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This chapter does contain LEMONS. You've been warned.


Chapter 29: Promises

His name was Beorn and he was a skin-changer and from how tall his ceilings and furniture was, he was one of the largest men that I had ever come across. Stone pillars raised the ceiling which had more than a few segments cut out to let in natural light. The entryway that spanned on either side of his door, was made of thick stone that was worn smooth by so many different animals walking across it year after year. Sectioned off were stalls and sleeping areas for the oxen that were currently eyeing all of us with clear bewilderment, thick hay swept neatly into their pens. On either side, past the cattle stalls and hay areas were thick wooden doors to let them in and out and as I watched Dwalin checked each one of them tediously with a few other dwarves.

Past the entryway, stone steps led to a cast kitchen with an enormous wood table. Somewhere in the back, Dori had found a washroom with a hose that hooked up to an outside well or stream, hooting at the discovery loud enough to send Thorin plowing into the back in alarm. Kili had gushed so much about the find that he had started to cry, his fingers moving over the tiled bathroom walls with reverence.

"Will he be alright with us using his home like this?" My eyes tracked over where Bombur and Nori were currently fighting over a cup of tea with honey. I was worried - beyond worried that we were in someone else's home when they seemed so inclined to tear our throats out.

Gandalf puffed away at a pipe, his brow furrowed as he sat at the massive table in the kitchen. "We'll only be using his stove to warm what we have. We'll wait until the morning to see if his generosity extends to more than a place to sleep."

My eyes didn't stray away from where Nori was, his eyes slipping this way and that as he took a nibble from a honeycomb that lay out on the table. Sure. Nothing that wasn't offered.

"Even his washing area?" I couldn't help the sarcasm that slipped into my voice.

The truth was that we were greedy for any bit of comfort. Though we wouldn't touch the bread in his cabinets or the cream in his ice box, none of us could resist the allure of finally scrubbing the weeks of road off our skin. We smelled atrocious and probably looked just as bad. Each of us was coated in so much dirt that it had started to smear our skin, mixing with our sweat.

Gandalf remained silent at my question, his eyes far off as he took another long drag from his pipe. He wasn't an idiot. He knew we were all desperate for some type of comfort. And we would only be able to resist for so long.

Unable to stay beside him anymore without pushing him with more pointless questions, I slipped from my stool. I had washed a while ago, taking the extra pair of clothes that my brother had from his pack. It was the last bit of luxury I had - the pair of leather pants and clean white tunic smelling of the herbs in Ori's medicinal bag. I tucked the longer shirt in, my belt of thick leather and intricate runes falling lowly on my hips with the added weight of my daggers. I had saved these clothes for as long as I could, trying and failing to keep them until we got closer to the mountains. My skirt was ripped to shreds, though, my gray leggings, so lovely before, now looking much the same. The fur lining had offered me very little in terms of warmth these last few weeks. My shirt wasn't in too bad a shape, but even that must be burned - the stains making it near worthless. The only thing I kept were my leather weapons holsters and the light gray vest that Ori had sewn so painstakingly for me, and Fili's mittens tucked into my belt.

I bit at my lip, staring down at the bundle of dirty clothes for a moment too long, the fire in the hearth roaring beside me, heating my face and filling my lunges with sweet smoke. It would do nothing but weigh me down to keep them on me.

"It's okay, Tori," Ori whispered beside me, looking a bit sad. He gave me a wane smile. "I'll make us more."

I bit my lip, my throat working as I quickly tossed them in and stepped away before I dragged them back out again. It was just clothes. It didn't mean all that much. Nothing more than clothes. Clothes could be replaced. I squeezed my brother's arm as I passed, not wanting to watch as they were gobbled up into nothingness.

My mind drifted forcefully in another direction, the pots and window baskets filled with herbs and wildflowers drawing my eyes. Distracted, I signed to Bifur that he needed to hurry over if he wanted to wash up as I made my way over to them. He stumbled in his dash, giving me a wry smile as he went. And I began to pick - careful of taking too much.


Fili quirked a brow as I scrambled into our little hiding space, his lips twitching at the bundle of herbs and blue and white flowers in my hands. That smirk grew into a devastating smile. "I love it when you bring me gifts."

He had taken a shower already as well, his hair damp and a delicious golden hue, dampening the linen of his dark tunic, sculpting it to the defined muscles of his shoulders. His shirt was opened, no longer hidden by the fur of his coat, exposing the top portion of his chest, his collarbone and throat visible. Everything about him rippled with strength and it took a ridiculous amount of willpower not to lean over and drag my tongue along the corded muscles that his shirt hinted at.

