Wicked Harvest

by Anitra Lynn McLeod

  She slid off his lap and stood looking at him. Her eyes were dreamy, slightly unfocused. She nibbled at her lower lip, then sat on the table before him, placing her legs on the arms of his chair, leaning back, as if offering herself as a banquet to him.

  Just wrapping his hands around her slender ankles caused him to twitch. He caressed his way up her legs, exploring every inch of her. Her every breath and sigh excited him. He slid the shirt up, exposing the full of her legs, and kissed the crescent moon mark on her thigh as if he could erase it and the pain it embodied with his lips.

  She sank her fingers into his hair, teasing the strands, stroking his ears, and subtly drawing his head farther up between her legs.

  Chur smiled and nibbled her inner thighs. “You are terribly impatient.”

  “And you love it.”

  “I do. But you must learn patience, my lovely one.” He grasped her ankles, lifting her legs up and apart, then plunged his tongue deep into her passage, sucking and chewing lightly, lifting his mouth to encircle her clit. She was deliciously wet, and her rich passion tasted wonderful. Pressing her legs back, he lowered his hands to her thighs to further open her to his exploration. Another surge pulsed through him when Enovese grasped her own ankles and held herself wide for him.

  Constricting bands of pleasure tightened around his body, urging him to take her, but he wanted her to climax first. He wanted her soaking wet with sweat, passion, and dire need. Never again would he take her desire for granted. Teasing her with his fingers drew deeper moans from her, causing her to wriggle restlessly. Unable to hold her legs so widely apart, she let go and lay back with a purr of satisfaction. When he darted a glance up, he discovered she cupped her breasts and twisted her nipples between her fingers and thumbs, using the slick texture of his shirt to enhance her movements.

  He took his time exploring her, tasting and licking until he’d discovered every sensitive spot. Her entire sex swelled and turned dark coral. Her clit would push through the folds of flesh for attention but then retreat when he acquiesced. Finding the right blend of soft and hard, slow and fast, proved most engaging. All his efforts pleased Enovese, who twisted and sighed, moaning ancient words of lust and encouragement. When he parted her swollen coral lips, exposing her straining clit, then flicked the rough side of his tongue, then the smooth backside over her clit, she arched her back and climaxed. Her thighs clamped around his head, but he lifted his hands, forced them apart, and continued to tease around her quivering passage. When the initial orgasm retreated, he seized on her clit again.

  Enovese lifted up from the table, gasping and trying to push his head away. He refused. She struggled but only angled herself better for his mouth. He sucked her clit between his lips, flicking his tongue over the trembling flesh until another strong series of contractions washed over her.

  Chur discovered tremendous satisfaction in pleasing her. His cock swelled and twitched, wanting to know the slick heat and wetness his mouth had created. He stood, pushing the chair back with his legs, then gazed down at her.

  Her eyes were half open, her lips softly parted, her skin flushed a delicate pink. Her harvest-colored hair spilled around her head and all over the table in disarray. Some strands were still wet from their shower and contrasted the lighter strands, giving a depth to her tresses, as if her hair were alive.

  She lifted her hands to him as if to draw him near.

  “Lift your hands above your head.” His voice sounded rough with need.

  “As if I surrender?”

  He nodded.

  Enovese teased her hands up her body, molding the fabric to her form. She lifted her hands behind her head, fanning her hair out before finally relaxing them. Her pale limbs contrasted against the darkness of her hair, and her jade eyes sparkled with mischief.

  Chur slid her down the table until her bottom rested against the edge. Her eyes widened when he placed her left foot on his hip. He knew she understood what he wished to do. He lifted her right foot until her leg pressed against his bare chest. An odd thrill possessed him for taking the sacrificial pose and using it now. To take the ritual and pervert it for his lust felt madly deviant and unbearably exciting. Just putting her into position twitched his cock, for his body responded automatically. His breathing fell into a steady rhythm. His gaze took in every detail of the sacrifice before him. She was not a virgin, but this was the first time they had come together in mutual passion in over three cycles, so it felt like a first time. The first time he had used the ritual to satisfy his needs.

