by Ann Mayburn
Synthia tensed, but he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. “Synthia, I’d like you to meet Benjamin. If you find him acceptable, he’ll be your den’s steward. He’ll mainly work with our Omega, but he’ll be the first person you call if you need anything.”
Benjamin stopped before them, placing his hand over the blue fabric of his shirt covering his heart as he dropped his gaze to the ground. “Lady Synthia, it is an honor and a privilege to meet you.”
Fidgeting next to Nevoj, she moved just a little behind him, using his body to shield herself. Though she had nothing to fear from Benjamin, he really was as submissive and peaceful as you could get without being an Omega, Nevoj liked that she instinctively sought him out for protection. It reaffirmed that he was worthy of her, that she trusted him. The memory of the look in her eyes as she’d described their daughter would be something he would treasure forever. There was so much hope, so much love just pouring from her. His spirit animal had basked in her presence, growing stronger as her pheromones continued to work on his body. While he was getting close to peak strength, he wouldn’t achieve his full potential until he mated his Queen.
“Nice to meet you.”
She held her hand out, and Benjamin took it with a beaming smile, his cheeks ruddy above his beard. “The pleasure is all mine, Lady Synthia.”
Looking over her shoulder, she raised her dark brows, the golden sparks swirling. “Steward?”
He tried to form a thought, a word, but all he could focus on was the graceful curve of her upper lip. The lower one was nice as well, lush even, but the pronounced cupid’s bow of her upper lip slayed him. On some level he was aware she was waiting for an answer, but he was too busy trying to get his mind off sex. Shit, it seemed like the moment he relaxed, his libido was there, urging him to notice how absolutely desirable his Queen was.
Clearing his throat, Benjamin laced his hands behind his back and tried to hide a grin. “A steward is a title for the den’s handyman.”
That jerked Nevoj out of his lust induced haze. “You are not a handyman. You’re a pivotal member of any den, and one of the best damn stewards I’ve ever met. Don’t let that bitch’s poison words live in your heart.”
“What are you talking about?” Synthia put her hands on her hips. “And why is my Alpha so pissed?”
Pride chased away his anger, clearing his head as he watched Benjamin smirk at him. Yeah, he’d been played. His steward had known what he needed and supplied it without question. In this case, Nevoj had needed to pull his head out of his ass, so Benjamin had done it for him by tweaking his protective instinct.
“It’s okay,” he took her hand in his own as he moved to her side. “Benjamin was just reminding me of some distressing memories.”
The smile slipped from Benjamin’s face and his chin lifted. “He means that he basically rescued me from a less than ideal situation. I was conscripted into service for a real bitch of a woman, pardon my pun.”
“No, she was a bitch.” He flashed Synthia a sorry look as he squeezed her hand a little too hard. “Not yet a full Queen, still a Lady, and she was spoiled rotten. Being her steward had to be the fucking worst. In the week I was there I saw enough to know that she didn’t deserve Queen status, and I had to get you out of there.”
“I’ve never been happier to be stolen in my life,” the other man chuckled. “Didn’t even bother to pack a bag, left right that minute with the clothes on my back.”
“Wait,” Synthia rested her head against my arm as she looked at Benjamin. “He stole you?”
“Not really,” Nevoj assured her. “I merely gave him an out.”
Benjamin snorted. “Hardly. If you’ll forgive me for implying any form of ignorance on your behalf, my Lady, how much do you know about hyena customs?”
He could feel her cheek scrunching up against his arm as she smiled. “Not much, please, educate me.”
“Very well. Those born to rule are given preferential treatment by the hyena community. You know about the issue with children’s health for those raised on the outside?”
“Yeah.”
“Then you can understand why we covet our Queens. You literally keep us safe and healthy. A happy Queen gives off a pheromone that can actually heal us, and slow down our aging. Dens with powerful queens tend to live hundreds of years longer. As you can imagine, we all want to belong to a happy den.”
