Page 24 of The Barbaric Fae's Soul

He grimaced. “A true sexual experience should be like the one you and I shared in the tent, not like the one Naomi and I suffered through.”

My eyebrows lifted. “Can I ask for details?”

“I already promised to give them to you.” His fingers began rubbing over my knee sort of rhythmically, and I wondered if maybe the movement was keeping him calm. “She made one of the men blindfold me, so I couldn’t see her, and told me not to touch her skin. She sat on the edge of the bed, and guided me an inch or two into her body—it wasn’t soaked, or soft, like yours was. I could smell her tears in the air. We were both relieved that the bond kicked in immediately, without requiring any kind of pleasure. I withdrew from her as fast as possible and left the room.” He shut his eyes. “Fuck. It was terrible for the both of us. I didn’t realize it could feelgood, the way it did in the tent.”

I was horrified by the experience he’d described.Absolutely fucking horrified. “I’ve been in bad sexual situations, too,” I told him, my eyes stinging. “Really bad ones. You both consented, as messed up as the situation was. That doesn’t always happen on Earth.”

His eyebrows furrowed. There was more confusion than anger, at first. But it slowly morphed, and his voice was deadly when he asked, “A human male forced himself on you?”

My eyes stung more, but I nodded. “I don’t want to talk about the details, but I know how it feels to be helpless in those situations. And I’m sorry that you do too.”

He pulled me off his back and wrapped his arms around me, hugging me fiercely tight. I clung to him, trying to stop the tears that were falling against his warm, perfect shoulder. “I would destroy them, if it were possible,” he said in a low voice. “I would make them suffer for hurting you.”

A shudder ripped down my spine. “Please, don’t talk about violence.”

He rested his cheek against the top of my head. “I’m sorry. I’d sooner end my own life than raise a hand to you, though. I hope you know that.”

Honestly?

Ididknow that.

Someone who could suffer for as long as Aev did, without physically hurting the woman who had caused him so much pain? He knew how to control his temper. To control his fists, too.

And I trusted him more because of it.

“Maybe we can take away more of each other’s pain later,” I told him quietly. “In your tent again. Just as friends—just to enjoy it.”

“I’d love nothing more,” he murmured, his hand stroking the bare patch of skin between the bottom hem of my tank top and the top of my shorts.

We stayed like that for a little while longer, before we finally headed back.

Seven

Aev was right about running.There was something incredibly freeing about it. About feeling the wind on my cheeks, and feeling his body move beneath mine. About the way I grew to trust him more, as he carried me through the trees.

It was sometime in the middle of the night or early hours of the morning when we finally got back to the Stronghold—and people were arguing loudly, near the massive kitchen that many of us ate at.

Aev didn’t bother heading to his tent, instead carrying me straight into the belly of the argument.

“Dakota!” Summer came out of nowhere, plowing into me and nearly knocking me off of Aev’s back. A laugh escaped me as he tilted the other way, righting me almost effortlessly. She squeezed me tightly, and I hugged her back just as fiercely as I slid off the sabertooth.

After my conversation with Aev a few hours earlier, I was feeling kind of emotional.

And tired; really tired.

Aev shifted and stepped up beside me, his hand landing lightly on my lower back as Summer released me.

“I knew you could outfly the klynna,” she told me, flashing Remmo a dirty look. “Some of usweren’t so sure, but I believed in you.”

My eyes caught on a serious-looking North, a pissed-looking Priel, and a furious-looking Korrik. The latter of which was storming toward me like hell was on his heels.

I took a step away from him, and the back of my shoulder met one of Aev’s pecs.

“He won’t hurt you,” the king murmured to me.

I knew he wouldn’t.

Mostly.

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