Oath of the Alpha - Eva Dresden Page 0,72
a pillar of sunset warmth amid the cold beauty of sapphire and frost.
In those moments, she didn’t fear the power painting her skin and flowing from her very pores, not as the forest’s eerie silence shattered with the squawk of birds and other fauna when the trees exploded in fresh growth. Months’ worth of heavy green leaves collected along the canopy for as far as she could see, tingeing sage and gold, russet brown and crimson as the freezing chill sucked at their budding warmth.
Fruits and nuts grew from insignificance to sustenance within the space of her breath. Falling to the forest floor in a quiet thunder with the hissing whisper of the drifting leaves, they’d feed a thousand mouths or more. Aida laughed, near hysterical in her delight, tears a steady runnel from the corners of her eyes as she tried to catch her breath.
There was no danger here, only life.
Kal bellowed in dismay as a wall of flickering firelight erupted before them. The red-gold streamers circled around them, penning Kal in place as Er’it slogged through the churned snow toward them, his brows drawn low and lips set in a hard line.
He said nothing as Aida stared at him with wide eyes, fear beginning to creep back to snuff out the azure glow. Clenching the reins, she flinched as Er’it set his hand upon the pommel and launched onto Kal’s back behind her with an ease she would forever envy.
“What am I to tell Tor’en when they pass this display, kou’vera?” Er’it demanded, one arm sweeping out toward the much-changed forest as the other tugged Aida snug against his front. “We will never hear the end of this.”
A line appeared between her eyebrows as Aida dared to peek over her shoulder, a single arch sliding upwards when Er’it’s lips twitched in something akin to humor.
“Already he loves the sound of his own voice, and now you’ve given him a wealth to dither on about.” Er’it shook his head, his chastisement lacking any real bite as his amber gaze warmed to a golden hue. “I shall have to punish you.”
Aida sucked a hard breath in through her nose as he said those words, but not in terror as it might once have inspired. She couldn’t be afraid, not as Er’it’s lips spread into a sly smile, his heavy-lidded gaze tracing a path from her reddened lips and down the line of her throat to her heaving breasts. Lungs releasing their chilled air in a shuddering sigh, she found herself leaning into his warmth. With her head tipped back along his shoulder to offer him her lips, Aida’s arm came up to encircle his neck as he claimed her mouth.
The difference in their size and the awkward position meant little as Aida let out a trembling moan. Er’it breathed it in, his responding growl vibrating through her while his hands clutched and grabbed. He tugged at the heavy layers of her clothes, his impatience evident in every twitch of his fingers as he sought naked flesh. In this, at least, she understood him, feeling every nuance of his body’s urgency, the vicious need to touch and be touched. Her hand worked its way beneath his collar, nails scratching at the broad expanse of his shoulder where she could reach. In this, she felt his equal, for her desire was just as desperate. The same maelstrom of emotions churning through her chest echoed within his, their hearts beating as one while their bodies sought to somehow get closer. Aida didn’t have to be cautious or mind her emotions during this, not while Er’it’s heat and skin called to her in a visceral song. Both their powers tangled with one another, flashes of vivid gold and icy blue blinding her behind her closed lids as she grew brave and her tongue swept between his lips in a shy dance.
A high-pitched scream broke the silence of the field, shattering the fragile beauty of the moment with the stark fear given voice.
Kal brayed, the echoing bass of his challenge rolling through the clearing and well into the trees. Between one bewildered heartbeat and the next, Er’it’s sword flashed through the frozen air while Kal turned to face the intruder head on.
“Stop!” Aida screamed, or she tried to. Voice lost in the tumult of sensation still coursing through her, the sizzling charge of it prickling along her skin, she fought to concentrate on the slip of a creature cowering in the snow.
Clothes torn and ragged,