by A. K. Koonce
And he catches it all.
His lips tease mine once more.
“I love you too,” he says against my mouth. Slowly his tongue slides against mine. The slowest kiss steals the breath in my lungs. He kisses me adamantly until there isn’t anything left. There isn’t a single thought in my head.
When he pulls away she’s gone. The cruel woman and her father are nowhere to be seen. But Aggie’s there now. She and Skovence watch us closely while they whisper back and forth to one another with smiles ghosting their lips.
“I have a present for you.” Kain never lowers me, he keeps me held against him despite how many people are looking our way.
“You got me a gift?”
Hands down the best birthday I’ve ever had, and I don’t even know what present is. And it doesn’t matter.
Because he loves me. And I finally figured out how to tell another person how I really feel.
He doesn’t reply, he just starts walking toward the back of his mother’s house, carrying me around like he’s never going to let me go. We pass Chaos, Rime, and Sinister near the cellar door just past the perfect white picket fence.
“At least fuck her in a bed like an honest woman,” Chaos hisses for only us to hear.
“Their entire relationship started with a lie. Honest women get a bed. Arlow gets railed behind the back of a house. She’ll like it. It’ll be romantic.” A true smile pulls at Rime’s lips and the sexy smirk alone causes warmth to flair through me.
My thighs tighten around Kain’s lean hips, and I try to pretend like the thought of getting screwed against a house isn’t as appealing as my filthy mind is making it out to be. I try really hard to appear insulted. I give my best effort, really.
Instead I smile like an idiot.
Kain doesn’t look at the three of them as he carries me away.
If my present really is Kain’s cock I’ll be the happiest woman in the world. Throbbing happiness, I tell you. I’ll unwrap it with care. I’ll put it to good use. It’ll be a hard present to beat.
Witty puns are an endless loop inside my dirty mind, but they halt the moment he turns the corner.
Rays of sunlight shine through the lingering leaves left on the trees. It’s warmer back here. A metal stove circulates heat and it’s then that I see two small creatures in a wire pen against the house. A rodent with soft feathers held tight against his back nibbles on a square of cheese.
Minue. His beady little eyes watch us closely, but his small paws never lower the food against his mouth. Next to him through the thin wires is long inky feathers that flutter lightly as the sparrow comes a little closer to the stove near her cage.
Prince Linden loaned me both little animals and I’ll forever be in his debt. I kind of owe him several ships in exchange for the three asshole dragons I never gave him. It’s a fair trade, really; a month’s worth of work to create countless ships in exchange for the sweet man holding me against him.
I’m literally in his debt. And I won’t forget.
Another animal moves, sauntering in a slow predatory way as it comes toward us. Bright pink scales sparkle in the morning light. Big blue eyes blink at me slowly while sharply pointed snout sniffs out at the air that lingers between the beast and me. My lips part as my gaze takes it all in. From the length of its spiky flat tail to the long claws that press into the dirt. It’s twice my size but the most beautiful animal I’ve ever seen.
Slowly Kain lowers me until my shoes meet the ground. His hands settle low on my hips as his chest presses against my back.
“Kain.” I don’t turn away from the four-legged creature. “You got me another shifter?”
Seconds pass as the beast and I watch one another.
“What?” His hands lift from my sides, palms up with frustration. “You think I got you another shifter? You think for your birthday I threw in another man for your life? Really?”
“No, I—I mean really who needs this many men? It’s not exactly a blessing all the time, I promise. Four is more than enough. It’s a surplus at this point. If I take any more I’ll start being taxed by the King for monopolizing dick from the other villagers.” I ramble and force myself to stop talking as the beast tilts its big pink head at me in a questioning look.
Kain arches a fiery brow at me.
“I meant, does it shift? Do all dragons shift?” My voice is a bit smaller now but it’s a reasonable question.
Stop looking at me like that.
