“It means… their bonds will be charged with the power of ours, and that will change things.”
“It will?” She scowled. “Like what?” Even though she felt agitated, she couldn’t pull back from him. Couldn’t even contemplate the notion of not touching him.
He was, as was always the way, the messenger. And she refused to shoot him.
Poor Theo. He was an apt Gabriel.
He hummed under his breath and moved his arms so that they curved around her waist. “Yes. It will affect our unit. Kane never said anything about it, but then, he wouldn’t know… I’m hoping it will counteract the fact you didn’t claim Mikkel in your other form.”
She licked her lips, nerves hitting her. That was possible? Just by claiming Theo here and now?
Hope, ever dangerous, welled and pooled inside her.
“Are other species often bound to the Fae?”
“You mean in the rare cases that a Fae finds their fated?” He snorted. “I can’t even tell you how few cases there are, Thalia.”
“How did you recognize that I’m yours?” she asked, thinking that through.
Sheepishness crossed his features, and he ducked his head. The coy act had her jerking back a little in surprise, but not in rejection, just amusement. His nose crinkled as he admitted, “No one has ever seen my wings before on your realm.”
“Really?” Not even his lover? The man he’d been with for years before he’d died and had come to her?
Was it horrible that she was glad of that?
It probably was horrible, but the visions of Theo with the man she now knew was called Brian had come as a shock to her.
She was still reeling.
“We’re not supposed to expose them.”
“I thought you went flying?”
“I do, but I glamor them. I dropped the glamor the minute I entered your grandfathers’ home because I wanted Louis to recognize what I was and I wanted him to know that I’m no threat.”
“I can see the sense in that,” she told him quietly, her hands squeezing his trim waist.
“When you walked through the door, it was like my heart had been blasted with electricity. My skin prickled, and I felt hot and cold. I ached. My chest hurt. I couldn’t breathe, and I wanted, Gods, I wanted so damn badly to let my wings loose.”
That had her blinking. “You sure you weren’t having a heart attack?”
He snorted, and reached up to cup her chin. “I’m sure, sweetheart.”
Then, before he could say another word, she mimicked, “The Fae don’t have heart attacks.”
She’d heard that a lot of late. “The Fae don’t…” followed by an affliction that befell everyone, even Lykens, just not the Gods’ firstborn.
He grinned. “Yeah. I felt, for the first time, like I knew what one was like though.”
“What’s the wing thing about?”
“Remember, I told you. Fae males are like peacocks. We use them to attract females.”
Her mouth dropped. “You wanted to preen?”
“I prefer the term ‘strut.’” He pouted.
She hooted out a laugh. “Like a catwalk model?”
He wrinkled his nose again in a way that made it impossible to believe he was twelve thousand years old. It was so irreverent, so youthful a sight that she had to reach up to rub her finger down the bridge and to the tip. He jerked his chin back slightly so her hand dropped down and he used the fall to nip said finger.
She stared at him, the fire burning in her veins as she felt his bottom lip against the pad of the digit.
“You know I like your wings,” she said, her voice thick. So thick it was like damn stew. With bits of meat bobbing around in it.
And a voice like stew was anything but sexy, but hell, the way he made her feel? Plus the knowledge that she made him feel like he was going into cardiac arrest—who knew that could ever be a good thing?
The heat settled low in her core and everything inside her started to melt in readiness for her Fae mate.
She wanted to claim him. So fucking badly.
The urge had been growing since he’d taken her to the healing waters. Truth was, she’d expected him to claim her there, but when he’d dropped her straight down into them, he’d never joined her. Had just flown around like some supersized Tinkerbell, watching as she shrieked at him then did some lengths through the turquoise-tinted water.
She’d let him pull back though, mostly because she’d known something was happening with him. Something to do with politics, if the amount of time he spent with that freak of an AydLegios was anything to go by, and before she’d been exiled, she’d been around her parents enough to know how much politics dragged at a person’s time. She knew he’d not been home in centuries, and had been okay with letting him find his feet, because she had forever, and that changed everything.
No longer was her life to be led in two centuries or less, she had thousands of years to be with him, and when a person had that amount of time to play with, it changed things. Suddenly, the minutiae didn’t matter when forever was on the table.
So, sure, she wanted him with an ache her other mates couldn’t acquiesce, because they hadn’t been born to appease that particular need—that was why Theo existed, after all—but that was okay.
Time was on their side, and when it was their moment, she’d known she’d take it and embrace it.
Now was that moment.
Now, when he was worried for their future, when he was concealing things to protect her, and when his major goal was to protect her by arming her with the same sword Alexander the Great had used to conquer half the known world, she wanted him to be hers.
Officially.
As his wings ruffled, she swallowed again. She fucking loved those wings. Like was too weak a word for how her body responded to not only the sight of them but also the feel and the way the room changed when they were out. Like the atmosphere could only take so much glamor and having the wings out was making everything just that bit more magical.
Even here. In this land.