  Chur steadied himself, placing his legs wide, nudging the very tip of his cock to the slick lips of her sex. In the ancient language he said, “By might of the blade I claim that which belongs to me.”

  “I freely give myself to you.” Enovese readied for the plunge by tensing her limbs.

  Chur did not move.

  Enovese lifted her head, confusion darting across her expressive face. Her lips parted with a sigh of surprise when he eased himself slowly inside. He would not rush. The lips of her sex parted around his cock, gripping him with a wet heat that contrasted the coolness of his shaft still without. An inferno of heat clutched the tip of him, compelling him to thrust, but all his training allowed him to hold steady and enjoy the contrast of sensations.

  “Chur, I—”

  “Do not speak, Enovese.” His gaze fastened on hers. “Feel me. Feel my cock pushing into you, stretching you, possessing you. Feel how cool my cock is compared to your hot cunt. Do you feel this, Enovese?”

  She nodded. Her eyelids fluttered as if she could not keep them open.

  “Close your eyes, Enovese, and just feel me.”

  She did as he bid, closing her eyes, rolling her head back, and extending her arms farther above her head. She was such a lovely sacrifice, beautiful in her surrender. Her nipples swelled, tenting the fabric of his shirt, the collar open to expose the delicate length of her neck and the fragility of her collarbone. His oversized shirt only enhanced her tiny form, the vision surging power through him. What she said three cycles ago danced in his mind; that he was a man with desires and needs. He was a man and not a machine to harvest on command. Taking the ritual and turning it to his passions empowered him in a profound way. All his senses opened to capture this moment. Entranced by the vision of penetrating her, he watched as he slowly disappeared within the snug heat of her body. On a deep breath, he could smell and taste her passion. His hands felt rough against the smoothness of her skin. The crispness of his body hair stroked against her.

  For a brief moment, he was within her body, feeling himself within her at the same time he felt his cock stretching her cunt. As soon as he captured the sensation, he lost it. But that singular feeling stayed with him as he pressed fully against her, burying himself completely.

  Enovese arched her back, tilting her hips, taking just a bit more of him within, giving him another flash of sharing the dual sensation. When he caught Enovese’s gaze, the awareness flooded him again. Somehow, locking his gaze to hers helped him access this amazing connection and hang on to it far longer.

  Enovese must have felt it too for her eyes went wide, then focused sharply with his. When he tilted his head, questioningly, she nodded, and the sensation grew more complete. He was himself, separate and apart, but he was also her, separate and apart. Erotic and dizzying, he held tightly to her upraised leg yet felt his calloused hands against her flesh as if against his own. The intensity, the connection, grew as they moved slowly, almost dreamlike against each other. Flicking a finger across her clit shot electricity along every nerve in his body. When she cupped her breasts and twisted her nipples, he felt it in her nipples but also his own.

  When he looked between their bodies and saw the brand upon her leg with his eyes and her looking through his eyes, he knew then the full of her pain and shame. In a bright blast, he understood all of her emotions about her forced role, her envy at his until she, in turn, saw his role through his eyes. At that moment, they fully exposed thems
elves to the other and a mutual empathy connected them far beyond the physical. He knew why she wished to bond with him; she knew why he simply could not.

  Chur now fully understood how much his treating her like a yondie had hurt her emotionally. He’d stripped away her pleasure and degraded her into nothing but a body with conveniently placed holes. Feeling his actions, through her, shamed him in a way no verbal thrashing would. If he could, he would take those three cycles back. Since he couldn’t, he showed her through his eyes that he would never hurt her that way again. Once they accepted the emotional gulf between them, their attentions returned to the physical connection.

