“The glowy guy gave me a pass.”
“And do you really think that will deter the hungriest of his subjects if I’m not there to remind them of the gravity of breaking the contract?”
Dammit, he was right. “Why the heck does it matter so much if I bathe? If we keep going, I can bathe once I get home.”
“Let me explain something to you, Skin. I can smell you. Not the usual kind of whiff but the I-have-my-head-shoved-in-crap whiff. My Dreki senses are ten times stronger than yours, and there is no way I am spending a whole day and night with you smelling like you rolled in pig shit.”
Wow ... When he put it like that. I shrugged. “Fine, turn around.”
He arched a brow, and for a moment I thought he was about to refuse, but then he shrugged and slowly turned his back on me. Now let’s hope Dreki didn’t have eyes in the back of their head.
Stripping off was harder than expected. My clothes were stuck to me with sweat and grime. Man, I did reek. Taking a deep breath, I slipped into the icy cold water. Gooseflesh tightened my skin as I quickly scrubbed at my flesh, and then, taking another deep breath, I dunked my head in the water. I resurfaced, spluttering and shivering, to see Vesper gathering my clothes.
“What are you doing?”
He dunked them in the water and began to scrub them.
“Hey! What the heck am I supposed to wear?”
Ignoring me, he wrung the garments out and threw them on the grass behind him, and then he inhaled deeply and then exhaled. His breath was a shimmering wave that hit my clothes and set them smoldering. Heat ... he was blasting my clothes with hot air. Another puff and he was done.
He held up my pants. “All dry now, Skin. You can come out.”
“Turn around.” My teeth chattered uncontrollably.
He dropped the garment and turned his back on me. Wet and shivering, I ran out of the water and tugged my dry clothes over my damp body.
“I could have dried you off,” Vesper said.
“No, thanks. I’m done.” I wrung out my hair and tied it in a knot. “Let’s just get going.”
He glanced over his broad shoulder and inhaled. “Much better. I may be able to tolerate you for the next few hours now. Come on, we can talk while we walk. I suppose I should educate you since you’re joining the cause. But if you speak these words to another in an act of betrayal, your tongue will turn to ash.”
I crunched after him, back into the tree line. “Wait. Did you just curse me?”
“I sure did. I’m not Dante. I’m not a trusting fool.” He shook his head. “He took you into his confidence in a blink, not once wondering if you would betray him to the Bloods in exchange for your freedom.”
“He knew I wouldn’t do that.”
“How? How could he have known? He didn’t know a damned thing because he wasn’t thinking with his brain, he was thinking with his cock.” He exhaled sharply. “It doesn’t matter now, though. What matters is that it worked out.”
He strode through the trees, his tall, broad figure cutting an easy swathe through the brush. It was dense here, close. The sun had been blocked out by the thicker canopy, and the world was tinged gray.
My brain still hadn’t caught up to everything that had happened. The fact that I’d escaped from the arena on a Dreki, a huge, black dragon whose voice had been clear as a bell in my head. And now that same Dreki was striding in front of me in an equally impressive human form. All these years I’d believed there was something wrong with me because the Skin males I came across did nothing to fire up my libido, and then two Dreki come along and suddenly my body was acting like a wanton whore. I needed to hit something.
As if summoned by my thoughts, the road ahead was filled with wicked howls.
Vesper let out a bark of laughter. “Great. I needed the opportunity to exercise my blade.” He pulled his sword from its sheath and glanced over his shoulder at me. “Don’t get bit and don’t pass out.”
I bared my teeth in a brutal grin. “Fuck you, Vesper.”
He arched a brow and shrugged. “You wish. I’m not carrying you if you pass out.”
The howls were almost on us now. “Back to back. Move.”
“Ooo. Bossy.” But he fell into position.
Just in time too. The hounds came pouring toward us through the trees, massive black and gray beasts equipped with fangs and claws. My body went into auto-drive. With a whoosh, Jezebel began to extract her pound and a half of flesh. Growls and yips, and the warm splash of blood, the burn of muscle as Jezebel made arc after arc, snagging in flank and hide and then tearing out huge chunks of meat.