Kain’s soft red hair meets mine as his head tilts closer to me. “No. It’s a drake, not a dragon. They’re more of a canine dragon mix. I didn’t get it for you for your birthday. She’s just trying to keep warm. That’s why I brought you back here. I thought you’d want to see the creatures that have started to dwell around the woodstove.”
I take a slow step forward and the big creature never makes a move. It watches me carefully.
My palm extends ever so slowly. Farther I reach out. Slow, gentle, oh so carefully I lift my palm to the drake. Inches separate us, and then its neck lifts and the end of its bright snout is against my fingertips. The tension in my chest blooms into warmth the moment it offers the gesture of friendship.
“Why is it pink?” I whisper to the man lingering several steps behind me.
Twigs snap and I hear him come closer. His big hand lifts as well and with caution he places his palm against the rough scales of the beast’s neck. Slowly he brushes back and forth there.
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen such a strange color on a drake before. Most creatures of the dragon descent aren’t full dragons. I’m not, Chaos isn’t. Rime …” His voice trails off, and I recall that they have no idea where Rime came from. “Whatever this one’s mixed with, it’s mutated her genes enough to disturb her scales. They’re softer too. Not silky but not as durable as normal.” Kain continues to stroke his palm along the shining pink color of the drake.
“She’s beautiful. Fierce.” My palm lifts higher and her eyes close slowly.
“Do you want to feed her?” He doesn’t look at me as he starts to fill a bucket. Blood and slick meat slap into it with a disgusting sound, but all I can think about is how sweet he is right now taking care of these animals just because they’re here. Just because they need someone to help them and he’s the one who can do it. I’d reply if the faint pitter patter of my heart wasn’t fluttering and distracting me so much.
He’s been feeding her. The alpha male I know and love has been taking in little beasts left and right and feeding them.
An eerie feeling passes through me. I can’t explain it, but it’s such an unsettling sensation of being watched and I feel it crawl across my skin. My gaze searches the thick forests behind the house. Trees tangle together, making us very secluded to the rest of the village.
I shake the feeling away, but I can’t help but wonder about incident that’s still fresh in my mind. Could a beast like this harm someone in the way that Natalie was killed?
No. I chide myself. Her wounds were internal. Broken down without assault.
A drake, a dragon, nothing I’ve ever seen could do something like that.
He starts to feed the beast raw strips of meat. He’s so careful with her as her sharp teeth snap at the food. It reminds me of when I fed my own little asshole dragons. I took care of them. Loved them.
They were sweeter then.
Kind of.
But I never would have guessed when I found them, that it all would have led me here. Surrounded by people I love for the first time in years.
My hands wrap around him, my fingers slipping into his hair as I meld my body against his. His jaw is smooth against my lips as I kiss him there slowly. Bloody meat is held in his hands and he’s careful not to touch my coat or long yellow dress with it as I wrap myself around him.
I nod to him, but I keep myself pressed against every hard inch of his body. He kisses me slowly and the moment he’s distracted a demanding roar rips through the quiet. With one big swipe of her paw she
flings cold dirt and leaves into the air.
It rains down on us as the creature glares at Kain and the meat he’s hoarding in the bucket within his hands.
“You should do your job before she uses your arm as a snack.” I arch a brow at him and he shakes his head at me, but he does get back to feeding the temperamental beast. He tosses her a strip of dripping meat and she snatches it right up, chewing and glaring and chewing some more.
“I swear she’s a mess. Hot one minute, cold the next. She reminds me of someone I know.”
My brow rises even more. A smooth bland expression is all he gives me.
The asshole.
“You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself. You’re not that much of an emotional mess, Kain.” My hip bumps his and I walk away from him as a wide smile breaks across his handsome face.
He curses at the stain that’s now covering his jeans, boots, and the forest floor but the beast only keeps happily eating among the mess she’s made.
“I named her Havoc. Seems fitting.”
Oh, no. He’s named her too.
