by Jillian Keep
She didn’t want for it to end, but she clung to him tighter, needing the feel of his smooth flesh against hers. She wanted his scent, his sweat, to cover her. To drown her in that sweet, tangy odour, to mark her as his.
To make her his, as Varuj had claimed he’d done.
It was abrupt and intense, his whole body convulsing over her, his groin grinding into hers. His chest crushed down atop her breasts as he buried his full shaft to the hilt inside her and loosed such a flood of thick, creamy seed.
For all the negative contrasts she might’ve made between the two men, to see him so enraptured – so blown away with his first brush with carnal pleasure – inside her, there was no comparison. For his first time, Mae’lin had found a depth of satisfaction Varuj could never replicate. He was far too experienced to be so swept away by the simple act of gentle love making as Mae’lin was.
The elf just kept endearing himself to her.
She tugged him close, their hearts both pounding between them, and as she pressed her head to his chest, she smiled. She didn’t know what would happen in the future, but then, for that moment, it was perfect. It was true love.
A true love so satisfying she didn’t hear the rustle of the bushes nearby, nor the sound of retreating footsteps.
Chapter 44
Earlier that day…
Ala’nase sighted him leaving class, his own exotic robes flowing about his shoulders so beautifully, its gold stitching shimmering in the light. Nobody had anything on him in the entire academy, she thought. He was unique, confident, and obviously both talented and powerful, after the display of his she saw.
The glittering rings and gems on his fingers drew her attention, and she knew he must have quite the collection of magical trinkets to augment his abilities.
She straightened her shoulders and flipped her long hair off of them. She felt her stomach flutter with butterflies, but it was good. It made her feel alive, and her eyes widened with excitement. She was finally going to do this!
Ala’nase walked right towards him, not wasting any time as her smile grew. It was such a natural and joyous expression that made her seem so much prettier as she reached out to touch his arm. “Hey,” she whispered, moving in towards him. “Did you notice the professor’s robe was totally translucent today?”
The devilishly good-looking man turned his dark face towards her, a brow crooked high as he laid those curious eyes upon her. A slight smirk teased his lips and he came to a stop, rolling back his billowy sleeves as he looked to her full-on. “I would wager it a prank if she were more shameless about it,” his voice so rich with a curious accent she couldn’t quite place.
Still, it was enchanting, and it made her grin widen. “I knew someone as keen as you couldn’t have missed it,” she purred, touching along his arm. Her pulse was racing but she knew she wasn’t blushing. She’d luckily never had much of an issue with wearing her heart on her sleeve.
“I got a bit distracted though and kind of stopped taking notes. Do you mind going over yours with me? I know of a place we could go,” she added on, her voice taking on a seductive lilt.
His almond-shaped eyes dipped down over her, and very shamelessly he checked her out. It was the kind of moment she felt her preparations that morning had all been for. There was no way he couldn’t be impressed with what he saw, but when he smiled back at her and spoke again, it was with a curious shift in topic. “You are the human girl’s friend, no?”
Ala’nase tried not to sound offended. “Who, Firia? Yes. We met before, though, don’t you remember? In the cafeteria on your first day. We went up to the line and bumped into one another.” Anger started to boil beneath her skin, but she kept it under tight control.
She popped her hip, her slender hand grasping it and drawing attention back to her body, “Ala’nase.”
He repeated her name, the syllables rolling off his tongue so seductively. She never knew it could sound so good, though her own not-so-subtle motions didn’t fail to draw his attention, she noted successfully. “My apologies, madam Ala’nase. Of course I remember such a lovely elven maiden.” He reached out, took her free hand in his smooth grasp and bent forward. He put other elves to shame with his graceful motions as he kissed the back of her hand. “Varuj, at your service.”
Her hand tingled underneath his touch and she smiled brightly at his affection. He was gorgeous! And so gentlemanly. “Well that’s more like it!” she teased.
