Oath of the Alpha - Eva Dresden Page 0,86

his dark shadow, a scorching tide fell over her. Dark and furious, it sent her heart into a stuttering race, making her rub harder at the livid imprint of Er’it’s teeth upon her shoulder.

It was then she realized her mistake. Letting the pelt loose enough to reach the scarred flesh, she’d bared the mark—something only Er’it had seen before now—to them all.

“Forgive me,” Aida whispered against his waist, setting trembling fingers upon Er’it’s calf to quiet his feral sounds. “I didn’t mean to show it to them. I swear it wasn’t on purpose.”

“She is mine,” Er’it roared, wrenching the fur away from Aida’s shoulder further. Baring the slope of her breasts and the roundness of her arm, he shoved Aida forward so that they all might see. “My teeth mark her, and none shall deny my claim!”

“No one shall, Your Majesty,” Tor’en said with a submissive bow of his head.

Some unseen signal passed between all the people gathered, sending them down to one knee in genuflection even as they put more space between themselves and Er’it.

“You are mine, kou’vera, and you will not forget it,” Er’it bellowed as he leaned over her, crushing Aida against him before he sunk his teeth deep into her shoulder with a sickening crunch.

Aida screamed, but it was in more than just pain as her very soul shattered into a thousand glittering pieces amid a brilliant golden light.

Chapter 16

Aida

Aida hissed as the cart jostled across the rutted track, her hand flying to her shoulder though she was afraid to touch the sticky bandage. It still leaked blood and clear fluid, and Er’it went into a rage when Maruk even suggested something to make it stop.

More aggressive than ever, he rode Kal by her side, never letting his eyes wander far from Aida where she sat alone in the cart that felt far too large now. Most of the crates were put into the other wagon, leaving Aida space aplenty for the blankets and pelts Er’it tucked her into. Surrounded by cushions, she didn’t even feel the rough wood any longer, not that she rode in the cart for long.

Unable to keep his hands from her for long, Er’it often brought Aida onto Kal’s back with him. The Phylix’s smooth strides were better for her shoulder to be sure, but Er’it’s possessive mauling helped nothing. His agitated nuzzling and deep growls caused her no little amount of frustration as they often led to him racing ahead to some hidden clearing or break in the thick trees. There, he would mount her, rough and as desperate as Aida, scraping her back raw against coarse bark or freezing her legs in the icy snow as he made her ride him.

Then, Aida would have to sit in the cart once more, his seed thick and hot as it stained her thighs for hours afterwards. Leaving her somehow more frustrated than she was to begin with, their furious and brief couplings never satiated her fully. Within an hour or two at most, it would begin all over again.

The directions the villagers gave Ath’asho, thus far, proved to be true, bringing them ever closer to their destination. Her birthplace. A home she’d never seen or, at least, didn’t remember. If Marilsa had the right of it, a days-old babe would remember nothing. She had no memories of a home other than her tower in Aeslomor, no mother or father but Immari and Otaso. Yet, the closer they came, the more the feeling of belonging pervaded her. She had a sense of the woods, the creatures within it, and even of the people she knew to be hidden in the shadowy recesses of the forest. Whole tribes of them were there, both larger and smaller than the village she’d decimated. She could feel their hearts beating, their blood pounding to a rhythm set to the pulse of the land.

She would have asked Tor’en her questions if she’d been allowed but knew Er’it would never permit it. Even though they’d been leagues away from each other, raising her voice to speak with Maruk had made Er’it furious. None were allowed to talk to her, and Er’it had little interest in indulging her curiosity. For that matter, she had little interest in it herself once he started touching her.

There was no denying the bonds between Er’it and herself would never be undone. They had woven together, fast and strong, in an impenetrable web that only death would sever. Death would come, but only for