by Zoey Ellis
“To make sure she isn’t harmed,” Tyomar said irritably. Wasn’t it fucking obvious?
“But why didn’t you tell us?” Zendyor asked. “About saving her as a baby?”
Tyomar shrugged. “The way happened was very strange, but once I got her to the Mheyu, I knew she’d be safe. I thought about her now and again, but didn’t expect to meet her.”
“So this is why you went into a fucking rage about me speaking to her,” Sethorn muttered.
Tyomar shot him a hard stare. “You were rude to her.”
Sethorn’s nostrils flared. “Actually I was very complimentary. She was the one rude to me.”
“Enough.” Khyros turned to Tyomar. “You need to question her about what she knows. See if you can find anything out that could be useful. And if you’re going to the South, see if there is anything you can discover about the queen. We can’t do anything now until you return.”
Zendyor cursed in annoyance at the further delay of their plans, but Tyomar nodded, relieved that there was no objection to him going. He already decided he wouldn’t be questioning Oshali. His top priority was to get her back to his territory safely. The questions could come afterward.
At some point he had to make it clear that he was on this journey with her for the whole way, and she clearly didn’t want that. He wasn’t sure why she was so against his presence. It wasn’t as though they had spent the last seven years arguing. Yes, they’d had spirited debates and disagreed on topics, but that seemed to have escalated into something much more antagonistic lately.
Maybe it was because he was being more demanding, but that couldn’t be helped. Sometimes he had to be. A good example was the decisions she made when planning her journey. The Mheyu had outdated maps and old information, which is common with the lesser mortals, considering they’re not able to travel across the lands quickly like the dragorai do. But he was at her side, offering his knowledge, and whether she accepted it or not, he was taking no risks with his little cloak.
He turned to look at the tent. She wasn’t really his little cloak any more. She was a young woman, mature in every way. And damn, she looked good in the Mheyu Gown.
He watched as the days lightened, thankful that Oshali had slept peacefully for the whole night. They should be able to make good time today and hopefully get to a more reasonable environment where they could be better hidden. Still, he let her sleep a little longer.
He took a few moments to connect with Ryndross back on his range and reassure him. Usually they couldn’t connect over very long distances, but his brothers had helped enhance his connection, as long as Ryndross stayed on the range. His dan askha wasn’t happy at all that Tyomar was gone, but he did what he was told and stayed on the range.
The sun rose high in the sky before Tyomar finally stepped to the tent to wake her. But as he neared, the magical feel of the tent disappeared.
Tyomar jerked in shock. Magic didn’t just vanish instantly like that.
Lurching forward, he reached out to feel for the tent. The type of incantations used should have created a physical presence, but nothing was there. A growl erupted in the back of his throat as anger and panic arose. How could something like this have happened while he was standing right there!
Calming himself, he felt for magic in the vicinity. Accomplished casters could always detected magic of someone had used incantations—it was never possible them to be erased completely.
Turning carefully, feeling for Oshali, he caught a very slight hum of an incantation on the edge of the clearing. As he followed it, he found her trail. Thankfully, the magic was hers and not anyone else. Tyomar relaxed a little. That means whatever she did, he could undo it.
He headed after her, knowing she couldn’t have gone far. As he examined further there were layers upon layers of incantations she had cast, making it much more complex to figure out exactly how to track her. She used multiple incantations to misdirect, trying to lead him in different directions.
As annoyed as he was, Tyomar had to smile. She was certainly talented. And maybe she would’ve escaped if hadn’t been a dragorai she was with, but she would have to be much smarter than that to fool him.
Even so, he didn’t find her as quickly as he thought he would. When he finally caught got up to her, it was over a mile from where she’d camped. She had to be getting exhausted from magic use by now.
Carefully, he cast an incantation combining all five dialects of Thrakondarian, which disabled all incantations within the ambit of his reach. Oshali appeared a few feet from him, stumbled over, and dropped to the floor.
“Oshali!” Tyomar grabbed her arm and pulling her up to her feet. But he’d been right. She was weak and could barely stand.
She stumbled back to lean against a huge tree, panting from the exertion. “Why is it so hard to use a lot of magic at once?”
“Why did you try to run?” he bellowed. He checked her body, making sure that she hadn’t been hurt or her Gown ripped, but as he leaned over her, her scent captured him again. He ran his hands over her body, squeezing her hips and her thighs as he breathed her in, his cock hardening.
“I want to be free,” she murmured.
“You are behaving like a child,” Tyomar snarled. “Running away and hiding… is this what they teach you at the sanctum?”
“I thought that’s what I was to you,” Oshali shot back him. “A child.”
“No,” Tyomar said, glowering. Is that how she saw him? Like a fucking parent? “You are not.”
“Then stop treating me like one!”
Tyomar growled, yanking up the skirt of her gowns to expose her shapely legs. “Careful what you wish for, little cloak.” His finger stroked the triangle between her legs and slipped underneath her panties.
Oshali gasped, her body twitching as his fingers brushed her, but was already kneeling and drawing down her panties.
