The Druid Series 9: Baird (A Druid Novel) (15 page)

His eyes slim down upon her. “Did not your former leader take care of that?”

Siana frowns. “Yes. Yet she is gone, and we must do what we can in her absence.”

“
Perhaps we will see her return to here, with her zombie consorts of course. She can ward our fortress, and your fears shall be alleviated.”

Siana shakes her head. “No. She is insane. And made more so by her present environment, I'm certain.”

Maghnus taps his chin. “I think she will do what we ask.”

“
Yes”—Siana bobs her head—“for a price. Everything is always a cost with Jessamine. And normally, it is more than anyone would wish to pay.”

“
So be it,” Maghnus says. “In the meantime, enjoy your chamber. It is one of the only with an
en suite
bath.”

Siana makes a fatal mistake. She walks past him in a mix of surprise and delight, thrilled at the prospect of bathing.

Maghnus is behind her instantly, slamming her into the wall face-first.

Siana’s head hits the stone, and stars burst in her vision.

“Queen,” he breathes against her neck.

Maghnus kicks her legs apart and splits her ass cheeks with his prick, rolling the hard length between them.

Siana's arms shake with the effort to keep herself off the wall.

“
Get off me,” Siana says in a low voice, desperately trying to clear her head.

“
Ah...” He hikes his hips up, rubbing himself between her ass like a parody of fucking in a slow pump. “No. We are alone, and I intend to fuck you. You need male attention. You also need to be underneath me. No female will have control of my holding. You will be under me, and fuck me when I ask. As will every Druid within.”

Siana tears one palm off the wall and rams her elbow behind her.

Maghnus makes a wonderful grunting sound upon impact, but he grabs the wrist that was just broken and jacks it between her shoulder blades.

He gently presses her face against the stone wall.

“Settle, female,” he says softly. “I mean you no harm. I but need to see what all the fuss is about. That four males would fuck your twat in a matter of a day's time is something to cause a male's mind to speculate.”

Siana struggles, but his knees hold hers spread against the wall, her one arm is trapped between the stone and her body, the other is useless between her shoulder blades.

Maghnus’s other hand grabs her ass and kneads it softly, his cock never ceasing its slow pump between her cheeks.

Slowly, he parts the folds of her pussy with his cock, teasing her clit.

Siana fights for control. She is being taken against her will, yet she is Druid. Her pussy begins to drip from his attentions.

“
That is it, my reluctant Druid.”

She gasps when his fingers enter her.

“No!” Siana cries, fighting her Druid nature with her own free will.

“
Yes!” Maghnus shouts.

Suddenly, his weight lifts off her, and she is free. Free of the wall, his cock, and his probing fingers. Without the attention, her will easily reasserts.

She hears flesh being beaten, and her arm falls from behind her back. Pins and needles pierce her as circulation returns.

She rolls around to face the room instead of the wall.

Baird stands, a sword in one hand and Maghnus’s head in the other.

“
No one shall have you but me.”

Siana's heart bursts. This male who seeks no one's council but his own, who is as uncompromising as he is beautiful, has killed his leader for attempting to take her by force.

“Baird,” Siana whispers, her shaking hands covering her face.

The sound of sword and head falling to the floor fills her ears.

Then his warm body envelops hers.

“
I am here,” he says, and Siana knows he means more than those three words.

She finally gives in to what she has known all along.

Siana is his. She always has been.

Baird

The taste of metal envelopes Baird, and underneath that is the smell of his female.

The blood of Maghnus permeates the room he intended to rape Siana in.

Siana is naked, her clothes shoved aside in the hopes of a quick unwilling fuck.

Baird moves her away from him, but she clings.

“Let me right what is wrong, Siana.”

She nods as tears course down cheeks cold to the touch.

Carefully, Baird straightens her torn breeches, plucks the shoulders of her blouse above her breasts, and turns her palm for his inspection.

It will show the bruise from the wall in the morrow. Baird will see she feeds from him so her healing is instantaneous.

Baird moves out of the room and into the hall.

Siana looks around her. “Where is everyone?”

“The day is at its zenith. Many Reapers slumber. Certainly Carrig and Quinn take rest with Imogen.”

Siana looks at him seriously. “What will happen? You have killed Maghnus…”

Baird ties his hair at his nape. He shakes his head. “He would never have made this a sanctuary for the Druids. Maghnus was for Maghnus. He thought only of his own comfort and power.” Baird looks over her shoulder for a moment, remembering. “I recall a time when Maghnus took the same risks as all of us. In battle—here.” Baird sweeps his hand to encompass the entire fortress.

Baird gives the closed door a glance, his lip rising in disdain. “Of late, he had talked much about gathering the Druids through his covenant with Jessamine. More for a show of power and control than true concern for the perpetuation of our species.”

“The other Reapers? Will they retaliate?”

Baird shrugs. “It is possible... but with ten Druids here and no leader, the Reaper warriors will be more likely to settle into a life of ease with mates.”

“How many are there?”

Baird looks at Siana. “The numbers are not even. If there are any Druids who, like Imogen, can be shared by two warriors—it would greatly ease the burden.”

Siana palmed her chin, twice looking at the door.

“
We will have to deal with Maghnusʼs death. Dispose of the body, mourn him.”

Her tone holds disgust.

