Rennick tied their horses to a tree and glamoured them to be invisible in case a beast ventured to the tree line. They normally didn’t, but he could never be too safe.
“We’re walking into the woods?” Amelia asked, eyeing the forest skeptically. “Horses are faster if we need to escape.”
He smirked. “The beasts can’t see us.”
Gulping, she moved closer to him. “Right.”
As they walked, they talked about their upbringings as far back as they could remember. It pleased him to know the orphanage had always treated her well, but he could hear the loneliness in her voice when she spoke of her past.
The hurt she experienced from Amos’s news made more sense because wanting nothing more than a family, wondering why they left you or if they’d come back, only to discover they knew where you were all along, must have been hard. She understood, of course, but that didn’t make the feelings go away.
Everything she knew about herself turned on its head yesterday, and Rennick would give her all the time she needed to adjust.
“What toys did you play with as a child?” Amelia tapped her chin playfully. “You seem like the type to come out of the womb making battle plans.”
Chuckling, Rennick told her about the fuzzy stuffed lynx toy he’d carried everywhere. His mother would try to trade it for a new one, but he always knew and threw a fit until she gave it back. He didn’t admit it, but he still had it packed away in a trunk under their bed.
Her eyes lit up. “You had a Charlie!”
“Did the orphanage provide you with toys?” Gods, he hoped so, otherwise he would send cart loads there tomorrow. “Dolls at least?” He would send a cart load, anyway.
She grimaced. “I have a confession.”
“You still play with them?” he teased, but his smile dropped abruptly when she shuddered.
“I hate dolls. They’re terrifying.”
“You kept the doll I gave you.” Unease stirred in his chest. “They must not scare you that much.”
“I have another confession.”
He stopped, the unease growing stronger. “You hated the doll.”
She pulled at a string on her scarf, refusing to look him in the eye. “I wouldn’t say hate.” He stayed silent, waiting for her to tell the truth, and she threw her hands up. “Fine, it was awful. I screamed and threw it when I opened the box.” The distraught look on her face was adorable, and he couldn’t help but laugh. Her eyes turned to slits. “It’s not that funny.”
He covered his mouth to stave off his laughter, to no avail, and she picked up a handful of snow to throw at him. “You’re the worst, you know that?”
Still laughing, he dodged the assault easily. “I wish I could have seen your face. That’s why I roped Ora into helping me.” He grimaced and added, “I wouldn’t have had I known she thought she and I were mates.” Amelia hesitated long enough for him to realize something else was amiss. “What is it?” Her teeth dug into her bottom lip, and he took a step forward. “Amelia.”
“Before I say this, I need you to know that the thought behind your gifts made me love them, and I wouldn’t get rid of them for anything.”
A sinking feeling settled in his stomach. All these years he’d thought she’d loved everything he sent, but her words from the boarding house came back. Ora and I have different tastes.
“Everything Ora picked out was terrible. I think she purposefully sabotaged my gifts.” She lifted the hem of her dress to show her green boots. “I don’t even know where they’d sell these.”
“I had them custom made.” The pieces fell into place. “Ora said the color was popular, and that they had sold out in town.”
Amelia rolled her lips together, and her eyes crinkled with amusement. “They’re warm and sturdy, and they’ve lasted me years.”
“The dresses?” he asked, already knowing the answer. He’d thought they were horrible, but what did he know?
“They fit perfectly, and I needed dresses that fit.”
He reached around her and wound her braid around his fist to tilt her head back. “Tell me, were the dresses pretty?”
Her throat bobbed. “No. They’re terrible, but I wear them, more so now than then. They didn’t go to waste.”
Amelia would banish Ora from the palace, and once Ora was thoroughly devastated and his mate had claimed her victory, he would kill Ora for what she’d done. She’d tortured his mate for years and made him the conduit.
A branch snapped, followed by a loud chuff, and they whirled around to find the culprit. A large lelker passed through the rainbow trees, its giant black head bobbing with each step. It was similar to an elk in the Human Kingdom, except horns ran the length of its neck like a horse’s mane and its body was larger. All thoughts of Ora fled as the rush of the hunt took their place.
“What is that?” Amelia whispered in a panic.
“A lelker.” Rennick slowly removed her bow so as not to make too much noise. “Are you ready, little mate?”
“Yes.” Her voice shook, and it took her several tries to nock an arrow.
Rennick stalked the beast with his gaze, waiting for the perfect opening to move closer, but something in his chest smarted. A quick glance at his mate made him do a double take. “Are you crying, love? You’re in no danger.”
“I’m fine.” The arrow trembled in her hold.
He’d seen her talent with a bow; her apprehension didn’t make sense to him. Did she think he cared if she wasn’t a perfect shot?
She lowered the weapon with tears streaming down her now pale face. “I can’t do it.”
He rubbed her back reassuringly. “It’s okay if you miss. I won’t think lesser of you. I miss from time to time.” No, I don’t.
“I don’t want to kill it,” she blubbered and swiped at her face. “I hate hunting, but you like it, and I wanted to do something you enjoyed, but I can’t do it. I thought I could, but I can’t.”
Her words stole his own. She’d tried to do something that tore her to pieces for him? A protective rage filled him, and he grabbed her arrow and snapped it in half. The sound sent the lelker skittering away.
She’d chanced the scorn of others to wear the awful things he’d sent her, kept a doll that terrified her, and had agreed to kill a living creature, knowing it would destroy her, all to make him happy.
He’d never wanted anyone in his life more than he wanted her right now.
