by Celeste Raye
Trent knocked on her door and tried not to think about what they had talked about the last time that they were together. She had been very adamant that whatever happened between them was gone. That was something Trent did not want to believe.
She answered the door, and he was at a loss for words. As much as he didn’t want to, he couldn't stop the way he felt about her. She was the one that was going to dominate his mind for the rest of his life. Her smile was easy, and it lit up the room. It certainly lit up the dark spaces that were inside of him. The parts of him that hadn't seen light for as long as he could remember.
“Are you ready?”
“Yeah, let me just get one last bag. I won't be but a minute. Do you want to come in?”
“No, I don't think that's a good idea. I will wait here.”
Trent tried his best to pull himself together. He really needed to. The only way that he was going to make it was to calm himself.
He watched the door close in front of him and told himself that he was doing himself no favors. He was here to take her home, nothing more. Nothing had changed. She was still his brother's wife.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Sienna shut the door because she needed a moment to herself. Every time she got around Trent, her heart raced like she was about to have some sort of heart attack. He did things to her physically that he shouldn’t be able to.
It was like her reactions were almost like symptoms of something being massively wrong with her. That was not too hard to imagine, because Sienna was starting to think that was just the way it was. All she could think about was what came next.
When she popped out of the room, she had her bags with her and Trent quickly took them off of her. She tried to protest and tell him that she could take care of them herself, but it was almost like he needed something to do. She let him take as many as he wanted.
“Thank you, Trent. You have always been such a gentleman.”
He had a look that made her freeze. “Not always.”
Sienna could tell that he was bitter, and she had mixed emotions about it. The fact that he was upset about it was good to know in one way and something that peeved her as well. While rejection was never fun, Sienna had certainly put herself out there. It had failed miserably, backfiring in her face, but she had tried. That was more than could be said for what Trent had decided to do. He made it basically impossible for Sienna. And she had a feeling that that was the point.
They did not say much more to each other as they walked outside. Sienna put her backpack on her back, and she pulled her strawberry blonde hair into a ponytail. There was certainly going to be wind to deal with, and Sienna didn’t remember a time that she had traveled so long on a dragon's back. And it wasn't just any dragon. It was Trent. It was the dragon she loved.
“Are you sure there isn't something I can do to make you more comfortable?”
“No, this is going to be fine. Let's just get there as quickly as possible.”
Trent’s face was showing all of his anxiety, and his lips were pressed together in a tight line. He was most likely thinking about the same thing that Sienna was thinking about.
She was thinking about how it was going to feel when she had to wrap her legs and arms around him and hang on for dear life. To touch each other in that way.
“How long do you think it's going to take to get there?”
“I don't know, Sienna. Hopefully not too long.”
“Is it that bad to be around me?”
“It is not bad, Sienna. It's hard.”
While she had never said anything aloud about how she felt about it all, Sienna was not going to feel sorry for him. It felt bad for her too. She wanted to bring up the fact that she had tried to run off with him. That was how much Sienna loved him, but he had refused. He had lied to her and brought her back home anyway, after ravishing her body and mind.
“Sometimes, the decisions we make are hard. Sometimes it's even harder when the decisions are made for us.”
“I don't think you will ever know how much I regret that.”
“Considering that I had to marry somebody else, I think you're the one that will never get it. You can tell yourself it was your duty all you want to, but this was your decision. I wasn’t going to say anything, but don't tell me that it's hard. Being around you kills me. It is just that simple.”
She waited for a moment and then urged him to shift so that they could get started. She wanted to get as far as she could, as fast as she could. The only problem was that it was hard to run away from someone when she was riding on his back. Sienna was going to have to wait till their final destination to get some time away from Trent finally. Then maybe she would be able to think again.
He turned into the glorious creature she had immediate feelings for. The dragon was him, and he was a dragon. That would never change for her, and it did not matter what form Trent was: she loved him.
She admired the color of his scales as she got on. There was no way for him to talk, so instead, she touched a few scales on his neck and leaned forward. It wasn’t what she should have done, but Sienna just had something come over her, and she wanted to be close and feel safe for just a moment before they took off.
She had done this once or twice before, but never with Trent. Sienna was hopeful that the feeling she had for the man would not register with the feeling she had for the dragon.
As soon as she threw one of her legs over the side and got into the position where she would be able to ride, Sienna knew that it was wrong. The feelings that she had for Trent were no different; they were just changed a little bit from his other form.
She leaned down and wrapped her arms around a part of his neck. He was too big to hold onto the right way, so she was forced to improvise. Her body stretched and rubbed against the man and beast. The growl reverberated through the body underneath her, tingling her in places that she hadn’t expected to feel. It was going to be impossible to get through this ride without being turned on the whole time. It was a mess. A huge mess.
