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Casteel stared into the fire, watching the small tongues of flame dance along the tops of the embers. They were still two days ride out from Padonia and shouldn't have risked it, but Casteel had taken one look at Poppy trying to subtly pull her cloak tighter around herself and set about gathering the kindling with a hard glint in his eye that dared someone to challenge him.
Not that any of the others in the small group would have. Reaver more than likely hoped that some Craven would find them if only because it would give him an excuse to burn something, Malik knew that Casteel was one poorly restrained impulse away from finishing what he had started in that Stonehill kitchen, and Kieran...
Well.
Casteel let his eyes slide from the glowing embers to the wolven, a warmth curling through him that had nothing to do with the dying fire. Kieran wasn't far, sitting leaned up against a tree with one leg drawn up and his arm resting on the bent knee. His other leg was, like Casteel's, stretched out straight, angled so that the slightest shift would have knocked the toes of their boots together. He too was looking into the fire, just as he had ever since he took up his sentry position, eyes half-closed but still watchful for even the hint of a threat.
For between them, curled up with her head pillowed on Casteel's cloak, was Poppy.
Warmth hotter than any blood pulsing in his chest, Casteel let his eyes slide over her, drinking her in. She lay facing him, her cloak tucked tightly under her chin, red hair a riotous mass of waves spilling out behind her. Despite the chill of the night air, one arm had slipped out from beneath her makeshift blanket and stretched out towards him, as if reaching for him even in her sleep.
Casteel knew that he should be resting, knew that they had many long days of travel ahead of them, first to Padonia and then the Blood Forest after that. He knew that he wasn't at his full strength yet, despite the power of Poppy's blood, and that he shouldn't be wasting the chance to sleep and recover. But the darkness of the cell still waited for him just behind his eyes, and he was half afraid that if he closed his eyes when he opened them again, this would all have been nothing but a beautiful dream. And that...
That would break him.
So instead Casteel settled more firmly against the tree at his back and let his eyes roam shamelessly between Poppy's luscious curves and Kieran's angular lines, drinking them in, the pulse of their offset heartbeats a lifeline as the dark of the night thickened.
Casteel didn't know when he started to doze off, but the sudden uptick of Poppy's heartbeat pulled him from the haze of half-sleep in an instant. Blinking, the murky shadows of the exhaustion he hadn't wanted to acknowledge still clinging to the edges of his awareness, Casteel heard Poppy whimper. The small, pained sound sent daggers into his chest with the same strength as if she had screamed, and he immediately reached for her, heart aching.
But Kieran got there first.
Moving with all the speed and grace of a wolven, Kieran went from leaning up against the tree to crouched beside Poppy in the time it took Casteel to blink. Leaning over her, Kieran smoothed a flyaway piece of wine red hair back from where it had fallen into her face, then gently ran his fingers across Poppy's cheek.
“Shh, you're alright,” he murmured, his voice soft as he continued to gently stroke Poppy's cheek, his eyes fixed on her with such a soft intensity that Casteel felt like the heat in his blood was going to set him alight. “You're alright, meyaah liessa. It's just a dream, just a dream, shh...”
“Kieran?” Poppy mumbled, not opening her eyes, her voice thick with the sleep that still held her tightly in its grasp even as she shifted restlessly, as if seeking the wolven in the dark.
“I'm here,” Kieran assured her, leaning down and pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. “I'm right here. You're safe, I promise. I promise, Poppy.”
For a moment Poppy remained stiff, and Casteel thought she would wake. Then all of her muscles relaxed, her heartbeat beat slowing and the bitter tang of her fear on the air disappearing in as instant.
“You promised,” she breathed, and Casteel saw something flicker across Kieran's face. It was gone so fast that he would have thought he imagined it if not for the ache in his chest, an ache he swore came through the bond that no longer existed between them.
“I did,” Kieran murmured, his voice infinitely gentle as he stroked Poppy's hair, his winter blue eyes shimmering with the eather. “Now sleep, meyaah liessa.”
“M'kay,” Poppy mumbled, her voice slurring slightly as sleep pulled her under once more. For a long moment Kieran didn't move, his hand still resting lightly in her hair as he looked down at her, eyes mapping her face as if he wished to memorize it. Then finally, with a shaking breath, he drew back... and met Casteel's eyes.
