Scet pushed forward along the branch. It was a sprawling wide limb, with thick gnarled bark. His bare feet found holds with ease, and, surprisingly, even at this height, it felt more as though he was walking along a path on the ground than nearly fifty feet in the air.
He tilted his head in consideration. He had never been so comfortable with heights before. Most Shifters he knew abhorred them. Wolves didn't climb trees, after all, and they were, if distantly, still related to their forest brothers. Bears however...
He leapt the small space between the branch he was on and an adjoining limb from the next tree over, so close they nearly touched. Once safely on his new perch, he studied the forest, looking for the next place they might cross between the massive trunks. They had not come nearly as far as he had hoped through this method of travel. What had seemed a reasonable idea in his head was much more difficult to pull off in reality, especially with the woman...Adda…trailing him.
He frowned, not willing to turn around and face her just yet, though he could hear her progress through the tree behind him.
He was determined to learn some control where she was concerned, but it was hard not to watch her.
Six she was beautiful. More-so in the light than he had guessed through the dark caverns or even the night while he watched her rest. Shades of auburn flickered through her hair like flame; even tangled it managed to enhance the brilliant jewel tones of her blue-green eyes. But it wasn't just her hair, or the soft fullness of those tempting lips that moved him. Beauty was fine, but it had always been spirit that had drawn his interest.
And what a stubborn and fiery soul she was. He would never forget the sight of her straightening herself as she prepared to stand against two men, each twice as large as she, spine rigid, breasts thrust outward, determined to get her way.
And Gods, the press of her against his back on the way down the cliff-side had been even more torturous than when they had climbed up. The mere texture of her skin against his had been the most sensual touch he had ever experienced. It took twice as long to climb down as it should have around his swollen reaction—one could never be too careful with that piece—and it had taken him that long to get himself under control. Never before had he been filled with such primal feelings, the need to possess, to mate.
It was why he had been so desperate to return her to the Aerie. There was obviously something wrong with his instinctual lust toward her, and the only honorable course was to get away from her before he acted on it. It was difficult to be inexplicably drawn to someone you had no contact with.
But she had refused, and despite his claim that he could make her return, such a venture would likely end in disaster, especially once the Dragon Lord appeared and curried her favor. And why in the name of the Six did it have to be that Dragon Lord? Of all the Lords to be saddled with, the last thing he needed was the blond seducer who took nothing seriously. And now it seemed as though they would not be returning Adda to the Aerie at all, but traveling westward on some Gods forsaken quest she felt the need to undertake.
He smiled grimly. So be it. She refused to be sensible, and he refused to repress his lust.
He would not force her—only the vilest of men used a woman in such a way…men like her Bakkus. He had spent the night, while she slept, remembering what Lis had said about her. How the man had tricked her and handed her over to the Quatori. And watching her, he had been amazed that she had survived, fully aware of how unlikely it had been, but it hadn't mattered so much until he had met her, felt her. He repressed the surge of fury he felt toward the man, such men, he swore he would rid the forest of.
No, she deserved a man who would tempt her, pull forward her lust. He would seduce her, and when he had satisfied his odd temptation for her and they parted, he would ensure that she remembered men in a better light.
Even now he craved her, wishing her skin was pressed against his once more, those round globes of her chest teasing his back. Six, he couldn't wait to get his hands on them.
Behind him, she cleared her throat, having caught up once more, and, no doubt, about to ask for the fifteenth time, when they might leave off clambering about the trees. Instead of turning to her, he moved forward, as though he had simply been standing and making a decision about the next part of their route and not contemplating his feelings toward her.
He grunted as he stepped over a particularly awkward protrusion of a branch, the movement sent a twinge of sharp pain up the back of his thigh.
Pain it shouldn't have caused. He was fit and agile, even more so since being banished to the forest. This twinge was not one related to his movements.
Which meant more were coming.
Not now. Of all the times to feel the breaking of the mating bond. All thoughts of lust cleared from his mind. If he didn't get somewhere safe he would put them both in danger.
He continued forward, but the pain, he knew, was a warning. They needed to get to the next tree and then descend, find somewhere that he might ride out the cramping without drawing notice of the forest.
Adda whispered something behind him, but he didn't pay it mind, his entire being focused on the next twinge of pain that rocked him.
He had a few minutes, he wagered, before the attack hit with full force. Hopefully it would be enough. Without looking back, and without much forethought and planning he leapt to the next tree.
