Leeky Shortz looked straight at Talon. “Go on. Ya tell her what we decided. Apparently, she listens ta ya better than she does me. Stubborn as the day is long, that one is. Always has been. Even from the time she was no bigger than a healthy shit, she was doing as she pleased. Had both her parents wrapped around her little finger before she could even walk. Pathetic, I tell ya. Just pathetic. And—and anyway, our Ohfeelya don’t know a thing about ogres.”
Talon opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Ohfeelya beat him to it. “But I do know quite a bit about ogres, Uncle. And anyway, who else is there to ask? It’s not as if there are an abundance of us running around The Academy.”
Leeky stomped his foot. “How many times do I half ta tell ya, niece? Ya ain’t no ogre. Ya are just big-boned for a gnome, is all.”
Ohfeelya sighed. “I know you hate to admit it, Uncle, but anyone with even one good eye in their head can plainly see I’m at least half ogre. A heritage I happen to be proud of, just as I’m proud of my gnome side. Please give Mia a chance to ask what she wishes. I’d really like to hear what she has to say.”
The little rogue stomped his foot again. “I said no, and I mean no.”
Talon couldn’t help but grin as Laycee and Lavender moved across the room until they flanked Mia on both sides. And now with the Shortz ladies throwing themselves into the mix, he was infinitely glad he hadn’t entered the fray…yet.
Along with, Ohfeelya, the other two females crossed their arms, and glared at the men, all of the men, especially Leeky. “Ya can stomp around all ya want, ya daft gnome,” Laycee yelled. “But it won’t do ya any good. We’ll still be hearing our little Mia out, and that’s all there will be ta it. So hush.”
“But…” Leeky sputtered.
Laycee wagged a finger at him. “Don’t ya dare be ‘butting’ me, little mister. If’n ya don’t wanna find yaself sleeping with Pierced’s Bruno the barbarian doll instead of ya wife this night, ya’ll zip it and listen.”
Talon chuckled as the rogue instructor who put fear into men twice his size and was well known for never showing fear himself and never backing down from a fight, clamped his mouth shut.
Laycee smiled up at Mia. “All right, dear. What was it ya wanted ta ask Ohfeelya?”
Mia began asking a series of questions, but Talon couldn’t help himself. When Ohfeelya started talking her flat voice droned on and on, and his mind wandered while she addressed what Mia had asked.
There was something said about blood lines and deportment, eating habits, and even silly stuff like how tall was the stupid volcano, and was lava truly freezable or was that a myth.
He should’ve been paying closer attention, but couldn’t seem to help himself. Mia’s pretty pink lips moving as she asked one question after another brought back very vivid images of that soft mouth latched tightly around his cock. He hardened immediately, and the conversations going on all around him faded away.
All Talon heard with any certainty was the beating of his own heart as blood coursed through his veins further engorging his stiff, aching cock. He wanted nothing more in all of Albrath than to toss the princess over his shoulder, carry her up to her rooms, and fuck her so long and hard she’d forget there was even a quest to go on.
God Draka, how he needed her, would always need her, even long after his last breath had been taken. But would she ever let him touch her again after he snatched away her dream? After be forbade her to go to Oreeghan?
Guilt overcame him, and Talon took a deep breath as his cock shriveled miserably in his breeks. He shouldn’t let this line of questioning go on. He shouldn’t let her get her hopes up and then shatter them. Being a coward was one thing, but it wasn’t fair to Mia for him to remain silent while she stood before the entire room so hopeful, so proud. It was time to speak up, time to put a stop to this nonsense.
He took one more deep breath for courage and was on the verge of finally breaking his silence when the sound of Mia’s laughter stopped him cold.
“Uncle Leeky, I do so love you.” She bent down and kissed him right on the top of his almost bald head. “You might very well be a cantankerous old curmudgeon, but I do know you mean well. And I do thank you for understanding that I must go on this quest. Even if I have to go all by myself, I don’t mind. After all, I’d never ask anyone to put themselves in danger for me.”
