He shifted me until I was straddling his thighs, spread nearly indecently above him. “Open wider, sweet—yes, that’s it.”
I draped myself over him, fusing our lips again. The friction from the constant motion of the carriage left me weak and breathless. His fingers returned where I needed them most and I was nearly overcome with how much I wanted him. The urges, the need, I’d been trying to deny since he retrieved me from the other carriage swelled up inside me, blotting out everything but the thrumming connection between us.
“Don’t be afraid,” he said.
“I’m not,” but my voice broke around the words, betraying me.
His hand coasted up to my chin, and I leaned into it without thinking about it. “One day you’ll remember that it’s impossible to lie to me, Elena. You scream the truth to me with your mind. What are you afraid of?”
I didn’t answer him. I couldn’t. Even if he could hear my thoughts, voicing them would only make them a reality. So, I kissed him, resolving to drown out my fears, my doubts, and my frustrations with him instead. Because the harsh reality was, even admitting to myself that I cared for Rhys would make it all too real.
Caring for Rhys was almost as dangerous as the man himself.
12
Rhysander
She filled me up, my head was buzzing with her thoughts, my senses consumed by her scent and taste, her softness and her little mewls of pleasure. I’d relegated her to a carriage of her own with her maid out of self-preservation. But now, the careful reasons I’d kept my distance had turned to ash in a blaze of lust. I could have spent the nights wrapped in her instead of tossing and turning alone.
The carriage came to an abrupt stop, rocking us against one another, but I barely noticed. My dragon felt she was close, and he wanted to have her again.
And again.
And again.
For once, he and I were in agreement.
I wrapped a hand around her hips to keep her pinned to me. There was no point; she was an eager flame in my lap, ready to blaze to life. I liked having her pressed flush against me, without a whisper of distance between us. Too soon. It was too soon to have this need for her, but I didn’t care.
Physical. It was only physical.
I hadn’t been with anyone in… longer than I cared to admit. That was all.
Then she swayed against me with the rhythm of the carriage and I stopped thinking at all.
“He feels so good,” I heard her think. "Stars, why does he have to feel so good?”
I chuckled and brought my lips to her ear. “I can make you feel even better if you’ll let me, but you have to ask nicely.”
“Don’t toy with me, Rhys,” she moaned in protest.
My name on her lips was the sweetest benediction. “I’m not. I’m trying to give you what you want.”
She trembled so hard I could hear her teeth chattering. “You’re trying to make me beg. A princess never begs.”
“There’s no princess here. It’s only me and my mate, and I want to hear those words from you.”
Elena leaned closer, her head dropping until our breath mingled. I ached to be inside her, with her heat constricting around me. Her lips brushed against my ear, and my breath caught in my chest.
Something was wrong. I sensed the change in the air and whatever Elena was about to say died on her lips. I wrapped my arms around her in a vice and braced my legs on the opposite bench seats. There was a riot of sound—horses baying in protest and pain, the shouts of men and battle cries of enemies, the clash of wood against wood before rending into splinters—but I had ears only for Elena.
She wrapped her arms around my waist and pressed her face into my chest. My senses attuned to the conversation around us and in a split second, I shifted to my half-Dragon form, my wings spreading around us as the carriage crumbled into nothing.
“What in Goddess’ name was that?” Elena shrieked through her thoughts. She twisted in my arms to look down at the onslaught. Swords clanged and sparked as blood stained the snow red.
“Put me down,” Elena ordered as soon as she realized what was happening. “I can’t leave them.”
“No chance in Slaine,” I answered, scanning our surroundings for a safe place to leave her while I went back. My dragon seethed, wanting blood, wanting vengeance. His mate was threatened, and he’d turn bone to ash before he let any harm come to her.
“We have to help them,” she shouted above the roaring wind. “We can’t abandon them.”
“I don’t plan to,” I said. “I’ll find somewhere safe for you to wait and then I’ll come back for you.”
As I said the words, I spotted an outcropping of rock in the cliffs that led to the docks. The scent of salt and rotting seaweed met my nose. I released Elena, who shoved ineffectually against my chest.
“Take me back, damn you. I won’t abandon them.” The haze of desire that had brought a flush to her cheeks was now a flush of anger.
I leapt into the wind. “Don’t move from this spot until I come for you, Elena, I mean it.”
Knowing I had about as much a chance that she would obey as I had to turn into a trout, I flew back to the fray, hoping for once in her life she would obey a command. There were more than twice the number of human attackers this time. I could scent their poisoned swords and wondered if I hadn’t been so distracted with Elena if I would have sensed them. Could I have prevented the attack?
Swooping in from above, I took out human after human with my bare claws until the blood lust had me thick in its clutches. A roar filled my ears, consuming me. All I knew was the scent of blood and the rending of flesh.
My nostrils flared from the overwhelming reek of the poison: dragon’s bane. One slice from a sword would have a Dragon-Clansman at death’s door, with no hope of a cure from the poisoned blood that would take them from the inside out. They’d learned they couldn’t best us with weapons alone, so this time they were going to make sure to take as many of my people down with them as possible.
