I remain quiet, playing with the short hair that covers his shoulders as I wait for him to find himself.

Hawk eventually groans, lifting his head. “…Aspeth?”

“I’m here.” My voice is small, and I wriggle my hips, trying to find a better position. There isn’t one. I still feel like an overfilled waterskin. “Are you all right?”

He pants, as if he’s been running up a mountain. “Just…trying to stay in my head…difficult.” Hawk’s big body shifts, and then he surges into me again, almost involuntarily. “Knot…Conquest Moon…”

“I know.” I stroke the short, fuzzy fur on his cheek, a wave of foolish affection moving over me. “You’re all right. I’m here with you.”

The god’s grip on him must be less intense while his knot deflates. He runs his muzzle over my shoulder, then my ear. “Where are we? Did I…hurt you? Are you…all right?”

“I’m fine.” More or less. I’m alive. I’m knotted, and my husband is here with me. He sounds full of remorse and I don’t want him stressing over anything. “You were very gentle.”

He snorts, and I swear, it makes his cock jump inside me. “That doesn’t sound like a Taurian in rut.”

“You were enthusiastic, then. But it wasn’t so bad.” I pause. “Also we’re in a crypt, which is slightly creepy, and there might be ghosts watching us.”

He lifts his head, and as he does, I can see that the crazed look in his gaze is somewhat lessened, but not by much. “So we are. You haven’t seen any spiders, have you?”

Laughter bubbles up inside me, and giggling just makes the tight connection between our bodies that much more sensitive. I shift under him, smiling. “We were a bit too busy being attacked by ratlings to check for spiders, alas. But we’ve been here for a while—most of a day, I think—and no sign of spiders.”

Some of the tension in his shoulders eases. “Good. The last thing I need is a spider biting my balls while they’re aching like this.”

I smother another giggle.

“Where are the others?” he asks.

“They beat a hasty retreat when you freed my breast and started licking it.”

“Smart.” His hand moves to my breast, teasing the nipple. “They are quite lovely tits, though.”

I bite back a moan, because it’s evident that even though Hawk is himself at the moment, he’s still not sated.

“I could make you come,” he murmurs, stroking my nipple with slow, thoughtful motions. “I could make you come over and over again while you’re locked against me. While you’re helpless and pinned against my knot. I love that thought. In fact, I’m going to do that…but after you tell me everything that’s been going on. Spare no detail.”

“It’s a bit of a long story.”

“Neither you nor I are going anywhere for a while, little bird.”

I rather like that he calls me his little bird. It doesn’t sound like he hates me. So I tell him about the ring we found. The ring that even now is painting everything with a continual red glow. I remind him of my father’s artifact issues and how I need to save him. I don’t tell him that Gwenna was the one that initially stole the ring—I put that on my shoulders. And I tell him about how it was my idea to come down here and talked the others into coming with me. “I blackmailed them,” I tell him. “They’re blameless.”

“You’re full of shit,” he tells me, an amused smile curling his mouth. “Blackmailed them with what?” He continues to stroke my nipple, sending flickers of desire through my tightly knotted body.

I’d anticipated a few things about Hawk’s rut, but I hadn’t anticipated this—the constant staring into each other’s faces while we wait for his knot to go down. The intimacy of this moment, with his body so deep into mine. The connection between us. It’s changing everything, and I feel vulnerable and yet so very seen, too.

“All right, perhaps I didn’t blackmail them. But it was my idea and I don’t want them to suffer for it.” I tell him then about Magpie, and how she’d suggested that she knew people and she’d come with us…and then finding out she was working with Barnabus when he showed up.

Hawk doesn’t seem surprised by that part. “I found her with him. They were celebrating. Said you’d left. I knew they’d done something and I lost my shit. I might have had them arrested.” He pauses, thinking. “I might have also punched Barnabus in the face, but my memory is hazy. I can blame it all on the Conquest Moon.”

“Arresting them?” I shake my head, frowning. “What’s arresting them going to do? That’s a slap on the wrist. The guild—”

“Won’t do much, aye. At least not to Barnabus. Just like they won’t do much to you. They can’t ruin their relationships with the holders. But the rest of us can get caught in the cross fire.”

My heart aches. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

He just gives me a wry smile, as if he doesn’t quite believe me. “You couldn’t have waited for me to come home? Asked me for help instead of Magpie?”

“You’re too honorable. You wouldn’t help.”

“You think I’d rather sit around with my horn up my arse? Watch you get sent home and put in danger?”

“First of all, I don’t know how you could put your horn up your own arse without some pretty thorough twisting. Second of all, I don’t know. I’ve been so used to taking everything on, to expecting no one to help me. I’m sorry I didn’t come to you.”

“You should have. I’m your husband. It’s my job to protect you.”

“You’re my husband in name only, remember?”

“That’s not what it feels like.” He rocks his hips, and I suck in a breath, because it does, indeed, feel like we’re far more than just two strangers in a marriage of convenience. Today has changed everything.

No, I realize. It changed long ago. I’ve just not acknowledged it until now. I’ve lost my heart somewhere along the way to this huge, fierce Taurian who hates spiders.

FORTY-FIVE ASPETH

Just like we had in bed at home, we talk of nothing and everything. With Hawk’s help I bind up my injured wrist so it has some support. Hawk caresses me idly while I tell him about our caved-in adventures, and then we separate, his spent cock pulling free from my body. Oh. It feels strange to not have him inside me, stretching me past comfort into something that’s bliss. I sit up and look around for something I can use as a chamber pot, since my stomach still feels incredibly full of his release.

In the end, I empty a bag and designate a corner, humiliated that we don’t even have the privacy for this. I remember my ladies talking about things one does after sex—always pee afterward, and hop to get rid of his leavings. I do both while Hawk politely ignores me, and I’m mortified at the absolute flood that leaves my body. Taurians sure do have a lot of seed.

I clean myself up, cheeks burning, with a dampened scrap of fabric torn from my sleeve. The pack Gwenna tossed has several canteens, much to my relief, and I don’t feel terrible using a few spoonfuls to clean up.

Once I feel a bit more like myself, I pull on a short chemise I had in my bag. Well, now, that wasn’t quite the ordeal everyone made it out to be. I turn to Hawk, the satchel of foodstuffs in my arms. “Would you like a snack—”

He rips the bag from my grip and grabs me by the waist. I yelp in surprise—though he isn’t hurting me—and Hawk tugs me against his groin. It’s rock-hard once more, and when I look up, the red is back in his gaze, stronger than ever.