by Maya Daniels
Fern didn’t answer. His intense blue eyes searched her green ones as if looking for something. The longer he stared at her, the more aware Iris became that the only thing standing between them were her lace panties and Fern’s pants. Fern trying to be a gentleman and keeping those on irritated Iris. All she wanted was to rip them off him and wrap her legs around his waist. At that thought, her nipples pebbled, and Fern’s attention zeroed in on them. Iris trembled in his arms.
Fern did his best to make sure that Iris was comfortable and healing. He had every intention of holding himself back so he could help her in the little lake.
Darion accidentally discovered that the water had healing properties when he tried to give some to Fern to help Iris. The cuts and bruises on his hands healed instantly after Darion dipped the bowl in the lake, scooping the water up. As soon as he noticed, he pushed Fern to take her inside the water.
They’d argued at first, Fern stubbornly refusing to do it, fearing a possible bad effect on her. But after a few hours, he decided he had nothing to lose. She wasn’t waking up anyway, and her pulse was getting fainter.
The water didn’t just help her heal enough to wake up, but the longer they stayed in there, Iris’s skin glowed and shimmered around her, making her look like a vision.
When she spoke to him and her sass came out loud and clear, Fern knew he wouldn’t lose her. She would get better, and he wouldn’t go insane. But the energy shifted, and regardless of his efforts to only do what she needed to get better, he couldn’t control himself anymore. When her nipples pebbled, pointing at him as if begging for attention, and Iris looked at him with a hunger that took his breath away, the thin thread Fern held onto snapped.
Fern snatched her out of the water, and holding his hands wrapped around her waist, he placed her not too gently on the side of the lake as she stared at him wide-eyed. If he weren’t so lost in the haze of the hunger that consumed him, he would’ve probably stopped to ask if she was okay. But as things were, all he could think, feel, and smell was Iris. Tangling his fingers in the hair at the nape of her neck, he pulled her face towards him and crushed his lips to hers.
Iris was so shocked at the intensity coming in waves off Fern that when he tilted her head up and devoured her mouth, it took her a second to respond. When he pushed his tongue inside her mouth and started gliding it over and around hers, a desperate moan, low and primal, broke from her throat. She grabbed his long black hair in both her hands and wrapped her legs around him, pulling him as close to her as possible. His hands roamed over her body, pressing her firmly to his chest as if he wanted to touch all of her at the same time. Her skin pebbled in the wake of his touch. She arched, rubbing her aching nipples on his firm pecs. Fern growled in her mouth. Iris wasn’t sure what she wanted, but whatever it was that they were doing, it was not enough.
“More.” The sultry, breathless voice coming out of her mouth, surprised her when she pulled away from Fern to take a breath.
Taking advantage, Fern pulled her head back, still holding her hair at the nape, and as she arched her back, he latched on, sucking her nipple into his mouth. The sounds coming out of Iris’s mouth only spurred him on. She whimpered, mumbled his name, moaned deep and long, as he nipped, licked, and sucked at her breasts like a man possessed.
“I want to be inside you.” His voice, deeper, full of lust and hunger made liquid pool at her center.
“Yes, yes, yes…” Iris mumbled, tilting her hips and grinding on the hardness trapped by the wet fabric of his pants.
Fern pulled back and with a large palm pressed between her breasts, pushed her down on the ground. As Iris lay down, his palm traveled from between her breasts to her belly, until his fingers stopped at her panties. The nude color lace left nothing to the imagination, the water making it almost transparent as it stuck to her folds. A groan made her look from his hand to his face. He was staring at her wet center, the glow of his blue gaze almost pulsing in sync with the throb in her channel. Her entire body trembled with need and Iris was ready to start begging.
Fern trailed his fingers over her hip where the symbols glowed, and Iris thought she was about to orgasm. Her entire body felt like it caught fire and she screamed his name, arching her back so high she almost lifted her body off the ground. Fern grabbed hold of her hips, keeping her lower body pinned down until she dropped her back and looked up at him through heavy-lidded lashes.
