18. Davon

Chapter 18

Davon

I ’d come up with a plan for our escape, but I needed to talk about it with Maggie. Everything hinged on her doing something the next time she danced.

And I needed to see her, to make sure she was alright. I kept picturing her lying in her room with her eyes wet with sorrow. Curling up on her side and shivering. She’d be as worried as me, and that was eating me alive.

So I did something foolish. I crept into Oolah’s room while she slept, and I took the key to Maggie’s room.

The stolen key felt cold and heavy in my hand, a symbol of my need to see my mate and the risk I was taking. As I crept away from Oolah’s room, the hallway remained silent, the only sound my heartbeat thrumming in my ears. I slipped the key into the lock, wincing at the faint click that seemed to echo through the entire palace.

Pushing the door open, I peered across the room, finding Maggie lying on the bed. She lay still, her breathing soft and even, and for a moment, I considered leaving her to rest. She danced hard, putting everything she had into each move in order to please the king. She didn’t need me waking her up when she rested.

But the urgency of our situation drove me forward. We had to talk, to plan, and I doubted we'd find a way to do it during the day.

I carefully closed the door and stepped forward.

“Maggie,” I whispered. “It's me, Davon.”

She bolted upright, her eyes wide, searching the dark. Relief washed over her face and before I could take another step, she slipped off the bed and rushed toward me. Her arms wrapped around me, clinging as she buried her face in my chest.

“I was scared,” she said, her voice muffled against my tunic. “I’m worried they're going to take you away from me.”

I rubbed her back, wishing I could give her the reassurance she needed, that I could still the tremors running through her small frame. “I'm here. Even if they send me away, I'll always find a way back to you.”

“I missed you. I need you, Davon.”

My own fears and longing surfaced, and I tightened my hold on her. “I missed you too. More than you can imagine.” Lifting her into my arms, I carried her back to the bed. I sat with my back against the wall, cradling her on my lap. This woman filled the empty spaces inside me. She made the rest of the world cease to exist.

“We need to talk about our escape.” I kept my voice low. “I have a plan, but it's risky, and I need your help. ”

She nodded, her eyes locked on mine.

We couldn't afford to wait any longer. The king's possessiveness was growing, and the restrictions placed on us would only tighten. We had to leave before it was too late.

“The king has special guests coming tomorrow night.” I kept my voice to the barest whisper, though the room was empty, and I hadn't seen anyone in the hall. If Oolah had heard me in her room, she would’ve called for guards. I’d be sitting in a cell already. “The king will be distracted, focused on whatever he plans to do with his visitors. That's when we're leaving.”

She sucked in a breath. “I'll dance?”

“You have to. He'll expect it, but after . . .” I brushed a lock of hair from her face. So soft. As fragile as my mate. But, no, she might be tiny, but she had the strength of ten Zuldruxian warriors. “Oolah will no doubt take you back to your room. Bathe and pack. I'll make sure there's an empty bag under your bed. I'll come for you once the king is busy with his guests. I've studied the palace walls, and I've found a gap.”

Her body tensed against mine. “We can fit through?”

Her, yes. Me? It would be tight, but I'd find a way.

“It's a risk, but it's our best chance. After we get beyond the palace wall, we'll make our way to the eastern side of the city like we talked about before.”

She turned on my lap to face me, her legs straddling my waist.

My cocks responded to her nearness. They always would, just like my heart and my soul did every moment of my day.

“And then?” she asked, an odd smile curling her lips up on one side.

“We head into the desert.” Confidence blazed in my voice, though I shook inside. I couldn't let her know how precarious this plan was. The king would come after his pet the instant he knew she was gone. I had to hope that we'd be far enough away and that I could get the sand gods to generate a sudden storm to hide us. “I know it's dangerous, but I can protect us.”

“I trust you, Davon. I'll do whatever it takes.”

“Then show him your best dancing. Lull him into thinking you’re happy here. Gush if you have to. Make him trust you have no interest in ever leaving.”

