27. Ayden

Chapter twenty-seven

Ayden

O ne night.

I had hoped to sleep in a real bed for just one night before tromping back into the woods and having to feel stones and branches clawing through my bedroll. Alas, war cares little for the comfort of men.

Our operation covered the whole of the Melucian mountains, which stretched two hundred miles from sea to sea. Two dozen Rangers had been assigned squares on a grid, each measuring ten miles by two. In an effort to lighten the mood before sending our men into harm's way, I noted how that technically made them rectangles, a shape which directly contradicted standard protocols. Lieutenant Kolgan, the Captain's hand-picked leader of our adventure, failed to see the humor in my jest .

Kolgan had the personality of a wet dishrag and the complexion to match.

Thanks to our Kingdom friends tromping about our side of the border, it was impossible to set up camps in the way our teams did on mountain runs. Four or more Rangers would camp together, heading out each morning to cover our assigned area, then returning to base with the setting sun. There was a sense of camaraderie and companionship, a bond Rangers shared when we lived together in the forest's embrace.

Unfortunately, with scouts bearing down on us from every direction, fellowship gave way to practicality and disguise. Each of us camped on our own, and would continue to do so indefinitely. We were to patrol and report, using a prearranged system of relay points, keeping command informed of enemy movements.

As Kolgan's right hand, and one of the few Rangers who could read and write, I was assigned the zone closest to Grove's Pass. My daily task was to patrol my area and retrieve any relayed reports from a drop point at the edge of my zone, then deliver them to command at headquarters.

We had to hope reports weren't outdated—and still held some measure of factual basis— by the time they were relayed through however many mouths and ears before making it to my pen and parchment.

Those were our orders.

Yay, orders .

So, there I lay, alone in the woods at the center of my non-square search zone, staring up at stars that refused to be seen.

Winter had yet to sink her teeth into the land, but she was nipping at the edges. The night was crisp and cold, and each breath brought a puff of thickness to the air before me.

Somewhere in the night, the howl of a lonely wolf echoed off one mountain onto the next. The way sound carried in the range, the pup could've been standing right behind me or many miles away.

"I feel you, wolf," I muttered as I pulled my thick, woolen blanket over my head.

I dreamed first of a warm fire and a hot meal, ale and a loaf of fresh bread.

As sleeping minds often do, mine leaped to Atikus and his bushy brows, talking of roasted potatoes and other nonsense that made us laugh. Keelan was there, as was Sil. I wasn't sure where we were, some room in a building I'd never seen.

Dreams were funny things.

"Ayden?"

My dream shifted.

Declan stood before me. He wore a white linen shirt and light trousers that barely covered his ankles. His hair blew in the wind, and his eyes made emeralds look dull. In my mind, I longed to see him, to hear his voice, to —

"Ayden? Can you hear me?"

If one could blink in a dream, I did so.

Confusion swept through me, and my mind struggled to wake and clear.

But sleep held me in her grasp.

"Ayden. I'm here."

Declan's mouth moved with his words. His eyes bore into me, as though he spoke to me. With my dreaming hand, I reached out.

His smile widened impossibly. "Spirits, I've missed you."

"Dec?" I heard myself say in that disembodied voice of a dreamer. "Are you . . . here?"

He stepped toward me, reached out his hand and stroked my cheek.

"I've thought about you every day," he said.

We'd spent so long with Declan despising me, avoiding my gaze or any conversation, that I was almost startled by this new, open Declan. Sincerity and longing flowed from his eyes.

"How is this possible? Where are you?" I had a hundred questions, but those were the two that tumbled out.

Declan's only response was to lean forward and press his lips into mine.

The world began to spin, and every part of my skin tingled, as though a million tiny bugs nibbled all at once. I shivered .

"Are you okay?" he asked, our lips a breath apart.

I pulled back a little and nodded. "Yeah, this just feels strange."

"I know." He smiled. "But I had to see you, to be with you."

Declan kissed me again, and both his hands flew to grip my head. I surrendered to his touch, feeling whole and not alone for the first time since entering the woods. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him close, our bodies firm against each other.

He groaned, his excitement already throbbing against mine.

"Spirits, I want you so bad," he said.

He sat me up and grabbed the bottom of my shirt, lifting it over my head and outstretched arms. His eyes drank in my body, fingers tracing the lines of my chest, teasing the forest of brassy hair that grew wild and free.

"I love your body," Declan murmured, running his forefinger between the muscles of my torso.

Without warning, his hand dove beneath my trousers and gripped me.

"Oh, shit." I arched back.

He kissed my neck, then bit it, marking me as his, as he stroked me.

I began to leak.

"Dec—"

His mouth smothered whatever I was going to say .

"I want you inside me tonight," he said.

We had only been intimate once, and we hadn't come close to that . I wondered how long it would take him to grow confident enough to give himself to me—or me to offer myself.

My pulse raced.

"I want you, Dec," I replied as his hands drifted to unfasten my trousers. I wriggled my hips, and he slid them off me and tossed them aside.

I lay there naked, his eyes roaming every part of me, his fingertips grazing my skin, teasing and testing. I felt no chill. The winter air found no purchase. All I felt was the heat of Declan's touch and his desire.

"You're wearing too many clothes," I told him.

One finger found my lips. "Too much talk. You belong to me tonight."

I shivered at the tone of possession.

