Chapter 14- Sparring Time
Daxon Stormclaw POV
Elowen was kicking my ass, and I was letting her. Mostly.
She moved like lightning, flashes of moon kissed skin, powerful thighs, fierce damn eyes, and gods help me, I was distracted as fuck. Her sports bra was clinging to every curve like it owed her rent, and those short shorts? Criminal. Absolute war crimes.
“Focus, you lovesick idiot,” Talon growled in my head. “This is training, not foreplay.”
“Tell that to my dick,” I muttered under my breath, dodging her punch by a hair.
She grinned wickedly. “What was that, Stormclaw?”
“Nothing, sweetheart,” I smirked. “Just admiring the view.”
She came at me hard. We grappled, sweat slicked and breathless, until I lost balance....okay, maybe I let her win, and landed flat on my back with a goddess straddling my hips. “Pinned you,” she panted, flushed and glowing like moonfire.
“Stars, you look edible,” I whispered, hands finding her hips. “Maybe we skip the rest of training and work on stamina another way?”
She leaned down, lips brushing mine. “You’re impossible.”
“And you’re irresistible.” Our mouths crashed together, slow at first, then hungry. My hands slipped beneath her top, her nails dug into my chest, and my wolf was howling like a madman in my skull.
“Claim her,” Talon snarled. “Right here. Right now. On the fucking field.”
“Gods damn...”
“WOOOOOOO!” Lachlan’s voice boomed across the grounds, followed by his cackling laugh. “Elowen, yer ass looks bloody fantastic from here!”
Elowen squeaked and practically leapt off me, cheeks flaming. I sat up, shooting the smug vampire and laughing dragon a death glare as Elowen straightened her clothes and flipped Lachlan off.
“You bastards,” she muttered. “I was busy,” I growled, rising to my feet and cracking my neck. “Now who’s next?”
Ashrian smirked. “Need a cold shower, Stormclaw?”
I tackled his smug ass into the dirt and pinned him in two seconds flat. “Next?”
Bram tried to tackle me. I rolled him onto his back with a twist of my hips. “Next?”
Vaelrix raised his hands. “I don’t need to measure dicks with you, wolf.”
“Smart dragon,” I grinned.
Then the next wave hit.
Taya came skipping in with Rylen and Jace right behind her, all of them ready to spar. Amaris followed with a bow slung across her back and mischief in her eyes. And then the fae storm rolled in, Princess Rivena and her two giant ass, glowy eyed mates, Druen and Lazurien.
Training day just got a whole lot more interesting. And I was damn sure not letting anyone else ogle my mate without remembering exactly who the hell she belonged to.
Me.
Lachlan MaCrae POV
Elowen stood across from me on the sparring mat, chest rising with each breath, lips parted, cheeks flushed from already pinning Daxon’s cocky ass ten minutes ago. Gods, she was radiant. Ferocious. Divine. And she was mine.
Caôranach stirred in the back of my mind, his voice thick with that familiar growl and laced with our shared hunger.
“Focus, lad. But gods above, she’s bonnie like a storm in full rage. Ye know she wants tae be caught.”
Aye, I knew. I wasn’t stupid. She grinned at me, hands up in fighting stance, and said, “Come on, Highlander. Show me what that brogue and brawn can actually do.”
“Och, lass,” I chuckled, circling her slowly, “ye’ve nae idea the trouble ye just invited.”
The second she lunged, I let Caôranach rise within me, strength sharpening my reflexes. Her fist came flying, but I sidestepped and grabbed her waist, spinning her mid-air until she landed flat on her back with a breathy oof. I straddled her hips, pinning her wrists above her head, and leaned down, my lips a breath away from hers.
“Caught ye,” I whispered, brogue thicker than whiskey. “Now what should I do with ye, mo ghràidh?”
Elowen wriggled beneath me, breath hitching as her eyes locked onto mine. The heat between us flared like wildfire.
“You’re such a cocky bastard,” she muttered.
“Aye,” I smirked. “And ye like it. Admit it.”
My fingers slid along her thigh, teasing just enough to make her eyes flutter. I pressed my hips down, letting her feel exactly what she was doing to me through those sinfully tiny shorts. Her gasp was everything.
“Mark her again,” Caôranach rumbled. “Let them all know she’s ours.”
