by D. Brumbley
She kissed his cheek and wrapped her arms around his neck as she rested her head on his shoulder. “I can’t believe we’re at this point already. The months went by so quickly.”
“The rest will go by just as fast. Time goes faster when you’re a wolf. Or at least that was what my mom used to tell me.”
“Are you excited? Happy? Scared? Angry?” Aura prodded, since she hoped that Ziem was happy with her. Even though Aura was an emotional wreck.
“Happy.” He said with a kiss to her cheek. “That I can be around to take care of you. That the Gods shipped me back here, if that’s what they did.”
She slowly walked her fingers up his chest as her jewelry all melted off of her and trickled down his body to create a couple of links for a chain around his wrist. “So…would you be willing to be with your wife one more time before she turns into an animal?”
“My wife already is an animal. And I like her that way.” Ziem countered with an easy smile. Everything about him was easy and free with Aura. He cared about her deeply, and he wanted to make her happy.
“I ran out of sexy moves once a basketball showed up under my shirt. But the sex is still pretty awesome, I think.”
“No complaints here. And there never will be.” He stood up with her in his arms and set her down on the metal block they called a bed.
She held his eyes for a moment before she pulled him down into a harsh kiss, rough and desperate for his attention and affection. “I love you, Ziem.”
He grinned and kissed her again as the steel folded them into it. “Show, baby. Don’t tell.”
X
Two more months saw only an increase in the population of the Ironborn camp, and it seemed to overflow into a small city with the number of new packs that came in to join them. Almost every element was represented, with many saying that they lacked only Fireborn, since the group of Fireborn they had was so small, vicious though they were.
The Fulness came and went, and it had been a deadly time within the camp. There were a number of violent incidents between different packs, and Nick was at his wits’ end dealing with everything that was brought before him. Only the Ironborn, strangely enough, out of all the other packs gathered, seemed to be able to rule themselves, or at least that was how he felt. He kept away from Zara during the Fulness, as always, but once the morning after broke, he wasn’t surprised to find her there next to him in the bed.
Zara smiled at him and greeted him with a warm kiss as she snuggled in. She’d had a difficult time falling asleep, so she was already awake when he woke. “One of these days I’m going to convince you not to run away from me during the Fulness.”
“One day, one night, depends on what you’re in the mood for at the time, I suppose.” He kissed her with a sigh. “I’ve told you already. One of these days, when I have a mate and she’s already birthed at least one Ironborn pup to keep things going, then, if you still want to have pups, we’ll spend the Fulness together.”
“You want to live like that? Being pulled back and forth between two people?” Zara challenged, since she knew all too intimately Nick’s hesitations and thoughts.
“Weren’t you the one who kept telling me how much I needed to take a mate so that I have someone else who can help me rule my people?”
“I know.” She said, looking conflicted. “That was before.”
He sighed and kissed her again. “If I ever do find someone suitable, I’m going to need your support in it, Zara. It’s the way you knew it was going to have to be from the beginning.”
She sighed and got up slowly. “There’s a meeting later this morning with all the Alphas. You should get ready.”
He sat up in bed and just looked at her, with no hint of getting ready. His expression was stern. Not speaking your mind doesn’t become you.
“I don’t have anything to say.” She grabbed her clothes from where she left them folded before the Fulness even began. “You want…you say you need, an Ironborn mate, not a Heartborn one, and yet you tell everyone that we’re to be equals here. I was born of pure blood, some of the purest, or else I wouldn’t even be what I am. That’s not good enough to be your equal.”
“Don’t twist my words when you know that’s not what I meant.” He said with a glare at her. “You of all people, who can read my mind and know what I’m thinking, should be the last person to throw an accusation like that at me.”
“What do you mean, then? How am I supposed to interpret your thoughts?” Zara tossed back at him, challenging.
“It’s not about pure blood or impure blood. It’s about what my people will accept and what they won’t.” He got up from the bed and stood in front of her, with the gold and steel on his bedside table snaking itself up onto his arms. “They accept you beside me. They accept that I value your counsel and that I trust you. Making you my mate and a princess over them is something different.”
“So don’t make me your mate, but don’t make me your whore either.” She said with obvious hurt in her voice.
He stepped toward her and put a hand up to her face gently, his expression turning gentle as well. “What do you want, Zara? What happened?”
She turned her face into his hand and took a deep breath. “I just…it’s nothing. I’m overreacting.” She kissed his palm and then looked into his hazel eyes. “You should find a mate.”
“Tell me.” He pressed. Nick had been living with her nearly every moment of most days for more than four months. Heartborn might thrive on interpersonal relationships, but that didn’t necessarily mean intimacy came any easier to them than to other people.
“Ask anyone. They’ll tell you one of two things about wolves like me. Don’t trust them. Or fuck them but don’t mate with them. Stay away or use them. No one will ever say that it’s okay to love us. To want us for more than sex or power. I can’t help that I want more out of life than what I was given. I’m sorry.”
