by Treva Harte
He smiled at her instead. Twisted one silvery strand of hair against his wrist. It stood out like a manacle against his skin.
“I’m fortunate to get you, Lady Ara.” He kissed her skin. It was cool against his lips. Damn, he was already burning and he’d walked out in icy rain. “You’re more beautiful than all the others.”
It was true. He’d never thought to say such a thing about a female not of his kind. Despite everything, he wasn’t one of them. Perhaps he’d been among these people too long, though, because now he thought her unusual beauty was attractive nonetheless.
“You have little to compare me to. There are only three of us. At least only three that are the right age for giving favor.” Ara paused. “And Maryam. We’d forgotten her.”
“It’s a small keep.” He drew her hair out, watching it continue to grip his arm. It was soft but it held. The silky stubbornness of her hair reminded him of the woman.
There were only four that would matter. How important were four women really? They were just the enemy. The men of their lands came to destroy his, to plunder in hopes of buying his country’s women. Hadn’t his own mother been raped by them? The enemy wanted to enjoy fine living at the cost of his people’s deaths. What they didn’t kill directly, they wiped out with their diseases and strange customs. These women and all their people were the cause of his men’s suffering. Their illness. Their deaths.
He needed to keep remembering why he must destroy. Her sweet looks meant nothing. Her desires meant nothing. He had to do this. He had to strike quickly. Soon he’d be too weak and too disoriented to manage. He was dying. He might have a chance if he could just seize these women. Even if he did die, it didn’t matter.
There was no other choice. He must lull her until he could strike. Others, too many others, depended on him. But while he soothed her, he couldn’t get her pregnant with his child. That wasn’t the plan.
He watched the tendril of hair finally fall from his arm when he pulled back far enough. He could do what needed to be done. He would do it.
“Yes. The keep is very small.” Ara wondered what he was thinking.
There’s only four of us to present. With only Stefani to leave Bloomingdell to, at this rate. Unless, if all was fortunate, Ara had a baby this time…a girl baby at that. Ara wondered about the odds of that happening. Oh, Goddess. She shouldn’t be standing and wondering. It was her duty to try to make a girl baby. Quinn was giving her a quivering feeling, right at the pit of her stomach, but she did have a duty. She couldn’t hesitate or be squeamish. Besides, the quivering feeling wasn’t entirely unpleasant. “I suppose we are lucky to have the Eldress to advise us from the last generation.”
No one in our world has lived a long lifespan since the Great Explosion. And in our keep there were just five of us. And Stefani. Six in all. We need many, many more children. Quickly. Before it’s too late.
Ara stretched out her arms and pursed her lips. Surely that should be enough of an invitation for the man to begin.
But Quinn kept on looking at her. She thought he sighed.
“What do you want of me, Quinn?” Ara heard her voice shake. Goddess, don’t let her cry.
Little waves of humiliation and confusion rippled through her. Was she so lacking? Was this some strange male punishment for her bold words in public? What was wrong? She was offering her favor! In fact, she was practically begging for Quinn to take her. A man always accepted a lady’s favor. That was how the world worked. There were rules, Goddess take it!
“You.” Quinn’s voice sounded so far away. Lightning flashed, showing his face. A face that looked as remote as his voice. “I want you, pretty lady.”
Well, she knew what to do about that. Ara sat down on the bed, still staring at him, so remote from her. She lay back.
Then he swooped. Ara almost cried in relief. He was a man, after all. They would have intercourse. He took her legs, hooked them up over his shoulders. Goddess, she was so…so open this way! She tried to relax. Perhaps he needed her to be so vulnerable. The man seemed to require more of her than she’d expected from her limited experience. But even he had his limits.
She could hear his breath, harsh and fast. He was excited, looking at her spread open so. One finger tickled the roots of her pubic hair and she jumped.
Now. He’d take her now. They’d start the work of making a baby.
