by Renee Field
“As you command,” said his friend, elegantly bowing low in mid-flight.
The mockery of that wasn’t lost on Tulon.
In truth, Tulon was surprised his friend had come at all. Their friendship went back a long time, but Rusty wasn’t known for his dependability or acts of chivalry. He had always been a loner like him. As a warrior of the Mage Pegcentaurs, he was highly flighty by nature.
The fact he was the only one Tulon had confided in about his current stallion or man predicament said a lot about the trust he had for him. After wandering alone in the forest for two months, he’d almost gone mad with talking to himself, so he hadn’t hesitated to rant about all that had happened to him.
Thanking the Saints that Rusty had been close, he prayed he had made the right decision. Then again, one glance at the sheer drop below the cliff informed him that he hadn’t had any other choice.
When Rowena screamed in surprise, Tulon breathed a sigh of relief. At least she was safe. He, on the other hand, was in the fight of his life. More trees moved toward him, edging him closer to the cliff. What could he do? The hairs on his arms stood on end. All of his keen senses told him the underside of the cliff wasn’t secure, but alas, he had nowhere else to run.
His arms spiraled backward as he tried to level himself, but it didn’t help.
“Need some help, buddy?” asked Rusty, his large wings buffeting Tulon from falling backward.
“That would be great,” answered Tulon, wondering what exactly he would have to do to ever live this moment down.
“It will cost you,” taunted Rusty.
“By the Saints, save him!” screeched Rowena.
“Stop kicking me, woman, or you will be sorry!” shouted Rusty. “This is one cantankerous woman you’ve asked me to save, Tulon. Are you sure you don’t want me to drop her? Then the two of us could go to Mount Atrophe for lots of pleasuring. Lady, if you so much as twitch that foot of yours, you will no longer be on my back. Am I clear?”
“Clear. Now save him,” demanded Rowena.
Tulon smiled. Even when she was faced with the unknown and her very life was at stake, the feisty spitfire held firm to her convictions.
“Should I save you, Tulon?” asked Rusty.
“That would be nicer than letting my bits and pieces be eaten by the birds,” replied Tulon, trying once again to get his footing on the cliff.
“In return for saving you, you will take me to Iris.”
“You know I cannot—”
Before he could finish that sentence, the ground shook beneath him and he fell from the cliff. Wind whipped around him as he gave in to the freefall and then two strong hands grasped him—Rusty’s.
Vaulting over his friend’s head, he mounted, holding tight to Rowena whose entire body shook with fear.
Tulon’s nose caught the scent of green grass before he spotted the lush meadow. A herd of Mage Pegcentaurs greeted them. That isn’t good. In their midst stood one awestruck Felicia. Her eyes were wide and her mouth gaped as she admired the four-legged magical creatures that commanded both the air and the meadows of the First Haven.
Thankful that the Dark Forest was behind them, Tulon let the magic of his homeland invade his senses. A sigh of contentment escaped him.
As Tulon dismounted from Rusty, Rowena threw herself into his arms. “What is it?” she squeaked in his ear.
“Did that woman ask ‘what is it’?” asked his friend.
Tulon quickly set aside Rowena. The last thing he wanted was for Rusty to get mad. He had always had a short fuse and once riled, he was hard to settle.
“Rowena, this is Rusty, my most trusted friend. He’s a Mage Pegcentaur,” said Tulon, as he forced Rowena to give a stiff bow. Thankful for once that she didn’t fight him, he breathed a sigh of relief.
“She is a humanoid,” snorted Rusty, “with pointy heels.”
“Sorry about kicking you. I was scared and confused. I’m not sure I follow what exactly you are,” said Rowena.
Before his friend and those around him could snort their disdain for her bad manners, Tulon interjected. “Rowena is a Maida woman from the land beyond the Dark Forest. Felicia, are you okay?” asked Tulon, as the young Betikhan moved toward them, thankful for the interruption.
She nodded, clearly too stunned to speak.
“Felicia is Betikhan and we were trying to get her to her kin, when the forest decided that they’d had enough of us,” sneered Tulon.