“Do you think I’m just using you?” He questioned with a kiss to her forehead as he held her close, but clearly there wasn’t accusation there.
Zara sighed and shook her head. “No. But you still don’t want me either. Not as an equal partner.”
“You know how much I want you.” He sighed and stepped away from her to get the rest of his clothing and get ready for the day’s meetings. “I’ve heard all of that about Heartborn my whole life, but then of course you came in, and we’ve had these last four months for me to learn how wrong everything I heard about you has been. You’re the only race of wolves that never cared about what happened on the outside of us, only what’s going on in your heart and the heart of everyone around you. And now you tell me that what’s between us isn’t enough.”
“That’s not what I mean. I don’t care if we mate or not, I just…I get jealous when I think of you with someone else.”
“As I do when I think about you with someone else.” He finished pulling on his ripped jeans and light-colored vest that had become his trademark clothing over the last few months. She could feel his jealousy of her as he got ready, his possessiveness that wanted her with him at all times, and it was not the kind of thing a person would feel for a whore.
She went up to him and kissed him several times in apology. “I’m sorry.”
He returned the kiss but didn’t say anything else. “I’ll see you later this afternoon. I have some visits to make with the Fireborn first. But I’ll see you at court.” Over the last few months, the steel platform on which his throne sat had grown considerably to include places for all the Alphas that came. It included their mates, along with a smaller seat behind his own that was reserved for Zara at all times.
“You know I’ll be there. Always.” Zara promised eagerly and with all the sincerity she could muster.
“I know.” He kissed her one last time and headed out, accompanied by Lea and William as always.
When he went to meet with the Fireborn, he was greeted by one of the few females in the small group named Dayna, who was particularly passiona
te about just everything, including greeting the Ironborn prince. “What a pleasure, Prince Nickel. Were you expecting to meet with someone?”
“I came at Princess Veronica’s request.” He gave the woman a smile that was only feigned because he was in a particularly bad mood from the morning’s conversation. Their Alpha and his mate shared power a little more freely and easily than the others did. Balthazar, the Alpha, found he enjoyed spending time with his other Alphas somewhat more than with his own pack since they arrived, and so Nick had seen more of Veronica than of the Alpha himself.
Dayna nodded and went running off to get her mistress, leaving scorch marks in the ground as she did. When Veronica came out, she smiled when she saw the Ironborn prince, the morning sunlight glittering in her dark crimson eyes. “Good morning.” She gave him a slight bow by a nod of the head. “Thank you for coming.”
“Of course.” He dismissed Lea and William with a look and headed further in toward Veronica’s home, trying to appear more at ease than he was. “What can I do for you?”
“I’ve gotten word about another group of Fireborn, but I wanted to tell you about it first before I told them to come.” She sat down by a newly created fire where breakfast was cooking. It smelled delicious, and there was no fear of burning it or ruining it with them around. “Their alpha is a cousin to one of our newest. She told me that her cousin is a bit uncontrollable with his flames, but he’d be loyal to the end, should they join.”
“Where are they from?” He knew Veronica’s pack were wanderers, as Fireborn so often were.
“They’re from America originally, but they’re here and have been for years now.”
He curled his lip a little at the thought of an American pack joining them. They were generally considered upstarts by old world standards, an easy thing for old wolves who had lived longer than the country itself, but he just nodded. “Any who wish to join this fight are welcome. But you know this means that he and Balthazar will have to decide which of them is to represent you all.”
“He’s out chasing Kit again. Do you really expect a decision from him?” Clearly Veronica viewed her Alpha a little differently than most, since her mate seemed a bit more of a playboy than a focused leader in recent days.
“You have a point.” He sighed. “But if this cousin is volatile for even one of your kind, Balthazar’s experienced chasing may be better to represent you. Though that is not my decision to make, of course.”
“Well, perhaps I’ll talk to him at the meeting this afternoon. Give him choices other than burn marks and he’s suddenly a kid in a candy store. The gods cursed him with an insatiable desire for females.”
Most things about Fireborn were insatiable, he learned quickly upon their arrival. “Yet you seem to…handle his indiscretions with more poise than anyone I’ve ever met.”
“Yes, well, we mated for the power, the pups, and the tradition. Attraction and alcohol were involved, but we later discovered that we care about each other just enough to keep from killing one another. It’s fun to mess around, but we never harbored any illusions about true love or any such notion.”
“And you’re content with that?” He was asking too much, and probably showing more weakness than he really wanted to, but she and her mate had been some of the more amicable members of their Council thus far. They didn’t have the numbers and therefore the ego of some of the other packs, volatile as they could be.
“I’d be more content if someone was interested in me, too. He’s always been the charmer.” She, however, was a knockout when it came to looks. Wolves were known for being somewhat more attractive than humans, but this one had a perfect body, long brown hair that fell in waves, and she even did her makeup around her eyes to bring out a smolder that accentuated her dark red irises. She was dizzyingly beautiful, but no one liked to take a chance with the mate of a Fireborn.