His mouth on her pussy made her shriek with surprise and…and something else. A something else that made her liquid with need and hot longing. A something that made her twist ferociously underneath his tongue strokes, trying to escape and seek more sensation. In just moments he licked her clitoris into a swollen, hungry bud. In a few moments more he swept up further inside and made her scream again with wanting.
“Quinn!” What was he doing to her?
“Ara.” His voice was breathless, too, but still had faint mockery in the tone.
“This isn’t…you shouldn’t…”
“Shouldn’t I?” He bent his head again, nipped the inside of her thigh. She could feel herself growing wetter. Goddess, he could tell that, too.
“Quinn, I’ve never done such a thing.”
“That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.” He spread open her labia, blew softly against her clit. Ara gasped, automatically clutching his head closer. Then she remembered and forced her hands away.
“This isn’t right.” She couldn’t remember why, since it felt so very right indeed.
“No? Then we can take turns. Wait a moment.” Ara blinked as Quinn’s long body turned, suddenly. His cock nudged slyly against her mouth. “See? You can taste me at the same time.”
“What?”
“C’mon. Have a nibble. Try.” His voice turned deep, rich with coaxing.
Nibble? Taste? She couldn’t! Could she? Ara leaned forward, her fingers combing through the coarse pubic curls. His skin was so warm to the touch, almost as if he had a fever though his cock stirred like a very healthy man’s. Her lips touched the smoothness of his cock, lingering at the tiny hole that was already awash with Quinn’s seed. His come tasted salty. His liquid salt tasted forbidden and exotic and naughty.
Oh my. She was starting to feel feverish herself. She stretched her neck forward a bit more, trying to suck more of this forbidden treat down. She let her tongue rest tightly against the ridge under his cockhead.
His indrawn breath against her pussy made her jump. Absorbed in her new explorations, she’d almost forgotten how his mouth and teeth and tongue could make her feel. The remembrance rushed back through her as his lips sucked at her already swollen clitoris.
She’d go mad! To save her sanity, she tried desperately to focus on Quinn’s cock, a cock that jerked eagerly under her own sucking. It was too difficult--trying to ignore her own body’s screaming desires and cater only to Quinn’s demands.
Difficult, but…challenging. Ara licked her way down and up Quinn’s shaft. His groan made her triumphant--until he began work on her. Curse the man for imitating her movements with his own tongue.
Ara tickled his balls with her fingers, cupping and squeezing. Quinn responded by sliding his hands against her buttocks and gripping. When he inserted a finger against the pucker of her asshole, she jerked forward in surprise. But her movement left her closer to his teasing mouth.
A mouth that took full advantage to savor and pull, nip and soothe. He was a devil. No one else could know how do to so many wicked things and make them so wonderful. She wiggled against his mouth, then pressed her rear hard against his finger. By now the tickle against her anus began to entice rather than panic. She opened herself up wider to his questing lips. Everywhere. He was everywhere. She had no place to hide from him, no place to escape the frightening tension within her.
Tears streamed down her face as tugs of lust inside her body became almost unbearable. No man had ever made her ache so; she’d never made herself ache this way…
His finger slid up further, past the tight opening of her anus, burning as she
imagined a penis might. She couldn’t bear it! He had to stop before she shattered into bits.
Desperate, Ara applied harder suction to the small hole in Quinn’s cockhead. She squeezed his shaft tighter than she’d ever imagined doing, with both her hands.
Quinn’s moan and the sudden spurt of come that dripped against her chin and down her fingers was just in time. The coiled tension in Ara was much too close to making her scream. She wasn’t sure what would’ve happened if Quinn continued, but surely she had stopped him before--
His moan, vibrating against her, was too much.
She was dying…she had to be dying…
The coil inside her sprang, the pressure finally released and everything inside her fell apart, scattered madly throughout the room. Ara felt herself thrown into a confusing whirl of flashing lights and breathless pleasure. What had he done? What had she done?
“Ohhhh, my.” Ara opened her eyes.
She was most definitely alive. Ara took stock of what was happening.