Vesper’s laughter was a symphony on the wind, and my throaty chuckle was its base accompaniment. Together, we cut the hounds down one by one, until the few remaining made the wise decision to run.
We stood, gasping, laughing, and covered in blood, and damn, every ache and twinge felt fucking amazing. Vesper’s face was speckled with crimson, his eyes bright jewels in his face, his teeth bright and white in the growing gloom.
Our gazes locked and our laughter died. His attention dropped to my parted lips, and the cobalt blue in his eyes was eaten away by inky black. My breath twisted in a knot in my throat as a strange energy bloomed between us, pulsing, tugging, compelling, and prodding the memory of his lips on my neck, of the echo of his tongue on my most intimate place.
He licked his lips and narrowed his eyes. “Maybe we should fuck.”
My chest fluttered. “What?” Damn the squeak. I was so not a squeaky person.
He stalked closer. “Nothing like a raw fucking to round off a battle.”
He was so close now that I could smell him—sweat, cinnamon, and something sharp, forceful, and undeniably male.
He raised his sword and placed the tip lightly on the side of my face, then trailed it down my cheek, into the hollow of my neck, and across my chest, coming to rest at the top of my breasts. Dante had touched me with his hands, but for some reason the cold steel flecked with blood had me dizzy with desire. I was breathing too heavy, my eyelids hooded. Dammit, I hated not being in control.
“What do you say, Anya?” He drew out the ‘A’ almost tauntingly.
And then that quick mouth of his curled in a smug smile and it was as if someone had dumped a cold bucket of water over my head.
“I’d have more fun fucking myself, thanks.”
His smile widened into a grin. “I very much doubt that.”
Another stab of desire down below. Fucking hell. “Now, if you’ve finished coming on to me, maybe you can make good on your word and get me home.”
Thank goodness my voice came out strong and sure.
He backed up and inclined his head. “Lead the way.”
I swept past him, making sure to inject a forceful air into my walk to counter my weak knees. Vesper in dragon form was dangerous, but Vesper in human form ... I had no doubt he was lethal.
It was going to be a long night.
Chapter Thirteen
“We should make camp for the night,” Vesper said, breaking the two-hour silence.
We’d been walking for what felt like forever. My legs ached and my butt cheeks burned. “Camp sounds good.”
He came to a halt in a small clearing and surveyed the trees. “Gather kindling while I build a fire.”
“I can build a fire. You go find kindling.”
He arched a brow but then simply shrugged and strode off into the trees.
I grabbed some large branches and set to building the fire. Vesper returned a moment later with the kindling.
“We need a flint.”
He snorted. “No, we don’t.” He leaned in and blew onto the branches; a plume of blue flame shot out of his mouth and landed on the kindling. It caught quickly and soon the fire was crackling merrily.
He settled down and warmed his hands, which was probably a reflex because he could make the damn fire so how could he be cold? This was the moment where two companions got to know each other. They swapped storie
s and shared shit, but Vesper seemed perfectly content looking into the flames. My curiosity, on the other hand, was piqued.
“So, what do Dreki lords do, exactly?”
He shrugged. “Lead armies. Fight battles, rule territory. The usual.”
“Do you have another setting aside from flippant?”
He glanced across at me. “Yeah, but that’s reserved for people I actually give a shit about.”
“If I cared what you thought about me that might have hurt.”
The corner of his mouth lifted in a smile. “I can see why Dante has a hard-on for you.” The twitch morphed into a grin. “You remind him of me.”
Oh, man. Could he get any more arrogant?
My stomach made a low rumbling sound.
“Are you hungry?” Vesper asked.
My stomach grumbled again, eagerly.
He rolled his eyes. “I’ll take that as a yes.” He pulled himself up and dropped his weapons belt. Shadows whirled around his form and then I was looking at a hound-sized dragon. Stay here. His voice echoed in my head.
