by Godiva Glenn
Fianni stumbled through the jewel-toned trees, trying to find her way to the path that seemed to have disappeared while she was deep in thought.
Her talk with Liam went easily, and somewhere between letting go of her guilt and hearing him reaffirm that he loved her, she’d realized that she needed to do more than accept and acknowledge her feelings for Liam and Rask.
She needed to confront Arron on the mystery between them.
Unfortunately, Arron had decided to camp out in the mountains while following his latest lead. Though she was glad there seemed to be progress, no one in the castle had thought to give her shoes.
Her delicate Prism sandals could handle a walk on gravel, but not a trek through precarious terrain.
Partially her fault, perhaps, but she’d certainly see about procuring some appropriate footwear the moment she returned. Some soft leather boots like the men wore, perhaps.
She found the trail, and almost immediately spotted the entrance to the cave Liam had described to her. Heading in, she saw Arron’s muscular form bent over a makeshift desk with a small lamp.
“Hey,” she called.
Holding a handheld electronic device she’d never seen before, he turned and glanced at her, or maybe past her—she couldn’t tell—with a strange expression. “Fianni. I didn’t think I’d see you so soon.”
“I didn’t think you’d disappear from the castle without saying a thing. Liam said you’d be here for days.”
He arched a dark brow. “Does it matter? I’m not excessively far.”
“That’s not the point.”
He came towards her after placing down the device. “What did I do wrong?”
“I like you,” she said firmly. “I care about you. You can’t just vanish without saying a word.”
“I’m right here,” he said carefully. “I didn’t vanish.”
“What do we have, Arron?” She stepped forward, closing the polite gap he’d left between them. Hands splayed across his broad chest, she implored him, searching his unreadable silver eyes. “I have so much doubt when it comes to you.”
“I thought it was clear.” He blinked down at her. “I told you we’d discuss it after everything else was over.”
“Is it that easy for you?” Looking away, she lowered her voice. “How can you ignore this? Set it aside like a secondary task?”
“You seemed fine before,” he reasoned.
“Because I was lying to myself. It was easy to just believe you were distant and didn’t want me, because I was afraid to consider everything working out.”
“Why afraid—”
She took a step back, frustrated. Her heart pounded. “Just tell me. Rask and Liam say I’m their mate. Are you and I circling towards that, or is it in my head? When we’re apart I wonder if I’ve imagined anything I feel between us.”
“Fianni… I…” He took a deep breath and growled under his breath. “Of course I want you. When you speak I become jumbled. I love the way you think and how honest your words always are. But I also hear your voice and fantasize about tearing off your clothing and sinking into you.”
Shock froze her pulse. What?
“Everything in me recognizes you as my mate, but I wanted control. I’ve stared at you and wondered if it was fate or something else, and I wanted it to be that something else.” He exhaled and shook his head, seeming amused. “I wanted to be sure that you were right for me, regardless of what my dragon was feeling.”
She was taken aback, but part of her understood. “You didn’t want to fall instantly in love with me.”
“I didn’t want to fall instantly in love with anyone. Most shifters live for that one moment when the universe points a direction and says ‘Go!’ but I wanted to find it for myself.”
“Oh.”
“And I found it in you. I did. It didn’t show, I realize. I was trying to keep my distance to analyze it all and the more I tried that, the more I seemed to trip on my words and just…”
“You overthink,” she said softly. “I may know a little about that.”
He walked forward and took her hand. “I’m not exaggerating when I tell you, you are the most beautiful, infuriating miracle to ever exist. What I feel for you is more than I’ve ever imagined I could feel.”
“You did an excellent job hiding it.”
“Did I really? I recall telling you that I never thought I’d find my mate. I told you that we’d be distracted by you.” He narrowed his eyes. “I know I said we’d mate for weeks. None of that was me telling you I didn’t want you. I walk around aching for you.”
“Arron…” She didn’t know what to say. Even reminded of their first strange discussion, his distance had still frustrated her. Except I’m equally to blame.
He lowered her hand and placed it on himself, wrapping her fingers around the thick bulge hiding in his pants. Her heart raced, and skin flushed. This side of him was unexpected. Of all the men, Arron struck her as the one to be reserved when it came to sex.
“You do this to me. As if it’s not bad enough you’re always in my head, you’re in my blood. The scent of you makes me hard and ready. The way your dress lifts your breasts and offers them destroys me.”
“In that case… I’m tired of waiting. Do we still have to?”
“I wanted to know that Rask and Liam saw it too. I couldn’t be calling for unity and then turn around and find a mate for myself alone,” he said sincerely. “Foolishly, I thought they would tell me they’d recognized you as a mate. I knew there was… something. I wanted to be certain.”
“You three have honestly never spoken of me?” she asked with disbelief.
“It would be crass if they bragged of their time with you, not to mention rude to rub a mating bond in each other’s faces. But largely, I suppose with everything else going on, no, I didn’t know that anything serious was happening.”
“The entire castle gossips,” she pointed out.
A strange flicker crossed his expression. Hurt or regret. “Not to me. No one seeks me out to talk unless they need me for something.”