“Wow. Right.” Synthia rubbed her face, but didn’t let go of Nevoj’s hand.
“A hyena, in a healthy den with a strong and content Queen, can expect to live somewhere between three hundred and fifty and four hundred years. You’ll still be alive to potentially know your great, great, great, grandchildren.”
“I’ll outlive generations of humans…my mom.”
His only warning that Synthia was going down was her weight leaning into him. He scrambled to catch her, then managed to haul her up into his arms. “Synthia?”
“I’m okay,” she patted his chest. “Just…it’s a lot to take on.”
“That is enough talking for now,” he looked up at Benjamin as he lifted Synthia into an easier hold. “She’s exhausted and needs to rest.”
“Your bed is prepared. I also brought a cooler down with drinks and food in respect to a growing young Queen’s appetite. And there is a sanitation station set up in the J shaped room off the main crystal cavern.”
Synthia perked up. “Crystal cavern?”
“It’s better to show you than try to explain.”
Behind him, he heard Benjamin say goodbye, and Synthia waved over Nevoj’s shoulder as they walked away. The farther down the sloping trail they went, the higher the smooth limestone ceiling got, and the dimmer the lighting. Cool and slightly dry, the embrace of the earth surrounded them as they trudged ever downwards. With each step, his strength and awareness of the woman in his arms grew.
By the time he set her on her feet, Synthia was round eyed with awe. “Why do I feel so good all of a sudden? It’s like my aches and pains have faded to the point that I can move without discomfort. I even feel a little more awake.”
“You’re absorbing the ambient power of the earth. As a hyena we can tap into the energies that flow through the rocks and soil.”
“What—”
“Come on, we’re almost there.”
Right before they rounded the curve to the main cavern, they stopped at a large wooden rack set against the wall.
“Shoes off.”
She glanced down at the dirt, then back up at him. “You sure? It’s kinda dim and rocky to go barefoot.”
“Positive. I won’t let you get hurt, Synthia. Trust me.”
Obviously weary, she took her shoes off, then sighed as she wiggled her toes in the dirt. “Wow, it’s so soft.”
“The ground here is a mixture of deep earth soils and decomposed ancient mosses.”
“Nice.”
Sparks shot through him as he took her hand, and she curled into his side, cuddling into him as they walked. When they stepped into the massive main room, easily the size of a couple football fields, he let the awe rush over him anew. The humans had never discovered this part of the caves, or they wouldn’t have sold the land for all the money in the world. The den’s crystal cathedrals, as they were called by the hyenas, were a center of the Mother Goddess’ power, and a sacred space for all shifters. This was where important ceremonies would happen, where Synthia would someday rule their people and dispense justice.
He could just imagine her now, standing on the edge of the water smoothed creamy stone shelf to his left surrounded by the gigantic crystals that spanned across the ceiling. A few quartz crystals as big as pillars thrust from the ground here and there, but mostly the floor was rich, black packed earth. The perfect kind of ground for Nadia to begin her transformation in. By the time they’d put her in the soil, she’d been poised on the edge of her change and burning in pain. Though he’d tried to get home as fast as he could, Nadia had paid a hard price for their delay.
Now his Beta slept beneath the cool earth, and he hoped Nadia’s spiritual journey was an easy one.
“This can’t be!”
Drawn out of his own passive admiration, he looked down at the flabbergasted woman visibly radiating shock and confusion.
“Synthia, are you all right?”
“This can’t be,” she repeated as she stared up at him. “It just isn’t possible.”
“What isn’t possible?”
“This!” she gestured to the rock wall to their left. “That’s Australian black opals!”
Her voice echoed in the room and he pursed his lips, then nodded. “So it is.”
“What the hell is an Australian opal doing in Virginia? And next to it, that section of the cavern is from Brazil, those are Brazilian emeralds. And that turquoise node over there! That kind of turquoise is only found in New Mexico! Basalt, sandstone, shale-hundreds of different types of stones and minerals. There’s even a fossilized freaking tree stump over there! None of these should be here!”