“There is no mourning for a Reaper who tried to hurt you, Siana,” Baird says.

Siana laces her fingers through his, though his are covered in blood.

She brings their linked hands to her mouth and kisses the blood of Maghnus.

“
I have not chosen well”—her gold eyes snap to his—“and you have been stubborn.”

Baird does not argue. Cannot.

“Now is the time to come together. Seek a new leader.”

Baird lays his cheek against hers and whispers, “Who?”

He feels her smile against him.

“
Altho.”

Baird whips his head back in surprise. “I—he is not Reaper.”

Siana nods in excitement. “Yes, I know. It is perfect. He is a pureblood Druid, and as such, he has the same base genetics as you. He can breed pure Druid females. He has a magick as powerful as Jessamine's but none of her insanity. Though he has led a solitary existence.”

Baird thinks about what it would be like having a leader who is not Reaper but believes in and moves toward a common goal. It is a sound suggestion. Whether the Reapers will agree is yet to be determined.

Baird grins. “You wish to have Seraphina back in the fold.”

Siana smiles back. “Yes, though my suggestion for Altho is a good one.”

“Aye.” Baird nods. “It is.”

“
Come. We will gather the Renfields to dispose of Maghnus and establish a small contingent to invite Altho to rule this stronghold.”

“
Wait.” Their arms stretch taut, and Baird pulls Siana against him. “What if the Reapers do not agree to Altho as leader?”

Baird feels a resolute smile slip into place. “It will be a democracy amongst us.”

Siana exhales in relief. “Good.” She gives a final glance at Maghnusʼ still form on her floor and stifles a shudder.

They walk back to the gathering area. There is a body that needs disposal.

*

Baird lays back on his bed, the goose down a cloud of comfort. While on the road, he forgets how scrumptious his permanent accommodation is.

He closes his eyes, listening to the low drone of Siana in his bathing area.

Instead of the cumbersome tubs in many temples, the Reapers have an ingenious system of underground copper tubes. They are fed from the nearby hot springs, and a metalsmith forged unique discs with small pin holes to transfer the water. The water moves beneath the stone, and when a lever is turned, warm water falls like rain in the corner of the bathing area.

If they are fortunate, he will taste of Siana like the delicacy she is. If they are not, the news of Maghnus’s death will curtail his plans to take Siana.

Again and again.

The sound of water stops, and Baird's eyes open slowly, the pupils easily adjusting to the dimness.

A lone candle brightens the space, leaving it soft.

Siana pads through the stone archway from the bathing area, and she smiles when she sees him.

“
Maghnus could have eventually told us which male has fathered my child.” Siana self-consciously places a hand on her stomach.

Baird sits up. “I have acted the fool, Siana.”

He stretches out his hand, and she moves forward to take it.

He hates she might bear a child of Kael, Carrig, or the Faction. Yet at the end of the day, it is Siana he wishes to have for himself. Too much time has been wasted trying to force her into a box she cannot fit inside.

Baird knows his feelings. However, he is not good at conveying them.

“
I am beyond happy you bear young. That there is a chance it could be mine is wonderful. But know this—we have a chance to have many children together if you will but forgive me for my atrocities against you.”

Siana says nothing as she sits next to him.

The towel falls to her waist.

It is answer enough.

*

Altho

Altho jerks Seraphina off his spent prick and behind him.

“
Ah!” she says as he slips out.

“
What are you doing?”

“
Saving us, Druid,” he replies.

“
From what?”

Altho turns to her, detecting a false note in her voice. “You thought to distract me with your delicious cunt while the Faction or another penetrates my fortress?”

Seraphina's wide eyes and silence give him his answer.

He shakes his head in wonder, his cock semi-hard. She is an addiction, and with enemies afoot, he does not need the distraction.

“It helps no one if they get inside. What do you think males of any species will do with a beautiful, half-naked female?” His eyebrows rise, the scar tissue tightening along his lip as he gives a cruel uplift of lips.

Seraphina looks down at her hands.

“Conniving against me wins you nothing, gains nothing.”

Altho gets off the low-slung stone table he had been perching upon. “We can only hope to evade if there are many, and I shall protect you. Now”—his eyes bore into hers, and she flinches—“can you manage to tell me a count?”

Seraphina blinks in the face of his sarcasm. “I am not sure. More than three?” Her voice is uncertain.

Altho curses.

Now she has him in her thrall, though not completely. His own magick offers partial immunity to her full sexual powers.

Altho paces, coming to stand in front of the runes once again. He tosses his clothing on. After stuffing several runes inside the pockets of his robes, but none that are contrary to one another, he whirls.

Seraphina stands, the beautiful slit of her sex glossy and pink with their coupling.

With marauders closing in, he could fuck her again. He closes his eyes against the overpowering lust and swallows.

When he opens them, she has donned a skirt.

Thank the goddess.

“What shall we do?” Seraphina asks.

The first distant crash sounds from the upper story of the fortress.
They breached the moat and made their way through the solid oak of the entry door.

Or climbed the stone walls which border it.

“We seek temporary shelter with Maghnus. He will have a more formidable defense.”

“
What of the Druid females?”

Altho takes her hand. “That is Reaper business. If I were to guess”—he looks into her dark eyes again—“and I am not that sort, I would say they have them already.”