Zane pursed his lips. “They’re scared of you. They want your power for themselves.”
She nodded enthusiastically. “Exactly! I’ll be honest, I don’t know exactly why I’m so powerful, but my dragon is remembering things and she’s buried herself while she remembers more. She said the Drako are only as powerful as their queen. Take her out and it’s over. She said the queen will be there, because they need me, and she won’t risk it going wrong.”
Kian stroked his goatee, looking thoughtful. “Taking her out is like cutting off the head of the snake.”
“Perfectly said,” she replied.
“Then if we’re fighting, I want you in Eagle Creek. I’ll take care of the queen.”
She shook her head quickly. “Oh no. That won’t work. There will be more than one female there, because they won’t want to make it obvious. You won’t know who to go for and they could take us all out before you figured it out. Besides, my dragon said I’m the only one who can do this.”
“And how will you know?”
Raising her hands, she shrugged helplessly. “My dragon said she’d recognize her. That she’d know. You need me there, and we need to fight. If we don’t, we’re all screwed.”
He took her hands in his, gazing into her eyes. “Do you think you can do this? Other than Vihaan, you’ve never been in a fight. Do you think you can handle it? Do you think you can live with killing someone? Because it sounds like you’re saying the only way to end this is to kill their queen.”
She searched his dark brown gaze, trying to read him. “You don’t think I can?”
“I think you can do anything you put your mind to. What I want to know is if you think you can do it.”
She wasn’t sure she understood why he needed to know, but she gave it serious consideration, looking deep into her soul before nodding. “To save you? And me, and everyone in this tribe? Absolutely.”
He studied her intently for another moment before he smiled with approval. “All right, then. We fight.”
Zane whooped, the sound echoing through the room. “That’s what I’m talking about.”
Kian’s eyes narrowed as he stared at him. “You’re still going to Eagle Creek.”
“The fuck I am. You and what army are going to make me?”
Kian smiled, squeezing her hand. “Apparently my mate is all the army I need.”
Zane rolled his eyes with disgust, walking away muttering about sickening newly mated pairs. Jessica’s heart warmed as she smiled at Kian, leaning up to give him a kiss that lingered, making her body tingle deliciously.
Pulling back, she ran her fingertips over the shadow of a beard he was growing along with his goatee. He’d been so busy, he hadn’t taken the time to shave. Or sleep, for that matter. “You need to get some rest. Especially if we’re fighting them. I don’t want you going into a battle anything less than your best. I can’t lose you.”
“I promise I’ll try.”
“Maybe I should ask Noah to borrow your gift and make you fall asleep. Just like you did to me.”
He just shrugged unrepentantly. “You desperately needed sleep, and you were making yourself sick with your crying. I have no regrets.”
Shaking her head, she snuggled into his arms, reveling in the feel of his arms wrapped around her, holding her tightly. Noah had an interesting gift. He could sense what gifts other shifters had and borrow them for his own use. All the Enforcers had unique, powerful gifts though. It was a good thing they’d banded together for good. With power like that, they could take over the world if they were inclined to.
Leaning back, she looked in his eyes. “I know why you want Zane to go to Eagle Creek. I really do. But if we’re fighting, we need him. He’s one of the best warriors in the tribe, and we’re gonna need every bit of help we can get. We need him. I feel it in my bones.”
He rested his forehead against hers, closing his eyes tightly for a moment. “I trust you. If you say we need him, I’ll let him stay. But I wish it wasn’t necessary.”
“I wish none of this was, but we have to.”
A throat cleared and they glanced over to find the top warriors and the Enforcers walking into the room. Karis nodded to her before looking at Kian.
“Zane says we’re fighting?”
Kian nodded and then filled them in on what Jessica told him. “She’s right. There really isn’t any other option. I have a feeling that they plan on killing everyone in Durga even if she and I surrender.”
Jameson nodded. “I agree with that. I hate the whole situation, but I don’t see how we can do anything else. We’re still sending the women and children to Eagle Creek, right?”
