51. Chapter Fifty-One

Chapter Fifty-One

Tovi

T he owner of the closest inn turned out to be an old friend of Tovi’s, but at present, she regarded her as more of an enemy since the woman had only a few rooms to spare.

So few rooms, Tovi and Eldrick had to share one.

Along with a bed.

Behind Tovi, the door of said room clicked shut. A single, damning beat solidifying her fate above the stables.

She averted her gaze from the bed pushed up against the western wall and ignored the stare of the alpha werewolf piercing between her shoulder blades. She hadn’t been able to meet his eyes since they’d left the inn’s main building and the owner escorted them to the stables. To Tovi’s dismay, Eldrick hadn’t uttered a word, not even a grumble of protest.

A fire raged on the eastern wall, making the space far too warm. The heat closed the four walls around Tovi, and she abandoned her cloak on the desk. A door leading to the bathing chamber beckoned her. Perhaps she could hide out there until sleep beckoned, then she’d crawl into the bed after Eldrick. Tovi’s plan to avoid him evaporated. The bathing chamber was the same size as a broom closet with a pitiful copper pot for a toilet and a rusty old sink .

Tovi shut her eyes and said a small prayer, bracing herself for the night to come. She turned, which was a mistake. Eldrick had already begun to undress. He wore no shirt, his tanned muscles glistening in the light of the roaring fire. The desire to dig her nails into those shoulders or run her hands over his chest overcame her.

Until she caught sight of the swollen red wound festering above his left peck. Blood still oozed from it. She charged towards him as he sank onto the edge of the bed.

“For fuck’s sake, Eldrick.” She inspected the wound and sniffed.

Poison.

Not only had it overtaken the scent of his blood, but it’d also stopped his healing.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Her hands went clammy, and she rose to her feet. “I’ll get Linx. She can heal it—”

“No.” Eldrick grabbed her wrist.

She ignored the heat searing her skin. “The arrow was laced with poison. If I don’t get Linx, it might get worse.”

“If Linx comes, Todd will join her, and if he comes, so will Bétar, and then Yennifer. Before you know it, the entire Gray Fenris will be in here. I need a moment of peace. Please.”

Tovi’s heart hammered in her chest. Her throat had gone dry. Eldrick’s voice had cracked with such vulnerability it hurt to hear. Space. Time alone. She understood what he meant, respected it. She’d been there, too.

“If I get the supplies from Linx, will you let me tend to it?”

Eldrick’s green eyes studied her face, brow to chin. When his gaze flicked back to hers, air whooshed out of her lungs. That green wasn’t fair. It sank its emerald powers into her and stole every ounce of will and wit she had.

“Yes.”

Tovi blinked a few times, trying to register his response. She rose to her feet, wringing her hands together. “I’ll be right back. ”

It only took her ten minutes to find Linx, get the necessary herbs, and return. She thought the Gray Fenris healer would argue and demand to see Eldrick herself, but the pink-haired mage had handed over what Tovi needed and given direct instruction. As Tovi left the inn, she swore Linx and Yennifer shared small smiles laced with mirth, but Tovi was too nervous to care.

When she shut the door to their room, Eldrick was where she’d left him—shirtless, seated at the edge of the bed, shoulders curved downward. They said nothing as she prepared the materials. She filled a bowl with hot water, grabbed a cloth from the humble bathing chamber, laid out the herbs on the bed beside his thigh, and saddled a small stool between his legs.

Their gazes connected as she sank onto the stool, and Tovi swallowed. The small room grew tighter, warmer. The fire crackled behind her, and the two became entangled within each other, yet they weren’t even touching. A hair’s thinness lay between their legs and less than an arm’s length stretched between their chests.

“Are you ready?” Tovi’s voice came out thick, as if her thudding heart had lodged its way into her throat.

Eldrick nodded, and she got to work. She cleaned off the blood from Eldrick’s skin first, his tight and strong muscles like solid stone under the washcloth. Tovi, for a moment, wished the washcloth didn’t come between her and his tanned skin but dismissed the ridiculous thought. Soon, her bowl of warm water had turned scarlet.

Eldrick flinched when she dabbed the washcloth over the entry wound. Laced with some sort of oil, Linx had said it would sting, but it would also stop the bleeding. Tovi had forgotten to warn him, cursing to herself.

“Sorry,” she whispered.

“It’s alright,” Eldrick said, his words tickling her nose. She was hunched under his chin, and even though she could not see his face, she knew he looked at her, felt it like a touch against her neck. “Will you tell me about her, how it… happened. ”

The fire popped behind them, and the wind howled against the walls of the stables. In this small room, tucked so tightly together, telling him what happened to his mother was the last thing Tovi wanted to do. No—that wasn’t it. She wanted to tell him, but she wasn’t sure how to tell him .

