by Eva Chase
“Better?” Nate asked with an amused smile.
“Much.” I set the plate aside and snuggled closer to him, wrapping my arm around his brawny chest. We still had a couple hours before we needed to leave for the parlay. And being with him, holding him and being held by him, was the best salve I could think of for my nerves right now.
What had the shifter who’d delivered my breakfast thought of this situation—of my hiding away in my room? That question brought my thoughts back to Nate’s earlier comments.
“No one here really knows me yet,” I had to point out. “Not even the people who like me. They’re still waiting to see exactly what I’m going to do.”
Nate hummed in agreement. “Maybe, but they’re hoping it’ll be good. They want to be on your side.”
That was true, wasn’t it? I’d felt that hope in every shifter I’d spoken to during the celebration. And with each step forward, I could give them a little more to justify their faith in me.
It wasn’t just the ordinary shifters who had faith. My alphas had stood by me from the start, from when I’d been a total stranger to them, too. No matter how skeptical they might have been.
And Nate hadn’t wavered once. He might have gotten over-enthusiastic with the heroics, but he’d never talked to me or acted in any other way like he doubted me.
I tipped my face back and touched his cheek. Nate didn’t need me to tell him what I was looking for now. He bent his head, capturing my lips with a soft but eager kiss. His hands skimmed over my body, grazing every inch of bare skin. I slid my hand up under his shirt as I kissed him harder, wanting to feel him too. To explore every plane of that firmly muscled chest.
To really make him mine.
The thought swam up in my head through the haze of longing. No hesitation rose to counter it. The idea just felt right.
I tugged at Nate’s shirt. He peeled it right off and leaned in for another kiss. Every spot his bare skin touched mine left me burning with even more desire. He stroked his hand up my back and worked the clasp of my bra free. As he trailed his kisses down to my collarbone, he cupped my breast with his strong, able fingers. His thumb swiveled over my nipple, sending a jolt of pleasure through me. I moaned, arching up on his lap.
He tipped my breast up to his mouth and teased the nipple even tighter with his tongue. My fingers dug into his shoulders. Pleasure coursed from my chest down to my core as he laved one breast and then the other. His hand followed his mouth, flicking and caressing until both nipples stood at stiff peaks and the rest of me was trembling.
“I love seeing how good I can make you feel,” Nate murmured, nuzzling the side of my neck. “I love that I can take care of you this way. I’ve never wanted anyone like this, Ren. My heart always knew you were the one I needed.”
A pang hit me, bittersweet. He’d taken such a chance, waiting for me. Giving up the happiness that had been right in front of him without ever knowing if I’d turn up.
I slid my hand around his neck and pulled him into a deeper kiss. My other hand rested on his lap beside my legs. On the hard length of his erection straining against his fly.
Nate groaned into my mouth. He eased his fingers up and down my hips, teasing the edge of my panties. Asking but not demanding. My tongue slipped into his mouth to tangle with his. For a long moment, I rode on the rush of pleasure that came from our mingling breaths. Then I pushed myself off his lap, pulling him with me. Toward the bed.
“I need you too,” I said.
Nate gazed at me with a sudden intensity. He got up and stepped over to me, looming above me from his full height. But it was a reassuring loom. It made me feel larger that a man like this wanted me this much, not smaller. I hooked my fingers over the hem of his pants. His breath caught.
“Ren,” he said, wonderingly. He touched the side of my face, so much tenderness in that powerful hand.
“I want you to be my mate,” I said, gazing back at him. “And I want to be yours. From now until always.”
“Hell, yes,” he said. He bent to crush his lips against mine again. I gripped his shoulders as he walked us back toward the bed. When my legs hit the foot of the frame, I reached for the button of his pants. He kicked them off, and his boxers too.
For a second I just gazed at the perfection of his body. Six-foot-something of solid muscle and soft skin, all for my taking. And his cock, thick and long and standing at attention for me. Growing even harder when I stroked it from base to head.
