by Ophelia Bell
Now that she had finally chosen to act, it wasn’t based on logic—only the utter pain of abandonment and loss, and fear of being unable to hold onto the little she had left.
He stood beside her, leaning against the balcony railing and nursing the strong spirits she’d poured for him.
“This beauty is worth protecting by itself,” Gavra said. “But I worry that you’re compromising too much for it. There are other ways … the dragons will help, if my siblings and I command it. You can trust us.”
Nyx’s entire body shuddered like a strong wind had blown through, chilling her. She cocked her head to the side and in a strangely throaty voice said, “No. We must breed more immortals. The Haven will be at risk no matter what. We must be ready to fight back.”
She seemed in the grip of a trance, which deeply alarmed him. He’d seen her Thiasoi in their blood meld thrall, and he’d encountered countless mind-controlled Ultiori hunters, as well as the Elites, before he and his siblings went into hiding to protect their own sacred home. Her stare wasn’t quite the same blank, unseeing gaze, but it wasn’t far off.
He reached out and gripped her arm, shaking her. “Nyx, what’s wrong? Sweet Mother, please tell me you’re not under some spell like you put on your own guards.”
She blinked and shook her head, letting out a bubbling, drunken laugh. “Oh Gaia, no. You thought I was mind controlled, didn’t you?” She giggled and sat down. “The River trance is … involuntary when I get enough spirits in me. My mind wanders and pop, I’m in the flow of it. What did I say?”
He scowled and sat in the chaise across from her. “That we need to breed more immortals.”
“Ah, yes. That’s where you come in, my handsome, virile beast.” She leaned over and gave his chest a flirtatious tickle. “You’ll fill all my maidens with your seed and watch the little satyrs grow, immortal every one.” She sat back with a dreamy hum, turned a wobbly head to look at him, and smiled.
“I think you’re missing something in your plan. Your Thiasoi maidens aren’t immortal, and if I mark them—which I have to do to get them pregnant in the first place—their babies will be more dragon than nymph. Possibly all dragon. And not immortal ones.”
Nyx raised a finger and shook it at him. “That is where my genius plan comes in. Did you think I would blood meld my girls without a good reason? Oh, no … Once the melding is done, I will inhabit their bodies with my spirit. Our immortal spirits … yours and mine … can bond without a mark of any kind. Why have just one perfect little immortal satyr-dragon baby when we can have a dozen?”
“Perhaps because your nymphs would rather choose who breeds them?”
“They did choose. Never once have I coersh … corersh … forced them to do this. They are Thiasoi every bit as honorable as Nereus’s men. They would lay down their lives to protect the Haven. Like he did. Oh, Nereus.”
Her slurred speech and wildly fluctuating aura would have been amusing, if not for the revelation of what she intended. She would take them that deep into the blood meld that they lost their minds. Did she even realize how her actions would likely break the poor women she controlled?
There was no more reasoning with her now. At the thought of Nereus, she’d fallen into a blubbering mess again, sobbing into her hands. Once again, Gavra scooped her into his arms and carried her inside to her bed. She clung to him desperately.
“Please tell me you understand. Tell me Nereus would understand, would know that I had no choice. I had to protect the Haven. It has to be this way. Our time is too short to wait any longer. My husband is gone, my brother and my son have betrayed me. I am the only one left who can make this decision.”
“Assana is still here, Nyx. Let her come into her own, find her power. She can help you defend the Haven without compromising the integrity of your soldiers. She is stronger than you think.”
“My daughter is a fool. She could have had you along with the other Thiasoi but she chose that ursa instead.”
Gavra frowned. “You would have blood melded your daughter, too?”
“I gave her the choice because she is my daughter. She doesn’t realize when the stakes are this high that sacrifices must be made. It only proves how very weak she is, and I have no hope that the male she chose will be enough to tame her primal nature. You saw how crazed she was. Perhaps she’s having second thoughts? Maybe I will ask her again. There is still time, if she hasn’t become pregnant yet. An immortal grandchild would be lovely …”
She let out an almost happy hum and her eyelids fluttered closed. Within a few seconds, she was snoring softly.