He vanished into the tree line, leaving me gaping. They could do that? Change size like that? How did I not know this? Leaves rustled in a gentle breeze that carried a decided chill. The flames flickered and then surged up defiantly. Man, I was so fucking tired. Off with Jezebel and the blades too. The boots would stay put to keep my feet warm. Plus, if we were attacked, boots on was better than boots off.
Vesper returned, in human form now, carrying what looked like two rabbits. My stomach rumbled in anticipation.
He placed the rabbits on the ground by the fire. “You ever skinned one of these?”
Seriously? “You do realize I live in the Outlands, right?”
Blade in hand, I picked up a rabbit and deftly skinned and gutted it. Vesper slow clapped. “Nice.”
“Would be nicer if you’d taken the time to grab a stick to use as a spit.”
He handed me a stick as if he’d plucked it out of nowhere. Rabbit skewered, I passed it over and reached for the second rabbit, but it felt wrong. Smaller. The bones were all wrong. A shriek stuck in my throat as my brain finally processed what I’d been holding—a tiny, very dead female with gossamer wings.
Vesper stared at the woman and then buried his head in his hands. “Fucking hell. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Damn fairies. Too stupid to live.” He stood up and kicked dirt onto the flames. “Sorry, love, change of plans. We’re going to have to get the heck out of the Wilds tonight.”
He’d killed a fairy, but ... but she’d been a rabbit. I’d seen it. “What the heck just happened?”
“Up. Now. We have to leave.”
The urgency in his tone had me on my feet, strapped up, and ready to go. This time, we ran. Branches whipped past, lashing at my face and tangling in my hair as if attempting to hold me back.
“What are we running from?”
“Judgment.”
Judgment? What kind of judgment would frighten a Dreki? We ran for what felt like forever before Vesper slowed his pace. He glanced up at the trees.
“Okay, we’re out of pixie territory.”
“Is that what it was? A pixie?”
I’d heard about the tiny creatures that inhabited the Wilds. Out of all the beings that called the forest home, pixies were meant to be the tamest.
“I don’t get it. I thought they weren’t dangerous.”
“They’re not. But harm one, or in this case, kill one, and they turn rabid. They don’t follow Oberon’s law. They’re a people unto themselves, and they have their own court. If they catch us, they will kill us. Stupid fuckers like to practice transmutation for fun. This one just happened to go rabbit at the wrong time.”
Pixies in general were around the size of your palm; the idea of a rabid one was hardly alarming. “But ... they’re tiny.”
Vesper ducked under a low-hanging branch, his body more at ease now that we were apparently out of the danger zone. “And there are thousands of them, and they can shift to be even smaller. Imagine being attacked by a swarm of wasps. Imagine each taking a bite.”
A shudder ripped up my spine, because big, furry monsters were one thing, but insects were another thing entirely, and wasps ... Urgh.
“Wait, you said kill us. I didn’t do anything.”
“You’re guilty by association.”
“Why don’t I believe you?”
He threw me a sharp glance over his shoulder. “Feel free to head back and see what happens.”
Okay, maybe not. “So, what happens now?”
“We keep moving. We get onto the outskirts of the Wilds and then we find a nook to rest in for a couple of hours.”
Bone-weary and gut-gnawingly hungry, I followed Vesper, the pixie killer, toward the edge of the Wilds.
* * *
So, this was a nook—a hollow in a huge tree—and this was how I was supposed to rest, with his chest pressed to my back and his chin tucked into the crook of my shoulder. It was intimate and invasive, warm and cozy. Damn, I hated that this felt good, too good. While I lay there, every nerve ending alive with the knowledge that a delectable Dreki male was pressed up against me, he was snoring softly in my ear.
God, could I get any more unattractive?
His earlier proposition had obviously either been a joke or a desperate need to scratch an itch. Who knew how long he’d been held prisoner by the Bloods. Who was I kidding, I would never be one of the females that stiffened a man’s cock, unless it was in fear. Hah. That I could do. That had always been enough. But then there was Dante. The way he looked at me, had looked at me before he’d left, made me feel ... wanted. Although what had Vesper said to him before I’d regained consciousness? Oh, yes. Something about me reminding him of someone else. Another female? Maybe an old lover? So, I was a nostalgic piece, and that was all.