Leaning forward, he pressed his nose against her and breathed deeply. Her scent was most potent here, and still, he needed more. Bending her leg, he was pleased to see that her folds were glistening already, preparing for him. Leaning forward, he buried his tongue among her soft wetness, delicious on his tongue, creating rhythm licking and sucking her clit while swirling his tongue at her clenching entrance.
Oshali’s body jerked as she moaned, becoming wilder the rougher he became, but he held onto her hips, rotating them to give him easier access and encouraging her to ride his face. Her scent intensified, overwhelming him, and the slick dripped from his chin made his cock jump, eager for it. Oshali gripped his head and whined, her breathing becoming erratic as her whole body tensed and convulsed and trembled. Tyomar held her through it, slick smeared all over his face and her inner thighs as he kept his mouth cradling her throbbing clit until she finally went limp.
Tyomar rose slowly to his feet, dropping her gowns and drew her in to him, wrapping his body around her own.
Her head rested on his chest, her eyes closed as she panted, her chest heaving. Tyomar was tempted to strip her Gown off her completely so he could truly take pleasure in her In the way she needed him to, but she was much too exhausted. She needed a safe and secure place to rest, and so that’s all he was going to provide for her right now. But this wasn’t over.
6
When Oshali woke, she was in Tyomar’s arms, curled against his chest as he walked among the dead trees.
“Where are we?” she groaned.
“We are nearing the edge of the barren forest,” Tyomar said. Something was different about his tone.
Oshali thought back to what she could last remember, and a searing heat rushed to her face. Tyomar had pleasured her again, except this time it had been much more intense. She had climaxed, but it had been stormy and fierce and molten—nothing like the kind of pleasure she’d ever brought herself. She couldn’t believe the way that she had gripped his head, humped into his face and cried out so wildly. But she didn’t recall it going further or returning the pleasure. Had she passed out? It was so embarrassing.
“I need some water,” she muttered as the heat of embarrassment began to overwhelm her.
Tyomar slowed to a stop and carefully placed her down. She fumbled with her pouch to find her flask and drank deeply, before noticing that Tyomar was watching her carefully.
“We need to talk,” he said firmly.
Oshali nodded, though dread gripped her stomach a little.
“Not here,” Tyomar said. “At the edge of this forest there is a small field, and then another one starts. The one I’m taking us to is a proper forest with proper vegetation,” he said. “Which means we’ll have more cover and shade.”
Oshali nodded, although she could barely focus on anything but the memory of his tongue between her legs, harassing her sensitive bundle, and making her melt into a shivering puddle of ecstasy. She’d loved it. It was the most incredible experience she’d had. But all it did was increase her feelings for him, especially since he was her first sexual experience.
Tyomar began walking again, and Oshali followed. She couldn’t allow it to happen again. She also had to find a way to address the fact that she could not allow him to be in charge of the assignment or the journey. He was much too powerful for her to run from, and she shouldn’t have to go through such effort. Why had he come along with her in the first place? What was in it for him? He didn’t even know what they were going to get from the southern province.
It was only a few more yards before they reached the end of the barren forest, and they crossed an enormous desolate area where clouds of ember drifted on one side. Oshali watched it from afar as they passed. She had read a lot about ember and its effects, but it was never wise to get close to it. One touch of the grey, thick smoke would tear limbs from your body while keeping you alive. She’d had nightmares about it when she first learned what is was—it had to be one of the most horrific things that existed in the realm
Tyomar led her into a narrower road with a bridge at the end, and on the other side was a lush green forest, seeming out of place among the dead landscape.
This forest was very different. Things moved; leaves, branches animals, and shrills and shrieks from unseen animals burst into the air. Oshali wandered forward, distracted by everything, but Tyomar led the way, forging a straight path in the center.
Oshali followed him, aware that he was once again taking the lead, but at this point, she wasn’t sure where she even was.
A strange vibration entered her awareness. She slowed down. “What is that,” Oshali asked. “That hum around me?”
“It is so that I know where you are,” Tyomar said gravely.
“You put a tracker on me?” Oshali said sharply.
“I didn’t want to,” Tyomar growled. “But you left me no choice.”
Oshali stopped. “You have a choice,” she said hotly. “You can walk away and let me do my assignment as I please. Why is that so hard for you to do?”
Tyomar approached her, stepping so close he towered over her. Grabbing the back of her neck, he pushed her until she was against another tree. His leaned in close, his eyes capturing hers. “Why is it so hard for you to accept that I am here to protect you? You have known me for seven years, little cloak.”
A flash of heat shot through Oshali at his proximity and her nipples tingled, but there was nowhere to go. “I never asked you to protect me,” she said evenly. “I’m supposed to be able to do this with minimal help.”
“Even if that is so, you don’t want my help,” Tyomar said, a growl of displeasure in his voice. “Why?”
A pang of guilt resounded against Oshali’s reserve but she pushed it away. He didn’t know how she felt about him, so he would see it as her simply rejecting him. “Why is it so important for you to protect me during this,” she asked. “Why did you place me with the Mheyu and encourage my guardian training if you didn’t want me to go out into the lands on assignments—to be independent and capable out in the lands? Isn’t this what you wanted?”
