Page 51 of Through Battle and Blades (The Wolf Queen 2)

The sharp male voice had the ladies skittering back and I gritted my teeth at that, but couldn’t respond. Weyland appeared by my shoulder and we both peered at my other mate.

“Gael…?”

“I’m fine,” he grumbled, throwing his head back, but when he tried to meet our eyes, his seemed hazy and unfocussed. All of the blue fire that burned there had gone out, leaving them flat and almost grey-coloured.

“You’re obviously not. What’s been going on? Are you that hungover?”

“Drawing power has a cost,” Selene said grimly. “I did wonder. They were fine after the battle, but you passed out.” I flinched, remembering that awful nothingness within which I’d hung. “It looks like the same here.”

“Drawing power? What’ve you been up to this morning?” Weyland snapped.

“Working out a way to use the natural advantage Darcy has in being connected to you two,” Selene shot back before turning to the women. “Lessons are over for today, ladies, but we’ll be here in the morning if you want to keep practising.”

“I thought I’d be carrying Darcy out of here in my arms. I have to admit, I’m disappointed it’s going to be you I carry instead, brother,” Weyland said, his arm going around Gael.

“Bugger off,” Gael snapped, seeming to focus for the first time. “Just help me inside and then we’ll…”

Both of us went to support him as he started to get to his feet, but his knees gave out at first before he forced his legs to straighten. Slowly, but surely, we made it into the nearby stables, where we found a hay bale for him to sit on. Gael slumped against the wall, just focussing on breathing as the two of us fussed. I pulling his shirt up and out of his pants on the premise that when ladies fainted, people usually loosened their corsets. But when my hand slid across his stomach, Gael’s eyes flicked open.

“That,” he said, putting his hand on top of mine and holding it there. “Just stay like that.”

“What does that do?” Weyland asked, his voice rising. “What the hell have you been up to this morning?”

“Selene said the queen used to use her consorts as a power source,” I replied, staring into Gael’s face and seeing the harsh lines there begin to soften. “She wanted to see if that worked. It worked alright. I went from hungover, tired and stumbling over my feet to better than ever. But at what cost?”

“It was worth it,” Gael rasped, his eyes falling closed. His eyelashes were so long and thick. “That feeling of connection. I was in you and you were in me…”

“That’s always the way, when we touch,” Weyland insisted, his hand landing on my shoulder.

Gael stiffened then, letting out a little hiss before forcing his eyes open.

“Not like that, brother. I’m still conscious of being apart from Darcy when we touch, when we’re together, but not then. I was her, skimming over the sand and cutting Selene down to size. We were going to kick her arse from here to Grania. We were strong, so fucking strong.”

“And now you’re weak,” Weyland growled.

“Not for long.” Gael arched under my touch, so I placed my other hand on his bare skin. “Yeah, that’s the stuff. I can feel it pouring into me. This golden heat…” His mouth quested blindly towards mine. “Got a kiss for your first and best mate, lass?” He grinned when Weyland made a rumbling sound of protest.

“Will it help?” I asked, already leaning closer.

“Never hurts,” he assured me. “Only when you pull away.”

I felt the need to do just that, to taste my mate and reassure myself he was going to be alright, so I leaned forward and brushed my mouth against his.

“Mm…” Gael murmured. “That’s the stuff. More of that.”

“But what if it—?”

Any protest I might have made was cut off as his hand shot up and dragged my head down, pulled my lips down to his. Then I couldn’t remember any objections I might have had at all.

Something had happened to me and it’d multiplied exponentially with each claiming. They had always set my body on fire, but the marks on my neck throbbed now with a much greater intensity. I sank my hands into Gael’s hair, parting his lips with mine, and then my tongue went questing out, seeking his. He tangled his tongue around mine, then dragged me closer, so I was half climbing on top of him.

“And how does that feel, brother?” Weyland asked in a dark voice, and we both turned, bleary eyed, to look at him. “It’s made you feel better, hasn’t it?”

I could feel the evidence of this as Gael hauled me up and across his body, his arms wrapping tight around my waist. Weyland looked the two of us over with a look of satisfaction that surprised me. His hand reached out, his brother and I watching closely as he pushed it under the hem of my shirt and onto my belly. I sucked in a little breath as that electrical pulsing began, but so much deeper and sharper this time.

“It’s like energy is passing between us,” I said between gasps. I’d become so much more aware of my body and it still ached from last night. So I felt every clench now, every twitch.

“Is that what we’re calling it?” Weyland said, rubbing small circles across my stomach. “In the interest of research, is this helping you, brother, or hindering?”

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