Page 109 of Sweetling
They would return home soon. They would be alone.
Perhaps they…finally…
His arms tightened around his mate, even as he willed his cock to settle down. She’d thankfully grown used to feeling him press into the small of her back—it was a common occurrence by now, and she took it with good, oftentimes flirtatious humor.
Allarion was infinitely grateful to be welcomed into her bed. The nights he spent with her fed his soul in a way nothing had before. It was more than enjoying the pleasures of her body; laying beside her as she slept, holding what was most precious to him, listening to her heartbeat and soft little snores—it all filled him with a peace deeper than he’d ever known.
This is where I belong,he often thought to himself through the nights with her. He’d card his fingers idly through her hair or trace gentle patterns on her back. Part of him was impatient for her to wake and rejoin him, but another loved the quiet peace of it, of knowing she trusted him enough to sleep in his arms.
The hope of continuing this, of remaining beside her, was a living thing inside him. More than he wanted to finally feel the hot clasp of her cunt around his cock, he wanted to lay beside her each night.
Even if it was the sweetest torture, his fangs aching all through the night.
The dark desire had only grown with his love and devotion to her. Although no longer scared of the impulse, like an itching wound, it was hard to ignore. He wanted the feeling gone—or resolved.
He’d made no more sense of it than when he’d first felt it. Allarion bore a small fear that when he did finally slide inside his perfect mate and feel her holding him tight, he’d lose all control. There were even times when he lay lapping at her pretty cunt that he had to fight the desire to turn his head and sink his fangs into the plushness of her thigh. Fates, when she squeezed her thighs around his head as she came apart on his tongue, a hunger sodeeptook root that he—
Bellarand stopped in the middle of the road, ears flicking. Birds jumped from nearby trees into the air, cawing a warning.
There’s something—
The ground beneath them began to roll. The earth shook and quaked, and the air crackled as if a storm gathered over the horizon.
Bellarand lurched and staggered, trying to keep upright.
Molly yelped, her fingers digging into his forearm banded around her middle. Allarion clutched her close and held onto the reins. He squeezed his thighs and swayed with Bellarand as the unicorn fought to keep his footing.
Agonizingly slow moments ticked by, the ground rumbling angrily. Trees creaked, and the stones lining the road shook loose of their places.
Then, as suddenly as it’d started, it stopped.
The world went preternaturally quiet.
Bellarand stood with his four legs spread, heaving breaths panting into his big chest. His ears swiveled back and forth, trying to catch every sound.
“Whatthe fuck was that?” Molly shrieked, voice shrill.
“This is awfully far north for an earthquake,” Allarion said. Unsure of the cause or its implications, and unwilling to speculate with his mate so exposed, he patted Bellarand’s shivering flank. “Home, as quickly as you can.”
Yes.Bellarand shook out his mane and leapt forward, breaking into a gallop. Dirt flew from under his hooves, and Allarion leaned forward into Molly, bending them lower on the unicorn’s back to ease his way.
Bellarand raced through the countryside, mouth hanging open to gulp air as he ran. The trees streamed by in green blurs, but Allarion peered through their darkness, searching for…anything.
Eirea had had earthquakes before, but they were incredibly rare in a northern demesne like the Darrowlands. Of course, the world was a wild place and impossible to predict. It could be a fluke, an anomaly. Anything else made little sense.
Yet it was that anything else that sent a prickle up Allarion’s spine.
The tightness in his chest only relented a fraction when they made the border of the estate. They passed through the wards protecting the border, magic a warm wash over them.
Allarion felt the forest stirring, noticing their return. The trees shook out their limbs, and the ferns unfurled their fronds. Thelampposts lining the drive burst to life even though it was the afternoon, casting a meager light.
When they rounded the bend leading up to the house, already he could hear the shingles rattling and shutters swinging on their hinges in greeting. The house waved them home, although Bellarand didn’t stop until they’d made the side door to the kitchen.
He came skidding to a stop, dirt flying. Allarion quickly dismounted and helped Molly down. She darted to stand by Bellarand’s head, careful of his horn, and laid her hand on his quivering neck.
“You were faster than the wind,” she praised.
Of course—I was—always—am.