He’s a novice beast tamer. He’ll never be rid of her now. It’ll be just like me and that time I made the mistake of naming these three baby dragons I found. Stuck with them for life, I tell you.
A long eek sound breaks through the ridiculing smile I’m pinning him with. The noise carries on, it trails on for so long like banter back and forth. I step back and peer under the large black stove near the house.
Lights blink, flashing and drifting out of sight several times. And then I see them. Tiny, creatures walk beneath the stove. Their spindly lime green arms work quickly to shove blankets and cubes of cheese into satchels and packs. One of them, with long twirling antlers poking out from her soft emerald hair squeaks orders in a trail of high-pitched words that I can’t understand. The other dozens frantically carry out her demands, their translucent wings looking too frail to lift their bodies but they do. And damn are they fast. They’re more of a blur of flashing white lights when they fly, gathering and preparing without stopping once.
“What are those?” Kain lowers himself down on his knees.
“Will-o’-wisps,” I whisper.
The moment I say it, the tiny demanding woman quiets and tilts her severely pointed chin up toward me. She eyes me and the large man at my side for several seconds, her glare just as sharp as the brown antlers on her head, and I feel the vicious intensity of her look. Slowly she pulls her gaze back to her people and starts talking even faster.
And they start moving impossibly quicker.
“How have I never seen them?” Kain looks to me and I sink down until we’re both watching the little blinking lights and the beautiful creatures that are no larger than my thumb.
When I reply, my voice is barely a whisper, as if I’m afraid of getting another death glare from the pretty woman again. “They rarely ever linger like this. They’re a private race of woodland fairy who don’t do well in dropping temperatures. I bet the dramatic change in weather has thrown off their natural way of life. The cold will damage their wings if they stay. They’ll fly south. This happened once before. During the Queen’s coronation all those years ago a freeze hit. I wasn’t there, but my mother always talked about how pretty the snow was. It was the only time areas this south has ever gotten snow that I know of.” I pause, keeping my eyes held on the fragile looking fairies. “That freeze nearly wiped out their race.” I can’t help but worry about them, I almost want to urge them to work faster to take flight.
“You probably have seen them. They’re native to this area.” Kain glances at me when I speak but I can’t pull my attention away from the frantic calls of the fairy woman. “Most people mistake the will-o’-wisp’s blinking lights for fire flies. And some mistake them for ghosts.” I do look at him then, and the surprise on his handsome face is worth it. “They distract travelers and occasionally get them lost on their journey because of their beautiful, hypnotic lights. The eerie tales of the misguided travelers give the will-o’-wisps a myth of being a symbol of lost hope. Shining, unobtainable hope.”
My stomach sinks and I know not all of these little creatures will make it on their journey to the south. They could die in a matter of days if the weather isn’t warm enough.
Abruptly I stand, knowing what I have to do right here and now. My fingers fumble against the cold metal of the bird cage. Soft fur and sharp talons wrap around my finger as Minue’s tiny mouse ears nuzzle against my palm.
“Go home. Follow Sparrow,” I whisper.
The little rodent lifts his blinking eyes to me, but I know he knows.
My hand lifts into the air and in an instant his agile wings flutter against my skin. Soft feathers sweep over my knuckles for only a moment. And then the Minue quail is soaring above.
The inky eyes of the sparrow aren’t as warm and kind when they look my way. I extend my hand and the bird climbs up my index finger. Big watchful eyes stare up at me. The animal’s gaze is a sort of message. It takes in everything it sees, and if Prince Linden stares into its gaze, he’ll see all that this animal has seen. Every day and every night that’s passed is recorded within the inky gaze looking up at me.
“Linden, I owe you so much. More than I’ve ever traded with you. I owe you for accepting me when no one else did.” I stroke the bird’s soft feather’s as I try to think of the right words to tell my friend.
I feel Kain’s attention on me, but he never reaches out to me. He lets me say what I need to say.