***
Rough-edged bark dug into Adda's heels, the ridges like blades against her feet. She reached forward, clasping her fingers around a branch the width of her thumb, ignoring the wobble in her legs as she shuffled along. Heat was an oppressive weight against her skin, beating against her movements, slowing them.
Her chest heaved, and she took a moment to carefully wipe at the dampness on her forehead, ignoring the scent of stale sweat, and terrible memories that clung to her skin. She needed to wash, before she caused someone to pass out, and from this height the result wouldn't be pretty.
Speaking of heights, she sent the nastiest glare she could conjure toward Scet's back.
He shuffled ahead of her, following the twisting of the wide limb they were currently moving along. Another in a long, painful string of limbs they had been scampering about. He paused where the branch changed direction, part of it continuing to the left, the other nothing but a deformed knot that curled upward before terminating in a black bulge.
“You are not going to jump that,” she risked a sharp whisper. The last few hours of climbing around in the canopy had worn her out more than the previous night’s run. And it still felt as though they had made precious little progress. “There have been no signs of the pack since Strale left. We must have moved far enough that we can get down and run on solid ground.”
It wasn't begging, she was just so tired of climbing up and down and carefully maneuvering along branches. Despite her short rest, it felt as though her trembling muscles might just give out at any moment.
Scet did not answer her, he simply tensed and crouched, leaping from the branch they were on to one a distance away, displaying a grace that would make the forest panther blush with shame.
Adda shuffled closer to the knot and peered toward him, careful to keep herself from looking down.
“There's a reason wolves don't climb trees,” she muttered. “Apparently bears are not nearly as sensible.”
If he heard her grumbling he didn't answer. He seemed determined not to speak to her actually, just turned and stared expectantly.
“You know, people may be inclined to think you are more pleasant if you stopped doing that.”
“Doing what?” she had surprised a frown from him. At last, a sign of emotion.
“An impossible physical feat that you expect me to replicate. But no encouragement or reassurance, no, just stare at me like you can't believe I haven't accomplished it yet.”
Silence, and then, “it isn't impossible.”
“Not for you, maybe. You have a monkey form in there, too?”
He grunted, his frown deepening. “It is not impossible for you, I've been choosing climbs and jumps suited to your small stature.”
“Lucky me.”
He tilted his head, appraising. Not her, of course—she doubted anyone would find her attractive in her state—but her physical capabilities, or lack thereof. It was enough to feel like a girl would never pass approval. She hated it. And it wasn't as if she hadn't done everything in her power to keep up. She simply couldn't do it any longer. Lack of life's essentials had pretty much used up everything she had left.
She hunkered down next to the knot, pretending to examine it.
“Why did you leave Illaise free?” she asked, hoping to buy herself some time and hide her weakness.
“You would have me kill her?”
Adda frowned. “She was trying to kill me.”
She kept herself from pointing out that Strale seemed happy enough to at least fight her. Adda was the innocent party after all.
If you repeat that often enough, does it make it true?
I don't recall asking for your opinion.
Why? Because it doesn't match with your own?
Because you are Quatori. Evil.
You're the one who wants to kill.
“And I stopped her,” Scet wiggled his fingers, a silent command that she should jump now. “If I could do so without harming her, shouldn't I?”
“But now she's hunting us...me.”
His lips pressed into a tight line. “That wouldn't be a problem if you returned to the Aerie. Illaise is tenacious, but she isn't stupid. With that much protection, she would give up.”
Adda snorted. She doubted give up was even in the woman's vocabulary.
“Why do you care so much where I go? There must be better ways to gain your...Alpha wasn't it? There must be better ways to regain his favor?”
Not that she wasn't grateful. He had saved her life, after all, but she wanted to understand what drove his choices.
If she knew that, perhaps she could still win him over to her cause...or at least convince him to leave her to her own cause. Admittedly, having a bear Shifter and a Dragon watching her back while she sought a cure would boost her chances of success. And Great Six did she want success.
He thought for a moment.
“Your sister saved my life, it is my duty to return the favor.” For some reason, Adda sensed he wasn't telling her the truth...or at least not the whole truth.
“Duty,” she repeated dryly. “Careful, I'd hate to think you have emotion involved in this. Besides, you're repaid in full, thanks to your friend Illaise.”
Scet narrowed his eyes, a stubborn twitch pulling at his jaw. He wiggled his fingers again.
