Chapter 5: Page 5

He nuzzled the marks on her neck from where he bit her, licked at them, hoping he hadn’t hurt her. He was still hard within her, his body taking its time softening—he was certain it was the pollen’s influence—but he couldn’t mind, he would take this opportunity to enjoy the time allotted. He skimmed his hands over her, finally able to admire, to enjoy the softness of her skin. He wondered what she would look like against him, her pretty, light green skin in contrast to his darker golden skin, her dark, moss green hair spread out upon his chest. He pressed kisses against her shoulder, breathed in the scent of her, of their mating. His scent was on her and hers upon him. As a Wolf, he was pleased.

“You smell of summer storms,” his voice was a husky, satisfied rumble.

“Are you certain?” she whispered. She was playing with the ends of his hair, admiring the silver lights, the deep onyx hue, the shades of iron. Lobo’s had the most fascinating hair; a complete grayscale on one head and each Lobo was different. “I’ve always been told I smell like spring.”

“No, the sweet smell after a summer storm.” He rubbed his thumbs over the sides of her breasts.

“You smell like the forest.”

His lips curled upwards in a grin as he tasted her neck. “Like dank, rotting leaves?”

“No.” She pinched his arm. “Woodsy and wild.”

“I’m not certain that sounds any better. Wild animals shit in the woods you know. Sometimes not so wild animals…”

“If I weren’t so content right now, I would punch you.”

“I aim to please.” He nibbled her ear, her cheek, the corner of her lips, then looked at her, enjoying the shock of seeing her face after having hot, crazy sex with her. “You’re beautiful.”

“I’m horny.”

Dewi went still. “If you’re not careful, I’m never going to separate from you.”

“That’s a bad thing?” She nipped at his lips, rubbed her feet over his ass.

A low growl sounded in his throat as he eased his cock out of her pussy; he had yet to soften. He wanted her upstairs in the privacy of one of their rooms so he could take her again and in as many ways as he wanted. He didn’t give her a chance to straighten her nightgown, just turned her towards the stairs and pushed. “Go, now. Run.”

Neak looked at him over her shoulder, saw the lust on his face, his blatant stare, his rampant erection, and felt hunted. It filled her with an unexpected thrill of excitement. He was going to chase her. Without another thought, she took off running, her heart pounding. She could hear him behind her, feel him there on her heels, his intent to have her.

She made it to her door, but had Dewi shove it open and her into the room. He shut the door behind him, careful not to slam it and awaken the rest of the household. He started stalking her, stepping out of his sweat pants as he did so. His lips spread in a wolfish grin, his teeth flashing. He was still on the hunt.

She tried to dodge him, but he kept grinning as he blocked her escape. She was going to be his again soon, taken on another hot and wild ride, and her body was responding, aching for it. She dodged again as he lunged, danced out of his way.

Sabelle howled.

Dewi’s head whipped around, his ears alert to the sound of his niece in distress. He looked back at Neak, a soft whine escaped his throat, but then he shook his head and searched out his sweat pants; he couldn’t leave Sabelle to her nightmare. Climbing into the sweats, he tried to force his erection away, somewhat succeeding by the time he was walking over to the door.

“I won’t lock it,” Neak called after him.

He looked at her once more and offered her that same wolfish grin, but said nothing. He would be back and hopefully she wouldn’t have changed her mind. Otherwise, he might start howling himself.

He jogged down the hall and eased open Sabelle’s door and there she was sitting up in her bed, her face turned up in her lament. Closing the door, he walked over and picked her up, cradling her in his arms. He started softly singing.

Milmar flew into the room moments later and hovered, watching as Sabelle’s tears dwindled, a worried look upon his face. Biting his lower lip, he flew over to Dewi’s shoulder and settled down, pulling his legs against his chest. Wanting to help comfort the pup, he harmonized his voice with Dewi’s on the well-known lullaby.

“What did you dream about, Pup?” Dewi whispered once Sabelle stopped crying. She was staring up at him, her eye luminous in the moon’s light. “What upsets you?”

Sabelle, not knowing the words, reached up and touched Dewi on the forehead. Silver sparks snapped upon contact. She jerked her hand back and tears welled in her eyes again. “Papa. Hurt.”

Silver Moonlight—the weapon of a Lunar Knight.

Dewi stared at the pup, his forehead tingling from the shock—she didn’t have the power to hurt him yet—as horror dawned in his gut. “What did you do, Renna?”

Lunar Knights were Faie chosen by Dear Luna herself to heal the Wair who contracted The Fever, and if they were too long infected, they were then charged with putting the Wair down with arrows of Silver Moonlight.

“Now you know.” Milmar flew down from Dewi’s shoulder and landed gently on Belle’s chest. He wiped at her tears and started making silly faces, wanting her to look at him and not her uncle until Dewi came to terms with what Belle would one day be. He didn’t want Belle to think she had done something wrong, to think her uncle no longer loved her.

“How is this possible?”

“Her father was a Lunar Knight. Transferred his power to her as he died adding to her own. That’s what she meant when she touched your forehead.”

“But…”

Milmar looked up at Dewi, his eyes solemn, and his usual carefree tone, gone. “Does this change how you feel about her? Do you love her less, ‘cause she received her father’s power?”