“I just wanted to thank you,” I coo at the little sparrow and it doesn’t return the affection what-so-ever. Spying sparrows are not the loving kind. They have a job to do. Nothing more. “I’ll be building your ships in the months to come in the village of Warf. If it takes me all year, I’ll repay you.” I pause, looking deeply into those inky, watchful eyes. When I speak again it’s a quiet sound of a shaking whisper. “Thank you for trusting me. Thank you for accepting me.”
My hand lifts high and strong wings shove down against the cold breeze. A sharp caw rips through the evening sky.
I stare up at the two little dots soaring off, growing smaller and smaller by the second.
Warm hands slip over my hips.
“Something tells me I’ll be seeing that tracker rodent bird far too soon.” Kain’s lips press to my temple slowly, and I lean into his big arms as they wrap around me.
“Well I slipped him my panties to give to the Prince if he ever needs to track me.”
A smile curves his lips lingering near my ear, and I shiver when he whispers against my skin. “The Prince wouldn’t have hands to so much as give you a royal thumbs up if I ever found out he touched your panties.”
“Hands are overrated anyway. Mouths. Mouths are nice. Would you let him keep his mouth?”
His fingers tighten against my hips at the sound of my insinuation and a mixture of a suppressed growl and a forced laugh hums through him.
It’s not that I love Kain’s jealousy. It’s that I love his possessiveness. The animalistic side of him that shoves out all that logical thought that he clings to when everyone else is around. And all I have to do is mention the words prince and panties in the same sentence and all that rationalization falls away.
I know I shouldn’t poke the bear—or dragon—but I just can’t help it.
“You’re just not happy unless I’m furious, are you?” he whispers against my hair.
I turn in his arms, my gaze trailing over his handsome features, his full lips and green eyes.
“The Prince isn’t stupid enough to take what isn’t his.”
The second I say it, his pretty eyes dilate. Lust pools in big inky wells in his deep eyes. For a moment he really does look like he’ll fuck me against the wall just like Chaos and Rime promised. His hands press low against my back just as his lips brush carefully over mine. Tense control locks into his arms as he holds me, and it seems that he forces himself not to do more than just kiss me sweetly.
If I didn�
��t know before, I know now just from the gentle way his lips keep brushing against mine.
In reality, the prince knew before I did, I guess. Linden knew I belonged to Kain before I even knew I belonged to Kain.
Fourteen
A Costly Gift
The next evening is so different. It’s different from anything I’ve ever done actually. I’m clean, bathed, and Helen fusses strangely with my hair. She pulls at it until my scalp hurts but I sit making quiet, pained faces until she’s happy.
“There. Perfect.” She hums a little as she walks happily around to finally get a better look at me.
Myla lifts her gaze up. A big smile spreads across her lips.
The three of us sit at Helen’s cluttered kitchen table and the men of the house were ordered out long ago. So long ago that the sun was up then. Now it’s resting on the horizon, sending pretty shades of pale blue and white across the sky.
“You remind me of me when I was younger,” Myla whispers. Her emerald eyes are filled with so much emotion it sinks a feeling all through my stomach.
“Does Kain look like him?”
Helen’s big smile fades and she sits back down in the chair next to mine. A seriousness settles in between us but the happiness stays on Myla’s lips.
“Kain always looked like me.” Myla’s smile is softer, more of a memory of happiness than actual happiness. “I used to wish he’d remind me of Robert and then somedays I was so thankful that he wouldn’t remind me of him. It’s odd. Strange. It used to hurt so much that I’d pray that I could just forget.” Helen slips her hand over her friends. “Kain doesn’t look like Robert. He doesn’t know it, but he acts like him. He acts every bit like the alpha who used to protect this village.”
Alpha.
There’s that word again.
My throat constricts when I swallow all of that information down.
No wonder Myla is so guarded when it comes to her son. Kain protects her. But who protects Kain?
