Page 44 of Fated or Knot (UnseelieVerse: The Omega Masquerade #1)

44

LARK

M arius didn’t stop breeding me until the early hours of the morning, but only because he’d passed out. I promptly followed him into unconsciousness and stirred before him to the rhythmic sound of waves crashing against the cliffs near the inn. The curtains closed off all but the cheery outline of sunshine.

I disentangled from my mate slowly, not wanting to wake him from his dead sleep. I expected my pussy to be sore, but perhaps it was a testament to my coming heat that my core only ached for more. If he woke up still in the throes of a rut haze, I’d gladly submit all over again.

The stinging promise of bruises marked my hips and thighs and the bite marks on my shoulder throbbed to my heartbeat. A similar pulsing came from shallower bites over the other side of my neck and another that didn’t quite pierce all the way through my thin wing. Even fully taken by his rut, Marius had sputtered out a mouthful of pixie dust in surprise after he’d bitten me there and hadn’t done it again.

The bite marks didn’t hurt like I expected them to, unless I tilted my head too much or poked the punctures directly. I took it as a benefit of my designation. If I wasn’t absolutely covered in the kelpie’s musk, I’d have been able to scent Marius’s mint and waterlily lingering in the bites for several days after the wounds healed.

I shivered, aware that a bit of his scent would be permanently intertwined with mine once he sank his fangs into my omega mark, once my heat arrived. I’d always carry him no matter where I went. How romantic.

Feeling warm, I wrapped my torso in a towel and cracked the door open. The hall was empty and a wicker basket full of lumps wrapped in waxed paper waited in front of the threshold. My belly grumbled as I took in the scents of seafood and bread.

A bolt of animal panic struck my chest a moment later. I grabbed the basket and dashed back to the bed, finding Marius awake and curled into a ball, clutching his face with both hands. “What happened? What is it?” I gasped.

He peeked at me through his fingers and groaned. My sense of his panic swiftly became his embarrassment. “I woke up and you weren’t there,” he mumbled.

I placed the towel aside and climbed back into bed with him, placing the basket between us. He scented the air and sat up, though he fixed a downcast expression on the wrapped-up food.

I snuggled into his side, purring to comfort him. He hadn’t pulled back from our bond, so I had the sense he needed to say something, though he didn’t want to utter it aloud. The feral side spoke for him. “You were hungry and I didn’t stop to care for you. I was too rough and now you carry the marks of our mating. For a moment, I woke without you and thought you’d left me.”

I released my tension in a slow sigh before fixing him with a fond smile. Oh, Marius .

“In case you missed it last night, I enjoyed everything you did. I’m not going anywhere. We’re bound until our end as stardust, remember?” I nuzzled against his shoulder, hoping he’d let go of this needless worry. He was starting to smell of fertile male again. Maybe the heightened need to claim and knot also came with a backlash of suppressed emotions once it faded. I’d experienced something similar with my pre-heat.

He rumbled agreement and pulled me into his lap, reaching for the pot of bruise salve he’d left by the bedside. “Still, I’m sorry, p’nixie. I’ll take care of you now, way after I should’ve.”

“Before the next wave of rut,” he thought loud enough for me to hear.

“Between care,” I suggested. And I was happy to enjoy some between care. We fed each other the small feast left for us before he rubbed away my hurts, though soon I was an enthusiastic partner with my legs spread for his rutting when the haze of need took him again.

Marius and I spent days in what the honored elders Henrik and Illia referred to as “newly bonded bliss.” The two of them moved like specters, leaving food and clean linens outside of our door. I reminded myself they were deaf and probably couldn’t hear my screams or Marius’s occasional roars. As the Seelie would put it, we fucked like brownies.

I’d notice when his urge to fill me ebbed because he’d feel a sudden and painful twist of dismay from taking me roughly and would follow it up with loving aftercare. I learned firsthand that the bruise salve sped up general healing as well as making bruises disappear. The only bite mark we left to scar was the one from our bonding night.