My eyelids fluttered closed. Where was all this frivolous crap coming from? What did it matter if males wanted me? When had it ever mattered? All that mattered was what I could do and what I could achieve. Feeling powerful and being in control were my goals, and when it came to the opposite sex, there was only failure. Best to focus on the things that were in my power. The possibility of preparing the Dreki for this Jotunn attack that was on the horizon was the biggest goal. By doing that, I’d be protecting my family. These were the things that mattered. What mattered was the sword, the axe, and the blade.
“Oh, for goodness’ sake, go to sleep.” Vesper’s voice was hot in my ear. “You’re thinking so hard it’s hurting my brain.”
“You heard my thoughts?”
He sighed. “No, just the pressure of them. It’s distracting.” He pulled me closer, as if it were the most natural thing to do, as if we’d lain like this on many occasions. “Nice,” he muttered, and then his breathing evened out and he fell back into slumber.
Sleep didn’t visit me straight away. Instead, waking dreams flitted before my open eyes—Dad’s face when I returned home, the kids running up the path to greet me, Helgi’s crazy grin to see me alive, and the far away Furtherlands where we would build our new home.
In a few hours, this dream would come true.
Chapter Fourteen
The tavern was ten miles from my farm, so about a three-hour walk. And if my stomach hadn’t been ready to eat itself, and if my throat didn’t feel like it was coated in sawdust, I’d have insisted we continue on our journey. But when Vesper suggested we stop for a bite to eat and drink, I practically leapt at the idea.
The Boar and Ram sat squat and proud surrounded by barren, thirsty land. Helgi and I had been here once, when we’d saved the boy from the crazy gang who lived on the outskirts of the Wilds. We’d stopped to refuel and catch our breath, and the owner, having heard our story, had been kind enough to feed us all for free. He’d even offered us a bed for the night, but we’d declined, eager to get the boy home and collect our bounty.
I doubted the kindly owner would offer such generosity to a hulking male and a hulking female, no child
in tow.
“Wait.” I grabbed Vesper’s arm. “Do you have any coin?”
He blinked at me as if it was the stupidest thing he’d ever heard. “Lords do not carry coin.”
Oh, man. I ran a hand over my face. “Look, this is the Outlands. No coin means no food or drink.”
He frowned and rubbed his forehead with an index finger. “Of course. Right. So, what do we do? Even mighty Dreki need sustenance, among ... other things.” His gaze slid to the left, coming to rest on a curvaceous barmaid wiping the outside tables.
Oh, man. He had to be kidding me.
He caught my eye roll and his jaw tightened. “Unless you’re willing to oblige and scratch that itch?”
“No, thanks.” I shook my head. “Are all Dreki this oversexed?”
He snorted. “Being locked in a chamber for two weeks with only Wyverns for company takes a toll, and last night’s nook sleeping arrangements didn’t help.” He shot me an annoyed look. “Has anyone told you that you wriggle way too much in your sleep?”
“You seemed to cope well enough if your snoring was anything to go by.”
“I have excellent impulse control, unlike my brother, Dante.” He ran his tongue over his teeth. “If I fucked you, I’d be stuck with you mooning around after me begging for me, and I don’t like you enough for a repeat performance.”
“If anyone would be mooning about, it’d be you.”
His eyes lit up at the challenge, and I tore my gaze away, not wanting to play anymore. “We’re wasting time.”
“Right. In the absence of a warm cunny, I’ll take a hot meal and a cold beverage.”
Damn, he reminded me of Helgi in that moment, and a wave of nostalgia, sharp and sweet, washed over me. Helgi wouldn’t admit defeat. She’d find a way to get us fed. A lie, a scam—those were her forte, the silver-tongued devil. And I’d been with her long enough to pick up some tips.
I scanned the area, gaze snagging on several bales of hay. “I think I have an idea.”
Dragon Trial: Dragon Guard Series book 1 Page 14
