Page 10 of Fog of War (Over the Moon)

Paladus

I stood over the bed in the Satoris champion’s suite, staring down at my…

After our initial convergence, a drone had delivered a sedative and a mediplasma to our location on the battlefield.

I’d given Gabbie both immediately, still vibrating out of my skull, fighting back an orgasm I didn’t deserve until I ultimately lost the fight, my cock squeezed between her hip and my abdominal plates, too sensitive to bear the pleasure.

I’d cleaned myself unceremoniously, thankful for the fog cover, and then carried her to the edge of the battlefield.

The Tetradi champions hadn’t attempted to take her from me after that, but dropping her in the grass at the edge of the battlefield had felt like a failure. A risk. My instincts didn’t want to let her go.

Romantic? Yeah… Sure.

Except staring down at her soft, unconscious features, all I’d been able to think about was fucking her awake. I’d wanted that scent on my cock so bad, I could taste her in the air. It was a syrupy sweet scent–mouthwateringly wet–and so complex. She’d been deep in lust when she fell…

Fuck. What I’d have given to paint my plates with her scent right there in the grass.

Gabbie Rubens. She was mine now. Forever. This soft little thing covered in blood and sweat that had blessed me with her violence and laughter.

My cock had jumped, excited by the prospect of violence on her behalf. I hadn’t been able to stay with her–the battlefield had called me for the important work still left to do. So I’d backed away, snarling at the medics that knew to keep their distance until I was out of sight.

Now she slept in artificial peace, likely still sedated, though I didn’t know how to tell for sure.

I wasn’t a medic and knew little about her body.

But from the many bruises and scrapes still covering her skin despite the powerful cure-all she’d been given, it was obvious that her injuries had been serious.

I brushed my knuckles against her soft, pale skin.

Which of those bruises and scrapes were from me?

The door to the restroom slid open, steam rolling out with Augora as she tied a skirt around her waspish hips.

“Your turn,” she said, nodding to my still bloodied, powdered body. I glanced down at my chest and counted it a victory that most of the blood was blue instead of red.

“No, thank you.”

Augora knew just as well as I did that I wouldn’t want to take that shower. Not until Gabbie awoke and saw my skin painted in triumph as it was. I had new scars and broken plates for her to paint with her bird-like fingers.

Then I remembered what Augora and I came here for, and my mouthparts pressed into my cheeks with discomfort. “Thank you for permitting me into your clan suites. If our failure causes any problems for you…”

Augora shrugged, a smirk breaking her stoic expression as she tossed her towel on the ground to mop up the droplets streaming down the grooves of her plates to the floor.

“I’m the one who should thank you. My girlfriend will be relieved that we’ve failed.”

My eyes shot open, then a breath of relieved laughter pushed from my lungs. “I’ll send her a convergence gift.”

“Aren’t we supposed to send you one?” Augora teased.

I grinned, leaning my elbow on one knee. “Consider it a preemptive show of appreciation. If she doesn’t converge with you the moment she scents you, I’ll be fucking shocked.”

And just like that, the ice melted away. Augora smiled brightly enough to show her fangs, and the steel rod shoved up my spine disappeared. I rubbed my spires, relieved. Giddy, even. Failing was the best thing that had ever happened to either one of us.

“Leonide and Aescia are a perfect match anyway,” Augora added. “His spires have already bled silver, I hear.”

I grunted, my gaze descending to Gabbie’s face, mesmerized.

Augora did the same, falling silent. It had only been a few turns since we’d converged, so she hadn’t changed much.

Even still, a silver sheen dusted her cheeks, nose, and ears.

The filaments framing her eyes had been dark brown a mere turn before, but now caught the light like fine white plas.

Ghostly. Beautiful.

Her eyelids fluttered, a divot forming between her brows.

Augora sat down on the edge of the bed and my talons twitched. I didn’t want anyone near Gabbie.

I shook my head, standing abruptly and moving to the corner of the room with my arms crossed to keep my murderous, possessive thoughts in check. The lightness I’d felt fell like ash as I settled into the corner, watching.

“Gabbie,” Augora murmured with a comforting hum. I swallowed back my own purr. My hrum was the one that Gabbie needed to feel calm and comforted. Not some impost–I growled again, clearing my throat, and held my breath.

“Where’m I?” Gabbie squeaked in the smallest, sleepiest voice. She blinked at the ceiling, then looked at Augora, pink staining her cheeks. “Where’my glasses?”