A blush burned along my throat as I scrambled the rest of the way up into the hay loft. Above a small section of the pens was a hay area that had been curtained off built into the high rafters and only accessible if you were good at climbing things that weren't supposed to be climbed. Hay surrounded us, soft and draped in our sleeping blankets. Above was one of the sections of ceiling that had been left open so that open night air drifted to us, the moon and stars creating a soft glow around us. Distantly, the fire in the hearth cast a warm glow over us through the sliver that the curtain didn't reach.

It was the farthest from the door and, subsequently, the farthest from where the others would be sleeping.

"Where's Tori and Fili?" I heard Ori whisper distantly, the others still bedding down, and embarrassment crawled up my spine.

"Get to sleep," Thorin's voice commanded softly. "Tomorrow will be a hard one. Especially if Beorn decides he would much prefer us as wall ornaments than guests."

Fili was watching me intently, his eyes a deep, summer blue, his grin positively devilish. "He likes you."

Not wanting to even put any sort of hope into that statement, I moved closer to him, settling into a comfortable position against one side of soft hay. Fili's eyes tracked me as I moved, spreading out my bundle beside me.

His eyes slipped slowly over the way the leather pants clung to my curves, not missing anything before they dragged to the coil of my freshly done braids, ends still damp. "You didn't let me do your hair."

A coil of heat burned along my gut. The truth was, I loved his hands combing through my hair. I loved how he always made me sit between his thighs, his strong fingers kneading at my nape as he took such gentle care with my hair.

"I wanted to do your hair tonight," I said, suddenly feeling shy. I blinked, avoiding his eyes which were suddenly too intense. "As my courting gift. I…I only have one bead but - I thought that perhaps - well, you can say no - but -"

It suddenly seemed so stupid. Braiding flowers into his hair? And herbs? What in the world was I thinking?

The light suddenly dimmed, calloused fingers scraping along my cheek gently. I blinked, snared by Fili's eyes as he stared down at me with such concentration that I felt my breath stutter. His whole body surrounded me, his shoulders so broad that it took up my entire vision. "Vahal but you are cute." His voice was low and guttural, his hands tightening on my cheek like he wanted to drag me closer and devour me.

I blinked up at him, blushing furiously. "You will accept my courting gift?"

He gave me a strange look, his brows quirking, his lips tipped in an odd little smirk. "You realize that braiding my hair means that you claim me?"

I gaped at him, baffled by his bluntness. Of course I - Well, people just didn't come out and say it like that. "I may look like an elf but I've lived with dwarves my entire life."

His eyes simmered. "Tell me why I would refuse your claim on me."

I gulped, unsure. His response…confused me. Is this what my actions seemed like to him? My hesitations?

He didn't wait for me respond, his hands dragging from my cheek to the nape of my neck, gripping me there in a way that was entirely possessive. My breath sawed from me as he forced my head to the side, gently but firmly, his lips hot on my ear. "In another life, where my control is even thinner than this one, I would claim you in front of everyone. I would make sure they heard my name on your lips every single night. I would make you forget every single awful thing that people have forced into that beautiful brain of yours and make you only remember the words that come from my mouth as I make you cum."

I was breathing hard, my whole body on fire from his words, an aching starting deep in my gut. He suddenly felt too far away, the contact of his hand on my throat and his lips on my ear not enough when I could feel his body hovering all around me. My fingers flinched with the urge to drag him closer and beg him to do just as he promised.

But before my foolish body gave way to those facts, Fili was pulling away, his hands dropping from me with only a squeeze to my skin. He gave me a slow, lazy smile as he pulled back, putting distance between us, his eyes heating at my quick breaths. "But I'm unbearably patient in this life, unfortunately. So I'll wait." His eyes simmered. He turned without another word, sliding back into the crease of my legs until I was forced to accommodate him, his back to me. "Claim me, Âzyungel."

My head spun at the new endearment - this one far more intimate than the last. The ass. It was like every move he made forced me farther to the edge of sanity. And he knew it. I should pull out all his gorgeous hair.

Frowning, I started on my task, slowly reeling myself in as I worked to untangle his braids, my fingers clumsy at first. Fili wasn't a small man - no, his body was powerful and broad in every sense of the word. Where I fit easily into the curve of his powerful thighs, my own legs were spread around where he sat. Not only that but he was a bit taller than me so our position made it so that I needed to reach up to go through his hair.

