Chapter Twenty-Seven
Alaya
We are approaching the Gathering, the orange glow of the fire and raised voices telling me it has already started.
Quinn stops, and I turn back to him, smiling.
“Thank you for talking to me. Could we perhaps meet up again sometime? I’d love to learn more about your Gift and your life here.”
“I’d love that—assuming Domanikk ever lets you out of his sight.” He grins, open and easy, that unguarded warmth that reminds me so much of Heller.
I reach out and squeeze his arm gently. “I’ll find you. Promise.” I turn and head towards the clearing.
When I enter, my feet slow of their own accord, as if some deep instinct is warning me to turn back. Reth is already seated, leaning close to Domanikk, their heads bent in hushed conversation. The intensity in their postures tells me this is no casual exchange.
I force myself forwards, one reluctant step at a time, my boots scraping against the dirt.
I stop in front of Reth, my heart hammering against my ribs.
My body remembers the last time I stood here in this exact spot—the sudden movement, the crack of his fist connecting with my jaw, the explosion of pain, and then the darkness that followed, swallowing me whole.
He looks up.
I inhale sharply and hold my breath. For one moment—so fleeting I could have imagined it, so brief it might have been a trick of the flickering firelight—his eyes are unguarded.
The brutally controlled Alpha persona he must maintain to command respect and obedience, cracks and falls away.
And I see into the very depth of him, past the ruthless authority and calculated dominance, to something raw and vulnerable sleeping there—a yearning borne of obsession, dark, dangerous, and deadly.
It’s a hunger that could consume us both, a need so intense it makes my skin prickle with equal parts fear and something I don’t dare name.
Does he know I’ve seen it? Or is this another of his twisted punishments, showing me just enough to keep me trapped in his grasp?
Then his face goes blank. Empty.
“Not tonight, Alaya.” His hand flicks dismissively towards the empty chair beside Domanikk.
I don’t move. Every instinct in my body is screaming at me that something is wrong.
His jaw clenches. “For fuck’s sake, sit down.”
I slide into the seat beside Domanikk. When I glance at him, questioning silently, he just shrugs.
I start to eat—warm vegetable stew, fresh bread, and plenty of Fae Wine. Domanikk drains his glass in three long swallows and immediately reaches for the jug again, sloshing more into his glass.
Throughout it all, while we chat between ourselves, I feel Reth’s eyes on me. His gaze is intense, unwavering, almost burning into the side of my face. I try to ignore it, try to focus on the conversation happening around me, but I can’t shake the awareness of his attention.
“Did you enjoy meeting Quinn?” Domanikk asks.
“Yes. We chatted about his life here, his Gift.” I pause, glancing towards Reth. “I’ve never heard of a Horse Whisperer before.”
Reth doesn’t look up from his plate. “When we find them, we kill them.”
No inflection. No hesitation.
“Quinn seems harmless enough.”
“Quinn is an anomaly.” He tears into a piece of bread, his sharp white teeth flashing “Annoying, but useful.”
“Why kill the others?”
“Too dangerous.” He takes a slow sip of his wine. “Imagine that bastard King wielding an army of Horse Whisperers against us. We would never have survived as long as we have.”
The firelight flickers across his face. I set my fork down, weighing my next words.
“Does he know you have Quinn?”
The question hangs between us. We’ve barely spoken more than a few clipped words to each other since I’ve been here, and now this—an actual conversation.
“He doesn’t, and he won’t.” His jaw tenses. His eyes dart to me, sharp and pointed.
A piece of carrot lodges in my throat. I cough, eyes watering, and I grab my wine glass, gulping it down. The liquid burns my throat, but at least I can breathe again.
I know too much now. He’ll never let me leave.
The thought crystallises, cold and certain.
We eat the rest of the meal in silence.
After a while, I let my gaze drift down the table. Rawson is leaning close to a beautiful Equitae with long brown hair, gesturing wildly with his hands, making her laugh. Others are laughing too, joking, kissing. The firelight catches on their faces, warm and alive.
Something shifts in my chest, subtle but undeniable. This place—with all its violence and danger—has started to feel familiar in a way that unsettles me.
The constant tension, the ever-present threat—somehow it’s all become routine. Like I could belong here.