It took a full day and a half after we arrived for us to part long enough to wash, dress, and leave our room. We said hello to Henrik, a kelpie elder so bent and wrinkled by age, it was hard to know whether he’d been an alpha or a beta in his prime. He asked Marius for help moving something, and I took the opportunity to admire the outside of the inn.

Marius was right, it was adorable. It was freshly painted in pastel green and crisp white fringe, resembling a two-story cottage with a peaked roof. The stand of trees around the inn gave the illusion of privacy, but I’d seen from one of our windows that there was a small settlement nearby. Hopefully the fae there dropped by to check on Henrik and Illia. I was going to visit it with Marius today while his rut was calm and the sun was high in the sky.

The little hairs on the back of my neck rose. Something big and hungry was behind me, watching my every move. The rest of my senses told me who it was a moment later, but I was already in motion. I blasted the ground with a small vortex spell, clearing three feet before my wings caught the air and propelled me toward the nearest tree branch. Marius stood where I’d just been, craning his head up at me.

“Come down, li’l bird,” he rumbled.

“I’m scared. A predator was behind me.”

His eyes hooded in a lusty smolder. Stars, the rut simply wasn’t calming down. His need to chase me around the branches to catch and fuck me radiated off him like rays of sunshine.

Yet I was intrigued as to how he’d catch me without wings of his own. I smirked and asked, “Can water horses even climb?”

His nostrils flared with a kelpie’s snort. “You did not just ask that.” He started powering up the tree, breaking bark to create handholds along the way.

I yelped and fluttered off, crossing to another tree. When I settled, he was sitting on my last perch, grinning lopsidedly. “Come back, p’nixie,” he practically crooned.

“Don’t you want the thrill of the chase?” I teased.

He tapped his lips in a thinking pose before launching into motion. I thought he might be too hefty to make use of the branches where the trees shook hands. Most of them were grown together, and he definitely used them to his advantage, swinging from one branch to the other. Despite his size, he was nimble, and locked onto his prey.

I didn’t fly too far, already slick for him. I could’ve gone to the top of a tree, or to the opposite edge of the stand to make it more difficult to catch me. It didn’t matter anyway, because by the fourth tree, he put too much of his weight on a too-small limb. The crack split the air and his arms pinwheeled over a fifteen-foot drop.

I put on a burst of speed to fly over and save him, clutching his arms and fluttering fast to turn his descent into a controlled fall. His feet landed in the grass, feather light. Then he grabbed and slung me over his shoulder. “Caught you,” he said, smug.

Over our bond, he let me feel his calculated risk in putting his weight on a discolored branch. He’d known I loved him too much to let him fall. I smacked my lips. He’d tricked me, but I wasn’t too mad. “Smart, sexy predator,” I said while he carried me back into the inn and bounded up the stairs to our room, taking two at a time.

We spent four days in the inn by the sea. The between moments, where he’d care for me and we’d eat and recover, grew a little longer each time his rut calmed. We laid together and talked, growing closer over the small, overlooked things that’d been too insignificant for the magical process that’d bound us together. He told me about his military training and the ups and downs that came with it. And eventually, I told him everything he wanted to know about Osme Fen.

My old fears felt far away once I uttered them to my protector. I was about to manifest my omega mark, and then I would be fully claimed by Pack Sorles. I’d never have to worry about scenting Pack Ellisar on me permanently, which had once been an inevitability I’d dreaded.

Our time together was drawing to a close. Kauz was flying out to meet us at the inn by the afternoon for me to start my date with him. I remained cozy in Marius’s arms until then. Eventually, he drew me a bath and I washed alone, else we’d end up in another hours-long knotting.

Though when I emerged wet and nude from the bathroom, his lusty stare had me feeling weak at the knees. He watched me dress in my last set of clean clothes, knuckles white in the tangled sheets of bedding where I’d left him. “The rut will die down without me around, right?” I asked.

