No sensible individual would go across the mountains in a Southern region in spring. Not when it was easy to travel across the mountains or by sea . Certainly not while the sky was pouring a torrent of rain and sleet, the temperature plunging below freezing each night. This meant that while Cassius and his troops might know we were coming, they’d not anticipate it this soon. If that is, we lived long enough to assault, which looked less probable with each passing minute.Gasping for air, I halted on an outcropping and wiped sleet from my cheeks. Every muscle in my body burned from climbing all day, yet I’d all but lost sensation in my hands and feet from the cold.My teeth chattered with such violence the noise would have resonated through the peaks if not for the fact that the roar of the wind blocked out everything save the loudest of yells. “Are you alright?” I jerked, turning to discover Tristan just below me on the incline.The hood of his cloak hung free down his back and his h
took a drink, coughing as it burnt down my throat, then pursued it with another. “Doesn’t feel that way.” She raised one furred shoulder, then nodded to the cliff I’d tumbled off, higher than Tristan was tall. “If you’d landed a few feet to the left or right, you’d have cracked that pretty skull of yours beyond repair, but the mountain tossed you into a pool of water just deep enough to cushion your fall. It’s not a fucking mountain!” Tristan shouted.It’s only a hill. Alpha Octavia’s eyebrows raised, and then she chuckled. “Although the truly amazing thing is that Tristan didn’t piss himself when he didn’t save you from falling off the”—she grinned —“hill.” She chuckled as Tristan’s hands tightened around me, and I didn’t understand why he cared so much about words to cause an argument about them. His heart thudded where my shoulders brushed against his chest, lessening its thunder only as Alpha Octavia began ripping off her clothing and he said, “How many shirts are you w
Philomela will sing of her exploits and her stories will move through the Southern region like wildfire and people will have no choice but to believe Sage’s words. They will flock in droves to follow her into war, and they will swear oaths to me as their Alpha king. To meddle with the gods by shielding Andronika would be to deny her that fate, and in doing so, modify my own for the worse.” “So you will throw her to the wolves time and again, certain the gods will spare her life?” “It is her destiny.” “No matter how much suffering it causes her? She is your wife. Don’t you care about the suffering she’s facing tonight?” Alpha Orion sat still in the darkness. “ I think, my son, that you care enough for both of us.” My stomach fell and if my hands and feet weren’t already cold, they’d have turned to ice. Despite all my efforts to keep my distance from Tristan, Alpha Orion recognized what I was trying to hide. I clenched my teeth, worrying about what consequences might follo
Agony pierced up my legs, my feet felt as though they were pushed against Tristan’s axe and my flesh was melting away. I screamed wordlessly, striving to get away from the flames, but hands grasped my legs, pinning them in place. “Stop,” I implored between sobs. “You’re hurting me!” “I know it hurts, but the pain is a good thing.” Tristan had me pinned against his chest, the roughness of his chin pushing across my cheek.It means your feet are warming. “It’s too hot.” Tears and snot poured down my cheeks. You’re burning me.Take them out of the fire.I yelled last since no one was listening and oh gods it hurt. There’s no fire,girl, someone remarked. Just Alpha Octavia’s armpits. Won’t damage you except for the stink.Says the man who smells like an arsehole,” Alpha Octavia responded, and a dozen voices giggled. We were encircled by Mystic Rune pack’s fighters, I knew. It was their hands holding my legs in place, their bodies blocking the breeze. Protecting me despite the fac
Outrage proceeded to humiliation but then I felt the vibration of his silent laughing, and a heartbeat later his thumb began caressing the back of my scarred hand in little circles, kindling the heat in my core higher. “Stop.” His hand stilled. “Stop? Talking. I bit my lip.Stop asking me questions, was what I meant.” “Ah.” He resumed the little circles, sending a shudder through me even as I realized my demand wasn’t fair. Tristan had every reason to be wary of me. I’d blown hot and I’d blown cold, rode him like a monster obsessed by passion, just to yell at him to keep away from me. He should desire nothing to do with me because I was entangled and inconstant, yet he remained at my back. I might die today.” Tristan stiffened, then he asked gently, “Is that why you want me to stop asking questions? Because you dread death? The wind howled as Alpha Octavia’s snoring deepened. It was a marvel that all those surrounding us didn’t rouse. Yet no one stirred, which meant I ha
Dawn dawned as we lay panting in each other's arms, hidden now only by the furs covering us. Though I knew I should go, that there had to be distance between us before others awakened or it brightened enough for the scouts on duty to see well, I did not want to. I was still in Tristan's arms when Alpha Octavia yawned and sat straight since I felt for the first time in so long happy and safe in them. "Morning, Andronika ," she replied, staring at me to indicate that we had not been half as covert as I had intended. Blood flowing hotter this morning? Still connected are fingers and toes?True. The word came out as a squeak as I knew Tristan was closer, for all Alpha Octavia was close. "I'm rather healed."Tristan snorted, then sat up, dragging my trousers up over my bare arse with the action. He then reached under the furs to withdraw my hands, which he scrutinized in the increasing light. My skin was inflamed and my fingertips were white and waxy, yet I still had sensation.“Can you g
