"I have to take watch." He nuzzled the words against the warm spot behind her ear and smirked when she reached up to bat light fingers at his face.
It had been only an hour, maybe, with his large body curled and curved tight around her. DG gave off a grunting noise of disagreement and shifted, rolling into him so that she could forcibly wedge her thigh between his. She smirked into the way he grunted and leaned his shoulders back until she'd gotten comfortable against his warm chest before wrapping around her again.
"I mean it, Princess." This time the words pressed her forehead just before a couple chaste kisses. "It's my turn."
She growled another noise at him and lifted her head, arching her upper body so that she could reach his mouth with her own. Wyatt laid back slightly as she shut him up with a slow and teasing kiss, all breath and taunting nips while she stretched out over his chest. He jerked the duster up over her hips and back before wrapping his arms tight around her shoulders, letting her body rest full onto his chest. DG leaned her chin against his collarbone, looking up from under dark eyelashes, a pout pursing her lips out. Her hair was mussed and wild around her head and he used gentle fingers to rub through the waves.
"You can't leave." She grumbled. "I'm cold."
"Raw left some blankets." He rubbed his lips on her forehead. "Come on."
"No." she spread her body out full over his chest so that when she tipped her head down he could breathe in the smell of her hair.
Cain rolled his eyes and lifted her up a measure off his chest, forcing her to lay back with a glare as he crawled out from under the warm spread of her body. It was cool in the uninsulated tent and he felt his shoulders reflexively tighten against the chill. DG reached off the side of the cot and pinched his hip as he tried to move away, a laugh bubbling off her lips when he slapped at her fingers.
"You'll come back, right?" she asked, letting her head lag to the side so that she could watch him start drawing his clothes back on.
Once his pants were buckled on his hips he reached for the hide blanket that their friend had left him and laid it out over her, leaning down over her, "I'll be back."
DG let her palm flatten against his chest, breathing in slowly as she felt and heard his heartbeat. It was rhythmic, steady, true. He wasn't lying. She could hear faith and honesty in his voice. It was solid and thrummed through his vocal chords in a way that she hadn't necessarily noticed before. Her fingertips slid down his stomach and then she tucked under the blanket, curling over to watch as he finished getting dressed.
"Be nice to Jonah." She spoke softly, "He deserves a little trust."
"What did I tell you about trusting people in the O.Z.?" he cocked a blank glance over her as he wincingly drew his shirt over the furrowed marks she'd left on his back.
DG frowned at his sudden return to pessimism, "I trust you. I trust my family. Glitch and Raw."
Cain sighed over her and went quiet, watching her as he buttoned his shirt closed. She was watching him from a curled up position, her hair spread wide and wild while tucked under his jacket and the blanket. He felt a smile perk his lips when he realized he wasn't getting the duster back while he was on watch. He nodded agreement with the words she had spoken but didn't respond, still cautious when it came to the other man.
Had it just been him, had he been alone, maybe he would have been more willing to trust.
Now it was Wyatt Cain, Captain of the Royal Guard, bodyguard to a couple heiresses.
It left him unsettled.
Too unsettled to trust a man that he hadn't worked with in over a decade.
"I'll be nice." He nodded and tugged his vest on. "Get some sleep while I'm gone."
"Yes, sir." She nodded and cuddled down tighter, her body curling up tight.
"DG…" he wasn't sure why he said her name. He'd just wanted to.
"You promised to come back." She mumbled from beneath the blanket.
Cain just nodded with a smirk and looped up the holster from the floor, checking the pistol out of habit, "It seems that I've promised you a great many things already, Princess."
He cocked a smirk at the knowing way the older man was shaking his head and clearing a noise from deep in his throat. He couldn't help the way it fleshed into a full blown grin, eyes meeting Jonah's darker ones in silence. Hays coughed out a laughed and stowed his weapon, head shaking back and forth in quiet amusement. Wyatt calmed the smile and let his weight center onto one side of his body, drawing the pistol and letting it palm comfortably in his hand.
"Anything happen?"
"Naw." Jonah grinned, "Anything fun happen with you?"
He could feel his ears warming under his hat and used his free hand to tug it lower. "Shut up, Hays."
"Tell Jonesy all about it." The Tin Man cuffed him against the arm as he started to walk away, "On second thought…don't. The mental image is horrifying."
