Page 16 of Fog of War
When Paladus’shrumstarted again, he didn’t try to hold it back. It leached into my misty, sweaty skin to massage muscles and tendons wound too tight. The dam broke, and it intensified, drowning out the sounds of the drones, the crowds, the snarls and thwacks. My teeth chattered, whether from the growing intensity or the shock, I couldn’t tell.
Paladus bent his hand to my chest, held me tight, andhrummedlike he was a pressure cooker set to explode. The world quaked, painful pleasure radiated through my broken body, and my eyes rolled back in surrender.
09
Paladus
I stood over the bed in the Satoris champion’s suite, staring down at my…
After our initial convergence, a drone had delivered a sedative and a mediplasma to our location on the battlefield. I’d given Gabbie both immediately, still vibrating out of my skull, fighting back an orgasm I didn’t deserve until I ultimately lost the fight, my cock squeezed between her hip and my abdominal plates, too sensitive to bear the pleasure. I’d cleaned myself unceremoniously, thankful for the fog cover, and then carried her to the edge of the battlefield.
The Tetradi champions hadn’t attempted to take her from me after that, but dropping her in the grass at the edge of the battlefield had felt like a failure. A risk. My instincts didn’t want to let her go.
Romantic? Yeah… Sure.
Except staring down at her soft, unconscious features, all I’d been able to think about was fucking her awake. I’d wanted that scent on my cock so bad, I couldtasteher in the air. It was a syrupy sweet scent–mouthwateringly wet–and so complex. She’d been deep in lust when she fell…
Fuck.What I’d have given to paint my plates with her scent right there in the grass.
Gabbie Rubens. She wasminenow. Forever. This soft little thing covered in blood and sweat that had blessed me with her violence and laughter.
My cock had jumped, excited by the prospect of violence on her behalf. I hadn’t been able to stay with her–the battlefield had called me for the important work still left to do. So I’d backed away, snarling at the medics that knew to keep their distance until I was out of sight.
Now she slept in artificial peace, likely still sedated, though I didn’t know how to tell for sure. I wasn’t a medic and knew little about her body. But from the many bruises and scrapes still covering her skin despite the powerful cure-all she’d been given, it was obvious that her injuries had been serious.
I brushed my knuckles against her soft, pale skin.
Which of those bruises and scrapes were from me?
The door to the restroom slid open, steam rolling out with Augora as she tied a skirt around her waspish hips.
“Your turn,” she said, nodding to my still bloodied, powdered body. I glanced down at my chest and counted it a victory that most of the blood was blue instead of red.
“No, thank you.”
Augora knew just as well as I did that I wouldn’t want to take that shower. Not until Gabbie awoke and saw my skin painted in triumph as it was. I had new scars and broken plates for her to paint with her bird-like fingers.
Then I remembered what Augora and I came here for, and my mouthparts pressed into my cheeks with discomfort. “Thank you for permitting me into your clan suites. If our failure causes any problems for you…”
Augora shrugged, a smirk breaking her stoic expression as she tossed her towel on the ground to mop up the droplets streaming down the grooves of her plates to the floor.
“I’m the one who should thank you. My girlfriend will be relieved that we’ve failed.”
My eyes shot open, then a breath of relieved laughter pushed from my lungs. “I’ll send her a convergence gift.”
“Aren’t we supposed to sendyouone?” Augora teased.
I grinned, leaning my elbow on one knee. “Consider it a preemptive show of appreciation. If she doesn’t converge with you the moment she scents you, I’ll be fucking shocked.”
And just like that, the ice melted away. Augora smiled brightly enough to show her fangs, and the steel rod shoved up my spine disappeared. I rubbed my spires, relieved.Giddy,even. Failing was the best thing that had ever happened to either one of us.
“Leonide and Aescia are a perfect match anyway,” Augora added. “His spires have already bled silver, I hear.”
I grunted, my gaze descending to Gabbie’s face, mesmerized. Augora did the same, falling silent. It had only been a few turns since we’d converged, so she hadn’t changed much. Even still, a silver sheen dusted her cheeks, nose, and ears. The filaments framing her eyes had been dark brown a mere turn before, but now caught the light like fine white plas.
Ghostly. Beautiful.
Her eyelids fluttered, a divot forming between her brows.
