by Erin Raegan
“Like, related?”
Hylg chuckled. “Is there another kind?”
I shook my head, snickering. “No, I guess not.”
“I’m the eldest,” Hylg said smugly, smirking at Ignyt. “Ohta is the babe.”
Ohta hissed at him and went back to watching the fire.
“You’re the middle one then?” I asked Ignyt, tugging on his thumb as it slid onto my thigh.
Ignyt nodded. “We have a younger sister as well.”
“Really?” I asked excitedly.
Ignyt’s scarred lip quirked. “Yes, you will meet her when we arrive in Rytsya.”
“Really?”
I looked at Hylg when he snorted. “If Father has not sent her away again.”
“I’m going to meet your dad too?” I whispered, less excited. Meeting the male that had raised these three brothers agitated me. How would his family feel about Ignyt mating a human?
As if Ignyt could read my thoughts, he squeezed my thigh. But Ohta snapped his head around and considered me.
“What is it?” I looked between the three of them as they shared looks I didn’t understand. They did that a lot, always seeming to know what the others were thinking.
Hylg grinned at me. “My mam will love you. She is fascinated by humans.”
Ohta groaned. “She will not forgive us for not warning her.”
“The king will have contacted them by now,” Hylg said. “Second mother will have had the House servants cleaning since last morn.”
“How many mothers do you have?” I asked. At least two.
“Five,” Ignyt grunted. He watched me warily from the corner of his silver eye as I processed that.
Five. That was—a lot of work. Wow.
I cleared my throat. Hylg snickered, slapping the table.
“Do any of you have mates?” I asked, quickly and impulsively. I couldn’t help but watch Ignyt as the words left my mouth.
He smirked and slowly shook his head, his thumb moving higher up my thigh.
Ohta stood and walked out of the room. Hylg sighed.
I watched Ohta’s retreat nervously. “What did I say?”
“Ignyt and I are unmated, but Ohta came close. He courted a female before he joined us at the castle. It did not end well.” Hylg watched the doorway his brother disappeared through.
“He loved her?” I asked softly, sad for Ohta.
Hylg snorted again. “Love?” He shook his head. “No, that female did not deserve such affections.”
Ignyt whispered in my ear, “It was a match made by my father. The female wanted nothing to do with Ohta but did not say so until the day of their mating, shaming him.”
“That’s awful,” I whispered. “She was a bitch then?”
Hylg guffawed. “She was a repugnant thing.”
I jerked back. That was harsh, but so was being a bitch.
Hylg sobered. “She dishonored my brother, and my father did not take the news well. He and Ohta are still sore about it.”
I nodded, worry eating at me. Their father sounded great. Tomorrow was going to be all kinds of fun. Not.
Ignyt went to the stew, sniffing it and ladling it into several bowls. We ate while Hylg filled me in on their family. His mam was their first mother, Olyda. Ignyt’s was Tyrl’s—their father’s—third mate, Jalys. Second was Ibyt, fourth, Pelyul, and fifth, Festyn. Hylg said Olyda would love me, while Ibyt would fret over the house looking its best for my arrival. Ignyt didn’t say much about his mam, Jalys, other than that she was quiet. They didn’t say much of anything about his father, but his name was vaguely familiar to me.
Their parents lived alone except for their servants, their father’s advisor, and occasionally their sister when she wasn’t off studying a new profession. She had been a cook, a servant, and a metal worker, but she had no interest in mating like their parents wanted.
I also learned that Hylg was the eldest at two-hundred and twenty-eight years old. Ignyt was creeping up on his one-hundred and thirty-sixth birthday while Ohta was a “mere eighty-four.”
I sat in silence after Hylg threw that at me. Hylg nearly knocked over his chair when I told him I was only twenty-three. He had laughed so hard, Ignyt had hissed at him.
And that wasn’t even the worst of it. Dahk years were much slower than Earth’s. They were almost a third longer than ours. That would make Ignyt almost one-hundred and eighty-six years old—one-hundred and sixty-three years older than me.