If things were different. If I’d had a choice. If I hadn’t been dragged here, kicking and screaming.
Domanikk’s hand slides under the table and squeezes my thigh. His eyes are half-lidded, unfocused, his movements loose and uncoordinated.
“You all right?” He leans over, his breath warm and wine-sweet against my ear.
“Can we just leave?” I whisper back, shooting a glance at Reth.
“Excuse us.” He leans towards Reth with an exaggerated wink. “More games to play.”
Then he rises, pulling me to my feet. His arm comes around my waist, tugging me close—though I’m fairly certain he’s using me to stay upright.
We stumble across the clearing towards his tent. His hand slides down to grab my rear, and I knock it away.
That’s when I catch it—a glimpse of piercing ice-blue eyes following our every move.
Domanikk is so drunk when we get back to the tent that he collapses fully clothed on the bed and is snoring within minutes.
I undress and crawl in beside him, pressing against his warmth and falling into a deep sleep.
A sharp pain in my belly jolts me awake, that strange tugging in my void pulling at me insistently. The tent is pitch-black, and Heartwood is silent outside. I have no sense of what time it is.
When I reach for Domanikk, my hand finds only empty space. Panic rises in my chest, that creeping dread of something being terribly wrong.
I fumble for my discarded clothes in the darkness and pull them on, leaving my boots behind since I can’t locate them. I trip over something on the floor as I make my way towards where I think the door should be, relief flooding through me when my hand finally finds the smooth flap. I step through.
Outside, stifling silence blankets Heartwood, but it only amplifies the forest sounds—high-pitched animal calls and rustling leaves carried on the breeze.
The moment I step outside, a sharper pain doubles me over.
That insistent pull in my belly grows stronger, and without thought or caution, my feet follow it.
Not far from the back of Domanikk’s tent, a barely visible track leads into the forest. As I pass between the trees, a surge of power washes over me, bringing with it a wave of anger and pain.
Voices drift towards me the further I go, and an orange glow appears ahead.
The strange pull slackens slightly, but as the voices grow louder, I step off the track and creep closer, hidden in the thick vegetation.
Domanikk and Reth stand in a small clearing, a lit torch casting dancing shadows across their tense faces. Even from my hiding spot, I can feel the anger radiating between them.
“What the hell is wrong with you, Reth? I can’t help if you won’t tell me. You’ve shut yourself off, and we all know that’s dangerous,” Domanikk says, his tone measured and careful.
“Nothing that’s any of your concern,” Reth replies, his throat so tight the words are delivered in a strained, choking whisper that’s more terrifying than a growl.
“You make it my business when you start acting irrationally. That’s my job—keeping you grounded while you lead Heartwood.”
“I’m in control.” He bites back sharply.
“Ceira mentioned you went for a run in the Barrens. Was that control?”
“That bitch should keep her mouth shut.”
Domanikk laughs. “I’m not the biggest fan for your choice of mares, but in her own twisted way, she cares about you.”
“You know what she’s like. You were there when she killed Tanna. She loses her mind to jealousy,” he replies, his tone dismissive.
“Does she have a reason to be jealous?”
Reth stills, staring at Domanikk from under furrowed brows, his eyes flaring. “What do you mean?”
“I’m not fucking blind. I see how you look at her. She intrigues you.”
Reth moves lightning-fast, grabbing Domanikk around the throat. “She’s Earthbound Fae, Dom. Do you forget what her kind—what that bastard King—has done to us?”
I gasp as the realisation hits—they’re talking about me.
“You know I don’t,” Domanikk replies, covering Reth’s hand with his own, his fingers caressing his skin, his thumb swirling against his wrist.
Reth drops his hand, teeth clenched. “I don’t forget my Herd—slaughtered like animals and left discarded like nothing.
I don’t forget my mother’s eyes—that terror and hopelessness—as she watched her mate and children cut to pieces and then suffered the same fate.
I don’t forget his Thorn Gift tightening around my body, crushing me.
Being trapped in that thorny prison in the Barrens heat for days, knowing I was going to die. I never forget, Reth.”
His voice breaks as he kicks a fallen log across the clearing.
