Page 25 of Betrothed

“What’s happening?” Fawn demanded. Her grip was sweaty around his neck, her heart beating as fast as a rabbit’s. “I heard someone. Who was that?”

“No one,” Zax lied. How much had she heard? Would she recognize Errol’s voice, or had she heard the hunter instead?

Finally, the treehouse loomed into view. He carried her through the window and set her down in their nest, then dropped his pack and went back to close the curtains.

“We must leave,” he announced.

Fawn sat up, clutching her cane so hard her knuckles paled. “Why?”

“Hunters,” Zax said, yanking the last curtain shut. He used to think he was so safe here, the curtains shutting the world out. Not anymore.

“They will attack in three days,” Zax continued, rushing around the treehouse and shoving even more supplies into the pack. “We must leave!”

Fawn stood with barely a wince, leaving her cane in her nest. “Zax. Zax! Stop!”

Zax stilled, his hands full of forks. He had not known how many utensils his wife would need, so he had stolen many.

Fawn paced over and took them from his hands. “Calm down. You said they’ll come in three days. We have time.”

“They will burn down the home I made for you,” Zax said desperately. He took her dear face in his hands, stroking gently along her freckles. He had not kissed each one. How had he not made the time? He should shower her with kisses every day, after they were safe.

He tried to pull away to continue packing. But Fawn pulled him back, placing his hands back on her soft cheeks.

“We have time,” Fawn repeated. She seemed strangely calm now, despite her panic earlier. There was still stress in her scent, but her face was so sweet he hardly noticed.

“It’s getting dark,” Fawn said. “We can sleep one more night in this place. Then leave to find your Anderfel brother, and we will make a new home together.”

Zax would be sad to leave this place. But it had only taken him six months to build it. Barely a blink in the life of a Skullstalker, even one as young as him.

“I thought we would be safe here,” he admitted. “I thought I would keep you safe.”

“You have,” Fawn whispered. Something flickered through her eyes, hot and sharp like the panic still in her scent. Then she kissed him, and the heat of her panic shifted to something even hotter.

Zax melted thankfully into the kiss. He circled her in his arms, lost in her sweet scent and her closeness. This was what he had wanted for so long: someone to lose himself in.

He kissed with every ounce of finesse Fawn had taught him, but it was difficult. He was inexperienced, and that was not even mentioning his fangs. He could not stop himself from licking eagerly into her mouth, crushing those sweet lips against his own.

Fawn pulled away, and Zax prepared to apologize.

But Fawn spoke over him. “Kiss my neck.”

Zax did.

“Softer,” Fawn gasped.

Again, Zax did. She clutched at him, rubbing his broken horn in a way that sent shivers through his entire body. He groaned, rocking his hardening cocks against her.

Fawn swallowed. Zax felt the movement against his lips. The air filled with the intoxicating aroma of her arousal, and Zax’s desperation to leave turned into a desperation he could still not completely fulfil.

“Zax,” Fawn said. “You should fuck me.”

Zax’s cocks throbbed. He leaned back to watch her eyes, her pupils swollen like prey about to be devoured.

“How?” Zax asked. “We have not visited my brother yet. Your body⁠—”

“I know,” Fawn said quickly. “Don’t put them both in. Not even one full cock, I think. Just… just the tip. Can you manage that?”

Zax nodded. She could have asked him anything at that moment, and he would have agreed.