FANE
Theo and I talked late into the evening until my worry for Sakala grew too much to ignore. Rather than stop, he’d sent Bastian out to check on her, and he reported that he’d escorted her to my room for the night.
Well, that was one question answered. Only a hundred more to go.
As our talks wrapped up and Theo hid a yawn, I grew nervous imagining Sakala in my rooms. Was she annoyed we didn’t explicitly include her in our discussions, or was she happy to have some free time to wander and explore? Either way, she was sure to let me know her opinion. I inwardly grinned. Sakala hiding how she felt wasn’t something I would ever have to worry about.
Unless it was about me or our relationship.
Theo himself walked me to the small room upstairs, stopping in front of a heavy wooden door. “I’m next door. Try not to keep me up, eh?” He elbowed me with a grin, but I didn’t understand the joke.
He rolled his eyes. “You know. With her.”
I slowly connected the dots and flushed. Indignation on her behalf rose within me. “We are not mates,” I sputtered.
Theo chuckled. “Yeah, I hear you, mate. That’s the easiest way to do it. You marry them and the fun’s over!”
Irritation rose in me, and I quickly opened the door and shut it in his face. My eyes struggled to adjust to the darkness after the brightly lit corridor. “Sakala? Are you in here? I can find another room if it makes you more comfortable, or even sleep on the floor. The rugs here are thick and much more comfortable than the woods.”
I would ensure Sakala wasn’t uncomfortable. The gods knew I was after whatever lewd accusations Theo had been trying to make. Slowly, my night vision returned, only to reveal a tidy bed with no one in it.
“Sakala?”
A small whimper reached my ears, shooting adrenaline through my body and putting me on immediate alert.
“Fuck,” I panted to no one, trying to focus on the here and now. There, on the opposite side of the room, a large window overtook half the wall with a ledge wide enough to lie on. Sakala was curled into a tiny ball on it, twitching and trembling in her sleep. I raced to her side, then hesitated, not wanting to frighten her more than she already was. This close, the scent of her fear burned my nostrils and put acid in my belly.
Without warning, her body rolled toward me, off the ledge. I instinctively caught her, and she went still, her eyes shooting open. I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Sakala, are you alright? You seemed upset in your sleep.”
That was putting it mildly, but I knew she’d shut down if I revealed just how distressed she’d really been.
She blinked a few times, clutching at me tightly as she panted, her breaths slowing as her gaze finally focused on me.
“I … Sorry,” she mumbled, her face blushing dark blue.
“A bad dream?” I offered.
“Yeah.” She sat back, swinging her feet to the floor. I sat next to her, ready to pull away if she wanted. My inner draken was doing cartwheels of happiness as she kept a firm hold on my arm.
“It was a nightmare, I guess. I was supposed to be flying, but I just kept falling. My wings wouldn’t work, and the demons below were waiting for me.” She cut herself off, her voice breaking.
“That is understandable,” I said calmly, running my fingers in a soothing circle on her back. “You currently cannot fly, and the danger here is real. Is it so odd your dreams would reflect that?”
She shook her head vehemently. “You don’t understand. While you were with the king, I went walking. There was this girl, and she fell, and I did nothing to save her. I was too scared!”
Alarm shot through me. “Is she—”
“She’s fine. Bastian was there. That’s not the point, though!” Sakala cried out, shaking my arm. “I’m a draken, and I didn’t go after a little girl who fell! I’m a draken who’s afraid of heights! I am a disgrace to my parents and my people!”
She collapsed against me, sobbing, her claws digging painfully into my thighs. I let her, holding her tightly against me.
“You are not a disgrace,” I bit back just as vehemently, forcing her chin up to see how serious I was. “You are a draken with instincts: instincts that are trying their hardest to keep you alive until we get the clamps off, which we will.”
I cursed my father and everyone involved. These stupid clamps had done more to hurt Sakala than any physical injury she’d suffered during the Draken Games. I vowed to outlaw the practice completely when I was king, and have every pair destroyed.
“Sakala, it is all right. I am sorry they—”
She pressed her lips desperately to mine, and my brain promptly shut off. My inner draken roared to the surface as my body took over, kissing her back and pushing her body harder into mine. I shifted into my human form to protect my wings as she pushed me on my back and straddled my hips.
