Well, I’d be damned if I let him get the upper hand while using my sexuality to embarrass me or make me feel smaller. If he wanted to watch, I’d give him a show that would result in fever dreams for years to come. Every time he thought of me it would come with blind lust. I’d lean hard on this weird feeling and follow this journey to its conclusion.
I called upon my learned and practiced ability to lie to call his bluff.
“You thought,” I said, bracing a hand on his chest and bending with laughter. “You thought that I’d be... what, embarrassed to come repeatedly? Why the fuck would that embarrass me? I don’t know if anyone told you, but women fake their climax a lot of the time. You fuckers aren’t even a quarter as good as you think you are. So if youralphabody is built to give me pleasure? Go ahead and relax, I’m used to getting myself off when a guy won’t do it for me.”
His smile slipped and I got right into it. Oh yes, I’d walk this path so that my journey didn’t take a sharp left turn into a nightmare, but after that—after I was free of his body—I was done. I would never,everlet this happen again.
Chapter 11
Weston
“What’s the status?” I asked Tanix at the east end of the camp, the sun at its zenith and the need to be out of here tugging at me.
Despite my plan playing out to the letter and locking that village down early, some of the enemy had escaped. A few had slipped from our lines and somehow evaded our control. They’d know we had their prize. They’d come for her, I knew they would. In order to salvage their operation, they’d have to, and I knew they wouldn’t hesitate to go through us to do it.
They’d also, almost assuredly, inform their royalty of our actions. Aurelia had elevated this kingdom to one of the hottest markets in the magical world. Royalty here, as disreputable as they were, would surely want to retain their market share, if not increase the growing dependency of other kingdoms on her product. They’d want to rescue her for their own needs, and this would provide the perfect opportunity to do it.
If they caught us, it wouldn’t just be our heads. They’d either pull the dragon court into war or demand unrealistic compensation for catching us meddling. I had sworn I could getthis done without putting our kingdom in that position, and it was a promise I intended to keep.
“The pack has an hour of rest time remaining,” Tanix said, sitting at the last table in what we thought of as the common area of the camp. The rest of our seating and supplies had been packed away, ready for transport. He studied a pile of papers spread out over the surface. “We need to make fast time out of this kingdom and I don’t want—“ He glanced up and then did a double-take.
I couldn’t imagine what he saw. A man that felt like every nerve in his body was still firing with exquisite pleasure and hating-while-loving every fucking moment of it? A guy that had watched a beautiful woman get off on his cock for twice as long as he’d ever been in that position? Or maybe a usually balanced and in-control alpha with a suddenly dark and turbulent disposition.
I’d completely lost control last night-turned-this-morning and I’d gotten no information while doing it. I had to do better.
“Is there a problem?” I growled. It happened. Fine. Time to move on and forget it.
“No, sir. I was just saying that the closer we get to the sea, the greater the need to move fast and stay vigilant. I want to give the pack adequate rest. We’re a long way from the worst of the danger way out here and I think we should make the most of it. Anyone intending to intercept us will do it when we are closer to civilization.”
I nodded, looking toward the village. “Agreed. You got the product?”
“The drugs?”
Many years of showing no emotion kept my flinch hidden. I’d used her vague term for it.
“We did,” Tanix said when I didn’t comment. “They are loaded in the carts. The pack knows not to touch it. The sheerquantity of it suggests that this is, in fact, the sole origin. The woman must do little other than make it.”
“Just not package it.”
“Doesn’t seem so. We spoke to a great many of the villagers. Once they realized we meant them no harm, and that their territory borders were now open, they had no problem answering questions. Certain villagers take the crates to the border in hand-pulled carts. They leave them for the patrol or whoever to take over. We found hoof marks at that location.”
I furrowed my brow, adjusting my stance as I processed. “They made the villagers tote the crates all the way out? Why not have the horses come in and collect it?”
“I have no idea. It didn’t seem like these villagers had seen a horse within the boundaries inyears. Over a decade.”
“Yet they were being used to transport the drugs to another location.”
“The tracks suggest they were.”
“And no one knew where that location might be? The details of what they did there?”
Tanix shook his head. “The villagers didn’t have a clue. Not about Aurelia’s operation, Granny’s—anything. Occasionally Alexander would let slip some things that happened ‘Outside.’ They used the term ‘outside’ like it was a specific place. The most recent incident got several people punished. I guess punishment for rule breaking is severe here—beatings, whippings, cut with tools.”
I shivered with the memories of when I’d endured such treatment in the demon dungeons. I knew exactly what these people had been through.
“Is there anyone we need to take with us?” I asked.
Tanix pulled his lips to the side while slowly shaking his head. “I really don’t think so. Mr. Poet was the closest to the woman’s—Aurelia’s—operation. No one else worked in hervicinity. He never actually helped her, though. Didn’t know how. He just learned what plants she’d need next and made sure she had them. He seemed to be her errand boy, mostly. Granny’s as well. He dreaded delivering both of them things—Aurelia because of her lack of magic, Granny because she was prone to bad moods. Apparently, Granny’s bad moods had the potential to result in punishment at any time.”