"S'cuse me?" Wyatt cocked his head back as Hays headed toward another tent.
"Poor girl." The brunette just shook his head as he sleepily ambled away muttering. "Probably hadda close her eyes grit her teeth just to get through it."
"Good night, Jonah." He said gently, remembering the promise he'd made.
"She's too pretty for you, Cain. Too sweet too." The older man threw a friendly hand back up as he tugged open the flap of the tent and eyed the inside before ducking into darkness.
Wyatt just shook his head and turned back out toward the trees, "That she is."
He tracked her moments after she'd left the safety of one of the central huts, a blanket wrapped warmly over her shoulders and her long dark hair loosened over it. The longer she lived away from the witch's control, the easier it was to see that she was DG's sister and Lavender's daughter. The three women were just similar enough in coloring and bone structure that it gave them away. And their voices…there was a tone that all three of them liked to use that rang the Gale bell in his head. It was a wonder that they still shared it considering how long they had lived apart.
"Princess." He nodded as Az stepped nearer to him, letting his glance sweep back out toward the trees. "You should be getting some rest. We still have a day's ride to Finaqua after the re-enforcements arrive."
"I can't sleep." She shook her head with a nervous smile, face lifting so that she could search the sky past the leaves. "What do you think Zero will do?"
"I think he'll wait until we're within a few miles of the maze and assume that we're feeling comfortable." Cain shrugged after he'd said it, "But then I never assumed he would come after you directly, either. At least not the way he did."
"He's losing balance." Azkadellia studied the stars a few moments before letting her jaw angle back down, a soft smile on her lips as she stepped closer for protective comfort. "He never was strong enough to contain his own brand of evil. He had to carry it out for others. Then guilt wasn't an issue."
"He was only doing what he was told." Cain nodded as he watched the leaves twitch in the chilled breeze.
"And now he's unstable." She agreed quietly. "Guilt may no longer be a factor."
He tucked his shoulders tight and clenched the muscles in his arms, feeling the cool weather start to seep past the cotton of his shirt sleeves. He rolled his shoulders and briefly smirked into the flush of heat that rose where DG had scraped her nails against skin. His breathing settled at the memory and when he looked to the side he caught the way Az was staring at him with a knowing, but amused, look on her face.
"Princess - "
"Az is fine." She interrupted, the smile growing wider on her lips. "In general you tend to use that title more as an… affectionate term."
Wyatt shook his eyes away from her with a reflexive grin. "How much do you know?"
"I surmised plenty but my sister isn't all that adept at blocking me from her emotions… especially when she's happy."
"So you - "
Az lifted a slim fingered hand between them, "On the contrary, Mr Cain, I know when to block her."
"Bless you."
She laughed between them and nodded, gazing back out toward the trees. "She'll learn quickly. She wasn't old enough when they sent her away."
He gazed back at the sadness that rounded out her voice. "You should take your mother's place, Az. When the time comes…You understand the Zone. You know these people. The history. You - "
"I won't leave her side but… I will always be the witch." Her eyes were dark but watery in the shadows. "Even the younger generations… They believe what they can see and what they see is a witch."
"I don't." he answered gently.
"Not always." Az allowed but then just stared at him, "But sometimes you do."
He opened his mouth to argue but she shook it off, "You flinch when she puts her hand in mine."
The token tone she'd used was familiar, utterly honest, and it paled him. "She's my priority."
"As she should be." Az forced a smile and nodded, tightening the blanket against her shoulders before turning to head back. "She's the next Queen."
"Az - "
"The emerald won't support a weak royal line, Mr Cain." Her voice was once again thick with the sound of her mother. "DG is its most logical choice. Besides… I'd rather have a life to live than a country to rule. Power tastes bitter when it rots."
He watched her step away from him with shoulders slackened, his voice following her softly, "Good night."
"Good night, Captain."
It did worry him a bit that she didn't wake when he entered the tent again. She should have been more aware, more tuned to her surroundings. She was still too trusting of the Zone and the way it played out around her. Still, it was a sighing comfort to watch her sleep, so still and easy. Wyatt let his head lean to the side, aiming to forget the weary way her father had taken over watch. His eyes followed the way she had tucked both arms up under her head, bare stomach pressed to the cot and hair flooding out reckless over her shoulders and arms. She'd drawn the duster up onto her rib cage but somehow kicked the blanket farther down to settle along her hips.
