But a voice stopped me cold before I could reach the first step.
“Is leatsa mise, agus is liomsa tú. Go deo. Geallaim duit mo bhrón. Go deo… Please…” the soft voice begged.“Is leatsa mise, agus is liomsa tú. Go deo. Geallaim duit mo bhrón. Go deo… oh God, please…Is leatsa mise, agus is liomsa tú. Go deo. Geallaim duit mo bhrón. Go deo…”
That was when I realized the heat smell wasn’t coming from the bedroom.
The mating pledge of troth and treasure. Someone was saying it — more like begging it. Over and over again.
Not just someone. Our Flower.
I found her outside a closed door, and my heart turned to stone at the sight of her.
Completely naked. One hand desperately rubbing at her sex. The other was bloody, likely from scratching at the door, which now had grooves in it.
Is leatsa mise, agus is liomsa tú. Go deo. Geallaim duit mo bhrón. Go deo… please come out.” Flower’s voice was little more than a croak as she begged whoever was on the other side of the door to open it. But she said the pledge again, like some kind of chant.“Is leatsa mise, agus is liomsa tú. Go deo. Geallaim duit mo bhrón. Go deo.”
How long had she been here? Been like this?
“Wild,” Sea’s voice called out somewhere behind me. “I think that might be Dublin’s car — by the gods…”
I heard, rather than saw, Sea stumble in behind me.
But even finding out that the male behind the door was likely the one I’d been planning to head-bag just a few hours ago couldn’t tear my eyes away from our Flower.
All remorse had vanished. Punishment was now the only thing on my mind.
Punishment for denying us.
Punishment for running.
Punishment for making me wait several century-long days to finally put this question to her.
Will you have me, Flower? Will you give me your pledge?
Naomi
I was no longerin the lake, but drowning. And the male on the other side of the door refused to save me.
Please come out…please…
I try the pledge again.
Foreign words I hadn’t even known I’d memorized slurred from my mouth. But still, no answer.
Was I saying it wrong? The fever had overtaken my entire body, refusing to let me think clearly.
Everything throbbed — my brain, my breasts, my skin. The private space between my legs was drenched at that point, heat spilling out in pulsing waves. A strange piece of flesh had suddenly made its existence known inside my folds, swollen and angry — yet sensitive to the touch.
I tried…I tried to soothe it. I frantically rubbed my hand over it as I croaked another plea to Aidan, who'd locked himself away on the other side of the door.
“Please…” I murmured the pledge again, pressing my forehead into the grooves I’d made in the door with my other hand.
Some dulled sense registered the metallic scent of blood and the dull pain under my fingernails. I could see I’d damaged the beautiful wood, but it didn’t matter. I didn’t care that I’d hurt the door — or myself.
I kept scratching at it. “Please…” I begged again, following it with another recitation of the Gaelic pledge.
No answer. Aidan had stopped replying some time ago when I refused to accept his excuses about why he couldn’t come out and mate me. Something about how it wouldn’t be fair. Or right. Or moral.
But who cared about fairness? There was no moral anymore! No right or wrong.
