by Misty Kayn
TWELVE
Inside her room, massage oil in his hand, his eyes all grey wolf, she thought he’d spout fur. She hung naked from a rope. What a sight. He placed the oil on the edge of the bath next to the switch Doppler left behind. Knight upturned his nose and inhaled. "I will rip his guts out and eat them for breakfast."
"We...we're having breakfast."
Wolf’s eyes locked on dove’s, his wolf paced in circles. "What. Are. You doing?"
She tugged on the rope and blushed like a virgin, patches of red on her skin. "Hanging...out."
"Mhm. And this?" He pointed at the switch.
"Fell off the menu."
"I'm not laughing."
"I am. And in case you’re wondering, I'm single, and you said to order-in, so I ordered in. We were—"
Knight put his hand up and breathed deep until the rumble in chest subsided.
Oh, but he was angry.
"Food Clementine, or maybe more oils for you hair, or, I don't know, anything else."
"That's not what he said this room was for, and I'm not even a girl you’re dating. What kind of a date you make? A look-alike? Really? Not that I mind, of course, but it's unusual and sort of creepy."
"How long was he here for?"
"Why do you care?" She was becoming irritated with him. He didn't have rights.
He jumped in the pond.
She screeched.
His body on hers, his long thickness rested against her belly. He stepped closer, the grey wolf close to surface, the life inside him, his magic, his power, his open source begged her to take him. The wolf was beautiful, massive, and called to her dove who cooed along side Clementine. They agreed on this wolf.
"I care, I care, I care, I shouldn't." He bit the underside of her tied arm and nipped his way to her breast where he bit the nipple, his blunt teeth enlisting a moan. He hooked one hand on the back of her thigh. And lifted.
She moaned and leaned forward, wished he really cared. "I want to feel the switch," she said. "Before tomorrow, you know. I've always wondered about the switch, the rope, and many other things. At home, I work or I work, and this place with its music and people that don't…they don't care about anything other than the pleasure. They don't care how they'll make it though the winter months when the flowers wilt and the market slows. I want that, if only for now."
He plastered his mouth on hers. Her head hit the back of the ticking waterfall. Water poured down over their faces as they kissed. His tongue dwelled inside her mouth, his taste she'd never forget, his wolf she wanted to please while his hands on her pink nether lips glided, spreading the moisture over her bud. He tugged her piercing and she hitched a breath he swallowed inside him.
"Your pretty, little pussy hasn't left my mind since I saw it." He kissed her neck and rubbed her bud harder while she gulped down water. She banged her head against the stone. The water pour slowed. She inhaled catching the little bit of his exhale on her lips before his hand landed on the stone. Water slid down her tied hands, over her face and the first whip of a switch stung across her thigh.
Startled, she squinted her eyes through a blur of cascading water as Knight backed up. He tapped his chest. "Feet up here."
She gripped the rope and lifted both her legs, placed her soles on his chest. She held her breath under the waterfall. His chest hard under her feet, his hand around her ankles, he lifted them up in the air. Switch stung her left butt cheek. She hit her head when she tried to escape the second one. Water pored harder. Clementine wiggled and tried to jerk her legs but Knight's fingers strengthened their grip. She gulped water. Choking, coughing on water, Knight switched her mercilessly. Heat pooled at the sites where he hit and her skin rose into thin, lined welts.
Clementine cried quietly like a mouse when he gave her a little air to breathe. She cried against the pain, for the pain, choking on the little bit of air he allowed her. Two fingers thrust inside her and spread. "Oh!" Struggling against the rope, she thrashed against his fingers. She was drowning, her lungs burned, her bottom burned. He dropped her legs and hit the wall next to her head.
She exhaled, her chest rose and fell and she rested her cheek on his forearm beside her head while the heel of his other hand pressed against her clit. They breathed each other as the water tickled down her back. His fingers moved slowly in and out of her. His hair, like a curtain, fell about his face when he pressed his forehead to hers. "I love how wet you are for me. I can smell you almost like I've tasted you as I rub this little attitude against my fingers. You know what I am saying don't you?"