I knew the Dahk lived much, much longer than we did. In rare cases, even thousands of years.
And if Ignyt and I—when Ignyt and I—completed the bond and exchanged blood, I would live as long as he did. Everyone I knew back home would be long gone by the time it was my turn to go.
I sort of went into my head, processing that. I barely noticed Ignyt carrying me to bed. I sat on the dusty furs, staring off into space as he went around the room, lighting more fire bowls and talking to Hylg at the door.
Ignyt moved me back in the bed and pulled a fur around my waist before sitting at the edge in front of me and rubbing his lips on my cheek. “Come back to me, little song.”
“I’m here,” I whispered weakly. I would be there for a very, very long time. As long as a Dahk didn’t kill me first. Or any other evil alien. I looked at Ignyt, thinking about all the things he and his brother had told me. “Is your father going to hate me?”
Ignyt sighed. He opened his mouth, hesitating.
“Don’t lie,” I pleaded.
Ignyt stood and scrubbed his crown. “I must speak with the king, our comm units are hindered by the storm here and are no longer the safest means of communication. My father has a secure line to the castle, otherwise we would not go.”
“It’s okay that we are. I just want to be prepared.”
He paced the room. “His thinking is ancient. He cannot let go of past quarrels with other species. We’ve had a few outside matings in the past, but they were rare and always ended in conflict.” Ignyt looked at me. “He does not know about you, but I do not doubt he will come around.” Ignyt sat back down. “He will not dishonor me by refusing you.”
“Okay.” I nodded. “Okay. So I just have to get him to like me.”
Ignyt smirked. “I am confident you will succeed.”
I smiled small and quick, twisting my fingers in the fur in my lap. “There’s something else.”
Ignyt clenched his jaw, looking at my fingers and cupping them.
I cleared my throat, trying to work up my courage. “A-are they going to, uh, expect us t-to—”
Ignyt smiled softly. “Not before you’re ready, love.”
I smiled shakily but straightened my shoulders. “But will they expect a traditional ceremony anyway?”
He nodded cautiously, not looking away from me.
I sighed. Nervous. Afraid. A tiny bit excited. More nervous. “I don’t think I can do it.”
He bent close, ducking to catch my wandering eyes. “Nor can I.”
I looked up, surprised. “What?”
“I will not share your beauty with any other.” He cupped my waist, dragging me closer. “Only I will witness that moment. No other will lay eyes on you.” He nuzzled my chin aside, breathing in at my neck. “Only I will hear you sing when I claim you.”
I gasped, thrilled and a whole lot pleased. He pulled back, smirking at me. He nipped at my bottom lip, and I sighed into his mouth. “I think we should do it.”
Ignyt froze and looked into my eyes.
My face flamed and I squirmed. “W-what do you think? Do y-you want to?”
The heated look he gave me was all the answer I needed.
I lunged for him.
18
Lydia
I would never forget the look on his face as he collapsed back on the bed, gaping at me as I climbed on him. I had never seen him look so shocked or out of sorts. He held his hands out to his sides, gawking at me as I sat on the center of his chest.
My hands curled around th
e bottom of my tunic ready to lift it and his hands shot down, trapping mine. I squirmed impatiently, struggling against his arms. He chuckled and sat up, groaning when my bare bottom slid down his abs.
“Sweets, wait.” He pulled me to his chest, trapping my arms behind my back.
“What? Why?” My body was ready. It had been since that morning. Since he had looked at me really. Every day he was near me, my body was ready. Every day that he seared me his intense and hungry gaze. It was my mind that had had trouble catching up.
“I do not want for you to feel this is necessary because of who you’ll meet tomorrow.” Ignyt let go of my hands and smoothed my hair back from my face. “I will not let them pressure you. We have time.”
“Do we?” I asked, watching his face closely. “How long can you wait?”
“As long as you need,” he said solemnly.
I beamed at him. “But I’m saying you don’t have to.”
He chuckled, rubbing his chin with his palm. “You seem very eager.”