"DG." He caged his voice low, a subtle warning so that he didn't scare her as he stepped to the side of the cot. "C'mon, Princess."
"Stop waking me up." She muzzed the words out and rubbed her face into her arms as she stretched. "It's not allowed."
He smirked at her response, listening to the way her breathing started to settle back into an easy rhythm. One of his hands dropped down to tease at a curling wave of dark brown while the other undid his holster and vest. She made a pleased noise and turned her cheek against her arm, lidded eyes watching as he moved both hands to undress.
"Now that's allowed." She nodded sleepily. "Applauded even."
"Undressing?" he chuckled.
"Yes, please." She leaned onto her back and he blinked warm into the way her hair crested her shoulder and her breasts came into view.
"I shouldn't." he murmured as he dropped half his clothing and started undoing his belt. "Probably wouldn't be smart to run outta here with dangling bits if there's a firefight."
She laughed full into the words he'd laid over her as he leaned down. DG lifted both hands to catch against his jaw, scrubbing against the fuzz of stubble with long fingers. Her thumb rubbed his bottom lip and she let him kiss it before nipping his teeth against it. He tried to stand full again but stayed when she held him there, the other hand bracing the back of his neck.
"You're calmer than you were." She smiled and finally loosened her fingers.
"To be fair," Cain straightened and nudged off his boots. "There was a bit of excitement before I left."
DG nodded as he finished drawing off his clothes, drawing back the coverings so that he could slide against her. The chill that was radiating off his skin roughed against the warmth she'd finally found and she hissed against it, tightening him to her hips to warm him. Wyatt let her curl into his chest before laying his face into her hair, nervous as to the sudden comfort he found in the way she was pressed into him. The cynicism that still lived somewhere at the base of his brain told him that it wouldn't last past the gates of Finaqua.
DG made a noise of disagreement as he tightened up against her and cuddled farther into his chest, head lifting so that she could look over his face. She shook her head quietly and lifted a hand, fingertips tracing the scar on his eyebrow again. He was watching her with quiet interest and nervous caution.
"That's what I mean." She whispered, avoiding the bright blue of his eyes. "You shut me out."
"You can - "
"You lock everything up and I can't…" she shook her head. "I don't know how to explain it. But I know you're doing it."
"Sorry." He murmured as she looked over his face. "I can't help it."
DG just nodded in quiet acceptance, "You should get some sleep. You've been awake all night."
He watched her face go passively blank and squinted against it, letting his palm curve her hip to rub up her lower back. Fingernails scraped light and teasing along the arch of her spine and she sighed into it, breathing back in through her nose. He aimed both hands up to lay at the sides of her cheeks, palms flat against her face. Wyatt rolled her with a twist of his hips, using his knee to nudge her legs open before settling down between them. She accepted the slow and soft kiss he gave her before he let go and laid his head against her chest, breathing out slowly.
"You all right?" he asked quietly, trying to balance his weight over her.
Her fingers just rubbed at the back of his head in response, voice teasing at him. "Is this so that I can't leave without you knowing?"
He grinned and let his eyes slip closed without responding.
Ahamo stretched his legs out in front of him, wiping against blearily tired eyes with one hand while he sat against the log carved bench. His head lifted again and he listened silently, trying not to noticed how cold it had gotten in the night.
He let his thoughts angle on the man he'd just watched walk away, back to the tent that he could only assume his daughter was asleep in. There was no end to his frustration with the situation but even he had defended the former Tin Man when Lavender had started to mention separating the two of them. It wasn't that he disliked Cain. Truly, he didn't. And maybe he had grown too soft with emotion while alone to share her point of view but… he didn't feel the need to draw a line between the two of them.
It really wasn't his place.
Their daughter had grown into a young woman without them and now they had to deal with the repercussions of the choices they had made.
DG wasn't stupid and she wasn't weak.
He trusted her more than Lavender did…and maybe that was the other thing that DG had gotten from him.
Trust.
He woke to the way she was sliding her hands up and down against his biceps, fingers suddenly urgent and prodding.
"Can I tell you something?" he grumbled faked annoyance into her throat, his body still settled comfortable in the center of her heat.
"Hmm?" DG laid a smirk down over him and let one of her knees lift so that she could hook her calf around his hip.