By the time they stopped for the night, Sienna was barely able to breathe. They were supposedly about halfway there, but that meant that they needed to take a few hours and sleep. It just so happened that they found a cave entrance that looked eerily familiar to her and they decided to bunker down there for the night. Sienna could think of a million other places that she would rather be, but no one else that she would rather be with.
The part that she didn't think about was how it was all going to work out logistically. Again, she would have to lay next to him, and again, she would have to fight all of the feelings that were inside. How hard would it be to convince him for just one more time? It would most likely be as easy as it was to convince herself to do the same. It was all she could think about, and it was taking everything inside of her not to go back down that path.
“Is this where we are sleeping for the night?”
“It's easier than getting a hotel room out here. Then we'd have to find a place to take off again. It's easier this way.”
Sienna would not agree with the easier part. It seemed never to be easier when it came to Trent. He made everything more complicated, and at the moment, she did not need complications. At the moment, she needed just a few minutes to pull her brain out of the gutter. What she had with Trent was never going to be replayed. She had a husband now. She was mated, and Sienna had to keep thinking that.
“Well, if this is the best way that you can think of, then I guess this will have to do. Brings us back, though, doesn't it?”
“Yes, it does.”
“This doesn't have to be too complicated, does it?”
“I don't think it has to be complicated at all. It's just one night, right?”
“Yeah, it's just one night.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Trent tried his best to pretend like lying next to her was not the end all be all. The feel of her body was not perfect against him, and she did not fit so snugly for a reason. It was a
ll a part of his imagination. That had to be what it was.
But then she would move, and all of the smoke that he was blowing up his ass was just that: smoke. Trent realized that he was so very wrong, and she could very well be the death of him. That's all he could think about at that moment. He was going to literally die if he didn’t get what he wanted.
“You really have to stop moving, Trent. How are we ever going to get any sleep when you never stop tossing and turning? Is there something you need to do to get more comfortable?”
While it may not have been an offer, Trent knew exactly what he needed to get more comfortable and he didn't think that it would be something that was advisable to talk about with her. Ever.
“My brother’s wife. She is not for me. I am just bringing her back to him. That's it.”
As many times as he repeated that to himself, it didn't seem to matter that much. He didn't even believe it. Trent didn't even believe his own lies that he was telling himself. Trent was never going to see Sienna as his brother’s wife. She was always going to be his. There was nothing he could do about it.
“Maybe if there was a bit of space between us. I think I just need some room, that's all.”
“But then you won’t be able to rub against me.”
Sienna said the words and backed up on him enough that she felt the hardness. Sienna was doing the same thing that she had done the night that changed everything. He was convinced she was trying to drive him insane.
He immediately reacted in a way that he didn't want to and tried his best not to let it be quite so known. When she moved back again, he pulled his hips back so that there wasn’t as much contact. The contact was driving him crazy.
“No, Sienna. I don't think that you should be doing that.”
“You're very wishy-washy, you know that?”
“I never know what the hell to expect from you, Sienna. That's probably why.”
She agreed wholeheartedly. “I would hate having to try to figure me out. It most definitely would be frustrating.”
“You don't know the half of it.”
“I can certainly feel part of it. What else is there to know?”
Trent didn't have anything to say to that. She was baiting him. He knew that she was, and he was still trying to convince himself that the only way he was going to get through it was to forget that she existed. He did not need any more memories to think about later on when he was alone. He had enough.
But Sienna became needier and it wasn't long before parts of him were sliding against parts of her. He wanted to be inside of her as easily and quickly as possible. It would have taken nothing, just a tilt of his hips and it would have been all over. The knowledge itself was enough to mess with his head.
“What are you doing?”
He asked with clenched teeth and a tone that made her giggle.
“I just need a little attention. Just a little rubbing.”
“There's no way that we can do that. You are my sister-in-law.”
“I would rather you call me your brother's wife. It certainly sounds better.”
“Fine, whatever. There's no way that we can do this.”
She looked behind her as she slid him in between her thighs with her backward movement.
“We're not doing anything like that. It’s just a little rubbing. How can that be wrong?”
“That's all we should do, Sienna. You are a married woman, after all. You know the rules.”
There were definitely rules about infidelity, and it went both ways. Theoretically, it was supposed to be as harsh on the males as it was females, but it was always harder on women. Her lover was almost always killed, and she was punished. The men usually got off with a slap on the wrist. Inequality was present in all species.
“Yes, I do. You know the rules as well.”
