26. Apryle

Chapter 26

Apryle

T he next two days pass in a blur of activity. Callum and the others shore up our defenses, making sure that, if we're attacked again, no one is getting in. Everyone works together to try and use magic to unscramble the brains of the tau we captured. With Hester's help, this is easier to do. It turns out she knew a lot more than she was letting on, and now that her brother—half-brother—is locked in the cells of our compound, her fighting spirit seems to have returned. She's no longer talking about running and hiding, but about leading the revolution to free the rest of our hybrid brothers and sisters instead.

For the first time in a long time, I feel hope that we can win this, just as soon as we sort out the little problem of our homicidal creator.

Callum has feelers out, trying to discover where Revna and her band of witches have gone, but so far everything has been pretty quiet, and that doesn't feel positive. What is she waiting for? And where is she?

Those thoughts are in the back of my mind as Kye and I sit with the others, watching a procession of cars and trucks passing through the gates of the compound. Callum reached out to all of our allies, other hybrid communities—vargr too—and invited everyone to join us. So far, six different groups have arrived, bringing the total number of people in our compound to more than a hundred.

The odds still aren't great, but it's better than what we initially had.

Sitting between my mate's legs, his arms wrapped around me, I feel a sense of calm. This is exactly where and with whom I'm supposed to be—no matter what happens in the future, as long as I have him, everything will be fine. I truly believe that.

I glance over at Savannah, who is building daisy chains with a very pregnant Tessa. Her pup is going to drop any day now, and I wish we had a safe place for her to have her baby, but that is not how things have worked out. All we can do is try to future-proof her child's life.

"How many more do you think will turn up?" Halle asks.

"Hopefully enough," I say.

"It would be helpful if that white-haired bastard would actually tell us something of use," she mutters, plucking the grass underneath her with more violence than is necessary. "He knows the answers we need, and he could fix all of this in a heartbeat, or at least try to make amends for his behavior."

I understand her frustration. Halle is desperate to find her mother. She saw her once before, during an attack on the Sanctuary, but since then, there hasn't been even a hint of where she might be. I can understand how much she wants to set her free—the person who gave up her freedom to protect her.

"At least you know we'll be able to repair her mind when we do find her," Roux tells her.

Halle grimaces, and I know why this information isn't as welcome as it should be. Hester had known it all along—how to remove memory blocks, how to repair minds broken by magic—and yet she did nothing when Dove needed her help. I thought she was the good guy in our story, but now… I don't know. The truth is far more complicated, and while she is not entirely the villain, she's not far off.

Do you think Savannah will be okay for an hour? Kye's voice echoes through my mind.

As always, I feel the warmth spread through me from his presence.

I think so. Why?

He pats my back, and I sit forward, glancing over my shoulder at him, the question dancing in my eyes. He stands, offering me his hand, which I take, allowing him to pull me to my feet.

"We'll be back. Keep an eye on Savannah." This is delivered as an order, but the girls smirk, as if knowing why he wants me alone.

I hope that is the reason. He's been pretty overprotective of me since I was laid out like a sacrificial lamb and almost bled to death. But I miss my mate, and considering how dangerous things are about to get, we have to remember to live every day like it might be our last.

Since everyone turned up, things have gotten overcrowded, which means we've moved back into the building I used to live in with my coven and the other males. Kye isn't too keen on having so many people around us, but there really is no choice. A lot of the new people are having to bed down in the main hall. So we're lucky to have rooms at all.

The building is quiet as we step inside, though that peace won't last long. He leads me up to the bedroom, pushing the door open and stepping inside before guiding me in. As well as our bed, there is a small single pushed against one wall for Savannah. With space at a premium, there's no way she can have her own bedroom here.

As soon as the doors close, I expect him to pounce on me, but he doesn't. He walks over to the bed and sinks onto it, clasping his hands between his parted thighs.

My heart sinks, breaking into pieces at how dejected he seems. I sink down next to him, wrapping my arm around his back and nestling my head into his side. Instantly, he hugs me close, and as always, I feel happy in his arms.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"I feel unsettled."

I trail my fingers over his hip, leaning my head against his chest. "That's hardly surprising. Everything is a mess right now."

"I nearly lost you twice."

Right, so that's what this is about.

"You're not going to lose me. I survived being used in a blood magic ritual, I think I can survive anything after that."

My joke falls flat, his expression so concerned, it makes my stomach dip. I sit up properly, pulling away from his grasp so I can take his face between my hands. "I'm not going to die, Kye. I have too much to live for."

His lips quirk into a smile that does not reach his eyes. "We both know that's not how this works. It's a miracle all of us have survived this long, but eventually, luck runs out, Apryle. We are all on borrowed time."

I pull his head down and brush my lips over his, soothing his concerns in the only way I know I can. He reciprocates immediately, his hand wrapping around my nape so he can deepen the kiss. I open my mouth to let him inside, moaning against his tongue as it caresses along the length of mine.

There's been a lot of things happening in the last few weeks, and it would be so easy to get lost in the despair of it all, but we have to keep fighting. We have to keep being strong. Even if we left and went on the run, there is no way all of this would not catch up with us at some point. There is no outmaneuvering what's coming.

