Blood Moon (MalexMale Paranormal Fantasy)

Chapter 24 ∞ DAIRE

Iso motions for me to take the seat next to hers as Mavis and Priestess Marguerite join us at the long dinner table. I admire their range of features and coloring as the three assemble and greet each other with gentle hellos.

Tranquil.

They bring their hands together at heart-center, heads bowed. Iso says, "Thank you, Satu, for this day and for our many blessings. All that we do is in honor of you."

"Dia," they say in unison, the standard response affirming their belief.

"Daire," says Iso, gesturing to the spread of food, "Marguerite made you a special meal in honor of your last night here and in celebration of life's joys that are yet to come."

I scan the platters of carved meats, fish, fresh vegetables, and sliced bread, and a pang of hunger seizes me. "Thank you. It wasn't necessary for you to go out of your way."

"Nonsense," Priestess Marguerite chirps from across the table. "You will be missed now that you are returning to your coven." I take comfort for her assuredness that it won't be because I'm dead.

Everyone fills their plates, and the food, as usual, is some of the best I've ever had, but I'm anxious to get onto the mainland to see Peter and Reeve.

Soon.

I take a walk after dinner, slightly annoyed by the fakeness of their island—the temperate air, fragrant with honey sweetness. The idyllic babbling brook cuts the lush garden in half. The weeping willow trees dance in the wind and call to every sort of bird I could imagine. Unnatural.

"Master Daire," Mavis calls to me before I wander too far. "There's something I need to show you."

She leads me toward a windswept field overlooking a deceptively calm sea, then points ahead. "I'll leave you here. Blessings, Warder."

There, in the middle, is an evening silhouette that I would know anywhere. A smile cracks through my disbelief, my breath catching before I meet his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

He slides his hands into his pockets and gifts me with a smile that imprints deep into my soul as a marker of all things beautiful to be measured against.

I stand with him, overwhelmed by the unexpectedness of his presence. Afraid that I died after all and this is me entering Satu's Great Realm.

Reeve reaches for me and I move to stand in front of him, shaking with a surge of nerves. I'm not sure what I expect but it's not for him to gaze at me with watering eyes, but he does, and it rips the ground out from under me.

My eyebrows pinch in question, failing to guess his intentions.

"I had to see you before we leave," he says. "Before everything changes." His large palms cup my face, feeling over the last traces of bruising. Reeve's gaze never strays from me, but I can't bear the open affection in his eyes and the weight of his dominance over me.

"I don't know what's going to happen," I say. "I've seen Frederick do truly horrific things to punish other vampyres, other wolves, members of the Council. Things that would never even occur to me to do to another living soul." I clear my throat, knowing that if I stop now then I won't finish. "The thought of him even looking at you makes me physically ill, and part of me wishes that protecting you meant hiding you away. But I know that we can't do this without you—I can't do this without you. I need you and that terrifies me, because I think he'll use you to hurt me. He'll target you because anyone can see that you're my weakness."

"Daire—"

"Listen." I press my hands over his still holding my face. "You have to promise me that if something happens to me and Peter that you will run and get to safety."

"Daire—"

"Promise me. This isn't a foolhardy situation where we make some pact to go down together if it comes to it. I mean it; he needs to be stopped. If Peter and I are taken out, then you will be the best chance anyone will have in killing him, but you can't do it on your own. You will need to leave us and regroup. The priestesses will help you."

I expect fear to slip its way between us, but all I find is unwavering comfort in his eyes, in his face, in his entire being.

"I promise." He briefly looks away to collect himself then grips me more firmly. "I have something for you," he says and pulls back.

"You're really sucking up to me tonight. I should almost die more often."

"That's not funny," he admonishes as he pulls out a length of dark woven cord with a clasp on each end and dangles it in front of me. "Do you know what this is?"

"A warder chain," I whisper as if he's uncovered Arym's sacred tomb.

"I read that some warders wear these with their alpha's tag on it." He shifts his shoulders looking momentarily uncomfortable. "I thought... I know that you aren't committing to me, but I want you to have something of mine. You don't have to wear it, I... I just thought... I—"

"Reeve."

He stops floundering when I put my hands to his face and kiss him, two then three times. "I'll wear it. I'll wear it because it's yours."

He puts it around my neck, and I look down to rub my hands over his obsidian tag. My fingers explore the smooth surface, and I can see by the subtle lift of Reeve's brows and the crest of full lips that the sight of it excites him. His cloud-gray eyes shift into a thunderous steel.

"What's that look for?" I ask, struggling to control my body's response to the intensity pouring off of him. "Reeve."

He stares at the chain on my neck, eyes narrowed, breaths faltering. He grips my collar then brushes his thumb over the chain.

Our eyes clash, and heat reddens his cheeks as we both burst into action, fumbling with each other's shirts, desperate for contact. Connection. Belonging. Possession.

"Mark me, Daire. Bite me. I want to wear something of yours as well."