“Do it again.” Her voice rasped, and her tongue poked out to wet her suddenly dry lips. They were both panting, and Iris noticed Fern’s hands shook where they held her hips.
“About these symbols…” Fern’s voice trailed off, and at her confused look, he stepped away from her.
Iris opened her mouth, ready to beg or scream at him to finish what he’d started, but the words died on her tongue when he untied the laces on his pants and pulled them down his hips. His thick cock popped free, pointing towards his belly button. Iris had to swallow hard and dig her nails into to ground to stop herself reaching for it. The man was too good-looking to look at when he was dressed. Naked, he looked like something that should be hidden from the world and worshipped.
She had to try very hard to pull her attention away from his hardness, but finally, with a lot of effort, she looked up at his face. Her channel pulsed, gripping emptiness. She wished he’d just push his cock inside her so deep that she wouldn’t know where he ended, and she began.
“Can we talk about those later?” Iris winced at the desperate tone of her voice.
“They are mating marks.” Fern sounded as desperate as her, and it took Iris a moment to realize he was pointing at his own hip.
Right next to the V line on Fern’s hip, a smaller version of the symbols that Iris had on her hip glowed faintly. It took Iris a couple of tries to keep her gaze centered on the symbols instead of drifting back to the cock twitching close to them. As if it could sense her eyes on it, every time she looked, it pulsed while the defined abs above it contracted. It made an answering pulse go through her core.
“Oh look! Matching tattoos!” Still panting, she managed to look at Fern’s face while her attempt at humor failed.
“Not tattoos. They are mating marks.” Fern looked at her unblinking, watching her like a hawk, as if even the twitch of single muscle would tell him what he wanted to know. “Marks that have not appeared amongst my people for centuries. We almost started believing they are a tale for younglings.”
“So, we are mates? Is that what you are telling me?” At her question, Fern blinked once very slowly. “Okay, let me rephrase that. Does having mating marks like mine bother you?” Iris held her breath, fully expecting him to say he hated the idea. To her surprise, Fern smiled, and his entire face softened.
“No, Iris. It doesn’t bother me at all. This is a blessing beyond anything my people could’ve hoped for. I am honored you chose me.” Those words made her brain screech to a stop, but the cock she couldn’t stop glancing at twitched again.
“Is there something we can do about it?” Squirming, Iris did her best to keep looking above his shoulders.
“No, I just–”
“Okay, good,” she spoke over him. “Now let’s finish what we started, and we can talk about the mating symbols thingies later.”
“Are you sure?” Fern clenched his fists as if holding himself back from grabbing her. “There is no going back after this.”
“Fern,” Iris decided she’d had enough, and honesty was the best policy before she turned into a begging, blubbering mess. “If you don’t get inside me right now, I might actually die right here in this dingy cave.”
She expected him to throw himself at her as intense and crazed as he’d been a moment ago. To her surprise, Fern placed his hands on her face, caressing the soft skin of her cheeks, before trailing them slowly down her neck towards her chest. With all the patience of a saint, his fingers glided over her skin. Gently cupping her breasts and rolling her hard nipples between his fingers, he groaned in sync with Iri
s and continued his exploration of every dip and curve of her body. When his fingers reached her belly and stopped at the top of her panties, Iris lifted her hips slightly, wordlessly begging him to touch her where she needed him.
“You are such a passionate creature, Iris.” Giving in to her demands, Fern cupped her core, the heel of his palm pressing on her button while his fingers made circles at her entrance.
“More.” Iris knew she sounded and acted desperate, but she had no control over her body or her reactions. All she knew, ever since Fern kissed her, was him.
Fern removed his hand and the cold air that replaced it made goosebumps cover her arms and legs. Iris opened her mouth to yell at him to stop playing games, but the tearing of fabric left her gaping at his smiling face as he ripped her panties to shreds. She barely had a chance to take a breath before he grabbed her thighs, spreading them wider, and pushed his broad shoulders between her legs. Still holding her captive with his gaze, he buried his face in her core, and his tongue worked her expertly.