“I’m glad you’re attracted to them,” he admitted softly, dipping his head so she couldn’t see into his eyes.
“I want to know how you can fly when they’re wet.”
He snorted. “You’ve seen some of the stuff I can do. Why wouldn’t I make my wings water repellent?”
She pouted. “You have it too easy.” Before he could snort out a laugh, she asked, “Have there been no human or Lyken fated mates before, Theo?”
He hesitated a second. “No. This is unprecedented.”
She pondered that. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.” He blew out a breath. “I just know that you’ll take on some of my characteristics.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s hard to say,” he admitted quietly. “I wish I had the answers, I just know that as few as fated mates are, they always share a few similar traits.”
“Like what?”
“So, female Fae’s wings are white, right?” She stared up into his light green eyes and found herself floating in a world where everything was tinged with that color. She knew that was something to do with a Fae’s inbuilt defense system, but she also knew their bond with another was starting to derail that defense system where she was concerned.
The first time she’d looked into his eyes, properly looked, she’d found herself almost mesmerized.
Now, she was mesmerized for a completely different reason, Thalia thought ruefully. A part of her wondered if the defense system would always affect her, or if, after being claimed by him, it would be neutralized.
She really hoped it was the latter, because getting mesmerized truly fucking sucked.
“Well, on the few fated I’ve known, the woman’s wings have always been streaked with the male’s colors.”
That had her blinking. “But I don’t have any wings to dye.”
He snorted. “I know that, but I’m just trying to show you how, visually, such a cl
aim can change someone in that kind of bond.”
“We’re walking into this blind, aren’t we?” she asked, her tone somber.
He nodded. “We are.”
“Are you scared?”
At her question, his head tilted to the side. “Are you?”
She gnawed at her bottom lip. “I know I should be, but no, I’m not. I’m yours, and you’re mine, Theo. That could never be anything other than right.”
His smile, when it came, made the phrase ‘megawatt’ seem like a shadow, because the sight of it about blew away any cobwebs she had left on her heart
For so long, she’d been left out in the dark and the cold. Love had been a foreign concept in exile. Now? She was surrounded by it and she soaked it up like a puppy dog would when he sat in a pool of sunlight for the first time.
She wanted to roll around like the canine she partly was in the mate bond. Wanted to explore its limits, test it to know how far it extended, all the while knowing that it was as intrinsic a part of herself as was her heart or the color of her eyes.
Though she was about to dive into something that was the true unknown, she didn’t give a flying fuck.
She was willing to go headfirst into this bond because Thalia had faith.
Whatever her claiming Theo did, whatever his claiming of her triggered, they’d roll with the punches.
The Goddess had given her these males for a specific reason. She’d yet to figure out what that reason was, but that would come days, weeks, or months down the line.
It was for another time.
Not now.
She pressed her cheek to his chest, loving that static-y feel that had her humming in delight, and wrapped her arms around his waist.
“Theo?”
He hummed too—that noise that could send energy rushing through her system as well as draining it from her until she slept. This one had the heat in her lower belly pooling even more. “What, darling?”
“I need you,” she whispered, and meant it.
She knew what it was to need, and the need she felt for him was something like no other.
It was unique. As was her connection with him.
Licking her lips, she tilted her head and pressed her mouth to the central point between his pecs. She let her tongue peek out, and trailed it over to his nipple.
The move, basically innocent, had his cock moving from semi-hardness to a thick and hard presence at her belly. She felt the raging temperature through the silky waters, and she shivered with more need as she knew he wanted her just as badly.
She trailed her tongue around the small circle, then moved to the next one. She squeezed the tip between her teeth, testing its resilience with no intent to hurt.
“Theo?” she asked again, after she ran her tongue around the nub once more.
“Yes, Thalia,” he said, his tone like gravel.
“Do you have all those piercings on still?”
Chuckles spilled from him. “Do you want them there, or not?”
She thought about that, thought about how they’d feel inside her. Gnawing at her bottom lip, she tilted her head back to stare up at him.
“I-I want them there.”
The light green of his eyes darkened, turned gray. The silvery lights were enough to have her shuddering at the sight because she knew that was a major breach in his control. That hue only overtook the green when his guard was down; and she loved that she had the ability to do that to him.
Fucking loved it.
“Do you want any extra adornment?” he teased, his tone still gruff.
She thought about that, then, rather than replying, she reached for his hand and moved her hips back. Sliding his under the water, she pressed his fingers to between her legs. “W-Where do you think I’d like one?”
He let out a low rumbly sound that seemed to vibrate along the airwaves as his digits slipped through her folds. She was wet, already. And not from the water either, she realized drily.
Her body was always primed for her males. Always ready to take them.
She wasn’t sure if that was a blessing or a curse though. The need that boiled in her veins was always there, constantly simmering away, sapping at her control. She wondered if that would change with time, or if that was how it would be for the rest of her life.
She’d grown used to the heats. The monthly barrage of need that overwhelmed and suffocated. Not having experienced one for the last two months was wonderful—even if it was a reason for concern. However, what was she, if not in a constant state of need for her males?