“It is taking everything in me not to fuck you here in the snow,” he said roughly. “That you would do that for me… I love you.”
Her gaze met his. “I love you too, Rennick. I’d do anything for you.” She glanced at the broken arrow between them in the snow. “I’d try to, at least.”
The explosion in his chest undid him. He slammed his lips to hers and picked her up. “Wrap your legs around me, love.”
Her ankles locked behind his back, and he yanked at her skirts, swearing when he felt wool leggings underneath. “I need to touch you everywhere.”
She removed her bulky scarf and pulled back. “Don’t let me fall.” Reaching down with both hands, Amelia gripped the crotch of her leggings. She tugged relentlessly at the fabric until it gave way and exposed her bare skin.
He groaned. “No underwear?”
“Move me down a little.” Confused at first, he dropped her body lower, then he understood when her hands made quick work of undoing his pants to release his painfully hard dick.
He raised her to align himself with her entrance. “Hold tight.”
“Wait,” she gasped. Rennick held still. “What about the plug?”
He’d researched before retrieving her, learning everything there was to know about sex, and from what he’d been told, fucking her with the plug in should heighten things for both of them. “Wait and see,” he purred before he seated himself fully inside of her.
She scratched at his shoulders. “It’s—I—Rennick.”
The plug made her pussy feel tighter around his dick, and stars danced in his vision. Fuck. “Ride my cock, little mate,” he murmured against her ear. “Drench me.”
Sex was still new to him, and the slow, torturous movements of her hips with the added tightness from the plug had him struggling to hold back his release.
A wide tree stood nearby, and he moved in front of it, leaning his shoulders against the trunk to give her a flatter plane. She straightened slightly and held on to his shoulders, quickening her movements for more friction. With one hand around her waist, he brought the other to his mouth, spit on his fingers, and lowered them to her clit.
Amelia jolted. “Gods.”
“Not even they can save you from me, love. Don’t bother calling for them now.”
She moved faster, digging her nails into his skin. If he bore her claw marks on his skin, he would never wear a shirt again; he’d never hated clothes as much as he did then.
Their breaths came in erratic pants, and her pussy clenched around him as her hazy eyes met his. Her hips rolled faster, her fingers held tighter, and all he could do was suffer the sweetest torture.
The need to touch her everywhere, taste her everywhere, and worship her the way she deserved was killing him, but he only had two hands.
He wanted to thrust his hips, to plunge deep, but he’d promised not to let her fall, and while the snow would make a soft landing, nothing killed arousal faster than cold, wet slush coating your skin.
Their moans and her slick body sliding against his were the only sounds in the quiet forest. Her tight cunt fit around him like a custom-made sheath, and the closer she came to her orgasm, the tighter she squeezed.
Groaning, he tried to stave off his own for her to finish first.
Her hips sped up as her cries came faster, and he cursed, moving his hand from her clit to her other hip to help quicken her movements until she shuddered around him and coated him with her cum.
He stood up straight, trying like hell to not slam her down too hard. Amelia wound her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his. She murmured against them, “I love you, mate.”
Rennick didn’t come; he detonated with her name on his lips, filling her to the brim. He didn’t know if she was on a tonic, nor did he care. Thinking of her being pregnant with his child made him want to destroy kingdoms to make it happen.
“I love you,” he murmured back, their breaths mingling in the frigid air. “Forever.”
Ora slipped out of the royal officiant’s office with a bottle of holy oil tucked inside her pocket, one step closer to her goal.
She didn’t know how, but she knew Amelia had brainwashed Rennick, and after she completed their mating bond, she would kill the bitch.
Ora hurried down the hall toward her father’s office and poked her head inside with a wide smile. “Hi Daddy!”
Her father looked up and set down his quill. “Hi, sweet pea. What are you doing here?”
“I’m always here,” she giggled, taking a seat in the chair across from him.
“I meant, what are you doing in my office?” He clasped his hands on his desk. “Rennick is gone today, and Finn is training.”
That’s why she was here.
She pouted. “I have other friends here, but I need to ask Rennick a question. We were to have a meeting yesterday, but the rebels attacked. Do you know where he went?”
He pressed his lips together. Once upon a time, her father thought Ora and Rennick were mates and that the king had lied about Rennick finding his mate to give the prince time to sow his wild oats before marriage. But ever since Amelia’s arrival, Ora’s father had been acting strangely. Did he believe the rumors that Amelia was Rennick’s mate?
“He went hunting and will be back later this afternoon. I’m sure he will seek you out for that meeting. No need to go romping through the woods.”
She stood before he finished speaking and rounded his desk to peck him on the cheek. “Thanks, Daddy.”
“You’re welcome. I’m sure Rennick will reschedule your meeting, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
She was already at the door, waving in parting to her father as she slipped into the hall.
Ora knew exactly where her mate liked to hunt.
Ora picked her way through the woods, using the tracking skills the boys had taught her to find Rennick. To her dismay, she followed two sets of tracks, one much smaller than the other. Amelia.
Ora listened intently. She needed to dab the holy oil on her lips before confronting him.
If Rennick wouldn’t recognize their bond, she would force him to complete it. He would see she was right all along.
She’d thought it over all night. First, she’d slather her tongue and lips with holy oil and bite her tongue hard enough to fill her mouth with blood. Taking him off guard would be hard, especially with Amelia there, but all she needed was to press her mouth to his to transfer the oil and then bite him hard enough to bleed. He’d have no choice but to swallow her blood. It was a foolproof plan.
Grinning from ear-to-ear, she hurried through the snow, following her mate’s tracks to her impromptu wedding.
