How silly and naive he must’ve thought my words. Knowing what I did now, how ridiculous they must’ve seemed to him.
Then again, we had all suffered.
“Thank you for telling me,” I told him gently.
Wrune replied, “You needed to know,rei Morakkari.”
The fire flickered out in the basin and darkness took its place. When Wrune shifted underneath me, intent on adding more fire fuel to it, I kept him in place on his back.
I didn’t know how to comfort him after such a tale. I didn’t know how to make it all right. And I realized that I probably never could.
But we were with one another now. And I could comfort him in another way.
So, I leaned down to kiss him, pouring my unspoken feelings—my fear, my sadness, my understanding, my affection, my need—into him. A deep huff burst from his chest and then he was meeting my kiss head on, as ravenous and consuming and eager as my own.
His tail wrapped around my ankle. His hands trapped my hips. And I kept him pressed down, my hands threading through his hair, as my nipples dragged against his strong chest.
He was hardening underneath me. Quick and fast. Gasping, I sought him out and he groaned when I found him.
And as our cries resumed in the quiet, darkvoliki, as our pleasure mingled together, and our breaths became one, I thought that it might not be such a frightening thing to love him.
What frightened me most was something else entirely.
It was losing him.
Chapter Forty-Eight
“Hanniva,Vorakkar,” Junira pleaded with me, briefly flickering her gaze up at me before dropping it once more. Her yellow eyes were wide and solemn, though there was a hint of a smile on her lips, as if her smile would sway me.
“And why is yourpattarnot before me now?” I asked gruffly, crossing my arms over my chest. “Instead, he sends his daughter to make his apologies? And over a week later?”
“My father has…” Junira trailed off, catching sight of lingering horde members as they pretended not to listen to the conversation she’d chosen to have in broad daylight. “Can we speak in private,Vorakkar?”
“Nik,” I told her. “If you wish to speak another time, then—”
“Nik,” she said, forgetting herself when she interrupted me. She bowed her head. “My apologies. I did not mean to…”
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Mina. Hukri was walking to her left and slightly behind her. My wife was wearing a thin sheath dress the color of a soft purple sunrise, though it did nothing to shield the heavy weight of her breasts and her pebbled nipples that stiffened in the slight breeze.
Desire tightened my trews, my nostrils flaring. Junira reached out a hand to touch my forearm and my gaze broke away from myMorakkarito regard the female standing before me.
Her hand fell away at my pointed look but she said, “You must understand how difficult this has been for us,Vorakkar. He comes from a great line ofdarukkars.Darukkarsthat served your grandfather even. He is used to the old way. He thought that…he thought that I would be your choice. Can you not see that? Can you not understand why he would be upset?”
Her cheeks bloomed darker under her bold words. Her tone sounded slightly exasperated and even a little bewildered.
“I know what you believe, Junira,” I murmured. “But the fog was looming. The last thing I was thinking of was taking a queen for the horde. You knew what it was between us. You accepted it for what it was. And when I ended it, I told you, in no uncertain terms, that I would not be taking aMorakkariuntil after the fog. Did you not tell your father that?”
Her lips pressed together.
“But you lied,” she said and even I heard the hurt in her voice when she said it. Discomfort built in my chest. “You took aMorakkariand last time I checked, the fog still lingers.”
Mina stilled when she spotted us, watching the exchange with a careful expression on her face, an exchange which had drawn quite a crowd.
I told Junira, “Lysi, I did. And I will not apologize for it. I decided to take aMorakkaribecause she strengthens the horde. Because it was my duty to the horde.”
“And I wouldn’t strengthen the horde?” she dared to ask, meeting my eyes, a vulnerable expression on her face. “And the whole horde knows how much you’veenjoyedyour duty, taking her as yourMorakkari. The whole horde hears it nearly every night!”
The silence was deafening between us. Then a warning, rough growl rose from my throat.
