“I thought we were taking this slow,” she teased.
“You do things to my self-control,” he grumbled underneath her. Laughing, she pulled away and found her meal, taking a loud bite. “I wasn’t done either.”
She waved a hand, hoping he continued.
“I loved Summer, but I missed the ideal life I wanted, and it was something she always felt bad about. I had always wanted to be in a big Andinna family, and you’ve given me that, without expectations. You understand me better than she ever did. It’s hard to admit because I really did love her, but…”
“She wasn’t Andinna. I’m not perfect, but I have the instincts to understand what’s expected of me now that I have the chance,” she finished for him, hoping she was right.
“Exactly,” he agreed.
“Eat,” she ordered, realizing he hadn’t even begun to pick out his own food. He narrowed his eyes, but she saw the smirk as he devoured a sandwich under her orders.
He had been craving a female who understood him and knew him. She was that female and was perfectly okay with being that for him.
They ate quickly, then he got up and helped her to her feet.
“Let’s go explore,” he declared. “I used to do this sort of thing with Matesh, then Rain.”
She followed him to the cliffside and was mystified by how he jumped down and grabbed the cliff. They would be climbing, not flying down. She joined him, laughing as water sprayed over them.
They climbed down together, finding a ledge where they could put their feet. He grabbed her and pulled her between him and the cliffside. Her heart pounded as his lips met hers again, his body pressed to hers. It echoed a moment, long ago, when she had only just met him, pretending to be lovers in Myrsten. She ran her hands over his shoulders and neck as he pressed a thigh between her legs and gave her something to grind on as the heat between them built.
Panting, he was the first to pull away.
“I know you didn’t do that with Rain or Mat,” she teased.
He growled as he reached for her. She ran toward the waterfall, laughing as she ducked behind it into a cavern.
Then she stopped laughing.
He bumped into her.
“Mave?” Rain whispered in shock.
Her heart was still pounding as happiness fled, replaced by shock.
“Fuck,” Alchan snarled, moving to protect Rain from their view, his bare back and ass covered in scratch marks from a lover.
There was only one option who that lover could be.
Alchan turned to see her, keeping Rain behind him. He was completely nude, bite marks on his collarbones. The fierce blaze in his amber eyes told her exactly what she had just walked in on. In the back of her mind, something screamed for her to back away slowly. This male would kill if she dared take a step closer to him or his object of affection, much the same way she might if someone threatened her with one of her males.
This was a bedru male, they were dangerously possessive, and she would lose in an unarmed fight against him.
“What the fuck is this?” Zayden snapped, and Mave realized her other problem. Behind her stood a father who was finding out his son was fucking their Skies damned King.
“Oh, no,” Rain said, stepping out from behind Alchan. “Father…”
Alchan snarled as Zayden took a step forward.
“Really?” Zayden snapped at their ruler. “You’re my commanding officer and my king, and you…”
Mave was paralyzed as her mind tried to figure out how she was going to get everyone out of the cavern alive.
“It was me,” Rain said quickly. “I started this. Please.”
Zayden snarled at his son, and Alchan responded in kind, stepping forward, closing the distance.
“Mine,” Alchan growled.
“Fine. But I’m not,” Zayden snapped. “Fuck you.” Zayden had the balls to spit on the ground between them.
Mave made her move as Alchan moved, putting her body between them and held up a hand, noticing how it shook. She was mad—mad Rain and Alchan would keep this from her, from all of them, and mad she was forced to draw a line that could break everything she was trying to build.
“Mave, you have to see how wrong this is,” Zayden growled.
“I do,” she whispered, her eyes locked on Alchan’s. She was barely able to give Rain a glance, trapped under the gaze of her king. At that moment, she realized he was always more dominant than her. She had been the only person close to him, but he would win.
She came to another conclusion in that second, barely able to comprehend most of the thoughts running through her mind.
This wasn’t her business.
Rain was an adult. Alchan was the king.
And she was going to have to draw a line the male behind her was going to hate her for.
She lowered her eyes and hand, glad Alchan didn’t immediately attack her as she lowered her guard. She turned slowly on Zayden, her heart pounding.
“It’s not proper,” she whispered, “but it’s not our business.”
“He’s…”
“Zayden, let’s go,” she said, moving back toward him, putting a hand on his chest. Mave’s parents, Senri’s family, had once explained to her it was a female’s duty to protect their children from overbearing fathers. So, she drew the line. “Just go. This isn’t ours to get involved with.”
“He’s fucking Rain!” Zayden snarled. “His nemari. That’s a breach in protocol, a thousand times over, and he fucking knows it. For nobles, it was considered an offense, an abuse of power, and they were punished by his family for doing it.”
“Go,” she pleaded.
“Or what?” he growled down at her.
“I’ll protect my king.” She looked up and met his gaze. She had to draw the line. This was the male she wanted to keep as her own, but the king behind her was one she couldn’t betray—not now, not ever. If she did, she might never find a ruler she respected again. Behind her was also a son, a young male who had a father, but no one else, no one to temper the Andinna male who would die to protect his son from injustice. Rain was once her adopted brother, but for this, she would protect his choices the way a mother should. She could hurt the father for that.
