To Defend A Bride (Entangled with the Enduar #3)

Chapter 35

Chapter 35

MELISA

E ach day, we get closer and closer to our departure. All that is left to do is to see what Eneko brings back from his trip. Through the speaking stones, we will tell the King and Queen that Rholker still resides in Zlosa, reveal all his secret plans, and leave.

Soon, I will see Enduvida. The crystals and the jewels. I’ll hear the sweet songs my mate loves so much.

I sit on the bed, sorting through my dresses. As I look at the clothes hanging in my closet, the clamminess of my skin and unsteady beats of my heart take over.

Tomorrow.

I'd been dreading the day that Eneko would return for the last week, and now here we are.

I take a deep breath through my nose, the words sitting in the back of my mind.

We need information… but I don’t want him to come back.

When the sound of feet walking up the steps to my door filters into my room, I startle, but then close my eyes.

Ra’Sa.

Fuck.

He’s weary. He spends so much time planning with the other humans, organizing supplies. I should cast him away, and yet, I open the bond between us.

Come in.

The door swings open, and he stands there, looming in the doorframe. Chest heaving. Eyes glinting in the firelight. He slips inside and shuts the door behind him quietly.

“Ruh’flor," he exhales, seconds before he wraps me up in his arms. Instinct has me wrapping my arms around him, too. I breathe in the scent of stone and wood and let my eyes flutter closed.

I once thought I had a heart of stone, and yet, all I needed was a stone bender to work it to life. To force the organ to beat, to pump blood, and to feel anything other than anger, survival, or terror.

"Is everything all right?" I ask quietly, acutely aware that he still refuses to pull away.

He nods, his chin digging into the top of my head.

Yes. Everything is ready for tomorrow , he replies to my mind.

I let out a long breath.

It’s really happening.

It is.

His fingers thread through mine.

Melisa. I have good news.

Oh? I say, not letting on how much that makes my gut churn.

Eneko will return with a caravan tomorrow. There will be a small reception, and while everyone is out, we will set fire to the barracks.

I pause.

They'll massacre the guards and give as many people as possible enough time to get out. But Eneko… well, he’s bringing home papers. Plans in writing.

My heart skips a beat.

If the rebellion starts tomorrow, Eneko will come home to chaos. We can hopefully learn what he has brought back with him and then flee.

We will be free of him before I ever have to touch his bed again.

Suddenly, my heart lights on fire. I pull back and look into Ra'Sa's eyes. My chest goes concave, and a mangled sound passes my lips.

He looks down at me, almost... lovingly.

Fuck.

Then he cups my cheek.

Melisa, I know how you hurt. How you tear yourself up over what you believe you must do—but you won't have to touch him. Not ever again.

My mouth parts. For all I have shared with him, all I have given him, I didn't think he would ever say such words to me. He was a plan. He wasn't supposed to be... this.

“Now that we have eliminated that particular problem, there is something I have to ask you.” He brushes his finger over my cheek.

I swallow. “Yes?”

“Would you be my wife, Melisa?”

My hand comes up to brush my fingers against his. “I?—“

A wife. I never expected to be anyone's wife. Who would've wanted me after having two hidden daughters and most of my adulthood spent in Eneko's room?

I want you, Ra'Sa murmurs.

I take a deep breath, swallow, and ask, "You would be my husband?"

A smile spreads over his face. He gives me one of those devastating looks that makes my stomach flip and my heart pound from something very different from fear.

"I would, Ruh’flor. "

The tears come faster than I can count. They well up in my eyes and spill over.

"You love me," I say quickly. Not asking a question.

His hand drops to my heart. "I love you."

A tear slides down my cheek. “I?—“

He saves me from having to finish the sentence and kisses me. His taste is husky. When he parts my mouth with his tongue, it makes my core light on fire. I think of him thrusting, of every time he's made me come with a hand over my mouth so we don't get caught. I think of his sweetness, the way he's defended me against my mother, Eneko, Hibsej, and even the other slaves.

The tear is burned away on my hot cheeks, and I throw my arms around his neck, pushing up onto my toes as I meet his ferocity.

I pull back, breaking the kiss.

I fucking love you.

He grins and gently lifts me onto the wall not touching the cabin. My legs wrap around his waist, and I grind against his stomach. Between the friction of my dress and his solid form, I let out a quiet gasp. My neck knocks back into the wall, baring my throat. His chest begins to rumble, and I look back at him just in time to see him shift.

From brown to blue, he goes back into the form that he was always meant to have. He grins, blue eyes sparkling back at me then he nuzzles into my neck.

"My bride."

His lips skim across the column of my throat, kissing and sucking.

You're a little too good at that for me to believe you've never done this with anyone else , I say back to him.

I feel him chuckle.

I can't help but to taste you.

A sharp sting comes at the side of my neck, and I flinch. My hand leaves his neck and presses to my throat. When I pull back my fingers, there is no red.

Shit, forgive me. I got carried away, Ra'Sa pants.

My brows furrow. When he shifts into his Enduar form, Ra’Sa has two glowing dots on his throat. When I tended to Estela, she had these marks we would cover.

This is something they do.

Biting my lip, I look back at him. So much time has been spent with me belonging to someone else. Did I want such a blatant show of belonging to someone else?

Not yet.

"Hush, it is all right. Help me with my dress," I say hurriedly.

His expression goes hot again. His hands clench into the fabric of my nightgown, and he starts pulling. As the fabric slides over my head, my hands drop back to the hem of his shirt. I yank until I hear something tear. He chortles and returns to my neck before helping to ease off the cloth.

