Drink of Me (27 page)

“You call this being loyal?” she said, aghast. “He embraces me, cherishes me, raises me up above all other women he has ever known, and you trap me here to insult me and swear vengeance on me? To deny your fealty? This is how you pay him your respects?”

“I will show my respect by prying those wicked claws of yours out of him before you ever become Prima. I’ll be doing Reule a favor!” Rye’s hand darted out before she could react, and he grabbed her by the arm. He drew her up close, his mouth against her ear until she felt the rush of his heated breath. “I’m Prime Blade for a reason, unfortunate girl. I lead armies in a harmony of movement and strategy unlike anything you’ve ever conceived of. If you think I cannot rid myself of one troublesome outlander woman, then you’re mistaken.”

Mystique’s heart was pounding and she grabbed at his fingers, trying to pry them off her arm where they were squeezing so hard it was agonizing. She realized how frail she was in comparison to that big, powerful hand. That he could snap her bone if he desired it. She looked desperately at the door, wondering why Chayne didn’t come and stop this.

“Oh, I’m more powerful than Chayne,” he answered her thoughts. “I can block both of our minds from him…from anyone. I could wring your neck and no one would know until you were dead on the floor. Unfortunately, I was seen entering the room with you. It isn’t my goal to alienate my Prime in the process of ridding myself of you. As it is, I’ll have to face his temper come morning because of you.”

“Rye, please,” she begged him, her eyes smarting with tears of pain. “Explain this rage to me. I saved you, but not Amando, and that makes me evil? I don’t understand your logic. Why have you made me a target? Why is this all my fault?”

“Because we never,
never
lost Pack until you showed up! Suddenly you’re here and Amando is dead! A single drop of water in a pond causes ripples for great distances. You were the drop, and Amando drowned shortly after.” He shook her hard, making her neck crack. “Who are you? What are you? None of us knows. Who’s next? You think I’ll sit back and let you sleep beside my king? That I’ll allow evil to lie next to him?”

“You think I’ll hurt Reule? That I’ll kill him?” She was so horrified by the idea that she gagged. “By the Lady, you’ve gone completely mad! Why would I kill a man who’s making me his queen? Giving me a glorious home? Loving me like I have never known love in all of my life?”

“Protecting you, as promised.”

The statement was followed by a blindsiding punch from a huge fist that landed squarely on Rye’s left cheek. Rye went flying, his gripping hand wrenching Mystique’s arm hard before finally releasing her. The heir hit the ground with a jarring crash and Mystique felt a familiar muscular arm catch her around the waist, keeping her from toppling over onto Rye. That arm drew her back into a beloved body of warmth and strength, and her heart ached with relief as she leaned back into Reule, clutching his biceps. He nuzzled her ear gently.

“Are you all right, baby?” he demanded softly.

“Yes. Yes,” she breathed, turning her face to his until her nose rubbed his cheek and she could draw in the familiar masculine scent of him.

“I’ll believe that when I see your arm later,” he said grimly. He turned hard eyes onto Rye, who was trying to orient himself enough to sit up.

“Reule—”

“Don’t defend him, Mystique,” he snapped harshly.

“Reule, he’s sick. Not physically, but in his mind. I could feel it when he held me. It’s like a poison in him that he cannot control. He needs healing and care, not rage and retribution.”

“Damn me,
kébé
,” he said, turning to kiss her forehead fiercely. “I cannot let this go unpunished!”

“Reule, I’m not asking you for that. Only listen.” She turned herself toward him. “I think I can heal this just as I healed Chayne. I think…it may have been a combination of the voltage he took and the shock of losing Amando. This isn’t the Rye you know. Not the Rye I was coming to know. He’s suspicious and paranoid. Filled with grief that blinds him to truth. I know it doesn’t seem like it, but it’s just as much a wound as what Chayne suffered, only it isn’t visible through anything but his behavior. Please. Can’t we place him somewhere safe where I can convince him to allow me to heal him?”

“I don’t want you anywhere near him,” Reule snapped just as the door opened to admit Chayne and Liandra.

Liandra ran at Mystique and she turned from Reule to hug her newest friend. Mystique had felt relief and safety with Reule, but Liandra’s ready warmth made her want to cry like a child. She resisted the impulse, gathering her dignity as others looked curiously into the room from the hall.

“Chayne, the door, please.”

Chayne obeyed promptly and they were closed into a measure of privacy once more. Reule reached out for Mystique, his hand falling on her waist and drawing her back to his side. Liandra shot her a quick look of amusement over Reule’s possessiveness.