Yet, she heard the desperation in his voice and felt his nervous shudder under the wash cloth when he’d asked. A warmth, a desire to be kind and honest, swelled within her.

She sighed. “I haven’t always been a believer in the prophecy or the fates. To be honest, I despised the gods and goddesses because of what they allowed to happen to my people. While Riven was concerned with appeasing the lords and ladies in court, I kept my attentions on our people, making sure they got by against the curse. But that didn’t mean I didn’t sympathize with Sorin. I’d often visit after a demon or caillte attack, blending in to offer aid.”

She paused, blinking past the fog of memories. “It was the attack at Morrow, and the day felt… different. Fate seemed to be pulling me through the destruction, until I stumbled upon your mother. I didn’t know who she was at the time, only that she was a warrior, clinging so strongly to life, and so I asked her if she wanted to live. I don’t know why. I’d never turned anyone before. Not once. It’s a sacred act. And yet, I asked her. She only had moments before she said yes, the underworld already had its grasp on her soul, and yet she kept telling me yes. Over and over yes.

“Even when I told her about the curse and everything it meant to be a vampyr, she wanted to live.”

“You gave her a second chance,” Eldrick whispered.

Tovi didn’t dare meet his stare. She’d began stitching his wound, Linx’s oils numbing the area, so he didn’t feel the thread or needle weaving through his skin.

“Does the transition change someone? Is she different than before?”

Eldrick’s question surprised Tovi into silence for a moment. She hadn’t known Nadia before she’d turned, and Tovi knew that becoming a vampyr did change more than the physical. Indecision wormed through her. She couldn’t speak directly to the things Nadia knew about herself, but that wasn’t what Eldrick was asking, was it?

“What was she like?” she asked. “How do you remember her?”

Eldrick sighed then swallowed, his throat bobbing in Tovi’s peripheral. “My mother was equal parts fierce and kind. When I was a pup and the summer storms raged, she always held me to sleep, soothed my fears, and sat with me in the darkness. But by day, she was a warrior, sharper and stronger than any steel blade. She walked into a room, and you felt her presence, a good presence. She made any place she went better.”

Tovi listened as she pulled the final stitch across. “Your mother hasn’t been a warrior for some time. Well, not the warrior you think of, but I can tell you she is one of the kindest people I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing and her fierceness is something to be admired.”

“And she’s your spy?”

“She’s not my spy. Your mother fights for the prophecy. She sits on my brother’s council along with other lords. Their titles and uniforms are equivalent of children playing dress up. The access, though, allows her to be privy to important information that may threaten the entire continent. Since she’s a female, the other lords overlook her.”

“But your brother looks past the fact she’s a female?”

Tovi nodded, saddened all of a sudden. “As awful as he is right now, he’s never disparaged females. His wife was his equal. If it wasn’t for his efforts against my parents, my future would’ve been a lot different.”

Eldrick huffed. “And what sort of information has my mother learned that helped fight for the prophecy?”

“When Evelyn and Kade’s lives were threatened, for one. Your mother feared Riven would attack their wedding. It’s one of the reasons I encouraged Evelyn to run. ”

Tovi didn’t warn him when she ran the newly oiled cloth against his stitches. He growled through the pain, and Tovi gripped his arm to steady him. The skin-to-skin contact sent heat through her hand, reaching deep within her belly and surging a hunger through her that had nothing do with food or blood. Tovi most definitely didn’t dare look in Eldrick’s direction.

“Your brother, he doesn’t suspect anything?” he asked.

“No. We have a habit of taking things from one another, and he believes he stole a friend of mine.”

“You used his pride to your advantage.”

“Pride and competitive spirit. It’s been that way since we were children, long before we became vampyrs.”

Tovi wasn’t used to being so open, her energy depleted. Silence stretched aside from the crackling fire.

Eldrick swallowed. “Did you keep her from us?”

Tovi stopped, slowly pulling back her hand. She knew this question was coming, it was one of the reasons she didn’t want to have this conversation. Her heart lodged deeper in her throat, and she squirmed in her seat. Not because she was afraid of the answer, but because of what it would do to Eldrick.

“No.”

Eldrick shoulders snapped back, and his brows furrowed. “What?”

Tovi shook her head. “Staying away was your mother’s choice. I gave her the option, told her we could make it work. But in the end, even after she mastered her feeding and hunger, she refused.”

“Why?” Eldrick asked.

Tovi sighed. “Remember when I told you I admired her? One of the reasons is because she taught me about the importance of—”

“Duty.” Eldrick stared past her, the orange of the flickering fire reflecting in the green of his eyes. His lips thinned and his jaw ticked, a mixture of sadness and understanding marring his face .

“Yes, duty. Your mother was a protector, and she believed in the prophecy. When she learned about the curse, she believed in her purpose even more.”

“She chose the prophecy over us.”