It was clear that he was worried about his mate, Cady, and their baby daughter Carlie. And it broke Jessica’s heart. So many in the tribe had found their mates and begun having children in the last year or so, and now this was threatening to tear them apart. Was tearing them apart, for however long they were gone.
Kian nodded but before he could say anything, Zane spoke, glaring at him. “And I’m not going with them.”
Shaking his head, Kian gave him a half-smile. “No, you’re not. Jessica argued in favor of letting you stay.”
With a satisfied nod, Zane held his fist out for her to bump. She did so with a giggle, but it quickly faded with Arya spoke up.
“I’m staying, too.”
Karis’s head whipped toward his mate and he glared at her. “The hell you are. Women and children are leaving. All of them. That means you.”
Arya just gazed at him calmly, a look of stubbornness in her eyes that said she wouldn’t be moved. “And all the warriors are staying. I’m a warrior. Second ranking warrior, at that. You guys need me. I’m a good fighter. A great one. I wouldn’t be second if I wasn’t.”
“I can’t lose you,” Karis replied, his voice low and intense.
“I can’t lose you, either. And the odds for us are better if I stay. You know that. And this is the life you agreed to when you mated a female warrior. You can’t make me go.”
He shook his head, looking to Kian. “She has to go, right?”
Kian hesitated, his gaze shooting between Karis and Arya before staying on Karis. “I’m sorry, Karis. But she’s one of our best. We need her.”
Karis’s mouth tightened, his eyes furious, but Arya went to him, wrapping an arm around his waist, and he deflated, leaning into her touch. Jessica tore her gaze away, looking to the side as tears pressed against her eyelids, trying not to let them fall.
“I’m so sorry, guys. So, so sorry,” she whispered.
Vynn touched her arm, and when she looked up at him, his gaze was surprisingly compassionate. A rarity from the half-wild tiger shifter. “Hey. It’s okay. No one here blames you, so don’t go blaming yourself.”
The others murmured in agreement, and it was quiet for a moment as everyone got lost in their thoughts. Karis lifted his head from where it had been resting against Arya’s and looked at Kian.
“Do you really think the warriors are ready for this? We’ve gone to battle before, but not since you became Alpha. We’ve spent all this time expecting a battle from within, not from an outside source. I’m not sure one of the warriors, or even a regular tribe member, won’t take this chance to try to take you out.”
Kian exhaled heavily. “Honestly? I don’t know. Maybe they will. But we don’t really have a choice other than to trust them at this point. We’ll just have to pray that they fight the common enemy and not me.”
There will be one there who can manipulate those who are weaker. That’s how the other War Cats were compromised. Warn them, her dragon whispered inside her.
How do you know all this? Jessica asked, but her animal had already faded inside her.
Darn it, the mysteriousness was driving her batty. And that news wasn’t good. It at least explained how Ben, Vihaan, and Isla had gone so wrong, but she wanted to know how her dragon knew all this information.
“My dragon just talked to me. She said the
re’s a member of the Drako who can manipulate those weaker. That’s how they got to Ben, Vihaan, and Isla. She told me to warn you guys.”
Zane cursed, thrusting a hand through his long hair. “That’s all we need.”
Kian hooked his hands on his hips as he shook his head. “I’m not sure how the info helps us. Maybe we need to get together and send the ones we believe are easiest to manipulate to Eagle Creek.”
“I don’t see that there’s anything else we can do,” Karis agreed.
The Enforcers had been standing quietly to the side, but Luke finally spoke up. “We’re gonna call Blake and let him know about the developments. Call us if anything else changes.”
Kian nodded and they all watched as they walked away to call their President. “The rest of you go ahead and go home, too. Spend some time with your mates and families. We’ll meet again here bright and early first thing in the morning.”
Jessica watched as everyone left silently, her eyes falling on Karis and Arya holding hands tightly as they walked away. The guilt was welling up inside her again, and she was almost choking on it. Because of her, this might be one of the last nights Karis and Arya spent together.
