A convulsive shudder wrenched up Raye’s spine, and behind her, there was another slow, heavy sigh. “This… bite,” came Gaelfr’s voice, sounding reluctant, now. “This ought to be tended, or else it will leave a deep scar. Worse than… the others.”
Worse than the scars Kalfr had left, he meant. Because yes, clearly Gaelfr biting her really had just been about Kalfr, about doing what Kalfr had done, maybe about tasting Kalfr in her skin.
But the wound still hurt, far more than it should, and finally, curse her, Raye managed a nod. Fully expecting Gaelfr to go back to the basin, maybe to wipe the cloth against her skin. And why would she want that from him, she’d already done that, she couldn’t trust him, and…
His body. His weight. Sinking down behind her on the narrow bed, his solid warmth curving close against her. While careful fingertips brushed against the skin of her neck, nudging away the fallen-out tendrils of her hair. And what the hell wasthis, what the hell was he doing, she should be yelling, shoving,something—
But she was caught, frozen, held in the heat of Gaelfr’s big body, the utter torment of his rich musky scent, now swirling so close around her. And then — she twitched all over — hismouth. That soft, slick, too-familiar warmth, settling against her torn skin. Licking her.Kissingher.
And gods damn her, because maybe — maybe a distant traitorous part of her had remembered this, too. Kalfr…tendingher, every time after he’d bitten her. Kissing her until the pain had entirely faded, and something darkly pleased would whisper behind his beautiful eyes.It will only scar a little, he had told her, the first time.But every Bautul bears a few scars, ach?
Gaelfr’s big hand slipped around Raye’s front, drawing her a little closer against him as his mouth kept tending her wound. His breath tickling, his lips so gentle, his slick tongue licking with slow, intent purpose. Firing out flares of whispering warmth, sparking out shivery gooseflesh around it, and he had no right to feel this good. He was probably still only tasting Kalfr on her, he hated her, she couldn’t trust him,worse than you…
“Is this enough?” came his voice, once he drew his mouth away. “Or do you wish me to keep going?”
It should have sounded solicitous, perhaps, but Rayeknewthat lilt in his voice, that lingering taunt. It was yet another strike against her. He was saying he knew she’d liked it, and he knew she wanted more,damnhim.
“No,” Raye hissed, between clenched teeth. “That’s more than enough.”
The sound from Gaelfr behind her might have been a scoff, but he shrugged, and his body settled even closer. His arm curving tighter around her waist, his hand spreading against her ribs, his claws nudging just beneath her breast. As if he was getting comfortable with her,cuddlingwith her —
“What thehell, Gaelfr,” Raye hissed, and then winced at the sound of his name on her mouth, the way it sounded far too easy, too familiar. “I still didnotsay you could sleep in my bed!”
Gaelfr only shrugged again, and yawned against her hair. “You can blame our stubborn, clever son for this,” he said, “and how he has gained from me yetanothervow to care for you, and keep you safe.”
But he didn’t sound particularly upset by this, either, and Raye shot an incredulous look over her shoulder toward his shadowy face. “That vow was aimed atyou,” she snapped. “Svein was trying to protect me fromyou!”
But Gaelfr’s half-lidded eyes on hers were mild, even reluctantly amused. “Ach, but it was the scent of your blood that awoke him. This was his true fear. This was the vow he wished for.”
Gods, this enraging encroaching orc, because even as Raye’s mouth opened to protest it, she couldn’t dredge up the slightest argument. While the amusement flickered brighter across Gaelfr’s eyes, and he gave a proprietary pat against her ribs. “I have sworn to keep you safe, and I shall,” he said. “And I have not slept in many days, and thus” — he yawned again — “I cannot trust myself to well guard you, if I am not beside you.”
Raye couldn’t find an answer to that, still glaring at him over her shoulder, but he did look tired now, the amusement faded from his shadowed eyes. “However we feel about one another, woman,” he went on, “you have borne much darkness alone here, without us. And amidst it all, you have kept our precious son pure and hale and safe. Thus” — he betrayed a faint grimace — “you deserve this guarding. You deserve… this vow. This care.”
This vow. This care. Spoken without a hint of mockery in his voice, or his eyes. Instead, he still looked tired, or resigned, or even sad. “So rest, woman,” he murmured. “Be at peace. You are safe with me.”
He didn’t meet her eyes as he said the last bit, but it still vibrated through his body into hers, quivered quiet and close in her belly.Rest. Be at peace. You are safe with me.
And Raye shouldn’t have believed it. Shouldn’t have sagged like that beneath it. Shouldn’t have let herself sink into the softness of the fur, the warmth and strength of his big body behind her.Rest. Safe. Safe…
And with a long, shuddering breath, she closed her eyes, and slept.
9
Raye awoke to coldness at her back, and emptiness in her bed.
She wrenched around in the near-darkness — had Gaelfr already broken his word, andleft? But no, no, he was crouching right there by the grate, putting another log on the guttering fire. And then, his movements silent and graceful, he rose and strode back toward the bed, and sank his heavy weight down onto it behind her again.
The movement tipped Raye’s body a little closer into him, into the hard breadth of his bare chest, the easy strength of his heavy arm settling around her. Again as if he had every right to touch her, to make himself at home in her bed.You are mine.
Raye twisted away from him again, squeezing her eyes shut, willing herself to fall back to sleep. But her heartbeat skipped strangely in her chest, and suddenly there was the memory from earlier, unfolding far too vivid behind her eyelids. Gaelfr’s hand on her arse, Gaelfr’s breath on her skin, Gaelfr’s mouth tasting her, kissing her…
Mine to command,he’d breathed, with such satisfaction in his voice, such triumph.Mine to tend and feed and fatten as I see fit. Mine to touch, and taste, and keep.
And then…that. That huge, demanding ridge in his trousers. A ridge that — Raye’s eyes snapped open — she could still feel. Behind her.Here.
She stared unseeing at the wall, her breath frozen in her chest, but yes, it was here. Jutting against her arse through her dress. Where before it had only been a vague bulge, but now…
Shuddering. Swelling. Lengthening. Pressing just between her arse-cheeks, as if…