Nate rumbled low in his chest. He scooped me up and laid me on the massive bed, making quick work of my panties. But the impulse to take control came over me. I nudged him onto his back and knelt over him. He grinned up at me, resting his hands on my hips.
“Lead the way. I’ll be right there with you.”
A rush of affection flooded me. I lowered my lips to his, kissing him long and hard. But too much desire had built up between my legs for me to wait long. I rubbed my sex against his cock. We both moaned. Inhaling slowly, I lowered myself right onto him.
His cock filled me completely with a heady burn. I whimpered, rocking against him until he was all the way in. He reached up to fondle my breasts with one hand while the other stroked over my clit. The combined sensations set off a flood of bliss that swept every other thought from my head.
I rode him desperately, chasing my release. He pumped his hips up to meet me. His breath turned ragged. A sheen of sweat dampened his muscled chest as I braced my hands against it.
“I want to watch you come,” he murmured, swirling his thumb over my clit. “Take everything you need, sweetheart.”
Something about those words sent me over the edge. The glow of our bond flared between us. It flowed over me, surrounding me in the protection I knew Nate would always offer me, whenever I needed him.
I bucked against him a few more times, and pleasure burst through my body. I gasped, clutching him. He caressed me through the wave, his eyes bright with appreciation—and a deeper desire.
Even as my nerves sang out, I wanted more too. Harder, faster. I sagged against him and gave him a little tug to roll us over. He flipped us without slipping out of me. I raised my legs on either side of his hips to give him even deeper access.
“More,” I said. “Take me higher.”
He thrust inside me with a shudder. “You feel so good, Ren. So fucking good.”
A moan broke from my lips. “So do you. Give me everything. I can take it. I want it. Don’t you dare hold back.”
With a sound halfway between a groan and a chuckle, he thrust faster. Our skin slid together, slick with sweat. Every muscle in his body felt coiled beneath my groping hands, driving his shaft into me with everything he had. Just the way I needed it.
The pleasure swelled and swelled until I was shaking with it. I arched up, taking him all the way to the hilt, and another orgasm swept through me. Nate jerked with a hot gush inside me. His head bowed over me as he rocked to a stop.
We lay there, panting, for a long moment. I traced my fingers over his cheek, and he beamed down at me, so brightly it sent a flutter through my chest.
“I don’t know how I got so lucky,” he said, “but I’m sure as hell going to make sure I deserve it.”
“Mmm,” I said, pulling him down to cuddle against me. “I think this was an excellent start.”
I fit against his body perfectly. His heart thudded beneath my ear where it pressed against his hot skin. I pressed a kiss to it, wishing I could stay here like this for the rest of the day.
His fingers glided up and down my back. “We’ll have to get you back into another dress soon.”
“I know. But not yet.” Five more minutes without thinking about the fae monarch and what she might have in store for us—that was all I asked.
I nestled my head against his shoulder, closing my eyes against the rest of the world and the worries that came with it.
Chapter 20
Ren
Insects hummed around us as we tramped along the narrow
path through the woods. The mossy smell in the air was kind of pleasant, but the terrain? Not so much. I glowered at a jutting root I’d nearly stubbed my toe on.
So much for getting a break from hiking after that long trek up and down the mountain. We’d driven most of the way to the neutral ground that lay between the avian estate and the fae monarch’s domain, but apparently the fae found any sort of man-made transportation distasteful. Arriving to meet them with a motorized vehicle would have been a grave insult. So we were walking.
Which, frankly, was a grave insult to my feet, but I wasn’t in a position to make demands on that big a scale yet.
It’d have been easier if I could have at least flown, but I was still pretty much a newbie when it came to shifting. The last thing I wanted was to blow my wad of energy before we even got to this fairy queen. From everything I’d heard, I was going to need all my wits and power for that confrontation.
My alphas had stayed in human form—so they could talk to the monarch too, I guessed, and probably also to keep me company. But a few of Aaron’s kin had joined us as their bird selves. Alice had squeezed my hand and told me to give the fae hell before taking off as an eagle nearly as large as her brother’s. A shrike, a raven, and an albatross were soaring over the forest alongside us as well, watching for any suspicious fae activity.