Kieran froze. Casteel held his gaze, golden eyes glowing as an inferno of heat whipped like a maelstrom in his chest. Pushing away from the tree, Casteel covered the few feet between them in a sinuous, stalking crawl that reminded any who saw it that there was not a drop of mortal blood in his veins. Kieran remained still, his eyes never leaving Casteel's.
Even a wolf knew the sight of a predator.
For a long moment neither of them moved, each crouched on either side of Poppy. Casteel's wife. Casteel's heartmate.
Finally Kieran broke the silence. “She had nightmares almost every night you were gone. She... she didn't want anyone to hear her screaming, so I got used to... helping her. I – I didn't mean to overstep. I'm sor – ”
Casteel's hand shot out as fast as a viper, grabbing the back of Kieran's neck and yanking him forwards. The wolven tried to rear back, fighting not to fall onto Poppy's sleeping form where it was stretched between them, but Casteel held him fast as he surged forwards and pressed his forehead to Kieran's.
Kieran froze, the pulse in the side of him neck pounding so strongly that Casteel could practically taste it. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, Casteel looked into Kieran's luminous blue eyes from only a hairsbreadth away.
“I love you more in this moment than in any moment before,” Casteel whispered, pressing so closely into Kieran that the words were all but breathed against the other man's lips. Kieran sucked in a sharp breath, his eyes going wide, and it took everything in Casteel not to chase that breath with his tongue.
“Fuck, Cas – ” Kieran's voice was ragged, and Cas groaned, nudging Kieran's nose with his own even as he brought his other hand up and rested his thumb against Kieran's soft, plush lips as he cradled the other man's jaw.
“You say my name one more time and I am going to devour you,” he warned, looking at Kieran with golden eyes that burned with such hot desire that the wolven instinctively leaned forwards, pressing into the grip Casteel had on his jaw. “And I very much want our queen to be awake for that.”
Kieran groaned, his eyes fluttering closed as the scent of thick, spicy arousal danced across Casteel's tongue. “You are going to be the death of me, you bastard.”
“Yeah,” Casteel agreed, grinning at the wolven – his wolven, the one who had been there since they were unruly pups in the same cradle and the only one who Casteel trusted with the most precious thing in the world. “But what a way to go.”
Kieran cursed again and Casteel laughed, nudging Kieran's nose once more with his own. Kieran nudged back, the blue of his eyes all but lost to the black of his pupil, and then it was Casteel's turn to groan as Kieran parted his lips just enough that he could flick the point of his tongue along Casteel's thumb.
“Kieran – ”
“Cas?” Poppy's voice was thick with sleep, and Casteel's heart melted in his chest at the sound of his name in her soft, syrupy voice. Kieran immediately pulled back, though Casteel didn't let him get far, his hand still wrapped around the nape of Kieran's neck even as he looked down at Poppy, who was blinking sleepily up at him with those silver-streaked green eyes that never failed to fill him with awe.
“Hey Princess,” Casteel greeted softly, smiling down at her and stroking his fingers along her soft cheek. “Did we wake you?” Poppy shook her head, though Casteel could see her eyebrows furrowing slightly in confusion even as she pressed her face into his hand, making his heart stutter in his chest.
“Had a nightmare,” she replied, her eyes, still hazy on the edges with sleep, searching his face. “I... I thought I heard Kieran's voice...”
“He's here,” Casteel assured her, nodding in Kieran's direction even as he gently squeezed the back of Kieran's neck, urging the other man closer. Kieran came willing, leaning into Poppy's eyeline, the lines of his face softening in a way that made warmth swirl in Casteel's chest as he looked down at her.
“Hey,” Kieran murmured, reaching out and gently smoothing back the hair at Poppy's temple, even though for once the mass of red curls was behaving itself. “You okay?” Poppy nodded, looking up at him with soft silver-green eyes even as the arm that had wormed its way out from under her cloak moved so that she could touch Casteel's leg.
“Little cold,” she admitted, tucking the edge of the cloak a little tighter up under her chin, and Casteel thought his heart might actually burst from how in love with this woman he was.