I’d seen more dead men than I could count, victims of raiders who’d come to plunder from my people. To slaughter my people. To kidnap my people and convert them into slaves.But this was different. This time I was the raider. My throat ached and I swallowed vomit even as I turned to Alpha Orion, ready to inform him that my feet were too wounded for me to battle. To buy time to seek out alternative means to seize this castle except by assault. But before I could answer, he replied, “The time for retreat is over. Now we fight. Send up the signal.”All around us, the warriors sloughed off the things they did not need, taking shields from their backs and drawing swords, the marks on their faces enormous and scary when a heartbeat before they’d been merely ashes and paint.Alpha Octavia pulled a pot from her luggage and approached me, lifting the lid to show blue paint. With her fingertips, she coated the area around my eyes, then traced little drops down my cheeks. “They say Freyja kisse
The battering ram crashed into the gate with a bang. But that was nothing compared to the explosion above us. In my peripheral, I saw liquid erupt in all directions as my magic resisted what must have been boiling water, steam clouding the air.Back! Everyone slid backward at Alpha Orion's roar, falling over the bodies of two who’d been struck by arrows, and I tried to retain my feet. Fought to maintain my shield in place, for if it parted from the others, they’d lose the protection of my magic.“Heave! Alpha Orion yelled, and we ran forward again, the battering ram swinging on the ropes hung between a dozen men. With each pass, soldiers fell to arrows, the terrain turning into an obstacle-filled sludge.It was chaos. My breath came in frantic rushes as I focused on where I walked, my feet slipping in the muck. Boom!The thunderous sounds of additional boiling water blasting off my magic shocked my ears immediately before the battering ram impacted.I swayed, catching myself against T
My bed was undulating under me, rising and sinking as though I’d had too much to drink, the sensation sending a rush of nausea through me. “Tristan,” I muttered, attempting to reach out to him. Except I couldn’t move my arms, scratchy rope locking my wrists together. My eyes jerked awake and brightness pierced into them like knives. At first, all I could see was white, but as I furiously blinked, my eyesight cleared to show the hull of a ship, booted legs all around me. Memory entered my head, of Alpha Maximus and his men arriving in the cavern. Of the reality of Tristan’s allegiances being revealed. Of corpses on the ground all around me, dead by my curse. Of Philomela, blowing smoke into my face as she betrayed her real loyalties. “Good to see you’re finally awake, Andronika . Alpha Maximus’words entered my ears, and I turned over, gazing up to meet his light gray stare. Where am I? “On a ship,” he said with a slight smirk, teasing me with the obvious. Then he lift
Good morning, Andronika .Alpha Maximus grinned, tucking a curl of golden brown hair behind his ear.It fills my heart with joy to see you hale and healthy after such a terrifying plunge. I confess, we feared the worst when Melisande knocked you into the water. But I should’ve known better than to distrust Tristan.” To distrust Tristan. His words pierced into my heart, locking me in place even as I heard Tristan emerge out of the cave behind me. Felt him take in the image of Alpha Maximus with his soldiers standing nonchalantly behind him, Tristan’s voice stiff as he said, “Why are you here?” A question I was profoundly worried he already knew the answer to. “We feared you might have been injured, so rather than allowing you to bring her to us, we came in search. Alpha Maximus took a step closer.While I understand your actions, they were too risky by far.You may have both been killed.” A low drone of noise filled my ears and sickness twisted in my gut, ideas rising and fal
I woke to morning light peeping in through the branches Tristan had used to hide the entrance to the cave, my ears filled with the sounds of trickling water, chirping, and Tristan breathing in my ear, still asleep.A joyful smile bloomed on my face, the purest kind of bliss widening my chest, and if not for the strain on my bladder, I’d have allowed myself to fall back to sleep. Sighing, I carefully lifted the thick arm draped over my belly, the fact that he didn’t so much as twitch telling to the depth of his sleep.Outside, morning had already come and gone, the sun over the horizon and the summer air heated. Nothing stirred except the light breeze in the trees, yet I heard the chatter of squirrels as they yelled at me for interrupting the quiet of the morning. Taking care of my requirements, I crept back into the cave to find Tristan still asleep, eyelashes dark where they rubbed against suntanned skin, his hair a tangled mess.As was mine.Frowning at the tangle that was my braids
