Chapter 33

Thirty-Three

Rhoswyn

I ’m quaking under the force of Lore’s thrusts. Pinpricks of pain bloom at my throat, across my hips, against my palms and breasts where the bark of the tree is digging into them.

All of that pales in comparison to the sheer magnitude of the pleasure he’s delivering with every single punishing thrust. His ferocity is untamed and brutal. I’ve always sensed that he was capable of this, but he’s always been so careful, so restrained.

There’s none of that now.

It scares me as much as it thrills me. I could use my safe word, and some deep corner of my mind considers it for a second before disregarding the idea. I want this. I want more. I want to come.

Honey and heat fizz in my blood, twisting until I’m stretched taut with need and tears leak from my eyes.

The only thing I can do is soften and give in as he blinks us again. I’m on my elbows and knees in the crackling leaves beside the fire before I can do more than cry out. The flames bathe my body, adding to the sweat already coating my skin. Like this, my G-spot is under assault with every forward stroke, making me dizzy. My breasts swing beneath me with every thrust, and I reach up to stop them.

Lore’s hands are faster. He grabs both of my wrists, trapping them over my head and grinding my body deeper into the soft leafy carpet, biting down on my shoulder until I scream. Snarls and curses reverberate around us as my other males watch the savage show Lore is putting on for them. I catch the tail end of a growl and an eruption of sandy fur out of the corner of my eye before a blur of black tackles Jaro’s wolf away from us.

“Mine,” Lore snaps at someone on our left, and I follow his gaze with blurry eyes until my vision is eclipsed by the colour turquoise.

Unlike the others, Caed is frozen in place. His eyes are dark with heat as they watch my body yield to the redcap’s on the leaf-strewn ground. His attention on me makes the whole experience hotter, and I hold his gaze as the pressure begins to build low in my abdomen. My clit pulses in time with my heartbeat, aching and begging for a touch, a lick, anything to match the deep buzzing that’s consuming me from the inside out.

“Lore,” I moan, and his next thrust stutters.

A tongue darts out to lick the wounds he just made, and his free hand places his cap over my head, where it transforms into a stiff leather circlet, tightening possessively over my hair.

“You’re taking me so well, pet,” he praises. “Now, show them how you scream when you come all over me.”

I fracture. My soul flies apart as my eyes fall closed, and I see stars. Lore doesn’t stop, dragging out my orgasm until the rapture builds and crashes all over again. And again.

And I do scream. I can’t help it.

By the time he jerks, coming to a stop inside of me with his cock still wringing buzzing waves of bliss from my pussy, I’m a floppy mess with a tear-stained face. I barely notice the heat of his cum as it coats my insides, or the murmured word that cuts off the enchantment in his pearls as he drags me into his arms.

“Such a good pet,” he murmurs into my hair, taking his cap and running it over my skin.

I shiver at the sensation of being kissed everywhere it touches, tiny butterfly remnants of desire fluttering in response. Lore misinterprets my reaction, replacing his cap onto my head, where it turns into a poncho, warming me.

“I’ve got you.”

My thoughts are like wisps, difficult to catch and harder still to form into coherent sentences.

“Rhoswyn.” Drystan’s dark, commanding tone snaps my mind back into my body like a rubber band. “How are you feeling?”

That dominant edge to his words has peeked out again, just like it did in Siabetha when he ordered me to crawl to him.

It’s the only reason I manage to squeak out, “Good. I feel good.”

The words are said into the warmth of Lore’s shirt, but the scuffle that follows assures me that they heard. I stick my head up long enough to watch Jaro’s wolf shrug off Wraith and Naris—both of whom were working together to pin him to the floor before plodding over, head lowered, to sniff me.

“I’m fine,” I whisper, putting the events together with the sounds I was hearing. “I enjoyed myself, I promise. He didn’t do anything I didn’t like.”

I reach out to pet his muzzle, but Jaro’s wolf catches sight of the bruises on my wrists and snarls again, pacing away from us.

The giant cat retreats into Bree’s skin in a burst of ink, and I watch him go, noting that the púca’s pale face is drawn.

