The Beastkeeper's Bride

19: The Dragon's Lair

19: The Dragon's Lair

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Millie did not get far before a set of heavily muscled arms caught her about the waist, hauling her back against a body that was cool and unyielding. She struggled silently against the steel-like bands clamping about her torso, writhing and twisting even as she heard Blayne shout a protest. Behind her, the Llaelleanoid rustled with an ominous hiss, skirting about her in a wide berth, wary of the other two men.

"Release her," the beastkeeper grated harshly, lunging forward towards her but Aëghan was quick to assess what action would cause her already bruised and injured husband the most damage. Retaining her tightly with one arm, the other man threw out his elbow and caught Blayne in ribs as soon as he advanced. He grunted, buckled over as he clutched at his side, and glared at her captor ominously, his eyes like liquid flame. "Aëghan, we had an agreement," he hissed furiously.

"Things have changed, Leo," the other man said and there was a bit of an edge to his deeply sonorous voice this time that he spoke. Millie squirmed viciously in his embrace and the arm holding her about the waist tightened emphatically, another following to clamp about her shoulders and hold her calm. She felt him move, shift against her back, the point of his chin dipping against the side of her temple. "My, my, what a delectable little treat you have."

Blayne's gaze dropped to hers in warning. Do not allow him to conceive of our ability to converse as we do, he told her swiftly, even as he widened his stance and cautiously tracked the other man again. "Release her. Your grievances have nothing to do with the human."

"Perhaps they do," Aëghan rebuked with a low chuckle. His fingers dragged against the bare column of her neck until they cupped her jaw, twisting her face to the side and she felt his gaze against her skin. Revulsion pulsed through her and Millie sneered, jerking her chin from his fingers only to have her face hauled back. "I am willing to wager that her life will help me quite a bit with most of my so-called 'grievances'."

"What do you want?" Blayne demanded. His hand dropped from where he had been placing it against his bruised ribs, the skin purpled and swollen, and he straightened. Every muscle in his body was tensed and straining, his eyes fervently homed in on the man who had encased her in arms so adamantine and unrelenting they almost cut off her air supply entirely.

"I believe it is time we reevaluate the terms of our agreement," Aëghan said cheerfully. "Don't you?"

"Then you can wait until Straecht. You are in violation of the ordinance by being here."

She felt his fingers tap thoughtfully, tauntingly, at the base of her throat and Millie wondered if he was considering holding a weapon against her flesh, though she hardly thought it was necessary if what she had seen as he entered the grove was any indication of his abilities. She did not doubt for a moment that Aëghan was capable of rendering her body apart if he so desired it.

"You know," he drawled, shifting an infinitesimal amount so that there was a narrow space between their bodies, "I do not think I will. I think I only need wait as long as it takes you to reclaim your bride."

Millie was watching her husband's face astutely so she was not immune to the fleeting panic that flashed across his otherwise cold exterior- if she hadn't have witnessed it, perhaps she would have felt calmer about what happened next. "Aëghan, don't-" Blayne began, almost urgently, his hand suspended towards her as if he could reach her, poised to snatch her away.

But it was too late, and the air about her began to pulsate and shift, imbued with a current of heaviness that clamored against her limbs and skin with a charged persistence.