“I did not have power, in the beginning,” she said into the darkness. “I was born without it. It was only after our Joining that the void power within me awakened.”
The darkness changed something between us. There were no nuances to interpret, no expressions to guard. Even as my bodyyearned for hers, I forced myself to remain still. I wanted every bit of herself that Veyka was willing to offer me.
She sighed, her breath warm against my cheek. She’d tilted her head up as she spoke, as if she could see me even in the dark. “I did not realize how much I’d come to appreciate it, to rely on it.”
To love it.
I caught the delicate sound of her tracing her lips with her tongue before she asked. “Do you love your beast?”
It was not that simple. “Do you?” I parroted back; he certainly was fond of her.
Veyka graced me with a low, sultry chuckle. “How could I not love that tongue?”
Oh, Ancestors. Was she implying that at some point, we’d actually… while I was in my beast form…Oh fucking Ancestors.
I felt like I was speaking through water, but I got coherent words out. “The beast is a part of me. Like my arm. I do not love my arm. It is another tool for survival.”
“I do not believe that,” Veyka said confidently.
Whether she meant that I loved my beast, or I loathed it, I was not certain. I was not certain I even wanted to know, either way.
But she did not press it, settling deeper into my arm. She nudged my shoulder with her nose. What—oh. She wanted me to put my arm around her.
I lifted my arm and she tried to maneuver herself into place. She tried to mask the soft hiss as she shifted her weight, but I was too attuned to every sound and scent. I squeezed her hand hard, and she stopped fidgeting, allowing me to be the one to arrange us.
She fit perfectly against my side.
Ancestors be damned.
This felt too fucking good. Too right.
There had to be a catch—a cost. I had done nothing to deserve this, to deserve her.
“We’ll bed down for the night,” Veyka was saying. “By morning, I should be healed enough to use my power to get us out of here.”
“I am not going to sleep while you are injured.” I doubted I could. My beast would never allow it. Neither would I.
She vibrated softly against me. “Then let’s do something else.”
I groaned. Loud, unrestrained. She laughed harder, groaned in pain, let out a very unqueenly snort as she tried to repress her mirth. Her hand started burrowing around between us, lower and lower—
“Veyka,” I groaned again. This female was going to be the death of me.
She withdrew her hand and pressed it back down into mine. But now, there was something long, hard and smooth between our palms.
“Communication crystal,” she said, her smirk evident in every syllable.
She’d mentioned them before—but I had never seen or used one. They were rare in Annwyn. A few of the continents I’d traveled to over the centuries had them in greater numbers. But it was only as good as the person who was on the other end. “Does Lyrena have one?”
“No. But Cyara does.”
70
VEYKA
It should have been impossible to be as aroused as I was while also in mind-numbing pain. My leg ached terribly, to say nothing of the pokers of hot fire that shot through my shin if I shifted at all. At least my head had stopped hurting. I’d never missed Isolde and her bright, beautiful healing magic more. And still, the heat of Arran’s body pressed up against mine was slowly devouring me from the inside out.
His throaty groans were certainly not helping things.