Jaro shifts back but won’t look at me as he goes to collect a new set of clothes, and I grimace. Maybe I wasn’t the one who needed more time. I may have been ready, but it looks like my seelie mates weren’t.

“I will heal,” I say, stronger this time.

I already am. The bruises are blossoming quickly into a deep purple. They’ll be gone in an hour or so.

“You were scared.” Jaro’s tone is harsh and angry. “And the redcap got off on it.”

Drystan walks across the camp, heading for my pile of clothes with a soft sigh. I wish he’d step in. Usually, he’s good at bridging the gap between Lore and Jaro, but today it seems even he’s struggling.

The redcap in question says nothing in his own defence, and I sink a little lower in his arms as I realise he’s waiting for me to explain that too.

“I don’t mind when any of you get a little…”

“Feral,” Caed supplies, helpfully. “And it’s not like the wolf can talk.”

“I didn’t bite her,” Jaro growls.

Unfortunately, Lore chooses that moment to object. “Hey, you know you wanted to!”

Fur erupts across Jaro’s cheekbones, his mouth elongating briefly before the wolf is forced back and he can speak again. “I didn’t claw her. I gave her foreplay. I stopped at the first hint of pain.”

“And I love that about you,” I interrupt. “When I’m with you, I feel cherished, but it’s the same when I’m with the others. Just in different ways. Plus, I knew Lore would never really hurt me.”

The redcap scoffs beneath me, one long pale finger coming up to trace the line of his bite mark on my throat, which throbs lightly.

“Didn’t hurt,” I whisper in reprimand. “Besides, I asked for it. I could’ve used my safe word, but I chose not to.”

“Brave,” Lore mutters, offering me a sweet kiss as his fingers trail down to my slit and swipe through the mess there, playing in the embarrassing trickle of fluid before rubbing it up and over my too-sensitive clit.

“Too much,” I protest but don’t move his hands.

The two of us are covered in my dust, and a flurry of it bursts free as my wings tremble on my back. I watch as it falls to the floor, tracing the whorls across the camp. Okay, perhaps Lore blinked us a few more times than I realised, because I definitely don’t remember being over there…

Or against that rock.

There’s even a smudge on Caed’s arm, like I’ve brushed against him somehow. He’s staring at it, twisting the limb to see how the violet shimmer reflects the light, turning his blue skin iridescent. His face twists oddly between curiosity and what might be dismay, but the expression fades as swiftly as it comes.

It’s too easy to imagine him painted in my dust, glittering alongside the rest of my males. My fae possessiveness positively purrs at the idea, and my cunt clenches down on Lore’s teasing fingers in response. The redcap grins, having already noticed where my attention has fallen.

“If he’s very good, he can join in next time,” he whispers quietly in my ear.

The words are quiet enough that only he, Caed, and I can hear them, and the Fomorian stiffens in response.

“Jaromir, get her cleaned up.” Drystan has already moved to douse the fire, inviting the autumn chill back into the small clearing. “Lorcan, I trust Kitarni gave you her approval, so shouldn’t you be getting on with that?”

Lore’s arms tense around me, and his smile grows wider.

“Your High Priestess has reclaimed the temple and declared the Grand Clerics apostates, so I’m free to collect Mervyn’s head and flay his tiny cock if you want it!”

“She did what?” I ask, confused.

“Banished them from the temple,” Jaro explains, snatching me from Lore’s arms. “It’s a good thing. This means we can count on the Temple Guard again.”

“Then why isn’t she here?” I ask, confused.

I can’t see Lore, but his hesitation speaks volumes.

“She didn’t want to come.” The realisation turns my tone flat, and Jaro squeezes me reassuringly.

I need her. I need someone calm and wise and with more knowledge about the fae realm. No one else seems to have a straight answer about Mervyn and?—

“He’s gone,” Jaro informs me. “Probably off to kill Mervyn. Don’t worry about it just… rest, for Goddess’s sake. You look like you went three rounds with an angry pixie.”

I’m carried carefully away from the camp. Jaro is growling under his breath, but I tune him out, content to wait for him to think through what just happened and talk when he’s ready. My body is still thrumming with afterglow, and the air is turning humid with a mineral scent I can’t place.