“It’s there every time I close my eyes to sleep, every time we ride into battle against that fucker. As I know it is for you. But she’s not him. Those aren’t her fingers you still feel digging into your chest. If you got to know her, you’d see she’s nothing like them.”
“What’s the point, when we both know she can’t stay?”
The silent pause hangs in the air, heavy and uncomfortable.
“Why not?” Domanikk almost whispers, as if he didn’t even want to say it out loud.
Reth growls low and threatening, lunging at Domanikk with his fist raised. Domanikk simply steps into him, grabbing his wrist before it connects. They stand chest to chest, Domanikk’s face tilted up towards his.
“Too much time between her legs has made you soft, Domanikk. We can’t keep her here—she’s too dangerous to everything we’ve built.
Unlike Quinn, he knows she’s here. I don’t know how much he knows about her, but his son will stop at nothing to get his wife back.
And if she returns into their hands, she becomes a threat to all of us. ”
“She really is quite alluring.” Domanikk brings his hand up and cups Reth’s cheek. Reth closes his eyes and leans into the touch.
The gesture feels intimate and private. I turn to leave, uncomfortable with spying on this moment.
“You’ve done well getting that information about the Prince and his father’s beatings from her. Nice to see you haven’t lost your touch,” Reth murmurs.
What?
A piercing anger shoots through me at Domanikk’s betrayal, but beneath it, something far worse—a crushing humiliation that makes my chest cave inward.
I feel like a fool for trusting him, for believing every gentle touch meant something, for falling for what I now recognise as his practiced seduction.
Every moment we shared replays in my mind, now tainted and twisted. I’d been so desperate for connection, so starved for someone to see me, that I’d let myself believe it was real.
The shame burns hotter than the anger. I’d let him in. I’d wanted him. And he knew exactly what he was doing.
“When the heat between those thighs keeps you warm, it’s not a hardship,” Domanikk drawls, and the words slice through me like a blade.
Reth’s eyes flash open, and he shoves Domanikk away, turning his back—towards where I’m still watching.
Domanikk stares after him, his mouth twisting into a smirk. “Is that it? Do you long to warm yourself inside her?”
Reth remains silent, but I see his fists clench at his sides, his shoulders tense and hunched.
Domanikk chuckles. “You know, you don’t have to ask permission. What’s mine is yours.”
Reth’s power surges with so much force I stagger backwards. The Shift is swift, blue mist still lingering as his stunning white Horse Form rears up, neck arched, front legs pounding the air.
Domanikk Shifts in a blinding surge of yellow light, but he’s much slower.
Reth barrels into his side just as he makes Horse Form, sending him staggering to his knees.
Reth’s large teeth clamp around his neck, his front legs stomping at what they can reach.
Their high squeals and pounding hooves echo through the trees as Domanikk scrambles to his feet.
They charge and buck around the clearing, teeth bared and snapping.
Red seeps into Reth’s white coat, and blood drips from Domanikk’s shoulder.
When they rear together, legs striking and entwined, the beauty of their violence resembles a fierce dance. They continue until their sides heave, sweat and blood matting their coats, nostrils flared red.
When they Shift back in unison, Reth starts to leave the clearing, but Domanikk grabs him from behind, hands splayed on his chest, pulling him close. He rises onto the balls of his feet and rests his head on Reth’s shoulder, his mouth near his ear.
His voice is low and husky, but I just catch his words.
“Let me ride your obsession; tame it like a wild mare,” he murmurs, his voice honeyed. “You’ll find it can be controlled with gentle hands and other such delights” His fingers trace a deliberate path downward, slipping beneath the waistband of Reth’s trousers with practiced ease.
Reth’s breathing turns erratic, shallow and quick, his chest heaving. His eyes flutter closed, lashes dark against flushed cheeks. The tension in his shoulders finally breaks, and he sighs—a sound somewhere between surrender and relief.
“Ride me,” he breathes.
As they start undoing their trousers with fumbling, urgent fingers, I take that as my cue to leave. This moment belongs to them alone, and I have no desire to intrude further.
I slip away as quietly as I can, my footsteps soft against the forest floor.
When I reach the winding path back to Heartwood, the cool evening air fills my lungs.
Behind me, carried on the breeze, I hear Reth cry out—a release full of pent-up tension and raw desire, echoing through the trees before fading into the night.