Aaron strode along in the lead, scanning the forest with his watchful eyes. Marco sauntered after him with his feline grace. West was walking as far behind me as he could manage without running into Nate, who was guarding our flanks.
The bond between me and my eagle and bear glowed through me with a comforting heat. But I was just as aware of my other two mates and the nagging pull toward them, begging to be fulfilled. Especially West. Even though he was keeping his distance, my back kept tingling with the sense of his gaze on me. A sudden, more heady kind of heat: there, then jerked away, then there again.
I tugged at the skirt of my new dress to lift it out of the way of my shoes as we scrambled up a small rocky slope. This one was a crimson silk instead of the earlier pink, but I liked it too. It was a color that said I wasn’t one to take any nonsense.
Which I wasn’t, with fae or with my mates.
I slowed my pace until West had no choice but to let me fall back beside him. The path was just wide enough for us to walk side-by-side, though I had to make a conscious effort not to let my arm brush his. He looked straight ahead, his jaw tightening.
“Is this really how we’re going to do this from now on?” I asked. “With you going around all day acting like I’ve gravely offended you somehow?”
“None of my responsibilities as alpha demand that I pander to you,” he retorted.
“Oh, please. In the last two days you’ve been friendlier to the furniture than you’ve been to me. I’m not saying you’ve got to throw me a party. I just don’t see why you’ve got to completely freeze me out.”
I heard him swallow. “I think you know what the problem is, Sparks.”
A flare of anger I hadn’t expected shot through me. Because I didn’t know. Because nothing about how he was acting seemed remotely reasonable to me.
I raised my chin. “I can think of a whole lot of things you might be pissed off about, but I honestly haven’t got a clue why you seem to be pissed off at me. You want to be my mate and you also don’t. Fine. Take all the time you want figuring that out. When have I ever said anything else? I’m not trying to push you into anything. The most I’ve ever asked you for is a kiss, two weeks ago. So be frustrated with yourself, or the situation, or, hell, even my mom for how she handled things. But I don’t see how it’s fair for you to take that out on me.”
Silence hung between us for a minute. There was nothing but the rasp of our feet over the uneven ground. I started to wonder if I’d pissed him off even more. Then West inhaled sharply. His voice came out even throatier than usual.
“You’re right. I haven’t been completely fair. I’m sorry for that.”
Some of the tension in me ebbed. “So... we can move to at least polite conversation?”
The corner of his mouth twitched. “Maybe some. That’s not really my forte at the best of times. Don’t push your luck.”
He hadn’t said much, but the space between us felt less fraught now. I was about to pick up my pace and give him the breathing room he obviously wanted when he added, “So I guess we’re heading to the bear shifter’s estate next.”
There was an odd note in his voice that squeezed my heart even though I couldn’t say exactly why. “What makes you say that?”
One of his eyebrows lifted. “The five of us are all bound together to some extent, Sparks. When you confirm that connection with one, you’d better believe the rest of us know it.”
My cheeks warmed at the thought of the other guys sensing what Nate and I had been up to a couple hours ago.
But why shouldn’t they know? Eventually, the way things were meant to be, it would be all of us.
I rubbed my mouth. “Ah. Well, yeah, I guess it would make sense to visit Nate’s kin next. The way things are.”
West made a noncommittal sound. I wasn’t sure what to make of that. But the conversation seemed to be over, so I sped up. We had to be getting close to the meeting spot anyway. I couldn’t afford to be distracted from that.
The path had swerved. Aaron was just disappearing from sight up ahead. I hurried even more, my nerves prickling—and a bright feathered shape swooped out of the sky in front of me.
Alice transformed as she plummeted, but with complete control. She landed on her feet with a thump, her hands already rising in a defensive stance. She’d kept her eagle talons protruding from her bare feet. They looked nearly as sharp as my dragon claws.