All. Her. Fault.
Kian turned from watching his tribe members leave to see Jessica standing with her head down, and even though he could barely see her face, he knew guilt was plastered all over it. It hurt his soul, but he wasn’t sure what else to say to ease it. He’d tried everything he knew of.
Fix it. Fix our mate, please, his tiger pleaded, pacing in his chest.
Fuck, if only he knew how. The only thing he could do was try to distract her, and keep on distracting her somehow until the battle was over and this mess was done.
He put his knuckle under her chin and lifted, meeting her tear-filled chocolate brown eyes. “Everything’s going to work out. You’ll see.”
“I don’t know how you can be so optimistic when it feels like the whole world’s crashing down upon us.”
His lips quirked up on one side. “It’s a gift, I guess. But baby, what’s the other option? Spend the last couple of days before the battle steeped in pessimism, believing the worst? If this is the end, I don’t want to go out with sadness and more regret than I’d already feel. I want to go out knowing I did everything I could to live every moment to the fullest. I want to go out knowing I grabbed at every sliver of happiness I could.
“But here’s the thing. I don’t believe this is the end at all. I think we’ve got this. I think they only have what power we give them. If we go in already defeated, they’ve won. They’ve stolen the last of our happiness. And if we think we’ll lose, we will. We have to believe we have a shot, or we’ll lose the war before we can begin the battle.”
Her lips trembled as she stared at him with wide eyes. A slow smile lit her face and some of the tears faded from her eyes. “You’re right, of course. Absolutely right. It’s no wonder you’re Alpha. With speeches like that, you could make anyone follow you anywhere. And before you say it, I know you don’t want to make anyone do anything. But that’s the thing. You wouldn’t be making them. They’d genuinely want to.”
Leaning down, he kissed her slowly, feeling the blood stir hotly in his veins, before pulling back and giving her a wink. “How long of a speech would it take to get you to follow me to the bedroom?”
Throwing her head back with a laugh, she shook her head, her eyes twinkling merrily, the earlier sorrow just a shadow lurking in the back of her gaze. “No speech at all. Let’s go.”
He grinned, immediately leaning down to pick her up, throwing her over his shoulder. She squealed as he set off quickly toward their bedroom, and he smacked her ass as they neared it, laughing when she let out a peel of giggles.
That. That was what this life was about. It wasn’t about tribe politics, enemies, war, or hatred. It wasn’t about working yourself to death for shit you couldn’t take with you when you died. It wasn’t about spending your time steeped in stress, or sadness, or always expecting the worst. It wasn’t about taking those bad expectations and building a life around them.
It was about living life to the fullest with the one you loved, grabbing at your happiness with every moment. It was about wallowing in what gave you joy, not regret or the shit you couldn’t change. It was about love, and family, and friends, and doing everything you could to make them happy, and protecting them with your life.
That was what he was going to do with his life, even if it only lasted two more days. Because by God, when he left this world, he was leaving it knowing he’d done everything he could to make it the best possible—not just for himself, but for those he loved.
They reached the bedroom, and he set her down, letting her slide down his body. Her face was flushed, her eyes dancing and lit up with the joy he wanted her to feel. His heart clenched and he took a moment to just drink her in. That moment was what he wanted to remember, for the rest of his life. That picture of her was what he was going to hold close and keep in his mind when they went to war. That was what he was fighting for.
He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, intending for it to be slow and easy. He wanted to take his time with her tonight, explore every inch of her body. But it immediately caught fire and desire rushed through his veins as she threw herself into him, intensifying the kiss.
She bit his bottom lip hard then sucked it into her mouth, laving the sting away with her tongue. His tiger growled and she responded with a hiss in her throat that surprised both of them. She pulled back, eyes wide, and he saw the moment it dawned on her that her dragon made the sound.