Wyatt lifted his head and studied the please pink of her cheeks while she rubbed her fingers into the bare flexed muscles of his shoulders. He pressed his hands down beside her, testing the give of the cot before raising his body up, head bending to match the way she was watching him while her other leg hooked up against him.
"You're so wet." He whispered mischievously, eyes sparking clear-ice-blue and he drove his pelvis down against hers. "It's a damn sweet tease, Princess."
DG let her eyes flutter closed, a hand staying gripped against his shoulder while the other aimed between them. Cain caught her fingers with one palm, leaning his weight on the other arm while he drew her fingers up between her breasts. He shook his head, knowing she'd flicked her eyes back open at the way he'd stalled her.
"You - "
"Hush." He growled down over her, eyes slimming while he let go and wiped his hand down against her stomach. "Roll over."
DG flashed him a quick glance and he lowered his lips against hers to soften the gruff breathless quality of his voice. His tongue stroked hers before he pulled away, smiling into the way she was studying his face. He nodded and rubbed warm fingers against her stomach before pushing against her hip. DG rolled slowly onto her stomach, relaxing her arms under her chin as he started driving the heel of his palm warm into her lower back. His fingers followed in a smoother and softer pattern, the calloused skin stroking softness.
She groaned contented into the way he massaged against her back, his mouth already grazing over her shoulders and the back of her neck. Without thinking she shook her hair down so that he had more skin to cover with kisses as his hand sloped down and teased against the backs of her thighs. Wyatt smirked when he saw her bite her bottom lip, head turned to the side and eyes shut. He buried his face in her hair and sucked down the scent of violets, letting it lull him while he teased his fingers into wetness. DG bit down against her lip, hips lifting as he angled his palm up under her for more control.
"Hush." He prodded the word into the back of her head and she realized that she'd been moaning into the thrust and draw of his fingers. "Your father is ten feet away."
She smirked her flushed face down into her arms and let him pull her hips higher, the heat he'd been sharing with her leaving when he shifted behind her and laid out over her lower body. Both his hands settled him low against her and she felt damp fingers push her legs open further, smiling into the way he was already hardening as he slid his length against wetness.
"Don't tease me, Wyatt." The demanding tone in her voice as she angled her head back made him growl and he rubbed his shaft against slickness but didn't slide into her.
DG whimpered, driving her hips back against his hands. "Wyatt."
Cain nodded a smirk and spread up over her back, his weight balancing on one arm while he used the other hand to work himself harder. He let his face into her hair again, nose rubbing through it while he lined himself to her and pushed as slowly as his hips allowed. She moaned louder than he expected and he laughed a shushing noise into the back of her neck.
He angled his jaw against the crook of her neck, trying to level his breathing as he started slow and shallow thrusts into her. DG angled her hips, pressing up with her knees a bit as his hand sloped under her. It passed her stomach and then curved between her thighs so that he could tease against her clit. She dropped a hand to rub his forearm while he worked her, his hips jutting faster in a slowly building rhythm.
"Quietly." He murmured against the shell of her ear. "Quietly, love."
He kept a slow rhythm with his hips but sped his fingers, drawing her tighter against him with a flex of his arm. His mouth laid against her neck, testing her skin with his tongue before sucking against it. Higher than the mark he'd left before, but just as possessive. Wyatt breathed steadily through his nose, nipping at her skin as he sped his fingers more. He heard the way she tried to cut her moaning quiet into her arm and he paused a moment, shifting the arm that held him against her up a bit higher. His mouth left her skin and he rubbed his nose against the side of her head.
"You first, Princess." The smile that breathed alive in his voice flushed her more and she couldn't help the volume of the moan she gave up as he pinched her clit.
DG drove her face down hard, biting against her wrist as his hips started getting faster, his fingers roughing against her. She felt the way he curled tighter around her as she started to shiver back into him, clenching against his length. He drove his face down the line of her spine and kissed her skin, his fingers finally drawing a surprising orgasm off her. Wyatt smiled into her skin when he heard the whimper she dropped against her skin, hips bucking back against him as she came and he slowed his fingers. He kept them pressing her clit, feeling it throb while he jacked his thrusts harder. Head lifted, he buried his face into dark waves of hair and groaned her name. She was pulsing and clenching around him and the sudden flood of wetness around his length was hot and the feeling of it hit him straight in the gut.
"Please?"