She just hoped she could live through it.
She saw the betrayal in his eyes, and her heart bled. He turned and stormed out, leaving her alone with the two males who had probably just destroyed the very fragile beginnings she had with Zayden.
“Mave…” Rain sounded wounded.
She turned and stared at him, ignoring the lover’s marks all over his skin.
“I’ll fix this,” she told him evenly. “Your father is mine to deal with. You two will tell the rest of the Company about this. I’ll be sending someone to talk to you, Rain.”
“You have no right—”
“I’m about to be his father’s wife,” she growled at her king, cutting off his idea of who had a right to what. “I am your sister, wife of your brother, and I’m your fucking Champion, Alchan Andini. I think I have every right. That is if drawing the line just now didn’t destroy all of my chances. And Alchan? If they did, you’ll be fucking hearing from me a lot sooner than you want. You should both get dressed and go home.” She met his eyes again and noticed they had softened and lost some of the power they had in them previously. “Tell me one thing. Do you care for him?”
“I love him,” Alchan answered, the naked truth in those amber eyes.
“Good. Both of them deserve that, don’t you think?” She wasn’t even sure what she was trying to say anymore. Rain seemed as if the world was fucking ending, and some part of her thought, maybe it was.
“Mave, I never wanted this to…” Alchan seemed lost for words now. “I thought he was going to try to take Rain, and…”
“You can explain that to someone else. I have more important things to deal with.” Like stopping the betrayal I put in Zayden’s eyes from destroying everything.
36
Mave
Mave left the two males standing in the cavern, storming out and taking to the sky the moment she had the chance.
Someone else could get to the bottom of those two, she needed to find Zayden. Checking the spot where they had sat and kissed and laughed and not finding him, she knew he would go home.
And probably try to leave her and her family.
Unable to accept that, she raced home, flying faster than was safe, dodging other Andinna in the air, who screamed at her to slow down before she accidentally killed someone. She landed hard on her porch and stormed through the open front door.
“What the fuck happened?” Mat asked as she stormed into the main room.
“We caught Rain and Alchan…fucking. Having just fucked. I don’t know. They’re lovers,” she explained fast, not even looking at who was all in the room. “Where’s Zayden?”
“Right here,” he snarled, coming out from his side of the home. “And you stepped in and decided to protect Alchan instead of…” He snarled and threw down whatever he was holding. “You didn’t need to attack him, but you could have helped me take Rain out of there, so I could talk to my fucking son about what was going on. Alchan knows it’s against the fucking rules to…”
“Alchan and Rain?” Mat seemed disbelieving. “Bryn?”
“I haven’t heard shit about somethin’ like that,” the rogue said quickly. “Luykas?”
There was no answer.
She turned to see who was in her home. It was just her three males. Luykas was pale, his face blank.
“You knew,” she whispered. His secrets; he kept his brother’s secrets.
“Yes,” he answered, his eyes full of emotions she couldn’t quite put together. She didn’t bother touching him for the bond to tell her, though. Something screamed to her, she didn’t want to feel whatever potent mix of emotion he was experiencing.
Zayden was across the room in a flash. In a flurry of movement, things got knocked around, and a table was kicked. Before any of them could move to stop it, Zayden had Luykas against the wall.
“Protecting your brother, huh?” Zayden snarled. “Really? You…”
“He loves Rain,” Luykas said, gasping for air, but not fighting the hold. “He loves him, and my brother has lived for centuries, thinking he would be alone. I couldn’t bring myself to tell them to stop after I found out in Kerit.”
“Who else?” Zayden demanded. “Who else knew?”
“Nevyn and Varon,” Luykas choked out as Zayden put more pressure on his throat. Luykas didn’t fight back.
Mave ignored that cut of betrayal. She understood Luykas kept the secret to let his brother find some happiness. She was okay with that. Nevyn and Varon, she didn’t understand.
Zayden figured out something she didn’t put together, though.
“Varon blessed it?” he asked softly, staggering back. “But…”
“I know this looks bad,” Luykas said, panting. “He’s your commander, your king. Our king. He’s entered into a relationship no one should be okay with, but I am begging you, Zayden. Don’t stop it. He loves your son. He loves Rain, and he deserves someone to love. Please.”
“I’m leaving,” Zayden declared. “Leaving this fucking house. Leaving the Company—”
“No,” Mave finally said. “You’re not!”
“You turned on me and protected him!” Zayden growled. “Why would I stay here?”
“He rolled me! What did you expect me to do?” she demanded. “For the first time since I met him, Alchan rolled me. He established dominance, and unless I wanted a fight, which I would have lost, I had to turn. He’s my king, Zayden. I understand why you’re upset. I’m not happy with them, but Rain is an adult, and Alchan is the only king I’ve ever had and respected. I couldn’t…”
“Oh fuck,” Mat whispered. Luykas groaned, and she watched her mutt bend over.
For the first time in her life, she had been forced to look down, and she couldn’t blame Alchan. If someone had walked in on her with a lover and tried to take that lover from her, she would have done everything she could to stop it from happening.