It revved both of them up even more and he kissed her hard, sucking her tongue into his mouth as he backed her up to the bed, his hand delving under her shirt. Pulling his mouth away, he trailed it over to her ear, biting softly on the lobe as he filled his palm with her breast. She gasped, and he eased back, grasping the hem of her shirt and yanking it upward. Giggling as her arms got caught, she finally freed herself and he immediately popped open the clasp of her bra, pulling it off.
His breath caught and he stopped for a moment to take her in. Her breasts were more than a handful, hanging low from their weight, and her nipples were pink, already hard and begging for his touch. Only one thing could make this picture any better and he quickly freed her hair from her braid, running his hands through the long strands. Fuck, she was gorgeous.
And no, there was no going slow tonight. He had to have her, right then. And judging from the look in her eyes, she felt the same way. Reaching out, she shoved his shirt up, and he took over, pulling it off. He dropped it on the floor as she grabbed his belt and tugged it open before tackling his jeans. She went fast until she unzipped him, and then she went slow, easing it over his straining erection. He watched, his blood boiling. Fuck, that was hot as hell.
She’d never been that aggressive before, and it was making him feel like he was going to combust. She shoved his jeans down and while he was yanking his boots off so he could step out of them, she yanked her own pants down.
Once they were both naked, she bit her bottom lip, the look in her eyes sultry, and then turned around, bending over on the bed as she looked back at him. His heart thumped almost painfully in his chest as he took in the invitation in her eyes.
“What, no foreplay today?” he asked, his voice coming out gravelly and strained.
She shook her head, her long hair trailing over her shoulder to spill onto the bed under her. “Trust me, I don’t need it. What I need is you inside me right now.”
Fuuuuck, what those words did to him. His balls ached as his eyes immediately went to her core, and he saw instantly that she’d been telling the truth. He’d only kissed her and barely touched her, and she was already dripping wet.
He trailed a hand lightly from her shoulder to her hip, watching as she shivered, goosebumps raising her skin. He lined up behind her, but before he could sink inside her warmth, his gaze caught on her dragon’s mark, shimmering in the light. On impul
se, he leaned over and set his lips against it, kissing it tenderly.
Her breath caught and she moaned, her head falling forward to rest against the bed. Standing up again, he took his dick in hand, almost hissing at how sensitive he was. He rubbed himself against her center, coating himself in her wetness, making sure he bumped her clit with every stroke. She gasped, pushing herself back against him.
“Inside me, Kian. Now.”
He’d never been one to deny his lady what she wanted, so he lined himself up at her entrance and began pushing slowly inside. Groaning at how hot and wet she was, he finally gave up the battle of trying to go slowly and thrust inside her, burying himself to the hilt inside her.
She moaned his name, her back arching, and he began pulling out, the feel of her tight walls trying to suck him back in almost making him come before he was ready. He thrust back in hard, gritting his teeth, trying to hold on at least long enough to make sure she got her pleasure, too.
But he didn’t think it would take long. She was already quivering around him. It looked like they were both on the edge with barely any effort at all.
He pulled out faster than before, thrusting in harder, and then repeated the process, increasing the intensity with every pass. Leaning over her, he slowed a bit as he filled his hands with her breasts, squeezing and kneading before plucking and gently twisting her nipples. She kept pushing back against him, but he’d given her no room, forcing her to go at his pace.
“Dammit, Kian. Don’t make me wait any longer.”
His eyebrows rose at the curse coming out of her mouth, but her voice had been coated in desperation. Desperation he was feeling as well, so he gave in, straightening up with a smack to her ass, enjoying the way her plump cheek rippled with movement.
Pulling back, he slammed into her, reveling in the sound of his body smacking into hers. He thrust wildly into her a few times, losing control. Knowing he was perilously close, he snaked a hand around and pressed his fingers around her clit, rubbing in fast, hard circles.
Within moments, her body was convulsing, her walls spasming around him. With a curse, he slammed into her one more time before he let go, coming so hard his vision began turning white.
Kian (War Cats Book 5) Page 17