Adda stood, searching her mind for another excuse. She was certain that if she tried to make this jump she would miss the gap and tumble the very long way to the forest floor. She peered downward, something she had been studiously avoiding until then. She regretted it immediately when her stomach tried to climb into her throat.
It was the breaking branch, a sharp crack that startled the surrounding wildlife into momentary silence, that brought her attention back to the happenings at her current height.
At first, she thought Scet was jumping back to her perch, maybe with the intent of throwing her over. But when she looked, his back was to her, his body rigid, the remains of a thick branch in his fist. His chest heaved, the outline of his ribs pressing against the firm muscles that lined his back.
It almost looked as if he were in pain. Adda cleared her throat, but that gained no response.
After a long, drawn out moment, he released the branch. It tumbled from his fingers to the forest floor, rattling the twigs and leaves that it hit on the way down.
It was a testament to the man's quiet careful movements that the noise surprised her. She didn't think he had done anything quite so careless since she had met him.
He hunched, and using his arm circled a limb beneath the one he stood on, then he swung downward, much like the monkeys she had imagined earlier.
“Uh...,” Adda leaned over again.
Already, he had dropped another five feet.
“Did I miss something in our conversation? Specifically the part where you tell me what's going on?”
“We're climbing down,” the terse reply floated up to her.
“Because my superior arguments won you over?” she called.
He didn't answer and she had to wonder if she had pushed him too far. She felt a little bad, given the effort he had put into getting her back to the Aerie.
He is in pain. If Adda didn't know better, she would have said that Nex was...confused.
It seems that way yes. Do you know why?
No.
Huh. Not as omnipotent as you pretend to be, eh?
I have never claimed to be omnipotent.
You always seem to know what people are thinking.
Because I am observant. If you paid attention to your senses instead of incessantly chattering to yourself internally you would know the same things.
I don't chatter to myself.
You've thought of that Shifters ass at least eight times in as many minutes.
Are you...counting?
There's little else to amuse me while you're playing monkey. He paused. This is unnecessary you know. If you allowed me a little control I could guarantee the Shifter woman would never find you. No need to traipse around after inferior beings.
No chance demon.
Nex growled. The most evil sound that she had heard from him so far.
She was destined to anger everyone around her.
Scet hadn't answered, nor had he called up to check on her progress, so it seemed as though she was on her own getting down.
No problem.
She shuffled back the way she had come, toward the trunk of the massive tree. Climbing down at the tree's widest juncture was difficult. She probably could have made better progress out on the limbs, as Scet had. However, the security of having the thickest part of the branches below her was something she couldn't resist.
Slowly she made her way. By the time she reached a branch low enough to drop down from, more than twenty minutes had passed she was sure.
Whatever affected Scet pulled him into a ball; he was still upright, but curled down around himself rocking and shaking slightly.
Adda made her way to his side, and knelt next to him, deftly running her hands over the muscles of his arms and back, wherever she could reach without disturbing him, looking for signs of something internal, something she was missing.
What she found was odd. The muscles tightened and strained beneath her fingertips, convulsing but with no reason she could tell. However, they worked in such a fashion that it must have been incredibly painful. She had very little knowledge of the healing art; Lis was the one who studied under the Dragon Lord medic at the Onyx Aerie. And she was the one who understood salves and tinctures and their proportions and properties. She was just Adda, and she was completely lost about what to do.
She started with the only thing she could think of. He hadn't moved, or done anything that would allow her to access his front, so she began massaging the muscles along his back and arms. Working them with as much strength as she could, kneading and rubbing until the tight bunching released, and then moving onto the next.
He groaned. A low sound, it was difficult to tell what he meant by it, but Adda took it as a sign of approval. She worked quickly, aiming to catch the muscles before they tightened to such a degree as to cause pain.
“Lower,” Scet murmured, he took a deep breath and worked himself to kneeling, a more comfortable looking position than the awkward crouch he had held. Adda moved her hands lower, to the bulges that formed his lower back and lead into the firm curves of his buttocks. And he had fine buttocks.
That's nine times.
Adda pressed in with her thumbs, working the skin, and then deeper into the muscle tissue.
Scet groaned again, this time a definite sound of pleasure. The moment turned strangely intimate.
She pulled back her hands, hesitant.
Scet stilled instantly, a wary stillness, though she could tell he was still in some pain.
“Whatever you were doing, I will give you all I own to keep doing so. The pain has never passed so quickly.” His voice was soft, and a little grateful, but not seductive or sexual.
