25

AIDA

Valeena excuses herself, gets up from the table, and goes down the hall. A moment later, a door shuts.

"Give her a minute. She might have been a bit out of pocket, but some strange stuff has been happening with some of the clans. There was the possibility you were a real threat. But you are," he emphasizes, "welcome here, and I hope you'll stay."

"As long as no one else tries to shoot me." I glance at Byron, but he doesn't look as charitable.

"She needs to rest." He rises suddenly, pulling me up with him.

"Of course. Let's talk later."

Byron grunts and turns toward the door.

We pass Samiah, still sandwiched between her mates, and she smiles and waves, mouthing that she'll see me later. She follows with a dramatic eye roll at the whole scene.

I smile back before being hauled out the door and down the steps.

Byron's stride is determined as he marches across the empty square and leads me to a cabin set in the back, away from the others, partially hidden by trees and modest compared to the rest.

I jump when, instead of reaching for the door handle, he launches his foot at the door, knocking it off its hinges.

It crashes back on a lopsided lean, and he all but drags me in, spinning me to face the adjacent wall before pressing his nose into my neck.

"Mmm," the hum is part growl. He inhales, tickling me with the rush of air, and then starts to suck his way down my pulse, drawing so hard my skin burns.

I hiss and sigh, holding him close as he marks me. "Wolf?"

I know by now that his wolf gets a little proprietorial during high-stress situations, but Byron shakes his head.

"You probably didn't realize it, but your heart was racing and breathing labored. You were shaking. Not good for you. Not good for the cubs."

He sucks off of my neck and lowers to his knees, peeling down the workout leggings I'm wearing along the way.

He lifts each foot, releasing them from the fabric, which gets tossed behind him without a care for where they land. A sharp tug separates my panties from my body. Then he hitches my leg up and over his shoulder, his mouth meeting my pussy without preamble.

I gasp, my head falling back. My hands find the soft curls of his fade, and I twist my fingers in, worried I'm hurting him but needing the grounding because this man is devouring me.

He hums as he curls his tongue through my folds, lapping and sucking on the sensitive flesh. He glances over my clit, never lingering long, but just enough to heighten my pleasure so that everything else feels ten times as good.

I relax into the feel of him. He angles his head, fucking his tongue inside of me, and my mind blanks, stars bursting behind my closed lids as I come all over his face.

And he doesn't stop.

His tongue winds into my clenching core, triggering a second wave of release that has me crying out, my body going limp against the wall.

My eyes peel open just as Byron's rising, his full bottom lips pulled between his teeth as he sucks my slick off.

"You realize that the symptoms of an orgasm very much mimic all the symptoms you previously described?"

"Different cause, and it's good for the cubs."

I snort. "What is that, some old wolves' tale?"

His beautiful lips quirk, and he hikes my leg around his hip before reaching between us to free the hard length of his erection. Guiding himself to my core, he eases forward and slowly fills me to a tingling ache.

"Ah." He groans as he seats himself fully and starts to rock his hips, dragging his heavy length to the tip before plunging back deep. The remnants of my orgasms flare back to life, building quickly into a blaze that threatens to consume me as our bodies crash against the wall.

My breathy moans harmonize with his deep groans, and at the moment when I'm sure I'm going to burst into flames, pleasure cascades like a rain shower, cooling the blaze but leaving me flooded with a warm tingle that flutters from where Byron is wedged deep, coating me with his release.

***

"If I have to leave the clan, I will."

I sit up from where I'm resting my head on Byron's chest, which is impossibly hard but also so comfortable. "Don't do that."

We moved to the bed after christening the front room wall, and I was pleasantly surprised to find a luxurious, king-size situation with equally lavish bedding.

Lying in it is like a five-star hotel experience in the middle of the forest.

Byron meets my gaze, the blue dazzling bright, and I know his wolf is running things now. "You shouldn't have had to go through that. There will probably be more challenges to your place here, and I won't be able to sit by while people question our matehood. That shit that just went down in Chief's cabin was all I can do. I'm going to rip out the next motherfucker's throat. There's no way around that. Besides," his mouth turns down, "I love my clan, but I don't have any connections here like before. After Qamrah died—"

"That was her name?" Byron has mentioned his first wife but never by name.

His smile is wistful. "Yeah. I don't want to talk about her now, but someday I will. She wasn't you, and you're not her, and that's perfect. However, I'm focused on you right now. I won't have you spend who knows how long answering questions about Delon you might never have the answers to. That's unfair, and I'm not putting the woman I love through that."

I palm his jaw, scraping lightly through the thick hair of his beard. "Thank you. I almost forgot what this was like."

His gaze is gentle. "Being defended?"

"No. Being cherished."

He rolls us over, settling between my thighs, and presses a deep kiss to my lips.

He's hard again, but he makes no move to enter me. Instead, he nestled the hot bar of his length along my pussy and eases some of his weight onto me. "I'm glad you know that's how it's going to be because nothing can happen that will make me turn my back on you."

I arch a brow. "Really? Not even me being an assassin?"

He snorts. "Well, shit. That's all the more reason for me to keep my eyes on you. But you might not want to joke too loudly about that."

I cackle, wrapping my arms around his neck. "I know, right? Valeena might bust down the door and pull a gun out of her hair to shoot me."

"I have no idea where she's pulling those things from," he chuckles but sobers quickly, a mask of concern slipping over the mirth. "I'm not going to stay. I can cut ties here and with Kofi's clan, and you, me, and Zora can make a home wherever you two want."

"Or, we can get the answers your clan needs."

I've been thinking about this since my connection to Valeena and Delon's connection to the clan became clear.

