Sassaki chuckled bitterly. “The nymphs don’t know many things.”
All of a sudden, Sassaki heard footsteps outside. He got up and rushed toward window. “I have to go, Owen.”
“Will you come back?” Owen asked him.
Sassaki hesitated. He wanted to say yes, but he didn’t think it would be a very good idea.
“Is it hard for you to sneak in here?” Owen prodded. “Maybe we could meet on the shore after I feel better.”
Sassaki’s heart leapt at the thought of his mate giving him such a chance. He could not push Owen away. In the end, he was just a beast, one who yearned for his mate. Selflessness paled in front of that need. “I will come again,” he answered.
“Promise me,” Owen insisted, giving him an earnest look.
“I promise,” Sassaki answered. After a moment of indecision, he turned back and pressed a quick kiss on Owen’s forehead. With that goodbye, he fled the room, never once looking behind.
Owen watched the strange man go in a mix of shock and unsettlement. He did not know what to believe anymore. While Sassaki had been here, everything seemed to make sense, at least to a certain extent. The way Sassaki spoke made this odd world feel more real, less crazy. After all, Connor disappeared mysteriously, and the explanation could very well lie in the existence of another world. And Sassaki looked so handsome, in his strange, outlandish way. Green scales lined the skin of his neck, and Owen had barely refrained from touching them or sinking his fingers in the man’s long green hair.
Even as he thought this, Owen realized how crazy his musings were. Left alone in his room, he couldn’t help but wonder if he wasn’t dreaming the whole thing. Perhaps he’d hit his head while in the desert. There were plenty of snakes there, right? Perhaps he was blowing their size out of proportion and imagining all the water here out of sheer thirst. And Sassaki could very well be a daydream, as well.
He was working himself into a real panic when a woman entered the room. He thought he remembered her from someplace but couldn’t figure out her identity.
She spoke to him, but Owen didn’t understand a word. He blinked and shook his head. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
The woman frowned and repeated her sentences, a bit slower. Naturally, Owen didn’t grasp their meaning, so he just shrugged. Couldn’t she tell he didn’t know their language?
Apparently, she could indeed tell, because she pressed her hand to her chest and said, “Hannah.”
She did the same to him and stated inquiringly, “Owen?”
It was obviously an introduction of sorts, and when she spoke, a flash of memory passed through Owen’s mind. “Right. Yane said you were going to look after me.”
It was very strange to remember the scene now. It felt bizarre, just like his meeting with Sassaki had been. Seeing Hannah served to thrust him once more in this strange reality. She looked somewhat similar to Yane, sharing his dark blue hair. Her eyes were green, though, and her facial features completely different. If Owen had to guess, he would bet the slight similarity stemmed from them both being water nymphs.
“I’m very confused,” he admitted, even if she didn’t understand him. “This is all so new to me.”
If he was completely honest to himself, it went beyond the sea snakes and the new world he found himself in. A lot of it came from the odd warmth he sensed in his chest whenever he thought of either Yane or Sassaki. He didn’t know what it meant, but what suspicions he did have made his brain hurt.
Hannah petted the bed and forced Owen to fall back against the pillows once more. She spoke softly, her voice gentle and soothing. A warm trickle of some liquid slipped over Owen’s forehead and face. Whatever she was doing, it made Owen feel better. Her words, while incomprehensible for him, gave him a measure of comfort when nothing made sense.
Owen closed his eyes and allowed her to care for him. Soon, Owen fell asleep in the arms of the new friend he didn’t quite understand.
Chapter Two
Alcharr flew through the dark night, his wings unerringly carrying him to his destination. Beneath him, Uli’s plague lands rose, looking even gloomier at night than they did in the day.
A few years back, Alcharr wouldn’t have come here to save his life. He was among the lucky few who didn’t suffer too much because of the flood. His people, the Golden Eagles, lived in a city high above the clouds. When the waters came, they’d retreated there to their flying fortress. Even when the high temperatures made it more and more unbearable for the eagles to live there, his people still avoided this place. But now, the plague lands had become a sanctuary, a sanctuary for his impossible love.
