Page 14 of Faeling (Monstrous World #4)

Ravenna…needed a new strategy. One that got her out from under the purring orc looming over her, his pupils dilated and his expression so hungry he might devour her whole.

Her treacherous body wasn’t opposed to that. Oh, no. If she didn’t keep her limbs clenched close to her chest, she might just let her legs fall open in welcome.

Which wouldn’t do.

Her mind hadn’t quite caught up with the whirlwind of the past ten minutes, but she knew enough to understand that things had taken a dangerous turn—and she needed to get away from him. Before she did something irreversible, like bed him.

Of course, that part of her mind, the rational one with plans of revenge and a will to survive, was fighting an uphill battle against the onslaught of her own lust. Instinct ravaged her, burning its way through her innards to focus in a throbbing ache between her thighs.

Awful and shocking as it might be, her azai looked upon her now, her true face, and purred. With just one look at her true face, he knew her immediately and took her to his bed. It was inordinately flattering—and distracting.

Beneath her, the delicate membranes of her folded wings began to quiver. The sensation had Ravenna sucking in a quelling breath—wings only vibrated and hummed like that for azai . The harmony was said to be an alluring call to one’s mate, a temptation they couldn’t resist.

Do not hum for him, that’ll only make it worse, she scolded herself.

Don’t hum for who? questioned Oberon suspiciously. What’s going on?

We may have a problem…

Through the bond, the unicorn sent the lengthiest, most dramatic sigh that had ever been breathed. Now what?

There wasn’t time to explain, not with her handsome orc leaning down to touch his nose to hers.

She’d seen orcs nuzzle before, knew it was a sign of romantic affection.

His claiming was sweet, a small combining of their scents, and Ravenna almost let out the little moan of pleasure building in her throat.

Sweet as the gesture was, those predator’s eyes never left her. He seared her with his intensity, that purr almost violent with how hard it shook the both of them.

“What were you doing hiding yourself away?” he demanded, although gently, his voice still that low, coaxing tenor that was made for candlelit nights and warm afterglows.

Ravenna ran her tongue along her lower lip, a movement his eyes tracked from one corner of her mouth to the other.

“It’s been for my safety, nothing more,” she lied.

“You think I cannot keep you safe?” That was a trap if she ever heard one. His hand lowered from her chin to cup the side of her neck, a wholly proprietary hold that sent another throb through her cunt. “No one touches what’s mine.”

“I didn’t say that,” she said carefully.

Glorious as he was like this, gaze riveted, chest heaving with purrs, she knew this wasn’t the Vallek she’d come to know.

This was someone different, someone far more dangerous to her.

Someone she needed to get out from under.

“It was to keep me safe from everyone. Especially you.”

A tendon twitched in his neck, and a modicum of clarity began to bleed into his eyes.

“You knew?” Without waiting for her answer, his face fell again to hang above hers, their noses just grazing.

The heat of his breath seared her lips, and the outer curve of his tusks teased her cheeks. “You would deny me?”

Wetting her lips again, she said, “I had my reasons.”

Vallek rumbled, the sound less pleased than a true purr. “They don’t matter now. I’ve found you, skala . I don’t give up what’s mine.”

He said it more as a threat than anything else, and yet Ravenna’s treacherous body thrilled at his words. Others may have balked at his possessiveness, but all the broken things inside her only wanted to draw closer to him and his claim. To be the obsession, the focus, the mate of such a man…

“You may yet,” she whispered. “A mate such as me will only bring you grief.”

One of his heavy brows arched. “Is this one of your visions?”

“No. But a prediction nevertheless.”

“Do you mean to betray me?” Tightening his hold at her neck, he lifted her torso off the bed to press her forehead to his. “Do you mean to stab me in my sleep or poison my wine?”

“No!”

“Then I see no reason why a mate as small and delectable as you should cause me any grief,” he said with an infuriating grin.

Ravenna snorted. “You don’t know me very well. And your people will never accept it.”

“They will. I am their king and you are my mate. They will accept this. I’ll make it so.”

His arrogance was breathtaking—and arousing.

Grasping at any other argument she could, she said, “Your rule is too fragile to assume that.”

“ You don’t know me very well,” he said, repeating her words back. “Nothing about me is fragile. And it will be my pleasure to prove it to you.”

“They will think I’m an enemy,” she yelped, growing desperate, “a spy .”

His lips thinned between his tusks at the word, and he levered himself up, offering her a little space to breathe.

“Spy or not, it doesn’t matter anymore. What you are is my mate.”