Tovi shut her eyes. Her gut twisted at the hurt in his voice, and she focused on the final salve. She layered it over the stitches.

Still not looking at Eldrick, she said, “Your mother loves you, Eldrick, and when she became a spy, revealing herself or returning home would’ve put you all and her mission at risk.”

Eldrick snorted. Tovi’s curiosity ate away at her and stilled her hands. She couldn’t resist searching his face, his reaction so uncharacteristic of him.

Eldrick wore a small smile, but it wasn’t pleasant. Forced and frustrated.

“Are you angry with her?” she asked.

Eldrick sighed, green eyes clashing with hers. “I don’t think so. I think I’m angry at the possibilities of what could’ve been.” He studied her face, and Tovi turned away, anchoring herself in the dressings she needed to bandage his wound with.

He exhaled, his breath tickling the nape of her neck. Her teeth ground together so hard, Tovi feared her molars would crack.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

Tovi stopped, her heart skipping in her chest. She folded, one, two, three layers of the bandage before she lay it over his wound. “For what?”

Eldrick swallowed, staring at the floor. “For getting so angry—”

“I lied to you. You had every right to be angry.”

“But you honored her wishes. You kept her, and us, safe .”

It wasn’t far from the truth. She had to protect Nadia’s true identity when she was so close to Riven, but she hadn’t even tried to find a way to tell Eldrick. Right then and there, Tovi could’ve left it at that, crawling back into the comfort of her secrets and allowing their familiarity to be her armor, but she shook it all way, refusing to hide behind them any longer .

“No,” she breathed. “I think I kept telling myself it was what your mother wanted, but then I wanted the alliance, and I was selfish. I should’ve told you, and I’m sorry.”

The scent of the herbs was thick in the air underneath Tovi’s handiwork. Eldrick’s skin on his chest had already returned to its usual color, and her job was done. She stood, moving to back away, but Eldrick’s hand snatched her wrist. She snapped her head up to ask why and wished she hadn’t.

Eldrick's green eyes drank her in, fully, unabashedly, hungrily.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

Eldrick cocked his head. “How?”

“Like you want me.” Her voice wasn’t a whisper, but a mere breath.

“And what if I do?”

Tovi retreated back a step, but Eldrick pulled her closer than ever. She stood over him, and he peered up at her. She knew that look, had wanted that look. She couldn’t bear it. Except she was so ensnared by this werewolf, this maddening desire for him, she couldn’t move.

Tovi shook her head. “You can’t.”

“Why not?” Intent had overtaken his face. He wanted this. He wanted her.

“Eldrick.”

“I know you want me, too,” he whispered. He lowered one hand to her waist, giving it a gentle squeeze. Oh, damn the Goddess, his touch was torturous, even through her tunic.

“You sound so confident,” she managed to say.

A strand of hair dropped and curled over his forehead. Dangerous thoughts of weaving her fingers through his golden-brown hair drove Tovi mad. She tried to blink them away, tried to regain control of her wants and needs. The alliance, her people, the curse—she had to stay the course and not become distracted.

“I’ve seen women in my village look at me the same way you’re looking at me now.”

She snorted, pushing him away. “You cocky bastard. ”

Eldrick held firm. “Perhaps. But it’s different from those other times. Then, I was never consumed with never-ending wicked thoughts. Now I am. And you’re in them, Tovi, and I can’t stop them.”

No. No. No.

Doubt screamed in her head. Tovi stepped back. Eldrick let her, yet he followed. He stood up, tall and proud. He matched her step for step as she walked backwards from the bed.

“Eldrick, we can’t.” Tovi shook her head, the movement stiff as it contradicted her body’s desires, knowing her words went against what she wanted.

“Why?” he asked as if he didn’t already know.

She was a vampyr. He was a werewolf. She was the princess, and he was the alpha. It was already so complicated.

“You’re going to regret this.”

“I don’t care.”

“Eldrick.” This damn room was far too small, and Tovi’s back hit up against the wall.

“Do you not want this?” Eldrick whispered. “Say the word, and I’ll stop, dove.”

Stop.

He would, she knew it. She didn’t want to stop, but it didn’t matter what she wanted. It didn’t matter that she craved the werewolf looming over her so fiercely, it was maddening. She needed an alliance. What if he judged her after?

“I don’t want you to hate me,” Tovi whispered.

Eldrick took her in, looming over her with a hunger that vibrated between them. Chests flush together, Tovi felt his heart racing.

He brushed his knuckles over her cheek. She shut her eyes, relishing his touch. It was scorching, radiating through her, and he barely laid a hand on her. Her eyes snapped open as Eldrick gripped her chin, making her look at him. Her breath hitched at the severity of his stare, and she was thankful for the wall behind her, because she’d lost her knees, her entire being melting at the possibility of what came next.

