ELRETH

She was working really, really hard not to growl. He couldn't mean it. Not the way it sounded. He couldn't.

Could he?

"El, I'm their Alpha. For the last two years."

Deep breath. "You said they were organized. Like a tribe. You didn't say they are a tribe."

"Why are you looking at me like that? This is no different than the packs in the wolves, and the herds in the Equines. Except we choose it for ourselves. We're from all the tribes, and we're a tribe together. Do you get that Elreth? Do you get what we've done?"

"I'm starting to see, yes," she snapped, then closed her eyes and tipped her head down when Aaryn frowned. "I'm sorry. I'm trying, Aaryn. I'm trying not to get really angry that you've hidden this from me. And that it's…"

"It's not anything but people who need people, Elreth," he said, low and quiet. "It's not anything except people who feel scared, finding a place to feel safe. I've told you my whole life that the disformed are just like any other Anima, except we can't shift."

"And I believe you. Which is exactly why I can't treat this any differently than I would any other uprising from among the people—"

"Uprising? Uprising?! There's no uprising, Elreth! This is a group of people who care about each other and teach each other and look out for each other, that's it."

"With an established pack hierarchy, an Alpha, and… do they swear vows to you, Aaryn?" her eyes went wide. "Are they… do they give fealty?"

"Not against the crown," he growled. "Do you really think I would lead people away from you?"

"Did you lead them away from my father?"

"Of course not! That's probably why there hasn't been a disformed uprising! I was always able to show them that you and Reth were sympathetic, that I could communicate issues to him when they came up…" He huffed and got to his feet, pacing the dirt a few feet in front of her. "Do you realize how many of us there are, Elreth? Do you pay attention?"

"Yes," she said bluntly. "That's exactly what scares me about this."

"Your mother was never scared. She understood what we were doing—"

"And was utterly disloyal to her mate, apparently!" Elreth snarled, shoving to her feet and stalking over to block his path so he drew up suddenly, glaring.

"Disloyal?!" he spat. "She and Gahrye were the ones who established that the disformed were never to rise against the crown! She was the reason the people before never fought when their tribes treated them like shit—she kept the connection with Reth and worked to help them! She's why we're so strong now!"

"And why I now have a serious threat camped in my own cave!"

"THEY ARE NOT A THREAT TO YOU BECAUSE I AM NOT A THREAT TO YOU!"

"That's for damn sure," she growled, her eyes glowing the gold of her lion.

*****

AARYN

Aaryn snarled. His skin was tingling with the urge to shift. That frustrating, insatiable pressing that shoved at him from the inside, but could never be satisfied. He stepped into her—an overt challenge. "You think I couldn't harm you if I chose, Elreth?" he said, so quietly. "You think I couldn't dominate you?"

She didn't waver a hair. "I don't think you'd ever try."

Aaryn tipped his head, the tiniest shift, one eyebrow raised, anger burning in his eyes. "Did it ever occur to you that I don't try because I don't want to force you to submit to me?"

She snorted, and rage exploded in his chest.

His entire life he'd been looked down on, excluded, dismissed, or outright attacked. And with a few exceptions when he was young, he'd always chosen peace. Always.

But since he'd met her, he'd also always had a place to go where he was treated with respect. Where he wasn't seen as disadvantaged, or weak. And having that soft place to fall had made him willing to fight—to keep that. To keep a hold of himself so he could be there. With her.

And she'd just stepped on him like a bug.

Shivering with cold rage, Aaryn broke the tethers he'd always gripped so tightly around her and let himself feel… everything.

His own iron will to do what was right even when others didn't.

His conviction to choose what was best for his people.

His utter lack of fear of her and of what she could do to him. Namely, kill him, only by shifting and tearing out his throat. But she wouldn't.

She wouldn't, because he loved her too much—more than she loved him. And he was fine with that. But he would be damned if he was going to let her look down on him for holding himself with care for her sake.

So… he unleashed. Let his chin drop and his eyes spark. Let his muscles swell with the power that sat, unused, within him. Let her smell the males he'd bested to take his seat—and the fact that he hadn't even used everything he had to do it.

Let her scent his rock-solid certainty that she was his—and only his—and no matter who she'd bested, or what she went through, he was always going to be there at her shoulder, ready to take anyone, or anything down that threatened her.

But he would not let her see him as a castrated pet.

He chose to submit to her. He had always chosen to submit to her. He wanted to submit to her. He wanted her to rule.

But he was no pussy.

Her nostrils flared and her eyes widened as she caught the sheer, masculine scent of him, sensed the force quivering under his skin. He heard her heartbeat pick up.

"You laugh at me, Elreth?" he murmured, looming over her. "You think I'm a joke? That my pack is You think the disformed would follow someone weak?"

"No," she growled. "I've never seen you as weak, Aaryn. You know that. Frankly, it's always disappointed me how often you'd pretend you were."

He leaned in, eyes still locked with hers, and she tipped her head back, half-baring her throat to keep holding his gaze.

Desire sparked in his belly. He let her smell that too.

Her breathing picked up, but her face remained a fixed mask of fierce determination.

"So, we're there already," he said in a low, hushed gravel. "I'll admit, I thought I'd have to mate you first."

Her heart skipped a beat when he said mate. "Well, as you know, I don't know a lot about mating," she said in a low purr that made his body twitch. "So why don't you tell me: Where is it that you think we suddenly are, Aaryn?"

He slid an arm around her lower back and pulled her against him, heard her inhale, but she didn't back down. Then he broke eye contact to drop his nose to her throat, inhaling her scent and letting her feel how is body responded to her. "We are at the moment," he whispered, his lips tingling, just barely brushing her neck. "Where you learn what I learned years ago?"

She swallowed. "What's that?"

He chuckled. "The absolute fucking beauty of choosing to submit."

Then he opened his mouth against her throat.

****

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