With a low rumble of a chuckle he rubbed his thumb over the backs of her knuckles. “I am on my way somewhere right now, however. Perhaps…” he looked aside, then back to her with a pleasant smile. “Would you care to meet with me later that we might compare notes, hm?” A singular brow arched at her quizzically.
“How do they say ‘hell yes’ where you’re from?” Ala’nase’s chest puffed up and her cheeks went a bit round with her proud grin. “Maybe after supper, before curfew?”
Meeting at night was always a good idea, she thought. It made everything so much more romantic and passionate.
“Sounds lovely,” he said with his deliciously masculine husk, and he brushed back some of his long, glossy back hair. “Shall I come meet you outside your dormitory?” he asked, and she noticed he hung a free hand off his curious silk belt, thumb tucked inside it as he studied her.
“I think that sounds great,” she agreed, quickly telling him precisely where to wait for her. She couldn’t resist letting her gaze trail along his body, drinking in that delicious form before smiling once more. “I can’t wait to see you again, Varuj,” she purred.
Chapter 45
Later that day…
The rest of the afternoon had been an utter slog, and that excitement in her stomach didn’t dwindle. She could barely sit through her classes, and she completely skipped dinner. Her nerves simply wouldn’t allow her stomach to settle enough to eat!
Instead, she washed her hair with a dab of the rare oil she’d managed to secret away from home, and put a bit of berry stain onto her lips. it made them darker against her fair skin, and she thought it was quite fetching.
Pulling on her elaborate top and pants, she checked herself in the mirror once more before leaving her room and walking down to the main entrance. She wanted to be seen on that handsome stud’s arm and could only hope there was a crowd coming in from dinner to gawk at her prize.
Surprisingly, she found the dashing young sorcerer waiting for her, a furrow on his flawless brow as he looked about, as if something troubled him deeply. The scowl only added to that impression, which was odd, as she’d never seen him do anything but smile so handsomely about the academy.
When he caught sight of her, though, it all but vanished. “Ah, madam Ala’nase,” he said so enticingly, and she caught a whiff of his aroma, like fragrant foreign spices. “So good to see you,” he remarked in the dim evening.
“What, did you think I wasn’t going to show up?” She grinned as she leaned in, her hand resting atop his forearm.
He gave a curious smile, then extended his arm for her to hoop hers through. “Women can be enigmatic like that,” he remarked as they began to stroll along, “at least where I come from.” She got her wish, as he didn’t shy from the main thoroughfare as they passed through the academy, the tall, dark man leading her along so confidently. “I trust your afternoon was as annoyingly dull as mine, hm?”
“No more see-through robes or handsome classmates,” Ala’nase agreed. She was just so thrilled to be next to him, to feel his touch on hers, but still her wit didn’t dim. Thankfully.
He smiled beside her, then let his gaze trail along her, up over her form so suggestively before returning to the path before them. “Unfortunately,” he concurred brazenly.
She noted that he was leading her towards the private, hidden grove. Something she barely knew of, and was amazed to find he had already discovered it on his own.
Her heart pitter-pattered in her chest. This was going even better than she hoped! Her hand wound around his for
earm a bit tighter, feeling out the muscles beneath that exquisite robe. “I save those robes for the second date, I’ll have you know. I’m not some slattern!”
It was a bit slow to appear, but the smile and low laugh came as he guided her into the moonlit hideaway. She couldn’t possibly fault him for being anything but gentlemanly as he helped her through the bushes.
“Tell me,” he asked, guiding her over towards a worn, fallen log, a lovely little makeshift bench of sorts. “What is going on between that friend of yours and the gangly fellow?”
Ala’nase’s eyebrow knit and she looked at him curiously. Why did he want to talk about Firia again? Her free hand balled into a fist, the nails forming little half-moons in her palm before she forced the tendons to relax. “They’re dating.”
There. That’d be the end of that. Firia was unavailable, it was as simple as pie.
“So why don’t you tell me a bit more about yourself?”