Alcharr spotted the accorded meeting spot and landed next to the one surviving tree in the endless, depressing marsh. It was the last survivor of a once lush forest and the only spot he and his lover could come to hide away from the world.
From beneath the heavy branches of the tree, a shadow emerged. “You came.”
Alcharr stepped closer to the man, taking in the beloved features of his lover. “Of course I did. When have I ever missed our meetings?”
Yane gestured him to sit down. The solidity of the ground was questionable in the plague lands, but the huge tree kept them safe with its unbreakable roots. “I heard about Valderr. I’m so happy you found your brother.”
Alcharr nodded. His young sibling meant the world to him. But an evil part of him regretted the fact that Valderr had not stayed away. Because of Valderr, he would lose his lover.
“It’s not his fault,” the other man said, obviously guessing his thoughts. “It’s not yours, either.”
Alcharr pulled his lover close and wrapped his wings around Yane. “I know. I just wish I didn’t have to choose between the two men I love most in this world.”
He closed his eyes as he buried his nose in his beloved’s dark blue hair. What would happen if they eloped? What would everyone say if they found out the crown prince of the Golden Eagles had fallen in love with his brother’s fiancé?
Their two peoples were against them. It shouldn’t have mattered, but Alcharr was the first son of the eagle royal family and therefore, required to provide heirs. His younger sibling didn’t have that duty, and as such, could be thrust in a fruitless union. At the same time, Yane was the water nymph amongst the leaders of dryads. As such, he ended up as the only one who the dryads would agree to marry off to another man.
Essentially, both Valderr and Yane were expendable to the two royal families, tools to cement the alliance between their lands. And Alcharr was forced to impotently watch as both his little brother and the love of his life were pushed into a marriage of convenience.
His brother’s kidnapping had endangered the alliance. It was still a mystery as to who exactly arranged Valderr’s disappearance. Valderr hadn’t been able to tell them much. He hadn’t seen the men who’d stolen him from the palace, only the slavers who’d sold him to Malius, the governor of Almareya. All of those identified by Valderr had been punished, but the root cause remained an uncomfortable mystery.
And in spite of it all, Alcharr’s main worry still rotated around the man in his arms. Yane’s hands clenched into fists in Alcharr’s shirt. “If only I wasn’t a nymph…Then I wouldn’t have to marry your brother.”
Alcharr broke the embrace and forced their eyes to meet. “Babe, it’s not your fault either. They’re the ones who don’t value you.”
Alcharr still could not understand how the dryad nation could not see how special the water nymphs among them were. The nymph gene was a latent one and appeared very rarely in an otherwise normal dryad family. But while a dryad’s affinity with nature gave him or her high fertility rates, a nymph didn’t have the same luck. The high water percentage in their body made their seed or eggs useless for procreation. For that reason, nymphs had become cannon fodder in the Dryad Kingdom’s war against the wyrms. Certainly, the power over water that all nymphs boasted helped, but it didn’t make the situation right.
> Yane looked away. “Let’s just not talk about that now. I don’t want to think about the wedding.” He faced Alcharr once again. “Hey, about your brother. I heard he was saved by a human?”
The inquiring statement made Alcharr arch a brow. “Yes, actually. A Connor Spade. As is my understanding, the human just left to his world to visit a friend of his. Something with an O. I can’t quite recall.”
Valderr had been complaining about it just the day before. He’d insisted that their father, King Amadeus, take him to see Connor one last time before the human left. Eventually, Amadeus agreed and decided to go with Valderr himself. The king’s absence also gave Alcharr the time to meet with Yane.
“Owen?” Yane asked.
Alcharr nodded. He thought that indeed, the name of Connor’s friend was Owen. “Why do you ask?” It seemed strange that his lover would develop a sudden interest in Valderr’s supposed rescuer and he would know an obscure fact Alcharr himself didn’t remember.
“We found a human in the wyrm-infested waters next to Tanarak,” Yane explained. “He’s recovering from an attack now. He told me he was looking for a Connor Spade and his name is Owen Tomassen.”
Alcharr’s brows shot up. “Talk about bad luck. Just when his friend went after him.” Perhaps he’d have chuckled, but he knew Yane well and he could something was bothering his lover a lot. “Yane? What’s wrong? What’s on your mind?”