“Betikhan, did you say? We saw them two hundred wing beats away,” answered a young Pegcentaur to Tulon’s right.
“I saved her. She was trying to swim through the current. She must be daft,” said the young Pegcentaur with disdain.
“I am not daft, you hybrid!” snapped Felicia, who chose that moment to finally snap out of her shell-shocked state.
“Who are you calling a hybrid?” snarled the young Pegcentaur.
“Enough. Hilt, thank you for saving her,” said Rusty, eyeing the young Pegcentaur. “Tulon, Hilt is correct. We can take her to her kin if you’d like,” answered Rusty, “after you take me to Iris.”
“Iris does not want to see you,” snapped Tulon, shaking his head.
“Ooh, yes, she does. It’s your blasted stepfather that doesn’t want to see me,” answered his friend. “And does this woman know what you really are?”
If anything had been in his hand, he would have attempted to smack his friend. Discretion had never been one of his strong suits, but the last thing he wanted was to get into a discussion about himself.
“What are you talking about? He’s a man,” stated Rowena, eyeing his friend like he had two heads.
Before he could say anything else, his friend flashed into human form. Gone were his two large white wings, his horse body and half-man chest, head and arms. Tulon swore in all the languages he knew, which was quite a lot. Show-off! He eyed the tall, imposing red-haired giant who now stood before them.
“Oh my,” said Rowena, breathily, as she scanned Rusty’s body with keen interest.
“Is she really a Maida woman? Is her pussy as good as they say?” asked his friend, eyeing Rowena lewdly.
Instantly, Tulon rose to the challenge. Yanking Rowena to him, he turned his eyes on his friend, his tone anything but warm. “She is not for you.”
“But he might be able to—”
Tulon clamped his mouth over Rowena’s lips to silence her. The last thing he wanted her to admit to was her sexual itch that was screaming for relief. He brought her body flush to his. Angling her head with his hand, he set out to mark her as his.
When her two arms snaked around his head to tighten her grip on him, he plunged his tongue into her inviting mouth. She sighed in pleasure. Her leg wrapped around his, almost toppling them to the grass, as desire shot like an arrow straight to his hard, throbbing shaft.
A loud applause greeted him, causing him to release his hold on her mouth. When he looked up, all of the Pegcentaurs had flashed into male humans. Well-endowed male humans. Tulon snorted in anger, as he heard Rowena’s very aroused sigh of “Oh my”.
Setting aside a clearly stunned Rowena, Tulon moved to his friend’s side.
“She doesn’t know,” said Rusty, as he gripped his friend’s forearms in a warrior-to-warrior embrace.
Tulon didn’t want to admit it, but the idea of telling Rowena what he was terrified him. He knew he would see that mortified look on her face. As much as she had befriended Felicia, a part of her had kept her distance from the young Betikhan.
“Tell her. And yes, you will take me to Iris,” commanded his friend, walking away, his ass gleaming in the sun.
Tulon didn’t need to look at Rowena. He knew she was watching all of the men intently. That infuriated the blazes out of him. He didn’t want her looking at other men. Her eyes should only be for him. However, with a herd of primed naked men, some whose shafts were already jumping to attention with just the scent of the Maida woman, he couldn’t condemn her actions. But he certainly didn
’t have to like them. Or her, for that matter.
Running to keep up with his friend, he made him halt, knowing he had left Rowena and Felicia alone. Things needed to be said. And he didn’t want Rowena to overhear him.
“Rusty, I’ve been gone for over two years and, as much as I’d like to go home, I can’t.”
“Why not?” asked his friend, still trudging forward.
Tulon bowed his head in frustration. It rankled him that he would have to admit to being banished. “I was banished from the clan.”
“For what?”
“What do you mean, for what?” asked Tulon.
Rusty finally stopped to turn and look at him. “What did you do to your clan that made them banish you?”
All of Tulon’s hairs stood on end. He was angry. “I didn’t do a blasted thing to my clan. I was banished because I’m not a Centaur.” Silently, he thought about admitting that his stepfather had banished him because he looked too much like his father, but Rusty would simply snort “I told you so”. He had always hated Rython because the proud Centaur wouldn’t let him date Tulon’s younger sister, Iris.