Augora continued to pat her shoulder. “You don’t remember?”

Gabbie strained to her elbows, sitting up.

Her silk fell in a bloody clump about her shoulders despite the medics having cleaned the mess from her skin and given her a care gown.

None of us had experience with cleaning or maintaining it, so we’d left it alone.

She blinked several times, her focus sharpening until her pulse picked up and a burst of heat raced up her neck.

“I remember,” she said, the sleep gone from her voice. “Where’s…” She bit her lip, breath trembling. “Where’s Paladus? Is he okay? Is he mad?”

Augora looked up at me then and Gabbie’s eyes followed.

My breath froze. Her eyes glowed from across the room, piercing me straight through the heart. They sparkled like white opals in the sun. I swallowed hard, talons gripping my own elbows harder to keep myself in check.

“I’m alright,” I managed, the undertone of my voice vibrating despite my efforts to hold off. “Are you?”

She didn’t answer, lips slipping open as we just… stared.

Augora cleared her throat. “We thought you would feel more comfortable waking up in a Satoris champion suite than on the other side of the festival encampment,” she explained. “You two can stay here as long as you need.”

Gabbie blinked away, trying to focus on Augora instead. “Thanks.”

“Should I go, or do you want me to stay?”

The question hung between them for a long breath. Gabbie glanced at me with a thoughtful frown before nodding to the door.

“I’ll be okay. We probably have stuff to talk about.”

Augora stood and threw a bag over her shoulder, then gently bumped her head against Gabbie’s silk. “If you need to, just yell ‘room, help’ and someone will come skewer him for you. Probably Leopha, if we’re being honest. She’s been sitting outside hissing at people.”

To my extreme relief, Gabbie smiled easily. “I’m not worried.”

Augora left us, some of the thick midnight fog seeping into the room. Leopha popped her head in and Augora immediately pushed her back out by the shoulder.

“She’s fine,” Augora grunted, knocking her cousin back.

“Giddit, Gabs!” Leopha managed as the entry hissed shut.

Gabbie smiled and waved, but as soon as the door was closed, her features fell. She pushed aside her blanket carefully, exposing a bare, creamy leg from toe to thigh. It was peppered in bruises and scrapes that she traced with gentle confusion.

My hrum revved on instinct and her eyes snapped to mine. I coughed it back, gaze transfixed on her bony ankle with a starved, dry throat.

“Sorry,” I rasped, caught in a potent vortex of both need and concern.

She hastily threw the blanket back over her leg, then held up her palms like she was surrendering to authorities. “No, no. My fault. It just… doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“You received a mediplasma. All of your major injuries were repaired as quickly as possible.”

She raised her brows with a slow nod. “Oh… Thank you.” She pushed on the bridge of her nose, then grimaced, dropping her hand. “My glasses?”

“The discs you wore on your nose? We might find them in the morning…”

My sentence trailed off as my nostrils flared, taking in her scent as it rose away from her blanket.

It was mixed with astringent odors from the medics, the sterile care gown, the bedding that wasn’t mine, but it was still Gabbie and I wanted it like a newborn whelp craved its mara’s nectar.

Beating around the bush was only going to muddy the waters and make it more difficult for me to think clearly.

“We’ve converged,” I said, rolling my shoulders back and dropping my arms, showing off my plates covered in blood-streaked powder. Presenting myself to her in some ritual of instinct. “It’s not reversible, but–”

“I know,” she said, then laughed at herself, glancing at the ceiling with a self-deprecating smile.

“I know what convergence is and what it means. My best friend is a venandi, remember? I… I know.” Her brows drew together and she growled the cutest, most ineffectual growl I’d ever heard.

“I hope that Tetradi jerk got his butt kicked.”

I surprised myself with a purr of amusement and took a few steps closer, gesturing to the blood on my plates. “I’d say I kicked it pretty thoroughly.”

Her eyes lingered on the remnants of her palm print and mine, smeared together from the bloodiest, most satisfying fight I’d ever had, and swallowed hard. “I’m sorry about all this.”

“I’m not,” I admitted. “You saved me from a future I would have hated.” I didn’t add that I was now thoroughly and forever obsessed with her.

That I’d see her every time I closed my eyes.

Every time I pumped my cock. Every moment of every day would belong to her, and it wasn’t just because her scent was now laced with the traces of my own DNA.

Gabbie and I didn’t know each other well, but from the moment she slapped me, it had felt as if she’d tied a rope around my spine and pulled me along in her wake.