Page 200 of Fated or Knot

55

LARK

My nest was clean and nearly scentless, with stacks of neatly folded bedding and pillows waiting for my attention. I’d whistled unhappily at the sight, and Marius had delved into the piles to find my favorite blanket and pillow for me.“We’ll re-do the nest later,”he suggested.

I’d agreed, and giggled when he bundled me up in the blanket fully clothed. He only paused to take my shoes off and tuck my feet in the wrap of fleece. He untied his boots and left his clothes on too as he climbed onto the divan to cuddle me as the big spoon. I had the feeling the only thing holding him back from re-unleashing his rut on me was the bulky barrier of fabric and his considerable discipline as protector heir.

With his purring bulk angled over my back, and his hand resting over my belly despite all the layers, the pre-heat pain faded enough that I dropped straight to sleep. It was blissful, but it was over in what felt like a blink of an eye. I stirred with the vibrations of Marius’s deep voice whispering, “If you open that big mouth and wake her, you and I are going to have a problem.”

He sounded like my usual grumpy kelpie, no hint of a feral rasp. I cracked my eyes open, blinking away the fog that’d filmed over my sight.

“It’s almost dinnertime. The li’l bird needs to get ready for her next date.” That was Tormund’s loud whisper.

Yawning, I stretched as much as I could in my tight blanket wrap. “Now you’ve done it,” Marius snarled.

“He didn’t wake me,” I said groggily. I shifted around to get my bearings better. Marius was still behind me. Tormund stood just past the privacy screen into the nest. The woodsy note in his rut-enhanced scent twined perfectly with the green fertility of the kelpie’s, threatening to send me into heat right then and there.

Stars help me.

I caught Marius’s gaze. In the nest’s low lighting, the rut glow was subtle, but he put off sparks of yellow and gold from the reflection of the faelights circling overhead. I lost track of my thoughts for a moment, dazzled.

Oh, right.“Where’d Niall go?”

“You need me able to talk for the event tonight. I will speak to others that aren’t you. Grudgingly.”

“What event?”I asked.

He lifted me, blanket and all, and offered me over to Tormund, who swept me up.“I’ll tell you if Fal doesn’t,”he grumbled.

“Did you have a nice nap, li’l bird?” my gentle giant asked. He carried me into the bedroom attached to the nest and helped me out of the blanket wrap. When he saw that I was still in my wrinkled traveling clothes, he tilted his head with a line forming between his brows.

“It was really good. Um, I need a shower first. And what kind of date am I preparing for here?”

He smiled, though for once, it was a forced expression on him. “Just dinner for now. By that, I mean, Fal wants you to wear something comfortable to eat with him in his rooms.”

I hadn’t missed thefor now, but I gave my head a shake and put on a bit of a forced smile too. This was supposed to be fun. It was a date, after all! I just wished my mates would stop acting oddly and tell me what was wrong.

“Okay, I can take it from here,” I said.

He stepped aside and I made my way to the rain room, finding my robe on a hook by the door and a new bar of lightly scented soap waiting to be used. The suite was quiet of house moth squeaking. I wondered if Tormund dismissed them as I showered off the trail and all the lingering slick between my legs.

I scrubbed myself thoroughly to obscure the extra-sweet note of my pre-heat. It was probably futile. My folds were tender to the touch, and the pain in my belly had transformed after a couple hours of Marius’s presence into an ache deep in my core.

“Mate,”the male in question said over our bond, while I was inspecting my sex with gentle fingertips. Ah, stars, did he feel that or something?

“Do you remember taking a crystal fromTelimarr?”he asked.

“Yeah, for Fal. Do you have it?”I’d definitely lost track of it.

“Aye, p’nixie. I’ve been hiding it for you.”

He and I talked about smuggling it into the room with me during my dinner, but not why, just that I should keep it a secret and under an illusion. I would know when to pull it out, and what to do and say when I did. When I emerged from my closet, dried off and dressed, Marius was waiting for me by a decorative box resting on the pack bed outside my nest. I took a peek inside and there it was, a prism-shaped crystal that was cloudy white with generous veins of silver, nestled in a bed of velvet.

“You’re going out of your way for this,” I mused aloud.

He shrugged. “Most omegas unlucky enough to mate with a dark elf know this tradition. It’ll mean a lot to Fal.”

Unlucky, I repeated to myself, my lips twitching in amusement. “It’s sweet you’re doing this for him.”

---