“I'm far less worried about the rules than you would think. I don't care what my brother thinks.”
“Yes, you do.”
Trent liked to think that he didn't care, but he really did. It was hard not to.
“Okay, I do, but that's just because it would be a huge deal. I would still do without. I would run away with you right now if that's what you wanted to do.”
“I want to say that, Trent. I really do, but that's not what is going to happen here.”
“And what is going to happen?”
“You're going to go your way, and I'm going to go my way. We're going to try to forget that any of this happened and before long, it won't be every day that we think of each other. We will only think of each other on really quiet nights when our minds are still restless when we're trying to go to bed. I will think of you in a positive way. In a very fond way, and hopefully, you will think the same way about me.”
“And that's it?”
“What else is there, Trent?”
Trent wanted to tell her that they could be together. That they could somehow run off together. He wanted that more than anything, but he knew that it would be impossible. There was nowhere that they could go where they would not be tracked down. It would be the biggest betrayal of all, and Trent couldn't do it. No matter how much he loved his Sienna, he couldn't betray his family like that.
“I guess there is nothing else. I wish there were.”
She sighed and laid her head down on his chest.
“You don't know how badly I wish that were true.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Sienna was sad the rest of the way to her new home. As much as she wanted to believe that she was above it all, in reality, her heart was broken and the last place she wanted to be was with her husband. When she got there, he was still in the field, and a week later, Darius still hadn’t arrived. She kept getting messages that he was trying to get back to her, but things were taking a turn for the worst on the battlefield.
Another week passed before Trent and many of her father's troops that were sent over went to the front lines. The McClellans we're not giving in, and instead of giving up like Ronald had hoped they would, they were digging in their heels. They had taken over some of the pack’s land, but her husband and the rest of the forces were pushing them back. It wouldn't be long before they would be back. That is what everybody kept telling her anyway.
Sienna was trying to get used to her new life. It was strange to have her own place, and it was even stranger to have a servant to take care of it for her. Her days used to be filled with cooking and cleaning and everything else that went with running a household, but now she had nothing but time. That was probably the worst part of it. She had time to think. Anything she thought about wasn't going to be good because it was always about Trent.
The place she stayed in was beautiful, and the house was bigger than the one she had lived in before, but things were different. Women in this society were not as equal as she was used to. There had been several times when talk of the war was going on and she was asked to leave the room. It wasn't in a mean way, but it wasn’t very subtle either. It was very clear to her that her opinion did not matter to them. She was only a woman after all.
So, without anything to do and nothing really to keep her mind busy, all Sienna could do was think of Trent. Very shortly after she got to her new home though, Sienna was given something else to worry about. She found out that she was pregnant about a month in, and she tried to keep it to herself as long as she possibly could. There was a part of her that knew that the father was up in the air. It could have been Trent or Darius. She was with Trent more though, and big part of her wanted it to be his.
The idea that she was able to carry a piece of him with her made losing him a little bit easier. It didn't keep her warm at night, and it didn't help all of the confusion that she felt in her heart, but it was something.
Sienna finally had to tell everyone that she was with child. Her servant was the first one to notice when she was helping her get dressed. Sienna made her promise that she wouldn't say anything. Mandy was a nice girl, and she trusted her to keep her mouth shut. If n
ot, she could find another servant and Mandy could find another job that wasn't nearly as regal as the one she had. Sienna was quickly learning how the world worked where she was. She had always been easily adaptable.
Ronald was the first to make it back from the war, and he went right to her when he got home and congratulated her.
“I am so happy to hear that you are with child. You have no idea. I was wondering if we were ever going to get grandchildren.”
Sienna was a little taken aback because she didn't really know Ronald. He had always been rather gruff with her and he reminded her too much of her own father. It was all about what they could do for the pack, and the obligations that were given to them because of their birthright. That was something that she and Darius had in common.
“I am glad that the news has found you. We have been worried about you. Are you with your sons?”
Sienna was hoping that she would get to see Trent and Darius. While she did not love her husband, she worried about him. War was dangerous, and she remembered several skirmishes from when she was a child. It had never turned out well for either side. Sienna had learned a long time ago that there were no actual winners in war.
“They are both well and on the front lines. Trent got burned a little bit when he first arrived, but he is getting better. We heal very quickly. You know that.”
Sienna wanted to ask more about Trent, but her duty was to her husband and she asked how Darius was doing. She did care about him, even if it wasn't in the way that she should. She didn’t love him.
“And Darius?”
“He is delighted to hear about your being with child. He will be here as soon as he possibly can. We are hoping to push back the other clan by next week. There is a plan in place.