“I hope so,” he grumbled. “Go downstairs, before I rip those clothes off you.”

I drew breath to tease, but decided against it at the last moment. I’d learned thoroughly by this point what happened when he perceived a challenge. “Okay. Love you.”

“Love you more.”

I left the room with a giggle and a flutter of my wings, heading downstairs to meet Kauz when he arrived. Except, he was already here, seated and nursing a steaming cup of tea while listening attentively to a story Illia was telling. Her needles clicked away as she rocked in her chair, and a feather duster floated a few feet above them, flicking over the contents of a shelf.

Kauz twitched his hand and the feather duster ascended to the next shelf to clear away the thick layer of dust over the knickknacks there. His gaze seemed to shift, before he lit up with a broad smile. “There’s my mate.”

Illia didn’t look up. “Ah, aye, she’s been here with the strapping blue lad I was telling you about. Just like my Henrik in his prime.”

I bit my lip to hold in a laugh and made a mental note to add ‘strapping blue lad’ to my list of random compliments to whisper into Marius’s mind when he least expected it. Kauz put aside his tea and stood, catching me when I leapt into his arms. He enfolded me in his wings and our lips met for a long moment. “Hello, my Always,” I murmured.

“Hello sweetheart. I’ve missed you.” I soaked in his calm and gentle tone with a happy sigh. He put me back on my feet, but didn’t withdraw the privacy his wings. Purple nebulae danced in his eyes against a backdrop of darkness and stars as he took me in. I was helpless but to do the same, admiring him and running my hand through his hair. He’d had it cut back to starry white velvet again.

Illia’s chuckle interrupted what I was going to say. “She already has a room if you wish to make use of it,” she said.

His eyes literally twinkled in amusement while I watched, fascinated. “That is kind, honored elder, but I will be flying away with her shortly.”

“Marius will be right down,” I added.

“Will he?” Kauz chuckled and sat back down, taking me with him so I was resting across his lap. I laid my head on his shoulder and snuggled in while a tickle of warmth danced over my skin.

“Marius,” Illia echoed to herself. “Where have I heard that name?”

Kauz ignored her and turned over my wrist, making a tisk sound. “I should’ve figured,” he said under his breath. Over half the decorative loops marking the heat suppressant tattoo were gone, and I hadn’t even noticed. Whoops . The fertility blocker remained a bold “x” beneath it.

“Is it bad?” I whispered.

He petted my hair while we waited. I purred like a kitten and angled my head for more. “I don’t need this to tell me your heat is close. I have an idea to float by you and my brother, if he ever gets himself down here.”

He adjusted the feather duster again, and Illia tried to get Henrik’s attention. While I’d gotten used to the elderly couple yelling, Kauz winced at their back and forth, until the elderly kelpie shuffled out of the back room to see what his mate wanted.

Marius came downstairs a few minutes later, our traveling bag slung over one shoulder. He paused for a fraction too long when his gaze tracked to where I’d settled. This time, I felt his internal clash. Niall wanted to be territorial, but Marius reminded himself that his packmate and brother wasn’t competition. Kauz’s lips curled into his usual knowing smile as he waved casually to the kelpie.

“—Couldn’t possibly be royalty,” Henrik was scoffing. “One of them would’ve told us.”

“That’s our cue,” Kauz said in an undertone. With a flick of his wrist, he sent the feather duster to float over to its holder and gestured for me to stand.

“Honored elders, we’re leaving. What do we owe you for our stay?” Marius asked the elderly couple.

Kauz and I slipped outside. “He’s in rut,” I told him when we had privacy.

He nodded. “I figured it had to be something like that. You haven’t been sleeping much lately.”

I released a surprised laugh, though I hoped I didn’t have shadows under my eyes. I’d gotten as prepared for our date as I could, but I already knew I smelled of the sea. That saltwater tang was simply unavoidable, this close to the Doras.