Quinn was prone, sprawled against her thighs. Her head was nestled against his limp cock, her hair tangled against his legs. How undignified. Quinn would never find such a pose sexy. She shouldn’t be lying here.
But she had no particular desire to move. Instead Ara stared at the ceiling, watching the strange shadows and lights play in the dark. The storm was still raging outside.
She felt remarkably peaceful. What she ought to do was get up and wash herself.
Instead, Ara let her cheek rest against Quinn’s balls as she fell asleep, using his warm, sated body to heat her own.
* * * * *
Jewel woke up with a start, sitting straight up. Where was she? She looked around, blinking. No. She didn’t know this place. What? Mewts! She jumped to her feet.
Where was he?
“Mio!”
Mio was gone. She ran outside the now brightly lit ruin of a castle and skidded to a halt. It was daylight. How long had she slept and how much danger was her man in?
The sight outside stunned her. There was a small lake just outside the breached castle walls, a lake she’d missed seeing in the storm and dark. Mio was splashing in the water. His head bobbed down and then up again to the surface.
“Goddess!” Jewel ran to the side of the lake, searching for a branch. “I’ll save you. Somehow. Mio!”
He laughed. Jewel stopped, suddenly wondering if she’d rather have a branch to hit him over the head. The--the male was laughing and staying afloat. He wasn’t drowning. A mewt hadn’t dragged him into the water. The idiot had gone in by himself.
“What are you doing?” she snapped.
“I was filthy. You said so yourself. I’m getting clean.” He shook back droplets of water, spraying her with one or two. She stepped back. “Come in and bathe, Jewel.”
“A lovely idea. But I’d die.”
“You can’t swim?”
“They don’t have many lakes inside keeps, Mio. So, no, I can’t swim. If that’s what you call it.”
“Come with me, then. You’ll be safe.” He stood, waist high in the water. Mio held out his hand.
Jewel swallowed. He was so beautiful, his skin slick and damp, drops of water trickling down to the tangled pelt of hair hidden under the surface.
“I don’t think so.” She took another step back.
“Jewel, I’m better moving in the water than out of it. Come with me. It will be fun.” He smiled, temptingly. “You’ll be clean, too.”
“I…” Her hesitation was enough. Surprisingly quick, Mio stepped forward and scooped her up.
“Take a deep breath and trust me.” He leaped. And then they were swooping forward in the air, falling down, down, down.
Splash! The water was cold. Jewel would have screamed then, but Mio’s mouth covered hers in a long kiss as cool water swept over them, covered them the way Mio’s mouth did hers. Coolness, with only one hot kiss to cut through the cold.
Air. She needed air. Almost as fast as they fell in, they were speeding back up to the surface. Jewel tried not to struggle. She had to trust Mio. He knew this alien place better than she did. But she’d die without--
Air. Their heads bobbed back up above the water, and she gulped it in. Mio’s hands rested under her armpits, steadying her. She resisted clinging to him like a terrified child.
“Isn’t it fun?” He sounded delighted.
“You’re insane.” Everything felt alien. Her limbs were light. Much too light. Waves pushed against her, nudging her playfully. She bumped against Mio’s body.
Mio’s face turned serious. “Oh, Jewel, you’re beautiful.”
“What?” No one had ever called her that. The women teased that she was skinny as a boy. The one male she’d been with before this had said nothing, just pushed his way into her, his eyes shut.
She wasn’t beautiful.
“Your skin is so pretty. Look how it sparkles here, especially with being wet. Then it changes color in other places. So pretty. All that glitter…that must be why you’re called Jewel.”
She’d always hated her multi-colored skin. Had prized those who had one tone to their flesh, the way Mio did. She traced her fingers over his face, ready to tell him so.
“Now I understand what I was feeling.” He blinked the water from his lashes.
“What do you mean?” She touched one of the droplets on his cheek. He was the pretty, glittering one, with the water shining on him.
“I think I love you, Jewel.” He kissed her again, his mouth still hot. “Not just because you’re beautiful. But because you are a jewel. Beyond price, beyond words.”