Gavra stared at her, no longer suppressing the worry from his expression. She was mad, but she’d rationalized her actions so well she convinced herself they were the only sane options. She was willing to sacrifice the minds of her own soldiers—her daughter included—to build an immortal army, sired by him. As if there weren’t enough ursa and nymphs who would stand in defense of the Haven. All the higher races would defend this place if she would just ask.
Something about her trance earlier had struck him, though. He didn’t know much about how the nymphaea’s sacred River worked, only that it gave the ones connected to it a kind of second sight. It had been as though her words were plucked from the current itself, not decided on by her. A mystical decree beyond anyone’s control. But why? Why weren’t the immortals that existed already enough? There weren’t many of them, true, but they were strong, and at the moment were all still on the same side—against the Ultiori—and he saw no reason why that should change.
Did her statement suggest some of them may betray the rest? That seemed highly unlikely. None of the immortals had solitary agendas. They were all focused on protecting their sacred homes and their people. None quite as rabidly as Nyx, but they weren’t evil.
Gavra continued to ponder what he’d learned as he stood and covered the sleeping woman with a blanket. When he faced the door, however, all thought came to a halt.
He threw the door open and was at a near run toward Assana’s quarters when sense kicked in again and he slowed, then stopped. Taking a deep breath, he sent Silas a silent message.
“How is she?”
Silas didn’t answer, but through their reopened link, he experienced a rush of desperate lust and short, panting breaths. Assana’s mind was a cyclone of need yet again, and he would go to her soon, but needed to do this right if he were going to preserve their secret long enough for the plan he was forming to work.
“I am free. I am coming to you soon,” he shot to Silas before turning back the other direction and running down the huge staircase to the grand hall.
Finally, he found what he was looking for. Half a dozen Thiasoi all sat around an open fire pit looking utterly exhausted as they passed a heavy bottle between them. When he approached, Clio jumped up.
“Is she sending you back already? We were sure she intended to keep you all night.”
“She doesn’t want me for sex. But she does want me to stay in the palace now. I have something I need to do, but before I do, can you tell me where I should sleep? She’ll want me near her quarters.”
“Doesn’t want you for sex?” Clio asked. All the women stared at him with wide eyes, their gazes drifting over his leather-clad body with interest.
“You didn’t actually believe your mistress was sane, did you?” he asked, smirking at them.
“No, but that gives crazy a whole new meaning,” Clio said. “She must really be saving you for all of us.” She gave him a smug look, but was otherwise unenthusiastic about the revelation.
“Try to contain your excitement,” he deadpanned. “Can you show me where to sleep, or not?”
Ephyra rose to her feet. “Come on. The fact that she’s not in our heads now must mean you got through to her, at least for a little while.” She led him back through the door that led across a well-appointed barracks and into
the palace proper.
“She got herself drunk, is what happened. Being with me brought back old memories, I guess.”
They walked for a few more minutes, half his mind tightly attuned to the direction of his mates and their states of mind. Nothing but the same wild maelstrom he’d sensed before existed where they were.
Finally, Ephyra stopped in front of a door, shoved it open, then leaned against the jamb. She stared up at him with wide, anxious eyes.
“Please tell me you know how to stop her. My sisters and I have only agreed to do this because we truly see no other way. Tell me you have another way.” She tugged at the laces of her gown and the gauzy mesh fell open, baring her breasts. “We will all be yours eventually, one way or the other. You can have us whole with clear minds, or broken by her spell. We all agree.”
Gavra gazed down at the offering almost distractedly. If he’d had this offer any other time, he’d have jumped at it. The value of almost a dozen nymphs offering themselves to be his mates was immense. A grand enough gesture that it would be worth every effort to give them what they asked for. Any dragon worth his horns would take it, but Gavra couldn’t.