Before I could take another step, Alice’s right arm shot out to motion me back. I halted. My ears perked, but I didn’t hear anything ominous in the forest around us. “What’s wrong?”
“That tree.” She waved a fist at the broad juniper a few feet ahead of us by the end of the path. “Something’s off about it. It got this... glint to it when you came close.”
The tree? I cocked my head at it, but it still looked like a totally ordinary plant to me. Alice took a few steps closer, totally at ease in her nakedness. I’d been around shifters enough in the last few weeks that their casual nudity was starting to seem a lot less weird to me.
The muscles running through Alice’s sturdy frame tensed. The guys had stopped, Aaron backtracking. “What’s going on?” he said.
“I think there’s a trap in this tree,” Alice said, jabbing a taloned foot toward it. “But Serenity is the one it’s set to activate for.”
Marco sniffed the air. “There is a whiff of fae around here. I assumed it was from their arriving at the meeting place.”
“It sounds like there’s an easy way to find out,” I said. “Why don’t we see what the tree does if I come closer? Unless you don’t think it’s worth the risk.” Alice clearly had a lot more experience in this kind of situation than I did.
Her mouth flattened, but she nodded. “Slowly. And be ready to retreat.”
I edged one careful step and then another along the path. Nothing moved in or around the tree. Maybe she’d been wrong? I trusted her instincts, but we were also all a little on edge.
I eased my foot a few more inches forward—and all at once the entire tree lunged. Its trunk wrenched forward and its branches dove down as if to swallow me in their grasp.
I ducked, stumbling backward. Alice leapt to meet the tree. Her leg slashed through the air, talons severing one branch. Her elbow slammed into another to snap it. A shower of leaves rained down on me. I spun back toward it, a shift already prickling under my skin.
Alice stood panting, her lips curled in a fierce grin. Twigs and broken branches scattered the path. The battered tree had pulled back into its original pose as if it had never moved.
“What the hell was that?” I said.
“Alice was right,” Aaron said. “There
must be an enchantment on the tree. It was set to descend on you when you came by. As soon as you backed away, the effect lifted.”
“A fae enchantment,” West spat out. “What else could use magic like that?”
My heart thudded. “Do you think—the monarch—”
“She wouldn’t dare,” Nate rumbled in a low, dark voice. A grizzly’s rage flashed in his eyes.
“She wouldn’t,” Marco agreed. “But we’ve already seen that her underlings don’t mind finding ways to circumvent the treaties. A few bad apples, I’m sure she’d say.”
West bared his teeth. “It doesn’t matter. We take responsibility for the rogues. Every fae is hers to deal with.”
“And we’ll make sure she does,” Aaron says. “When we meet her. It’s almost time.” He glanced at me. “If you give the tree a wide enough berth, the trap shouldn’t activate again.”
I nodded. With one last glare at the juniper, I picked my way through the brush on the other side of the path. The tree didn’t stir. I let out my breath when I’d come around the bend, back onto the somewhat clearer ground.
“I’d better get back to the skies in case they’ve got more surprises for us,” Alice said. Her legs flexed to spring into the air.
“Thank you,” I said quickly, catching her gaze. “I’ve never seen anyone fight a tree before, but you were pretty amazing at it.”
Her grin came back. “Nothing’s ever gotten the better of me yet. I’ll have your back, Serenity.”
I appreciated the promise, but I approached the neutral meeting spot with my nerves even more on edge. I was finding it less and less easy to believe that the fae monarch was an ignorant bystander in all this. Whatever friendship there might have been between fae and dragon shifters before, something had gone very, very wrong.
The trees thinned and then fell away completely. We came out into a wide clearing, nothing but grass and a dabbling of little pink flowers from one end to the other. The sky was stark blue overhead. The warm breeze warbled faintly through the branches around us.
We’d only taken a few steps into the clearing when the fae delegation appeared on the other side. There had to be at least ten of the tall, emaciated-looking figures with their blue-white skin. The cloying smell of them made my nose wrinkle.