So I kiss him as if this is our last moment together. The passion, the desire, it burns between us as he pushes me back onto the mattress, settling between my parted thighs. My body sings with need as my fingertips press into his back and I pull him closer.

I need him inside me. Forget foreplay and all that buildup, I just want to feel every inch of him in me and around me. It's been hard to find a moment alone with Savannah in our room and I'm desperate to have him.

As if he reads my mind, and maybe he does because I'm not sure what I'm feeling through the bond right now, he lifts off me enough to drag my pants down my thighs, my panties with them. His fingers dip into my soaking wetness, swirling along my slit up to my clit and then down to push inside my tight channel. My back arches slightly off the bed, pushing his fingers deeper into my body and making me groan.

My mate is everything to me, and I would die to defend him and protect him. With his fingers still inside me, he dips low, pressing some of his weight against my torso as he kisses me. Between my legs throbs with need, and I feel like I'm about to combust if he doesn't help me.

I press my fingers harder into his skin. "I need you," I gasp.

"You have me," he assures me, and my heart soars at hearing it. He is the only thing in my life that makes any sense right now—him and Savannah. I love him, everything about him just completes me.

He holds himself on his elbows, shoving his pants down and freeing his cock. My mouth waters instantly. Kye is well endowed, with a thick shaft that stretches me in the most delicious way. I part my thighs wider, ready to receive him as he bends to lap his tongue along my slit to that little bundle of nerves that gives me so much pleasure. He swirls around it for a moment, sucking it into his mouth and making my body lift off the bed, even as my fingers fist into the covers beneath me.

"My good girl," he says. "You're going to take all of me, aren't you?"

I nod, eager for him to fill me up. "Yes," I pant. "Please." I rub my clit, trying to find some reprieve, but he pulls my hand away, trapping them both over my head.

He peers down at me, and all I see is his love for me shining in his eyes. I feel it too. I love him. I never thought that was possible, but I want to grow old with him. I want to sit with him on our porch with grandkids running around us. I want that future, not the one where we're running for our lives.

He presses his cock against my entrance, the thick head of it slipping inside just a fraction. He's teasing me, but I don't have the patience for that. Not this time. So I push my hips up, forcing his cock inside me. We both gasp, his width stretching me as his hand roams over my stomach.

"A bit impatient, huh?" he teases.

But thankfully, he doesn't continue the torture. He drags his hips back and plunges back into me over and over. His pace starts slow, his hips rolling with every thrust, pushing deliciously inside me. I wrap my legs around his ass, keeping him in place as he drives deeper and deeper. Every part of my body feels elated and alive as my orgasm starts to build. This right here, this is perfection, and one day, when it's safe, I hope my heat cycle will start and I'll feel his knot inside me, swelling and tying us together like never before.

His lips pull into a smirk. "You know I can sense what you're thinking, right?"

"You're telling me you're not waiting for the day I have my first heat?"

His expression drops a little. "Yeah, I want that, of course I do, but not yet. Not like this."

I think about Tessa and Abel and the terror they must be feeling knowing how vulnerable they are with a baby on the way. Our heat cycles are difficult to predict, though they don't usually happen right after mating, and pregnancy amongst our kind is really hard to achieve. Tessa and Abel defied all the odds, and normally, that would be a good thing, but given the current climate, I can understand why they might not find it so.

"Not yet," I agree.

My thoughts scatter as my orgasm rolls through me, at the same time as his. Kye's hips stutter as he shoots his load inside me. Sweat covers our skin as he tries not to collapse on top of me.

Speared beneath him, his cock holding me in place, is the most divine moment of my life.

Eventually, he pulls free of my body, and I whimper at the loss of him before he sags onto the bed next to me, pulling me onto his chest. I lean my ear against his heart, feeling the pulse of it against my cheek.

"When this is over, let's buy a house on a lake."

He glances down at me. "You like the water?"

"No, not really, but when we were at the Sanctuary, the cabins all overlooked this big lake, and it was one of the few times in my life that I ever felt at peace. I could see Savannah running around, playing—maybe a few pups of our own."

He presses a kiss into my hairline. "I'll go wherever you want me to go."

There's a smell right outside the door before it's flung open. Kye instinctively covers me with his body, but not because he's afraid we're about to be attacked. As a vargr wolf, he has a better sense of smell than I do, so I'm sure he knew the guy at the door was Ayden. Still, I have to smile at his need to shield me from view.

Ayden doesn't notice Kye baring his teeth at him, which puts all my senses on alert. My mate is a little fierce when he's being possessive.

"Beck and the others just got back." They'd gone out this morning after receiving reports of roaming hunters. Callum was worried they intended to attack to free their leader, so he sent a team of ten to do some investigating. The fact Ayden is here like this means something went wrong.

I grab the covers from the bed, wrapping them around my body so I can focus on what he's come to say.

"Kid, you never heard of knocking?" Kye snaps.

Ayden shakes his head, holding his winded side as he tries to suck in a breath. "It was a trap. Two are dead."

My blood runs cold. Beck is clearly okay from what he said, but Wyatt and Sawyer were on that mission. "Who died?"

"Two guys from the party that got here last night. But…"

"But what?" I demand, getting frustrated at the lack of answers from him.

"They captured Wyatt."