Maybe the heats weren’t necessary now she had them to service her?
Promising to think about that later, and to mention the word ‘service’ to Mikkel who’d laugh at that, she blew out a breath when Theo slid his fingers around her clit, circling it like a hungry shark that had scented blood. The breath that shuddered from her lungs was shaky as she pressed her forehead to his chest and parted her legs wider.
Rocking her hips up and forward, the moan that spilled from her lips came as a shock to her as she felt him pinch the nub between his fingers. The cool presence there had her gulping down air. There was a weight where there’d never been a weight before.
It didn’t hurt, but it… She thought about it a second, trying to process exactly what she was feeling, and the only way she could explain it was to say that it dragged.
And she suddenly felt like she had an orange hanging from it or something.
Uncertain if she liked feeling as though she had a citrus fruit dangling between her legs—a thought that had her stopping a snicker in its tracks—she tilted her head back and murmured, “In the water?”
He didn’t answer, just bent down and grabbed her legs. She’d never admit to yipping in surprise when he curled her calves about his hips and strode forward toward the slight gathering where there was a small waterfall.
Women, She-Wolves, didn’t yip. Or so she tried to tell herself.
The nearer they moved, the rougher the brook sounded, but in this tranquil spot, the noises were pleasant and relaxing even as she felt anything other than relaxed.
She rocked her hips, arching her pelvis against his lower belly, enjoying the drag of her sex against hot skin. The feel of the piercing took her by surprise but it sent electrical sparks through her nerves that had a rumble starting at the back of her throat.
“You trying to torture me, my fated?” he grumbled as he carefully pressed her to the rocks where the fall was. It was large enough to sneak behind, to view the world through the curtain of water, but he didn’t stop them there. He just pressed her carefully to the rocky outcropping. As the stones dug into her back, she was about to complain, when a sudden heat slalomed into her spine.
“What the hell?” she demanded, head swiveling Exorcist-style as she wondered what the fuck caused that sudden leap of temperature.
He laughed, but it was growly and sexy as fuck. “Just wait,” he promised her, and before she could ask, “Wait for what?” he pressed his mouth to hers.
She moaned into his kiss, needing that and so much more from him. Was it possible that this was their first real kiss?
Shame roared through her as she realized it was.
How had she waited so long? Why had she waited?
What the hell was wrong with her that she hadn’t been tasting this man at least every hour of every day?
His tongue slid along hers, enticing and sampling, but robbing her of breath too. She wanted to pant from lack of air as he stole it from her but she couldn’t find it in her to complain as he ate from her, as he drank. He took everything she had to give and returned it in torturous waves, drowning her in agonizing pleasure.
At her back, the stones ceased digging into her. Instead, they did the damnedest thing—they morphed. Yeah, that sounded nuts, but they changed shape, conforming to her body, settling so that wherever she needed pressure, they gave it to her.
She couldn’t even have it in her to be surprised, because there were
so many fucking weird things going down in Heden, and this was just at the small end of the scale.
As it was, the wall gave her the perfect amount of pressure on her shoulders and mid back, while letting Theo have full reign of her ass, which he took advantage of. He massaged her butt cheeks like a pro and she rocked into him, loving how his fingers seemed to work into the deep tissues there—tissues she’d worked today when fighting with Mikkel.
Her belly curled in on itself as he hit a knot, and she pulled back to gasp air.
“Ouch!” she whispered.
But he didn’t stop. He dug into that knot and made it his bitch, which made her melt into him because, fuck, those fingers were magic. And the magical stone at her back?
She was loving sex in Heden!
With heavy eyes, she watched as he dipped his head and pressed his mouth to her nipple. Letting her hands comb through his hair as he supped from her, she closed her eyes, loving the delicacy of the kiss he laid there, loving the tender swirl of his tongue, and then she yelped when he bit down on the tender nub.
“Dammit to hell, Theo,” she ground out. “What is it with you three and biting my nipples?”
He snickered against her breast before anointing the wounded nub. She let out a hiss, but she wasn’t totally pouting. The pain felt good because she was Lyken and being bitten and giving bites was an intrinsic part of her nature.
“You do know it just makes me want to bite you?” Her tone was conversational, even if there was a darkness to it that was utterly serious.
He rocked back to peer at her. “And that should scare me why?”
She smirked at him. “Bring it?”
His eyes flared. “Already bringing it, Thalia.” And so saying, he dropped his head again, pressed a kiss to the pouting curve of her breast, and bit down on that swell.
The hiss that escaped her morphed into a yell. “Fuck!” she cried out, and then she scented it.
Blood.
He’d drawn fucking blood.
Rage and lust and need and want flushed through her, flooding her with pheromones that were somehow new and somehow old.
“You drew blood?” she said on a hiss. Then hissed again when he kissed his way across to the other breast, sliding his tongue down to her nipple, and did it again.
Triad (The TriAlpha Chronicles Book 3) Page 14
