“Ensure you are satisfied, Faelyn, or you might give in and ask him to do it for you.”
CHAPTER 13
This is wonderful.Absolutely perfect. The most important thing for me to do right now is keep my wits about me and have me focus on anything other than carnal urges.
But I am astride Evander in his wolf form as he runs at Conri’s right side. Even though I try, desperately, to focus on the breathtaking scenery unfolding before me as I had before, every bump and dip of Evander’s spine hitting me right between the legs brings my mind right back to the thing I’m trying to ignore. I shift my positioning, which only makes things worse.
The whole pack runs behind us. We left the campsite a few hours ago and there’s been nothing but misty, unbroken grassland since. I’m being taken farther into a vast unknown of Midscape—a land of magic. I should be focusing on deepening my powers, getting in tune with Aurora’s within me, communing with spirits, studying the landscape to plan my escape.
Literally. Anything. Else.
But my mind continues to revert to wondering just how long it’s been since I was last pleasured. I gather my cloak around me and grip Evander’s fur tighter, trying to recall what I was told before we began to move.
We’ll be at another pack’s encampment by the end of the day. Conri is going to collect them on the journey to Gualla—the main city of the lykin, but that’s not the place known as Den where Conri and I will wed. That means tonight, hopefully, I can find some time alone to satiate some of these urges…assuming Conri doesn’t steal me away to his tent again immediately.
“Aurora,” I say, loud enough that I trust Conri and Evander to both hear over the wind and thumping of the pack’s paws against the ground. Conri was insistent that the moon spirit ride upon him. But I am kept expectedly close. “When we arrive at this other encampment, should I go to your tent so that you can commune with the powers of yours that are within me?”
She’s confused for only a second. Comprehension lifts her brows. “Oh, yes, that would be important. Perhaps Evander can guard us from outside the tent during that time, as we must be alone for the magic to work.”
Evander glances back, his large wolf head shifting with his run. Conri’s attention is on us as well.
“I’m sure we will figure it out when we arrive,” I say brightly. Not wanting to arouse too much suspicion by harping on the matter.
The grassy plains we run through are seemingly endless. An ocean of pale green, almost silver in the sunlight, shining through a thin layer of haze that perpetually hovers over. The tall grasses go on, and on, rolling slightly.
There are no trees, no shrubs, nothing. That makes the tall, unnatural structure in the distance stand out all the more. I squint through the fog, trying to make out what it is.
“Aurora—”
“It’s a watchtower, left over from the days of feuding packs—every pack had one to mark their territory,” she answers my question before I can ask. “In modern times, they’re rarely usedfor more than anchors for the barriers and blessings on the land of the lykin.”
My eyes follow it as we pass, until it vanishes once more into the fog. The next structure I see is the encampment. Like the tower, it appears as a dark dot on the horizon that grows into a grouping of tents and lykin.
The people are much the same as Conri’s pack—as varied in appearance as humans are. But the tents are slightly different. Even though their construction is much the same, there are three red stripes on one side and two blue dots on the other.
I ask Aurora about the latter as we slow toward the center of the encampment. She explains a bit more on the history of the lykin—how every pack was once governed on their own, independent of all others. And how the packs that bent to the king were allowed to keep portions of their previous identities.
It reminds me of the townships in the Natural World. Each can govern themselves, to a point, but usually there are councils that rule over each region. I know there is one for where I am and, technically, its laws would rule over me. But I never gave them much heed. No lawmen would go all the way to the edge of the woods to ensure Grandma and I were heeding their arbitrary ways. The only others who lived remotely close to us were the huntsman and his son…and neither of them was going to turn us in. Not when Liam and I were…
The wolves come to a stop, blessedly jarring me from my thoughts. Aurora dismounts and I do the same. My legs are still stiff from the first day of riding on wolf-back, but I know better now how to manage myself on Evander to prevent too much stiffness. At least I don’t feel like I’m about to tumble over on my way to the ground.
Most of the lykin change to their human forms, shrugging off their packs and handing them to others who approach to assist. It is convenient that all clothing and possessions on the lykin areheld in some kind of stasis when they transform. It makes travel far easier than Aurora and I will face, whenever we run.
All the eyes of the pack whose camp we’ve entered remain on Conri, expectant. What I find truly fascinating is how their attention starts on me, then goes to him and sticks. I doubt they could look away if they tried; they’re instantly enamored. His mere essence has them fixated on him even when the oddity of a human witch is in their midst.
I pull my cape tighter around me, even though its protection is the same regardless of how open or closed it is—all that matters is that it’s on my shoulders.
Yet, even with it, I am drawn to him just like the rest of them. Even knowing of his magic charm and wanting to resist…I find myself looking in his direction more often than not. Admiring the way his long, brown hair has escaped the bun at the nape of his neck. The way sweat rolls down over the wolf’s paw tattoo in the center of his chest, making my own tighten. My ribs compress on my lungs. My shirt is too tight. I might?—
Aurora touches the back of my hand gently.
I blink several times and it’s as though I’m waking from a trance. Conri must have been speaking for some time because all of a sudden there’s a chorus of howls lifting to the dusky sky. He grabs my right hand and hoists it, as though we have accomplished an unknown victory. Aurora’s hand is in my left.
It strikes me that we three are some kind of odd, singular entity. All separate individuals, yet three parts of one whole. Aurora and I share the magic that Conri needs. He offers us protection and a place in this society. I’m an anchor between him and Aurora…and possibly the rest of the spirits alongside the Natural World.
Maybe another woman in my shoes would be elated by being so needed. So wanted. To have the possibility of not just one partner, but two.
Unfortunately for me, I am not that woman.