I flushed and flinched away. Was that bad? Tim and I’d rarely had sex. He’d actually scheduled our “intimate moments” and made me feel as though I was inconveniencing him if I ever tried to seduce him. I didn’t want Ignyt to think of me as some kind of nympho. I’d thought Tim was unusually reserved, but maybe I was too impassioned.
Ignyt squinted at my face. “Do not mistake me, little song, I will take you right now if you wish it. I want nothing more than to lay you down and taste every inch of you, but I will not have you lay with me out of fear.”
I relaxed slightly. “I’m not afraid. I mean, I definitely don’t want to go through what Mona did with Uthyf, all those eyes on them,” I shivered. “but I—” I didn’t know how to explain it. I looked at my lap. “I want you.”
Watching him running that damp towel all over his thick chest, those shiny scales, down his biceps, over his washboard abs—I squirmed on him. Ignyt had the tightest ass I had ever seen.
Ignyt growled a satisfied sound in the back of his throat. “That’s all I need to hear, love.”
From one breath to the next, my tunic was pulled up my chest, over my head, and on the floor. Ignyt looked at my breasts and licked his lips.
“They’re small,” I whispered, shy but thrilled by the hungry look in his eye.
Ignyt bent and engulfed the underside of my left breast in his mouth. My hands went to his chest and I pushed him back. He fell, pulling me with him, still working the fleshy globe of my breast in his mouth. His hands curled around my bottom and he pulled me farther up his chest, switching to the other breast. The move had my nipple hitting the top of his lip and I choked off a cry. His eyes shot to mine and flared and he moved up, pulling the nipple completely into his mouth. I sucked in a breath when he rolled it.
My bottom rocked against his abs, spikes of fire shooting through me, and I shuddered. I dropped my hand between my legs out of instinct, checking myself as I had in the past, and Ignyt lasered in on my action. He watched with his jaw clenched as I spread myself and dipped inside.
I was ready. So, so ready.
His eyes bounced from between my thighs to my face, his clawed hands curling tighter around my bottom. I yelped when he pulled me up and scooted himself farther down the bed, his face right there.
I gaped at him, my mouth opening on a choked breath. I had never done that before. It was so. So. SO.
I grabbed his horns, strangling them in my fists, and my hips rocked on their own, chasing his mouth. He growled low and pulled me down, completely engulfing me with his mouth. My hands left his horns as my hips swayed back and forth and I fell forward, the curls of his horns pressing into my lower belly. I grabbed the side of the bed, fisting the furs. Ignyt groaned and lifted his tongue up and up, circling the throbbing nub. I cried out, shouting his name.
He stiffened and flicked that same nub, and I looked down watching him with my mouth open and panting. He licked it again, watching me closely as I shivered. He grinned and twirled his tongue around it and I shouted.
My back shot straight again and I sat completely down, smothering him. His claws scraped up to my hips and he pulled me down to him so hard, his cheekbones dug into the tops of my thighs. He close his lips over that nub and sucked.
I moaned long and loud, pulling on his horns. He shook his head, snarling, and I burst apart, my breath abandoning me as pure white light blinded me.
My back met the bed, and Ignyt dropped on top of me. His face was flushed and his eyes were wild, full of fever and that strange primal rage that he had fought back for two days.
“I need to mount you,” he rasped, the words scraping out of him.
It would have been an apology, but he sounded not the least bit apologetic. Without waiting, he flipped me to my belly and pulled my hips up and back. His chest met my sweaty back and he clamped his teeth onto my bare shoulder. Once there he froze, panting into the bite.
I didn’t know why he was hesitating, but I was cramping from the need to have him inside me. I reached between my legs and wrapped my hand around his thickness. It was long and wide, the head circled in rounded little bumps. I shivered, already imagining it inside me.
Ignyt snarled and dropped his chest onto my back, pinning my chest to the bed. His arm slipped under my hips and held them up as I guided him to my opening.
“Please,” I said into the bedding.