And…it was also distracting. He was distracting. The muscles of his back rippled as I worked, my arms falling farther and farther as my work went on and my muscles got tired. Soon I was leaning into his back, the hard slabs of his back muscles an addictive feeling beneath my sensitive breasts and stomach. I wasn't fooling anyone. Especially not him. The first time I had let myself lean into him, his head had tipped to the side, one of his piercing blue eyes catching mine in a knowing heat. I had immediately straightened, too embarrassed by my slip to stay where I was and he had chuckled, turning back to face forward.

I steamed, looping hyssop and camomile into his hair, the intoxicating scent of clean herbs winding through me. It was no use. Braiding was a long, intimate process and soon I was leaning into him again, my front plastered to his back, loving the way he let out a slow, deep groan that sounded almost like a growl. I shivered, pressing into him more, my thighs tightening on the outside of his.

"Careful, Âzyungel," he warned, his voice soft and filled with censor. I shivered again, something about the command tingling in my very bones. I liked it when he got all growly and commanding.

I didn't reply, my fingers scraping along his scalp until he shut his eyes and relaxed into the curve of my body, sending us both back into the soft hay at my back. I moved slower then, taking my time, enjoying the feel of his body pressed so intimately to mine. I threaded back in his own beads and then my tributes, massaging along his nape and scalp in between each one. A sort of haze fell around us, the other dwarves a distant rumble, our own haven so far away.

I was done before I knew it, my hands drifting along the ridges and dips of his shoulders, and back. He was magnificent - I had known that for a while but being able to explore it so openly was another thing entirely.

Slowly, his eyes opened from where they had fallen shut, that gaze so full of promise latching onto me and dragging me down. We stayed that way for a while and I wondered what my own eyes were saying by the tightening of his jaw.

He pulled away first. "We should get to bed," he gritted out, his voice taut with something that I wasn't entirely sure of. Something that I wasn't sure I was prepared to push at. Yet.

So I followed as he laid out our bedding, his jacket beneath our head, his familiar scent filling my lunges. And somehow that made it so much worse. This nagging in my gut. This emptiness that pushed me to lean into his touch more, to push myself against him when he curled behind me. His arms banded around me, one curving beneath me, a strong hand spanning just beneath my breasts as his other hand flattened along my stomach, dragging me closer to him. His legs tangled through mine, pinning me, his whole front sticking to my back like a second, hotter, maddeningly distracting skin.

I was distracted. Too awake for any sort of sleep - my whole body buzzing with unshed energy. And I ached. Distractingly. Emptily.

I wasn't dumb. I knew what arousal was. I knew what sex was. But I had never been so aware of another person before. Of his breath hot on my naps, his nose pressed into my hair. Of the way my body craved him. I couldn't distract myself. A flighty sort of panic tightened my insides. This was going to -

"Tori." My whole body stiffened. Fili's hand suddenly gripped my hip tightly. His lips moved at my nape, his voice heavy and rough. "Stop."

Oh, Mahal. I slammed my eyes shut, biting my lip. Fuck. Embarrassment burned through me just as hot as my own arousal. I had been moving my hips, seeking him out without even recognizing.

His voice was a dark caress. "I know that I said that I was patient but that can only get us so far when your ass if grinding back on my cock."

I shivered at his crude words. If he wanted me to stop, why was he talking ot me like that? That didn't make me want to stop. That made me - I shifted, driving my hips back again, tentatively until I felt the hard press of his length. His nails dug into my hip, a deep groan rattling from him.

"Ah, my merciless queen, back to torture me again," he murmured, his nose dragging along the sensitive curve of my nape. I grinned at the title, loving the possessive way that it rolled off his tongue.

"It's your own fault," I accuse, keeping my voice soft. I stifle a gasp as his hips roll into the curve of my ass, my insides melting.

"Please tell me how I made you torment me for a night," he drawled, the hand he had curled beneath my breast moving idly along the underside of my breasts. It's driving me mad.

"You were - you let me - You just did," I snap, enraged as my thoughts go every which way, his hand moving from where they curl around my hip to knead at my thighs.

His lips curl at my nape. "What exactly do you want, Tori?" I feel my lips slip closed, unsure how to ask. If I should ask. Fili takes my silence in stride, his hands roaming. "Talk to me, Âzyungel, or this doesn't go farther."

I flounder, not used to being asked so blatantly. Unused to this interaction at all. Time ticks by as I struggle. Why is this so hard? Why am I so embarrassed? It all feels so…vulnerable. Like I'm bearing a part of me to him that I wasn't expecting to.

He finally shows a bit of mercy on me, his voice low and hypnotic. "Do you want me to make you cum, Tori?"

