The Druid Series 9: Baird (A Druid Novel) (10 page)

She shakes her head. “I am tired. I have done what I must to stay alive. Just now— as before.” She meets his gaze, her gold one more sad and wise than it was two days ago.

“Baird,” Carrig says in a low voice, “this does not help. Let us recoup what we can and seek shelter.”

Siana's eyes close

“She sleeps,” the Faction says quietly.

Baird scrubs his face. Exhaustion has taken hold.

“All right.” Baird turns to Carrig.

“
I have already scented a safe shelter—near a spring,” Carrig says.

Baird takes in Siana's nakedness. “What of clothing?”

Carrig rifles through the rucksacks of the Faction until he finds suitable breeches and a blouse. Undergarments cannot be found.

They walk away.

The Faction glances at Baird. “I am Titus.”

“
Baird.” He tosses his chin toward Carrig and the introductions stall.

Carrig is more amiable than Baird. “What blood are you?”

Titus moves swiftly beside them though he carries Siana’s dead weight. “I am blood of the demonic, and also Exotic.”

“
Obviously vampire,” Carrig replies.

“
Aye, I am, though I have enough Exotic blood to shadow skip.”

Baird frowns.

“Baird,” Carrig says, but Baird sprints ahead.

He smells the wetness from the hot spring, musty yet sweet. Baird zeroes in on it as he runs, and Titus follows.

They arrive at the water's edge, and all of them slip off their clothes.

Carrig nudges the edge of his rucksack open and plucks out soap.

Siana moans, flopping an elegant arm over her eyes.

She gasps as hot water slides over her body. Every scratch, wound, and piece of filth responds with a biting sting.

“What?” Siana asks, her voice thick.

“
We are bathing then seeking shelter nearby,” Carrig explains.

Baird takes Siana from Titus, and he resists.

Their eyes lock.

“
I will not harm the Druid queen, Faction,” Baird says.

Siana holds an arm around Titus's waist as she half floats in the warm water. “He does not believe you.” She looks up at Titus through half-closed lids.

Carrig snorts, and Baird frowns.

Her naked shoulders lift. “What assurance does he have, based on your rabid behavior?”

Baird casts his eyes to the ground, properly shamed.

When he lifts them, he is more himself. “I wish to have some time to speak alone with you.”

“Ah,” Siana says, “you need but ask. We're obviously on intimate terms.”

She says her words with mirth. They are barbs sinking into his flesh, and he deserves it.

Siana lets herself be pulled through the water by Baird.

Something tight and hard eases within Baird's chest when she is beside him.

He kisses the top of her head, wrapping her tightly against himself.

They float away while the other men clean. Only the sounds of splashing can be heard.

Baird turns to Siana. “I am so sorry. I have handled every encounter with you in the worst way.”

“
That is true.”

“
You were a virgin when I accused you of being a whore.”

She nods, and he goes on.

“I allowed Kael to take you first, thinking you were experienced.” His eyes lift to hers. “Only to find he stole your innocence from underneath my nose.” He sighs, and she treads water, listening.

“
Then I could not see straight with Kael.”

“
Now he is gone,” Siana says.

Baird exhales in a rush. “Is it true?”

Siana hides her expression. “Is what true?”

“
Is it true that you are with child... from two days prior?”

Her stillness is absolute, then Siana nods.

Baird sucks in a breath. He feels as though he is drowning though he is above water. “Is it mine?”

Siana hesitates before nodding a second time.

Baird's shoulders drop in relief.

Siana's arms bear circles where his hands gripped her. His eyes snap to hers.

“I have also been impregnated by Titus of the Faction,” she says.

He feels sucker-punched. “Impossible,” Baird whispers in denial.

“I think many things were made possible when you and Kael took me upon the Sacred Stone.”

“
You must get pregnant at one sitting.”

“
No.” Her eyes glitter with wetness. “My body chooses what seed it wishes. I am ripe even now, if the male be the choosing of my womb.”

Baird thinks. “You are Druid queen.”

Siana nods.

“
I cannot bear to share you with any more men, Siana.”

It is Siana's turn to be silent.

Finally she says, “It is not my choice, but that of my body. Something is happening that is beyond my control. The Faction have taken my sister Druids, and all you can do is worry over who might fuck me next? It was you and Kael who took me as a virgin upon the Sacred Stone and opened my womb for breeding. I do not know how long or with whom, may spill their seed inside me. However, this is my destiny as Druid queen and Exotic. To bear daywalkers. To perpetuate the species.”

I hate it.
“I cannot deny it.”

Siana rises from the water, the soap used to clean her body sliding off into the heated water.

Baird feels his cock grow hard.

Carrig and Titus swim to where they are, and Baird is helpless to hide his arousal.

“What is wrong?” Carrig asks, looking between them.

Baird face grows hot. “Kael and I have opened Siana's womb for a time of ripeness. She might get pregnant with who and what her body chooses.”

Carrig bursts out laughing. “Perfect.”

“
I would love to hit you, friend.”

Carrig smiles. “You do not want to share the Druid queen, but she is our last best hope. I know Imogen will not mind if I partake.”

“Carrig!” Baird shouts.

Carrig shakes his head, and his glacial eyes hold humor. “It is up to Siana. The more males she takes within her, the better our chances.”

