Shared Between Them Read Online Free PDF Page B

back against the saddle and he closed his eyes. Draevan quickly broke into their secret language. “ Taric, I want to keep her. ”
    “ Of course we're keeping her ,” Taric responded wearily.
    “ No. I mean, after today… I want to choose her for our mate.”
    Taric opened his eyes and a long wrinkle appeared across his forehead.
    “ You're quite bewitched by her, then? ” Taric wasn't as judgmental as Draevan feared he'd be. Taric was, by far, the more skeptical of the two, and always stepped in to play the part of devil’s advocate. “ I have no arguments. She has no fault a firm hand couldn't remedy. She's beautiful, she smells nice, and I think she's entertaining enough. She'll do.” He shifted and rubbed his hand against the girl's tummy. “ Well, I'm glad I talked you into waiting to take her, then. Call me a romantic, but a bride should be taken on her wedding night .”
    Draevan had been finger-deep in her when Taric suggested that they wait until after the giant to bed her, mostly because he didn't want to risk being interrupted and also because he hoped that they'd be better received by her if she knew them as skilled warriors, not just hopeful or even big-headed ones. Draevan had grumbled about it at first, certainly, but now he was quite pleased to have something to look forward to. Besides, Taric had been right to say that the timing wasn’t right. Draevan had given her quite the chastisement, and she was feeling molested and forlorn already. He wanted to have her see them as something other than her rapists.
    He hummed happily and then snuggled the girl closer to his chest, kissing her forehead. In her sleep, she began to purr even louder.
    “ We need to rise ,” Taric reminded him, now that the sun was beginning to shine through the trees. “ We have to hone our blades yet .” Still, he hadn't moved from his place on Kyra's other side.
    Draevan grumbled a curse under his breath but slowly got up, feeling cold on the side that had been pressed to Kyra's body. He tucked his cloak closer around her so that she wouldn’t have to feel the cold of the morning either, and her body balled up more into the fetal position as she continued slumbering on.
    When Taric finally rose, Draevan popped a bannock into his mouth and handed one to Taric, punching him in the rib with his elbow and then nodding to the girl. “ Look at her, sleeping like an angel there… ” He shook his head appreciatively. “ Damn fine find .”
    “ Now if only we can get her to think likewise… ” Taric murmured.
    “ Why, is that urgent ?” Draevan asked, shrugging his shoulders. “ She doesn’t have to like us. We’ll make sure she’s satisfied. She’ll come around, and if she doesn’t… Well, who cares? I’m decided on her, and that’s all that concerns me.”
    Taric sighed and raised a dark, judgmental eyebrow. “ Your Northerner is showing ,” he told him, meaning that Draevan was acting particularly brutish.
    “ Remember, Grandfather said girls don’t often know what’s best for them. She’s better with us than here alone, in the woods, with a dagger strapped to her calf, and only a handful of coin to her name. ” Draevan swiped his hand confidently through the air, ending the discussion. Taric looked thoughtfully at him, then down at the elf. In moments, he looked approving enough towards Draevan’s point by raising his eyebrows and nodding to himself.
    They hadn't been honing their blades for five minutes when they first heard the distant sound of thunder, although by the unrelenting way the sun was shining through the thick canopy of winter branches, they could tell that it was a clear, sunny day above.
    Another quiet rumble vibrated through the wood of their boot soles. Still, fear didn't cling to Draevan. He could tell that Taric, although he didn't look bored like he usually did, didn't have any look of dread about him either, and this was a man who broke into a flop sweat when he was asked to do