“And do you think Balthazar would be as…accommodating as you’ve been that way?”
“I’m not sure. Half the time I’d say he would be too drunk to notice. He’s never been particularly possessive of me. Our personalities just don’t fit together as well as a mated couple would hope for. He’s too laid back and I’m too bossy.” She shrugged in her uncertainty, but didn’t seem worried either way.
“I gathered that.” He sighed. “I’ve never been one for match-making. My own choices that way have never met with friendly public opinion. I don’t think I’d be much help.”
She didn’t respond immediately, but then Veronica took one step closer to him with a smirk. “You look brave enough to take a run through the fire.”
He had to smile at her approach, but she could tell he wasn’t exactly returning the interest. “Running through fire and playing with it are two very different things, I’m afraid. My bravery is of a different kind.”
“Are you sure?” Her smile widened just slightly as she stepped closer, and he could feel the heat come off of her in a wave that made the air between them shimmer. “It could be a lot of fun, you know.”
“I’m…sure it would be.” He didn’t back down, but took in a deep breath of the heat around him. He stepped in the rest of the way towards her as he sighed out the breath he’d taken. “But I don’t need a Heartborn behind me to know you’re looking for more than just fun. And so am I.”
Veronica looked down at his lips and then up at his eyes, as her fingertips grazed the side of his arm. He could feel the heat in them, and it was just enough to send a shiver down his spine, but not enough to burn him. “I’m a ninth generation Fireborn. You and I could create legendary wolves together.” She’d watched him for a month, spoken with him, had a real chance to get to know him. He was a good man and a better wolf, and it was the main reason she was attracted to him.
“So what exactly are you propositioning me for, Veronica?” He said with a friendly smile, but without touching her in return. “The sex or the puppies?”
“Well, it’s not the Fulness anymore. So both, perhaps, in time?” She laughed softly, and even her laugh was infectious and beautiful. She leaned in and spoke softer into his ear, and her whole body brushed against the side of his. “I’ve not met many wolves that are as genuine and strong as you are. I’ll admit freely that I’ve wondered often what it would be like to be this close to you.” Veronica actually took it a step further and then kissed the spot on his neck right below his ear, which sent a wave of warmth through him that proved how powerful she really was.
He wouldn’t deny that he was curious, and his hand went to her waist as she kissed him, but when he leaned in towards her, it was only to leave a kiss on the same spot on her neck. His hand slid up over her shoulder and she felt a slight sting at her ear as a few bits of metal slid off his fingers and formed themselves into an earring made partially of silver and partially of a deep reddish gold that Nick was partial to. She could feel the sting and harshness of his power shoot through her as he hung the earring from her earlobe, but it was just a taste of how good the metal felt to him and all his kind.
He pulled his hand away as the second earring began forming in his palm so that she could see what it looked like, a droplet of silver fire with red gold at its heart. “When we’ve got the peace we want, hopefully I’ll have a chance to come back for these. In the meantime, hold onto them for me.”
She looked down at it and then she looked up at him with genuine gratitude in her eyes. He could tell, for just a moment, that as beautiful as she was, she didn’t get attention very often. Even a taste, in curiosity, was appreciated. No one gave her gifts, and certainly her mate couldn’t be bothered to do more than burn her clothes to ashes when the mood struck him. He could also tell that she was interested for more reasons than just physical attraction, even though she was already mated to someone else and he had his Heartborn lover. “I’ll take care of them. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He smiled and kissed her cheek again before he pulled away, but it wasn’t without difficulty. “I’ll see you at the meeting
this afternoon?”
Veronica nodded and then took a few steps back as well. “See you then.”
Nick left her tent and left the small Fireborn encampment after a few grinning looks from Dayna. Once he was out of sight, he leaned back against a curve of the fence with a deep sigh and rubbed at his face. The remaining rings on his fingers felt amazing as they scratched at his skin, but it restored his sense of equilibrium somewhat. He knew Veronica was a good person. He had spent too much time listening to her thoughts through Zara to think otherwise. Telling someone no like that, someone who just wanted to be cared for, had been the hardest thing he hoped he would have to do all day.
As he cleared his head, he rejoined Lea and William and headed back to the Court, where he was a little too pleased to see Balthazar already in attendance and having absolutely no luck winning over Kit, the Skyborn Alpha. Kit was talking to him, but with a look of amusement on her face that had nothing to do with laughing at his jokes. Nick almost felt sorry for the man.
They passed the Court and went to Nick’s significantly-grown house behind it, where he asked Lea and William to join him for a moment. “Before this afternoon’s Council meeting, I need the latest reports on our numbers. Just the Ironborn fighters. I need to know how many Guardsmen we have here and how many fighters we’ve contributed to the Unified forces. Don’t count yourselves in those numbers. Or Katrell, or Melisendre, or Dion.” They were some of the best fighters in the Guard, and when William or Lea weren’t with him, one or more of the others usually were. He sighed after he finished that list, though, and continued. “Or Aura or Ziem.”
