Page 112 of Bull Moon Rising

I trust her. The one who has issues trusting is Hawk…and unfortunately, I’m going to give him even more of a reason not to trust me. I hate that, but I’m low on choices. I could ask him to help us, too. To ask him to break guild rules and help us steal from the guild right under their noses…but then I think about his hand and how he already owes the guild far too much as it is. I won’t bring him down with me.

I know what he means when he says he struggles with caring too much.

I meet myhusband at the door to the dorms a short time later, wearing a heavy dress of olive green with embroidered attached sleeves and a matching chemise that peeks out from artful gaps in all the fashionable spots. I always feel pretty in this dress, especially with a matching cloak over it, but I suspect it’s ruined by my spectacles, which magnify my eyes and make me look owlish. Hawk looks pleased at the sight of me, though, and I twirl for his approval. “What do you think?”

“Luscious.”

I’m both mortified and aroused. “You’re not supposed to call me that.”

“It’s true. My mouth waters looking at you, because I know how juicy you are under all those skirts.”

I move forward, pressing my fingers to his mouth to silence him, and all the while my breathing speeds up and need slides through my veins like liquid. “Hush. We’re going out tonight to distract you, not rushing back to our quarters.”

Much as I’d like to. I’m envisioning stripping him naked and rubbing his cock all over my face again, just because I liked the feel of his heated skin against mine, and how powerful and sexy it made me feel to touch him and give him pleasure, and how much it turned me on to do so.

But Gwenna, Lark, and the others need us out of their hair if they’re going to pull this off, and the moment Hawk hears someone leave the dormitory, he’ll be wondering what’s going on.

So I run a hand down my husband’s front. He’s wearing the guild jerkin, fastened shut all the way to his throat, and his trousers are in guild colors as well. He’s not wearing his sash denoting his rank, but that’s the only difference I’m seeing. “I thought we were changing out of guild clothes for the day?”

“I realized that I didn’t have anything else,” he murmurs, leaning in and rubbing his muzzle against the side of my neck. “And that anyone who sees a Taurian in Vastwarren is going to know I work for the guild anyhow. Gods, you smell amazing.”

His hand steals to the front of my bodice, skimming over one of my nipples through the fabric, and I bite back a moan. Luckily for me, my stomach growls in that moment, and that brings Hawk’s amorousness to a halt.

“Hungry?”

“I could eat,” I admit. I could also turn around and head back to our rooms and let him lick me all over, but the eating is part of the plan, and I need to focus on that.

Hawk pulls my cloak from the nearby hook and places it over my shoulders. “Come, then. I know a place. We’ll have a nice meal, pretend the guild doesn’t exist for a night, and then return later.” His muzzle dips against my throat again, and he whispers, “And I’ll undress you like I’m unwrapping a present.”

By Lady Asteria, when they say Taurians grow amorous with the moon’s advent, they mean it. We’ve barely decided upon dinner and I’m already flushed with heat and my pulse is throbbing between my thighs. Hawk isn’t much of a conversationalist as we head out into Vastwarren, and I’m grateful for that. It allows me to compose myself as we walk, but when we near the King’s Onion, I give him a sharp look.

“Not there,” he reassures me. “It’s just along the way. I promise I’m not starting anything, Aspeth. Tonight is just about dinner and spending time together.”

I slide my hand into the crook of his arm again and nod.

True to his word, we stop at a tavern one street over. It’s nearly deserted, with an elderly Taurian and his younger human wife behind the bar. The main tavern room is practically empty save for a few slitherskins near the fire, piled together with their houses stacked nearby. Thebarkeep recognizes Hawk and makes him a huge bowl of lentil and vegetable soup with a half loaf of crusty bread, my portions only slightly smaller. He puts the tray down at our table and then leans over, his gaze on Hawk.

“I know it’s a difficult time to be Taurian right now, son, but this is a nice establishment. If you feel the need to take the edge off, head to the alley. Understand?”

I should be mortified. Instead, it strikes me as funny, and I press my fingers to my lips, doing my best not to giggle.

Hawk eyes me balefully as my shoulders shake. “You laugh,” he murmurs as the tavern owner saunters away, “but some can’t help themselves. It’s hard to serve a family a meal when there’s a bull rutting into his hand at the next table over.”

That only makes me giggle harder. “I’m sorry,” I wheeze. “I know it’s not funny. It’s just…what if there are a lot of you who have the same need at the same time? Do you all go to the alley together?”

“If we do, we don’t make eye contact,” he drawls, eyeing me. “And thank you for that. My cock has sufficiently shriveled enough that I can eat in peace.”

I have to wipe the tears of laughter from my eyes. “I’m so sorry. I’m just picturing you staring at one another and angrily jerking off because your soup is getting cold and a stranger is standing too close.”

“Can’t be much of a stranger if I’ve got my cock in hand.” But he smiles at me as he says it. “Hope the food is all right with you. The old Taurian’s from my home village and his food reminds me of my mother’s.”

Oh. Hawk doesn’t talk much of his home life, or his family. I’d love to hear more. “This is lovely. It’s nice just to get away from the guild life, even if it’s just for a few hours.” I take a small bite of the food and try not to wince. It tastes like, well, grass. I swallow and take another bite, because if this is what Hawk likes, I want to appreciate it as well. “I’ve never had this sort of flavor before. You eat this back where you came from?”

He’s taking huge bites of the vegetable-laden soup, clearly loving it. “The village I grew up in was nothing but Taurians. My parents were farmers, so aye, we had a lot of dinners like this.”

I take a bite of the crusty bread instead, because something tells mehe’s going to want to eat my share of soup, too. “Do you miss your family?”

Hawk shrugs. “They could write. They don’t. I’m not part of their life anymore. So no, I don’t miss them.”

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