Talon gulped. What the VoT? What had he missed when he’d been fantasying of having Mia right where he wanted her, naked, willing, and wanton?
Leeky shuffled his feet. “Now hang on there just a hiney hair, lass. There’s no need ta be talking about going off by yaself ta face a passel of ogres.”
He pointed toward Talon. “If ya heart is really set on going ta Oreeghan, the big guy will be right there by ya side. And he won’t let those nasty old ogres hurt ya. No, he won’t. And neither will Pierced. Cause if they do, the lot of them will answer ta me.”
Talon was going to kill him.
It had been all Leeky’s idea for him to bide his tongue in the first place until Mia had her say. And now it was too late. There was no way he could open his mouth now and forbid her to go. Not after her uncle had given his blessing.
Talon wanted to take Leeky’s head between his two big hands and squeeze it like an over-ripe melon as the traitorous little gnome grinned up at Mia as if he’d never even raised his voice in objection moments before.
“And while ya are at it, lass, feel free ta take Ohfeelya along with ya. It sounds as if she really does know a considerable amount about ogres, after all.”
He didn’t kill the gnome, though. He couldn’t. Not right now anyway, and certainly not in front of so many witnesses. So instead, he spoke up as he knew he should have to begin with. “Mia’s not going anywhere, and especially not Oreeghan. I won’t allow it, and neither would her father or her brother if they were here.”
The little chit had the audacity to turn her back on him and flick her wrist, as if to say, “Barbarian, your opinion doesn’t matter.”
But then she did speak. “You won’t allow it? What the VoT do you mean, you won’t allow it? My brother is paying you to be my bodyguard, Talon, not my keeper. It isn’t up to you to tell me what I will or won’t do. And if you ask me, you’re being paid more than you’re worth if you’re afraid of a few ogres.” She turned and faced him. “With or without you I’m going.”
“No you aren’t.” Though his voice was calm and controlled, his insides certainly weren’t. She thought him afraid? She thought him overpaid? As if he’d actually take a single platt more than his regular pay to do the job he’d agreed to do? But then, didn’t her words go to prove what he’d known all along? She might think she had tender feelings for him, but when this quest, this forced time together was done, she’d see him for what he was, what everyone else saw when they looked at him, the unworthy grandson of a traitor.
“Just watch me,” she hissed. “And if you try to stop me, I’ll bury the ice dagger my mother gave me deep in you traitorous heart instead of gifting it to the ogres.”
Instead of saying anything else, though, Talon threw up his hands, turned, and stalked off. At least now he knew where he stood.
But he still made a promise to himself. If he and the little pretty-pretty princess somehow managed to live through this—this fiasco they were about to embark upon, he was going to come back to The Academy and rip himself a gnome from limb-to-limb. And if they didn’t survive, he’d at least come back and haunt Mr. Leeky Shortz for the rest of his very unnatural life.
****
Mia glanced in the direction of the small dark pool surrounded by leafy, green palms, and then at the stiff, silent form of Talon Starkweather lying beside her and sighed. What wouldn’t she give for a nice long midnight dip and lovemaking session in the cool water? Especially since this might very well be her last chance to do so for a very long time, perhaps forever?
The scent of sweet, male musk mixed with the nearby lusciousness of the desert oasis’s foliag
e, and her pussy hummed with anticipation. God Draka, what she wouldn’t do to be straddling Talon’s lap in the middle of that pool right this second. To have his cock buried deep within her. To have her head thrown back and her eyes closed as he pumped into her so wildly they formed a little title wave of their very own.
The hot air of her quickly indrawn breath seared her lungs, but at the same time, the expectation of what she hoped would happen in the next turn of the hourglass had shivers skittering along her arms and legs.
But how was she to convince Talon to go along with her plan? There must be something she could say or do.
The sun had long ago set, but the night air was still unbearably sweltering, and though she was as naked as the day she’d been born, a tiny rivulet of sweat trickled down the back of her neck.
