45. Promises in the Dark

The only thing separating skin on skin was Sona’s outfit fabric—very thin, breezy fabric, she didn’t notice until now.
Sona, adamantly refusing to acknowledge her peaked nipples despite the warm water, rasped, “What promise?”
Taos’ voice was a guttural rumble. “Two, actually. Do you want the dirty or innocent one first?”
“It’s difficult to think with your arms under my ass,” she said hoarsely.
“Fuck thinking.”
*Yes, it seems like that’s pointless*. Sona’s own arms were around Taos’ neck, holding herself by holding her wrists. His face was all she could see—his dangerous, beautiful face, all sharp angles and scars, a face made for carnality. *How do you make dangerous look so beautiful*?
*And what are you capable of—capable of doing to me*?
“Is anything you do innocent?”
That snarky mouth of his quirked to the side. Sona focused on the tiny nick on the corner of his upper lip. “You know the answer to that already, trinket.”
“What are you standing on?” Panic was making her choose to stall over succumbing to Taos’ seduction.
“Rock platform for this very interaction,” he said with an edge of impatience. “Steady, sturdy, for an Alpha to support his Luna.”
She did feel steady and sturdy in his grasp. “Dirty.”
The smirk widened into a savage grin, baring his wolf’s fangs. For a moment she thought he would sink them into her shoulder. It was a terrifyingly real possibility as he tilted his head and dragged them along her skin, lips skimming in the teasing of a kiss. “Excellent. Here are my vows, Sona Mai.
“When we are married, I promise to treat you with so much respect that it’s sickening. I will respect your every action, your every word, your every decision. To you I will kneel, I will obey, I will enact. For you I will shed blood and break bone if that is what it takes.”
A jolt went through Sona, but it wasn’t from his lips nibbling her earlobe. It was his words and their sincerity. It was the realization that he meant them. Alpha Taos Redbone promised *her*, of all werewolves who existed at the moment, that he would follow her every whim. He was promising his *life* to her.
Her legs tightened around his waist and she tilted her head to the side. *Not even Conri made a promise like this. We were mates; it was a given.*
It wasn’t any sort of sexual promise. It was infinitely more.
“I will keep you safe from every enemy,” he murmured, arms now holding her upper back so she could lean away from him—to let him trail fanged kisses down her neck, across her collarbone, toward her breasts. “I will protect every heartbeat.”
Her outfit, while offering most of her chest to be kissed on, prevented Taos from exploring below her breastbone. He growled in disapproval. It made her feel the intense need to strip herself of it. But she still wanted to take her time in baring her body to him, wanted to make it slow and special in a place where she could plant her feet on solid ground. A glowing cave was undoubtedly romantic, but this wasn’t where she wanted to make love to Taos for the first time.
Oh gods. *Did I just admit that I want to fuck Taos Redbone*?
The pulsing in her core… It was faint.
When he made the move, Sona would deny him. But the kissing? That was fine. Just not too far down.
“Not yet,” she whispered. That did not make him happy, but she said, “Remember the promise you just made?”
He grumbled into her chest, resting his forehead against her chest. “Damn my sensibility. Sona…”
“Taos…” Her mind, addled with many thoughts at once so that they traveled faster than she could process, flitted through the events of the past week, weaving through her perception of him and his pack, of his forefathers’ histories...everything that influenced every moment until this one. She considered her own past, present, and future and all the futures entangled with hers. She thoughts about cause and effect, action and consequence.
She curled her fingers in his hair, opening her eyes and resting her cheek on his head. This all felt too natural, as if they’d done this before…
Something changed between them. Something fast and sneaky that she hadn’t even realized it. She marveled at the shift that happened within seconds, like a clam cracking open and revealing a pearl inside.
But she had to be reasonable. “Taos…you…”
“Everything about me,” he said, kisses no longer fanged, “is tainted. Everything you don’t know is something that would make you run far away from me. I’m a monster, yes. I won’t deny it. I won’t deny the things I’ve said and done. But…”
Taos lifted his head to meet her gaze. And godsdamnit, his eyes had changed. They’d lost their sharp glint, their mischief, to be replaced with something stripped and raw. His expression was unbearable—it almost cracked her heart open, too.
And his voice…strained, as if fighting back tears. The Alpha of the Redbone pack—massive, savage, intelligent, a heart and soul guarded by bloodied bone as hard as stone—brought to sheer humility.
“I am not unloveable. That is my promise. To do everything in my power to make you love me the way I—”
Sona covered Taos’ mouth with her palm. Her arm was shaking violently. “Don’t say that,” she said softly. “Don’t. You can’t.”
“Can’t what?” he managed to mumble. He tried to escape her hand, but his arms were still supporting her. Even when he licked her, Sona refused to let him speak. “Sona, please.”
“No.” She was shaking her head. “No. Let me go.”
His arms tightened, pressing her closer. “No. Take your damn hand off my face, Sona.”
She felt like a pup resisting a parent’s command. “No. If I do… If I do, you’ll—”
Suddenly Taos twisted around and hoisted her body on the wet stone, setting her down hard. Shock made her release him altogether. He snatched her wrists and pinned them to her sides. For once they were at eye level with one another.
“What *will* I do, Sona?” he challenged.
She wriggled to free herself weakly. “Those last two words. You can’t say them.”
“Yet?”
She chewed the inside of her cheek. *Who knew what the future, even the near one, held*. “Yet.”
“You think I’m an idiot.”
“No. Just…we don’t know each other, Taos. Yet.”
“Then shall I make that promise too?” he asked in a tone that had the potential to be snarky but was dead-serious. “To learn you, and you learn me?”
“I…I would prefer that.”
Taos dipped his head. “I promise to move at your pace then, Mistress Mai. It’s…hard to restrain myself around beautiful females.”
“Because you’ve taken so many to bed so easily,” she added, trying to diffuse the air between them with humor.
He snorted, taking the bait just as easily. “And you not knowing the best you can be offered. Stay right here. I have to bring you something.”
Taos hoisted himself out of the pool with a waterfall storming off his body. Sona watched him pad toward the tunnel. “Wait, you’re leaving me alone—”
“Just for a moment!” he called, vanishing into the darkness.
Sona dropped her face in her hands, elbows on her thighs. “I’m so in over my head,” she groaned.
“Yes,” growled a voice, “you are.”
Arms wrapped around her waist and neck, wrenching her to standing, locking her body against a large, muscled one. His scent hit her nose and she tried to swear, but Edom had her in a chokehold.
“If you want to see your family alive, bitch, you’ll cooperate.”