“Rye, you’ve greatly insulted me. Twice now you’ve laid abusive hands on a woman under my care and protection. There’s a price for that and you will pay it,” he gritted out ominously. “By the Lord, Rye, this is beneath you! You must be mad, because the man I’ve known for nearly a century would never do such a thing.”

“Reule, you’re a fool,” Rye said, spitting blood onto the floor as he gingerly touched his face. “She’s leading you around by your cock and you don’t even know it.”

Liandra’s gasp was just barely drowned out by Reule’s roar of fury as he pushed Mystique back and grabbed for Rye. He hauled the Prime Blade up by his formal jacket, yanking him to his feet, then shoving him into the nearest wall. Rye fought back this time, clutching Reule in return and using a mighty heave of strength to reverse their positions against the wall, their wrestling bodies crashing into a small table and sending a vase shattering onto the floor.

Mystique couldn’t bear it. She couldn’t bear to see two friends battling each other, nor the possibility of someone getting hurt. She could tell with a glance at Chayne’s worried features the situation was flaring out of control. Acting on her well-trusted instincts, she stripped her red kid gloves off and shoved them at Liandra, who took them readily without fully understanding why. It didn’t matter. Mystique was focused only on Rye.

“Damn you, Reule, can’t you see? She’s been here only a week and already she’s destroying your Pack! Why can’t you see? Why would you pick an outlander whore over your Pack if she weren’t somehow influencing you?”

“By the Lord, Rye, I’ll kill you if you don’t shut up!” Reule promised viciously.

Mystique approached them, watching the straining muscles and power balance very carefully. She saw Reule look at her just as she reached for Rye. She held out stretched palms and fingers and waited for only a heartbeat as Reule switched the force of his fight from trying to shove Rye off to trapping him against himself and keeping him from moving. Mystique’s hands folded around Rye’s face, her palms against his ears, her fingers fitting firmly over his cheeks. The physical balances of his mind sprawled out before her, showing her the way within seconds.

Reule caught Rye’s weight as the surprised heir succumbed, his eyes rolling back just before they closed. Chayne was there in an instant and the three of them guided the giant down to the floor.

“By the Lady, I swear I’ve never seen him like that,” Chayne whispered. “He was like a zealot. Hating.” He looked up in wonder at Mystique’s guarded eyes. “I didn’t know you could do that.”

“No one does. I’d like it kept that way,” Reule said shortly. He wiped the back of his hand across his damp forehead and looked at Liandra. “Is that clear?”

“You needn’t worry about Liandra,” Mystique said sharply.

Reule found her tone surprising and amusing. It pleased him whenever she defended his people. Even when they didn’t deserve it, as he felt Rye did not.

“So, my sweet lady, what would you have us do with your patient?”

“Is there a strong door with a lock somewhere?”

“Your wish is my command. Which is to be expected, seeing as how you’ve been leading me around by my—”

“Reule!” Mystique cut in with a horrified laugh. Liandra snickered. “Seriously. This isn’t like healing damaged tissue. What’s wrong with Rye is only partially physical. I believe his mind isn’t something I can heal without his help or permission. I can’t explain why it’s different, but my instincts tell me it is.”

“I’m learning to trust your instincts,” Reule remarked. “And so should you. You ought to have known better than to come here alone with Rye.”

“I didn’t think he would hurt me,” she argued softly.

“
Kébé,
he practically strangled you last time!”

“By the Lady,” Chayne hissed. “That’s why you were so angry at him. That’s why you wouldn’t make him Shadow!”

“And I should have told you, Chayne, but I was trying to temper my response and minimize his humiliation so he wouldn’t hold it against Mystique. I wasn’t thinking about his power, that he’d use it against you like this. I wasn’t thinking at all.” Reule’s self-disgust was obvious. “I thank the Lord and Lady my shortsightedness didn’t get you killed,
kébé
.”

Reule rose to his full height and reached to draw her close. He inspected her carefully, what he could see of her, and gently ran fingers over her bruising arm. “If I hadn’t felt his rage…I’m the only ’pathic being in this city more powerful than Rye. The only one he cannot block out.”

“Hush now,” she soothed in a dulcet whisper, her fingers touching his lips tenderly. “All is well. You’ve kept your promise. And I never once feared that you wouldn’t.”

It was an impressive realization for them both. It made a smile twitch beneath her fingertips. He kissed them before removing them, then drew her up tight along the length of his body.