And not only was she uncomfortably warm and sweaty and hornier than she’d been in a very long while, but also the parched ground beneath their fur was hard and unforgiving to rest upon. She wiggled, shifted, glanced once more at the inviting stillness of the pool, and sighed.
She’d wanted to make their bed upon the soft green undergrowth surrounding the pond, but Talon wouldn’t hear of it. Something about bugs big enough to devour a grown man or some such nonsense. It was as if he were trying his best to make this entire second quest as unpleasant as possible and succeeding.
And by the time they’d finally stopped arguing over location and lay down for the night, the barbarian had shown no inclination whatsoever he’d welcome advances of any kind from her this evening, nor any time in the immediate future.
Stubborn ass man.
He hadn’t wished her goodnight or given her so much as a little peck on the cheek or a hug or even a smile.
As a matter of fact, just the opposite of advances or sexual innuendos had been the case. Not only did he make it blatantly clear he didn’t wish for any type of attention from her, but he himself had turned his back and lain as far from her as he could get and still be on the same fur.
She glared at his back, fluffed her pillow for the third time in as many minutes, punched it twice for good measure, and sighed, again. This time loud enough she was sure he could hear it.
What the VoT was wrong with the blasted barbarian? Not that she could blame him for being tired and cranky, for she certainly was too. After all, the day had been extremely long and tedious.
Once they finally managed to make their way out of The Academy courtyard, they’d ridden through four portals, a dozen small towns, and half way across a frigging hot desert before finally stopping for the night in the shade of the small oasis.
Mooktar, the huge volcano that housed an entire ogre nation, loomed tall and menacing less than a day’s ride to the west, reminding them all of their final destination. She shuddered and longed for the comforting embrace only Talon’s arms could afford her. But without a doubt, that wasn’t going to happen this night.
At least not as long as he was angry about whatever he was angry about. For if nothing else in all of Albrath was certain, the fact that Talon Starkweather was upset about something was abundantly clear. But what could it be?
The day being long, hot, and tiresome, and the thought of where they’d be tomorrow and what they’d be doing when they got there, certainly wasn’t just cause for Talon to ignore or turn his back on her. No one, not even she was looking forward to facing an entire passel of ogres.
Then why?
Why hadn’t the man she loved more than her very life said more than a handful of words to her all day long? And then only abrupt phrases like “Princess, turn here,” and “Princess, water your horse over there. Any first year squire would know that.” And worst of all, his occasional sneer of, “Seriously, Princess, you have to go again?”
It couldn’t possibly be because of what she’d said to him before they left The Academy, could it?
Mia shook her head. She hadn’t meant for her words to come out as they had. After all, Talon had been baiting her when, after listening to her plan, he’d still forbidden her to go to Oreeghan, hadn’t he? And she’d only been kidding, well mostly any way, in her response when she’d told him perhaps she’d bury the ice dagger her mother had given her deep in his traitorous heart instead of gifting it to the ogres. And to be silent and do as her brother had obviously overpaid him to do.
He couldn’t have taken her seriously. Could he?
Of course not.
So why then?
His whole demeanor had been infuriating all day long, and now he had the audacity to lay motionless by her side feigning sleep while she lay naked and needy?
She wanted to punch him harder than she’d punched her pillow. Perhaps then, the silent giant of a man would actually tell her exactly what had crawled so far up his ass it couldn’t seem to find its way back out again.
She didn’t punch him, however. She lightly shook his shoulder instead and whispered, “Talon?”
He didn’t react at all, not even a tiny slip in his too-even breathing pattern, and Mia’s temper flared. Jumping to her feet, she kicked sand on his thigh, then kicked him for real, once, hard enough it hurt her toes.
He sat up so quickly, Mia almost lost her own balance.
“What the VoT is your problem?” he roared.
She glared right back at him. “What’s my problem? I’ll tell you what my problem is. I’m tired of being ignored. It’s hot and I can’t sleep. I want to—to fuck, in the water, where it’s cool, and I want to do it now. And I want to do it with you.”
He looked at her as if she’d totally lost her mind.
