Oath of the Alpha - Eva Dresden Page 0,45

teasing glimpses of her creamy thighs between the slits at the sides making his mouth water.

He knew they shouldn’t remain there. He needed to find Ath’asho and the others in case this Rhyn tried to come for Aida again or worse. Yet Er’it was loath to leave now. Plans for managing her near nakedness and his lack of anything but a dulled sword fled his mind the longer he stared. Anger melted away until nothing but his need for her remained. As one, they turned to the mossy bed where the delicate blossoms began to unfurl as the sun peeked through the thick canopy.

They stood amid trees made stronger by her in a magical storm, one she had no control over, yet he did not question it was indeed her power that was responsible. Er’it felt it down to his bones. He felt it against his skin, in his soul, as they came together. He saw it with his own eyes, the pure blue of it painful to look upon. How, then, did those dusty books claim Omegas had no power of their own?

“Come here, Aida,” Er’it said, quiet as he went to a knee beside the remains of their fire. Tossing bits of kindling into the pile, he tipped his head back to see her wide, doe eyes. His lips slid up at one corner as she continued to eye him, his smile widening the deeper the line between her sable brows became. “I want to show you something.”

Chapter 9

Aida

Breath frozen in her lungs, she could do nothing more than stare. He called her by name, his tone gentle and soft. The hand he held out to her was in invitation, not demand, no snapping of his fingers. Not believing this sudden turn of character, she stood as still as she could. Aida was just another frightened animal in the forest, hoping and praying the predator did not notice them.

“It is a simple thing, but it requires thought. Come,” he said, opening his hand to gesture at the space on the other side of the fresh sticks and charred remains of their fire.

Turning her head aside to watch him from the corner of her eye as she edged a step closer, she refused to sit. On her feet, she had a chance to run… not that she would. Despite everything, Aida knew she would not leave him again. Still, it gave her a measure of comfort to remain above him, as if she retained some control over this exchange, though his head was level with her chest even kneeling as he was.

“Do you recall what you did last night?”

“Do not ask that of me!”

“Not that, kou’va, no. When you helped me heal the wounds, do you remember it?” Er’it’s lips twitched, a half-smile gone before it began as he turned his topaz gaze to the charred sticks.

Brow puckering, Aida slid forward. Angling her chin to view the blackened circle as Er’it did, she looked for something only he seemed to see. “Yes, what of it?”

“I wish to show you something. I would do that again.” Looking up at her, Er’it sat on his backside in the soft grass, presenting a harmless façade that Aida refused to believe.

“You have no wounds.” Aida huffed and crossed her arms, standing to her inconsiderable height.

“My back would disagree. That is not what I would teach you, though.”

Aida’s cheeks pinkened at his words and upon seeing the edges of deep welts lining his shoulders. They were the marks her fingers left when her nails had scraped through layers of flesh, when she lost all sense of herself, when she’d been little more than a fierce tumult of need. Helpless whimper fleeing her taut lips, Aida fell to her knees opposite him.

“Why are you shamed?” Er’it demanded in a vicious hiss, grabbing Aida by the nape to pull her to him. Mouth hovering over hers, his golden eyes blazed with an emotion Aida could not name.

“I was those awful things. The things you and he called me,” Aida said, a strained whine smearing her words into one another.

“You were glorious, kou’va. Perfection.” Teeth bared with his snarl, the brush of his lips against the corner of her mouth was gentle. “Beautiful.”

“You would say that of anyone who acted in such a way,” Aida stammered out. Darkness welling from deep in her heart, it spilled out in a frozen rush, drowning her in its icy surge, turning her blood black and chill in her veins.

“Only you,