The Mountain Ch. 06

#

Warder watched Cenia depart, keenly aware of his mate taking in every detail of their interaction. He wondered what had been said before he had found them. Where Grace was calculating and careful, Cenia was almost without guile. She was friendly and talkative. Her sweet demeanor had an edge--the sharpness that came from deliberately being everything her mother was not. That edge was the reason Warder had taken her on in his regiment when she had announced that she would be a warrior.

Later, he would demand a full accounting of the conversation. He had made a conscious decision to keep Lucy ignorant of the inner workings of the mountain. Eventually, it would not be possible. He knew she was angry with him for keeping her in the dark, for demanding her obedience. But he was protecting her. She wasn't ready to know the truth of their existence, particularly now, when it seemed things were more precarious than they had ever been.

"Can I have my clothes back?" Lucy's voice broke into his thoughts. He had taken her clothes with him when he left her to take her bath to discourage her from wandering. "I'm freezing."

"I am unlikely to let you freeze," said Warder. He stepped towards her, wondering if she would hold her ground. She clutched her towel more tightly around her body and glared at him. Her wet hair hung like silk around her shoulders, curling as it dried. She was beautiful, but the Alpha in him was displeased. She smelled like soap. Clean. Empty. She should smell like him. Marked.

The bite marks at her wrist and her nape were healing. He could show her how pleasurable it could be to replace them.

"I'm ready to leave," said Lucy. She stood her ground still, but she only pretending to look at him, focusing just past his shoulder. "Please."

"You give me the impression that you have no desire for me when you are not in heat," said Warder softly.

"That would be a correct impression."

"It's odd," said Warder. "I have never been mated before, but those who are speak of it freely. And from everything I've heard, the craving that an alpha and their mate have for one another doesn't fade with the fluctuation of their cycles." He took another step closer to her. Slowly, he raised his hands and tangled his fingers in her wet hair. "They describe something much different. Something constant that sounds very hard to ignore."

He unwound the towel from her shoulders and tossed it away. Lucy backed towards the sink.

"I don't want to," said Lucy. "I don't want you. Maybe I'm different."

"Hmm," said Warder. Casually, he placed his hands on either side of her, resting them on the vanity so that she was trapped.

"I didn't want to be mated to you. So I don't feel--that way."

"No," said Warder. "But if you did, it wouldn't change anything between us. You would still be a prisoner. You could still hate me. But if you did feel any desire--" He trailed off and took a small step away. As he did, his hand brushed against her skin as if by accident and Lucy shuddered.

His nearness had made her heart pound. He was offering her an out. A way to reach for him, now, when he was so close and warm and strong and still be able to tell him that she hated him. That their closeness was only because he had forced himself on her and made her his mate.

"I don't want you," she said. "I want to go home."

His hand went between her legs, feeling the wetness there. "You don't," he said, his voice thick. He leaned in and gently pressed his lips to the scar on her neck. The touch was like a shock of lightning directly to her core and she almost came against his hand.

"No!" Lucy pushed him away and Warder let her. After a few, tense moments, he left the room, returning a moment later with her clothes and commanding her to dress quickly.

Lucy felt his absence even as he stood not six feet away, watching her carefully, clinically as she dressed. She did not want him. She did not want to want him. He was her captor. He was a monster.

#

Instead of returning to his rooms, Warder brought Lucy to a part of the mountain that she had never seen before. The sound of rushing water was stronger here, almost like a waterfall in the distance. The air smelled of salt, reminding her of the ocean. She longed to swim in the ocean again. If she did--no, when she did, she would bob for hours on the waves, letting them carry her up and down, up and down, with no purpose, no direction.

When Warder set her down, the first thing Lucy noticed was that she was warm. The stone walls around them were the same color as everywhere else, but here, they let off steam instead of dust and the room was filled with delightfully humid air.

The second thing she noticed was the sound of children's voices.

Warder led her past what must have been a guard post--two warriors stood at attention and he nodded to them, keeping himself between the warriors and his mate as they passed. The entered another room and Lucy saw where the sounds of children had been coming from. The room was full of children, babies to around age five or six. There were toys strewn here and there on the stone floor and even a stone slide carved into one wall. In the center of the room, a small group of people were gathered around a counter talking, several holding babies on their hips.