“How long will this last?” he asked, glancing down at Rye. “I’d rather not drag him out in front of his peers like this.”

“I really don’t know. Can’t you reinforce it somehow?”

“No. He needs to be conscious before I can make a suggestion of my own. Chayne. Find Saber and tell him to send three strong guards here. We’ll go into the hall and make the announcement everyone has been waiting for. It will hold everyone’s attention and allow the guards to move him discreetly.”

“Announcement?” she asked.

He chuckled. “Yes. The one about making you my bride.”

“Oh! I…” She flushed. “I forgot.”

“An auspicious beginning,” Liandra said, giggling. “Amando would have loved this. Well, not the fighting part or seeing Rye acting like a loon, but…well, the funny parts.” She circled a hand as if to wrap up her meaning in an obvious ball.

“We get the point,” Chayne said dryly.

“Come, Mystique,” Liandra said, ignoring Chayne’s sarcasm and Reule’s scowl in order to pull her out of his hold and drag her off. “I simply must have a good seat so I can watch Jocelyn have an apoplexy. I’ll bet she turns purple.”

The weak snowfall was on its way to becoming a full-fledged storm by the time the banquet drew to a close. Those who lived at far points of the city or beyond the walls were invited to stay at the keep. Liandra and Justas had been invited to remain for the entire seven days of light and dark, and they’d accepted even before the snow. So Reule didn’t have to search hard or far in order to find Mystique as the hour grew late.

“Why aren’t you married, then, if you want a family of your own so much?” he heard her familiar low voice asking as he neared the door to Liandra’s chambers.

“I haven’t found a man worthy of accepting.” Reule could almost hear her shrug the subject aside. “What of you? Do you suppose that you’ve always wished for a husband and children? I think of what you’ve told me and imagine you as a healer much too busy to think of making a family. Or perhaps your independent ways made you undesirable. That happens in some cultures, I hear.”

“I don’t know what I’ve wished for before. Only what I wish for now,” she responded softly, the warm emotion in her tone shooting right through his heart.

“Aren’t you afraid?” Lia asked in a whisper. “Of the responsibility? Of…of committing to a single man for the rest of your days? You’ve known Reule only a week, and you’ve no past to use for comparison. Aren’t you curious?”

Reule felt a quick and stony stab of jealousy limned in fury. The jealousy was at the idea of Mystique making opportunities to compare him to other men, and the anger was directed at Liandra for speaking the intolerable suggestion aloud.

“Lia,” Mystique scolded in a light laugh. “It isn’t about physical relations. That doesn’t matter. Trust me on this.”

It
doesn’t matter
? Reule frowned irritably. Granted, he’d been a little wild and a tiny bit selfish in his haste with her earlier, but it still
mattered
!

“I knew Reule was my destiny the very instant he first touched me,” she confided vehemently. “I was barely conscious, but I remember feeling him coming for me. Everything I had within me was focused on his coming. Then he was there, and I touched him, and I just knew. It was like coming home to the perfect place, Liandra. When you come into contact with someone who makes you feel like that, then you’ll know it too. No fear. No curiosity. You’ll just know it in your soul.”

“What…” Liandra cleared her throat, hesitated. “Do you suppose one could feel this way with only a look?”

“Well, I suppose so. I…Liandra! There is someone! Someone you’ve seen, right?”

“No. Of course not. I’ve merely had a ridiculous crush on the fool for years. If it was destiny, you’d think the idiot would have figured it out by now.” Liandra snorted derisively. “I gave up on that nonsense a long time ago.”

“Clearly not, or he wouldn’t have been the first to jump into your head,” Mystique teased mercilessly. “Tell me who it is!”

“I never would! Not to you! You aren’t even a telepath and he could snatch it out of your stray thoughts one day like that!” Lia snapped. “I’d be mortified and humiliated. Since there are no other Sánge for quite a large distance, relocating is out of the question. Therefore, I’ll keep it to myself, thank you.”

“He could just as easily take it from your mind,” Mystique countered.

“No, because I’m the stronger telepath. Thank the Lady. I’m even stronger than Amando was telepathically, which kept him from knowing. A good thing too, because I know he’d have let it slip one day, or tried to play matchmaker.”

“Are you hinting that this man you have a crush on is Pack?” Mystique crowed. “He is, isn’t he?” She laughed riotously as Liandra furiously tried to shush her. Reule grinned as he leaned against the wall, continuing to eavesdrop. His
kébé
and her uncanny sense for reading people had uncovered Lia’s secret.

