Oath of the Alpha - Eva Dresden Page 0,75

he didn’t share with the others. He’d tucked away some of the remaining jerky, the heavily spiced kind that Aida enjoyed so much. She might be upset he’d denied the villagers that much, but he would see her fed well for all that she poured out to aid these people.

Shrugging off Ath’asho’s cautioning hand, Er’it made his way to where Aida crouched in a circle of women. He cared little for their fear and startled eyes as he knelt behind his Omega, pressing his chest against her back to see what she did now. Snarling a vicious curse, he slapped the rough leather from Aida’s hands to grip her wrists, bringing the raw ruin of her palms up for his inspection.

Her delicate skin abraded, nicked, and smeared with blood and dirt in places, she had the good sense to lower her head and submit. Er’it turned her small hands this way and that, not daring to run his thumbs over the livid red marks marring her perfect flesh.

“Enough of this,” he said, rising and pulling Aida up with him.

“They don’t have enough people to bear all the packs! Braiding the straps together means they can each carry more.”

“Enough.”

“No!”

Dark and malevolent, the rumble filled the air, shaking loose the smaller debris to clatter and tumble through the remains of the village. The people screamed and turned fearful eyes toward the remaining peaks piercing the sky around them.

“Er’it!” Tor’en shouted. Warning without daring to look away, his gaze snagged on the mountains just like the others.

“Calm yourself,” Er’it ground out, gripping Aida’s shoulders hard as he tugged her to face him.

The sapphire blue of her power stained her skin, already crackling in miniature lightning strikes into the charged air. It was a warning of the vicious storm to come if she lost control once again, and this time, they would all pay the price. The stars caught in her eyes brightened, soaring through the midnight blackness in glorious comets that matched the fury he felt pounding in his chest. Her anger, her fear, far exceeded his own. Aida tore her gaze away from his and looked to the rocky giants, her lower lip quivering.

“Kou’vera, breathe,” Er’it whispered, demanding her attention as he stepped close. Lowering his head, he brushed a kiss against the side of her trembling mouth. Her gasp at the electrifying contact was as good an invitation as any. Gripping her nape with one hand, he invaded.

Violating her in the most delicious of ways, Er’it rumbled his pleasure as his tongue delved inside the warm sweetness of her. Lapping up her startled moan, he breathed in the shuddery sigh that followed. Swallowing her very essence as his hands moved to pull her closer, crushing her against him, he sought to distract her.

This helped neither of them. Her power sizzled through the air, arcing out in violent bursts. The crack and boom of thunder filled the valley. Tangled through the icy blue, the flickering gold of his magic soared. The depth of his years and the knowledge he’d acquired melded with her, turning the untried slashing of her youth into the fatal strike of a well-seasoned soldier, honing the savage strength of her into something awesome.

He heard the shouting and screaming of everyone around them, knew he must do something, yet he drowned in Aida’s dainty whimpers and the scratch of her nails at his neck as she tried to pull herself up his body. She yearned for him in a way he never dreamed she could or would, not after the way he had treated her, not after he’d felt the endless depths of the thrice-cursed abyss residing deep in her heart.

It began as a rumble as low and deep as the shuddering of the peaks above them, a deep growl resonating through his chest and becoming louder as Aida squirmed and whined within his crushing embrace. He had to do something… something other than nipping at her swollen lips just to hear her decadent hum.

It was an easy thing to reach out with that other sense, touching Aida where no one before him had dared ever tread. The frozen sapphire core of her power pulsed behind his eyes, ricocheting around his skull in a furious rhythm that continued to grow faster, stronger. Er’it felt it. Shards of ice in his veins, tearing him apart from the inside, stilled his lungs even as Aida breathed warmth back into them.

He couldn’t believe the rawness, the endless expanse of it. He’d felt