This human form was full of wonderful surprises.
She bit down on my lip and pulled, the painful stretch a powerful aphrodisiac. Her fangs scraped against my mouth, which she quickly moved against my ear. “Mate me,” she begged breathlessly. “I don’t want to be alone anymore.”
Euphoria coursed through my veins, my draken instincts screaming at me to bite and fuck her right here, right now.
I fought to keep my own mind through the haze of achieving everything I ever wanted: Sakala under (or over) me, begging to finally become mine.
But this wasn’t truly Sakala, was it? My Sakala was a fierce warrior. This Sakala was vulnerable and afraid; she was wounded and thinking she was helpless.
I was no prince if I took advantage of that; hell, I was no friend or honorable male, for that matter. I wouldn’t be a draken for such a cowardly, lowly move.
“Sakala,” I said gently, my hand pushing slightly on her chest, “you do not mean this. You are upset after your dream.”
She drew back as if I’d slapped her, tumbling off the ledge and backing into a corner of the room like a frightened animal. “See? Even you don’t want me.” She drew her knees up to her chest and rested her head on her arms. Thick tears coursed down her cheeks silently.
Inwardly, I was horrified. “Sakala, no! That is not it.” I ran a hand through my hair, frustrated. I crouched down next to her, putting one hand on her knee. “You know I want you more than wind beneath my wings. But not like this. Not when you’re desperate and afraid. Because if tomorrow morning you wake up with regret in your eyes, I would tie my wings together and pitch myself off the wall.”
Her purple eyes widened in shock as they met mine, clarity finally returning to her.
“You wouldn’t,” she mumbled, a bit of her normal stubbornness returning.
“I would,” I vowed, squeezing the top of her knee again. “You are too important to me to mate in the dark of night, in a foreign land, with stone and wood entrapping us like a cage.”
Her head tilted to the side. “And how would you mate me?” she asked quietly.
My body stiffened as her scent shifted to something headier with a hint of spice and lust. This female would be the death of me. I swallowed.
“I would mate you under the stars or perhaps at one of the waterfalls. I could take you over a rock, once in draken form, and perhaps once in your human form, so I can have you on your back and you can gaze at the heavens as I pound into you.”
Her eyes widened.
“But of course,” I continued, “that would only be after I’d worshiped every inch of you, and made you come apart on my tongue and fingers at least twice. I would have you give yourself entirely to me, and I would give myself to you. Perhaps you would even fight me at first, just like old times. But we both would know you didn’t mean it. You would rule as queen at my side, just as fierce and cunning as any war general. Our children would grow to be strong leaders and rulers in their own right, if you even wish to have any. If you don’t, one of my younger brothers can rule after us. I have enough to spare.”
I shut my mouth at that, embarrassed I’d rambled for so long. Sakala simply stared at me, her lips parted in shock.
Great, if I hadn’t scared her off before, this would certainly do it.
“You … don’t want me to have children?” she asked, disbelief rising in her voice.
I shook my head vehemently. “I don’t care what you do as long as you are happy. That is my goal, whether or not it is with me.”
Big, fat tears fell from her eyes again.
Now you’ve done it, you great idiot.
Just as I resolved to back up and give her space, she shot herself at me, hitting me in the chest and knocking me over onto my back again. It was all well and good I’d shifted to my human form, then.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she cried, alternating between her words and kisses as they rained down upon my face and lips. I laughed despite myself, because it was ridiculous, wasn’t it?
“What a poor excuse for males we must be if you thank us for giving you autonomy, the one thing that is already yours by birthright.”
Sakala laughed, and the sound was like the first rays of the sun on my face in the morning, spreading warmth and hope from my chest to my fingertips and toes.
“Kiss me. Touch me,” she begged.
I rolled and picked her up, carrying her to the edge of the bed. “I am not mating you,” I cautioned her, the irony of our role reversal not lost on me for a second.
“Not now,” she agreed firmly, a wicked gleam in her eyes. “Later. When we’re back on Lyoness, under the stars, and my wings are unbound.”
My heart skipped a beat just imagining it.
“Yes. If you still want to,” I whispered. My body stiffened as the tang of her lust spiked, flaring my nostrils. “Now, be a good girl and turn over. On your hands and knees.”
