His long legs carried them over shadowy crevices and huge boulders, traversing long shafts in a cave so dark Aida wondered they didn’t tumble and break their necks. As though he could see it all clear as day, wild leaps and scuttling declines were nothing to him.
Aida moaned as a lurch up a steep incline rubbed her breasts against him, the hardened points of her nipples chafing against his hot flesh. Somehow, her lips found his shoulder, tongue feeling the dainty impressions of her teeth so that she could suck and lick at the deep scar.
Roaring, he slammed her back into the rough wall, grinding his thick length against her.
Aida lost sense of anything at all except the musky taste of cedar on her tongue and the vicious sounds of the male who crushed his lips against her own.
* * *
Aida groaned as she came awake, uncertain which part of her body hurt more and what she should see to first. Every inch felt abraded, as if scoured with Immari’s pumice stone and the harsh lye the laundress used to keep Aida’s gowns a pure white. Her limbs ached, she felt bruised, and she was almost certain the scratchy tickle at her shoulder was the mark of old blood.
She chanced lifting herself to an elbow, peering around with bleary eyes at the strange scene she found herself in. Furs, blankets, and even a few scattered cushions were arranged all around her and not in the aggravating way Er’it did them. Every line and swell soothed her in a way she’d never felt before, something even Er’it’s purr could not compare to as she rolled to a hip and took in more of her surroundings.
Dim orbs of amber and flickering gold hovered along the smooth contours of the low ceiling. The pale gray stone reflected back the light to illuminate the cramped chamber along with its other occupant. Sound asleep, Er’it lay sprawled half on top of her, his arm curled tight about her waist. Raven hair fanning out in reckless abandon across the dark pelts, skin aglow from the rich light of the orbs, he appeared as if from another world. None of the harshness furrowed his brows, the fine lines around his eyes lax. His mouth soft, she would swear there was a hint of a smile there as he breathed in deeply.
His rumbling sigh as he exhaled and curled around her lower half did not frighten her a bit, and neither did the way his hand clamped upon her waist to drag her back down into the furs against his body.
“Sleep more,kou’vera,” he said against her ear in a hoarse whisper.
“I’m hungry,” she mumbled back, realizing with a start that she was indeed starving. Thirsty, too. Licking her lips, she found them split and chapped.
Er’it pried a single eye open, the narrow slash of topaz taking in the faint crease of her forehead and the downward turn of her lips as her stomach made its dissatisfaction known. Groaning, he flung his weight on top of her, burying his face against her neck to place warm kisses there. Ignoring Aida’s breathless squeak of surprise, his blind hand slapped against the stone until it found what he sought. The whisper of leather against rock brought a satchel and waterskin bumping against her side before Er’it rose above her, his even white teeth dazzling her as he smiled.
“Then, you shall eat.”
His grin unnerved Aida given his prior recalcitrance, though it sparked a flame within her breast—a dancing light that grew into a steady roar as he helped her to sit up and lounge between his legs. Leaning Aida against his chest, he opened the satchel to place a large slab of jerky into her hand.
“Eat slowly, Aida. I would not have you be sick,” he said before taking a piece for himself and tearing into it with ravenous delight.
Murmuring wordless agreement, Aida nibbled at the spiced meat and basked in the incredible sensation of fire licking through her veins. It wasn’t the same as when Er’it called to her, exciting her for their rutting. This relaxed her, leaving her pliant in his arms while he fed her one tidbit after the next as soon as she finished the jerky. A wealth of food devoured between them, they emptied two waterskins in addition, both starved and parched.
“I feel as if I haven’t eaten in weeks,” Aida said, chuckling at the very notion. She must have spent more energy than she’d thought, as Tor’en and Er’it always warned her she did. Those blurred moments as Er’it raced through the caves confused her, but she must have drawn on her power then, leaving him to keep the others safe as she lost her tenuous control.
“Not quite that long.” Er’it laughed as well, though it was husky and dark. Tinged with carnal thoughts that flitted through Aida’s mind, visions of her snarling and growling beneath him, demanding more…
Aida screamed as one clear vision raced between them—Er’it’s head between her legs, her fingers tangled in his hair as she directed him. The very thought stunned her, but even as the scene unfolded behind her clenched eyelids, she could feel the coarseness of his tongue, the sharpness of his teeth, and the unsatisfying stretch of his fingers. Scrambling away from him, she crouched at the edge of the perfect ring of softness to stare at him with eyes wide and mouth working, though no words could escape the tight clench of her throat.
Er’it rolled to his knees, cautious as he extended a hand to bring Aida back into his arms. Lips becoming a hard slash, his brow furrowed as he snapped his fingers in quick succession. “Aida, come—”
“Notthatlong?” Aida demanded in a shriek, pressing her back against the cold stone to avoid even a glimmer of his tantalizing warmth.
“Six days, seven if the sun has set.” Er’it shook his head, sending his locks tumbling around his face to whisper over his shoulders. “Do you not remember?”
“I… I remember…” Aida’s face and chest felt flushed, heat prickling her cheeks as her gaze became drawn to the thick strands of his hair curled around his muscular chest. The desire to lick at the faint sheen coating his rich skin, to taste something thick and salty upon her tongue overwhelmed Aida. Flashes of memory suggesting she’d done just that too many times to count made her groan, splayed hands covering her shame. “By the Abyss!”
Aida whined when Er’it caught her about the waist, his bulky arms wrapping tight around her as he dragged Aida back into the rumpled nest. Carrying her to the softness of their bed, he slung a leg over both of hers to pin her there while he tugged the blankets over their heads. He gave her a dark, safe space to burrow into as she sniffled, her tears spattering his shoulder as the whole of it came rushing back in mangled, disjointed images.
“Why do you weep,kou’vera? You were magnificent.”
“It’s not… I shouldn’t…”
“My mate will not feel such shame for giving me so much of herself,” Er’it bit out, mauling her back and hips to crush her against him. It still wasn’t enough, so he rolled his oppressive weight on top of Aida so that he could grip the sides of her face.
In the darkness filled with their heated breaths, his growl was vicious. A possessive resonance that grinded through the delicate vertebrae of Aida’s spine, it pulled her into a painful arch with her head flung back. With a shuddering sigh passing her lips, she grew pliant beneath him.
This wasn’t the purr she knew from him, the one that left her dazed and filled with fuzzy warmth, and neither was it his call to entice her. The strange vibration called to a deeper part of her heart, dredging up feelings she had not examined under the cold light of day. Nor had she understood the implications of them all. Inundated with a furious tide of emotion, the sticky strands that connected their thundering hearts became steel binding them tighter than ever. Her every breath seemed to fill his lungs, the very force of him giving her life.
“Please,” Aida sobbed, her nails digging deep into the bunched muscles of his shoulders as she clung to him. Terrified she would spin off into the Abyss should she let go, Aida clawed at him until her scrabbling hands found purchase and drew blood. “Please, say it again.”