There was something a bit off about him. He didn’t seem his usual self, or at least what she could judge to be his usual self. She’d only encountered him briefly on a couple occasions, after all, but she’d gotten the impression of him being focussed, and always collected. Cool.
He sat her down then did the same for himself right beside her. “A young fellow with aspirations to greatness,” he said plainly, giving her a smug smile that was only partially kidding. “I’m here to climb my way to the top, crush my competitors, and then claim the world for my own. What else is there to say?”
“Well, when you boil it down to the basics, I suppose not much!” She crossed her legs, her arm pressed into the log and arching her torso towards him rather blatantly. “And I like an elf with drive and ambition.”
Something seemed to be bothering him, yet he showed no reluctance when he put his arm about her, touched her lower back and held her close. “I stumbled upon your two friends fucking here in the grass like rabbits earlier today,” though there was no humour in the way he said it. It sounded rather mean, instead.
Ala’nase’s nose crinkled. “Ew, poor you, I guess,” she responded lightly. She didn’t know how to take his strange, sour mood, but she loved the warm hardness of his body. “I guess we don’t get a lot of privacy around here…”
She thought on it a moment longer before giving a brief laugh. “She never even told me they’d done it! I was wondering why she wasn’t in our last class.”
He took his time, mulling something over before he spoke to her again. Even then it was only after eying her over a few more times, holding her in the cool night air, “You and her are – safe to say – the two finest female specimens this academy’s novice classes have to offer.”
“Well… thanks?” She smiled a bit, but he was being so strange. Why did he have to keep bringing Firia up? Why did he bring her to the place he’d caught her friend having sex with her boyfriend? It was rather unsettling, and she shifted a bit from her brazen pose. “Did you bring your notes, then?”
“No,” he said simply, just before moving his hand over and resting it upon her thigh. “Why bother? The real appeal is in you and I being here alone, is it not?” he remarked a bit crassly, stroking her inner thigh then squeezing it. He was leaned in so close it was hard to ignore the obviousness of his intent.
It was hard to ignore that fact no matter how good he looked, how good his hand felt, how much she wanted more.
But it was harder to ignore how wrong this felt.
It wasn’t at all what she’d expected and she couldn’t even really put her finger on why. Maybe it was just his strange behaviour, his obsession with her best friend. Whatever it was, she felt uncomfortable, and swatted his hand away. “Hey now. I don’t do that on the first date either.”
He looked down over her again, that expression of desire intense, but without the pretense of charm from before. It was a hard gaze, and he refused to budge his hand from her thigh.
Instead he leaned in, so close to her ear as he spoke lowly. “Why?” He inhaled through his nose, his nostrils flaring, “You’re ovulating. You’re quite primed and ready, in every respect,” he remarked so obscenely.
“Ew!” she groaned, pulling away and trying to push his hand off of her thigh. “Why would you even say something like that?” she almost shouted, all of her cool, seductive confidence stripped away. Alarm rose within her as she realized just how isolated and alone they were and she began to panic, her breath coming out as shallow gasps.
He let her thigh go and she was able to get up and away from him. “Where are you going?” he asked. “We haven’t even had an opportunity to get to know one another quite yet.” He inhaled the air around her, “I know you and that elf she was fucking had something at one time… some feelings perhaps?” He asked, dredging up memory of an old rebuffing that had hurt her ego.
It so flustered her she didn’t notice his fingers moving subtly in a spell. Though it was too late, and instead of reacting to him with fear or anxiety, she instead could only physically feel deep attraction to him. As if her every action was now divorced from her inner thoughts. “We still need to get to know one another deeper, don’t we?” he asked, and his words were delectable to the ears, no matter how much she felt otherwise.
She stepped closer to him, even as she tried to pull away. It was the strangest sensation she’d ever felt, and true fear began to knot her stomach. She didn’t tell anyone about Mae’lin, and surely… surely he couldn’t have been gossiping about her like that. He didn’t seem the type… she didn’t figure.