Kauz kept talking, seeming thoughtful. “His side of the pack bond is…it’s interesting. I sense his lust and, well, pressure , but I’m not having a sympathetic reaction.”

“Because you’re a beta,” I said.

“Perhaps. But it’s still there, and I could reach out and accept some of it,” he mused. “Not that I think you need two of us this worked up yet.”

My pussy clenched as I imagined my gentlest male in rut. Maybe it wasn’t part of his designation, but I wanted it all the same.

Marius burst out of the inn, fixing me with a predatory gaze. “All set?” Kauz asked mildly.

Those yellow eyes turned from me to his brother reluctantly. “Aye.”

“I have a deal for you. Lark’s heat is close.”

“Very,” the kelpie growled.

“You know where I’m taking her. Follow us, just in case. She won’t be in a state to return to Neslune if her heat arrives, and I can’t see to her needs like you can,” Kauz reasoned. I nodded in agreement, even though I knew I’d try to hold out and travel back to the palace anyway. I couldn’t imagine succumbing to my heat without all four of my mates in my nest.

Marius didn’t even blink before he blurted, “Deal.”

We said our goodbyes quickly, since we’d see one another again soon. I picked up on his hope that he’d be back in bed with me by tomorrow evening. “As long as Kauz is willing to share. But I’m certain he will be.”

I nuzzled against his arm with a soft purr. “Bye, mate.”

His gaze was bright with longing already, but he stepped away. “Safe travels, p’nixie.”

I turned to Kauz, who had his wings mantled for flight. The brothers exchanged a nod of farewell before the dream warden said, “Let’s fly. It’s not far.”

I should’ve asked what wasn’t far before he launched into the air. I followed with a boost of speed from a vortex spell, waving to Marius until he was a featureless speck of blue next to a toy cottage from this height. The kelpie bond faded the further I traveled from my mate, until I couldn’t feel anything but my own thoughts and emotions. I missed it immediately. It was going to be harder to go without him than I thought, after getting used to it over several days of newly bonded bliss.

If only dream wardens could make similar bonds. Kauz flew much faster than I did, though with his wing shape he couldn’t stop or hover like I could at a moment’s notice. So, he did the same thing Marius had done in kelpie form, flying circles around me like an absolute showoff. If I didn’t know his skill with dream magic, I’d assume at first glance that the sky was his true element. He flew without any of the awkwardness that sometimes came with carrying that heavy pair of wings on the ground.

I was used to measuring out my essence for glimpses of flight. Without the silencing band, I had plenty of magic to do this without breaking a sweat. The height and speed we’d coaxed from my pixie wings was new, and my palms slicked with nerves every time I happened to glance down. I still checked my essence levels constantly to be as sure as possible I wouldn’t suddenly drop out of the sky.

My preoccupation distracted me from noticing when the sky started to shift. I glanced up, wondering when the sun started setting, as the clouds were painted in shades of orange and purple. Kauz swooped down to fly beside me for a moment. “Can you feel it?” he called.

I started to shake my head, but…something odd was going on. The wind whistling through my ears was calming, the sun was setting far earlier than it should, and a magnificent spread of stars glittered in the sky ahead of us around a luminous crescent moon. My jaw dropped and my skin tingled before taking on the pleasant warmth that could only follow a well-deserved nap.

Oh. Oh, literal stars. We’d crossed into the dreamlands, the portion of Serian where the magic of Ever, Always, and Never leaked from sleep into waking. It was more surreal than I could’ve imagined. Rolling alpine hills covered the land, lit red from one side, reality, where the needles and branches were crisp and distinct. From another angle, they were outlined in blue, turned into indistinct blobs like they were a painted backdrop.

Kauz wheeled around again, his wingbeats and momentum slowing. He coasted above me, like I could take shelter under the canopy of his open right wing. “Just glide. You won’t fall,” he said.