"What is this?"

"The nursery," said Warder.

"Why are we here?" asked Lucy warily.

"It's one of the safest places in the compound," said Warder. "I have other places to be today."

A blonde woman came forward, holding a cherubic-looking toddler. Behind her, the other people--mostly women, but a handful of men--stared at Warder and Lucy, a few of them whispering behind their hands.

"Warder," the blonde said. She stood on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek. "Welcome. And Lucy." She smiled at Lucy. "I understand you will spend the day with us."

"Warder, I don't need a babysitter," said Lucy when the woman stepped away to let them say goodbye to each other in private. "I'm an adult. Let me go somewhere and meet people under normal conditions."

Warder frowned. "This is normal. And this is where you will spend your time when you care for our child."

"I'm not pregnant," said Lucy.

"I know," said Warder. "I will keep trying."

Before Lucy could argue, Warder left.

The blonde woman approached her again. "I'm Livia," she said. "It's lovely to meet you. You're so lucky to be mated to Warder," said Livia. "He is a strong warrior."

"I don't want to be his mate," said Lucy. The normal, calm way that the women welcomed her made Lucy feel panicky. She wasn't supposed to be here. She wasn't one of them.

"Warder is a handsome man. And a great warrior," the woman offered, as if this might tempt Lucy to be friendly. Lucy frowned.

"I don't want him," said Lucy. "I don't like him. He brought me here against my will."

Livia looked upset. She turned to her neighbors for help, but the people around her all seemed suddenly to be engrossed in the care of various children, wandering around the room and keeping their distance. She drifted away without further comment when a small, blonde girl came and tugged on her arm, leaving Lucy alone.

It was warm enough in the room that Lucy eventually had to take off Warder's jacket. She sat on it instead, aware that the gesture might make her look possessive but determined that none of the children who seemed to be into everything would mess with it and discover the antenna hidden in the lining.

Watching the easy way that the mountain people were with each other and hearing the cries and laughter of the children, Lucy felt incredibly lonely.

They are party to your captivity, she reminded herself. They are mountain people. You're an islander.

The longer Warder was gone, the more miserable she felt. Miserable because she was trapped. And miserable because she longed for Warder despite herself. She felt his absence keenly. It was, she realized, very much like the sickness whose specter had hung over so much of her life. When Warder was away, she felt as she had all those lonely times she had pretended to be well while her body felt as if it were being torn apart from the inside out.

She felt something brush against her knee and almost cried out. A small boy stood in front of her, holding out a wooden toy shaped like a dragon.

"It's broken."

He spoke in English, which surprised Lucy. The other children didn't seem to know any English. Perhaps they were too young. This boy looked to be about five or six, one of the oldest children in the room.

Lucy looked up at the other adults, expecting one of them to claim the boy. Every other time a child had approached her, its parent had quickly intervened, trying to manage the interaction and inevitably spiriting the child away when Lucy refused to engage. But no one moved.

Lucy felt a sudden surge of protectiveness towards the child who seemed to be without help from his caretakers. She reached out and took the toy from the boy's hand, setting it in her lap and examining it carefully for damage. The toy had metal wings that were supposed to open, but they were stuck shut because one of them had been bent. Carefully, she pressed on the bent wing, hoping to straighten it enough that the toy would function. To her dismay, a small piece of the wing broke off in her hand at the same time that the wings sprung out of the body of the toy.

Seemingly unaware of the damage, the boy looked delighted to see the toy mostly back to normal.

"Want to see?" he asked her. His English was clear with only a slight accent, but his sentences were short. Lucy couldn't decide if this was a function of his age or if he was uncertain of the words to string together longer sentences.

"See what?" she asked.

"My toys," said the boy, as if she were acting a bit stupid.

Lucy glanced around and shrugged. "Sure." She slipped carefully from her seat, dragging Warder's heavy jacket with her like a security blanket.

"Lucy--" it was Livia.

"What?" she said.

"Well--" said Livia, suddenly uncertain. "Do not take too much of her time, Elias," the woman said finally. "She is a guest."