Just as I leaned in to taste her, a loud, obnoxious throat clearing sounded behind me. “Ahem,” Taya said, arms crossed and smirking like the devil herself. “Can y’all not fuck in public? Or at least let us place bets first?”
Elowen groaned and covered her face with her hands as giggles erupted around the training field. Her cheeks were crimson. “Heat madness,” she muttered. “Can we just not with the constant horny right now?”
I helped her up with a wicked grin. “Oh, love. We’re too far gone fer not.”
Bram whooped from across the field, already squaring off with Taya. Rylen and Jace were in a full on testosterone brawl, fists flying and laughter echoing. And then... gods help us... Prince Lazurien and Druen stepped onto the mat together, shirtless and glistening like a feckin’ romance novel cover. Every head turned.
Even Caôranach was stunned into silence. Elowen whispered, “...I think my ovaries just exploded.” I barked out a laugh. “Ye better not, woman, ye’ve got my pups tae carry.”
She slapped my arm, but the smile that broke across her face? That was everything.
Ashrian Vale POV
I cracked my neck and stepped into the ring with a smirk, flexing my fingers as Elowen bounced on her toes across from me, eyes glinting like mischief and murder wrapped in sunshine and sass. “You sure about this, lover boy?” she teased, all smug confidence in her sports bra and those cursed short shorts that had half the men in the courtyard drooling.
“Oh, I’m very sure,” I grinned, licking my bottom lip. “I plan to enjoy every second of being on top of you.”
She barked a laugh. “You wish, vampire.”
The second the match began, she launched at me like a goddamn missile. I dodged left, she twisted, we collided in a blur of limbs and laughter. She fought dirty....in the best ways. My hand caught her waist, but she used it to swing herself up and over, knocking me onto my back.
“Shit!” I hit the mat with a thud and a groan, blinking up at her as she straddled my hips, flushed and breathless and glowing. “Pinned,” she said sweetly, smug as sin.
I growled low, catching her off guard, and surged up just enough to drag my fangs teasingly along the curve of her neck. Her whole body shuddered. “Careful, princess,” I murmured, letting my voice drop, “keep pinning me like this and I might think you want me here.”
She shivered, but didn’t move. “Maybe I do,” she whispered, cocky little smirk curling her lips. “Just not for sparring.”
Fuck me sideways. But before I could roll her and make a scene, she giggled and shoved my shoulder down, holding me flat.
“Match!” Daxon called out, laughing.
Applause rang out from the sidelines. I let my head fall back with a dramatic groan as Elowen climbed off me like the smug goddess she was.
A crowd had gathered. Human marines clapped and whistled. Rylen was cackling. Taya was absolutely placing bets. And stalking through the crowd came the two stunning dryad princesses, Isyndrae, wild red curls bouncing as she practically skipped over, and Lioraeth, her soft pink hair shimmering in the sun like faerie cotton candy.
Isyndrae clapped her hands. “I love watching the hot ones get wrecked. Do it again, wolf girl!”
Lioraeth giggled behind her fingers. “You’re just hoping she rips his shirt off.”
“I mean, wouldn’t you?” Isyndrae waggled her brows.
From the edge of the field, a new group of lycans moved into view, massive, brutal, alpha energy pouring off them like heat off asphalt. Commander Ravek Dreadclaw stood at the front, arms crossed, flanked by his mate Noctara. She looked like a storm in flesh and ink, eyes haunted but deadly calm.
Ravek gave a low whistle. “That your female, Vale?”
I grinned and dusted myself off. “Indeed she is Rave.”
“She hits like a berserker,” he said approvingly. “I like her.”
“She is a berserker,” Vaelrix called from behind him. “Just prettier.”
Elowen rolled her eyes. “Y’all better shut up or I’m throwing hands again.”
Taya laughed. “Please do. I’ve got ten credits on you knocking Lachlan’s smug ass out next.”
Lachlan flipped her off cheerfully. “Ye just wait, woman. I’m savin’ my knockout for Rylen.”
“I’m right here, you know,” Rylen deadpanned, blood running down one arm from sparring with Jace. “Rude.”
Jace licked the blood from his knuckles. “Sexy.”
Elowen turned to me, flushed and still panting. “Round two?”
I smirked. “Only if I get to pin you this time.”
Her eyes sparkled. “You can try, vampire.”