“Good thing I’m not like the rest of the dragons around here?” she offered.
“I suppose.”
“There’s no filing this away anymore,” she said softly.
“No. You’ve made it clear. Except… well, I see no mating marks on you?”
She smiled at how the question was delicately posed. “No. Your brothers are both adamant about not soiling me without your participation.”
His lips pursed at her wording.
“I’m kidding. Partially. Rask says some things…”
“He would.”
“So, we can do this, then,” she said softly and lifted on her toes to reach his lips.
His arms scooped low on her back to help her rise and kiss him. The action was overdue, and she wasn’t disappointed. She parted her lips to welcome his tongue, and as seconds ticked by, she could feel his reservations fall away.
It occurred to her that Arron had responsibilities they ignored. He was the oldest. The role model. The one who clung hardest to tradition, probably not because he wanted to be staunch and outdated, but because he felt obligated to not ruin what their ancestors created.
He had to be strong, and he closed himself from the world. She didn’t like that thought and held on to him in an attempt to drag him from the predictable, logical shelter he’d built for himself. She ground against him, letting him feel her breasts against his chest since he liked them so much.
She moaned into his mouth and stroked his hard cock between their bodies.
His response was feral, gripping her ass with both strong hands and kneading it, thrusting against her hand and smothering her with his massive form.
Slickness formed between her thighs, hot and desperate for him. “I’m so wet for you,” she whispered between kisses. “I know we can’t do that right now, but I want you to know.”
He groaned and said nothing, but she felt him twitch in her palm, and
if possible grow thicker.
“I want to taste you,” she said in her most sultry tone.
“Here? Now? Fianni—”
She didn’t wait, simply slid to the ground before him, hands on his thighs. She nuzzled her face against the leather briefly, savoring the moment before retrieving her prize.
The dark velvet of his skin across her palm made her take a breath. Long, thick, and all hers. Impatient, she stroked him from head to base and followed with her tongue, dragging a wet trail across each impressive inch of him.
Glancing up, she drank in his vibrant lusty gaze upon her. Every trace of constraint gone, replaced with something deep and primal. It was the look she savored—the look of a man who wanted to fuck her.
She slid his broad tip across her lips and swathed her tongue across his slit, tasting his salty arousal. It wept for her, and she made a show of swirling her tongue in the moisture and lapping it up while he watched entranced.
His lips parted but he didn’t speak. She worked her hands up and down his shaft in slow, steady strokes and sucked the tip of him into her mouth. Her eyes closed as her lips wrapped around him.
Since she’d arrived on Solara she’d experienced new things, and relished every moment, and at some point, it had begun to feel like home. She no longer felt the need to hold back and see what happened. For the first time in a while, she felt ready to do what she wanted.
And this is what she wanted. She wasn’t the wildest in her sexual experience, but she knew how to get a man off.
There was no taking him in completely—his length and girth weren’t what she was used to—but she would do her best. I’m going to have to practice deep throating with these guys…
Reaching down, he pulled her hair into a messy bun and held on, seeming in awe as she licked and sucked and massaged his shaft with both hands. Watching him squirm and hearing his breath quicken made her own body tremble. She wished she could call the other two men to her and be mated right now. Her slippery thighs were clear proof she was beyond ready.
His hands became tight fists and his head fell back with a sharp groan. “You have to stop, I’ll…”
She hummed around his length, her throat vibrating around his tip. If he thought she was the type to stop and be afraid of cum, he was mistaken. She wanted it all. Hands stroking and squeezing, she pulled his cock from her mouth and rubbed the slick head across her lips like she was applying a balm.
“I want to taste you. Give it to me,” she begged.
He muttered something in his foreign tongue, which she assumed to be a curse word. It amused her to see him venture so far from his closed-off persona. Maybe I just need to do this every day.
She swirled her tongue against the flared ridge of his tip, moaning at the sensation. Every inch of him pleased her. She took him in again, relaxing and guiding him as far back as she could manage. He thrust gently, and she bobbed her head in synchrony.
It was a gentle dance and she let him lead. He wouldn’t last much longer, though, she could tell. His grip in her hair twisted, yanking delicate strands in his ecstasy. His hips froze but she continued to move, continued to worship him with her mouth.
A shudder traveled through his body, followed by jets of hot cum flooding her mouth. His cock pulsed and spilled onto her waiting tongue, giving her what she’d wanted and more—another reminder that she needed him inside her, filling her to the brim with his seed.
He shakily combed through her hair as his length gave a final spasm. She swallowed and sucked him gently. Her hands squeezed and worked the last salty drops free and swallowed that too.
He helped her to stand, and she took pride in the relaxed, almost dazed expression on his face.
“Fianni…” He shook his head as if he couldn’t think. Resting his chin on the top of her head, he released a long sigh. “What am I going to do with you?”
“I have a huge list of suggestions,” she offered.
“I’m good with lists,” he said amused. “I wish we could get started on it now.”
The glow of sex faded, and she understood what he meant. “I wish I could just get all the bears in a room and give them a full dose of my presence,” she grumbled. “I’m usually a patient woman, but I’m also used to getting my way.”