He leaned down and licked my nipple, sending a new thrill radiating through my chest. Then he moved lower, kissing a trail down my stomach, hovering above my oozing erection. His eyes flew up to meet mine, and hunger burned in his gaze.

I thought my heart might beat out of my chest at that glance.

Then Declan's mouth was on me, and I was inside him, deep within his throat.

He wasn't gentle, gripping my base and forcing the rest of me down to draw my shaft ever tauter. I gripped the bedroll, unable to think, only able to feel as he devoured me over and over.

"Oh, fuck. Are you sure you've never done that before?"

His grip tightened on my balls in reply, and I moaned.

With his other hand, Declan gripped my arm, squeezing and caressing, then grabbed my chest and kneaded as hard as his grip below was firm.

For the first time that night, the stars appeared. They might not have been in the sky, but they filled my vision.

"Dec! Damn . . . you're going to make me—"

He raised his head suddenly, cutting off the sensations as though slamming a door shut.

"Oh, no, you don't," he said. His voice left no room for argument.

He sat on his knees and tore off his cloak, then his shirt, baring his beautiful pale body before me. I reached up to touch him, but he slapped my hand away and quirked a brow.

"You, lay there."

Declan in charge was hotter than his tongue licking my head.

"Yes, sir."

He smirked. "Better."

He unlaced his boots and tossed them aside, then slipped out of his trousers .

The beauty of the man before me stole my breath. As badly as I wanted him pressed against me, my eyes wanted him to never move from that spot. I couldn't see him enough. I wanted to search every curve and ripple until they were seared in my mind, until I could conjure every detail without a thought.

Declan kneeled again, then spread his body over mine, pressing his weight against me.

His warmth, the feel of his strength, everything about him, drove my senses mad.

I wrapped my arms around him and clung to him as though he might vanish at any moment. He kissed me again . . . and again. He kissed me so long I wondered if the sun might rise before our lips parted. He kissed me with more passion and tenderness than I had ever known from another, and I knew, in those moments, that we would forever be one.

It seemed silly, looking back. We had only given in to our attraction days before.

Still, I knew.

And so did he.

Just when I thought he might roll over and let our desire rest, his fingers began teasing my sides, moving slowly toward my hips. I felt him twitch against me, stiffening once more, and our kisses swelled beyond mere gentleness.

Then he rose to his knees and straddled my waist, positioning his body directly above my growing erection. He rocked back and forth, stroking me with his cheeks, teasing me, taunting me into craving him. I leaked so badly, precum smeared across his backside. He reached back and coated himself with my slickness.

My body responded.

A raging need burned within as I watched him wriggle and writhe.

He arched his back, hands braced on the ground behind him, and I gasped at the way the skin tightened across his body. I ran my hand over his abs.

He groaned.

His weight lifted, and my eyes fixed on his face.

Declan stared down, his jaw set, his eyes alight with a fire I'd never seen in him before.

Then his weight began to lower, and I felt the tip of me slip inside him.

The stars flared brighter than ever.

He lifted again, and I slipped out but remained wedged between his flesh until . . . he pressed down again, this time further, willing me deeper. He strained to relax, the pain creasing his face.

"Fuck, that hurts," he said.

"Are you—"

"Shut up," he snapped, shoving his weight down, silencing any protest I could ever offer.

"Ah! Damn it. Fuck. "

Declan raised up, breathing heavily, relief flickering in his eyes.

With a quick breath, he pressed himself down, and in one quick motion, shoved the whole length of me inside him.

My body jerked.

He tensed.

That made my cock throb and pulse.

He rose and fell again.

"Oh, shit, Dec."

No longer looking as if he feared pain, he braced himself and found a rhythm. His movements were sure and quick, his grip even more so.

The heat of a thousand suns flared through me as the man I loved gave himself to me, drove me deep inside him, begged me with his body to bury myself within.

Pleasure swelled.

My chest heaved.

Control found its edge and threatened to topple.

"Dec, I'm so close," I hissed.

Sweat coated his body, driving my mind mad with desire. Moonlight glinted off his skin. I wanted to lick every inch of him, feel every part of him.

He drove himself harder, tightening around me still, as he gripped himself and stroked. His head fell back. His chest arched. His body clenched.

"Dec!"

I cried out, as every sensation I'd ever known burned through me.

"Ayden!" he cried so loudly I was sure the lone wolf had heard.

Then his grip clamped hard, and delicious heat spilled across my chest.

Declan's eyes were closed as he rocked harder and harder, stroked faster, willing every ounce of himself out and onto my skin.

"Dec, I'm coming!"

I gripped his hips, unable to hold back the swell, and poured myself into his body.

His eyes flew open, and he leaned down, driving his lips into mine as he ground himself up and down, drawing wave after wave of me into him.

Then his kisses softened, and his hands found my hair. His gaze met mine, and I saw a thousand years in his eyes. Lifetime upon lifetime of loving this man. He smiled, his sweaty, messy hair falling about his face, and my eyes closed as sleep wrapped her cloak about me.

A few hours later, the sun's rays streamed through the barren treetops.

I squinted up, grousing at the early hour.

Then I turned my head, expecting to see unruly blond curls spread across the pillow beside me.

Declan was nowhere .

I pushed my blanket back and felt a crusting across my chest.

Wow. That was some dream , I thought, grinning at the remnants of memories I knew would likely fade, as dreams often did.

I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply, and a vision of Declan smiled inside my mind.