“What? Of…of course not. But I don’t understand how she could have received it. She’s a Wair, how can she handle Silver Moonlight?”

“She’s a FaieWolf, not a WairWolf.”

“Meaning?”

“She presents mostly Faie, but shows some Wolf.” Milmar made another face at Belle and earned a giggle. “She’ll be ostracized by her Wair peers and by the Faie.”

“Why the Faie? She’ll be like them.” Dewi held Sabelle tighter, wanting to protect her against any harm. “She’s one of them.”

“Faie don’t like the FaieWolfs or FaieBears or FaieKitties or any FaieAnimal ‘cause they’re not really Faie. They look mostly Faie, have Faie magick and abilities, but they have the temperament, senses, and reflexes of the Animal in them. Only thing they can’t do is change into their animal.”

“How do you know this?”

“I’m her Fairy Guide.” He made another face and tickled Belle. “I haven’t told Romie yet; he won’t like it. Thinks I spend too much time with Belle already.”

“Fairy Guide?” Dewi placed Sabelle on her bed and sat next to her, pushing her hair off her face. Milmar was still making faces at her, making her giggle. He was grateful to the Fairy.

“A Lunar Knight’s supposed to have a Fairy Guide, those that don’t are Lunar Pages. That’s the rules now.”

“But what do Fairy Guides do?”

“We help the Knight. I don’t know everything, but some. My family has been Fairy Guides for a long time. I always knew I would be one.” He pulled his shirt off and, with his arm held out to the side, pointed to an arrow running along the inside of his upper arm. “Belle has the same one.”

“That’s just a birthmark.”

“No, it’s the mark of a Lunar Knight. When I touched it, it turned silver, which makes me her Fairy Guide.” Milmar pulled his shirt back on. “When the time comes, she’ll go to University, and I’ll go with her, and we’ll enroll in the Lunar Studies Program. Until then, I’ll teach her what I know.”

“And Romie, you said he won’t like it?”

“Nope.” The Dew Drop shook his head. “He may leave me.”

“But you’re hubbies.”

When Sabelle yawned, Milmar flew up, grabbed her stuffed wolf—it was shoved down the side of her bed—and brought it over to her, which she hugged tightly against her chest. “We ran away from home. We only call each other Hubby, ‘cause that’s how we think of each other. You probably noticed our bad moods.”

“I did.”

“That’s ‘cause we never went through the Rites to be proper hubbies, so Neak’s pollen affects us, makes us grumpy. Weddle’s been grumpy too.”

“Yes, yes he has. But Milmar…”

Milmar pulled Sabelle’s blanket up over her once she was asleep. He then settled on the pillow above her head and played with her hair. Romie was sleeping in their rooms the Tree had provided them, but he didn’t feel the need to return. He and Romie had fought and he was still annoyed with him. Romie had come from a very large family, the twentieth child out of thirty-nine, and he wanted to keep Milmar to himself, having felt neglected growing up in such a large family. He loved Romie, even the bad stuff, but it could be tiresome sometimes.

“I’m all she has for a friend.”

Dewi’s brow furrowed. “What about Azy?”

“Noticed yet he hasn’t come back?”

“He was really sick. Tonda says he still recovers. That he wants to see her.”

“Not that sick, Tonda’s evading. He doesn’t want to come back. He saw the sparks Belle can make and got scared, as all WairFolk will, even the halfs. Belle doesn’t understand yet what the sparks are, only that they’re pretty. Been trying to teach her not to spark, but sparkly things to a three year old are fun.” He looked at Dewi. “You have to love her more, Dewi. You and Oben and Neak, you have to love her more than before. You have to love her lots and lots, ‘cause most likely no one else will.”

“She’ll never find a mate?”

“Don’t know. There might be someone who doesn’t care about what she is, but Belle might not accept them ‘cause by then she might not believe ‘um or trust ‘um.”

“The WairFolk will instinctually know she can harm them?”

“Some will, mostly the young, but when she gets older, many will think there’s something wrong ‘cause she won’t be able to change into a wolf and she won’t ever be affected by the Frenzy.”

“What about non-Wairs: Elves, Vampyres, Dragons, Unicorns? Will they dislike her?”

“They shouldn’t, they have no reason to, but they could be influenced by the Wairs and Faie. Those that know her as a puppy they may be okay, but I don’t know.”

“What was Renna thinking?”

“Not always a choice who becomes our mate.”

Dewi thought about Neak. Would his pups suffer the same problems Sabelle did were he to mate with a Tree Nymph? Would they be ostracized because they weren’t like everyone else?

“It’s not the same thing, you and Neak having pups.” Milmar grinned. “I can smell her on you.”

“Half-breeds don’t have it easy. And what if they’re TreeWolves.”

“That would be funny.”

Dewi made a sound of humor. “I suppose it would be. They could at least get the Cats out of the trees.” He stood, brushed a knuckle over Sabelle’s cheek. “Night, Pup, and dream of happy things. You too, Milmar.”

“Enjoy your night with Neak.” The Fairy chuckled. “TreeWolves.”

Dewi shook his head as he left the room, closing the door quietly behind him—though he left it open a crack. He walked down the hall and stood in front of Neak’s door. Palming the knob, he turned it and pushed.

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