Something about him saying that made the lid on my hesitation break apart and I blurted out, "I want you, Fili."

He tensed behind me, and for a dreadful moment, I thought maybe I had said the wrong thing. But then he was chuckling, the sound pained. "Well, you're not going to get that tonight, love, but I can at least give you a little comfort."

I resisted the urge to pout, a protest on my lips. That all died though because his hand dove beneath my tunic, tugging it from my pants. Shivers skated along my skin as his rough fingers skated along my vulnerable stomach, up, up, up. He cupped my breast possessively, making a soft moan slip from my lips.

"That won't do," he whispered, his voice almost conversational. Pleasant. And suddenly, his hand was moving away from my aching breasts and clamping around my mouth. An all-new series of shivers coasted along my spine as his lips slipped to my ears, his free hand playing at the band of my pants, toying with the buttons. "I, personally, don't want to wake anyone and - more than even that - it turns my blood to think of anyone hearing those sweet little whimpers you've been making. I don't think that you can cum quietly so I'll help you."

My pussy ached at the timber of his voice, the wicked things he was purring in my ear as if we were talking about anything other than this. His nose nuzzled the hair behind my ear in soft, adoring way. His fingers slowly worked the buttons of my pants, popping them one at a time until they were able to ghost over my hip bone and then beneath the fabric of my panties.

And then he stopped.

"If you want it to stop," he whispered in my ear, his voice gentle again. "Pinch me twice. Put your hand on my arm right now, Tori - That's good. Just like that. Now pinch me - two times. Good. Do that and everything stops. You understand? Nod for me. Good."

I felt safe. I felt in control. I relaxed into Fili's hold, my mind loosening with the knowledge that he would always take care of me. Make sure I was sure.

The slide of his thick fingers along my lips was enough to drag me back to the moment, his index and middle finger sliding along my folds but never breaching me as he dragged me back into him, leaving no space. I groaned, my hand digging into his forearm.

"You're so wet, Âzyungel," he gritted out, his voice guttural and pained. His teeth bit into the shell of my ear before kissing it softly. "Is this all for me?"

Dizzy, I nodded, rolling my hips to try and get him deeper, try and make him - I let out a garbled hiss as he toyed with me, his fingers still sliding along my outer lips, cupping me possessively.

"Ssshh," he soothed and finally, finally he parts my folds, fingers rubbing slow circles over my sensitive button before he explored downwards, circling my entrance. My moans spill into his palm as he slowly works a finger into me, his palm rubbing deliciously against my clit. A low, satisfied chuckle spills into my hair his finger-

I bucked, moving on him restlessly, catching him by surprise by the harsh curse he made. Because I've moved on him as well, driving my hips backward. A silly thought flits across my mind as he says my name in quiet reprimand before swearing again - maybe he needs a hand over his mouth too.

I'm so wet, my own slick pooling in his hand as he keeps up a relentless pace, his finger moving with me. His hand tightens on my lips, biting into my skin as I tip my head back, my eyes finding his as my crown touches his shoulder. Fili may have sounded calm and collected but his face says anything but. His lips are parted, his breath quiet but harsh and his eyes - those beautiful, cornflower eyes - they're flashing with pain, his brows furrowed as he watches where his hand is moving in the shadow of my pants.

He seems to be on the very edge.

"Fuck, Tori," he groans softly, pressing into me harder, his finger plunging into me more harshly before another one is at my entrance, coaxing. I see stars when he forces another one past my entrance, my whole body tightening.

It's that look - that look of adoration and pain mixed with my name on his lips that drives me over the edge, my whole world narrowing down on the way his fingers move inside of me. I cum, shuddering, choking down my own cries. The world dims, sparkling and darkening in wonderful, sizzling waves.

When I come to again, his lips are on my throat, nipping kisses moving up and down in an almost reverent way. Everything feels so… loose. So easy. I smile at the feel of his hands kneading into my skin, one pulling my underwear back in place and slowly buttoning my pants back up.

"You-" I start sluggishly, bringing up a hand to run along his jaw, the scruff there tickling me. He turns his head, laying soft kisses to my palm that make my toes curl.

"I'm fine, Tori," he whispers, tugging me back to him. "When it's my turn, I want to be inside you. I want to be safe. I want to take you on a carpet in front of a fire with hours of just us, alone, ahead of us."

I blinked, enchanted by the idea. He was rather good at that. Rather good at words. I leaned closer, trying to capture that image from his lips.

"I would like that too," I whisper against his mouth.

He smirks, all smugness. "I know you will."


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