Tyomar was silent as he gazed down at her, but his jaw clenched.
Oshali shook her head. “There is no point in me continuing if you are going to interfere with decisions I make and force me to do what you want.”
“So you’re going back to the sanctum?” he asked.
He almost sounded hopeful, but Oshali wanted to cry. If she went back to the sanctum without having completed her assignment, she would be forced to stay there and give up any idea of having true freedom at all. “You want to keep me trapped in the sanctum?” she asked evenly. “Is that what this is about? Are you trying to ruin my chances to be a Mheyu? I don’t understand.”
“No. I’m not trying to do any of that.” He exhaled heavily, releasing her from his grip. “Show me the route you planned.”
Oshali shrugged off her pouch and took out the details of her assignment, including the map.
Lowering to sit at the bottom of a tree, Tyomar examined them and asked questions until he was clear what the assignment was. “So you have to collect this scroll from this province? Is that it?”
Oshali nodded, watching him carefully. She’d sat a little bit away from him so she wouldn’t be overwhelmed by his scent. That seemed to be when things got complicated.
“Do you know what the scroll is about? Why it’s important?”
“No, but the Mheyu said that it’s important to them for their future after the war.” She hesitated. “They are worried that the king or queen may destroy the information at the sanctum to rewrite history depending on who wins.”
Tyomar frowned. “That wouldn’t be a small feat. There are Mheyu sanctums all over the realm.”
“Yes,” Oshali agreed. “But each one has a specialty. The one in your territory solely focuses on the Thrakonds and the Goddesses and the dragorai.”
Tyomar looked down at her assignment notes. “So this scroll could have something to do with any of those topics?”
Oshali nodded. “It is likely.”
Tyomar was quiet for a long moment as he continued to examine the parchment. “I know where this province is,” he said. “But your route to get there is dangerous, more dangerous than it needs to be.” He looked up. “If I take you on a different route, and make sure you can get there safely, will you stop fighting me?”
Oshali bit her lip in thought. “When I get back, I have to report everything about the decisions I made and the places I’ve been. I can’t do that if you have decided the route for me.”
“I’m not sure why it’s such a problem,” Tyomar growled. “I am a dragorai, an expert about these realms. What would be the reason that any Mheyu would not want my advice or take my guidance?”
Oshali was quiet for a long moment and she realized he might be right. The guardians might be fine with her following the guidance of a dragorai who knew the area. But there was no way to know for sure. However, if this was the only option she had, other than returning to the sanctum having failed, then she would have to take it and hope it was enough.
“When was the last time you went to the South?” she asked.
“I frequent the south every so often, but to go to the heart of the provinces like this,” Tyomar said pointing to the map, “I don’t do that very often. The last time was when I found you.”
Oshali jerked in surprise, snapping her eyes up to his. “You found me in the South?”
“Yes. In one of the provinces.”
Oshali breathed shallowly as her heart pounded. “The Mheyu said you hadn’t told them where you found me.”
Tyomar tilted his head. “It’s possible that I didn’t. Everything happened so quickly back then.” He refocused his gaze on her. “But I do know the area and I can take you there. So do we have an agreement?”
Oshali breathed in deeply, relief trickling through her for the first time since she started this journey. This seemed like a good compromise, but she still didn’t understand his insistence to be here with her. “Are you….”
“What?”
Oshali couldn’t find t
he words to ask him why, for some reason, he had decided to concern himself with her safety, and it seemed like he always had from the time she was a baby. Did he see her as some kind of exciting experiment? Did he see her as his responsibility? Did he want something to look after and take care of because he couldn’t breed? The only thing that didn’t align with that theory was his behavior on the ledge and against the tree. He’d acted as though he was out of control with lust, and in truth, she had wanted him just as badly. But she had a reason for that—she’d desired him since she was eighteen. What was his motivation? Was it simply that she was a female and he was a dragorai? For some dragorai-alphas that was all the reason they needed.
He was still waiting for an answer so she pointed to the map. “My old route had places for me to stop and rest, wash, and find food. I know you think people are dangerous, but many still support the Mheyu and will provide us with basic things so we can continue our work.”
“They may not if a dragorai is with you.”
“Exactly,” Oshali pointed out. “You being with me changes everything. “
Tyomar examined the map and then put it back down. “I can make sure that you have places to do all those things.” He looked at her, curiosity in his dark eyes. “So do you agree?”
“Will you remove this tracker?”
“No,” he said firmly, offering no explanation.
Oshali scowled but this was the best option she was going to get. Once she completed the assignment she wouldn’t have to worry about any of this. She would have her freedom, and she would be able to go where she pleased and find where she belonged. And this time she wouldn’t tell him she was going. “Agreed.”
Tyomar’s shoulders relaxed, and Oshali suddenly realized how tense he had been. “Good,” he said, putting her documents back in her bag. “Let’s go.”
When they set off for a second time, Oshali felt more positive about the journey. As they walked among the vibrant forest, she allowed herself the joy to get lost in the things she had only read about—furry little animals, pretty, fluttery insects and gorgeous flowers that she had never seen before.
