Tyomar stood watch all night while his little cloak slept.
It wasn’t that much of a hardship; he didn’t need as much sleep as she did anyway, but there was no way he could sleep while she was traveling in such a place. He was furious that she was even on this journey, but he had to respect her duties as a Mheyu. And that was the problem. If she hadn’t been a Mheyu Guardian, even if she was still a novice in her adorable grey cloak, the moment he experienced her nipple in his mouth he would have dragged her back to his lair and kept her there. He had no idea how satisfying it would be to hold her, to have her nuzzle into his chest, to hear her moan while he suckled that hard nipple. He’d held off doing anything for so long, and now he fucking regretted it.
Oshali was truly exquisite in every way. Her beautiful scent had a heady, almost peach-like sweetness to it, laced with an intoxicating tang when she was aroused. He couldn’t get enough. In fact, he could have bit on those perfect breasts all day if there was the chance to be close enough to scent her. And the sexy rasp in her voice when she moaned had kept him hard for two days. Tyomar had never been so enthralled by an experience. But she was a Mheyu. If she had been anyone else, any other being, it wouldn’t matter, but the Mheyu mattered.
It was considered a violation of all that was sacred to the Seven to disrupt Mheyu Guardians from their duties. The Goddesses had anointed them the keepers of their history and accomplishments, and every dragorai knew that interfering would inspire their wrath. And yet, Tyomar could not leave Oshali alone. He just couldn’t. Especially while she was traveling across dangerous lands. It also didn’t help that she was so stunningly beautiful. All this time he had been talking to her, wondering what she looked like under her veil and admiring her brown eyes, while all along completely ignorant that she was so gorgeous. He wanted no other man to even look at what he was denied for so long. It almost felt as though he’d been deceived by the Mheyu, that they had been keeping her a secret, which was of course ridiculous because they hadn’t. It was the Mheyu that chosen her to be his contact in the first place.
Throughout the night he patrolled the clearing, watching and listening for anyone who may be approaching. Thankfully, he had advanced senses, not only because he was a dragorai but also because he hunted regularly. The barren forest had been a good idea. No one seemed to travel through it at night, and there was minimal animal activity. Oshali’s criticism of his choice of camping ground was a good one, which he would take into account for tomorrow night.
He was impressed with the magic used to create her tent. It was an ancient magic that pulled on pure energy, which was why she was able to cast even though magic was not abundant in the war-torn lands. It was so impressive that he could feel the magic and incantations as strongly as if he had cast it himself. He had always known the Mheyu and their Gowns were significantly skilled in magic, having come from an older time, but he was not sure now if he really knew how much. Especially considering that they were able to teach Oshali these Thrakondarian incantations that allowed her to actually soar through the air, aided only by magic. That had shocked him immensely. And, if he was honest, frightened him to the point that he wanted to keep her flush against him until he was sure she wouldn’t do anything stupid again. The only good thing about the incident was that he experienced her scent and her gorgeous body. He would never regret that.
It had been all seven hells trying to explain it to his brothers. After his last time with her on the ledge, he told them he was going to accompany her, and all of them looked at him like he was insane.
“I thought she was a Mheyu,” Zendyor asked, puzzled. “Isn’t this what they do? Go and collect artifacts and testimonies all over the realm?”
“She’s a new Mheyu,” Tyomar muttered. “And she is… reckless.”
“I’m not sure why this is a concern,” Sethorn said stiffly. “We have more important things to focus on.” Tyomar and Sethorn were not on good terms at a moment. In the last meeting, they had come to blows after Sethorn had jested that Oshali had almost sat on his lap to show him her face under her veil. Of course, Tyomar had interrogated the fuck out of that exaggeration, and when Sethorn became surly and unwilling to answer, both of them got aggressive. He was still furious at Sethorn for speaking to her that way, but was even more furious that Oshali was there in the first place. He still had to address that again with her at some point.