“You honestly liked that?” Jaro finally says. “The others can’t hear us now. You can tell me the truth.”

His sweetness hits me in the back of the throat, and I offer him a small smile. “I love when you make love to me.”

I love you lingers on the tip of my tongue, but I don’t say it. Those words don’t belong in the middle of an argument about another male.

“When we’re together, I feel so treasured and cared for,” I continue. “You give me that. Is it so hard for you to believe that he does the same for me in different ways?”

“He didn’t prepare you. You’re covered in scratches and bite marks?—”

“And I came so many times I lost count.”

My uncharacteristic bluntness shocks him to silence.

“I didn’t say that to compare you,” I rush to add. “I’m telling you that I liked what he did. I craved it. Just like I crave you. I don’t need protecting from Lore—or any of you.”

Jaro’s silence returns, and I turn my face away from his chest to look ahead. My wolf shifter has reached a break in the trees, surrounded by boulders. A short, surefooted descent later, we’re confronted with steaming cloudy waters.

“Hot springs.” He lowers me to my feet. “This part of Autumn is famous for them. It should help with any soreness.”

My heart flutters, and I reach up on my tiptoes to kiss him even as Lore’s hat retreats, going from poncho to swim cap in a matter of seconds. I dip a toe in, then carefully lower the rest of me up to my chin with a sigh.

This is beautiful. There’s a soft current, barely noticeable, but enough to draw away the endless falling leaves from this part of the realm, leaving the dusk-lit surface clear of debris. Huge rocks scattered around the edge shield us from view, giving the spring a secret atmosphere that makes me lower my voice when I speak again.

“I suppose I can’t stay here forever, or Drystan will get mad.” With a soft sigh, I start brushing the dirt from my front.

“Let him.” Jaro hasn’t joined me, but he’s perched on a rock beside me, watching my movements with less of the tension that consumed him a second ago.

Impulsively, I lean forward. “Will you wash my wings? There’s dust everywhere and…”

The sound that comes out of him is inhuman, and I smile at the water. My guides told me that it was a huge gesture of trust to allow someone else to care for your wings.

Jaro needs that. His confidence has taken a huge hit since we came to Faerie, first with my kidnapping and then the loss of the outer wall. I want him to know I have absolute faith in him.

“I’ll keep talking to you the entire time,” he promises.

“You don’t need to,” I counter. “I know it’s you.”

And this is nothing like Fellgotha. The open sky, the feeling of warmth and comfort, the scent of him and the soughing of wind through the fiery canopy above… It’s the total opposite of that dank, dark hall in the mountain.

So when Jaro crouches beside me and cups a little of the water in his hand to trickle it over the joints on my back, I sigh a little deeper and lean forward.

“When I was a kid, I wanted wings instead of a wolf,” he admits quietly. “Florian had them, and my ma, too. But I got my pa’s shifter gene and all the complications that came with that.”

“Being a wolf would be better,” I insist, shivering as more water is carefully wiped over my topmost left wing. “I can’t even begin to imagine how incredible it is to share your life with an animal like that.”

He hums under his breath noncommittally, continuing with his task. “As an adult, I appreciate that.”

We lapse into a warm, comforting silence after that. The lack of conversation and the gentle care he’s lavishing on me lull me until I start to slump in the water.

It’s only when he’s finished and he’s carrying me back to camp that he brings himself to return to the topic at hand. “Are you okay with Kitarni remaining in the Temple? You can order her return, if you need to.”

Chuckling under my breath, I reach up and cup his jaw, bringing his face down for a tender kiss. “I understand why she’s doing it.”

We need to help the Autumn Court, and we need the support of the Temple. She can’t be in two places at once.

“I don’t want to distract her, so we’ll stick to the plan. Besides, Lore can get her any time.” I turn my gaze to the dying embers of the fire ahead, just visible through the trees. “We need to carry on with the pilgrimage.”

Except that pilgrimage is no longer just about appeasing the superstitions of the fae. It’s now a battle march across the northern borders to protect my people.

And deep, deep down, that scares me.