Elias nodded seriously and reached for Lucy's hand. "Come."

He led her to a place where the stone wall sloped near to the ground, creating an alcove with oddly shaped warrens and divots in the wall. Taking advantage of the protected space, the boy had built a small city. It was, to Lucy's untrained eye, a marvel of planning. She had expected child's play and more broken toys. Instead, she saw intricately designed streets with bridges and tunnels and even--

"Is that a working light?"

The boy nodded and picked it up to show her the tiny mechanism inside. Lucy wondered if it worked the same way as the mysterious lights illuminating the mountain tunnels. The boy pointed to different streets, explaining their names. One of the larger divots in the wall was his own great hall and another was what he called the "warrior's rooms." She realized now that his English really was remarkable, almost native. He rarely had to stop and think of a word, even as he described "tunnels" and "byways" through his intricate little kingdom.

"What does the dragon do?" she asked him.

"Flies," say the boy. He demonstrated, holding the toy over the city. "Sometimes, he breaks things."

For now, the dragon was parked inside a small alcove in the wall that served as his cave. Lucy was enlisted to help assemble a tiny train track running through the outskirts of town.

#

Warder led his regiment on drills, watching like a hawk for any error. Errors meant laps, particularly uncomfortable in the heat on the side of the mountain closest to the hot spring. These particular training grounds were also closest to where he had left his mate, but he allowed himself to believe that her proximity was incidental. He had been too often away from his post and the lack of training showed.

Two men in full uniform finished a set. Warder watched as they used towels to wipe the sweat from their brows and drank deeply from their canteens.

"Again," he said. "It was too slow."

The soldiers looked at him in disbelief, but did not argue. They were too well-trained to question their commander.

It was Rader who spoke, taking advantage of his position as second-in-command. "They've had a rough go of it today, Warder."

"They grow soft," said Warder. "They believe they are strong only because it has been so long since they have had to fight."

There was a short silence, punctuated only by the heavy breathing of the soldiers running in the cavern.

"You are irritable away from your mate."

"You forget your place," Warder growled.

Rader laughed. Cenia, waiting for her turn to run, looked up, startled at the sound. Warder glared at Rader for daring to speak so freely where his soldiers could hear.

Rader declined to notice. "It is normal," he insisted, almost grinning. "It is good that you want to be with her."

"What I want is to keep her safe. And that starts with protecting this mountain."

"Hadren knows of her already. Without that, he would never have brought Ysabel to the Great Hall."

"I saw it," said Warder. "He meant only to challenge me, but that display made everyone uneasy. It is a reminder of the cost of our existence."

"Perhaps, now that you are mated--"

"Do not suggest it," Warder growled.

This time, the silence was uneasy. Rader was permitted many things, but even he could go too far. Still, he felt that what he said next needed to be said.

"What happened to Lyric was tragic,' said Rader, "but it is no guarantee that anyone else will share her fate."

Warder growled a warning.

"I speak of strategy," said Rader, holding up his hands in a conciliatory gesture. "Safety. War. All things germane to my position."

"My mate is separate from those things."

"You know that isn't true."

At that, Rader called out to the soldiers, joining them as they ran. Running away from his commander in the guise of supporting the tired troops. His prodding of Warder had done them no favors. He was likely to run them all into the ground while he turned over what had been said.

#

In the end, the soldiers received a reprieve within the hour. Warder found that he did not wish to be away from Lucy any longer. He assigned the men in small groups to extra patrols, allowing for a rotating dinner hour. There were times when he deliberately "forgot" to make this provision, and the warriors were grateful for his leniency.

Warder was hungry for something else. He wanted Lucy. He wanted to be inside her, to feel her pulsing around his cock while she called out his name. He nearly ran to the nursery, tempering his pace only as he approached the guard's station. He would not appear overeager.

Inside the nursery, Livia and the others were gathered around a table, preparing food for the children. Several of the babes were sleeping now in bassinets fastened to the rock. A servant stood by, rocking them gently. He looked for Lucy's dark head in the crowd.

She was not there.

"Where is Lucy?" His stride easily ate up the space between them.

Livia swallowed nervously. "She is well, Warder."

