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“This is his tent, but it looks like he’s asleep,” Slade said in a whisper, crouching by the entrance of the seer’s tent.

I thought back to the way Sylvan had pushed me out of his psychic space beforehand, cutting off my view of his memories.

“That might make things easier.”

“To get under his skin, you mean?” he replied.

I nodded. “He had to consciously push me out, and how likely is he going to be able to do that if he’s asleep?”

“Better hope he’s dead to it,” Slade said, then carefully and quietly unzipped the tent.

We paused at the entrance for a moment, allowing our eyes to adjust to the darkness.

It was a lot emptier than everyone else’s as he was the only occupant, now a shadowy bulk.

This worked in our favour as we crawled inside, crouching in the empty space on the left, looking down at Sylvan’s sleeping form.

The similarity in the features of the Great Black Wolf and him was startling.

I hadn’t exactly memorised his face, but the sharp cheekbones and the broad jaw were all very familiar.

That was the first thing I needed to know—why.

I reached out my hand, ready to touch the Volken seer and see if I could find out.

“Wait!” Slade hissed. My fingers froze where they were, and I shot him an incredulous look over my shoulder. “Will you be OK?”

I shrugged. I wanted to be sure of that too, and everything I’d experienced in the psychic space hadn’t hurt me yet, so I had to assume that would stay the case.

I just looked at him, not willing to disturb the silence and potentially wake Sylvan.

He nodded finally, not looking happy about it, but accepting this was what we had to do.

I slid my hand over the tent floor, careful not to create a noise, and then the tips of my fingers touched Sylvan’s.

I was wrenched away from the tent in a chaotic swirl, reality reasserting itself quickly with a snap.

“Thank the gods you’re here.”

I looked up to see a shirtless Sylvan standing before me, and sure enough, he had the same well-defined muscular body that all men that were gifted with the peacock gene seemed to have.

His eyes were wide, the crystalline blue all the more stark for it, and he looked at me like I was the most precious thing in the world.

He took a step toward me, then stopped, as if he wasn’t sure he could or should.

“You are, aren’t you?”

“Of course,” I said, though it wasn’t me who was saying the words.

I was in the body of the person speaking to him, but I wasn’t controlling it.

That was enough for him though, as he broached the gap between us in two long strides, then jerked me to him and held me close.

I heard the rasp of his breath in my ears, felt the shift of his hands restively on our skin as if it was my own.

“It’s OK, my love.”

My voice was lower, more melodious than mine usually was. It held a soothing note that seemed to unwind something inside Sylvan. But not for long. The tension that leaked out was soon replaced by an emotion that burned much hotter.

The look on Sylvan’s face was an alien one—pure naked desire. He had pulled back, still holding me in his arms, and those bright blue eyes grew hooded and heated, dropping down to rest on my mouth before slowly drawing back up again. His tongue flicked out to swipe his plush bottom lip.

What the actual fuck? I had no idea what Sylvan’s deal was.

Sometimes he was some half naked interloper who’d savaged me and seemed to relish being electrocuted in his cell, and sometimes he was a foreign presence in my dreams, a hijacker of my mind, an inciter of mass hysteria.

To feel a thrill of arousal spike through me was an odd experience.

Me? Or the body my consciousness rode within?

I didn’t know. I just felt the fluid shift of this body as it moved towards him, slinging our arms around his shoulders, angling our head closer until I could feel his breath on our lips.

“And what has you so hungry for me, my love?”

We pulled back when he tried to close that gap, his mouth searching for ours, and it took him moments to register before his eyes darted up to meet ours. Something cooler settled there as he straightened.

“We’re getting closer,” he said, pulling free of us and tangling his hands in his hair. “We should be at Leifgart within days.”

“This is good, my love.”

“Is it? You helped me get out of that cesspool. I find myself questioning why the hell I would go back.”

“You go back because we need—” we said.

“I know, I know, but knowing doesn’t make me like this any better. They might fail, your little band. If Lian gets his hands on them, if Lonan rises.”