Siana swims to Carrig.

Baird watches, fuming and knowing Carrig’s logic is sound. Baird turns away as Carrig places Siana on the shore and kisses her, stroking her damp flesh.

When Baird hears what happens next, he slices through the water, diving and swimming to the far shore where the sounds are muffled.

Siana

Siana feels calm. Though Baird has taken of her body twice, he does not own her.

He has been used for much more than a failsafe in her rescue. The first rut with Kael had been a life-or-death maneuver.

Baird mistakenly assumed Siana was an experienced breeder he could use and save simultaneously. In reality, Siana's innocence was sacrificed on that stone. She would be a mother and breeder.

Carrig was right. The more males she took into her body, the better their chances as Druids.

“Do not think, Siana,” Carrig says between kisses and Siana comes back to herself.

She is a Druid breeder, but also a warrior who now finds herself in a head space that is one part practical and one part vertigo.

Hours ago, Siana did not know the male body in this intimate exchange.

In a matter of hours, she had fucked Kael, Baird, Titus and now it would be Carrig.

Siana is lucky to be with Carrig instead of Quinn. His tri-hole cock with its hammer head would be too much.

“
What of Imogen?” she asks.

Carrig dips his head to her breasts, taking the left and squeezing it, sucking the nipple deeply. He replies around his laving of the soft flesh, “She wishes only the very best for our race. She makes sacrifices.”

Siana gets wet though thoughts of Imogen crowd her head. Guilt and betrayal war inside her.

Carrig sweeps it away as his knees spread her own. “Let me take you, Siana.”

Eyes like hardened ice gaze into her own.

Since Kael and Baird took her upon the stone, it seems it is all she can do to not fuck any vampire with a dick.

Siana understands her biological directive. The window of her womb's openness is but a short time.

She nods, and Carrig presses against her entrance, groaning at her perfect ripeness.

Siana grabs her knees, pressing them alongside her ears and Carrig rocks more deeply.

His hands find her shoulders and he grinds against her.

“Siana,” he groans, sinking fangs into her neck.

She comes around him as he takes her blood.

Each pulse pushes him more deeply inside her, and his seed is drawn out. Carrig cries out, his balls sinking inside Siana.

Her body does the work for her, spreading and sucking his length, milking him for all he is worth.

Siana opens her eyes, and Titus is there.

His cock is bare in his hand. He moves his hand along the length, and Siana knows what he needs. Her mouth opens.

Titus moves into a push-up position alongside her head and gives a hoarse shout as Siana guides his prick into her mouth. He fills her with his cum.

Titusʼs hips pump, and Siana convulsively swallows as Carrig pours more of his seed inside her.

“Move,” Baird says in a gruff voice.

Titus and Carrig fall away from her.

Siana thinks he will take her body again. Her feelings of what she thought was love flee.

Baird erases the tenderness she thought she had for him.

Instead, Baird lays on Siana. His tears of shame are wet against her. His sadness soaks her and eases something tight within her.

Naked and spent, Siana feels her womb close deeply.

Carrig’s will be the last seed she takes.

Her body has chosen a king through lust and seed.

Which will it be?

*

Siana charges through the trail with the others. She and Baird seem to have come to a truce, though she doesn't understand his tears. He has been nothing but brash, unkind, and insensitive to her from the beginning.

She has been kidnapped twice, lost her virginity, and now is pregnant with a baby from one of four men, only three living.

Siana runs toward more danger in clothes borrowed from males she killed.

It is convoluted.

Baird runs alongside her, his big body buffeting hers as they blur toward where Titus says the stronghold of the Faction lay.

Baird does not trust him, but Siana does. If Titus wished her dead, he could have done it before. Now he understands she might be pregnant with his child.

Faction or no, no vampire on the earth would not kill themselves twice for a female who bares their young. It is too rare to afford to bring emotion, tradition, or culture into the mix of thinking.

Titus, with his demonic lineage of red eyes and Exotic talent of shadow travel, is ahead several paces.

When he slows, they do as well and enter a deeper part of the woods. Titus turns to Siana, looks at Baird, seems to think about what to say, and then appears to think better of it.

“
Speak,” Baird says, folding his arms over his heaving chest.

Titus glances at Siana. Taking her hand, he pulls her close, and Siana admits, though she has feelings for Baird, Titus’s tenderness is a balm on her wounded psyche.

“She must rest before we go farther. The Faction will have guards aplenty.” His red eyes appear to bleed as he gazes at Baird.

“
Baird, you know I think we should return to the Reaper stronghold and get reinforcements,” Carrig says.

“
I do,” Baird says then looks at Siana.

She is tired of their concern. “I am but two days gone with child, not an invalid. In the event anyone cares.”

Titus kisses her temple. “We do. It is not safe for you to enter the compound of Faction.”

“
What can we do?” Siana pulls away from Titus. “My Druid sisters languish under the brutal care of the Faction while the males of my species treat me as though I am made of glass.”

Baird spreads his arms. “I am sorry—I do think you are finally aware of your need for protection.”

Siana frowns. “I am. Do not worsen it with this ridiculous guarding.”

“
Siana,” Carrig says, “there is only so much protection your condition affords you. The Faction might harm even a pregnant female of our kind.”

Titus shakes his head. “It would be unlikely.”