by May Sage
For Christ’s sake, she’d had guys go down on her, she shouldn’t be panting like a crazy person because he was touching her damn tummy.
Impatient, needing him to give more, she reached between them, grabbed his cock, and started pumping it.
Coveney groaned, before chuckling. “You want this over with. You want me to shut up and fuck you so we don’t have to talk about this. Funny, Ava. I didn’t take you for a coward.”
“I’ve had the birds and bees conversation with my momma, handsome. I need you.”
“And I you. I just was going to make it clear that when I stop holding myself back in a minute, I’m going to bite or scratch you.” His head dropped to her neck. He licked it before dropping feather-light kisses on it, as his frame dropped onto hers, his heavy cock grinding against her pants, and she threw her head back. Shit. Her clothes needed to go.
Wait, had he just said bite?
“Where do eagles mark each other, mate?” he whispered against her ear, and everything around them ceased to exist.
Mate.
Mate.
Mate.
Her animal, who’d remained watchful and careful until now, who hadn’t known what to make of him, cried out inside her. Mate, she said. The eagle felt as stupid as Ava, because they both should have seen it. Now, they did.
She wasn’t in charge of her change this time; the eagle acted all on her own, morphing her hand, and running her talon from the small of his back to his shoulders, hard, deep, and slow.
Coveney winced, but stayed still until she was done. Then, he chuckled.
“I guess that answers that question.”
“Sorry, I don’t know what came over her, she just…”
“Don’t you dare apologize.” Then, he said it again. “Mate.”
Fuck. He was hers.
If she hadn’t marked him quite as brutally, brusquely, and without warning, they might have been more civilized about it. But, as things were, Ava opened her jeans and glided them down her legs. She lifted her knees to get them past her thighs, but, without giving her a second to do it, Coveney grabbed her arms, pinned them above her head, and plunged balls deep inside her in one hard thrust.
She yelled out in pleasure and surprise. Sitting up, Coveney angled himself to hit the deepest point inside her and thrust in again, and again, and again, so fast it was all a blur of sensations. Every single muscle inside her was tenser than ever when he clawed at her top, ripping it to shreds, before descending on her breast.
He bit her hard, drawing blood as she yelled out, her pussy contracting around him as he exploded inside her.
They were entirely still and silent for an instant. Her bird cooed happily, and Coveney’s eyes flashed light blue, like his tiger’s.
Mate.
She felt it in her heart, beating alongside his. In her blood and her bones. He was hers, and she was his.
Laughing softly, he finally finished helping her out of her pants, before kissing her ankles, and placing each of them on one of his shoulders, spreading her legs.
“I sincerely hope you’re well-rested, Ava mine,” he purred as his thumb pressed on her clit, the shallow movement of his hips reawakening every part of her. “This may just last a little while.”
Chapter 17
Sucker Punch
After taking his mate all night, Coveney should have had a hard time moving. The first thing he saw when he woke up, though, was his mark, right on her breast, and he just had to kiss it.
There was a long, elegant symbol drawn on her skin now, like a perfectly healed tattoo, which had appeared overnight. It was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen, proving that they had been shaped by nature, destined to belong to each other. He wished he had a mirror to see his on his back where she’d claimed him.
She moaned, so he then had to kiss her lips, too. And, somehow, he found his dick pushing inside her wet folds from the side. Turned out, he could move just fine.
He could also move fine in the shower.
What he did have a hard time doing, though, was talking. But that conversation couldn’t wait.
“So, how did Knox’s idea go?”
The words practically strangled him on the way out. He saw it now, there was never any choice. He would have to go with her when she left, and if she chose to stay away, there was nothing he could do about it.
“Surprisingly well, so far. Most of the Alphas agreed to talk to me. When your tiger barged in yesterday, we were actually arguing about whether it could be done via Skype. Rain’s idea. I think it would probably suit everyone - there are a lot of flocks of eagles, and it might take months to manage to get us all in one place. But a group conversation online - that could be done tomorrow.”
He lifted a brow, incredulous. “So, you wouldn’t need to go anywhere?”
“Well, if they are going to attack Dale for me, I probably should be there, I think. But, let’s face it, even if each Alpha only brings two people with them, that’s practically two hundred eagles. The Enforcers who rose against my family? There are only a dozen of them. The Dale flock doesn’t even have fifty members. With their backing, it’s just a formality.”
“And then what?”
She frowned.
“It’s you and me, now. I need to know what you want. If you’d like to go back to Dale…”
“I already said I didn’t. I meant it.”
He thought she had at the time. “There’re an awful lot of people who seem to see you as their Alpha.”
Coveney was strong, powerful, loyal, and smart, but he was no Alpha. Not a born Alpha, in any case.
Ava…
When he’d first seen her, she’d taken an arrow to save what she, on some basic level, must have understood was hers. Before, unbeknownst to him, she’d intervened to help his entire pride. She was shy, and her confidence level needed a boost, but those issues didn’t cloud the rest. He saw it plainly - just like Aisling, she was born to rule.
He intended to show her, and tell her everything she was until she saw it, too. But it might mean they’d have to leave the pride he loved for good.