My nipples scrape against his soft chest. A short, velvety layer of fur covers his skin, making him feel like one of the finest fabrics I've ever had the pleasure of touching. I arch into him, craving the action again, just as one of his hands comes up to palm my breast. He squeezes, and I whimper.

A small barrier of clothing still separates my entrance from rubbing against his bare skin, but I'm dying of simple friction.

For a second, I think about how many firsts have happened with this man. The first time to orgasm with a man. The first time to sleep an entire night together.

The first time to fall in love.

His hand shifts, situating his thumb and pointer finger to pinch my nipple. He watches my eyes.

"Do you like this?"

I smile and groan as he does it again.

"Yes."

"Shh," he eases. "Careful, my little love. Do you trust me?"

"I think I've more than proven I do," I retort.

He smiles. "You've given me a gift with your body; let me show you how grateful I am."

I sink into the sound of his voice, but frown when his hand slides away from my breast. It passes over the stretch marks on my belly, over the scar I gave myself, and to the small loincloth. He tugs at the ties, until they come undone. His hand moves slowly from one side to the other.

He hums.

I feel every brush of his fingers, but remain watching his face as he explores me. The same fascination that he's always held forefront while making love with me is there on his face now. A pure heart, but the passion of a man.

The fabric slides away, and I suck in another sharp breath at the delicious sensation. His fingers move through the curls above my folds and then he brushes his finger against that small bundle of nerves. He works it again and again, moving over me until I am panting and pushing into the cold wall.

While he does, something coils around my calf. Something soft and playful.

I look down and see his... tail.

The thought is long gone when he inserts a finger inside. Working me harder. I am sucked back into the moment and smile brightly at him. I open my mouth, ready to tell him to get inside of me with the fury of a woman possessed, but instead, the edge of my orgasm races through me at lightning speed.

A hand covers my mouth as I come. It ripples through me, waves crashing over and over my body as I see the starlit skies before my eyes. He kisses me, and the feeling lasts even longer.

When it finally subsides, I slump against him, skin to skin. Sweat makes my body slide against Ra'Sa.

"You're beautiful, Ruh’flor ," he says, brushing his lips against my head.

“What exactly does that word mean?” I finally ask. He uses it with increasing frequency every time we meet.

He smiles, bright and handsome in his blue skin.

“Cave flower. For the first time I saw you in Enduvida, you looked out of place amongst the stone, and yet I desperately wanted you to stay and share your beauty with my home,” he says.

I swallow. He flatters me too much.

"Get on the bed," I say.

His head tilts to the side. “Why, my demanding mate?”

I dip my chin down, wiggling out of his grip, and standing in the cold cottage, naked and panting.

"Remove your pants and get on the bed," I demand again.

He grins and then follows my command. He works quickly, almost not giving me enough time to enjoy the sight of his long, bulky body, nor worry over the dips and hollows that have started to show from the cruel conditions of the lumber yards. Markings that certainly weren't there before.

I walk over, sauntering before finally joining him.

I press a kiss to his lips, pinning him to my pillow. I don't care that his feet hang over the edge or that his hip bones dig into my thighs. I'm just happy to be here.

Happy to know that everything won't end tomorrow. That we will be free.

A wife.

I climb atop him and then lower myself. He pulls us to the side so each of us is half lying down as he moves in and out. We watch each other, moving toward another great emotional cliff.

Not to fall, but to jump, hand in hand.

Just as I reach over to intertwine my fingers with his, there's a sound outside our door. A shouting. We both freeze and then he pulls away from me. The sweat that had felt so comforting, so intimate, turns to ice upon my skin.

"Where is Melisa?!” Eneko shouts.

I barely have time to blink before the door to my room is yanked open. The force is hard enough to splinter. The two of us are there, naked. Ra'Sa in his Enduar form, and me, hair unbound.

Eneko stands in the door, home even earlier than expected. It’s clear he’s spent the last several days on a cart.

His wild eyes take us in. Already red cheeks turn deep scarlet. His nostrils flare, and his hair sticks out around his face.

“Eneko, wait!” Hibsej yells from the outside.

"You dirty, traitorous slut," he seethes and then he points at Ra'Sa, "And you! I’m going to kill you. ”

He charges into the room, grabbing Ra'Sa.

My mate snarls and breaks free. His back curves as he adjusts into the defensive stance he taught me. I can feel the movement of the stones underfoot. “Weak, pathetic man.”

Hibsej’s head pokes into the gaping hole. When she sees Ra’Sa, she screeches, "Troll!” and then runs.

“Help!” Her shrieking voice pierces the air.

I kick Eneko to get him away from my mate, but he shoves me across the room. Splinters slide into my thighs as I slam into the wall. More shouting comes from the outside.

My chest tightens. The pair of guards who watch over the path to the slave pens are here.

Ra’Sa seethes, his eyes glowing in time with the stone glowing in his chest. He removes himself from Eneko’s grip with ease. His fist slams into Eneko’s jaw.

The foreman grabs him, pulling my mate’s arms behind his back.

Ra’Sa cries out as the guards arrive. They thrust spears in his face. I see the rage boiling there, but naked and exposed, he pauses. Then he looks over at me.

I’m going to kill them. Nothing will happen to you. Please, trust me.

And he surrenders.

I suck in a sharp breath.

"Take him to the slave pens,” Eneko fumes, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth. “Scare the slaves shitless, and then kill him.”

He turns back to me, "You'll pay for this, human bitch."