“Ewww,” Karisha jumped and covered her face with her hands as well as turning to the side to nestle herself into her mate’s shoulder for extra protection.
“Get dressed,” Markos removed his jacket and threw it at Dahr who, reluctantly, wrapped himself in the tunic that barelycovered his midsection. Only when the warrior was decent enough and his desire started to relax underneath the cover of the tunic, did Markos place a slow caress on his mate’s hair to let her know it was now safe to look again.
Karisha preferred to wait another ten seconds to make sure, before she unpegged herself from her mate and turned her attention to me, as if avoiding Dahr’s half naked body. I thought the tribe lady would be as upset as her mate, but she smiled at me as one does to an accomplice before she stepped closer to me, stopping just by the bed. Her earlier reaction told me that there was no way she would take a seat.
“Cousin, I do not think this is the appropriate—”
“You were recovering from an unexpected injury,” Markos cut Dahr off with obvious annoyance and no small amount of anger. “You will be training throughout the day and long into the night to make up for the time lost, and I will be there to guide your steps towards full recovery. Is that understood?” the tribe lord asked in an almost dictatorial tone that left little room for contradiction. To which Dahr lowered his head in agreement.
If I thought Karisha and I would be spared from this sudden wrath, we were sorely mistaken. “Your March prisoner will spend the night in our tent, guarded by my mate in order to prevent her escape,” he ordered, those blue eyes burning into me to leave me no choice but to follow Dahr and nod in agreement.
“It is settled then,” Markos dipped his chin and waited until Dahr got dressed and had a drink of water before he moved to escort him out.
My heart almost leaped out of my chest at the possibility that Dahr wouldn’t even look at me before leaving the tent but fortunately, the warrior vanished the distance in between us and bent at the waist to level with me and cup my chin in between his fingers. I smiled slowly as he lifted my head up and pressed a slow and deep kiss on my lips, before he turned on his heels andfollowed his cousin out of the tent. To leave me with an excited Karisha, who started clapping her hands.
“Get dressed and let’s go to mine,” she pressed a hand on my leg, squeezing me softly. “You need to tell me all about it.”
If Markos had intended spending the night with his mate to be administered as a punishment, the activity turned anything but. Once I got dressed — relatively, since fortunately the tribe lady offered me a hot bath, which was much needed — we walked over to her tent and started catching up on everything that had happened since we last saw each other.
Karisha also answered a question I hadn’t asked, which was where Slatanya had gone, since it was only Mira that cared for my needs recently. I was sad to find out that one of the men who had attacked me was her mate. I did not know if Dahr stopped her from coming in or if she refused, but the effects pained me the same. Even though I had never cared for someone romantically that much, I knew how painful losing people was, and I couldn’t help but feel guilty for her sorrows.
“So how did you and Dahr end up fucking?” Karisha did not hesitate to ask after I settled myself comfortably in her copper bathtub, leaving me no choice but to tell her some details about our day swimming and the return to the tent. She didn’t need to know everything, which was why I kept a lot of details tomyself and only told her the juicy parts as far as storytelling was involved. From her reaction at seeing Dahr’s erection, I doubted she wanted to know about his many talents.
“I can get you a contraceptive,” Karisha offered rather bashfully, but I quickly shook my head, thanking her, but refusing her offer.
“I should warn you, drakes aren’t the best parents,” the tribe lady explained, surprised by my refusal. “Not sure why that is really, it must have something to do with the fact that we’re historically a fighting tribe. Not many of us have dreams of family,” she sighed deeply at her own words. “Not because we don’t want children, but because so many of us perish in battle. A long life is a privilege in our species and many of us choose not to reproduce from fear of orphaning younglings,” she explained. “I myself would love to get pregnant, Markos and I have been trying for years.”
I didn’t want her to get the wrong idea, but I also wasn’t prepared for the looks of pity and the care towards me that came as soon as I told someone about my disease, so I chose to simply clarify my intentions.
“I don’t want to have Dahr’s children,” I tried to avoid misinterpretation. “I simply cannot get a period, so there’s no need for contraceptives.”
Karisha pressed her lips together in a tight line. Fortunately, her saddened gaze only lasted a few seconds, before her cheerful attitude revealed itself once again.
“So what do you want to do today?”
Everything was a poor choice of words, but we did exactly that. Karisha helped me bathe, then we had lunch and took long hours playing with each other’s hair. She showed me how to make the traditional drake braids while I told her about conditioning and showed her my favourite scalp massage routine, which was a big win with the tribe lady.
She gave me access to her dresses and we danced around in her clothes, trying on various shades and jewellery, until it was time for dinner, where we talked about men and told stories about ex boyfriends. I had to tell most of the stories this time, even though I had a very limited experience, since Karisha had only been with Markos and had another childhood sweetheart before him, whom she had only kissed twice.
I told her about the time I went to a karaoke bar and met one of the exchange students and how I had to sneak him into my room in the ladies’ quarters and had to perform completely silently not to wake up my roommates.
She started laughing out loud when I told her that we were discovered because the guy snored louder than a falling tree trunk and one of my roomies started screaming at the sound, thinking we were being attacked. The dean had to come, catching the guy in his underwear, attempting an escape out the window.
We spent hours talking, deep into the night and emptied two carafes of wine by the time sleep caught up with us. Even though I kept thinking about Dahr, I couldn’t say I hadn’t enjoyed this girl time with Karisha and the clarity it provided.
There was an internal battle I still fought with myself and every time I thought I reached a decision; a new flutter of my heart reminded me of what I had felt in Dahr’s arms. What I had felt having him inside me and how he’d raised long forgotten feelings.
He treated me with care, and he always put my pleasure first. He was always attentive to my needs and my safety and ensured that everyone around acted the same way. Either by fear or by choice. Maybe this was the man I had been waiting for. Maybe he was meant to be my last adventure. Maybe he was a murderer who was going to destroy everything I loved…
A boot kicked against the bed frame, waking me up with a jolt and raising me from the hangover state of dreams I had been lingering in by Karisha’s side. I opened my eyes to see a growling tribe lord, towering over me, visibly annoyed that I was occupying his side of the bed.
“He wants to see you,” Markos commanded and motioned me with his chin. I didn’t need to know more and jumped out of the bed with newly found force to rush into Dahr’s arms.
My feet moved with sharp determination, my steps filled with excitement, as if I was walking on clouds. I did not care what time it was, who was looking at me through my journey in the camp and what those people were thinking at the sight of a dishevelled human, walking around from tent to tent.
All I needed was Dahr. I needed to see him, to touch him, to feel him. I needed to nestle myself into his chest and breathe him in, to feel that constant scent of charcoal and salt, the smell of an aftermath of a battle that seemed to be permanently tattooed onto his skin.
So I ran back to the tent. Back to him and his loving embrace, fully determined to continue the ‘conversation’ we had started before Markos put distance in between his cousin and I.