He’d done the one thing he knew would stop her from involving herself on Zayden’s side and taking Rain from him.
“Would you rather I had fought and gotten killed? Would you rather I had let you fight him in the insane belief you were protecting Rain and gotten killed?” she asked, looking at Zayden’s very still form. “He’s a bedru. He would have killed both of us.” Still nothing from the betrayed father. “Zayden, please listen to reason. We’re going to talk this out. Mat, you’re going to meet Rain and Alchan at their home. You are going to talk to Rain in private to make sure he’s not being abused by the king. If Alchan tries to turn you away, you’ll warn him he won’t like if I show up. I’ll bring my fucking swords.”
“Of course, ilanra,” Mat said, jumping up. She took comfort in the fact that she was still his beloved.
“Bryn, you’re going to get to Senri and her family and tell them what happened,” Mave continued. She channeled Senri and her ability to direct Kian, Gentrin, and Willem. She had to be firm and in charge as if she had everything under control. “They might have advice to deal with the fallout.”
“Yes, love.” Bryn was already moving, heading for the door.
“Luykas, you’re going to Nevyn and Varon. Tell them what happened and tell them my orders for you all. Whatever is decided, I won’t be available until morning.”
“Okay, Mave.” He didn’t sound good.
She kept her eyes on Zayden as she spoke. It took only a dozen heartbeats for her males to leave, then she was alone with Zayden.
“Zayden…”
“Alchan…”
“Betrayed your trust by possibly taking advantage of your son, who has gone through so much and went to him to be trained and grow stronger, not be a lover or a sex slave,” she said for him. “I know. I know, Zayden. I know what happened to Rain in the pits, I know it all, but I’m not letting you storm out of this house and do something you can’t take back.”
“If you think you’re going to keep me without a fight, then you have another think coming,” he growled softly.
“I’m willing to fight for you. Alchan isn’t the only person in the Company who deserves love.”
“And if I truly don’t want to be here?” he said, looking up, his sapphire eyes looking as hard as the gemstones they mimicked.
“You would have already left,” she said softly. She caught the glimmer in his eyes. “I’ll bring you to heel and get you in my bed, Zayden. You belong with me, and I’m not letting this break us.”
“Try,” he dared.
She crossed the room and pushed him up to the wall.
“Do you really want this to get rough?” she growled. “It doesn’t have to. We both know I’m right. We both know my decisions in that fucking cavern were the best ones I could make.”
He glared in response, and she reached down, feeling him hard in his breeches.
“Ah, this is what you want,” she murmured, licking his jawline. “I see. You want an Andinna female to prove she can rule you. You want to know if I’m worthy of keeping you in line, to curb your base impulses and your rage, and make you think clearly.” She gripped him through the leather, listening to him groan. “I can do that.”
She claimed his lips, but he bucked, pushing her away, panting. Before he could move away from the wall, she slammed him back into it, only for him to retaliate this time and turn them, so her back was against the wall.
“I’m going,” he growled.
Shoving him off her, she opened her wings to block his paths as she circled to get between him and the escape of the doorway.
“You’re not going,” she said softly. “Because I’m not letting you do anything stupid.”
He growled, but a quick glance told her he was into this. He was still erect. Testing his will against hers was something that excited him. Being put in his place at the end of it was probably going
to be satisfying for both of them.
But first, she needed to get him to relent about leaving.
“Stay here,” she said gently, holding out a hand. “Stay with me. I want you here. You deserve to be happy, Zayden. I want it all. I want to be the female you crave. I want to be the center of the home you love. I want to be everything.”
Not everything needs to be about power and strength. I know what he wants, and that’s my weapon. That’s how I’ll bring him to heel, and he’s going to be furious about it.
She saw a moment of weakness in him as she struck a chord—offering him everything he never thought he would get a chance at. Her offer was honest, but it came with conditions as she was certain he would remember soon enough.
He reached out to take her hand, and she used it as leverage to pull him in and kiss him hard again. Before he could shove her away, she wrapped her arms around him and jumped to swing her legs around his hips. He growled in desperation against her mouth, and her back roughly hit a wall.
He ground against her, but she gave him no satisfaction from her own reaction, growling as she pulled his hair to lean his head back. She angled to bite his neck as she dropped her legs to push them in a different direction. She felt him stumble into another wall and knew they were where they needed to be. He walked backward as she forced him in the direction she wanted and was able to reach around him to get the handle to the door after he bumped into it.
One twist and she shoved him into her bedroom, the one she shared with her males. She kicked it closed after she walked in and watched him process for a minute where he was but didn’t give him a chance to fight it. She reached out and undid his breeches, pushing them down to expose his cock, still standing ready for her.
“You aren’t going anywhere,” she said in a growl before biting his neck and gripping the base of his shaft. “Not today. Not tomorrow. You’re going to remain with me until we’re old and frail, Zayden. I want your anger. I want your happiness. I want all of it, and I’m not going to take no for an answer.”
The Enemy's Triumph Page 41