“Is anyone here to see us today?” He asked sleepily, with no sign of letting her go.
“No, no one here to see us yet.” She growled softly, contentedly, as she kissed the side of his neck. “I did get a message earlier about a small group of Oceanborn on their way. Well, you got a message, but you were asleep.” She giggled and then nuzzled the side of his neck. “I was thinking that I could go look at the area around the river and then get some people started on the area to accommodate them. You’ve got a lot to discuss with your guards now that we’ve got the Earthborn and Stoneborn forces to work with.”
“Ugh.” He groaned and ran his hands over his face, clearly not quite awake yet. “Okay, that’s…yeah, that sounds fine.” He put up a hand and ran his fingers through her hair with a kiss to her cheek. “Did you sleep alright?” He looked at the steel sheet he called a bed, which was currently wrapped around them like an unforgiving blanket.
Zara kissed his jaw and then his cheek before she whispered in his ear. “I haven’t slept that well in a very long time. I wish we didn’t have to move.”
“This would be about the time when being the Alpha would be useful, and I could just say we don’t have to.” He moved a little and shifted the steel beneath her to conform to her a little better. “That’s what I thought it would be like when I was a kid, anyway.”
“I’m sure it can still be like that. When this is over, when the world is less volatile.” She kissed him again with a soft moan. “I’ve never been with anyone like you.”
He leaned his head to the side a little to look at her. “What do you think of Ironborn now, then?”
“I think you’re stronger than anyone could ever imagine.” She kissed his neck again, teasing his skin with a nibble. “I think you’re also very kind and sweet. So full of passion. I think a lot of things that I never thought about before.” She sighed against his skin. “Do you think that your people will think less of you if they see me leaving here?”
“They know you’re here with me and under my protection. If they feel offended by that, then let them take a good look at some of our other new friends who are a lot less easy on the eyes.” He didn’t care what others thought regarding Zara.
Zara smiled brighter. “You really think I’m that beautiful?”
“You know I do. And you know you are.” He said teasingly, but with a slight smile anyway.
She moved slightly so that she was more on top of him than to the side just so she could look into his eyes again. The sheet of metal responded to her movements like water, and it made her smile as she kissed him again. “Something people don’t often know about Heartborn is that we cherish what people say more than what people think. It means more if you actually want to say it out loud.”
“I think I said a lot of things quite loudly last night, thank you very much.” Nick chuckled a little, but was unashamed.
Zara laughed against his lips. “I think I did too. It was…there aren’t even words. It was just wonderful.” Her fingers traced the tattoos on his skin until she was drawing lazy circles on his chest, around where his heart thumped in his chest. “What happens to you is important to me, you know. You’re important to me.”
“I know.” And he really did, because he could feel it from her. He could feel every emotion she had, and everything she felt from the night before still ringing through her in every kiss and every touch.
She kissed him once more, long and lingering and pouring every bit of emotion into it that she could. “I should get up before we really decide to let the day move along without us.”
He sighed. “I thought I was supposed to be the responsible one?” Even so, he unfolded the metal sheet from around her back, since he was sure she wouldn’t have been able to get up unless he let her.
Zara caressed his skin a little more. “I’ll be back before you even realize I’m gone.” She made the promise with her lips and with her eyes, a promise that told him she wanted so much more.
“Take Lea with you.” He said as he got up with her. Lea was one of the least judgmental of his guards, since she was also the only one who was friendly at all towards Orlando or Candra. “She knows the area, she can show you around.”
She nodded and went to grab her clothes, though she put them on slowly, reluctantly. “Okay.” Once she was dressed and had her pendant back in place, she gave him another hug, taking his hand and squeezing it gently before she turned to go. “I’ll be here waiting for you once you’re done with the guards.”
* * * * *
Zara passed by Nick’s chief guard after getting only a few paces from the house. “Lea, would you come with me? I’m going to the river to make sure we can accommodate some Oceanborn that are coming.”
Lea nodded and looked back at her Alpha’s house once, since she didn’t like being commanded by a Heartborn, but she knew that at this point, Nick wouldn’t want Zara to go anywhere unprotected. And Heartborn were useless when it came to a fight.
They both walked in silence for a while after they got out of the compound, and Zara was the one who finally broke the silence. “You still support him, even when he’s with me. That says a lot.”
Lea shrugged and avoided looking at Zara. “He’ll never take you to mate, so I don’t much care who he fucks in the privacy
