of her breast, the valley of her muscular legs.
Stars above.
He wished to trek every inch of her, to study the terrain of skin, the edges of her mind, and the depths of her soul. Each and every piece, he wanted to learn and know it as if it were his second homeland.
And yet, his heart raced like some petrified rabbit. It was like every minute with her would be his last, as if their time was limited. There was still so much left ahead. Eldrick wanted to make it work.
More than anything.
More than . . . Eldrick shook his head. No.
Was it possible he wanted to be with Tovi more than being Earl?
Why couldn’t he have both? He’d never ask Tovi to renounce her title as queen to be with him.
He’d rather die under her blade than utter that selfish ask.
Not when he knew how important it was to her.
Tovi stretched, sighing as she found her new position, resting her head on his chest. Right then and there, as their bodies rose and fell together, Eldrick swore this was what he, his soul, and inner wolf yearned for.
The rightness should’ve brought comfort to him, but instead, a jolt of anxiety shot through him. What if he abandoned his duty?
A knock resounded on the door, and Tovi shifted awake.
“What time is it?” she murmured as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
The door swung open, and Yennifer barged into the room.
“It’s half past nine,” she said, leaving the door wide open.
“Moons!” Eldrick snarled, grasping the quilts to cover him and Tovi.
The queen’s head snapped up, and she released a brittle, ear-splitting screech. “Yen, what in the bloody hel?”
Yen, positively unbothered, called over shoulder. “You lot owe me ten silvers!”
“Ten silvers?” Eldrick stuttered. “What in the—“
“Aye!” Bétar stuck his head into the room. “My mate’s telling the truth—they’re both in here.”
The commander waltzed into Eldrick’s room next, chest puffed out and eyes focused ahead like some warhorse on the battlefield.
“Leave,” Eldrick said, a growl vibrating from his chest. He was far too aware that Tovi wore a silk slip and nothing else, barely covering her breasts and sex.
Bétar only chuckled.
Yen approached the end of the bed, arms crossed and a huff exhaling out of her as the archer’s sky-blue eyes widened with hurt. “Here I thought we were friends.”
Tovi shook her head. “We are! Did you really need to barge into our room to confirm that fact? Could it not have waited until breakfast?”
“Well, friends sleep and tell, Tovi,” Yen whispered. “I’d thought you’d have the decency to tell me yourself that you and Eldrick are . . .” She shrugged.
Tovi threw her hands in the air. “Bloody werewolves and their nosy ways. If you all must know, yes, Eldrick and I are—“ She stopped, eying his expression. “I swear to the Goddess, Eldrick, if you utter one contradiction, I’ll stand atop this bed and strip my nightgown off.”
“You’ll do no such thing,” Eldrick growled. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. “Please tell me there is another reason you disturbed our morning?”
Bétar wiggled his brows and nudged Yen’s shoulder. “Did you hear that? Our.”
Tovi bared her vampyr fangs and hissed a slew of curses in their direction. Red bloomed across her cheeks, and Eldrick liked seeing the usually poised and proud queen caught off guard. A smile tugged at his lips, his territorial wave receding.
Tovi swiveled her attention towards him and swatted his arm. “Don’t you dare enjoy this, wolf.”
“But I love the sight of you in my bed.” Eldrick winked.
“Goddess, I should’ve trusted my instinct!” Linx’s fiery-orange buns peeked past the door frame. “I knew the two of you couldn’t resist one another.”
Tovi’s mouth hung open. “Wait . . . if you’re here, Linx . . .”
“Ah!” Bétar clapped his hands together. “That’s also why we visited. Kade and Evelyn have returned. A bit different, I’ll warn you both.”
The mage planted her hands on her hips. “Indeed they are, but they retired to Kade’s cottage, wanting a bit of privacy.”
“What a novel idea,” Eldrick muttered.
Tovi leapt from the bed, and Eldrick reached for her, but she was quicker, darting out of his reach
“Tovi, get back in bed. Now.”
She stopped, planting a hand on her hip.
It made everything worse. The strap on her nightgown slipped, deepening the dip of fabric between her breasts.
The tension in the room thickened. Dangerously so.
Suddenly, it wasn’t just friends teasing friends—Eldrick’s wolf was screaming mine, mine, mine, moments from unleashing and annihilating everyone in the room.
Stars above, it reminded Eldrick of Kade when they’d rescued Evelyn out of Drystan Castle. His mate. The thought—the similarity—worsened his wolf’s protective instinct.
It also made his mouth go dry.
Of course, what Tovi was to him had crossed his mind before. Before, Eldrick had let the thought come and go. It had been fleeting. Silly almost. She was a vampyr. A queen. He a werewolf.
Now, here in his room, there was no denying it, and the earlier fear he had about losing her grew.
Because losing Tovi would be like losing a part of his heart.
The thought turned him clammy, made the sheets stick to his bare torso while his blood rushed through him, cold and frigid and rooting him in place.
Which part of his heart could he survive losing?
“Your alpha voice thing doesn’t work on me,” Tovi said, breaking Eldrick from his racing thoughts.
She grabbed the nearest robe—Eldrick was certain it was actually his not hers. As she wrapped it around herself, she swam in the fabric. An evergreen velvet, one that drew out the undertones in her eyes.
“Better?” Tovi asked, her taunting brow making him really wish no one else was in the room. What he’d give to get on his knees before Tovi, disappear under the robe, and riddle her senseless with his tongue.
All to ease his worries with the sounds of her pleasure. A distraction.
Bétar coughed. “Moons. Let’s get out of here before something unfolds before us.”
Eldrick smirked, masking his bundled nerves, and Tovi’s jade eyes brightened, none the wiser.