“I can do that. He won’t suspect a thing.”

Pride roared in my chest for this brave woman who'd been through so much yet remained unbroken. “It’ll be difficult, and we'll have to move quickly after I come for you. We won’t have much time. Once we're through the outer wall, we'll head south, like I told you.”

“Travel at night,” she whispered. “Rest during the day.” She wiggled in my lap.

My damn cocks stiffened further, the smaller one beginning to vibrate. I needed to suppress them for many reasons. This wasn't the time or the place for anything sexual. And I wasn't even sure she wanted to do something like that with me.

A kiss was one thing. Taking my cocks was another. I was enormous in every way. Much too large for this tiny woman's body.

“If something changes in this plan, I’ll find a way to let you know.” I started to ease her off my lap. I needed to get away from her before I did something foolish. Like kiss her again. Touch her plump breasts with their pert tips.

Suck on them and every other part of her I craved to taste.

“Don't go,” she said, clinging to my arms.

I could hold her.

I was male enough to do something like that. My body—my cocks—could deal with the situation while I ignored my driving need to be with her fully.

Wrapping my arms around her, I pictured what we'd need for our desert crossing. Anything to distract myself from how wonderful it felt to be with her like this.

I'd purchased plenty of dried food that would sustain us until we reached an oasis. Water was always a problem, but there were ways of finding it even in the harshest terrain. If only my mundrek was waiting, but I'd sent him back to my clan before I started following the tracks toward the city. If he was caught, they'd either eat him or harness him to their carriages.

“Would you kiss me, Davon?” Maggie asked, breaking through the list I was making in my mind. “I need you. Want you.”

“We can’t.” If we kissed, I wasn’t sure I could maintain control, and I’d want to die if I hurt her .

“You don’t want me that way?” she asked in an empty voice.

“I want you in every way possible, but this isn’t the time or the place.”

“Will there ever be a time or place for us? Once we’re on the run, we’ll have to remain hidden. Being together would mean letting down our guard, endangering us both.”

“I don’t dare do anything with you. Don’t you see? I’m big, Maggie. Much too large when compared to you.”

“It’s true that you’re big, but we don’t know how this will go if we don’t try.”

“What if I hurt you?”

“I’ll ask you to stop. Will you stop if I tell you it hurts?”

“Of course,” I huffed. “I’m not a beast.” Not completely.

Except the time when I went wild and roamed.

I scraped my fingers through my hair. “What if I lose control of myself like I did after my parents died?”

“You were lost in grief. That’s different. Are you saying that you want me so much that even if I ask you to stop, you’ll be so lost in the moment, you’ll ignore my request?”

“Never,” I vowed. “I don’t want to hurt you in any way, yet it seems as if that’s all that can happen between us.”

“You’re worried about crossing the desert.”

Not too much. Never alone. But with my precious mate . . . Once we fled, we had to remain hidden and race to find my clan. If they caught us, they’d kill me and take her back to the king. She’d dance for him until she couldn’t find the will to do so any longer, and then he’d throw her away.

“I trust you in all things, Davon,” she said simply. “I know you’ll protect me in the desert. You’ll make sure I’m comfortable, that I have food and enough to drink. That I’m safe. And that they don’t catch us. Like in the desert, I trust you with my body. I think it’ll feel amazing. I’m not worried one bit.”

“I don’t deserve you.” And that was the final truth, the one thing that continued to haunt me.

“Yet you have me if you want me. I love you Davon. If we can’t be together in that way, it’s okay. There are plenty of other ways we can give each other pleasure.”

“Mate,” I groaned, unable to say anything else.

“Mate,” she said simply. “Show me all a Zuldruxian male has to offer the woman he . . .”

Why had I not told her a thousand times already? “I love you, Maggie. You’re my everything.”

She stroked my face. “Then show me.”

I lifted her and gently laid her on the bed. Looming over her, I took in her beauty in the moonlight. This female . . . I may not deserve her.

But I did love her.