"I am calm. I will harm no one, so long as my mate is unharmed. Let me go to her,” I add, looking at her again.
I am surprised and strangely pleased to see how I tower over my petite mate. I do not notice or care about my naked body until my mate's eyes widen, her entire face and neck filling with a delicious, rosy glow as her gaze takes in my extremely excited state.
But I cannot help the way I so eagerly devour this beautiful woman with my eyes now that I know she is mine. I want to bite the blush staining her skin and lick the sting away.
I want to run with her in our freed forms beneath the full moon.
Ours,the wolf within me growls.
The blood fae’s understanding of my words must be incomplete, for he appears confused before trying, "They must check you to find if your safety is being."
He gestures at the fae in the distance who are watching our disjointed conversation. One of them is placing a sleeping spell on Nivarrah, locking her back into one of the sarcophagi. Is this blood fae saying they must check on my welfare after that long sleep? Or do they believe I endanger their safety, after seeing the anger of one of my beasts?
"I will harm no one," I repeat, motioning toward my Feeling One. "I only want my mate."
The blood fae's eyes narrow. He is still struggling to converse with me, but there is no mistaking the protective tone in his voice.
"You want to keep your life, you will not mate with her."
No, notmate withher. Not in the way he seems to mean, as if he thinks I merely want to pounce upon her and fuck her day and night.
That will likely prove true once she and I are acquainted, but he misses my true meaning. I scowl, trying to restructure my words to match his fragmented translations.
"No, her is mate unto me. Mine. Fated scent," I point to my nose and then at her. "Mate."
The blood fae processes my new wording. Realization and surprise begin to dawn on his face. But when I try to step past him again, he holds up an arm, shaking his head.
"Perhaps not right is your nose. They check you first. You behold her again if seeking show it proven. Seeking," he emphasizes as if that word should mean something to me.
Damn this to the Beyond, I do not know what he is trying to tell me—but my attention is drawn away from him when another fae with a markedly hooked nose finally shakes off the shock of Nivarrah’s magic and begins shouting. Fresh anger fills my veins when I see that he is marching toward my mate and her kin, clearly yelling at my precious Feeling One.
He threatens our mate,my wolf snarls.
He must burn,my black dragon decides.
Is my mate feeling his anger? Is that why she ducks her head and goes so still at the sound of his screams directed toward her?
Her white-haired kin is snarling something back at the hooked-nose fae, but I must show my precious mate that I will protect her, too. From this moment on, it is my privilege to defend her.
Using my great speed, I weave around the blood fae, but he calls after me in warning.
“No, Seeking will prove. Calm and still you must, or these fae harm if threatened you they.”
I'm barely hearing his broken translation as I rush toward my unduly berated mate. I wish to rip the throat out of the hooked-nose fae, for I see how his raised voice disturbs my Feeling One.
Before I can defend the one I am meant for, one of the other fae calls out an order. Several bright flashes surround me. All at once, another sleeping enchantment drags me under, silencing my inner beasts as I descend once more into a slumber I cannot resist.
I resist anyway, desperate to tear out of this spell holding me prisoner and reunite with my mate. I thought that endless sea of dreams was torment, but now that I know that Athanis was right and my fate was in this place, waiting for me, I must be at her side.
Despite my fury, the spell holds fast, trapping me within my own mind once more.
Yet I'm not alone in this sleep.
“Don’t worry,belovedwarrior,” Veld's voice croons mockingly in my head.
The incubus calls forth a dreamy memory—mymemory of the glimpse of my mate I just got. My heart nearly halts in my chest when I see her again. Those beautiful dark eyes, wide with curiosity. Her breathtaking face and pink lips and cheeks, andthe way the daylight caught in the strands of her warm hair that I long to run my fingers through…
Veld hums. “She is just as I remember from tampering in her dreams, when she slept far above us. I envisioned her differently, but she's not unpleasant to look upon. Such a lush body. Altogether…soft. Vulnerable."