He took a step closer to her and gently tugged her garment closed, then cupped her cheek.
“Lovely Ephyra, you are not mine. There will be a mate for you, but it will be someone you don’t have to compromise to win. I’m going to find a way to release you all from Nyx’s spell before she ruins you completely, but I need to do it right. Do me a favor, though … Please don’t guard this door tonight. If she is in your head, I need your last memory of me to be watching me go inside.”
He bent then, pressing his lips gently to Ephyra’s forehead. She let out a shaky breath and nodded.
“I want to ask what you plan, but I know better. It’s hard enough to hold onto my own thoughts when she’s inside my head.”
“My plan right now is to simply go to bed. Please make sure your mistress is not alone when she wakes up, though. As strong as she is, she still needs your friendship, despite the things she’s done.”
“Nyx is the Haven, now that Neph has disappeared. We would die for her.”
“If it’s in my power, I won’t let it come to that,” he said and closed the door behind him.
Chapter Thirty-One
Silas
Silas didn’t have room for thought, his instincts having kicked in the second Gavra and Nyx left the dining room and he was forced to take matters into his own hands. Old habits died hard, however, and despite knowing what Assana needed, it still took him a second to overcome that ingrained ursa male need to be told what to do to satisfy her.
Her mental cry drove him to action. Her distress was even more dire than any of the ursa females he’d serviced through estrous.
Assana’s antlers gouged grooves into the wooden surface of the table, her supple body writhing beneath him as he pinned her to the hard surface. He shifted to grip both her wrists in one hand while she bucked beneath him, her pelvis hitting his thigh and grinding against him while she moaned his name.
His vision went hazy with the wet heat of her rubbing on his skin. With his free hand, he rucked up her sheer gown and slipped his fingers between her legs. Her hot, throbbing clit was a swollen protrusion beneath his touch and Assana let out a sharp gasp when he rubbed it, her entire body going rigid from the pleasure.
“That’s right, baby. I’m going to take care of you. Make you feel better.”
“Fuck me!” she growled through clenched teeth, her eyes swirling with wild energy before rolling back in her head when he pushed three fingers deep into her flooded channel.
His cock ached and twitched in anticipation. He pulled his fingers from her and tore at his trousers, heedless of the wet, sloppy mess she’d made of his hand. Gaia, he wanted to taste her as much as he wanted to fuck her, but he couldn’t do both at once, and it was his cock she was begging for.
The scent of her need surrounded him, filling his lungs until he was drowning in it, almost shaking with his own near-crazed lust. He freed his cock and had to press his entire body down on top of hers to hold her still. It felt wrong in so many ways to be taking her like this—for her to be no more coherent than a wild animal whose only clear communication was, “Fuck me.” At least there was no ambiguity in that message.
Another tilt of her hips pressed her entrance right where he needed her, and with a grunt he slid home, piercing her in one violent, fluid thrust. Assana’s head flew back, the sharp points of her antlers kicking splinters of wood off the surface of the table when they hit. She wrapped her legs around him, barely allowing him the freedom to move.
With a frustrated snarl, he released her wrists and reached behind him to pull her ankles away from his ass. He pushed her legs toward her shoulders and spread them wide, holding her behind the knees as he pulled out and slammed back in, staring down at the glorious merging of their bodies while he entered her.
“Hold on, Assana,” he said. She stared up at him with a gaze of wonder and gratitude, and reached back to grasp the edge of the table above her head with both hands.
She surrendered to him then, her body rippling with power while he fucked her. The small bundle between her thighs beckoned and he pressed a thumb to it and rubbed. In the depths of his being, he readied his reservoir for what she would give, his balls already tingling in anticipation. She arched her back off the table, and within seconds, she was crying out his name as she spasmed from her release.