“I’ve tried to hate you, but I can’t.” Eldrick removed his hand from her chin, sliding it to her neck before threading his fingers through her hair. With a slight tug, he angled her face up, and their lips almost touched as he continued. “The gods know I’ve tried, but it isn’t possible. I want you, and I’m tired of denying it.”

Tovi searched for the chink in his usually unemotional armor, but he’d unraveled before her. He’d become a different man, a different werewolf. He wasn’t desperate, he was yearning, and she was, too. Their hearts were hammering in sync together as the inevitable beat between them.

“I can’t afford a distraction,” she whispered.

She wasn’t saying no, and Eldrick nodded as if he understood. “Alright.” He moved an inch closer to her, and anticipation trickled through Tovi like the heat and cold of fire and ice colliding. “No feelings,” Eldrick said.

His ask. His need in this—Tovi understood.

“No feelings,” she repeated.

“No distractions.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.

A breath passed, and then their lips crashed together. They became a frenzy. Tovi grabbed her trousers and shimmied them off along with her undergarments. She gasped against Eldrick’s mouth as her wet sex became exposed to the warm air. Eldrick worked at his britches, and along with his belt, they both dropped with a thud, and he released a groan as his cock sprang free.

Goddess. So long and thick. Tovi whimpered.

Eldrick didn’t stop kissing her, their lips and teeth hitting as they kissed. His strong hands cupped her bare ass. He lifted her in the air. On instinct, Tovi’s legs wrapped around his waist. Nothing was between them as Eldrick’s cock slid between her wet folds. She was breathless. Ragged, desperate and needy .

With one movement, Eldrick slammed her up against the wall and slid into her, straight to the hilt. They both released a cry as they joined, weeks of tension, wanting, needing, finally being met. They stared at each other. Eldrick’s breath was hurried, his eyes hooded. Tovi melted around him, getting used to his size and length as it stretched her in a delicious way.

Then he moved, and she came undone.

His pace was hungry, hurried, but beautiful. She tipped her head back, crying out with each thrust in a way she never had before. The pleasure of him, the feeling of him inside her sedated the hunger that had built for weeks.

Eldrick released one hand from her hips and tore open her blouse. Tovi gasped as her breasts came free, and Eldrick growled. Growled. Her nipples had hardened with arousal, sensitive to the air and friction of Eldrick’s chest. He didn’t lose pace. She had one foot in reality, the other teetering into oblivion. He fisted one of her breasts, threaded his fingers around her nipple. Pinched and squeezed. Tovi cried out his name, the pleasure of his pace and the pain too glorious to hold back.

“These are beautiful. You’re beautiful. Look at you, taking me so well.”

The build within her mounted to an aching state, and Eldrick’s words almost sent Tovi over the edge. She needed release before she combusted, melting into the wooden walls of the stables and shattering into nothing.

Eldrick pulled out of her, leaving her empty and wanting. She whimpered, then gasped as Eldrick turned her around. Her feet hit the ground as he lined her hips to his. Her pebbled nipples crashed against the wooden wall, the friction curling her toes. His cock brushed against her ass. Tovi shuddered. With one hand he grabbed both of hers and held them high against the wall. His other kept her steady.

She was at his mercy

And she loved it.

They both cursed loud enough to awaken the forest as Eldrick slid into her wet sex again. He moved at a slower, torturous pace. Tovi felt every inch of him. This angle. This position. She could stand here for hours and take this pleasure he gave, but she needed release.

“Eldrick, please.”

“Are you begging?” He picked up his pace and then slowed again.

Tovi hadn’t meant to, but a groan escaped her, and she pushed against him, giving him her answer.

A laugh rumbled from him, and his pace turned tortuously slow. “You have no idea how often I’ve imagined this,” he whispered, his words tickling down her spine. “You up against a wall, like this, taking it. Taking me. Fuck, Tovi, I’ve only just had you, and I don’t know if I’ll ever stop.”

He increased his pace, and Tovi took what he gave. Every beautifully paced thrust. Eldrick released her hands, giving her freedom to elongate her back and arch into him more. He growled and snaked an arm around her waist. She cried out when he found her sensitive swollen clit. Two of his fingers slid up and down over it, the direction and speed her body needed.

Oblivion stretched its blissful hands and held on. Never had Tovi been with someone like this. Their bodies called to each other, craved, wanted, knew.

“Come for me, dove.”

If his words were a command, her body obeyed—Tovi fell. Her knees buckled, her core quivered around his cock, and she was certain the cry of release she unleashed reached the rooms at the inn. Warm tingles stretched to every inch of muscle and tendon of her being. Soon after, Eldrick found his own release, shuddering and cursing as he held them both steady against the wall.

They melted into it, two spent, sedated bodies finding their breath as they came down from what they could never undo. As their gazes met, Tovi didn’t want to admit it, but like Eldrick, she wasn’t sure if she could ever stop.