He kissed her hair and leaned back so that she’d look at him. “I’m close. I don’t know exactly what I’m looking for, but I’m optimistic.”
“A huge broadcasting tower?” she joked.
“Something similar, I think. I just don’t know how it’s hiding, not from our eyes but from our scans,” he explained. “I can map every electrical device on the planet.”
“Hmmm.” She tried to brainstorm with him, but she was still under a lusty fog. Her fingers reached up and trailed over his full lips. “I think you’re the distraction now.”
He chuckled gently, then stiffened. Following his attention, she turned and saw a tall man standing at the cave entrance, holding a device similar to the one behind Arron.
“You’re not alone out here?” she asked in a whisper.
“No. I… tried to mention it,” he replied in a low voice.
When?
“The other perimeter is clear. If we want to do full sweeps we’d need more bodies,” the man announced. “I could check again if you need more… time.”
“Thank you, Pav.”
Fianni closed her eyes. Her face was hot, and she had no doubt that it boasted a reddish hue on her cheeks. “I’ll go.”
Arron grabbed her arm as she stepped away and pulled her back to him. He claimed her lips, giving her a deep, yet brief kiss. Instantly, her skin warmed and bones became liquid. Damn. When he wants to be, he’s intoxicating.
When he released her, their eyes met, and she saw the change in him. No longer unsure, he looked at her with love and possession.
“Do you need an escort back home,” he asked. “I don’t like you wandering out alone.”
“I’ll be fine,” she promised, still dizzy from the kiss. “I’ve never even seen anyone out in all the times I’ve gone walking.”
“I won’t be home tonight, not if we’re going to solve this matter soon.”
“Then I’ll visit tomorrow.” She lowered her voice and added, “Hopefully I’ll be lucky with my timing again.”
He smiled and released her. As she passed his assistant she dipped her head. The man looked like a nice guy, but she didn’t feel that this very moment was the best for introductions.
Even in a cave in the middle of nowhere, she got no privacy.
Back in her room, Fianni rubbed her temples and lay in the center of her bed. She’d taken a different path home, a trail that seemed to be more straightforward, but that had looped her around for almost an hour.
In her confusion, she’d ended up with a throbbing headache and sore feet. What she wouldn’t give for a glass of wine and a foot massage.
But she wanted to clear things with Iona. She’d been unjustifiably rude. Somewhere along the way, Fianni had slipped into a mode of self-preservation, one that subsisted of lying to herself while also drowning in the notion that her happiness wasn’t mean to be.
Rolling to her stomach, she looked across the room. On her way back to the castle she’d picked as many vibrant flowers as she could. They were now scattered across the window ledge next to a shallow bowl of water, waiting for her attention.
She slid from the bed and went to the glass, both eager and anxious. She wanted to see Iona but dreaded the worst. What if she doesn’t forgive me?
She plucked the flowers in quiet concentration and pressed them into one palm. Staring into the clear water, she squeezed until her fingernails bit her palm, crushing the petals and releasing their dark extract. She shook her hand until three tiny drops disturbed the water and spread into nothing. Then she waited.
Wiping her stained hand on a cloth, she watched the bowl with unblinking eyes.
After a moment, the surface rippled.
“Iona?”
She appeared from the surface and leaned on the far edge of the bowl, gradually transforming from blobs of water into her slight feminine form.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me, and there’s no excuse for what I did,” Fianni rushed, wasting no time. “You were right. I was hiding in plain sight.”
A small grin appeared on Iona’s face. “I suppose I can forgive you. But only if you’ve actually done something about your issues.”
“I have,” Fianni admitted. “I laid it out. My feelings. My past…” Oh, damn.
“Really?” Iona scooted around the bowl, relocating to be closer to Fianni.
“Mostly. Things around here have a way of being interrupted.” Fianni rubbed her head. “I haven’t told them about Kohl. It’s the sort of thing I only want to endure once. Speaking to them one at a time is just… ridiculous.”
“Hmmm. Well, in any case, I want details.” Iona lifted her eyebrows suggestively. “I always wondered… do they breathe fire when they… you know. Reach peak intimacy?”
Fianni rolled her eyes. “No. And that’s all I’m going to say.”
“No fun.”
“When have I ever been fun?”
Iona shrugged and gave Fianni a long look. “I know it’s hard.”
“When it came down to it, it wasn’t. And won’t be. I had a love, I lost him. I mourned him for centuries,” Fianni said carefully. The words felt strange leaving her tongue. “I felt guilty, Iona.”
“For what?”
“For moving on. For cheating on trying to live afterward. I hid in the Fade and dreamt I had this amazing life with him, but eventually it wasn’t enough. I knew it wasn’t real. And when I woke, I still missed him, but I think I cheapened what we had by trying to build on it.”
“We don’t control how we grieve. We control how we live.” Iona lifted her hand and rubbed her fingertips together. “Strange. It’s oily… what sort of dye is this?”
The door to Fianni’s room creaked open, but in the darkness, she couldn’t tell who’d entered. She hadn’t been sleeping, simply lying in the dark and waiting for rest to find her. Too much buzzed through her mind.