Ignyt shuddered above me and rammed inside. My mouth opened on a silent scream and I involuntarily clamped down on him, tearing a shocked snarl from him. He pulled back and thrust back inside, pulling on me with his arm to keep me from shooting up the bed. I spread my legs wider and curled my fingers into the bedding, pushing back against him, shaking from the pain and the pleasure of him so deep inside me.
His teeth clamped down on my shoulder as he pulled out and pounded back inside. He was snarling and growling and I felt his thrusts becoming more and more erratic. Tears leaked from my eyes as I dropped my fingers between my legs, desperate to relieve the burning ache there.
Ignyt felt them and slapped my hand away before curling his palm over me. I held his hand there, my fingers tangling with his as I ground down against it. My middle finger wiggled between his and I circled my clit in fast, rough bursts.
My breath exploded from me as he slammed so far inside me, dragging along something that had never been touched. I clamped down on him again and he roared as I cried out into the bed. My thighs quaked beside his and my body bucked against his, bliss flowing from my ears down to my toes.
He imitated my circles as I came down, drawing out my orgasm until I had to push his hand away. My thighs slid down until I was lying completely flat on the bed under him. He was still inside me as he turned my face to his. His fangs bit deep into his bottom lip and he smeared them across mine. I didn’t hesitate as I licked his bottom lip, then sucked it, tasting the tangy warmth of his blood. There were no words between us for the final act of the bond. I knew what exchanging blood with him meant and I wasn’t afraid. He groaned in my mouth, thrusting his hips forward and deeper inside me.
We panted into each other’s mouths, staring into each other’s eyes.
“What— what happened to your eye?” I asked through heavy gasping breaths. Nervous and blurting because I was nervous. But also happy and wanting to know more about him. Evrything about him.
Ignyt grinned against my mouth, huffing a strained chuckle. He rolled me over, falling between my thighs.
“War,” he said simply. Watching me a little warily. My fingers moved up to the scars there and his face shuttered as I traced them.
“Can you see?” I asked, two of my fingers trailing along the raised bumps.
He nodded. “Not as well, but some.”
“How did it happen?” I pushed.
He didn’t want to tell me. I lifted up and kissed around the eye and he groaned dropping his face into my neck. “I was young,” he said into my neck, “seeking to impress my father as I fought the Juldo for t
he old king.”
I licked my lips nervously. “Did you impress him?” I could tell my questions bothered him, so I tried not to pry into the details.
Ignyt chuckled and ran his hand up my side, cupping my breast. “My mam was furious when I returned home but I earned my place in the king’s army.”
“And that impressed your father?”
Ignyt looked at my lips and nodded, dipping down to nip at them. “My father was a great lieutenant in the king’s army and was proud of his sons but also was not happy when the king asked me and my brothers to serve him as interrogators.”
“Why not?” I gasped as he licked down my neck and circled my nipple with his tongue.
Ignyt growled something and nipped the hard nub, watching my face.
“Ignyt?”
“He does not think it honorable,” he growled and sucked my breast into his mouth, dropping his hand between my legs. “Enough now, I want to hear you sing.”
And that was that. Ignyt spent the rest of the night distracting me from all my questions.
19
Lydia
I squirmed as we got closer to the city.
This was for a number of reasons. I was uncomfortable in my stiff clothes. They needed a proper wash after air drying. I was extremely nervous about meeting Ignyt’s family. And I was a little sore after last night and again this morning.
But worst of all, Ignyt had been taking complete advantage of our newfound intimacy and my inability to escape him as we flew. All day his hands had wandered over me, teasing me. His lips had barely left mine. They would be chapped and sore by the time we arrived. I was aching from his attention and it would be a while before I could jump his bones.
And oh yeah, his brothers were enjoying the heck out of my discomfort. At least Hylg was. He had made sure to tease the crap out of me at breakfast, claiming he didn’t get a wink of sleep all night. Then there were the sly smiles and snickers during the flight. My face would be permanently red if Hylg didn’t lose interest soon. Ignyt had been hissing at him for hours.