“Well we can't have that,” he said, leaning down and brushing a kiss against Poppy's brow, teasing himself with the thought that he could taste where Kieran's lips had traced the same path. “Don't worry, my Queen. Kieran and I will keep you warm.”
“Like that first time in the mountains?” Poppy asked, and Casteel wondered what thought danced behind those enchanting eyes that made her skin dust so tantalizingly with pink.
“Exactly like that,” he replied, grinning down at her, thumb stroking across her cheekbone to brush against her lips.
“That okay?” Kieran asked, his fingers still resting gently in her hair, and Casteel once more felt a surge of love for him for how much he cared about the precious woman between them. Poppy glanced up at Kieran, and Casteel suspected she was using her gift to read the wolven. Kieran didn't pull back, letting her read him, and Casteel wanted so badly to kiss him that it made his jaw ache.
After a moment of silence Poppy smiled, small and tentative, and yet infinitely beautiful. “Yeah. I... I'd like that.”
“Me too,” Kieran said, smiling down at her, his blue eyes so warm they seemed to pulse with the eather hiding behind them.
“Me three,” Casteel chimed in, grinning at the pair of them, and Poppy laughed softly, reaching up and touching the side of Casteel's face.
“Stupid dimple,” she muttered, and Kieran huffed a laugh as Casteel's grin widen.
“You love my dimples,” he countered, leaning down and catching her lips in a soft, sweet kiss. Poppy returned it happily, her hand sliding from Casteel's cheek into his hair and nearly breaking every bit of his resolve to behave himself.
“I love you,” Poppy murmured, barely breaking the kiss enough to get the words out, and Casteel knew with every piece of his torn and shadowed soul that those words would never stop making his heart squeeze in his chest.
“And I love you, my Queen,” he replied, looking directly into those brilliant, impossible silver-streaked green eyes, knowing she could see the depths of his love for her swimming in them. “Now unwrap yourself from your cocoon so that Kieran and I can stop you from turning into an icicle before morning.” Poppy giggled, and if Casteel could have he would've inlaid the sound upon his very bones.
“It's not that cold,” she said, though that didn't stop her from doing as he had asked and tugging the sides of the cloak out from under her.
Immediately Casteel slipped under the edge closest to him and pulled Poppy into his arms, a tightness he hadn't even noticed in his chest easing at the feel of the warm, supple weight of her against his body. Poppy hummed, curling into his embrace, her head finding its place on his shoulder, hand resting on his chest. Casteel pressed a tender kiss to her forehead, then looked up at Kieran, who was still crouched beside Poppy, his eyes soft as he watched them.
Wordlessly, Casteel held up the other side of the cloak.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Kieran took a deep breath, then slid beneath the cloak, laying down so that his front was to Poppy's back. Casteel felt the slight jump in Poppy's pulse as Kieran curled himself carefully around her, long body ensconcing her smaller one perfectly.
“This okay?” Kieran asked quietly, carefully setting his hand on Poppy's shoulder. For a moment Poppy didn't answer. Then, she reached up and took hold of Kieran's hand. Then, moving slowly as if giving him time to pull away, Poppy guided Kieran's hand until it rested on Casteel's chest.
Directly over his steadily pulsing heart.
“Perfect,” Poppy murmured, laying her hand over Kieran's and nuzzling into Casteel's shoulder, the beginnings of sleep already starting to take her. Casteel heard Kieran's breath catch in his throat, felt his fingers tense, pressing into Casteel's chest. Then all of the tension ran out of the wolven in a great rush of breath and he all but sagged into Poppy, curling so tightly around her that all of their angles and lines pressed into one and burying his face in her hair.
“Meeyah liessa,” Kieran breathed, a prayer and a benediction all in one and Casteel reached up to cover their hands with his own, pressing them tight to his chest.
“Our Queen,” he agreed, tilting his head so that he could press his forehead to Kieran's once more, the sweet scent of his heartmate heavy on his tongue as he and Kieran breathed together, sleep falling over them all as the last flicker of flames died from the embers of the campfire, letting the true darkness of night wrap around them.
But nothing waited in the dark but the warmth of their bodies wrapped together as their hearts slowly started to beat as one.
(On the other side of the camp, Reaver cracked open his eyelid to look at them with one slitted eye and huffed. Not Joined and already so entwined. They really were hopeless.)