Ellysetta woke with a yawning stretch, smiling at the pleasant tug of muscle and the warmth of Rain’s body stretched out beside her. She rolled against him, burying her face in his hair and breathing deep to take his scent into her lungs. She would never tire of waking beside him, skin-to-skin, knowing this was where she belonged.
After their meal, they’d retired to Rain’s bedchamber to make love with breathtaking intensity before falling into deep, exhausted, and blessedly dreamless sleep. Now Ellysetta was awake and refreshed, and rapidly discovering that Fey males weren’t the only ones to harbor insatiable desire for their mates.
She slid a leg up over his and slipped an arm around his waist. Her fingers traced the steely ripples of his abdomen and moved up across his chest, and she smiled against the soft skin of his neck as one flat male nipple hardened beneath her fingertips. “Mmm.” She stroked the small nub and nuzzled his ear. “Are you well rested,shei’tan?” Her hand trailed back down his ribs to his hips to stroke a far more interesting bit of hardening male flesh. Her smile grew wider. “Ah, I see that you are.”
She squealed with laughter as he turned in one quick burst of motion and rolled her on her back, pinning her to the bed. “Feeling bold?” he growled. He lowered his head, and his silky black hair fell in dark veils around them, casting his face in shadow so that the glow of his eyes seemed more intense.
“You don’t like it?”
White teeth flashed. “I never said that.” His lips took hers in a deep, passionate kiss, not releasing her until her pulse was racing, her nails were scoring his back, and her lungs were gasping for air. “This Fey loves bold. Bold is good.”
She closed her eyes as his lips tracked down her throat to her breasts. Moist heat closed around one sensitive tip while warm fingers worked their seductive magic on the other. “Very good,” she groaned. Her legs wrapped around him, heels pressing against the tight curve of his buttocks, urging him upwards. Much as she loved his hands, his lips, his magic upon her, what she wanted was him, inside her where he belonged, completing her. She never felt so whole as she did when their bodies were united, their souls so close she could almost reach out and grasp those elusive, final threads of their bond.
A rumbling purr rolled across her skin, and a puff of warm, richly scented air swirled around her.«Fine, strong mating is good. Rainier-Eras and Ellysetta-kitling will hatch many kitlings for the pride.»
The happy, purring voice—definitely not Rain’s—hit Ellysetta like a bucket of frigid water. Her eyes flew open, and she found herself staring straight up into very large, very glowing, very curious blue tairen eyes.
“Ahhh!” Ellie shrieked, and shoved Rain away from her with such force he tumbled off the edge of the bed and hit the rock floor with a thud. She snatched fistfuls of furred coverlets and silky sheets and yanked them up in a desperate attempt to cover herself.
“Good sweet Lord of Light!” she exclaimed, staring at the white tairen in mortification. “What are you doing here? Have you never heard of knocking?”
Steli snorted and sat back on her haunches. A miffed growl rumbled in her chest, and her tail whipped against the chamber wall, making little flakes of rock fall to the floor.«What is “knocking”?»
Rain, naked and utterly unashamed, stood up and rubbed his bruised hindquarters. He fixed Steli with a disgruntled look. “Ellysetta-Feyreisa means Steli-chakaishould sing greetings before entering the sleeping lair of the Feyreisen and his mate.”
The tairen cocked her head.«The pride sang greetings before, in the nesting lair.»
His lips twitched. “Aiyah, but Ellysetta-Feyreisa was raised among the mortals... the two-legs who mate only in private. She needs time to become accustomed to the ways of the pride.”
Steli looked at Ellysetta, who still held a death grip on the covers. The tairen’s ears and tail twitched; then she snorted again.«What is “private”?»
Rain laughed. “Privatemeans that Steli-chakaishould not enter this sleeping lair unless Ellysetta-Feyreisa or Rainier-Eras says you may.”
Steli’s ears went back.«Steli does not like private.»She growled.«Or knocking.»Fur ruffled, clearly offended, she twisted her sinuous body and headed back out to the ledge where she must have come from.«The Fey-kin are here. They wait on Su Reisu.»She sniffed as she left.
“Steli, wait!” Ellysetta ran after the white tairen and caught up with her on the ledge outside. There was enough irritation still whirling in Steli’s eyes that Ellysetta stopped short of coming within claw reach of the white tairen. “Sieks’ta. I’m sorry. I did not mean to hurt your feelings. I am not used to pride ways—and you surprised me. Please,teska, forgive me.”
The supplication seemed to soothe the white tairen’s injured pride. She swished her tail, then wrinkled her nose and sniffed again for good measure before saying,«Steli forgives.»
Ellysetta flung her arms around the cat’s neck. “Beylah vo,Steli-chakai.”
«Ellysetta-kitling did not hatch in Fey’Bahren. She was not raised in the ways of the pride.»Steli began to purr and gave the side of Ellysetta’s face a warm, maternal lick.«Steli will teach.»The white tairen sounded alarmingly pleased by the prospect.
Pride appeased, Steli flew down with Rain and Ellysetta to Su Reisu, the low, flat-topped plateau at the base of Fey’Bahren where Marissya and Dax were waiting. After an initial threatening growl at the truemates, the white tairen settled into a protective crouch behind Ellysetta, and other than an occasional warning rumble if the newcomers moved too close, she left the Fey to exchange greetings.
Ellysetta explained her findings to Marissya. “There are five eggs left. I tried to look for the source of their illness, as you taught me. Maybe it’s my own inexperience, but other than the kitlings being tired and frightened and very weak, I couldn’t find anything wrong.”
“She sang love and strength on them,” Rain added.
Ellysetta grimaced. “Without realizing it, of course.”
Marissya started to pat her hand, then glanced at the blue-eyed tairen and changed her mind. “You just need practice, Ellysetta. It’s not lack of ability, but lack of confidence that holds you back.”
Ellysetta glanced over at Rain, who arched a speaking brow. “Rain said much the same thing last night. He wants me to train with the Academy’schatokas well as with theshei’dalinswhen we reach Dharsa.”
Marissya’s eyes widened. “Does he?”
“She is a Tairen Soul,” Rain said. “There are skills she must learn that theshei’dalinscannot teach.”
