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Fingers crossed staying here was a good idea after all…
12
TAJ
I wish I could say that outing my profession was a planned gamble. But it was only weariness and annoyance that made me give a whole damn speech about the Drakoryas to the bitch running this fine establishment, and I honest to the gods hope that I haven’t made a huge mistake.
If rumors of a military man with a bunch of Wildmen—and a wild woman, probably—reach the ears of the Temple or the army, we’re toast. I have no doubt that everyone is currently looking for us. If we’re lucky, they think we’re dead in a ditch somewhere and have turned their attention to other matters.
Depends how afraid they are of a Fae omega and her clan.
The existing clues point to a healthy dose of fear.
As in, a fucking ton of it. The Temple is either terrified or horrified at the perspective, and why not both? After all, the imperial council issued that damn missive about Fae-blood and the land is up in arms about it. Most people don’t need much of an incentive to start rounding others up and torching them. There’s a kind of magic in hurting others. You think it will help you. That their pain will turn your luck around.
It never works, though. You never get what you want.
Then again, it’s never stopped people over the centuries from giving it a go, you know… just in case it was them causing your bad luck, your bad crops, your sick animals, your cheating spouse. Not your fault, but theirs.
We’re a sad lot, we humans. Not that I think the Fae were any better. We obviously share some distant ancestor somewhere down the line, or we wouldn’t have been able to mix in the first place. So it makes sense that we share more, more than families and babies, all the good and bad traits.
“Taj, come on,” Ariadne says.
She has placed our fur mantles over the two beds for extra warmth. A vent in the wall brings heat from the central fireplace into the room, though, so that it’s cozy. I’m in danger of thawing, of relaxing, and it’s what I wanted but now I’m fucking scared that the reality of this whole crazy endeavor will take advantage and shove past the shock, becoming crystal clear.
I have left my old life behind. It’s over. Too late to go back.
And though I’ve accepted it, or think I have, it’s still a blow.
I wonder how long it will take until I’ve digested the truth of it and stop being shocked every time I look back.
Sorcha, Denik, Fain, the closest I’ve ever had to friends, lieutenants and soldiers. Not real friends but the closest to a family I’ve had.
I won’t be seeing them again.
And despite feeling as sure as I can be that this is where I wanna be, with Ariadne and these guys, yeah, it’s still a fucking punch to the guts.
“Taj.” Her small hand slips into mine, warm and soft. “Are you all right?”
Turning without a word, I gather her into my arms, bury my face in her hair. Even filthy from the journey, it smells sweet, like her, and it calms me down.
She gasps softly, her arms going around my neck, and I become damn aware of her breasts pressed to my stomach, her soft curves, the heat of her skin, the darkness in her eyes.
Calm is overrated anyway. With a returning hunger that exhaustion had dimmed, I crush our bodies and our mouths together and groan into the kiss. Oh, fuck yeah, this is what I need; she is what I want. My body and mind are in agreement, though my body has the reins right now. Dimly I remember telling her she won’t be fully satisfied until she has her full clan, but what the hell do the books know? She’s aroused and wet, I can smell it lacing her natural sweetness with the heavier aromas of burnt sugar, peaches and cream.
Nowhere in the books was it said that an omega had to wait for her full heat or harem to fuck, right? Nowhere does it say that it’s all about babies, though those old crusty scholars who wrote them probably thought only of that.
This is about pleasuring my woman and finding my own release, it’s about marking her as mine and giving myself over to her. It’s about a bond that is building and building, like a house, like a nest where we will live out our days.
She rubs herself against me, and I lose the last vestiges of my control. I grab her, shove her against the closed door, lift one of her legs to wrap it around my thigh, my hard cock pressing into her belly. Layer upon layer of fabric thwarts my efforts to slide into her, not for lack of trying. I’m growling, my hands on her shirt, and the laces are already tearing, when someone grabs me from behind and hauls me back.
“What? What the fuck?” I whirl about, kicking and punching, snarling and biting, needing to claim what is mine, and find Finnen in my face, snarling right back.
“What the hell, man?” he yells in my ear. “Are you going to ravish her right here and now, with the inn-keeper due back in any moment? Want us to get kicked out in the cold of night? Where’s your famous military discipline?”
Panting, I turn my glare from him to Ariadne and my heart stops. She looks debauched, with a shredded shirt wrapped around her breasts, barely covering them, her hair loose, her lips bee-stung, her eyes kind of wide and wild.
She looks beautiful. She looks like an animal had a go at her.