"What do you mean?"

I twist my mouth, hesitant to voice my thoughts because I already know what Byron will say. "I think we should go see Delon."

As expected, Byron's face screws, and he kisses his teeth so hard I'm surprised he doesn't choke on them. "Man, hell no."

I chuckle, but my lips turn down as I plant a hand on his chest. "Just let me explain. Dealing with Delon was such a shit show— such a shit show," I blink and shake away the sensation that crawls across my neck before focusing on Byron again. "I went into survival mode, avoiding all the fallout from what happened and burying my head in the sand. It was so hard dealing with Zora and what it did to her and the guilt that I just wanted to erase the mistake of Delon from my life, but I realize now that he wasn't a mistake if he purposefully sought me out. We can guess why, but I think the best way to get answers is to ask him."

"You think I'm letting you anywhere near him?" The question is spoken softly, and the ferocity beneath is just as unassuming.

"Well, I'd like to think our relationship isn't going to include the dynamic of you letting me do anything."

He deflates, huffing out a breath and lowering his head to press a thumb and finger into his eyes. "I'm sorry, baby, but I don't like this. I don't like the idea of him having access to you. You're asking for a level of self-control he doesn't deserve from me. Back in the day, a shifter could issue a particular challenge for slights to one's mate. The parties would be confined to a cave, the entrance sealed, and a day later, whoever survived survived. You'd present the head of the loser. I'm there with fucking Delon right now."

"I get it, Byron," I pause. "Well, not the present the head part, but I also want to do this for me. He ruined my life, and he took something from me, from me and Zora. I just," I swallow, unsure of how to make what I'm trying to say clear.

"Hey, stop explaining. You shouldn't have to. I don't like it, but if this is what you want, I'll talk to Chief tomorrow, and we can roll out in the afternoon."

My smile reflects the light he's bringing to my life, and I pull him down for a slow, languid kiss.

"Thank you," I murmur once we part.

He shifts, and I'm made aware of him still snuggled against me, seemingly harder than before. "I probably don't need to tell you this, but this plan is not going over well with the wolf."

Reaching between us, I grip his shaft, stroking firmly from the base to the top, twisting the taut skin and making him hiss.

"If it will make him feel better, he can mark me all night, and I won't shower in the morning so Delon can choke on it."

The look in Byron's eyes goes savage, and when he grins, it's marked by the points of his fangs.

He eases his hips back, letting me guide him to my core. And when he thrusts deep, making me gasp and clutch his back, his wolf's satisfaction is reflected in the depths of his eyes.

***

"Everything good?"

Byron jogs down the steps of Godwin and Valeena's cabin and comes straight to where he left me sitting on one of the communal benches in the village square.

It's a charming community.

The cabins lining the narrow valley show the little quirks and preferences of the families living there. The outside of one cabin is nearly covered with flowers, the blooms starting to wilt with the change of the season. Another cabin's windows are adorned with the regalia of a national sports team, highlighting how integrated they are into humanity.

Shifters, they're just like us.

Byrons says that when winter rolls around, the families migrate back to continue the tradition of harshing it through the winter, a practice meant to counter the very assimilation I've noted.

While waiting for Byron, I glanced around this refuge and could see myself here. I can see Zora having snowball fights with rowdy cubs.

Which is why the tension I've been holding evaporates when he nods. "I talked to Chief. I told him we'd stay with the clan if he could assure us there wouldn't be any grief with members. He's given me his word, so we're good. Let's go."

He takes my hand and lifts me from the bench before bending to pick up the bags we brought.

I offered to carry something, but he just shot me one of those looks that means "hell no."

We walk through the square hand in hand, and I can tell by the angle of Byron's chin—lifted and determined—that he's ready for this to be the last time he walks this valley despite what Godwin said.

"Wait!"

We turn as one at the shout.

Valeena approaches us with determined strides. Beyond her, on the steps of their cabin, Godwin stands holding one of their daughters. The other two kids are shifted and climbing his legs.

Byron sighs when he sees his chief, moving to stand in front of me, which prompts Valeena to raise her hands.

"Not armed."

"Chief, not having a gun in your hand does not make you unarmed."

Widening her eyes in mock affront, Valeena gestures to her mid-length jersey dress. It's form-fitting, showing the slight swell of her belly and outlining her form. "Oh, come on! You'd be able to see if I had a gun on me."

When Byron continues to stare impassively at her, she relents with a chuckle. "Okay, fine. Fair enough. But really, I came to apologize." Facing me, she offers a repentant smile. "I have a lot of baggage. You were right. After that summer, my life became something I could never have imagined, and it changed me in many ways I'm still unpacking. But," she tilts her head, "I have a feeling you can relate."

"I can." Recognizing this as the olive branch it is, I step around Byron, feeling him tense as I put distance between us and approach Valeena.

When we hug, she exhales, leaning into it as she squeezes around my back. "I'd like it very much if you came back."

"We will," I assure her before easing away.

"When you do," she hedges, chewing on her lip, "maybe I can tell you what it was like. How I became the kind of woman who can hide a gun in her hair."

I look up to the cloud of curls haloing her head. "So that is where it is."

She shrugs. "Blade but just as deadly."

I can't tell if she's joking, but I manage a weak chuckle anyway. I can feel Byron humming with nerves, so I step away, walking backward until I'm at his side again.

When I take his hand, Valeena smiles, looking between us. "I'd reaffirm my love for you by offering to off Delon, but I imagine your background, Byron, probably makes you more qualified to kill someone in state custody."

"Okay, Chief, bye. Love you back, and we'll see you later." Byron turns and nearly drags me away toward the narrow path that leads out of the valley.