At first, she thought he was going to ignore her again and turn away like he’d been doing all day long. Then the hint of a gleam lit his eyes, and he held out a hand. “So the little princess can’t sleep and she wishes to fuck, does she?”
He laughed. “Well, for God Draka’s sake, let’s not let silly things like common courtesy or asking nicely get in the way of what the princess wants. After all, we both know I’m nothing if not your loyal servant, Princess Amelia Zoe Cassidy Hammerstrike. Your wish, my lady, is now and will always and forever be my command. My body is yours to do with as you wish.”
Just to be stubborn, she almost didn’t take his offered hand at all—almost. But in the end, she grabbed his one with both of hers and hauled him to his feet. She rose on tip-toes and whispered close to his ear, “My request wasn’t meant as a command. I’m sorry if it sounded that way. I’m asking you nicely, Talon—no, I’m begging you. Take me to the pond and make love to me, please. Fuck me so hard I forget what awaits us both on the marrow.”
Before her next heartbeat finished pounding in her chest, her feet left the ground. He strode in the direction of the water with her nuzzled close to his heart.
“Be careful what you ask for, Princess. You just might get it,” he whispered back.
She wrapped her arms about his neck and held on tight as tingles of excitement scurried along her spine and settled deep in her belly. “I’m counting on it, Barbarian.”
She gazed into his too serious face and smiled.
He glared, then suddenly his hard features became sultry, scorching, and predatory, the heat in his eyes searing her all the way to her soul.
Mia held her breath and held onto him for dear life.
It took no more than six of his long strides to reach the foliage of the oasis. And the moment he stepped into the water and the cool liquid touched the tips of her toes, then covered her feet, and snaked up past her knees to the inside of her thighs, those same tingles of excitement burst into out and out pulsations of pure pleasure.
She floated there in his arms for a moment before he thoroughly kissed her once, long and hard then grabbed her legs and wrapped them securely about his waist.
“Hold onto me, Princess,” he murmured.
The sensation of hot, hard cock delving between her cool thighs and thrusting deep into her pussy was almost her undoing. She shivered in his arms while quakes of rhythmic pulsations took
her breath away with every stroke he slammed home.
Over and over, he drove in and out, fast and hard. And with each plunge, Mia’s clit vibrated and throbbed with wisps of contracting sensation. Cool, invigorating water sluiced up her back and tickled the space between her shoulder blades. She laughed with glee.
“Shh,” he whispered. “Unless you want an audience of Pierced, Ohfeelya, Pearl, and Alistair, we best be quiet.”
Mia giggled. “I don’t care if the whole world hears us, Talon. Oh, my God Draka, that feels so good. You feel so good inside me.”
It was Talon’s turn to chuckle, and the sound had Mia’s heart pounding even faster.
“So be it,” he murmured against her skin.
He maneuvered her until, with one arm, he held her belly to belly while sliding his other hand between them. “If you thought that felt good, then what do you think of this?” He slipped his thumb and a finger between her folds and tweaked her clit while riding her hard.
Mia bucked as lightning shocks of pleasure ricocheted off the walls of her pussy. It was on the tip of her tongue to scream don’t stop when he redoubled his efforts.
She couldn’t talk, she couldn’t think, and she wasn’t even sure she was still breathing as Talon stroked her clit to the point of euphoria so intense it was almost painful while driving so deep into her pussy, his cock’s head bounced off her cervix.
The muscles of the inner walls contracted around him, and the spasms overtook her at the same moment he shouted his release to the three moons of Albrath.
Pleasure leaked from every pore in her body and coated every inch of her skin. Even the simple act of breathing in and breathing out became an erotic event as their breath mingled and their hearts beat in unison. She closed her eyes and rested her head against his chest.
“Thank you, Talon. You have no idea how much I needed that.” She sighed.
Without warning, he dropped her on her ass in the pool of water, and she came up sputtering. “What the—”
The last thing Mia heard as Talon stomped back to their sleeping fur was, “There’s no need to thank me for doing my duty, Princess. Least we forget. Your brother has already paid me more than I’m worth for my services.”
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