“What causes it, do you know? I've never seen anything like this,” she continued her ministrations, careful to keep her hands...and her thoughts…away from his backside.
Scet was silent for several long breaths. “The breaking of a mating bond.”
She blinked.
“Breaking?” That was impossible, or at least very, very rare. It was only plausible if the bond wasn't completed to begin with.
She studied him. Is that what had happened? An incomplete bond? She couldn't help the relief she felt. Maybe she should get the whole story. Not because she cared, of course, but it would help her determine how to get his help.
I see you have less compunctions about lying to yourself.
I don't care, I've had enough trouble with men.
Or lying to me, Nex's voice turned dry.
Scet turned his head to meet her gaze over his shoulder, his hazel eyes locking onto hers. They were so close that she could have leaned forward and pressed her lips to his wide ones, if she had wanted. It was distinctly against pack conduct to make eye contact, but they were hardly in a pack situation. Still, she felt uncomfortable, and it was she who looked away first.
“She was bleeding to death. I treated her wound to save her life. The mating was an unfortunate side effect.”
“How?” Adda began, his words confusing her at first, but the realization hit her before she finished her question, “...she was human?” That was the only reason why she would need Shifter saliva to heal, if she didn't possess Shifter blood.
He nodded an affirmative.
Hmm. Dynamics were at play that Adda did not understand, obviously. Men often traveled to other packs to pick a mate, but a Shifter almost never chose a human. Only Dragon Lords preferred the weakest race in the forest.
“And you want to get back to her? Is that why you won't give me a chance to fulfill my task?”
“You haven't shared your task, and you haven't given me reason to do otherwise.”
“The fact that I am asking isn't enough?”
“No.”
Now you see. Everyone wants something, there is no kindness for the sake of kindness.
It was Adda's turn to scowl.
Yeah? And what do you want?
I have told you what I want. I have been nothing but open and honest with you, Adda. Even this Shifter only gives you partial truths, I do not. I need this vessel that is your body. I will take it eventually, no matter your plans otherwise.
She growled. That hadn't been what she meant, nor was it what she wanted to hear. But it succeeded in reminding her that she was very much alone.
“Adda?”
Scet had stilled, his muscle spasms had slowed, perhaps stopped altogether. Her fingers were working automatically, digging into the muscle and rubbing, smoothing with a little more vigor than she intended. She lightened her touch.
“Yes?”
“You are growling,” Scet turned, but he did not put space between them as he did.
“Huh.”
“It is a little disconcerting to have a growling woman at my back,” he smiled slightly.
His face lit with the expression, eyes flashing with something unnamed. Coupled with the softer tones of his husky voice, he gave off an extreme amount of raw, wild sexuality.
She inhaled slowly and stilled, the hand she had on his back trembled a little.
“Really?” she pulled her hand away. “Given your stubborn nature I find that strange.”
She stood and moved away from him. It was easy to fall back to the teasing that was her natural state. It was better than breathless, mindless desire at any rate.
He rose along with her, and she was aware immediately that he had been affected by their closeness, as well. He did not attempt to hide his erection. In fact, his entire strategy seemed to involve simply pretending it didn't exist, which was easier for him than it was for her. Scet was a large man in all aspects. She had moved away from him, why did it still feel as though he were taking up far too much of her space?
“Tell me why you are determined to head west, Adda,” he commanded.
“Oh? Are you ready to listen now?” she snapped. How did he expect her to focus when he was in that condition, right in front of her? She was getting tired of the lack of control in her life and lacking mastery over her emotions was the last thread.
The contrary man smirked at her tone, though she couldn't see what he found funny.
She raked a hand through her hair, reveling in the slight pain it brought her. A tiny bit of clarity misted through the mess her consciousness had become. She wanted him on her side, she would not survive on her own. She was a Shifter and she needed a pack, even a temporary one.
And when your pack learns what you are?
It would be her death. But she couldn't worry about that eventuality, no more than she could worry about Nex's possession. She had to focus on the present, and the only way she could see making it through until tomorrow was with help.
“I am looking for a weapon, hidden past the mountains. An orb, specifically. It is said to have power against the creatures.”
There, bait laid. She risked a peek back toward him.
She would have missed it if she wasn't hyper attuned to him at the moment, aware of his every breath. He was careful not to show a single hint of emotion, his face didn't change, but he did still perfectly.
This wasn't the first he had heard of the orb.