I stopped flapping my wings. The calm air seemed to buoy me, as long as I angled them like I was still manually flying. I gave the occasional flutter, nervous despite the feeling that gravity had given up on me and would allow me to stay up here for as long as I liked. “What is this magic?” I asked.

He smiled serenely. “The dreamlands recognize a dreamer. Welcome home, Lark.”

The stars and moon painted him in silvery light, and as I smiled back, I noticed movement on his wings. I looked over my shoulder and ended up flipping over with an ‘eep’ of surprise. My momentum stayed the same and after a moment, I let out a thrilled laugh, and he echoed it.

The tattoos on his wings that I admired so much were moving . They glowed silver from some ambient magic here, dancing and glittering in waves of mist and stars on the bottom half of the leathery span. I figured I could twist around to turn right side up, but instead I angled my wings so I flew lazily into Kauz, who caught me. I looped my arms around his shoulders. “I have questions,” I said, immediately distracted as I looked into his eyes. They were extra sparkly, with a glaze of purple.

“Of course. But first…” He cupped my cheek and kissed me, drawing his wings in to spiral us through the air in a whirl of colors and sparkles. I was glad he held me, as I was dazzled by this beautiful place and the handsome male who seemed cut straight from the cloth of semi-night resting over the land. “You want to know how things work here, sweetheart?”

“Mmm.” I soaked in the ambiance, and him. Maybe making sense of everything didn’t matter so much as long as Kauz was holding me.

“One of the most common dreams is flight. During true night, you can see specks of light floating in the sky over the dreamlands. Each one is a fae’s sleeping mind as they dream of flight. As winged dream wardens, we can fly without trouble and bend reality to stay up here as long as we like. I get quite spoiled by endless flight when I visit.”

“Wow,” I murmured. “Your wings tattoos are moving and glowing.”

“Ah, aye. I painted them on under the light of the dreamlands so they’d take on some of its magic. Do you like them?”

“They’re gorgeous. But…how did you reach around to do that?” I asked.

His eyes creased with his amused smile. “There’s a spell to lift ink that’s painted on something else and apply it to skin. They’re unfinished, you know.”

I hadn’t considered them unfinished, but now that he mentioned it, he did have the top half of his wings left unmarked. “I thought that was intentional.”

He shook his head. “I left some space for my Always. And the stars blessed me, since you’re a dream warden too. We could have a matching pattern.”

My breath caught. “That would be amazing.”

“I’m glad you think so. I was hoping you’d let me start painting your wings as soon as possible.”

I barely let him finish that statement before my lips were on his for an enthusiastic kiss. That explained how he intended to mark my wings with his magic. I’d mourned losing the silvery lavender tones on my wings as his essence faded. They’d since fully darkened and glowed like amethyst gems. Pretty on their own, but missing that special something that’d made me feel so close to my Always.

He let me go at the end of the kiss, so I was flying on my own. I righted myself so my belly faced the ground and coasted through the air beside him. “I’d love that, but didn’t you say you needed more time to replenish your magic?” I asked.

“Well, that was before I spent the better part of the last week in the dreamlands waiting for my turn. My essence replenishes much faster here. Check your magic, it should be the same for you.”

I did, and found that he was right. The sphere of magic within me seemed whole already, even after at least an hour of flight to make it to the dreamlands. So, he must feel more complete too after sacrificing so much for me. I tried to do a spin of glee and spiraled a couple times before catching myself.

“Anyway, we have a way’s to travel still. How about a dance?” He offered his hand with a midair bow and an expectant look. I didn’t ask how we could possibly dance while flying, I just put my hand in his knowing he’d lead me.

We twirled together, and I didn’t feel dizzy even though I was expecting it. This was no ballroom dance, but something we invented together while gravity didn’t want to drag us down. Weightless, we floated together and varied our performance, sometimes quick and looping, and as our mood shifted and we flew chest to chest, slow and intimate too.

He kept us on track as we flew across the dreamlands together, mostly in one another’s arms.