Yane shook his head. “It’s nothing. The human just concerns me, that’s all. You know how it is in Tanarak.”
Yes, Alcharr knew, and he hated that the man he loved had been forced to live and fight in such conditions. The only good thing about the alliance was that Valderr would not be expected to live in the border town, so most likely, Yane would be relocated as well.
“We’ll check in on the human,” he told his man. “It will take a while for Father and Valderr to come back. I can come with you to Tanarak.”
Yane smiled warmly at him. “Thanks. It means a lot to me.”
Alcharr gulped at the way Yane’s face lit up. Gods, his lover was gorgeous. Growling, he pulled his man into his embrace once more. “Come here, love,” he murmured. “I need you.”
Yane’s smile turned into a wicked grin. He crushed his lips against Alcharr’s, making him moan in delighted arousal. Alcharr demanded entrance to the other man’s mouth, and Yane gave it. Their tongues tangled in a sweet dance of passion, taking, giving, the want growing more and more. Their urgency increased as they greedily tasted each other. Clothes flew off, the desire to be skin to skin too powerful to contain.
Alcharr pushed Yane down and pressed kisses over his lover’s face. He licked across Yane’s ear, nibbling on the lobe. He could already feel Yane’s throbbing cock against his thigh, begging for attention.
“Fuck, Charr,” Yane growled. “Don’t tease.”
But Alcharr was drunk on Yane’s need and passion. He advanced down his lover’s powerful chest, lingering over the other man’s nipples. The tight buds peaked under Alcharr’s ministrations, as if demanding more. Alcharr bit down on the piece of flesh and reached out to tweak the other nipple, chuckling when Yane panted his name out. He very well knew Yane loved to have his nipples sucked on, and enjoyed driving the other man wild every time.
But soon, the light touches weren’t enough. Yane groaned and arched his back as Alcharr licked down his abdomen. “Yes,” he begged. “Suck me, Charr. Please.”
Alcharr followed the treasure trail over Yane’s belly to his lover’s genitals. The other man’s cock pointed accusingly at him, the weeping slit drawing Alcharr like a moth to the flame. Alcharr lowered his mouth over Yane’s dick, closing his eyes in ecstasy as the flavor of sex and Yane hit his taste buds. Gods, who could ever be stupid enough to berate Yane’s proficiency in the bedroom? The man was passion, sex, and sin, all wrapped up in a delicious package that Alcharr always loved to unpack.
He licked across his lover’s glans, tasting the pearlescent pre-cum beading at the top. Yane glowered down at him, blue-green eyes going almost aquamarine. “Charr,” he growled threateningly.
In answer, Alcharr licked over the hard cock, following the thickest vein with his tongue down to the very base of Yane’s dick. On instinct, he lapped across his lover’s wrinkled sac, tonguing the testes. If Alcharr judged after the sounds the other man made, Yane certainly enjoyed his ministrations. He spread his legs wider, giving Alcharr more space to maneuver. Alcharr took his cue to return to sucking on Yane’s cock. His fingers went to the hole just waiting for his invasion. Courtesy of Yane’s nymph heritage, his body was very flexible and required little prep. Still, Alcharr didn’t intend to take his lover without proper stretching. The last thing he wanted was to hurt Yane.
He bobbed his head up and down Yane’s dick, at the same time rubbing his lover’s opening with his finger. Yane moaned, trying to impale himself on the digit, but Alcharr held the other man down. Breathing through his nose, he continued to worship his lover’s cock, twisting his tongue just so in a whirlwind motion he knew Yane loved. Yane howled, breaking free of Alcharr’s hold. He threaded his fingers through Alcharr’s hair and started fucking his mouth. Alcharr let his lover do just that, loving the feeling of both power and surrender it gave him. He knew Yane was close. He could feel it building, hear it in the sounds Yane made.
Smirking to himself, Alcharr pushed a finger in Yane’s ass. Just like always, Yane’s anus greedily sucked in Alcharr’s digit. Alcharr unerringly found Yane’s prostate and stroked it. Just like that, Yane howled, pushed his dick one more time in Alcharr’s mouth, and came, sending his seed down Alcharr’s throat. He gulped it down, reveling in the slightly different consistency, appreciating every difference that made Yane who he was. Even if Yane disliked the things marking him as a nymph, Alcharr would always love them, just like he loved the other man.