"I know."
"Why do you lie so much?" He thrust his fingers hard inside her and she bit her lip not to scream.
When he held them up, they came away tinted with blood. "Liar," he said.
"Oh Knight, don't stop, it's...it's so good. I need it like this, just like this."
His body pressed against her and he shook his head. She bit his shoulder.
He growled and threw his head back.
"It doesn't matter," she said.
He yanked her hair back, thrust his wet fingers into his mouth, and sucked them clean. He cupped her ass. "My wolf will never forget, do you understand that?"
"Sure he will, it's just sex. Do it!" She bent her knee, glided it along his leg to his hip where he found her thigh and held it against his hip. She tugged. "My hands, my hands."
He swiped a hand over the rope.
Her hands on his wet shoulders, she paused. Knight’s grey eyes were bright, his nose was perfect, his lips were soft, and he was hard and the wolf was all around her. They watched each other, wet and wanting, the space between them feather apart even if their bodies touched. She never imagined cold and uncompromising Knight would do this with her, but tonight he’d do what she asked of him.
He kissed her forehead and spoke against it, "You are a special girl for more than one reason, and if you were mine, I'd never let you go."
"We have the night."
He lifted his cock to her entrance and swiped against it, probing. Her backed arched when he dipped inside. At her breast he said, "You know how I’m gonna fuck you don’t you?"
“Mmmmm.”
He withdrew to stroke himself. She whined and reached for his hand to help him. Under her thumb, his tip was smooth and big, and she run a finger down the slit in the middle. He pressed her back against the wall. She interlocked her fingers behind his neck when he hooked his hands under her knees. She was spread wide open for him but he paused. Something passed over his eyes, something dark and foreboding. A change of heart.
"Do it!" She bit his bottom lip, clamped her blunt teeth together, and bled him.
His upper lip rose in a snarl and he shoved himself inside, his cock buried to the hilt. She screamed at the top of her lungs, her walls fluttering around him strained to fit his size. He bit the base of her neck, an anchor for his thrusts, but inside her he didn't move.
She was so full.
His chest labored.
When his head came up she kissed his mouth softly, urged him on like it was the last night of her life because surely this was a night to remember and cherish for the moments when she was home alone. She wanted to make love like the men and woman downstairs and not worry about anything right here and now. Enticing him to continue, her small tongue tangled with his, they kissed like lovers. His body warm and hard, pressed her nipples, his fingers that held up her legs tightened. As he pulled back with a groan, she smiled against his mouth. "It hurts."
"It should."
"Can you make me come?"
"Can you touch him?"
"I can," she said and cupped his face.
When Knight trust inside her again, her dove rushed forth to meet his wolf. Magic collided, one white as snow, the other light blue, cold as winter, and a grey wolf cracked the man's skin and bones, deformed the man's features into sharp angles. Man molded into a wolf and stood upright. Under her hands on the back of his neck, pelt rose, and the water fell over their naked b
odies where his tall wolf’s frame fucked her, jabbed his big cock inside her tight pussy. It hurt and she cried all the while she loved him.
Her head was thrown back, his claws dug into her bottom where her welts burned as their bodies played together, as he grew bigger inside her and stretched her walls. He lifted one knee to spread her wider and whispered at her ear. "You've the sweetest pussy," he said between his long, sharp teeth, his voice deep and rough, "I want to lick it, eat it, bury my face and drown in it, but you feel so good around me and you fit me." One hand gripped the back of her head, his hips picking up speed, he pounded into her and brought her face to his. "You fit me." His hand tight in her hair, he pulled. "Say that you fit me."
She stared at the celling, whimpered then licked her lips. "I fit you."
"Yes, baby you do." His hand left her hair, and he fisted it, with each thrust his fist punched the wall.