Iris arched her back, almost pushing him away when he ate her like a man dying of thirst in a desert. Unable to maintain eye contact any longer, she threw her head back and buried both hands in his hair. Holding him between her legs, her hips gyrated, riding his face. The sounds he made, something between a groan and a growl, drove her insane.
One of Fern’s hands stayed on her thigh, holding it in a bruising grip, while his other hand found its way to her opening. Two thick fingers entered her at once, and pressing her heels on Fern’s back, Iris arched her body so high that only the crown of her head touched the ground. Fern moved with her, not losing his rhythm or the intensity of his sucking, nipping, and licking. When he inserted a third finger and gently nipped at her button with his teeth, Iris exploded. Like from a distance, she heard herself screaming Fern’s name, but she floated in such ecstasy between the bursts of colors that she couldn’t be sure if the screams were real. After what felt like an eternity, she slowly came down, and she realized that Fern hadn’t moved away from her core. He still had his face between her legs, giving her outer lips slow, sensual licks and placing soft, gentle kisses on the inside of her thighs.
When Iris fully relaxed from the high of the pleasure, he crawled up her body until his cock nestled between her swollen folds and started gliding through them, lubricating himself from her orgasm. Iris had no strength left to move, so she wrapped her arms around Fern’s neck and pressed her face on his shoulder. Pulling his hips back far enough so that the tip of his cock throbbed at her entrance, Fern gave his hips one powerful pump and filled her to the brim in one push. Her walls stretched and pulsed around his wide girth, trying to accommodate him, but Fern gave her no time to rest. As soon as his hips connected to hers, he pulled back and slammed back inside her, all the way to the root.
“You feel so fucking good,” he growled through clenched teeth, then he grunted and moaned with each pump of his hips.
Soon the sound of skin slapping skin echoed through the cavern, adding to Iris’s delirious state. She’d never experienced something this intense in her life. It felt like Fern was entirely inside of her, not only physically with his cock that pumped in and out of her driving her insane. She could also feel him deep within her soul. Like a constant presence that she wasn’t aware of until now, his beautiful life essence glowed as it linked with hers. The pressure built in her lower belly again, more intense, more powerful than ever before. Iris wasn’t sure she would survive it, the pleasure so intense it bordered pain. If my heart stops, what a way to go, she thought in delirium. All she could do was cling to Fern and moan, whimper, and scream. Fern kept going, each thrust of his hips feeling like he was going deeper and deeper inside her.
“Cum for me Iris. Let me feel you milk my cock,” Fern growled above her.
Iris kept moaning and calling his name, unable to form a sentence if her life depended on it. Then Fern’s fingers were tapping on her button at the same time as his sack slapped her ass. On the third tap, he pressed harder, and Iris screamed his name so loud that her voice cut off in the middle of it, unable to hold through. As soon as her inner walls clamped around him and pulsed, a mighty roar sounding like her name shook the ground beneath her and warmth bathed her insides as Fern pulsed inside her. It lasted long moments, but eventually she relaxed and her body molded to Fern’s. He kissed her neck, his soft, full lips feeling cool on her fevered skin. With a faint smile, Iris fell asleep.
Shuffling feet woke Fern. He tightened his arms around Iris, pulling her closer and curving his body to hide her from view. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Darion walk into the cavern wearing a gloomy expression.
“What’s wrong?” His brain went on full alert, and Iris stirred in his arms.
“Couple of things actually.” Without sparing him a glance, Darion walked up to the cloak that was crumpled next to the jutted rock where Fern had placed Iris at first and snatched it off the ground. “One: If I have to listen to you two humping like rabbits often, I might let the shadow kill me.” He dropped the cloak next to Fern without looking in their direction. “Cover her please, I’m not dead yet, so a beautiful naked woman will have an effect on me, and I don’t want to fight with you right now. We have bigger problems.”
Grabbing the cloak, Fern placed it over Iris, and she wrapped it tightly around herself before sitting up and turning to look at Darion with evident humor. Fern shook his head, but his lips twitched at the corners before he managed to hide it from her.