Alcharr licked Yane clean, thankful when his man didn’t pull away. At the beginning of their relationship, Yane had always tried to avoid letting Alcharr taste him, self-conscious about his nymph characteristics. Gradually, that reluctance had faded, at least when they made love. Alcharr liked to dream that one day, it might happen outside sex games too. Of course, given the current situation, it might not happen.
But Alcharr pushed the glum thoughts out of his mind. He removed his mouth off Yane’s dick. “Ready?” he asked his lover.
Yane nodded, still looking dazed from the orgasm. Alcharr retracted his finger from his lover’s ass and spat in his palm. He pushed two digits into his man’s anus, barely able to contain a groan when Yane took them right in.
Impatient, he scissored his fingers, stretching Yane and preparing him for invasion. Yane moved with him, obviously as needy as Alcharr himself. “Come on, Charr,” he somehow managed to say. “Fuck me.”
But as difficult as it was, Alcharr still took his time. He added another digit, finger-fucking his mate with them until Yane went wild in his arms. When he could no longer withstand the sensual torture he was putting both of them through, he at last retracted his fingers and lifted Yane’s legs on his shoulders. Yane’s heels touched the tips of his wings, and the unwilling caress made him shudder.
Groaning, Alcharr positioned his dick at his lover’s hole and pushed. His cock slid home, the tightness that engulfed him almost making Alcharr climax on the spot. Yane closed his eyes and sighed in a mix of contentment and lust. Yes, it was like coming home, and Alcharr would have liked to stay buried inside Yane forever.
But the need for friction won out, and he started to move in and out of his lover. Yane urged him on, his groans and gasps the best aphrodisiac Alcharr could have asked for. The beautiful sounds mixed with Alcharr’s own pants and grunts in a sexual symphony. They moved together, Yane pushing his ass back in an attempt to impale himself deeper, Alcharr thrusting harder and harder. He knew Yane’s body like he did his own, and he aimed for the other man’s special spot, yearning to feel Yane come around his dick. Predictably, the previous orgasm gave Yane a m
easure of resistance, and Alcharr lost himself in the slapping of flesh against flesh, the feel of Yane’s wet skin under his fingertips, the almost liquid motions his lover made as they fucked. They simply fit together, like they’d been made for each other.
With Yane’s ass squeezing him so deliciously, it came as no surprise that Alcharr soon found himself on the brink of coming. Even his feathers sizzled with the energy of sex, and he trembled in need and ecstasy. It was better than even the first time Alcharr had ever flown, because he now flew at the side of his one and only.
His voice became a litany of his lover’s name. “Yane, Yane, Yane.” In turn, Yane answered with his own moans and pleas. “Yes,” he gasped. “Please, Charr. Please.”
Alcharr reached between their joined bodies and gripped Yane’s cock in his fist. He furiously started jacking the hard flesh, at the same time pressing his lips to Yane’s once again. Two pumps of his hand and it was all over. Yane screamed into his mouth, his nails digging into Alcharr’s flesh so hard they must have drawn blood. When his lover’s ass tightened around Alcharr’s dick, he saw stars, and with another deep thrust, he sent his seed deep inside Yane’s anus.
They collapsed on top of each other, lost in the afterglow and in their own affection. Yane winced slightly when Alcharr’s cock left his body. “One of these days, lover, I’m going to melt in your arms,” Yane panted out.
Alcharr squeezed Yane tight. “No, you won’t. No, you won’t.” He couldn’t even fathom the thought of ever losing Yane.
They stayed like that, embraced under the shadow of the one remaining tree in the middle of the marshlands. All too soon, the reality of their surroundings intruded in their little cocoon of comfort. As the wind started to blow, it brought with it the stench of the swamp and unknown beasts.
Yane sighed and broke away from Alcharr. With a little help from Yane’s magic, they cleaned up and pulled their clothes on. “We should go anyway,” Yane said. “I want to check on Owen.”
Hyacinth, Scarlet - Craving Owen [Tides of Love 2] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever ManLove) Page 3