Her walls fluttered and when she came she bit the side of his neck as his come filled her. She sagged in the arms of a wolf, his hands warmed her back and held her tight.
Water poured over them, drowned the secret of a wolf in a man for there were no wolves in men, only wolves or men.
THIRTEEN
Clementine threw the sheets off and leapt out of bed. Her soles touched the soft carpet. She plopped back down on the bed and mumbled curses. Exhausted from a long night and sex late last night, sore arms in the air, she stretched her spine and groaned at the tenderness between her legs. Her bottom tingled, a reminder of a switch. Her dress pooled at her ankles when she wobbled to the pond. Knight dressed her after the healing massage and tucked her into bed.
She slipped off the dress—nobody wore clothes at Cole's—threw it on the bed, and called up a menu for a mirror. She examined her butt for red marks. Not a hint of a switch. Knight's hand wasn't heavy. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes then smiled at the wolf’s scent that lingered in her room long after he left. She inhaled his wolf again, her pussy walls fluttered. Oh star, but he was a handsome lover and she wasn't ignorant, nevertheless, chose to ignore when he voiced his regrets. He regretted it even while he did it. She didn't regret a single moment of last night even if he did and took pleasure for herself because tonight the stakes rose highest.
She opened the window, and when the cold air hit her naked body, she shivered. Weather in the mountain region was cooler than in the valley. The land at Cole’s appeared well as far as her eye saw, but she knew better. Down below, into the night, rotted land replaced once fertile mountains, though the peaks still rose towards the star as if determined to stay vital despite Arthur's destruction.
Downstairs, just under the window, nudists went about lunch. If the clan arrived she couldn't tell them apart from the guests. On the left, by the lake, servers carried the buffet dishes back into the kitchen. Her stomach rumbled.
She rushed downstairs to catch leftovers.
The buffet was set on a large patio overlooking the lake. The staff busied with placing pale peach cloths, glasses and set-ups on the vacant lunch tables, preparing for tonight's celebration. They’d cleared most of the food from lunch but she found fruit and cereals and sat at the corner table, stayed out of their way. Lifting a spoon to her mouth, she sensed Knight behind her. Strange. She paused and thought about the nagging sensation that made her want to turn around and find him. "Night, Knight," she said and chuckled remembering the night he came to the market.
On silent feet, he came and pulled out a chair. Naked and beautiful, his brown hair tickled his shoulders, his green eyes and soft lips were all hers last night. He pinched said lips as his gaze lowered to her breasts. "Night, Clementine. Did you run out of clothes?"
"No, did you?" She stuffed her mouth.
He smiled, though it didn't catch his eyes. "Fair enough."
"I missed breakfast. Did you eat anyone?"
"Couldn't find Roy or I would have." He popped a strawberry in his mouth and crushed it. "Most of the clan is here,” he continued. “When my lieutenant arrives, we walk to Arthur’s. The terrain beyond Cole's is full of traps and quicksand, so you'll stick with me on the way to his house. Fly above us."
"I can walk with you."
"He is angry and unpredictable."
"He'll be even more angry when his wolf is trapped and I can't guarantee his magic won't turn inwards."
Knight shook his head. "He'll thank me for doing this. He better."
"Yes well, since last night and the...the beasty wolf thing you did—”
"Beasty?"
She took an apple and chewed, her mouth full. She swallowed and cleared her throat.
He motioned with his hand for her to continue and this time she didn't suppress an eye roll at the flick of his wrist. "As you may remember from last night."
"I remember."
Okay then. "It's possible he'll become disfigured if he tries to fight me, cross back and forth as I work. He may not return, stay stuck in-between the cross. I don't really know, and I hope you know that. He isn't a willowy lamp, he isn't the imager’s capsule, his magic is strong and his wolf even stronger." She scooped up some cereal when her hands shook. The night approached and with Knight’s magic tightly coiled in power, everything became tangible.
Knight's eyebrows drew down.
