The full moon has reached the midway point of the glittering dark sky above, and I still refuse to bend.If they can continue, so can I.
The temperature may have dropped dramatically in this part of the Sands, but I refuse to put a stop to our party.
We have rations of dried food and water to keep us going. Rivern has passed food and water to me throughout our trek, monitoring my needs through the bond. He doesn’t anticipate when I need sustenance straight away, still giving me a chance to ask. The fae prince didn’t bargain on my stubborn side coming out.
You don’t survive in a corrupt kingdom, invisible and alone, without a stubborn streak. I learnt to bend when needed for my survival. However, having these bond connections and a brooding wolf shifter at my back makes me want to push back even more against the restraints—the ones I created for my continued survivalandthe ones this world places on us.
With my mouth now dry, Rivern hands me a waterskin.“Drink,”he murmurs through the bond. I puff out an aggravated breath.“If I didn’t have to keep my wits about me, travelling through these unknown lands,I would have you over my knee right now.”
Rivern’s words halt me in my tracks. I turn towards him. “You wouldn’t dare.” Why his words get a rise out of me, I’m not quite sure, but he has me stopped with my full attention now.
Fire pours through my irises as I find hard, violet eyes roaming my face. I’ve barely looked at him after leaving the Silver Sands people. Each rhythm I lock eyes with Rivern, my skin vibrates with the need to touch him. The feeling is overwhelming, so I’ve avoided his gaze.
Pictures of our night together, entwined in each other’s bodies, sit at the forefront of my mind like the bond is pushing us to touch, to kiss, to fuck.
I take a long drink of the warm water and push the waterskin back into the broad, naked chest of the fae before me. His golden lines shimmer with the briefest graze of my fingertips, my own body awakening in desire.
Unable to stand my own need to run my hands and tongue over his body, I close my eyes.
“If it means you’ll rest, I will do anything.” His velvet-smooth lips are lingering an inch off my ear, my body alighting in a soft, happy hum. Rivern’s proximity warms me from the cold air, a wave of ease washing over me, soothing my senses. While walking, I have been purposefully staying away from his mind, trying to create some type of barrier between us to avoid this.
It almost feels wrong to be connected to Rivern in this way—unnatural.“That’s only because you have never experienced this before. What if this is how we are meant to be connected? What if the way we live now, separated by bodies, is what is unnatural?”
A fissure forms in my mind at his words.What if?What if it’s all a lie? What is your truth, Dove?
His hand comes to cup the side of my jaw. My lips eagerly gravitate towards his palm, kissing the soft skin there.“It feels too big.”
I let the words trickle through, my admission feeling like a scar on our bond, even though I know he feels it too.
I take his other hand. Rivern cups my cheeks, lifting my face to look up at his chiselled features—a damnable beautiful sight that nearly makes my knees buckle in the moonlight. “Good, because loving you is not enough. What we have is fate-made, a colliding of stars, a building of worlds. We are making magic, Dove. It will always feel too big.”
How can this fae, with his sharp features and long golden hair, make me feel overwhelmed and calm at the same time?Looking into his eyes, I know everything will be okay.
Just as his lips move to brush against mine, a prickle of awareness moves through the tiny hairs at the nap of my neck. Thewolf.Mybeast.
“You may have your moment, but we are stopping,” the growl comes through clenched teeth before Gideon suddenly moves away.
“You are cold,” Rivern states, pushing his body into mine. The sudden change in temperature as the suns drop out of sight won’t stop me.
“I’m fine,” I respond, my teeth almost chattering.
A chuckle moves through his chest. Broad hands travel from my jawline to around my waist. “Stop saying you are fine, love. Do you forget I can feel everything you feel?”
Right, that.I’m cold, hungry, sore, tired and I desperately need to pee. But because the others haven’t stopped, I can’t.
I can’t be the first one. I have to be strong.
“Come.” Rivern’s hand grasps mine, our entwined fingers a direct line to our heartstrings. He pulls me away from the others who have seated themselves halfway up a dune, eating dried food and swapping the waterskin in companionable silence.
“Go.” He pushes me over a smaller dune that shields my lower body. “The others cannot see you. I sense your need,” he smirks. I gather the cloak, my skirt short enough that I don’t need to move it aside.
As I go to squat, I realise Rivern is still watching me, his back towards Moyrie and Gideon.
“Could you turn around?” I huff at him, pushing an escaped tendril of hair out of my face.
“No.” That’s all he says, his eyes set on my own. A wheat-gold eyebrow quirks up. I respond with a quirk of my own. Rivern smiles, his white teeth dazzling in the moonlight. “I’m never letting you out of my sight again. I already made that mistake once. I won’t do it again.”
“Fine, but I’m about to pee here.” I wave my hand around my lower half.