She felt the way she had a moment before, when she was deep inside the water, desperate for air. She couldn’t push him away. She’d drown. But she shut her eyes.
“No. Don’t be stupid. We barely know each other.” She tried to smile against tight lips. “I can feel your cock banging against my leg. That loves me, maybe.”
“All of me does, Jewel. I vow it. Cock, heart…soul.” He sounded hurt and earnest. She shook her head. He was a child who had just had his first woman. He didn’t mean the words. He didn’t.
“Don’t say that.”
“Not saying it doesn’t make it any less so.” Mio kissed her ear. “Not listening doesn’t make it a lie.”
She’d love to stay, even in this water, to hear his ridiculous words. She’d like to forget everything else and have him make love to her. Men were very dangerous.
“Get me back to shore, madman.” She wiggled a little. “We have to get to Bloomingdell as soon as possible.”
Chapter 7
The soft knock at the door startled them more than Stefani’s caterwauls or the thunder rolls earlier. Maryam nuzzled against Ulrich’s chest hair, sleepily. After a loud storm--both outside the bedroom and within--a late morning sleep was essential. At a minimum, she was not getting out of bed until she was forced to.
“See to whoever it might be, will you, darling?” She yawned.
She caught herself. Ulrich looked at her blearily. Surely he hadn’t caught the silly endearment she’d let slip. He yawned, scratched and stumbled toward the door, grabbing their blanket on the way to twist around his hips.
“What is it?” He grumbled, his hand at the latch.
“We just wanted to remind you that your farewell meal will be in a half hour.” The female voice--was it Reina?--sounded a little nervous.
“What?” Maryam sat up. All traces of sleep swept away. “Today?”
“Today.”
She tried to calculate the amount of time. No matter how long or intensely they’d been fucking--er, having intercourse, she couldn’t have lost track of a day, much less more. Ulrich was looking equally startled.
“It’s too soon!” Maryam blurted out.
“We have…we have to see all the women of the keep today. So the time of favor must be cut short.”
“What?” Ulrich’s face was getting that blue hue to it that meant he was fighting some strong emotion. �
�Women never cut short the time of favor--”
Maryam held her hand out and he stopped, abruptly.
“Ulrich and I will be out soon.” Maryam swallowed, fighting her instincts to rush across the room and right to the stunned giant. She stood up, hesitantly, staying near to the bed. She should begin to build more than a physical distance between them. She should keep them both from becoming too emotional. It’s just that she was unprepared. Their good-bye was going to arrive even earlier than she’d thought.
Ulrich stared at her after she spoke, looking as betrayed as if she had been the one to cut short their time. Oh, bugger politeness! She ran to the big angry bear and put her arms around as much of him as she could.
“I don’t understand. But this must be an emergency,” she whispered to him. “Perhaps we can arrange for you to return…later.”
“Doubtful.” Ulrich scowled. “Later you will already be pregnant and there’d be no reason to allow my return.” He paused. “I…hope.”
The words sounded more worried than hopeful. Was he still afraid for his potency? Maryam had already glimpsed some of the weaknesses under the man’s huge strength.
“I probably am pregnant. Even if we haven’t had our full time together.” Maryam smoothed her hand against his chest.
If she was pregnant, Ulrich would have to leave the vicinity of the keep. Men were always sent away after that. If she wasn’t, Ulrich would probably leave from the shame of failing yet again to make a woman pregnant. He’d be laughed out of the men’s camp.
Loving any man was a disaster. She’d known that. She’d learned that with the father of her first child. She’d been young and stupid and thought giving favor meant giving her heart.
She’d never seen Mica again and thought she’d grieve herself to death. When the misery stopped, she’d thought she’d learned to never be so foolish again.
Ulrich’s arm tightened around her, gently. He could crush her if he wanted, but he treated her like fine glassware. Goddess, how could she not love the brute? She’d been with other males who were strong--how else could they win tournaments?--but she couldn’t remember any other who tried to be so careful of her.