Even as I was in the throes of battle, I knew what that meant. They knew we were coming and had been waiting for us.
I saw one, two three, of my clansmen go down with daggers protruding from their torsos by the end. Their bodies lay, barely breathing, amongst our faceless attackers.
One of my clansmen, Berrick, stepped to my side and wiped a forearm over his face. “It seems a waste.”
“What does?” I asked through heaving breaths.
“They know they’re no match for us, let alone you. Why attack us this way if they know they’re going to die?”
“Let’s not stick around to find out. Gather the men and the wounded. I must find my mate.”
“Yes, my lord. What about the humans?” Berrick asked.
I considered ordering them to leave their bodies to rot for carrion, but decided against it. “Load them on a litter. We’ll give them to the ocean and have done with it.”
“Yes, my lord,” he said and turned to relay my orders to the others.
Weariness settled over me. Dragon-Clan blood was precious and finite. We had so little left to lose that any loss was a significant one. The thought of telling the families of the wounded was one I didn’t bear to contemplate until we reached the Northlands.
I lifted my sword and summoned Alaric’s mirror.
He appeared in the small space available on the blade, a miniature version of himself. Noting my expression, his turned serious. “What is it?” he asked. “What’s happened?”
“We’ve been attacked.”
“Again?”
I nodded gravely. “This time someone equipped them with dragon’s bane, Alaric.”
“Were there any casualties?”
“Several. We’ll bring them back to the Northlands and we must tell their families.”
“I’ll have the clergy ready.”
“We’ll be on the ship by nightfall. The humans must be dealt with, and swiftly, before we lose anymore clansmen.”
“Of c
ourse.”
I ended the mirror without another word. Something was wrong here, but I wasn’t sure what. Attacks on shifters by mortals weren’t unheard of, but two in such a short time period was a rarity. To possess dragon’s bane meant they had dealt with casters to mix the appropriate magical ingredients, and humans didn’t often mingle with their Immortal counterparts willingly.
Turning toward the cliffs where I’d left Elena, I resolved to ask Alaric what he thought when we were back in the Northlands. No doubt the sense of doom that weighted my steps would lessen once I was back in the mountains. The humans had only learned new ways to assert their freedoms. I wish that were all it was.
My eyes lifted to the horizon, and I saw Elena on the crest of a hill, wind-swept and furious, marching to us. Stars, she was the most magnificent woman I’d ever seen. And she was all mine. The blood lust was still bright inside me, and I yearned to slake all that need for vengeance with her body. My dragon called out for her and I vibrated with urgency as it swelled inside me.
She wouldn’t be pleased, but at least she was safe, and that was all that mattered.
A harsh, heavy wind pregnant with the call of the sea and the salt of the waves blew from her direction. With it, the scent of hot, bloody flesh assailed my nose. I frowned. Was she injured? I hurled myself into the air, my wings erupting from my back so quickly it was almost painful. Elena paused, startled by the suddenness of my movement.
She shifted to make room when I grew close and that’s when I saw them. A human staggered up behind her with a wickedly curved dagger in his grip, already poised to slide across Elena’s perfect, white throat. The image of her blood staining the mud and melted snow at her feet flashed across my mind.
No.
With a speed even I didn’t know I was capable of, I was at her side. Pulling her behind me, the dagger descended and slashed, ripping at my cloak and slicing through my chest and shoulder. I roared out, more in anger that he got so close to my mate than in pain.
My claws whipped out and tore out the human’s throat. He bled out within seconds, his life’s blood flowing in a river at our feet. I glared at him, wishing I were a gifted caster who could bring him back from Slaine so I could kill him again.
I turned to Elena, who was as white as the snow underneath all the blood. “Are you harmed?” I asked. My vision went white with rage at the thought. This would never happen again, if I had my way. I’d kill anyone who raised a hand to her. Just let them try.
“I’m fine, Rhys. Let’s go back to the carriage.”
Stumbling toward her, I shook my head. “The carriage was destroyed by their little trap. I should have been more careful.”
“Then someone else’s carriage,” she suggested and wedged herself underneath my shoulder. Hmm, yes I liked that. Maybe when we got back to my castle, I’d keep her close like this for good. It wasn’t always that mates lived together, let alone spent most of their time together, unless they were trying for young ones, but I liked the thought of keeping her nearby.
“Trying to get me alone?” I said, attempting to sound seductive. I must have failed, because Elena had eyes only for Berrick, who was loading clansmen onto a litter for transport to the ship.
“Excuse me,” she says to him. “Is there an open carriage we can use? Lord Blaque has been injured.”
“A private carriage,” I interjected, but neither of them listened. Was I the damned Lord or what?
“I believe your companion’s carriage was undamaged in the fray, my lady.”
“Thank you,” she said. “Come, my lord. We must hurry.”
“I’m not going anywhere, sweet. We don’t need to hurry.”
“We do if you don’t want to lose that handsome body of yours.”
She guided me to the carriage, even though I must be nearly twice her weight. My little mate could be determined when she wanted to be.
She knocked on the door to the carriage. “Leisha, it’s me, open up. The battle is over.” The door opened and Elena said, “Help me with him before he loses consciousness. Be quick now.”
