Melione finished repacking up her bag when she heard movement behind her. "Finished packing?" she asked.

Grym moved closer behind her and gripped her hips. "I did." He leaned down and placed feather-like kisses along her neck, dragging his tongue along the sensitive skin. "Everything's packed."

Melione leaned back against his touch. She pushed her ass against him, feeling him already hard. "We've got to get going, Grym."

His hands traveled to the front of her pants. He unbuttoned the button and shoved his right hand into her pants. His hand cupped over her sex, causing a small gasp to fall out her mouth. "We can spare a moment."

"Can we?"

"Yes," Grym's teeth grazed over her skin, biting down on the curve of her neck. "I'd like to finish what we started earlier."

Melione smirked. "You would?" She turned around and started to run her hands up his chest. "You know you broke some rules this morning."

"I did?"

Melione's right hand stopped at his throat and squeezed slightly. "You did. Remember, I'm in charge. You didn't let me finish."

Grym's eyes darkened as he smirked. "No, ma'am."

Melione sat down on the edge of the bed, bringing Grym down onto his knees. Her hand was still wrapped around his throat. "That was wrong, Grym. Always let me finish. Understand?"

Grym's eyes snapped to her unbuttoned pants before snapping back to hers. "Yes, ma'am."

"I told you that there would be consequences for your disobeying." Melione let go of his throat and ran her nails over his skin. "Stand up and take off your pants."

"Yes, ma'am," Grym stood up and shoved his pants off.

Melione leaned forward and ran her hand over his shaft. He shivered slightly from her touch. "Remember, Grym, this is a punishment." He nodded his head, but his eyes showed too much excitement. She smiled at him as she leaned forward and flicked her tongue against his tip. She took his cock deep into her mouth, sucking on him. Grym groaned as she continued to suck and move back and forth on his cock.

"Fuck, Melione," Grym moaned loudly. He started to wrap his hand around her hair when she took his cock out of her mouth.

"No touching, Grym," Melione warned. She looked back down at his cock. "You're enjoying this too much for a punishment."

Grym shook his head quickly. "I'm not."

Melione chuckled as she shook her head. "You are." She took off her pants and leaned back on the bed. "No touching, Grym. Just watch."

"Melione," he groaned out. His hands clenched at his side.

"Watch," she moaned as her fingers found her clit, her legs opening wider for him to watch. She smirked as she watched his eyes darken even more as he watched her fingers swirl her clit. Melione tried hard not to moan, but she couldn't help it. She could feel her high coming. She wanted Grym to touch her, but she refrained from saying anything. Her fingers danced over her sex, bringing her closer and closer to her high.

Melione finished with Grym's name passing through her lips. She looked up at him to see a surprised look on his face. His eyes were glued to hers. She hadn't expected his name to fall out of her mouth. She was as astonished as he was, but she pushed that moment to the side. She removed her hand and held it out to him. "Want to help clean me up?"

Grym's expression changed quickly to excitement as he nodded. He climbed up on the bed, kneeling between her legs, and gripped her wrist. He licked her fingers clean before looking down at her area.

"Go ahead," she told him as she leaned back, crossing her arms behind her head. She moaned loudly as his tongue swiped through her. His tongue was flat as he continued to move his tongue through her sex. As much as she would love for him to continue, she needed him to stop. She reached down and gripped his hair. "Stop, Grym."

Grym stopped instantly and sat up. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Melione sat up and gripped his chin. "This was a punishment, remember? You didn't let me finish my pleasure earlier, so you don't get any." She pulled her pants back on as she got off of the bed. "We've got to go."

Grym groaned as he pulled his pants up. He walked over to the door and shouldered his bag. "Will I ever have control?"

Melione stopped in front of him and looked up. "Maybe. I might like to see what you could do with full control." She smiled at him before walking out of the door. "Right now, we've got to focus on our investigation."

Grym nodded as he followed her out of the inn. "We need to continue to God's Territory. The Devil's Footprint could have something there."

Melione shook her head. "I don't think so. They would never leave the Burning Providence."

"I'm not saying they would leave," Grym continued. "I'm saying they could connect in God's Territory that could have led to the deity murders." Melione nodded her agreement to that. Grym stopped her by grabbing her arm gently and pulling her back toward the town square. "I want to document that monster and the writing next to it."

Melione let him take her hand as they moved toward the town center. She couldn't help the feeling of them being watched. She was tempted to distinguish the light orbs around them, but she knew Grym needed to see. Without them, she would be the one leading them.

They stopped in front of the decaying monster. The smell that radiated off of the beast was horrible. She couldn't help but notice that the skin on the beast had decayed even more since they were last here. The ooze continued to move around and eat the skin. "The ooze is eating it," Melione mentioned to Grym. She looked over and saw that he was sketching the monster in front of them. When he was finished, he made notes around the drawing about the ooze and the qualities that they noticed.

