Chapter 146

The river flowed slow and lazy through the jungle, its surface catching the morning light that filtered through the canopy of leaves overhead. The water loo was a secluded bend where the current pooled into a natural basin, surrounded by smooth river stones and overhanging vines that provided privacy from the outside world. The air smelled of wet earth and blooming jasmine, of mossy stone and the distant promise of rain.

I sank deeper into the cool water, letting it ease the tension from my shoulders that had been building since the confrontation with Lorian three days prior. Around me, the cubs splashed and played, their laughter and happy sounds echoing off the trees that lined the bank.

Tavren, the youngest of my adopted trio, paddled furiously with his chubby arms, his dark eyes bright with delight. At nearly four months, he and his brothers Kaizen and Zarek were growing fast, their spotted leopard fur slick with water as they splashed in the shallows near the bank. They weren’t speaking yet; that would come in another few weeks when they reached the four-month mark; but their mews and roars of joy were unmistakable.

I watched Levy, Niku, and Sikai playing together in the deeper water. At nearly six months old, they were on the cusp of their first shift. And Levy... my precious Levy. She had already shifted, she was beautiful. She started shifting a lot younger, way too young by normal standards. We had kept it secret, hidden away from prying eyes when it had happened. Soon enough, at the right age I don’t have to worry when she suddenly shift. People will never find out she had learn to shift long ago.

In a few weeks; Tavren, Kaizen, and Zarek would find their voices; not the mewling of newborn cubs, but true speech. The thought made my heart swell. I had taken them the night we eradicated Rina and her followers, claimed them as my own after her life was ended by Alara. Leaving her alive would have been more dangerous than the mercy of her death. They had been newborn then, barely hours old, mewling and helpless. Now they were thriving, growing, becoming the strong, beautiful boys they were meant to be.

And then... the eggs.

My hand drifted habitually to my stomach, now empty, Soryn’s eggs were nestled safely in the hatching nest at home, tended by warmth and love and hope. Next month, or perhaps the month after, they would crack open. I would finally meet the children I’d carried for only a month but watched them in their egg form much longer, I can’t wait to see the faces of the babies Soryn and I had made together.

"Krys," Caelion said softly, his voice cutting through my reverie. "Your wrap is slipping."

I looked down and realized he was right. In my distraction, the makeshift top I’d fashioned from soft pelts had loosened, sliding down my shoulder and exposing more skin than I intended. I pulled it back into place, securing the knot, but the moment of vulnerability made me shiver despite the warmth of the day.

"Thank you," I said, but something in his expression made me pause.

He was staring past me, toward the far bank, his body going rigid with alarm.

I turned.

Lorian stood there, half-hidden by the hanging vines and the shadows of the overhanging trees, his black fur absorbing the light, his golden eyes fixed on me with an intensity that made my blood run cold. He was perfectly still, perfectly silent, watching me bathe as though he had every right to be there.

For a heartbeat, neither of us moved. The cubs continued to splash, unaware of the predator in their midst. The river flowed between us like a barrier.

"Why so surprised?" Lorian finally said, his voice smooth as silk and twice as poisonous. He stepped forward, into the light, his smile easy and infuriating. "This is the water loo for everyone. My bad. I didn’t know you guys would be here."

He was lying. I could see it in the way his eyes never left my bare shoulders, in the predatory tension coiled in his muscles. He had followed us. He had waited and watched.

"Leave." Aureon’s voice cracked like a whip, sharp and deadly. He moved faster than I’d ever seen, placing himself between me and Lorian, his body blocking the panther’s view. Caelion was beside him in an instant, his hand on his knife, his stance wide and threatening.

Lorian didn’t flinch. If anything, his smile widened, amused by their aggression. He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, but his eyes... his eyes kept finding me, kept stripping away what little covering the water provided.

"Enjoy your bath," he said, the words dripping with innuendo, with possession. His gaze lingered on me for one heartbeat, two, three; long enough to make his point, long enough to violate what should have been a private moment. Then, slowly, deliberately, he turned and walked away, his tail swaying with deliberate casualness, his laughter echoing through the trees.

Aureon was shaking. I could see it in the tremor of his hands, the way his stripes seemed to darken with his rage. He turned to me, his eyes wild with worry and barely contained fury. He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, struggling to find words that wouldn’t frighten the children or me.

"Krys," he finally said, his voice rough but gentle. "I don’t want you here. Not with him nearby. Please... let me take you home."

I didn’t argue. I gathered the cubs, wrapping them in drying cloths with hands that trembled. The joy of the morning was shattered, poisoned by those golden eyes and that knowing smile.

Lorian had found a new way to torment us. And something told me this was only the beginning.

---

The walk back from the river was tense, Aureon’s hand never leaving the small of my back, his eyes constantly scanning the tree line as though expecting Lorian to leap from the shadows at any moment. When we reached our home, he finally spoke, his voice low and rough.

"Promise me," he said, turning to face me, his hands gripping my shoulders with gentle urgency. "Promise me you won’t go anywhere alone. Make sure we’re always around you. Not until he’s gone."