I groaned softly as he put a finger inside of me, felt his chest rise as he discovered my moisture, my yearning. The thought began to stray as my blood raced quicker through my veins, his cock firm against my behind as he pleasured me. He’d told me everything I needed to know— that he wanted the future I dreamt of for us, and all that was left was for me to believe that he’d never lie to me.And I did trust him.More than anyone. Everyone else lied and twisted and used me to attain their aims or to protect themselves, leaving me cold and alone, but never Tristan. He was ever and always the rock at my back. My love. My life.Twisting in his arms, I straddled him, my knees pressed against the furs as his hands massaged my thighs. Firelight lighted half his face, the other half shadowy, but all of it so lovely I felt I would weep. “I love you,” I said, bending forward to kiss him. I trust you.And I wanted him.The urge to be filled throbbed deep in my sex. I stroked against him, slick
Every bit of me for all of eternity. I held his neck as he slammed into me again and again, with each stroke the base of him pushing against the region his thumb had abandoned. My claws ripped his skin, my heels pressing into the tight muscle of his arse as I dragged him into me, my climax teetering on the verge.Tristan kissed me, our teeth smashing together with the power of it, his tongue running over mine as he pushed into me, breathing hot and quick. Then his hands grasped my hips, nearly dragging me off the rock as he thrust deep.Release burst over me like a storm. Like a hurricane that would break the earth apart, my body quivered as it bathed me in ecstasy, drawing me back under each time I breached the surface. Never had I felt anything like that, the feeling washing away sight even as it drenched me in color, my ears full with the sound of my name on Tristan’s lips as he climaxed, flowing into me in a deluge hotter than the seas we swam in.He buried his face in my neck, mo
Tristan murmured my name as I stroked him root to tip, and heat that had nothing to do with the hot springs erupted in my core. The side of my palm caressed my slippery sex as I pumped his length, and I leaned back, thrusting into it even as I felt my climax grow. I want you in me,” I whispered, but Tristan seized hold of my wrists, his voice a snarl as he replied,I think first I must prove my worth, love.In that moment I may have sworn that nothing could flame my desire more than the way he’d shouted love, but then Tristan took me farther into the cavern, putting me down on a slope of rock worn smooth by water running from another chamber above. It was nearly hot enough to burn, running in rivulets of fire over my throat and breasts, between my legs, but I hardly felt it when Tristan split my legs wide, exposing me.A breath kept too long within my lungs, shuddered free as I glanced at him, massive and powerful as a god between my legs, ready for him to plunge into me. Waiting for
And lest he misinterpret my message, I seized hold of my mail and raised it over my head, tossed it aside, the tunic and undershirt I wore beneath fast following, baring my peaked breasts. Tristan snarled, his eyes black as he sank to his knees, grabbing the tip of one of my breasts in his teeth. I gasped as he sucked it deep, teeth nibbling to the point I couldn’t tell if it was pleasure or agony, just that my thighs were sticky with the yearning for more.Not just more of his hands and lips on me, but mine on him. I wanted to taste that taut tattooed skin, to dig my claws into the firm curve of his muscles, to run my palm over his huge cock.So I pushed him back, stepping down into the pool, the heat of the water searing my skin as I backed further. “It’s hot,” I mumbled, reaching down to remove one shoe and then the other, flinging them past Tristan even as I held him in place with my eyes.As I took a step further, the water came to just above my hip bones. I unlaced my trousers,
Your father didn’t visit?” Tristan’s jaw was constricted. “Only when he wished for answers from her. My existence was the source of a great deal of friction between Lyra and him, so he never took me to Mystic Rune pack.”I hesitated, then added, “Did they not suspect you had god’s blood? My mother knew. He swallowed. “She forbade me to speak Thor’s name. One of my first recollections is of mom telling me that to do so would set me on the path to losing people I loved to fire and ash.He shook his head. “She painted these visions in my head of people screaming, people dying, and everything was always burning.”It was hard to hear that. Not only because she’d been correct, but in the attempt to prevent the doom she’d prophesied for him, Sage had filled her child’s brain with horrors that I felt persisted even now.“I was asleep one night,” he said.My mother shook me awake and told me to hide, pushing me under some blankets in a chest. Moments later, I heard a man’s voice. Heard him m
My stomach surged to my throat, my eyes plunging, down, down to the lethal froth of water and pebbles. A scream erupted but as it tore from my lips, it was Hlin’s and Freyja's name that spilled forth.Magic rushed from my hands, first enveloping Tristan and then my own body with silver light. A heartbeat later, we hit.Even with their protection, the impact forced the air from my lungs. And there was nothing to fill them as we soared higher, then ,we were pushed down into the riverbed again, the water trapping us in its ceaseless churn.Spinning us around and around till I didn’t know which way was up. My elbows touched rock but instead of the water drawing me higher in its relentless loop, Tristan tightened his grasp on me, pushing me along the riverbed.I needed to breathe.Desperate, I battled his grasp. I needed to reach the surface. Needed a gulp of oxygen even if it meant the falls taking me back under a second later.Tristan pulled my arms to my ribs, pulling me along the river