Myrk only laughed. “So it was, but she enjoyed it.”
I didn’t think we were flying any longer. I wasn’t even sure if I was still a dark alfar. Would I be able to shift again? I hoped so.
Tucked against solid walls of muscled heat, fur, and leather, I sighed happily, drifting deeper toward sleep. Though I managed to say in the bond,:I want to fly with all of you.:
Dörr rested his chin on my head.:So it shall be, my queen.:
“I’m certainly willing to give it a go,” Gunnarr said. “If someone can haul my furry ass up into the sky, that is. I’ve never flown, not even in an airplane.”
“Do you ever shut up?” Myrk growled out.
“Very rarely, I’m afraid. When I’m eating, of course, and when our queen, uh… You know.”
Lokken yawned, sounding very much like a polar bear himself. “What’d I miss?”
“Not much,” Myrk said in a sarcastic, biting tone. “Only the bear stunned to silence by our queen’s magnificence. Then she worked her way through all of us, fucking everyone into a stupor except me. Oh, and she gained a new power—a dark alfar form with wings like us.”
“They fell out the window,” Gunnarr added. “Scared the piss and shit out of me, not going to lie, my queen.”
“Me too, at first.” I yawned so big it hurt my jaws. “Why don’t you go see if Pàtair can whip up some midnight snacks?”
Gunnarr clapped his hands. “Right. That sounds like a stellar plan, my queen. If I can only find my clothes…”
“That didn’t stop you before, fur ball,” Myrk said.
“Ask for some clean bedding while you’re at it,” Lokken said. “I’m afraid this bed is a little worse for wear, my queen.”
Smiling, I closed my eyes and nuzzled deeper into Dörr’s arms. “That’s fine. I’ll sleep right here.”
He kissed the top of my head. “Rest well, my queen.”
11
MYRK
This wasn’t a competition. I had no expectations of ascending toward Dörr’s position as alpha or undercutting him—or any of the other Blood, for that matter.
But I now carried the pride of being the one who’d broken in our queen’s wings. Even though Dörr didn’t exactly approve of the manner in which I’d taught her.
He waited until the two Aima Blood went to the kitchen before speaking of it. “You took needless risk with her life.”
I didn’t shrug aside his concerns—but tipped my head slightly in acknowledgement. “I knew she could do it.”
His gaze lingered on Svar, still heavily unconscious from his encounter. “Our queen can do anything.”
Even conquer the unconquerable.
Svar had been drawn to the rings long before I ever found my way to them. I hadn’t understood the appeal and made my disdain clear to them both. With our queen’s bond deepening our connection, I now understood all too well.
Taste. Hunger. These were very real needs for me now. Unfortunately, those needs had awoken for Svar in the Darkness of Hel. I’d felt his despair before she managed to subduehis alfar. His very real fear of ever touching her in our true form battling his darker urges spawned from those countless victories.
He’d survived the only way he knew how—and then feared his survival would be his undoing. Because to be forced from our queen’s side now, after knowing her love and tenderness…
Intolerable.
Especially in the emptiness of infinite Darkness.
“She may look less favorably on me now the truth of his past has been revealed,” Dörr said. “Would you rather I ask Lokken to be alpha instead of you?”
