Page 27 of The Queen

When my eyes fell on his face, I lost all interest in the raging fight behind me. “Your mouth!”

In the wake of the collision with the tree, I hadn’t even noticed the split lip Shadow had sustained. When had he even gotten that? I cradled his prickly jaw and inspected the swelling laceration on his lower lip.

His arms curled around my waist, anchoring me on his lap as I wiggled. “Stop squirming unless you want me to bend you over and fuck you in front of everyone.”

Heat rushed straight between my thighs, but I stilled. “Sorry.” I really wouldn’t mind if he wanted to bend me over and fuck me in the forest, but it might not be the best first impression on the soldiers that were with us.

The ground shuddered as the scarred female from earlier slammed into the log Shadow was sitting on. The smaller black-haired alpha stood over her, smiling for a moment before helping her up. The two women bumped bloody knuckles and returned to pick up their gear. Everyone else had trickled out during the fight, and we were about to be alone.

My heart fluttered and heat throbbed low in my belly while considering Shadow’s recent suggestion, but then I remembered his injuries. As much fun as it sounded, he needed to be looked at. I needed to find Grey.

Valyx

She was intensely cute, wiggling on my lap. But she was making me hard as stone. Her silky fingertips on my lips only made me want to kiss the fuck out of her. She was fussing over nothing. I’d heal soon enough.

My injuries were nothing new, but somewhat surprising. I’d miscalculated Albion’s strength. She was getting better, more calculating every day. She was a good soldier, even if she’d rather be growing vegetables. Maybe one day, if this war ever ended, she could grow food instead of defending the lives of our citizens.

Something tightened in my chest. Being this close to Saphyra was getting harder every day. Restraining myself from her was more painful than the nasty scrape I had on my back by a shit ton. I’d take a million cuts and bruises over the fucked-up emotions trampling through my ribcage. I couldn’t tell her that. If she fussed this much over a scratch, she would be even more upset by the rest of it. Her agitation set me on edge, and all I could think about was comforting her, or fucking her. Or both.

It wasn’t safe enough out here for that. Not really. When I was paying attention, it was low risk. Very little could sneak up this close to the mountain, but I wasn’t willing to take the chance by letting her distract me. Her pheromones were rising, too. Like her bond was calling out to me. She wanted to wait for Grey, but with the other alphas gone, and me distracted, we needed to head in.

I lifted her from my lap, and she pouted. “Come on, little omega. Let’s go find Grey.” I didn’t need Grey to look at my back, but it would make her happy, and so I would do it, whether I liked it or not.

Chapter Seventeen

Saphyra

Shadow grabbed his discarded shirts and steered me back between the bramble thicket into the darkened passageway. Logically, I understood that alphas were built for this sort of thing, but his bruised knuckles, split lip, and torn up back upset me more than it should. Maybe this was part of the incomplete bond. Whatever it was, I didn’t like it and was glad Shadow had agreed to see Grey, even though he insisted he didn’t need to.

On our way back in, I noticed Shadow re-secure the panel on the interior side of the door before we left it locked behind us. I’d watched him disarm it and arm it again. It didn’t seem that complicated, but if you didn’t know what you were doing it would be confusing. I wondered if this door was monitored like the others or if this was excluded from the security grid somehow. It worried me that I had to think about that at all. The safety of this whole place was constantly on my mind.

Halfway back to the stairwell, Albion and Grey found us. The austere alpha bowed and quickly made her goodbyes, saying she needed to return to her duties, leaving Shadow, Grey, and me in the gloomy light of the residential sector.

Dark crescents hung below Grey’s soft, smoke-colored eyes, and his skin was pale and drawn. He looked tired, but I was so glad to see him I ignored it and rushed over, throwing my arms around his neck. He smiled and his hands rubbed soothing circles over my back. “Little one,” he murmured, and nuzzled my throat.

My heart did a flip-flop in my chest as I melted into his embrace. The joy of his presence was overshadowed when I remembered why I’d needed to see him in the first place. “Grey, Shadow is hurt. Can you fix him?”

I hurried back to Shadow and lifted the edge of his shirt to show Grey the bloody scab marring the swirl of black and gray of his tattoos.

“I’m sure something can be done. Let’s go to my office and have a look.”

Grey led the way through the murky gloom to a hallway that split off from the muddy ground. The floor and walls shifted back to the sterile metal that the upper levels had just before we came to a door. Grey opened it with a passcode and let us in.

I didn’t know Grey had an office, but this looked more like a storeroom converted into a medical facility. It was brightly lit and clean, and I supposed that was all it needed to be.

In the far corner, there was a cot set up, and it made me wonder if Grey was sleeping down here. He shouldn’t be sleeping in a storeroom. He should be sleeping with me in my nest. But I didn’t have a nest. That was a concern for later, though. First, we had my alpha to fix.

Shadow peeled off his shirt that was sticking to his back in places. I winced in sympathy and fidgeted at his side.

“I’m still fine,” Shadow said as I started to worry over him again.

I knew he was fine, but I needed to be sure. I watched as Grey unpackaged some sterile gauze and cleaned away the caked on blood with a funny smelling solution. As he wiped, the blood came away from undamaged skin underneath.

I’d seen the wound. I knew it was there earlier.

“Where did it go?”

The shock must have been clear on my face, because Shadow smirked. “I told you it was fine.”

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