“What are you talking about? You’re still a Centaur. You just haven’t figured out how to utilize the magic yet,” stated his friend in his no-nonsense tone.
“Easy for you to say. You can flash without a problem. When I flash, it’s either into a stallion or a man, never both.”
“It wasn’t always easy for me, Tulon. When we first met, I couldn’t fly,” admitted his friend.
“What?”
“That’s right. I couldn’t fly.”
Tulon ached to remove his breeches to have the feel of the crisp, green grass touch his body. “But you’re a Mage Pegcentaur. You fly and wield magic as you wish.”
“Yes and no. Now I am a Mage Pegcentaur, but it took a while for me to learn to harness the magic so that I could fly. And it wasn’t easy. I made many mistakes. Some very painful, but I never gave up,” stated his friend, turning his back to Tulon to move forward again.
“Are you implying I gave up?” asked Tulon, briskly moving after his friend.
“You said it. I didn’t,” taunted Rusty, jumping out of Tulon’s reach.
Chapter Eight
“I think I must be dreaming,” said Rowena, turning to find Felicia flanking her right.
“Then that makes two of us,” said Felicia. “You know, those men are really good-looking.”
Rowena turned to stare at the young Betikhan. “Don’t even think of having sex with one of them,” she said, mortified she had to mention that to Felicia.
“I didn’t say I’d have sex with them. I just want to play,” taunted Felicia, moving away from Rowena before she could grab her.
Play. That’s just great. She wants to play while I ache for sex. Then it dawned on Rowena that maybe this was all an elaborate hallucination brought on by her lack of sexual fulfillment. The degeneration of her brain cells had already started. That’s it. I really am losing my mind.
The sight of the naked men, all of whom were well-muscled in just the right places and very well endowed did nothing to quench her need. She wet her lips instinctively, while plopping down on the ground. What she really wanted to do was jump one of their bones—preferably one with a long, hard shaft. That bone will do the job perfectly. She grimaced at her own racy thoughts.
When Tulon plopped down beside her, she fought the urge to beat at him in frustration. It wasn’t his fault she felt like she did—emotionally a wreck. Tears fell unheeded down her cheeks.
On top of that, she could clearly see what Felicia meant about playing. In the wide-open meadow, everything was on display. There was no privacy, not that the Pegcentaurs seemed to mind.
And did I just really say that—Pegcentaurs! Really, I must be losing it. They don’t exist. It’s just another myth. Rowena thought hard, trying to formulate a scientific reason for what she was witnessing. They certainly looked real enough to her, but she was starting to doubt her own sanity.
“Don’t worry, they know what she is and they won’t overstep their bounds,” said Tulon, wiping away her tears.
His light touch sent a shiver of anticipation straight to her clenching core muscles.
“That little thing has a very skillful tongue.”
Immediately Rowena’s anger surged to the surface. “That’s disgusting. You’re disgusting. I hate you,” she said, standing so she could run away from him.
When he stood and grasped both of her arms and tossed her to the warm ground she fought him like a hellcat. She bucked, scratched and hollered at him. When he didn’t relent, but kept her pinned between his hard thighs, she finally stilled. Turning her head to her left, she watched as Felicia took a long, hard shaft of one of the Pegcentaurs deep within her mouth.
“Why don’t you join the line for some of that?” she spat.
“What I want is that pussy of yours,” taunted Tulon.
Rowena tried to buck him off her again. This is futile. They had already been down that long, hot, steamy path and it only left her aching for more. Oh sure, the brief climax had refueled her sex-crazed cells, but it hadn’t taken long for that itch to resurface with a vengeance. She most certainly didn’t want to meet bliss again only to have to deal with hell later.
When Tulon leaned over her, so that his wild, forest scent cascaded through her, she moaned from the heady, musky smell of him.
Two dark chocolate eyes seared her with their heat. His look caused her to blush.