  Breathless, stunned, he rocked deeper, knowing the sensation of his cock and her cunt. An orgasm swept up through her into him and back to her again. Where he thought he would never know a climax as intense as the one he’d experienced within her mouth after the Harvest, it couldn’t compare to the concentrated ecstasy that now galvanized his body and hers. Chur experienced all aspects of his orgasm and hers, every sensation in his body and hers in a simultaneous dual conscience. Unable to take any more, he closed his eyes, breaking the conduit, and collapsed against Enovese.

  As they lay twined together, an odd emptiness caused a crushing depression. So intense was the loss that tears welled in his eyes. Shocked, embarrassed, he wanted to hide. Below him, Enovese took a shuttered breath. He realized she felt the same loss as he. Chur wrapped her up in his arms and lifted her from the table. He took her to the padded chair in the main room. After he curled her into his lap, they sat twined together, silent in the shock of the aftermath.

  Never had Chur known such sensations, such a connection to another. Profound in the moment, it now left him bereft. Drained of both physical and mental energy, all he had left was a swirl of confusing emotions. Pressed against his chest, Enovese cried softly, her tears falling into the mat of his hair, then sliding down his flesh. He could feel each drop and all the emotions behind them, and he wondered if she could feel his.

  Chur cupped her chin, lifted her face to his, and kissed her mouth, not with passion but with a deep emotional connection. Enovese kissed him back, clinging to his shoulders, a tormented gasp torn from her lips to puff against his.

  He wanted to say a million things but could not form the words. After what they shared, words were no longer adequate. Deep down to his soul, he knew Enovese. He knew her torments, her passions, but most of all, the shocking depth of her unconditional love for him. Enovese loved him. She risked her life to be with him. She would do anything to help him succeed, even if such ran counter to what she wanted. It broke his heart, not only that he did not love her back, but that Enovese now knew he did not love her back. Chur wanted to say he was sorry, but how did one apologize for not having the same feelings?

  “Enovese, I—”

  She shushed him with a lingering kiss. When she drew back, she caught his gaze. “I knew the truth before tonight. I think, deep in my heart, I have always known that you would never feel the same for me.” Tenderly, she brushed away his tears, then stroked the scar along his face. “I am not angry, Chur, for now I do understand how much you care.”

  Again, she expressed her love by letting him off the hook with a gracious spirit. “Enovese, I can promise you one thing; I will do everything I can to help you uncover the truth about the paratanist selection ritual. It’s not much, but—”

  “It’s enough.” Enovese untwined herself from his lap and offered her hand. “You must sleep, for more training awaits you come morning.”

  Chur cupped her hand and stood, placing a kiss in the center of her palm. “Is there anything I can do?”

  Her lips parted with an automatic dismissal but then closed as she glanced away, considering. “I ask only one thing.”

  He waited, willing to grant her anything she asked.

  She took a deep breath and caught his gaze. “For the time we have left, until the next Harvest, I ask only that you be with me.”

  His confusion must have been evident.

  “With me as if we are bondmates.”

  He wanted to say no. He wanted to caution her that such would only hurt her in the end, when the fantasy must end, when he must choose another during the next Harvest. However, in her eyes he saw that she understood such was only an indulgence. Perhaps, he thought, such would give her the strength to move on with another when he was gone. Despite his reservations, Chur nodded his agreement and took her to his bed where they slept twined together pretending they would be this way forever.

  19

  Enovese woke wrapped in Chur’s arms. For a moment, she reveled in the sensation that she was his bondmate and in her rightful place. Reality intruded when she knew she must rise, prepare his meal, his gear, and send him off for another day of training so that he could win the challenge and thus choose another. Refusing to worry over the future, Enovese rose determined to enjoy what she had now.

  As she performed her chores, she thought back to last night and the connection she’d shared with Chur. Alone, she’d split her attention between her body and his, but not where she could feel both simultaneously. When she had looked into his eyes a line of energy flowed between them. Shocking yet powerful, wonderful, and then terribly painful when the connection abruptly ended. She had touched something ethereal only to be dumped unceremoniously to the ground. She grieved for the loss and then for the knowledge she had gained. She now knew Chur did not love her, but she also felt within him a hidden emotion, something that Chur seemed oblivious to, something that she herself did not understand. He had so thoroughly convinced himself that he could never love her that he believed it a truth. Below that conviction hid something deeper than the care he willingly expressed.