“If, if, if. I’ve seen a million ifs and so have you. You know as well as I that all we can do is?—”

“Prepare for every eventuality.” He nodded, staring at the ground for a moment. “I should be training the girl, get her and her group of fuck buddies to develop some discipline. They’re just as likely to think they’ll be able to fuck their way out of any problems that occur.”

“Sylvan, it is worrying to hear you speak so scathingly of desire,” we said. “It is the glue that has drawn all of our players together. Desire is the currency that rules the world.”

His eyes flicked up to meet mine squarely. That flame of want still burned hot inside him, but as I watched, his hands clenched into fists.

“And the desire that draws us together?”

I felt my face split into a smile, something that seemed to strike Sylvan physically. He almost shrank away, but as we sidled up and put our arms around him, those fingers went to claws as they raked across our back.

“Well?”

His voice was threat and challenge and need, and we loved it.

Our smile didn’t falter until our lips touched his.

We took the surge of his tongue, the violence of his caress as tribute.

He ground the hard length of his cock against our thigh, as if to underline this.

He didn’t whimper when our hands wound in his hair, when we jerked it back, revealing the long line of his neck.

“Yes…” he hissed as we lipped at the skin there, his body tensing when our fangs grazed his flesh. “Yes, yes, yes…” he chanted, a mantra that just got louder as we caught his flesh between them.

“Not this time, my love,” we said, and tossed him down on a bed that had suddenly appeared, the look of disappointment on his face no less plain for the movement.

I needed out of here. I’d seen more of Sylvan’s cock than I ever wanted to, and I definitely didn’t want to see his O face when he threw babies out of his flesh tube.

I reached, for Slade, for the tent, for any reality that didn’t have Sylvan looking like all his wishes had come at once while stroking his dick, but I remained resolutely seated.

Fuck! I yelped, but of course, no one could hear me. I’d been dumb enough to project my consciousness into a tricky bastard who’d caught me at every turn.

She straddled him, the woman whose body I rode, removing clothes with a wave of her hand, and then teased the Volken seer with her hands and mouth.

This had to be his dream, since he did little to reciprocate as he just lay there, gasping as she got him closer and closer.

But we did not fully follow the script. His stomach bunched as she used his dick as a sex toy, rocking her hips as she worked it against her clit.

And then, when his cries grew too urgent, she relented, sliding him into her in one stroke.

I sat there in the rear of this mystery woman’s mind as she rode the seer to victory, felt her orgasm as if it was my own, which was uncomfortable at best. I cheered somewhat dejectedly when she climbed off him, caressing his face as he panted, struggling to get his breath back.

Then we rolled off the bed while he called her name and she assured him she’d be back.

We walked until a door appeared, then we slipped inside a white-tiled bathroom.

I saw her face in the mirror as we went over to the sink, washing our hands in the water. Long reddish hair and green eyes was all I caught, but I needn’t have strained to get a glimpse. She straightened up, looking straight into the glass, and then smiled.

“This is not what will help you. Hijacking my seer and seeking access to his mind will not give you what you seek. Do not try again. You will find his mind barred to you.”

You’re talking to me? I asked.

“I would have thought that was obvious.”

And who are you?

She smirked at this, “You need to focus on your pack, little queen. It is your bonds that will help you through what’s to come.”

Yeah, you guys keep saying that, while keeping all the relevant information to yourself. That’s a lot to take on faith.

“Yes? And what other option do you have? Very well, know this. Giving one’s name was a powerful thing when I roamed the earth. It was believed that knowing it could give you power over another. I am Branwen, little queen. Now return to your mate and build some bridges.”

The tent reasserted itself with a jolt, my breath sounding horribly loud. Slade saw I was conscious, his face too pale in the moonlight coming through the flap.

“Let’s get you out of here, princess.”

We scrambled out of the tent with more noise than we should have, but if Sylvan’s twitches were anything to go by, Branwen had gone back for round two. I gasped when we emerged out into the night air, and Slade carried me until I was deposited on Finn’s unused sleeping roll.

“Love, what happened? You were out to it, and then you were twitching. That was the scariest shit I’ve ever seen.”

Slade wanted me to share more, and I had no problem meeting that need. I rolled into a seated position and told him everything.