The way she whispered it from beneath him had him shutting his eyes against a flare of hot white and he shuddered his hips into her, coming hard as he breathed open mouthed and ragged into her hair. He'd forgotten the warning of quiet and groaned low and loud against the back of her neck.
"Can I tell you something else?" he whispered breathlessly against her shoulder blade, his hand soothing on her hip as he pressed both their bodies slow into the cot.
She made a sated noise of agreement and spread flat.
Wyatt smirked against her back, "I'm pretty sure he may have heard that anyhow."
The way she shrugged and snuggled back against the way he was leaning more to the side just made him grin proudly.
He'd left her more than half an hour before, already dressed and his usually pretty eyes looking a bit bloodshot in the reddening light of morning. DG studied the shirt she'd pulled on, frowning at the grimed color that had once been white.
"Take it off."
Her sister's voice had been a surprise and she jumped at the solid tone of it, drawing Az to laugh over her. DG looked over the way she was holding another shirt, this one darker and smaller, laces up the front that made her cock a disbelieving glance at her sister. She arched a brow and took it quietly, looking it over.
"It's not going to hurt you to wear something that shows you're actually a woman." Az chided softly. "Be thankful that I didn't bring you a skirt."
"I'll wear a skirt when I have to." DG murmured and drew the other shirt off easily, turning to lay it against cot so that she could pull the other one on.
"That may be sooner than you think." Azkadellia moved in and softly pulled her hair back as she started lacing the black fabric up the front of her body. "Hello, there…"
DG tipped her head back and realized the older woman was smirking at the reddened rush that lined the side of her neck. She lifted a hand against them and couldn't save herself from smiling at the heat that radiated off them as she rubbed soothing against the marks he'd left over normally pale skin. Az arched an eyebrow and stepped back, motioning for her sister to turn. She rolled her eyes in feigned frustration and reached forward, tightening the laces harder from the bottom up. She tied them tightly at the top, nodding when DG put her hands to her flared hips.
"You've got to be kidding me."
Az just shook her head as she looked over the younger woman. "He won't walk straight for a good ten minutes, fair bet."
"We have bigger things to worry about, Az."
The older of the two just shrugged and pushed her little sister's tight sleeves half up her arms , "Enjoy it, Deeg. It's your life. It's happening. So enjoy it."
DG gave her a wide open glance, "We'll make it to Finaqua, right?"
Az just gave her a smiling nod, "Of course. Zero can't hurt you."
She watched the way the words she repeated from her mother soothed the younger of the two and offered her hand in silence. DG took it easily and breathed in at the thrum that tingled up her wrist. Az gave her fingers a squeeze and tugged at her, pulling her toward the open doorway of the tent.
"Mother and father are already discussing strategy with the others." She said gently, drawing DG behind her. "I told them that I would come wake you."
"No word from Jeb's men?"
"Not yet." Az shook her head back sadly. "I think Cain's going to have someone backtrack."
"He doesn't really trust anyone enough to do it." DG sighed softly.
"Then I guess he'll have to learn to trust fairly quickly."
There was no arguing with the flattened way she'd laid out the statement between them.
"I'll do it." Ahamo leaned forward, shrugging into the words. "I can get out there and back in half a day."
"You will not." Lavender argued with sudden force, eyes roving over his face. "You're exhausted."
"Everyone is exhausted." He breathed out, avoiding the tired lines of the faces that surrounded him. "I'm the best choice."
"Unless I go." Wyatt said quietly. "Or send Jonah."
"You don't trust Jonah." DG leaned into the conversation, reaching for some of the fruit that one of the Viewers had offered them. "What about Glitch?"
He ignored the cocky tone of her voice and held a look with the other man, noticing the way Ahamo glanced darkly between the two of them. The older man caught his eyes and he nodded. They made the silent agreement without consulting with the women that surrounded them and he knew he'd probably pay for it later. Ahamo was already rising from his seat on the bench and waving over one of the Viewers, heading toward her in silence.
"He shouldn't be going alone." Lavender hushed to the former Tin Man. "He shouldn't be going at all."
Wyatt nodded with a sigh, "DG? Wanna ask Glitch if he'll go with your father?"
She cocked him a glance as she chewed on the fruit and nodded, "Sure."
He looked up slowly to thank her and the hard swallow he made when he studied the way the shirt hugged from her hips to her breasts was just thanks enough.