Some time later, I found myself on the floor of the carriage with my feet sticking out of the door. The two women were crouched on either side of me and the scent of medicinal herbs was strong enough to burn the inside of my nose. I tried to sit up, but impatient hands pressed me back down.
“No, don’t move,” Elena ordered. I liked it when she was bossy. “You’ll pull the stitches before I’ve finished them.”
It was then I noticed the pain. It bit into my shoulder and traveled deep into the bone. The human must have done more damage than I’d thought. I tried to speak, to tell her I was okay, but she pressed her trembling hands to my lips.
“Hush now, and let me concentrate before this wound becomes infected.”
“Is it dragon’s bane?” I heard her companion ask.
“…don’t know for sure,” Elena replied. “But the wound is deep, and it’s not his only one. Goddess, he shouldn’t have left me behind. If he weren’t on the edge of death, I’d put him there!”
I wanted to chuckle, but I was weaker than I liked to admit. Alaric, I need Alaric. But I don’t have the words to tell her.
Nevertheless, my mate worked tirelessly over me. The pinch and pull of her fingers cleaning my wound kept me at the edge of awake. Eventually, even the pain faded beneath the blessing of her touch. This was a magick I’d never experienced before. More powerful than the bond, the mark, the blending of minds. Maybe even more powerful than the curse.
I knew it, I thought feverishly.
I must have said it aloud, because Elena pressed a cool cloth to my forehead. “Hush now, and let me work. Rest, but for Goddess’ sake, if you die on me, I will raise you from the dead and kill you myself for leaving me on that cliff.”
My responding chuckle took what energy remained, so I did as she asked and let the pain take me under.
As her hands worked over me, I felt the essence of her being brush against mine through our connection. I gasped aloud at the sensation. It was like touching light, touching life. More pure than anything I’d ever experienced in this world or beyond.
I wanted to tell her to stop. It was too much. I was unworthy, but I was almost too weak to breathe, let alone open my mouth and form words.
I’d never heard of mates experiencing a connection so deep. Surely it was the pain staining my thoughts, bending reality.
Surely.
13
Elena
Déjà vu flooded me as I worked to mend the wound like I had with the tenant farmer before my life changed. The gash spanned most of his chest and was so deep it swallowed most of my longest finger. The biggest worry was dragon’s bane, but I didn’t detect the signature astringent scent signifying its presence.
Leisha’s hands shook as she passed me supplies. I saw her peer warily out the carriage door at Rhys’s men. “Do you think we should leave him and return home?”
I couldn’t have heard her right. “What? No. If we do that, he’ll bleed out.”
She sent me a significant, measuring look. “You mean you want to stay mated to… to this beast?”
Muddling through my thoughts with Rhys’s blood staining my hands took significant effort. “I wouldn’t have consented to be bound to him in the first place if I didn’t.”
“My lady, I don’t mean to be rude, but we could escape now. His men are wounded and in disarray. You could go back into hiding in another temple or go back to your brother. Gideon would help you.”
I pressed a hand to my forehead. “Leisha, you aren’t making any sense whatsoever. Gideon helped to arrange our binding. It would make no sense for him to undo all that work. Now be quiet and help me staunch the flow of blood.”
She bit her tongue, but I could sense the words she left unsaid. I didn’t have time to entertain her nonsense, not when Rhys was growing especially pale before my very eyes. Leisha must be frightened by the attack and it was making her say things she didn’t
mean. She’ll feel better when we got to the ship and set sail for the Northlands.
A headache brewed behind my eyes as I tried to focus on the slippery flesh clenched between my fingers in the dying light. Minutes blended together until finally, I released the breath I’d been holding and looked up. Rhys’s men gathered around the carriage entrance.
“Will he be all right, my lady?” the one called Berrick asked.
Grimly, I replied, “We’ll know if he wakes up.”
“Come, my lady,” the gruff Berrick said, a rough stubby candle in his hands. “I’ll show you to your rooms.”
Leisha took my arm, though she knew from the expression on my face I wasn’t in the mood for a conversation. I still hadn’t forgotten what she’d said about leaving Rhys. When we were settled in the castle, I’d make sure she was okay, but for now, I was frozen, sore, and in dire need of the bathroom.
I squared my shoulders, and we followed Berrick’s hulking form down a maze of hallways lit only by the flickering candlelight. After the third identical turn, I gave up trying to discern where we were going and tried to keep from stumbling. It had taken most of the evening to get Rhys to the ship, tend to the other wounded, and all the supplies loaded. By the time we finished, the moon was high in the sky.
Finally, we reached a corridor with many doors on either side and one at the end. Chatter came from one of the open rooms and I peeked inside as we passed to find a bedroom of sorts. Berrick indicated it was for Leisha, who scurried inside and quickly closed the door behind her.
Wearily, I continued behind the hulking form of Berrick as we delved deeper into the bowels of the ship. I couldn’t feel my feet and my hair was falling out of its plait. I hadn’t been able to clean my hands of the blood staining them and wished mightily for a warm bath more than anything.
Deal with the Dragon (Immortals Ever After Book 1) Page 10