She gave me a withering look, still the same defiant and stubborn Sakala I knew and loved.
Because it was obvious now. I loved her.
And incredibly, she obeyed, going on all fours in front of me without a single word of protest. I shifted back into my draken form and ripped her dress off with my claws. She growled in annoyance, but didn’t move from her position.
“Are you going to mount me like you’ve always wished?” she purred seductively at me. I froze, a bolt of lust so strong hitting me it took a moment for me to breathe again. Now that she’d put the image in my head, I couldn’t get it out. Her bloodmagick tattoos sparkled under the moonlight.
“Not gonna mate,” I hoarsely reminded her.
In response, she wiggled her ass in the air at me. The scent of her core hit me, and I had to physically take a step back and away from the bed.
“Sakala,” I growled, wondering why she was tempting me so badly. Then a new thought occurred to me. I raised my hand and brought it down hard on her ass cheek.
SMACK.
She gasped, but the scent of her arousal only increased.
“You like it when I put you in your place, don’t you?” I asked, all of it making sense to me.
“You can try,” she gasped back, and I smacked her ass again. “Please!” she cried out.
“Please what?” I growled.
“I—I don’t know,” she admitted, whining a bit.
I paused. I needed to be careful. This thing between us was still relatively new, even if we’d been unconsciously feeding it ever since we were children. One wrong move would lead to a lifetime of regret and bitterness. Sakala was vulnerable. That meant I had to be the one to take care of both of us, for the time being.
I rubbed her buttocks gently, and she relaxed down onto her knees and elbows. As we rested together in the moment, Tammen’s words came back to me: something about how sensitive and pleasurable it could be to stroke a female’s wings. “Sakala,” I asked gently, “can I touch your wings?”
She went still, then nodded.
Carefully, so I avoided the awful clamps, I ran my finger down the edges of one wing. She shivered and closed her eyes, shaking against me.
I grinned wolfishly, not needing to ask her if it felt good or not. It was an erogenous zone on our bodies, and Tammen had confessed it was something that drove females mad.
Well, not mad, but it clearly made Sakala feel good.
My fingers drifted slowly over the soft, velvety skin of her wing tips, and by the twitching and gasping underneath me, I wasn’t so sure this was the best idea. Rather than calming her, it was getting her even more riled up.
“Fane … please.”
I’d dreamed for years of hearing her submission and desperation, but to hear her say my name like that would make me do things we’d both regret in the morning. I drew my hand back, letting it fall to the covers.
Sakala growled, swiping her claws at me.
The familiar urge to force her to submit rose within me, but I tamped it down. A little. I grabbed her wrists and pinned them over her head, leaning down until we were nose to nose.
“That wasn’t very nice,” I chastised. Her purple eyes shone at me with desperation and need.
I captured her mouth with mine, letting my body sink down against hers until my hips were flush with hers, holding her down. She moaned and opened for me, her lips parting eagerly and her legs trying to spread wide. My instincts roared inside of me, not understanding why we didn’t take what she so desperately wanted to give. Bite her and mate her, already!
I kissed her slowly to prove to myself (and her) I was in control, slowly gyrating my hips against hers so we could feel every inch of each other. She gasped into my mouth as my tongue thrust against hers, my grip on her wrists hard and unyielding. I was ready for her to fight and wriggle as she usually did, to use her claws and fangs to nip at me, or otherwise force another one of our famous tumbles.
To my utter shock, her body went limp under mine. Her submission was complete as she whined into my mouth, the fight going out of her as she unconsciously pulled her head to the side and bared her neck to me.
Bite her. Do it now.
My hands shook as I pushed myself off her, my hormones a vicious cocktail of lust, dominance, and confusion as they pumped torturously through my veins.
“You have had a long day,” I managed shakily, rolling off the bed and standing slowly. “I will sit here for a bit and guard the room. Get some sleep.”
She stared at me for a long while, silent as her eyes glowed in the darkness. Then with a huff, she turned on her side and away from me, presenting me with her wings and plump rear.
Well, that was fine. At least I could enjoy the view with no guilt.
I settled into a wooden chair by the door, ears pricked for any sign the vast demon horde just outside our window was on the move.