“Thank you, Darion.” Iris winced at the soreness in her throat, and a blush crept up over her cheeks. “We were quite loud, huh?”
“You think?” Darion tried glaring at her, but when he saw her awake and talking instead of deathly pale and unconscious, his gaze softened.
Iris giggled before slapping a hand over her mouth.
“I blame it on the elf.” She pointed an accusing finger at Fern and Darion laughed at the grimace Fern made at being called an elf.
“What are these bigger problems?” Grabbing his still wet pants, Fern struggled to put them on.
Iris hummed a song under her breath, and her thumb moved to touch the tips of her fingers. Both Darion and Fern stopped and stared at her like she had grown a second head. She ignored them, letting her magic build in her chest. After a moment, she lifted her hand and wiggled her fingers towards Fern’s pants. A purple mist sparkled in the air, and the pants were dry in Fern’s hands.
“Is that how you always bring out your magic?” Darion asked, awe clear in his voice.
“It’s the easiest way.” She shrugged her shoulder as if she didn’t just manipulate energy.
“That was beautiful.” At Darion’s sigh, Fern shoved his legs in his pants and jerkily tied them.
“The problems, Darion. Not my mate!” He glared at his friend. A snort escaped Iris, and at his narrowed look she gave him an innocent smile. “It won’t work, Iris. There is not one innocent bone in your body, woman!”
“The faction that separated from the hunt because they still wanted to follow Lazarus’s plan are in the caves, too.” All the humor fled, and Iris and Fern stiffened at his words.
“Did you see them?” Fern grabbed Iris’s hand, pulling her up to stand.” Go dress!” He pushed her gently towards her clothing. “How many of them are there? And where exactly are they?”
“A few caverns to the right. There are many just like this one, only with no lakes. We were lucky to find this one as soon as we walked into the caves. The damn place is a labyrinth.” Placing his hands on his hips, Darion frowned at the ground. “About twenty of them, maybe…”
“Oh my God? Twenty?” Now dressed, Iris joined them where they stood near the lake.
“Don’t worry, Iris. Nothing will get to you, I promise.” Fern tried to soothe her and reached to pull her into his arms.
“Really, elf!” She smacked his hands away, making him frown. “You keep saying yourself that I’m not human. I’m not worried about a bunch of elves. I
kept the damn shadow thingy away to save your ass, didn’t I? I’ll send their assess flying just like I sent him.” She jabbed her thumb in Darion’s direction, making him grin from ear to ear.
“Oh, I think I will enjoy the rest of this journey. Especially now.” Throwing his head back, Darion laughed while Fern glared at him.
“We are not elves!” Clenching his jaw, Fern pushed the words through his teeth, making Iris grin.
“You sure look like one, though.” She batted her lashes at him. “Pointy ears and all.”
Fern couldn’t keep up with his frown, so he gave up and just smiled at her. “I never once thought my life would be easy from the first moment I met you.” He chuckled, shaking his head.
“Alrighty, what’s the plan?” Iris shook her hands next to her body like a fighter preparing to throw punches. It made both Darion and Fern laugh.
“We do our own thing and avoid them.” A plan formed in Fern’s mind. “Since Darion knows where they are, and he said himself the cave is like a labyrinth, we will just go around them.”
“Well—” Darion started, but Fern wasn’t finished. He had to protect his mate whether she liked it or not.
“Unnecessary risks will not be taken. Ivy told Iris that she would find the first secret here. Maybe they know about it, and they’re waiting for us. We will not allow them an opportunity to mess with our mission.” Fern sliced the air with his arm as if there was no room for debate.
“Technically, it’s my mission.” Iris pointed out. “You two are supposed to be guides.”
“I...umm...” Darion shifted uncomfortably, rubbing his neck with his hand.
“Iris, please! You will be the death of me, woman. I know you are strong and can hold your own but please, let me do what I do best. I will not hide you from life, but please don’t put yourself in harm’s way if there is no reason for it,” Fern pleaded with her. “Why do you think Artemis and Ivy wanted me to go with you?”