“I’ve been liaising with her for seven years,” Tyomar said, just as stiffly back. “I care about her safety.”
“Enough to travel to the South?” Nyro asked, making a face. “On foot? You are aware you cannot travel like that all over the realm unless you’re on Ryndross? And even then it’s risky without the rest of us near.”
Tyomar growled. “I am aware.”
“So you’re planning on traveling on Ryn with the Mheyu?” Zendyor asked, still puzzled.
Tyomar wanted to say yes, but he knew he couldn’t. Firstly, it was very personal for a dragorai-alpha to have someone on the back of their dan askha, and although he wanted to invite Oshali at some point, because he knew she would love it, it would be an extremely unusual thing for his brothers to understand. He couldn’t even explain himself. Secondly, he couldn’t put himself, Ryndross, and Oshali in danger by having Ryndross around while they were traveling. He would alert others that there was a dragorai in the vicinity and their dragons were still being targeted. They had to do it the slow way, and not draw too much attention. “I’m not planning on bringing Ryndross with me.”
Nyro’s nose wrinkled. “I don’t know why anybody would want to travel that way on purpose.”
“Good luck keeping him away from you,” Sethorn remarked. “That will be difficult to do.”
Tyomar nodded. It would indeed be very difficult, but he had to find a way to make it work.
Khyros leaned forward, speaking for the first time since the meeting began. “Tyomar, explain to me about this Mheyu.”
Tyomar tensed. “What do you mean?”
“You seem very taken with her.”
The whole table quietened, realization dawning in the eyes of the other three brothers.
“That’s true,” Nyro murmured, peering at Tyomar.
“Don’t fuck with the Mheyu, Ty,” Zendyor warned. “If the Goddesses decide to punish you—”
“No… it’s not…” Tyomar wasn’t able to explain what was happening with Oshali right now—he didn’t even know himself.
“Of course it isn’t,” Nyro agreed, leaning back in his chair. “If it was, she’d be back at his lair getting her kon pounded. Not walking for days across ember-filled lands.”
Tyomar almost barked at him for talking about her like that, but surprisingly Zendyor berated him first. “Not all of us fuck anything that walks, Nyro,” he snapped.
“Neither do I anymore,” Nyro grinned.
“Explain to me,” Khyros said again to Tyomar.
Tyomar took a breath. It was time to tell them. “Twenty-five years ago, I rescued a baby from certain death and I took her to the Mheyu temple to be raised.”
“And this Mheyu is that child?” Khyros asked.
Tyomar nodded. “Yes, but that’s not the only thing. Up until recently, she was trained specifically and solely to be our contact. She’s studied centuries of information about us, about our clan, and about the dragorai in general. She knows things about our history that I’m sure we don’t even know.” He glanced at Nyro. “She talked about the Battle on Blood Sea when San caught you mid air after you killed an entire platoon. And when you, Zendyor, led six clans to victory on the border.”
Zendyor made a quiet noise in the back of his throat. “That was so long ago.”
He braced his elbows on the table as he looked at Khyros. “And she asked about Sorthel.”
The table became quiet again, although this time tense, as the brothers looked at Khyros
“What did she say?” Khyros asked.
“She asked if it was really true that a Goddess rode on his back once.”
A moment of silence filled the temple.
“Khyros,” Zendyor exclaimed in surprise.
Khyros simply shook his head.
“Do the Mheyu really have all that information from that long ago?” Sethorn asked.
“Yes.” Tyomar said. “And I’m sure they have the information that could explain about I’mya. They probably just don’t know it.”
“And it’s not really a priority for them to find out,” Sethorn reasoned. “They don’t focus on speculations, just the facts.”
Tyomar realized that Sethorn was probably the best person to piece together any information Oshali knew. Unfortunately, he was never going near her again while Tyomar was breathing.
“I still don’t see why you need to go with her to the South,” Nyro said.
“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 it 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 detect magic if someone had used incantations—it was never possible for 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 it 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 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.