That last shout was loud enough to hurt his ears, and echoed through the vast cavern network. “Be at peace, my Queen. This is your cathedral, Synthia, a sacred place. Created for you by the Mother Goddess as a source of power. In time, the den will create rooms as you need them, providing you and your people with a place of safety and peace.”
When she burst into tears, he knelt before her, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close. “Please, my Queen, don’t cry.”
“This is the straw,” she mumbled against his shoulder. “Right here, right now. This is the straw.”
Stroking her hair, he let her sob. “The straw?”
“This camel is officially broken.”
“Ah, the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
“Uh huh.”
Utterly perplexed, he cupped the back of her head. “What, exactly, is it that you find distressing?”
Pulling back, she gave him a sorrowful look, so sad his heart broke for her. “None of it matters. My degree, all my research, all the time I devoted to my studies-none of it matters. The world I thought I knew, the laws I thought were set in stone,” she gave a ragged giggle that made his chest hurt. “No pun intended. They don’t matter in a world with magic. Nothing I thought was real is, everything is part of some damn illusion, and I can’t trust any of my memories. Everything I think I know is a lie. I prided myself on my job, Nevoj. I spent so much time learning, and drilling myself to remember facts that are nothing but lies. I lost years of my life studying meaningless garbage.”
“Synthia Mary Rowley, that is enough with the pity party.”
She jerked back as if he’d slapped her, the tears still glittering in her eyes, distorting the gold sparks until they looked like spilled watercolors across her iris. “Excuse me?”
Right away the sorrow started to leave her expression, so he goaded her. “I notice you get cranky when you don’t get enough sleep.”
Her brows arched up, and he was glad to see the misery cloaking her quickly burned off by her temper. “I do not get cranky.”
“Like a toddler.”
Her back went straight and she tried to shove her way out of his arms. “Let go of me, you big jerk.”
“Nap time.”
Her shrill scream of fury echoed, as did his laughter while he stood with Synthia over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. This put her rounded ass right next to his face, and he cuddled it close. Then gave her hip a bite for good measure.
“Stop nuzzling my ass,” she shouted as she kicked her feet.
“Mmm, but it’s such a nice ass to nuzzle.” He smacked her bottom, his dick jerking at the way her flesh bounced beneath his hand.
“You spank me again and you’ll be sorry.”
“I doubt that.”
“I wish I could fart in self-defense.”
“Thank the Goddess you’re not a skunk shifter. Now hush, we’re approaching Nadia.”
That stopped her squirming. “She’s here?”
“I bet it’s more like ‘he’s here’ at this point.”
She went limp, and he slid her down his front, relishing the warmth of her flesh against his body. “Is he okay?”
He turned her so she could see the alcove filled with luminescent crystals of various shades of pink and purple. The crystals ranged in size from needle thin, to as thick as a telephone pole. The illumination they provided was a soft, healing light, and Synthia let out a sound of surprised delight. Moving a few steps forward, she gasped as she turned in a slow circle with her arms out.
“How is this possible?”
“Magic.”
She just blinked at him, before starting across the big, egg shaped room “Are those flowers?”
He nodded as they examined one of the waxy white blooms together, the center a brilliant orange with blue dots. “Yes. They only grow in places special to the Great Mother. It’s her way of showing us that these places are to be respected and cherished.”
“It feels special,” she mused as she stroked her fingertips over a protruding baby pink crystal. “As much as the scientist in me insists this should all be cataloged and shared with the world, my soul cries out at the thought of this place being defiled. You’re right, it is sacred. I can feel it in my heart, in my bones.”
“Come on. While we could be waiting a week for Aidan to wake up, I have a feeling he’ll be quicker than that. I don’t know about you, but I could use some food and sleep.”
Letting out a mighty yawn, she nodded. “Yeah, me too. I feel like I never even ate those pancakes.”