"We've got to figure out what creature did this," Grym mentioned as he turned toward the wall. He wrote down the language in his notebook before turning around to Melione. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked at her. "What's wrong?"

Melione couldn't help herself by stepping closer to him. "I just feel like we're being watched, Grym."

Grym looked around them. "I don't see anyone."

"People can hide well here, Grym." She motioned for him to follow her. "We've got to leave. Now." She made her way over to where their horses were waiting for them. The healer had found Grym's horse shortly after they arrived. She fed her mistbeast one of her light orbs before jumping up. "Stay close to me, okay?"

Grym nodded. "Okay. I don't want to have another encounter with an aurasnake."

Melione smiled at him. "Tell me instantly if anything pops into your head that's not your voice. Okay?"

Grym nodded. "Okay."

"Thank you," Melione looked forward as they began their movement toward the Gods Territory. "I don't want to explain to the Emerald Realm how they lost their head detective. They'll end up blaming the Eclipse Sanctum and me."

Grym chuckled. "They wouldn't."

"They would, and you know it. The Eclipse Sanctum and the Emerald Realms haven't truly gotten along for centuries."

Grym chuckled again as he shook his head. "Admit it, Melione. You don't want to lose me." Melione glared over at him. "Admit it. You feel the pull between us. It's not just attraction."

Melione sat up straighter and shook her head. "There's no pull, Grym. It is just attraction. We've been stuck together alone. That's what happens. Also, we could have been acting out of adrenaline from that aurasnake. The poison could have messed you up."

Grym shook his head again. "I don't have poison in me, Melione. It's not that. There's a pull."

Melione looked over at him and brought the light orbs closer around them. She counted them so she knew that none of them were missing. "The realms don't mix, Grym." She turned her attention back to the dirt path in front of them and worked on ignoring Grym.

She does remember a history lesson from her youth; a story of the Goddess of Dawn and the God of war. They had once been together, uniting the Emerald Realm and the Eclipse Sanctum. Their relationship was beautiful until one day when the Goddess of Dawn found dozens of her people murdered in the street. At the time, both realms were free to move through each other borders as they pleased. The Goddess of Dawn blamed the people of the Eclipse Sanctum for murdering her people. The God of War stood up for his people and denied that they had done anything to her people, but she didn't believe him.

Their relationship turned sour, and a civil war between the Emerald Realm and the Eclipse Sanctum broke out. Thousands of people died between the two realms before the God of the Sky intervened. He declared that the two rulers never returned to one another. Since then, no one had dared find their mate in a different realm. No one dared mix for fear of another civil war or the gods being angry at them.

Melione wasn't going to deny herself about the growing pull between them, but she wouldn't play into it. She knew that when this investigation was over, they would be separated. Him going back to the Emerald Realm and her to the Eclipse Sanctum. If they were true mates, the pain would be unbearable when separated. She didn't want that, and she didn't want that for him.

Melione took a deep breath and looked over at Grym. His icy blue eyes were focused on the path in front of them. She couldn't help but remember how dark those blue eyes would get when he looked at he wanted her. She shook her head and looked back in front to get the image out of her head. "This is just a fling, Grym," she finally spoke up, forcing her voice to be strong.

"Melione-"

"Grym," she interrupted. She didn't want him to argue with her anymore. "This is just a fling. We've been acting on our adrenaline." She looked over at him. "This is a fling," she spoke harder.

Grym rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Whatever you say, Melione."

"When this investigation is over, we've got to be over," she sighed. "It's a fling." She kept repeating that phrase repeatedly, hoping she would believe it. She got quiet for a while, hoping the silence would drown out their awkward tension. After a period of riding in silence, she started to notice the same green ooze from the village in the trees around them.

"Melione-"

"Shush," Melione interrupted him. She held up a hand and slowed her mistbeast down. There was another city close by. If they could make it to that city, they would be safe.

"Melione," Grym whispered. He moved his horse closer to her. "Something is stalking us."

Melione followed his gaze to their right but saw nothing. She didn't question whatever he saw. She trusted his eyes. "Stay close to me, Grym." She moved her mistbeast forward, toward the closest city. The trees around them were covered in green ooze. She picked up the pace as they reached Dunwich's protective walls. They moved through the walls, but not before she could turn around. She tried to find whatever was stalking them but didn't see anything. "Let's find an inn, Grym."

Grym nodded as he followed Melione through the town. "Someone has to know what happened at that village."

Melione nodded in agreement. "I agree. Forsford is too close to this city for no one to know anything. Once we're settled in an inn, we'll ask questions."