Ravenna bit back a growl of frustration. “Your own lord commander has accused me. Others will, too.” The mention of Ulrich cooled the air between them, and faster now, Ravenna’s mind caught up with all that had happened. All that Ulrich had said.

“You let him raid my things,” she accused, realization dawning. Her arousal shriveled up, and her wings fell silent.

Of course, she’d suggested he had, even if Lady Eydis disagreed. Ulrich answered only to Vallek.

It made sense for him to investigate her, but that bit of reason didn’t quell her growing ire.

Shoving his hand away, she rolled to the side and leapt off the bed.

With the terror and excitement wearing away, she was left with an aching neck.

Memories of how Ulrich had gripped her round the throat assaulted her, and she touched her neck gingerly, feeling how the hot skin had already begun to bruise.

A look at Vallek found him following her movements, and a thunderous frown crashed upon his brow when he truly looked at her throat.

“We had to be sure,” was what he said, nothing close to an apology.

“Well now you know,” she spat.

That frown didn’t leave him as he followed her back out into the central hall.

He reached for her again, but before he could say anything, a key scraped in the lock. The door to Vallek’s quarters burst open, Eydis, Ulrich, and Brynhíl rushing inside. They brought with them a cacophony of noise, their questions piling atop one another.

Lady Eydis, ever the diplomat, raised her hands, asking for calm, but it was Ulrich who Ravenna watched closely. The lord commander’s furious gaze found her, and his upper lip curled, as if to accuse that the king making off with her was her own fault.

Ravenna couldn’t help peeling back her own upper lip to reveal her fangs. Although not nearly as impressive as orc tusks, she let the lord commander know she could bite back.

Understanding her threat, Ulrich’s nostrils flared and he began to barrel toward her.

He’d gone perhaps three steps before Vallek intercepted him, catching his lord commander by the throat.

Ulrich stumbled backwards, and Vallek used his momentum to slam the other orc into the stone wall, making the sconces quiver.

Ulrich sputtered, eyes wide with horror, as Vallek snarled in his face.

“You ever look at her like that again, I’ll carve out your eyes with my tusks.”

Ulrich’s eyes bulged—whether from the shock or Vallek squeezing his throat so tightly, Ravenna didn’t know. Or care, really.

“Vallek, let him go,” Eydis said calmly, as if he wasn’t about the choke the life out of his second. Still, the orcess’s eyes creased with worry as she looked between Ravenna and the scuffling orcs.

“He threatened my mate. This cannot be allowed.”

“Your mate?” Eydis gasped, and Ulrich made a similar sound of astonishment.

“My beast recognized her the moment I saw her true face,” Vallek confirmed.

Eydis took a long look at Ravenna, which she met head on. Although she’d no clue where she stood at the moment, Ravenna knew it was wise to have the king’s older sister as her ally. Eydis’s sharp mind whirled behind her eyes, blue like her brother’s but a lighter hue.

“Ulrich didn’t know,” Eydis said, not looking away from Ravenna. “Not even you did.”

Vallek bared his teeth at the sound logic, and after another moment, he released his second.

Ulrich slumped back against the wall, gasping for air and rubbing at his throat.

Ravenna had to keep a tight hold of her magic, the power itching beneath her skin to reach out and finish what Vallek had begun.

Her own bruised throat demanded vengeance.

But if anyone believed his throttling would stop Ulrich, they were wrong. “She cannot be your mate,” the lord commander wheezed. “She is fae . She must have bewitched you.”

Vallek snorted. “She had many opportunities to do so before and didn’t.”

“My king, you cannot—”

Slashing his hand through the air, Vallek growled, “ Enough, Ulrich. I’ve heard enough poison from your mouth today. What’s done is done.” Although his stance remained ready, his gaze tore away from his second to find Ravenna. “She is my mate. My beast has decided.”

With her hands held up in a gesture of peace, Eydis stepped forward. “Let us all take a moment to breathe. This complicates everything and tempers are high.”

“I’m fine,” Vallek grumbled, stalking around her to stand before Brynhíl. “Have her things moved into my chambers. My mate sleeps with me.”

Brynhíl bobbed her head. “Of course, my king.”

“Wait!” Ravenna yelped, halting the older orcess.

Marching up to Vallek, she insisted, “There’s no need for that. My staying here will only raise suspicion.”

“You are my mate,” he bit out. “I will have you in my chambers.”

“I don’t need to stay in here with you, not when—”

“This isn’t up for debate, skala .”