Silas let go of her thighs and braced himself over her as he continued to pump several more times. The delicious, clenching spasms her sheath inflicted him with were too good not to enjoy for just a couple more seconds. Gaia, if he could fuck her forever, he would. When he felt the familiar tension in his balls grow intolerable, he finally let go, letting out a harsh groan as he spilled his semen deep inside her.
Raw power continued to flow off her in waves, like a fever that had yet to break. He knew he wasn’t close to done sating her yet, but she was subdued for the moment. He slipped out of her and lifted her in his arms, hurrying to carry her out of the palace as far away from Gavra’s energy as they could get.
He sensed the dragon, testing their distance and the influence of power for several minutes as he jogged with her held tight against him. Assana’s quarters on the far side of the palace were a small pocket of serenity with the sounds of waterfalls outside and the comfortable bed within. When they entered the sunset-gilded rooms, she twisted in his arms, the slight clench and release of her buttocks under his arm signaling she was in need again and he didn’t have time to waste.
He didn’t even make it all the way to the bed before she roused and gripped him by the shoulders. The shift in her weight threw him off balance and he fell back against the wall while her mouth crashed down onto his. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he held her, eagerly responding to the kiss and the slick press of her pussy against his navel. He slid his hands to cup her ass, moving one farther down and aiming his erect cock at her core once again. His tip brushed against her sodden folds, still dripping with his essence. The slight caress caused a shiver of pleasure to course through her and she moaned into his mouth. Bracing her arms around his shoulders, she let her body slip down his torso just enough that his cock slid into her again.
Silas braced his feet wide on the floor, knees half-bent while he held her hips tightly in both hands and guided her down onto his shaft. Summoning some of the immense power he had at his disposal now, he lifted her as though she were feather-light and slammed her back down again. Assana let out a cry that was half pleasure, half delight.
“Oh, yes! Fuck me like that. Give it to me, Silas.”
For several strokes, he did the same thing, hammering her down repeatedly onto his cock. Each time, his entire body seemed to burst with the pleasure of his shaft sinking so deep into her he lost himself. He shifted positions, spinning th
em and pushing her back against the wall. This way was just as good, having her pinned beneath him so he could pound into her with merciless thrusts of his hips.
Sweat coated their bodies and his thighs strained from the effort. There were other ways he could fuck her, he knew, and he intended to try them all.
Gavra’s awareness flooded into his mind a little later while they were in still in the midst of their wild tangle. The dragon’s mental presence was like a door being opened onto the dark room of Silas’s mind, light from the other side flooding in. Gavra only called out, but Silas was too busy to respond. He was concentrating on the beautiful twist of Assana’s torso now lying on her bed before him. One of her legs was hooked over his shoulder as he pierced her pussy from the edge. He had one of her luscious breasts clutched in his hand, two fingers buried in her ass while he bent over to take her nipple, eager to hear the rising orgasm explode from her in a torrent of filthy curses punctuated by his name.
He had no room to entertain dragons who couldn’t do their duty to their mates.
When Assana’s sweet orgasm filled the air again with melodic cries and fingers clutching at air, he hauled her up and spun them both around, falling back into a chair beside the bed. She lowered herself onto his cock again without instruction or urging, the first small sign that her delirium might finally be subsiding.
They orgasmed together, limbs entwined and mouths hungrily lapping at each other. His constant watchfulness on her conscious mind told him she wasn’t completely back to sanity yet, and her persisting shape—the more voluptuous, muscular form with heavy antlers and luminescent skin marked with vine-like designs—signaled she still wasn’t completely sated yet.
In a rough, scratchy voice, he said, “Gaia, what does it take to bring you down from this? I’ll fuck you all night if I have to, but I have a feeling it won’t be enough.”
His skin prickled as though the air pressure had changed. Within his mind, that open door produced a figure who walked through and leaned against the wall just inside his consciousness. He turned away from Assana’s undulating torso to look over his shoulder. Gavra was there, in the flesh, looking far more put together than he had any right to look after the evening Silas had endured.