“Stop! Please!” Lia begged. “He wouldn’t…couldn’t notice me even if I fell in his lap, Mystique. His position would make taking a mate all but impossible without resigning, and he will never resign. He would die for Reule. It’s all he knows, and all he’ll ever know. I’m resigned to that. So please don’t tease.”

Darcio.
She could only mean Darcio. Stunned, Reule thought about the development and realized that Liandra was correct on many counts. Darcio wasn’t likely to take note of a girl of her station. Especially not the sister of a Packmate. She was a noblewoman meant for a serious-minded relationship and commitment. Darcio was, and always had been, fully committed to his position as Shadow. It was a job that never ended and had no set hours of on and off time. It would be unfair for Shadow to wed a woman and then pay her no attention. Spend no time with her. And resignation was out of the question. Darcio would never consider it.

Poor girl. It was exactly as she said, a foolish sort of dream that it would be best for her to overcome.

“Sweet Lia,” Mystique said, her tone now all kindness and sympathetic understanding. “You cannot speak to me of the impossible. I’m quite certain that becoming the queen of Jeth was very impossible to the girl I once was.”

Reule took the responding silence to that remark as his cue to step into the room and make his presence known. When he did, he found his
kébé
stroking her fingers through Lia’s fair hair in consolation, the girl’s head resting on her shoulder. It was like watching a mother soothe her daughter, and the richness of the emotion it stirred inside him froze him in his tracks. He could suddenly imagine her doing the very same thing for their daughter one day. Coming to her mother with a broken heart or confessions of a young girl’s crush. Only the hair slipping between her fingers would be black, like his, and her eyes would sparkle like diamonds.

The image in his mind made his heart thud in a hard, pounding rhythm. He wanted her then. Right then. Needed her in a way he’d never needed another being in his entire lifetime.

“
Kébé
,” he croaked, his voice harsh with lurching emotion. She looked at him quickly and her eyes widened, first with pleasure, then with obvious understanding. He struggled not to emanate emotion, wanting to maintain a measure of privacy for his feelings. Liandra sat up and smiled warmly in greeting.

“Well, then,” she said briskly, shooing Mystique off her bed. “I’ve kept you so long that my Prime has come looking for you. I myself am exhausted.” She affected a wide and obvious yawn. “Have a fair night, Mystique. My Prime.” She stood up and herded Mystique directly toward him. He wanted to grab Amando’s sister and kiss her in gratitude. Instead, he snatched up Mystique’s arm and swung her out into the hall.

“Good dreams,” he wished the other woman just before hustling his intended down to the other end of the long hall. He’d housed Lia in Amando’s rooms, on the same floor of the keep as the rest of the Pack. That meant he was in his bedroom moments later, the door slamming heavily shut behind him as his willing captive turned in a swirl of skirts to face him.

“Reule,” she whispered as he faced her, his face no doubt as savage as his need.

“Take off your clothes,” he commanded her hotly.

She drew in a deep breath, but though she didn’t protest, she didn’t move to obey either. He watched her very steadily, slowly beginning to walk a tight circle around her. He liked watching her. Watching her breathe. Hard. The confines of her corset was doing outstanding things to her pretty breasts so that every deep breath sent her swelling over her neckline. His crest dutifully circling the edge of that neckline made him smile. His expression made her gasp, and he wondered what he looked like just then to make her react in such a way. Probably like a man intending to leave his mark on her in all sorts of ways, which was exactly what he was.

“Let me explain it like this,” he offered, his tone low and purposeful. “By the time I marry you, I want my child growing inside you. I cannot produce this desired outcome while you’re fully clothed. Although…” He tilted his dark head and seemed to contemplate it for a moment. “Well, that’s not entirely true, but I’d much prefer you fully nude as opposed to…” Reule felt his entire body stiffen with heat and need as a host of lascivious options began to flood his mind. “By the Lady, Mystique,
take off your clothes
.”

This time she was the one to tilt her head, her crystal eyes narrowing into sensuous little slits as her lips tipped upward at their corners. She reached up with a single finger and teased at the bow her laces were tied into just beneath her cleavage, her hips swaying in a way that made her skirts swish in a soft pendular motion.

“I’ve heard much about what you want,” she mused, “but is there no consideration for what I want?”