  As soon as she placed the food on the table, Chur sat up in bed, stretched, and smiled at her, a deliciously sensual smile, filled with a thousand lusty promises that tingled awareness all the way down to her toes. His tousled black hair only added to his untamed appeal. He flung the covers back, exposing his muscular body and his semihard state. With a crook of his finger he called her to his side, then pulled her into his bed, masterfully turning her to her back so he could peer down at her with his summer-sky eyes.

  Expecting a kiss, she tilted her face up, but Chur only glanced down at her, his eyes searching as he asked, “What happened last night?”

  “I do not know.” Sneaking a kiss from him, she then fell back and said, “As I told you, I’ve been able to place my awareness within you but not into my body and yours simultaneously.”

  Chur nodded; then his lips descended to capture hers in a kiss that expressed desire, care, and unbridled passion all at once. He pulled back, considering her. “I do not think we should do that again.”

  Enovese wanted to ask why but she knew: The unbelievable ecstasy of the connection hurt too much when broken. Softly, she said, “I did not cause it to happen, so I don’t know how to control it.”

  His brows lowered. “I think it came from me. I felt brief flashes; then I looked into your eyes and something clicked, locked, and then the energy flowed both ways.” He kissed her again, gently easing his way between her legs.

  “Perhaps the position helped the phenomena to occur.” Enovese wrapped her legs around his hips drawing him up until his cock rested against her slick sex.

  A deep chuckle rumbled his chest against her, causing his prick to tease between her lips and awaken her clit.

  “What?” she asked.

  He nipped her nose. “I like this way of discussion.” He lifted his hips, sliding his cock into her with one long, slow plunge, and sighed. “I think, from now on, we should have all our talks this way.”

  His full submersion elicited a purr, and she tightened her legs and the inner muscles of her passage. “It would make it far more difficult to argue.”

  For a time they simply rocked together, keeping their gazes locked. She could feel sparks of the connection, but nothing clicked and locked like last night. This was softer, a fr
agile thread, wrapping and tugging, not binding.

  “Why do you think the position had something to do with it?” Chur asked, rolling his hips around to better angle his thrusts.

  Enovese raised and lowered her hips, stroking her clit against his crisp pubic hair. Lost in the rising pleasure, she had difficulty answering his question. “Because I think your body undergoes a change for the Harvest ritual. To perform it without all the oils and drugs might open your mind to such a connection.”

  As the pacing of his thrusts increased, he punctuated each thrust with a word of his answer. “That…could…explain…” Chur was too busy kissing her to finish his answer.

  Her body sizzled with heat as they worked against each other. Beads of sweat caused them to slip and slide, and all conversation was lost between kisses and gasping growls. This was the first time she had felt Chur on top of her, the first time they had shared his bed in this way, and even though he balanced his weight on his elbows, his massive body pinning her aroused her on a new level. Captured and held below him, she felt vulnerable and small but very safe and protected.

  Chur increased the pace, his mouth seeking out her ear. Hot and moist, he breathed, “Talk to me in the ancient language.”

  Enovese urged him on with every lusty word she knew. The old language had a melodic fluidity that lent itself to such salacious pleadings. She knew he did not understand but half of what she said, but the tone, her gasping delivery between his powerful thrusts, clarified the meaning.

  Between ragged breaths, Chur echoed some of the words, placing them at the end of his driving thrusts, catapulting her to delirious rapture. Lifting up so he balanced on his hands, Chur pounded into her with all his strength and an ever-building speed. She thought from a distance his movements would appear brutal but for the way she wrapped her legs around him, urging him on with every bit of strength she possessed. She wanted to feel all of his masculine power expending into her, filling her, pressing her into the softness of his bed.