"Aureon—"

"I mean it, Krys." His eyes were fierce, desperate. "I know him. I know how he thinks. If he sees you alone, he’ll take it as an invitation. He doesn’t give up, not when he wants something." He ran a hand through his hair, frustration evident in every line of his body. "He’s persistent to a fault. He’ll keep pushing, keep finding ways to get close to you, until..." He couldn’t finish the sentence, the thought too frustrating to voice. "He won’t stop until he gets a clear answer, and even then, he might not listen."

I nodded, seeing the genuine worry beneath his anger. "I promise. I’ll be careful."

The first week passed in a haze of heightened vigilance. I kept my word, never straying far from the home, spending my days beside Soryn as he tended the eggs with such tender care it made my heart ache. We sat together for hours, his arm around my waist, his lips brushing my temple as we watched the faint pulse of life within the leathery shells.

"Soon," Soryn whispered against my hair, his hand covering mine where it rested on my stomach. "Soon we’ll meet them."

That night, I sought out Aureon.

I found him in our chamber, sitting by the fire. He wasn’t pacing, wasn’t raging. But I could see the tension in his shoulders, the way his ears kept twitching toward every sound outside.

"Aureon," I said softly, closing the door behind me.

He turned, and the look on his face; possessive, hungry, needing; made my breath catch.

"Come here," he said, his voice rough.

I crossed the space between us and took his hand, letting him pull me onto his lap. He buried his face in my neck, breathing me in, his arms wrapping tight around my waist.

"I need you tonight," he murmured against my skin. "Need to feel you. Need to know you’re mine."

I understood. I pressed his hand to my breast. "Then take me. I’m yours."

He didn’t hesitate.

His mouth found mine with a hunger that spoke of days of pent-up frustration, his tongue demanding entrance, claiming me with a desperation that had nothing to do with fear and everything to do with wanting. His hands were everywhere; tearing at my wrap, palming my breasts, gripping my hips with bruising force.

"Mine," he growled against my throat, his teeth grazing my pulse. "Say it."

"Yours," I gasped, arching into his touch. "Always yours."

He lifted me effortlessly, carrying me to the furs and laying me down with a gentleness that contradicted the wildness in his eyes. He stood over me for a moment, stripping away his own coverings, revealing the hard, muscled perfection of his body that rippled with his heaving breaths.

"Look at me," he commanded, settling between my thighs. "Only me."

I looked. I saw the male who loved me, who wanted me, who would spend every night proving I belonged to him. And I opened for him, welcoming him in.

He entered me in one deep, powerful thrust that made me cry out, my back arching off the furs. He was thick and hard and perfect, filling me so completely I could feel every ridge, every vein, the pulse of his heartbeat inside me.

"Gods, Krys," he groaned, his forehead dropping to mine. "You feel... you feel..."

"Move," I begged, wrapping my legs around his waist. "Please, Aureon. Move."

He did.

He set a punishing pace, driving into me with deep, powerful strokes that shook the bed frame and made the furs bunch beneath us. Each thrust was a claim, a brand, a reminder that I belonged to him. His hips snapped against mine, the sound of flesh meeting flesh echoing through the chamber, mingling with our gasps and moans.

"Touch yourself, please Krys," his voice ragged. "I want to feel you come around me."

My fingers found the sensitive nub between my thighs, circling it in time with his thrusts. The pleasure built quickly, coiling tight in my belly, made sharper by the intensity in his movements, the way he watched me with those dark, hungry eyes.

"That’s it," he encouraged, his pace never faltering. "Let me see you. Let me feel you."

I shattered with a cry that surely carried through the house, my inner walls clamping down on him in rhythmic pulses that dragged a groan from deep in his chest. He didn’t stop. If anything, he loved me harder, chasing his own release, driving through my aftershocks with relentless determination.

He flipped me then, pulling out just long enough to turn me onto my stomach before entering me again from behind, his hands gripping my hips, his teeth grazing my shoulder.

"Again," he demanded. "Give me another. I want to feel you break apart for me, Krys. Only me."

His hand snaked around to find me, his fingers working me with expert precision as he continued to thrust, his angle hitting a spot inside me that made stars burst behind my eyes. I came again, harder this time, my fingers clawing at the furs, my voice hoarse from crying his name.

He followed me over the edge, his body going rigid, his thrusts becoming erratic, deep, claiming. He spilled inside me with a roar that sounded like victory, his release hot and endless, marking me as his in the most primal way possible.

But he wasn’t done.

He took me again and again through the night, his appetite insatiable, his need to possess me driving him to new heights of passion. He had me on my back, my legs over his shoulders, his mouth devouring my breasts. He had me riding him, my hands braced on his chest as I rode him until we were both slick with sweat and trembling. He had me against the wall, my arms pinned above my head, his mouth swallowing my screams as he drove into me with abandon.

By dawn, I was boneless, sated, my body aching in the most delicious way. Aureon lay beside me, his chest heaving, his eyes clear and content.

He turned his head to look at me, and the love in his gaze took my breath away.

"Thank you," he whispered, his hand tracing lazy patterns on my hip. "For letting me... for giving me..."

I silenced him with a kiss, soft and sweet and full of promise. "Sleep," I murmured against his lips. "I’ve got you."

And as the sun rose, painting the room in golden light, he finally did, his arms wrapped tight around me, his breath even and deep, we both slept, exhaustions the main culprit.