She just snorted.
“You think I want power.”
Not really; she didn’t want it. That didn’t mean that it didn’t belong to her.
“Listen to me. My parents begged me to start diplomatic trips. That means going all over the world to show my face and remind the other flocks that the Dales are stronger than them. I tagged along when I was a child, and I freaking hated it. It’s not that I can’t do it. I genuinely can’t stand it. Will I get them to help today? Yes. Totally. Because, if I don’t, those Enforcers will carry on sending hunters after me and my brother. But once that’s done, I’m walking away.”
He pulled her to him and buried his head in her hair, inhaling her scent as she added, “I may have come to this particular pride because I thought you could help, but I wanted to stay from the start. I still do. It’s peaceful here. I love the lake, and the townsfolk who somehow seem fine with you. I like the kids and your weird, intense Alphas. And, more to the point, this is my mate’s pride. This is where you belong. So, of course we’re staying here.”
He breathed out, all the while thinking he was utterly fucked. Someday, soon, he was going to love her so damn much he wouldn’t ever be able to live without her.
If he was entirely honest, although it made zero sense, given the fact that they’d met one day ago, he probably already did. Fate had sucker punched him in the teeth and there was nothing he could do.
Chapter 18
Flying
Ava had never felt more awkward. There were a few dozen chat windows open, and glancing through them, she saw large, hard men and women flanked by equally impressive Betas and Enforcers. In her human form, she was small for an eagle.
But, instead of fidgeting like she wanted to do, she smiled.
She greeted everyone, effortlessly translating her statement into the language of those who addressed her. This was… easy. Famili
ar. Just like assisting her brother as he negotiated a deal, although he wasn’t there to do part of the talking. It didn’t matter. She’d seen it done many times, enough to know when she needed to summon her inner Richard and reply sternly, or when she needed to be herself, laughing it off and throwing in a joke to relax everyone.
Her biggest fear had been them balking at the fact that she was flanked by a feline shifter who she introduced as her mate, and it did annoy them. Eagles didn’t make alliances, because their loyalty was entirely to the Flavia Dale. She guessed they’d see her as a hypocrite for mating outside of her own kind.
“So, what then? Let’s say we somehow storm Dale, an impenetrable magical fortress, and kill all your enemies. Are you going to return to it and reign over us with your cat?” said a Russian Alpha.
Coveney kept his snarl in check. She didn’t.
“With all due respect, Ryder, insult my mate to my face one more time and I’ll pay you a visit.”
The words were out of her mouth before she considered how stupid they would seem to a powerful Alpha. But instead of laughing in her face, like she thought he might, he stiffened and scratched his head.
It was then that it hit her. They weren’t seeing an awkward five-foot-two girl right now. They looked at her and saw what she wanted them to see. The person she summoned when she needed courage: her eagle. The female was faster than Rupert, larger than Aria, and deadlier than Richard.
Through the embedded video screen reflecting her image, she saw her eyes turn fiery, losing their violet tint. She blinked, getting it under control, before smiling pleasantly.
Ah, hell. Their concern wasn’t unwarranted.
“I have no intention of returning to Dale, and no intention of ruling any of you. It’s past time our kind entered the twenty-first century, don’t you think? You’re capable Alphas. I don’t call you to do my bidding now because you owe it to my family. I’m asking for your help. What I offer in return is my loyalty. I also offer Dale.”
That got their attention. Not every eagle out there saw Dale, they’d had to be formally invited, but they’d all heard of it, no doubt.
“If you would assist me against them, I propose to make Dale, the birth place of our kind, a sanctuary where any eagle, and their friends, would be welcome, at any time. To my knowledge, there’re around five thousand of us spread out across the world. Dale can accommodate that many people at any given time.”
As the city wasn’t quite hers to give that casually, she added, “Most of the current inhabitants of Dale, my old flock, are innocent of any wrongdoing, and I won’t see them punished unless they take arms against us. They’re to carry on however they wish, electing a leader of their own after we’re gone.”
She’d purposefully left the matter of the First lines alone, but they’d known the Alphas would bring it up, of course.
“But what about what they say?”
“Are the legends a lie?”
Ava shrugged. “I don’t know, probably. It does sound like a children’s tale, wouldn’t you say? I’m simply asking for help because I don’t want to die. My other solution would be asking my Alpha for his protection. That means the Wyverns and their allies - felines, wolves, bears, witches - descending on Dale.”
It was hard to prevent herself from smiling. Yeah, she’d expected their reaction alright. “Dale belongs to us!”
“Eagles resolve our issues amongst ourselves!”
“Over my dead body.”
Truth was, she would never have asked Rye and Ace to fight in Dale because they would all have died trying, unless they brought a few Scions along.
If they saw felines in their city, every eagle would attack, not just the traitors. Her stomach churned at the very thought of that mess. For all their raw power, felines wouldn’t have a chance.
Most Alphas muttered with their seconds, and she saw dozens of them nod.
“Okay, so what’s the plan?”
She winced, knowing Coveney was going to freak out. Big time.
