Page 70 of Through Battle and Blades (The Wolf Queen 2)

“Love is a puny word, too small to encompass what I feel for you, lass. I feel like I need to develop a new language, something harder, fiercer, something ferocious.” He said the words against the skin of my neck, and it felt like he was marking me anew. “Nothing, nothing I’ve ever experienced prepared me for this, for you. I will always love you, Darcy, wolf queen, until the moment I die.”

35

At that, the three of us had fallen onto the bed into a messy tangle. Weyland had muttered dire threats about what he was going to do to me the moment Gael’s knot softened, but for the moment he settled against my back. Well, as close as Gael would allow.

Something had happened in this night, something that unlocked a part of Gael he did not seem to allow out often. There was a selfishness about him, a possessiveness, and the wolf inside me was elated. She liked clear, apparent displays of affection, of connection, and Gael lavished them upon us. Kisses, little nipping ones all over my neck, then deeper, softer, sweeter ones on my lips. But at some point, the darkness rose and swamped the lot of us, allowing us some sleep.

When I woke later, Gael had loosened his grip upon me, his knot having slipped free, which allowed me to note that Dane hadn’t joined us.

He was a picture of a lonely prince, perched upon a much more prosaic throne, but he watched the three of us with an entirely possessive eye, something I could see more easily now. He must’ve collected some firewood and set a fire, the reflected light of flames flickering across his face. There was satisfaction there, some pleasure, but no peace. Not then, not when I rose from the bed, his brother’s seed slipping down my thighs, nor when I approached him, entirely naked.

“Did it all go as planned?” I whispered, not wanting to wake the others. Gael had made a small sound of protest when I’d pulled free, but exhaustion had a stronger grip on him than me right now. “Did we perform as expected?”

He held out a hand for me, bringing me closer as a king might his queen, and, in the end, that’s what we were to each other, weren’t we? Those blue eyes stared up at me from behind a messy fall of black hair, his other hand raking it away to get a better look at me.

“Nothing you do is expected,” he said and then smiled at that, his expression almost beatific. “That’s how I knew you were the one I’d dreamed of. Malia, all the women at court, even Mother, I could see through their games with startling ease, but not you.”

He pulled me onto his lap, and somehow my body knew exactly where to go. We fitted together like a lock and a key, my head nestling into the curve of his shoulder.

“And if I grow predictable?” I asked, the word delivered idly, some strange kind of calm settling over me, even as I felt something twitch beneath. “If you learn me, like you did those other women?”

“That’s all I bloody want. Don’t you see that? That’s why I watch you all the time, why I strive to try and keep up.” A hand went around my neck, tilting my head back. “Your worth to me doesn’t come from your mystery.”

“Then what does it come from?” I asked.

“From you,” he replied simply, his brow creasing slightly as he said the words. “Known or unknown or yet to be discovered, I think you’ll find me the most focussed and apt of students as I seek to discover more.”

I pulled away then, gratified to see his hands reach for me instinctively, right before he smothered that gesture. But I turned to face him, placing my hands on the arms of his chair, my knees either side of his thighs. His eyes raked over my naked form before he dragged his focus up.

“So why do you hold yourself apart from us?” I asked and he let out a sigh. He went to turn his gaze away, to stare at the wall, but I reached out and stopped him, bringing him back to me. His intense look was much more circumspect now. “You seek to control us, to ensure an outcome, but… That creates a distance.”

“It doesn’t have to.” He blinked as he said the words, they seeming to have come out in a rush. “A power exchange can be… the most intimate of ways to engage another.”

“Show me,” I said.

“You’re sore. You’ve just taken your mate’s knot.”

“So show me something that won’t hurt me.” I studied his face. Dane was beautiful, every inch the perfect prince, but those perilously high cheekbones and full lips, they seemed to hide more than they communicated. I wanted to prise off the mask he wore, see what lurked beneath. “Show me, Dane.” Some of my own alpha bark bled through into my voice and that seemed to be the key to unlocking whatever was holding him back.

He grinned at my clumsy attempt at coercion, his eyes shining with a strange light I rarely saw him show. It was raw and unfettered, and that just had me wanting more.

“Show me this intimacy, Dane. Show me how it would be.”

His hand shot out, burying itself in my hair, but rather than a gentle caress, he used it to hold me very still. His grip was precise, not enough to hurt, but enough to make clear it would if I moved, so I stayed right where I was.

“For your pleasure or mine?” he asked me.

“I’ve probably had more than my share of pleasure,” I replied in a harsh whisper, my eyes sliding as far as they could towards the bed. “Make me give you yours.”

“You do, just by being here, by asking—”

“No, Dane, that’s not what this is.” I moved my hand, trailing it down the inside of his other wrist, the skin so much softer, smoother there. “Tell me how to touch you.”

He stared into my eyes for what felt like an aeon, as if the mind that lurked behind those blue depths could see something in my eyes to help him to decide. His chin tilted up, the muscle in his jaw twitching just once before he let out a long, shuddering breath. His grip on my hair was loosened and both hands moved now, twining my hair into a rope before forming an impromptu bun at the base.

“I like to see it all,” he said. “The line of your neck, the marks my brothers left, the shift of your head, your mouth. Your hair is beautiful and I would very much like to sit one day and brush it from end to end until it shines like silk, but not today. I need to read you, your responses.”

I nodded, feeling the weight of the knot at my neck and the cool air on my skin.

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