“Shifters have a higher metabolism, we tend to eat a lot. Especially when we’re stressed.”
He led them to one of the corners where pillows had been heaped together. When he sat down in the dirt, she gave him a dubious look.
“Is there a sheet we can put down?”
Smiling, he took off his shirt, resisting the urge to flex as she gave out a soft gasp. “No sheet needed.”
“That doesn’t seem very comfortable. Won’t we get dirty?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
He lay back on the soft soil, sighing in deep appreciation for the way the earth cradled his body. “Come here.”
“Okay, but this is still weird.”
She sat down next to him, and he pulled her down so she rested her head on his chest. After a few second of fidgeting, she turned a little then threw her leg over his hips, curving perfectly into him. The feeling of his Queen pressed into his body made his cock pulse, but he ignored it. Synthia’s needs came first, and what she needed more than his dick was sleep. Giving out a little hum of pleasure, she wiggled against him.
“You’re so cozy.”
“Thank you.”
She yawned, the words coming out stretched as she said, “You’re so big and hard, I didn’t think you would be snuggly, but you are.”
“Mmmhmmm.”
“Ground’s comfy too,” she mumbled.
He began to stroke her hair, “Sleep, my Queen.”
The best fucking feeling he’d ever had in his life woke him from a deep slumber. Warm, wet velvet wrapped itself around the throbbing head of his erection. Something soft yet firm teased the slit of his cock, making his thighs shake. His balls drew up tight and his dick gave a little pulse that pulled a groan from him. That groan was echoed by a feminine sigh, and he inhaled, drawing in the cinnamon scent of his Queen. Her heat, her need set off a chain reaction within him, hormones flooding him as his body readied itself to feed his mate.
“Synthia,” he rasped, his hands going to her silky hair. “Suck it. Harder. Fuck yes.”
Her moans of encouragement had him lifting his hips into her mouth, totally undone by the feeling of having his dick licked. Gripping fistfuls of earth, he tried to keep from shoving his big length down her throat. Shit, he was lucky she was able to get the head into her mouth. He was a good nine and a half inches long, and thick enough that he’d choke her. So inste
ad he had to fight these new sensations, try to distance his mind from his awareness of her fingertips stroking his tight sack.
“Stop!” he barked, his animal spirit reveling in her touch, the touch of his Queen. “I’m going to cum if you don’t stop.”
Looking up at him with his dick gripped in her fist, her golden hazel eyes misty with pleasure, she was so erotic a bit of pre-cum seeped out of the tip of his dick.
“I dreamed of this,” she murmured then licked at the head of his cock. “Dreamed of the taste of you. I want more.”
His neck arched and the heavy muscles in his legs tensed as she began to massage his balls. “Then more you shall have.”
Chapter 10
Syn
The taste of Nevoj’s passion exploded across my tongue, carrying a complex blend of emotions and scents that evoked pleasure through every inch of my body.
In the past when I’d imagined sucking a cock, I found the very idea nasty. I mean, guys pee from that thing. Yet now that I held his velvet and steel shaft in my hand, I couldn’t stop tasting it. The foreskin covering his shaft was a dark black, but the tip of his erection was a deep reddish pink. And the harder he got, the more the loose skin hiding his crown moved back, exposing the head for me to lick. I loved the way he was writhing beneath my touch, this big, deadly man who killed monsters to keep me safe.
Wanting to show my appreciation, I slowly placed kisses over the now tight skin, licking at him and growling my pleasure.
“That’s it,” he rumbled in return. “I want your mouth on my balls. Lick them, gently. They’re a lot more sensitive than I thought they would be.”
I did as he asked, one hand continuing to explore his shaft while I tongued the soft skin of his testicles. The smell of him was muskier here, masculine and as rich as dark chocolate ice cream. Licking the slightly wrinkled skin of his sac, I smiled at the tortured sound he made.