I should purchase a private jet. Awfully convenient,” Knox remarked, looking out the small plane’s window.
Ava disagreed. In actual fact, if she never got into a flying metal tube ever again, it would be soon enough. She would have snorted if she wasn’t too busy attempting not to throw up, her head stuck between her legs as she breathed fast.
The only other person who seemed to realize that planes were evil was the Wyvern Alpha’s son, who had cried at the top of his lungs from the moment they’d taken off.
“There, there,” Ace cooed, rocking him in her arms.
The baby wasn’t having any of it.
“May I?”
Rye, Coveney, and Jas, the short-haired, kick-ass Wyvern female she’d just met for the first time, as she’d been patrolling during the entire duration of her stay, stared at the First Wolf like he’d lost his goddamned mind. They gasped in unison when their Alpha female got up and just handed him her kid. Ava would have laughed, but, well, that probably meant vomiting on her shoes. And she liked her shoes.
Ace rolled her eyes at her mate.
“He isn’t going to eat him,” she said. Rye seemed to think that was debatable.
But it turned out, the wolf wasn’t a baby eater as much as a baby whisperer. After two minutes of baby talk, at most, the child was done yelling.
“There’s a good boy,” the wolf praised him, tickling his tummy.
Little Zack shifted in the wolf’s arms, and Knox stared in wonder.
“Kitten,” he breathed, tightening his grasp like he half expected the kid to try to break free.
But, instead, it extended its little paws and stretched.
The wolf growled low. “I need one of these.”
Most of the pride laughed; the child was pretty damn hard to resist.
Ava might have found it sweet if she didn’t recall their previous conversation. Knox obviously liked babies, and wanted one, too, but he had none of his own.
Had he tried modern medicine? Was there some sort of workaround? He’d been born somehow, the process couldn’t be that hard to replicate.
A smartly-dressed flight attendant wearing red and gold walked back in. “If you could please return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts, we’re about to start landing. It’s seven o’clock, and the temperature currently is seventy-four degrees in Rome. Rome is nine hours ahead of California; may I recommend you attempt to go to bed in good time this evening in order to minimize…”
The woman carried on going on about trivial things as the metal tube tilted towards the ground and started vibrating like someone was shaking it.
Typical. She was going to die flying.
Chapter 19
Rome
Coveney was a basic, overly excited American tourist and he wasn’t even sorry about it.
“Look at this!” he exclaimed, dragging Ava from one ruin to the next, and she played along.
He winced, recalling she was born here - or anyway, some hidden valley not too far from here. “Sorry if I’m boring you.”
She beamed. “Not at all. I actually haven’t often come to Rome. I find the Forum fascinating. See there? These little holes on the old part of the building, the ones that weren’t renovated and reinforced? That’s an indication that the walls were covered with marble, a while back. They fitted it in that way. Sometimes, you can still see some stone stuck in there.”
“How about these bigger ones?”
He listened to her explain how the large blocks of stone piled up to build the impressive monument and were perfectly aligned, which was exceptional for a structure that old. They’d managed that by putting holes in the middle of each block, and fitting in a bar; that way, they could add the next block like a piece of Lego.
“They filled those holes with metal - bronze, mainly - and that was precious, so these holes were made to get to it after the Catholics came into power and started stripping down reminders of the old faith.”
He wasn’t th
e only one listening in, and a British tourist asked her a couple of questions, evidently taking her for a tour guide.
Coveney smiled a little sadly. How she fit in, in this ancient, beautiful, foreign city.
“You’re having fun,” she noticed, and he shrugged casually.
“First time abroad. It’s definitely different than learning about all this on TV. Besides, might as well distract myself from thinking about this insane plan of yours.”
That last part was grumbled, communicating his lack of enthusiasm. But he’d caved, for various reasons. Firstly, the damn plan made an awful lot of sense, and he would have nodded along, quite happy to execute it, if it had involved just about anyone else. Secondly, and he admitted it as begrudgingly as any dominant male might, his female was wearing the trousers. Now that she’d shed a lot of her shyness, it was apparent to him that she out-dominated him. If he had a dominance level similar to his Alpha, or his Beta, for that matter, it would have been an issue, but Coveney found that he didn’t care much. And, lastly, if she pouted and said please, there was nothing, absolutely nothing, he wouldn’t give her. He was putty in her damn little hands. And she knew it.
“So, what next?”
“Next, you need to do something no one stepping in Italy should ever forgo,” she said quite seriously.
He lifted a brow as he followed her.
Ten minutes later, he was moaning in pleasure.
“What the hell is this?”
She shrugged. “Ice cream.”
He gave her a look. Yeah, right. He’d had ice cream before. This didn’t qualify. Ice cream was refreshing and tasty; it wasn’t supposed to make him feel like he’d grown a set of wings of his own and tasted the food of the gods.
“Come again? Why the hell don’t you guys export that shit?”
She grinned. “Maybe it just tastes different when you eat it here.”
That made an awful lot of sense. He bobbed his head, repeating a word that had often been on his mind since he’d met her. “Witchcraft.”