“What I really want, spitfire, is to first suckle those breasts of yours until you are so wet I can slide my cock deep inside you so you know what it feels like to be taken, ridden and pleasured. But before I do that, I plan to lick that warm pussy cream of yours with my tongue. I plan to make you scream with wanting me,” he said, his breath warm on her ear.
His words did more to excite her than she thought possible. For once, all reason fled. Turning her eyes up at him, she notched up her chin. “I dare you,” she taunted, thinking, to death with the consequences.
Daring him was the last thing Tulon had expected from Rowena. He almost wished he hadn’t pushed her so far but he wasn’t about to back down from the challenge. This one excited him beyond reason.
The fact she did it knowing they were on display tantalized the beast within. Of course, the honorable part of him had no intention of taking her where every creature could spy on them. Truthfully, he didn’t like the idea of anyone else but him seeing her naked body. Sharing had never come easily to him and he had no intention of letting anyone glimpse a morsel of her silky skin.
“Do you know what you are asking?” He watched as her chest rose and fell. Clad in the tight-fitting tunic, the outline of her breasts teased him. He knew what they felt and tasted like and he didn’t like the barrier that separated him from her succulent buds.
Rowena didn’t say anything.
Great, the one time I’m hoping to be talked out of something and she’s silent, go figure. Mesmerized, he watched as she slowly nodded her head and licked her red lips. It was too much for him.
He groaned as he lowered his head—knowing he would claim her, here and now. Bringing the magic of his being to life, he shielded them as he kissed her, plunging his tongue over and over again into her inviting mouth. Her answering tongue dueled with his, spurring on the untamed part of him.
He felt her petite hands slide into his hair and goose bumps formed all over his sensitive skin as her fingers caressed his mane of hair. The sensation was unlike any other he had experienced. Never once breaking the kiss, he made short work of the hooks clasping her tunic together and in no time her bare breasts were molded to his hands.
Tulon loved how she moaned and writhed underneath him as he stroked both of her nipples with his fingers. Even though he shielded them from prying eyes, the sun and the light breeze filtered through his shield. Immediately, her nipples puckered to attention from the late-day breeze.
Moving from her lips, his hand
s lifted her breasts so he could feast on them. He took one deep within his mouth and suckled hard, knowing she felt the pull deep within her womb. Once he was satisfied that one breast had received enough attention, he moved to the second, loving how she arched her back, inviting his tongue to lavish unyielding attention to her sensitive peaks.
Even though she thought they were on display, she wasn’t inhibited with her cries of pleasure. That shocked him, while causing his cock to grow even more rigid. His stones were so tight with need, they hurt. Being tightly confined in breeches didn’t help matters. And before he knew what he had done, they were both naked. His magic was pulsing all around him and he was slowly losing control. Thankfully, Rowena was oblivious to what had happened.
When her small hand grasped his hard cock, he threw back his head in ecstasy. The feel of her warm skin on his was an aphrodisiac. The air around them all but crackled as his magic raced to the surface. Gritting his teeth, Tulon knew he had no choice. He had to have her. He wouldn’t be denied.
When Rowena spread her legs wider, her musky, wet scent caused his nostrils to flare. Holding her arms above her head, he moved lower, kissing and nipping her bare flesh—loving that she was on display for him. With his head nestled between her soft, brown curls, he stroked her clit. Her pussy was already wet and ready for him. Her cream was delectable and called to him. Opening her folds with his finger, he lapped at her nectar, wanting to prolong the moment for as long as he could, while enjoying the play of the game.
“More, Tulon, more. I can’t stand another second of it.” She moaned, trying to lift her upper half off the grass.
Pinning her arms to her side, he stilled her movements while darting his tongue deep inside her wet opening. She tasted like sweet, warm, fresh honey. He loved how her cream coated his own lips. It made him hunger for more.
“Tulon, please,” she begged and whimpered, tossing her head back as pleasure rode her.
This was the part he loved. Bringing a female to climax, watching as pleasure surfaced throughout her whole body. It was a gift. It would be his gift to her and this time he planned to welcome it. He stroked her wet opening with his fingers. Pebbling her nub until it hardened and ached, he watched with male satisfaction as her body reached the precipice and then got swept away.