Page 51 of Fate Unchained

This wasn’t anything that could be captured in a book. This was perfection. Kyril knotting her was the best thing she’d ever felt. She was so attuned to him, as if his hand over hers was her own. They were truly one. She shuddered and closed her eyes. She clung to him and hoped they could stay like this for a good long while.

They did.

20

The suns were out, but they were behind clouds, leaving the late morning light chalky as Kyril carried Lilah back to Eroica. It was time to regroup with Finn and Zann, then hunt for Boris and the leshak. No leshak was going to remain loose in Ulterra. No asshole was going to attack Lilah and take half of their rune.

He held her because she’d lost her shoes in the river but also because he liked how with every inhale, he breathed in her flowery buttercup scent mixed with his.

Very much mixed with his.

After they’d spent time under the blankets, they’d eaten some more, and he’d let her feed him again before returning the favor. Feeding each other was courtship activity, and each time her fingers touched his lips, instincts flared inside him demanding he make her his forever. Instead, he’d chased her around the cave, taking her up against the wall. Then again by the fire.

The rune was powerful, but he knew from the moment it showed up that it wasn’t what caused this demand for her.

Vulk were descended from wolfwalkers who imprinted on a mate only once in a lifetime. When that happened, there was nothing a wolfwalker male wouldn’t do to win their mate’s affections. Apparently, some wolfwalker instincts still lived deep inside him because right now, he wanted to bring Lilah gifts. To shower her with anything to make her smile at him.

She lay slack against him, her head on his shoulder. “Our cave is growing on me,” she said.

“The place where you trapped us, then we got attacked by a shade?”

She laughed. “You can’t say it doesn’t have some … other … fun memories.”

“Fun?” He rubbed his jaw over her head. “What about life-altering? Knee-weakening?”

“Hmm. I suppose seeing my first shade was life-altering and knee-weakening.” He growled, and she laughed again.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I do have a question, though.” Her tone grew quiet and serious. “We don’t need to worry about baby vulk, right? You said it’s only when a female is in heat?”

An image of Lilah carrying his child flashed through his mind, so vivid it seemed real. His arms tightened around her. “That’s right, we don’t need to worry about it. I’d know if you were receptive like that. We both would.” He rubbed her with his jaw again. “It would be a fierce need, almost painful. Much more powerful.”

“Is it like that for all the immortals?”

“All immortals have times when they’re fertile, and they don’t occur often. I think it’s one of the tradeoffs for having a long lifespan.” He glanced down at her. “I know a vae secret, one you won’t find in any books.”

That got her attention. She jerked upright and squeezed his shoulder with her hand. “Tell me!”

He bit back a smile. He really loved her curiosity. It made him want to tell her all about his travels and talk about all the things he’d seen so she could know about them too. “With the vae, the males are the ones that have the fertile cycles. They go into a rut.”

“A rut?”

“It’s when a male switches into breeding mode.”

Her fingers played with the back of his neck. “Does that happen to the vulk?”

“It could, but we stay in control.” His voice grew hoarse, and his cock thickened. When he’d woken during the night and discovered his side no longer ached, he looked down at Lilah and wanted her so fiercely, all he knew was he had to get inside her. He’d been harder than he ever had before, and something feral took over. He’d reined himself in enough to slow down, but he’d definitely been on the edge of rutting.

He needed to think about something else. It was tough to walk when his body was sprung to bed Lilah again. “But a vae rut is dangerous for the male vae, too. They have to fight or f—” he coughed— “bed someone, or they may die. I learned about it when I was fighting alongside a vae male who was in his rut. He fought like a vulk. He could have found a willing partner, but he didn’t want to go through a rut with someone who wasn’t his mate. He said it’s intense, and he wanted to save it.” Kyril tilted his head. “Decent chap for a vae. Good fighter.”

They reached Eroica, and after he shifted into human form they headed to Lilah’s house. While waiting for her to change, he asked her father what happened during the night. He already knew Zann’s side, but was curious about what the townspeople had noticed.

Not much.

The town was focused on putting out the fire into the wee hours of dawn. All the people gambling in the hall downstairs had fled with the first explosion, and it was assumed the only casualty was Boris.

Boris wouldn’t stick around Eroica, so they needed to track him. Unfortunately, there was only one good way to do that. One involving Zann.

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