"Where?"

"With Elias," said Livia, looking down at her shoes.

Warder's gaze cut to the rest of the group, staring at him silent and open-mouthed. He led Livia away. "You orchestrated this?" he said, his voice low.

"No." Livia placed her hand on his arm. When he looked at it in distaste, she quickly took it away. "Elias sought her out. He is only a child."

"He is old enough to know better," said Warder. He left Livia standing there, heading straight for Elias's city.

Despite his anger, he stopped short when he turned the corner and found them together. Elias's small, blonde head was tilted towards Lucy's dark one as they both examined the same section of toy train track. Elias was pointing something out, chattering away and Lucy nodded, smiling at him as she listened. For a moment, he regretted breaking them apart. He could tell that his mate was content, comforted by the child's easy way of sharing his little world. But it couldn't he helped. It could not be permitted.

"Elias," he said. "Say goodbye."

Elias's head snapped up, narrowly missing Lucy's chin. Lucy turned to look at him as well and he saw fear in her eyes, likely brought on by his sharp tone. She shrank back as he moved closer, stooping where the ceiling sloped. The reaction angered him, but right now, he was focused on Elias. The boy was frowning at him.

"We are building," he said. "We are not done."

"You are," said Warder.

He reached out and pulled Lucy to her feet, She stumbled at the suddenness and kicked over a small building, watching in dismay as it shattered to pieces on the tiny streets below.

"I'm sorry, Elias," she said. She turned on Warder. "He is only a little boy."

"He is six."

"Exactly," said Lucy, exasperated. "What's wrong with you?"

"Goodnight, Lucy," said Elias softly, looking stoically at the ruined building. "Do not worry. I will fix it."

#

Warder brought her to a different room. Lucy thought that the bed was the same, but it was placed differently--the room was larger. There was even a stone wall jutting out into the space that created a separate dining room and a bedroom. The rugs on the floor were new and there was a small kitchen area with a counter and a sink.

"Where are we?"

"My rooms," said Warder.

"This is different."

"We are mated now. My rooms reflect that status."

Warder permitted her to slip away from him and she inspected the space. She slipped into the small bathroom and turned the taps. After a short wait, the water actually flowed hot. She realized then what was truly different about the room.

"It's warm in here," she said, emerging from the bathroom. "Sort of like the nursery."

"Yes," said Warder. "I requested these rooms because as a former islander, you are unused to the climate inside the mountain. You will be more comfortable here."

Lucy didn't like being referred to as a former islander. Aware that Warder seemed to expect some acknowledgement of the gesture, she changed the subject.

"Why did you treat Elias that way?"

Warder, focused on reorganizing his work area in the new space, ignored her. But Lucy knew that he was unsettled. She could feel it.

"Warder?"

"I do not wish to speak of it."

"I want to know."

"Elias was my son."

"What do you mean was? Who is his mother?"

"His mother is dead."

"Even if his mother is dead, he is still your son. You treat your own child like that?" She did look at him now, accusation in her eyes. "You were cruel to him."

"It does him no favors for me to pay him particular attention. If anything, it would make him a target," said Warder. "Our children take their status from their mother. Elias's mother is dead, so he will never be of high status among our people."

"How can you stand to abandon your own child?" Lucy felt sorry for thoughtful, serious Elias. To lose his mother and then to be abandoned by his father was unthinkable. "What happened to Elias's mother?"

"She was murdered," said Warder. "As a consequence of her connection to me."

To hear Warder speak so matter-of-factly of murder made her blood run cold. "You were mated?"

"No," said Warder. "Lyric was not an omega."

The news that Warder's power made his mate a likely target was unwelcome.

Warder seemed to read her mind. "You will be safe," said Warder. "I was young then. Now, even Hadren cannot touch me."

"Hadren killed Elias's mother?"

"I will protect you," he said.

"If you had not taken me, I would be safe."

"Yes," agreed Warder. "As safe as any islander."

She wondered if the choice of an islander had been deliberate on Warder's part. Despite his talk of protecting her, the loss of an islander might mean less to him than the loss of one of his own. The thought made her feel oddly desolate, She turned on her side away from him.