Holy Shiitake.
"Years? You have known about her for years?" I growled. The Elf's jaw tightened. He was far bigger than most of the Elves I have seen. Elves were the size of humans, if not smaller. This Elf almost matched my height, but not my strength. He had no colony leader blood in him; he was nothing but a strong warrior.
"It wasn't my choice," he seethed. "Seraphina, my daughter, was in danger if I dared try to take them away."
Ah, so he did know her name. All this time, he watched from the shadows? Not daring to take his mate back? How could an Elf stay away from his mate for so many years? Heat flushed through my body. I could never leave my mate to watch her like that, not ever.
"Please," he sighed. "Come with me; I have shelter. We can talk." The tents were laid back in the truck, waiting to be taken back to the territory. Hesitating, I looked back only for the Elf to lay a hand on my shoulder. Declan found him not to be a threat, his senses at ease with Seraphina's father.
"My name is Warrior Folen, please, your highness. I will not keep you long." My stiff stature wavered; nodding, I followed him deeper into the wood. We had gone for three miles, just walking and keeping the silence. The leaves crunched under my feet while he was silent. His leather bindings often swiped together as we reached a large tree.
"You can climb, yes?" The tree was large, with hardly any branches at the bottom. I would have to use the claws in my hands and feet to track upward. He began his ascent, jumping, planting feet with the soft soles of his shoes in steady places. My bulky self, clawing against the tree, made the tree scared of my presence.
At a large branch, a leather tent draped over other branches tied downward to smaller branches, making four walls and a roof. The floor was made with vines wrapped around each other. Folen put the palm of his hand on the tree, and the tree immediately began to glow, healing from the scrapes I had caused it.
"Sorry," I mumbled, a bit embarrassed.
"No worries, I promised the tree protection as long as I stayed. This is just returning the favor." The leather strap was pulled to the side by his steady hand. Upon entering, there was a figure covered in the blanket.
Red hair pooled out of a fallen hood, covering the vined floor. Its weak voice came from the shaking form.
"Folen? Is that you?"
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Seraphina
Afterdessert,ha,wink,wink, we finally ate the goodies in the basket. Dax had been lying on the cushion, propped up on some pillows, slowly eating his sandwich. He was utterly sated; we both were. Something about a good climax and food really relaxed us.
"So," I drug out. "Want to tell me who also joined us this evening?" Dax stopped chewing on his breadstick; his eyes slowly reached mine. Wiggling my eyebrows, I laughed at the worried expression.
"Uh," Dax sat up, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Yeah, I can explain." I laughed, pushing him playfully. The worried expression faltered once he was sitting up. Even being so tall myself, he still towered over me.
"That was Dominic," Dax chuckled. "He and I…" he scratched the back of his head. "Were fighting who gets to touch you. Dominic wanted to mate with you, and I held him back because Dimitri isn't here. Then he got the bright idea just to join me at the same time."
"That's why your eyes continued to change color?" Dax nodded. His eyes flickered again and stayed dark.
"I'm sorry, mate." The voice was more profound than Dax, rough and unbridled.
"Dominic?" Dominic's head lowered, his nose grazing my collar bone.
"You just smell so good," his hand went up to cup my breast; I rolled my eyes, grabbing his hand.
"I guess it's alright," I teased.
"You did enjoy it though, your thighs quaked when we fucked you with our fingers." I blushed scarlet; we weren't even in the right mood to be talking about this.
"That, what?" I stuttered while Dominic hummed. His fingers trailed down my chest, which was now covered with Dax's shirt.
"I can still smell your arousal on my fingers. Just wait until we fuck…" Dominic shook his head, the black eyes turned back into the electric blue. Dax cleared his throat; his hand was still at my breast.
"Sorry, he's a bit horny." Dominic wasn't the only one that was horny; Dax' manhood was jabbing me in my thigh. Dax pecked me on the lips lightly. "As much as I want to continue this, we probably should head out; I told Alpha Big Claw we wouldn't keep his members out of their library too long." I gave a quick kiss back, cleaned up our mess, and put the couches back to their rightful places.
Dax held my hand while we walked to the dining hall; he continued to brush my knuckles with his thumb. Quiet times with Dax were pleasant. He wasn't much of a talker, but his touch was something else. I was so happy that I felt love for both of these Wolves; spending time with each separately would all do us some good. They were still two people, and fighting for one mate had been hard.
I smiled up at my possessive mate once we reached the dining hall. Many were eating late dinners, many warriors who came from patrolling the territory or training grounds. "Alpha Dax, can I speak with you?" Alpha Big Claw was standing with Tua and their nameless baby. The full moon ceremony to give their baby a name had to be put off because of the massive rogue attack. Big Claw was headstrong that they wait before naming their son. This left the pack itching to know the new baby Alpha's name.
Dax started to pull me toward Alpha Big Claw, but I found Zoey sitting alone, pushing her food around her plate. She looked so lonely; her eyes never drifted upwards to look into the room. "Dax, can I go talk to Zoey?" Zoey's house arrest was over, and her own cousin wasn't sitting with her. Dax squeezed my hand tighter; he didn't want to let me go. "I'll stay here, right with Zoey. I won't go anywhere else," I cooed at him. His face softened, giving me another kiss on the cheek. I was becoming too spoiled with all this attention.