He grinned at the little tease. “I plan to consider your wants quite thoroughly,” he told her. He laughed when that had her cheeks turning pink with heat. He reached to remove his jacket, shrugging it off his shoulders and tossing it aside. He began to pull at the ties cuffing his shirt around his wrists, purposely bracing his legs into a wider stance so that his muscles flexed beneath his snug trouser fabric. He knew she liked to look at him but was especially drawn to the strength of his legs. An avid horseman, he had that aplenty.

“Those are very interesting promises,” she noted, her voice breathy with arousal. She wrapped a lace around her finger and tugged, unwinding the bow easily. She touched the flats of her palms over the velvet covering her bosom. She ran her hands down her bodice, slowly, the stroke loosening her laces and hardening Reule’s body. The entire dress was attached to her body by the six-inch gather of those front ties, so once they’d loosened significantly, the entire gown merely slid off her body.

This left her in her corset and an underskirt of black linen. She reached behind herself and untied the skirt, which also fell to the floor. Reule watched with a breath-locked greed as she stepped over the pile of fabric, wearing only the corset and stockings tied with garters. She walked toward him and he caught the flash of dark red curls tempting him from between pale thighs.

He reached for his vest, but her hands covered his and she moved until the tips of her breasts just barely touched his clothing. She took over disrobing him, sliding his vest back off his shoulders, her hands slipping over them and then down his arms. She reached next for his waist, slipping fingers and palms over the rigid muscles of his sides, belly, and lower back, as though she were scouting ahead of herself before she gripped the fabric of his shirt and began to drag the tails free of his pants.

“Turn!” he commanded, grabbing her wrists before she could touch his bare skin beneath the loosened shirt. He held her arms up above her head in a single hand and spun her around sharply so her back was to him. The submissive lines of her body in this exposed position were so alluring that he was a little overzealous when he slid his free hand down her raised arms, over her chest, and on until he was beneath the restrictions of the corset and cupping her breast. His fervor sent her stumbling back into his body, her shoulders snug to his chest and her bottom even snugger against his erection. She pivoted her hips, just an inch or two, and it rubbed her provocatively against him.

Reule groaned savagely, his mouth suddenly against her neck, the slide of fangs warm and deadly sharp against her pulse. She was gasping for breath now. Obligingly, he freed the laces of her confining corset. Once it had fallen away, he knelt behind her to peel off her stockings. He grabbed her by her hips once she was fully nude and spun her back around while remaining on his knees. Her fingers slid into his hair as he nuzzled her belly. The scent of her arousal washed over him.

“I can smell how much you want me,” he rumbled roughly. “Stand with your feet farther apart, sweetheart. I’m going to kiss you.”

“Reule…” Her fingers curled anxiously in his hair, mirroring the tension evident in the way she said his name.

He ignored her apprehension, sliding his hand up along her inner thigh until she naturally made way for him, allowing the familiar stroke of his fingers against saturated sprigs of red.

“More,” he urged her hoarsely, his hot breath spilling over her intimately. He squeezed her thigh and she abruptly stepped out, obeying him and trusting him as he knew she’d trust no one else. The warm, moist scent of womanly musk was matched instantly to taste as he kissed her. Then he slid his hands tightly around the backs of her thighs and drew her fully onto his mouth, flooding himself with the erotic essence of her. She cried out, obviously surprised by the sensations or by his enthusiasm. Very possibly both. When he slid his tongue over her, she threw back her head and groaned with exultation. Her clitoris was flushed and swollen and he stroked and tickled against it until he felt her shaking, squirming, and all but ripping his hair out to clutch him tighter to her. Her leg lifted off the floor, a knee hooking onto his shoulder. It just about drove him insane, watching her give herself over so fiercely to the seeking of pleasure.

Reule taunted her until she was begging him and he was supporting almost all of her weight while she trembled. He continued to feast on her, only he suddenly added the timely thrust of two fingers into her. His tongue swirled around her clit, then he sucked her greedily.

Mystique screamed. It was his name, punctuating long gasps and shuddering groans as her body clutched tight around his buried fingers. She collapsed completely and he had to catch her and ease her quaking body to the floor. He covered her with his body as he stripped his shirt away. He was kissing her an instant later, hearing her react with a little sound of eager appreciation as she tasted herself on his lips. She was so damn sensual, feeling everything so keenly and with such enjoyment, she had the ability to unravel all of his control and obliterate his good intentions. He needed to be inside her again, remembering what it felt like to be in her body’s embrace. He tore at his remaining clothes as she framed his hips with spread thighs. His aching cock was freed an instant later and then her prisoner once again in a single deep thrust.