Oh, she loved when he was hungry. When he’d first caught her with his eyes, she’d lost her fear. After that first time, she had been happy to submit. The pleasure that coursed through her when he fed was like nothing she’d felt before. For the time he drank from her, she felt so connected to him. She felt warm and safe and loved.
But she no longer could see his soul. The first time he’d fed from her, she’d seen pieces of his childhood. It had been a little flash of Dante and his family. There was a bowl of something called punch and candles had floated on top. He was just a boy trying to blow out eight candles so he could have his toys. When she’d been in the moment with him, she’d felt like she belonged. Dante’s parents had loved him.
But then the vision had closed, and though she’d tried to get it to come back, she couldn’t see it again. There had been only pleasure, but none of the spine-melting intimacy of the first time.
Meg shook her head and relaxed back on the grass. “If I get murdered, it’s going to be all your fault.”
Dante’s eyes opened. “Kaj, love, do you sense an army coming after us?”
Kaja took the question seriously. She closed her eyes, because they often lied. Her nose didn’t. She breathed in the world around her. Dante was the strongest scent. She loved the way their scents mingled. He was on her and she on him. She could still smell the scent of their lovemaking. It was a comforting smell. She sensed Meg. Beyond that there was only the forest and the clean smell of the water.
“No, Dante. Though I do smell a small creature.” Her stomach growled. She glanced back around at the brush behind her. There was a slender tree standing right in front of the bush.
Kaja was absolutely certain it had not been there before. She remembered staring at the bushes, thick with brambles, and knowing she could find her meal there. There had been no tree in front of it. She studied the one there now. It was slender. A mere babe compared to the giants around it. The trunk was an ashen gray, and there were lovely, graceful branches sprouting from its top. She noted that the dirt around it was disturbed. It formed a near perfect circle around the tree’s base as though it had been planted by two hands rather than growing in a natural way.
Gently, she eased Dante’s head from her lap.
“Kaja?” Dante sat up, but Kaja was working on the problem. Her brain raced. There was something about that tree. She searched her memory. Trees looked alike. But smell didn’t lie.
Kaja got to her feet and walked to the tree in question. She touched it, feeling the bark. It was a youngling. The bark wasn’t rough yet. It was soft against her hand. She sniffed at the limbs. They smelled like another part of the forest. She remembered it from the night before.
“This tree is following us.”
Dante was on his feet beside her. “Kaja, maybe you don’t understand things on this plane. Trees tend to stay planted in the ground. You see, they have these things called roots.”
Dante continued on, but Kaja smiled. The little tree popped up. It was as though it knew it had been caught and gave up the game. One limb came out and patted Kaja’s cheek with playful affection before turning its attention to Meg.
Dante threw his hands up. “See, that’s just weird. Maybe we should chop it down.”
A single branch extended, and the leaves formed something like a human hand. Kaja thought the tree was going to wave, but it merely closed its “fist,” leaving only the middle finger extended.
“Now that’s just rude,” Dante said. “Since when do saplings give me the finger?”
Meg walked forward, tears in her eyes. “Cian.”
“Since when did Cian become a tree?” Dante reached out to Kaja, his hand finding hers. He pulled her behind him.
Kaja wasn’t sure what Dante was trying to protect her from. The tree didn’t seem to be hostile. And the tree seemed far more interested in Meg.
The tree reached a branch out and touched Meg’s hair. Kaja couldn’t mistake the tenderness of the gesture.
“It’s Ci,” Meg said, her breath hitching. “He found me.” Meg touched the slender trunk, and her eyes closed.
Dante’s hold loosened as he relaxed, but he kept a hand around her waist. “Cian came into his powers a few months back. He’s a Green Man. Do you know what that means?”
She didn’t, but she could infer a few things. “He has power over plants.”
Meg’s mouth curled in a secret smile. Her eyes remained closed as she placed both hands on the tree. “He has power over all things green and vital. He used the trees to track us. He’s coming for me. Always.”
Her face turned up as a light rain started.
“Beck is here, too.” Dante had a smile on his face. “Beck controls storms.”
Kaja knew she should be afraid. Beings that controlled the elements were witches, and the pack killed them. But the pack had been wrong about so many things. Beck and Cian had been nothing but kind to her. Kaja would not let old fears lead her.
“They know where we are?” Kaja asked.
“So it seems,” Dante replied. “Meg, the tree or the rain wouldn’t happen to be able to give you an estimated time of arrival? And tell them to bring my freaking bikes back. It’s a trudge to the Vampire plane, and I’ve been taking us in the opposite direction in order to fool the fuckers who tried to kill me. And they better have charged the batteries.”
Meg’s eyes opened. She seemed so vibrant with evidence of her husbands’ love and care all around her. “Cian is coming. Beck has to deal with things at the village, but Cian will find us. He should be here this afternoon. We’re to wait for him.”
Dante’s arms wrapped around Kaja’s waist, pulling her in front of him now. The danger had obviously passed. Dante’s hands slipped over her hips. “Well, if we’re supposed to wait and we have a little time, I can think of a few things to do.”
Kaja checked her laugh. He was constant in his affection. She let her hands drift over his. If she was gone, would he come for her? She watched Meg smile up at the rain caressing her and wanted so badly what she had. Her men had done amazing things to find her. Their love for each other was palpable.
Dante wanted her. He wanted her often, but what did it mean? Sven had wanted her, too. The feeling had obviously passed. Would Dante’s passion pass?
“And, Dante, Ci says he’s happy you and Kaja seem to be bonding.” Meg smiled at them. Kaja reveled in her approval.
Dante kissed Kaja’s hair. “Not as much as I’d like, thanks to Meg’s insistence on running. But now I can relax because there’s a tree and a little rain cloud to guard her. Now I can get in some serious bonding time with my consort. Tell Ci to hurry. I want to get home to my nice comfy bed and other things that make bonding time special. I hope I’m stocked up on double-A batteries.”
Dante took her hand and started to lead her away. “And Meg, I would be careful with the tree. It looks like it has thorns. I would watch for those branches. You might be better off playing in the rain, if you know what I mean.”
Kaja took one last look at Meg, her smiling face turned upward as gentle rain kissed her skin. If she heard Dante, she didn’t show it. She was lost in her husbands’ love.
Kaja followed Dante, her feet shuffling behind him. The grass beneath was soft on her bare feet, but her mind was in a different place. Meg was so loved.
It was easy to lose herself out here. The intimacy of the woods made Dante feel like the only person in the world. And she’d been the only female available to him. He was young and in his prime. He was male. She’d heard about young males. They mated at every given opportunity.
Was that all she was to him? An opportunity to mate—to fuck? What did any of it mean? Did he feel even the smallest bit for her that she felt for him?