But then, she would have run from Varuj as well. Chalked it up to some weird, foreign custom and blown it off.
So why did she keep moving closer to him?
It dawned on her that it had to be the spell she caught him casting. But spells of seduction and manipulation of this sort were well beyond any first year magic student. It was the sort of stuff masters at the academy would’ve struggled with! It was near impossible to imagine this foreigner having such control.
“That’s a good girl,” he husked to her, his darkly delicious voice so ominous. “You were turned down, it’s hard to believe, hm?” He curled his fingers in the air, ushering her closer. “Turned down by a simpering, gangly fool like him, when you’re clearly both a luscious and powerful sorceress with more on the horizon than he could ever hope for.”
He was right, of course, but now that he said it she wanted to disagree. If this was a seduction spell… Her stomach turned at the thought, but she couldn’t move away from him. Not with that masculine, husky voice saying such delicious things.
She moved closer but she willed herself to run, to flee. To regain control of her body.
Instead she walked right into his arms. Those warm, welcoming arms coming up in under hers as he smiled toothily. She swore she saw fangs, but wasn’t sure what senses she could trust anymore. “You need a strong mate,” he mused to her, brushing some of her luscious hair away from her forehead. “A powerful one, who can see your value. And ride to the top with you, yes?” and the words were so overwhelmingly enticing. Not even in just a spell-tinged sense.
“Mate?” What an odd choice of words…
Yet isn’t that what she wanted? Someone strong, someone that would appreciate her… someone who would stand by her?
She tried to shake her head, to free herself of the disturbing thoughts, but it was no use. Whatever he had done to her was strong, and panic made her heart race.
“That’s right,” he said as he tilted his head, leaning in close, their lips about to meet. “And there is no stronger here at this academy than me, I assure you, Ala’nase.” Each word rolled off his tongue as such a husky growl of lust and desire.
She was helpless to his charms. Powerless against what magic he wielded, and regrettably, with his former charm somewhat returned, she felt much of the attraction was genuine. Not forced.
She both yearned for and dreaded the touch of his lips, and just as their mouths were about to meet…
The g
ong. It was her saviour. It carried even to the secret grove, and the powers of the academy whisked her away, back to her own room. The safety of her own private room.
Ala’nase gasped, spinning around and feeling regret strike at her very core. How could fate be so cruel as to yank her away from him? Her pulse was racing and her entire body seemed tensed and primed for him. For his mouth on hers.
She threw herself onto the bed, allowing her sullenness to seep in.
Chapter 46
The deep regret had its claws in Ala’nase, so much so that she nearly missed the sound of her door opening. Though so odd of an occurrence it was, that she managed to look her bleary eyes up and see the bizarrely out of place silhouette.
No student could’ve entered her room. Only a professor at the academy could’ve had the authority to breach the wards on her room. And they would only do it in moments of extreme emergency. Yet…
The door shut, and the light dimmed to a reddish hue as she saw who it was.
“We were so rudely interrupted,” came his seductive husk, and she saw as he nimbly undid the golden strings that held his tunic’s front open, revealing the dark, hard chest beneath.
Glee and terror combated within her as she stood from the bed. How could this be? She swallowed and even though she knew this wasn’t right, that he shouldn’t be here, she was so grateful. She wanted him, and her gaze followed his fingers, her tongue glancing across her lips nervously.
Ala’nase knew, deep down, in some untainted part of her, that she’d never do this. Never behave this way.
Yet she moved closer, all the same.
As he undid his tunic, exposing himself on down to his smoothly contoured abs, he reached his other palm out, cupped her cheek and trailed his thumb along her chin and lower lip. “I’m going to claim you as mine tonight,” he said to her with such confident assurance. “And from there forward, you’ll never need worry again.” He gave an almost gentle smile, though tinged with a bit of something else. “You’ll be tethered to me. Mine,” he repeated the word.