Wolves mastered their animal with ease, but Arthur, as he’d said, was unpredictable. "It can happen to him as his wolf rejects the sleep. My magic will trap him and I don’t think he’ll enjoy a cage." She dabbed her mouth with a napkin and continued, "I assume his spirituality will win over the animal, and with wolves around him, he will be fine."
"You're a force of your own, Clementine, don't doubt yourself."
"I’m trying," she whispered, and waited for the servers to leave the patio area when the Nightlands leader flicked his wrist again. "I am a dove, and he is a wolf. It’s against nature for a prey to defeat a predator. He eats pigeons for dinner, maybe not crossbreeds, but birds no less. You hunt doves."
Knight rearranged their chairs, or rather, he picked up her chair and placed it in front of his then sat back down. He approached her, leaned in slowly, as if she were a scared animal, which, she admitted, she was even if she enjoyed the company of a wolf. He took her small hands in his big ones, cupped his face with them then closed his eyes and inhaled. Rough stubble under her palms, she swiped her thumbs over it. She wanted to thread her hands through his hair and comfort him, tell him his life long friend and the lands would be well. If Seven were Arthur, Clementine would be devastated, she'd move the star for her sister, so she understood Knight and the struggle, the risks he took.
When he opened his eyes, they were hard and determined, at odds with what she thought he suffered. He didn't look in need of a comfort. She leaned forward in anticipation. He stared again, and all of a sudden she felt like she didn't know him at all. But she did, even if only for a few nights. They weren't the strangers they were back at the market place.
She tried not to think about his large hands enveloping her smaller ones when he lowered them onto his lap. They fit into his like a smaller cup fit into a larger one in the kitchen pantry. The cups that came as a pair. Knight said they fit. If only. "Your wolf is far. I thought he’d lead you this night. You have…it’s amazing how you control him. Perhaps, one night, when you aren’t busy of course, you could teach this to me. I don’t mean to burden, if the clan has classes I didn’t know about, maybe you could grant me entry—”
“Stop talking.”
“Is it like this on all Nights of the Wolf?"
"No."
"Your spirit will save him." She didn't doubt his strong beliefs. If he let go of her hands it would make the situation less awkward. She almost felt them on the back of her thighs again, between her folds, inside her. Gently, she tugged.
He growled.
Okay then.
"My spirit," he repeated.
Time passed in silence. He simply watched her.
If she didn't know better, she'd say the man and
the wolf warred right this moment. Though power surrounded him, his wolf didn’t come forth, as if Knight silenced his animal. Why on this very night when his animal was strongest? "Is there something else? If it's about last night, I’m good. I don't require a marital proposal. Or cake with bows." She smiled though it didn't feel right.
When Knight swiped his hand through the air and called out his soundproof isolation, she knew something was very wrong.
"Ask me," he said, "and I'll tell you. I wasn't going to, but now I am. The hell with us."
Dread pooled in her stomach, heavy as a rock. Nature was nature, prey was prey, predator was at the top of the food chain and wolves were the only predators in the Nightlands. Everyone else was food. "How does a dove beat a wolf?”
"She doesn't."
"That's comforting."
"She mates him."
Clementine yanked her hands back. "Excuse me?"
"Spirits join with prime sources on the Night of the Wolf. Arthur’s wolf will mate the dove and heal."
"No, no, no," she shook her head, hair flying about her. “Your spirit—”
"Your dove is a spirit."
Her eyes widened, she heard him wrong. If he told her she’d won a million coins she would believe him. But a spirit? He was really into his spiritual side. He must be! "I’m sorry Knight, but I don't believe in spirits and stars, I only have faith that you do. What you’re saying, I can't be, but that’s okay because my plan will work. It has to."
"You carry our spirit. It's not a ritual or a belief, it's an animal passed on to you. Her purpose is our balance to meet the needs of the lands, stabilize the magic. It's why you can use primal magic, it's how you direct his magic for your lamps. Spirits wield primal magic, and your spirit wields a source. An incredible power. If you had better parents they’d have told you this."