Marcie sat very still as Benedict bent his head down to her nipples. Her breasts floated in the water between them, and it was the matter of a moment for him to capture one in his mouth. Her hands wound up in his hair, and she held him in place as he drew her nipple into his mouth and sucked on it. His mouth was slow and steady, and his hands stroked her sides, feeling her every shudder and shiver.
“You're amazing at that,” she whispered, and he nuzzled her, dragging his hands up the sensitive sides of her breasts and making her long for even more.
“Here, use your hand,” she said, and she took one of his hands and led it between her legs.
He turned his powerful focus to giving her the most pleasure he could, and as he stroked her clit with nimble fingers, Marcie groaned and tightened. He was as patient here as he was with everything else he did, and in surprisingly short order, she was writhing over him, bearing down on his fingers and wringing every bit of sensation she could from him.
Before he could decide what to do next, however, she winked at him.
“Out of the water,” she ordered, and she grinned when he looked a little surprised and hurt.
“Don't worry, you'll get yours. Just sit on the edge, facing me.”
Bemused, he did as she said, and then his breath hissed between his teeth as she spread his knees and knelt up on the bench where she had been sitting. Half in and half out of the water, she was able to reach every part of his body, but the one she was most concerned with was bobbing up against Benedict's stomach.
For a while, Marcie played with it, smoothing her hand along the shaft and dragging her nails lightly along the smooth skin there. It didn't take long, however, before her desire overcame her urge to tease, and she put her mouth over his cock. At the first touch of her lips to his most sensitive flesh, Benedict gasped out loud. He didn't put his hands in her hair, and he didn't shove her down on it; instead, she saw out of the corner of her eye that his hands fisted, determined to let her have her way.
That pleased her, but it was also a challenge, and she tried to see how much of him she could take down her throat. He was large, and he stretched her jaw a little, but she did her best, and from the way he squirmed and the way that his hips made little bucking motions, she could tell how much he wanted her.
She worked his cock over and over again, and then she pulled away for a moment. His eyes widened when he saw her face, and she knew what he was seeing. Her hair was disheveled, and her eyes were nearly black with desire. Her lips were red from sucking on his cock, and she was smiling like the very devil.
“You can come if you want,” she said simply. “I want you to come in my mouth.”
He nodded as if hypnotized, and when she put her mouth back on his cock, she could feel something different. He had been trying to prevent himself from climax before, and now that it was so close, he could barely stop himself.
He thrust into her mouth twice, and then he was pouring his come down her throat. It was unbelievably intimate, and Marcie felt the hot fires of desire lick at her again. She liked seeing him so helpless, so needy and wanting.
When he came back to himself, she was out of the water and cuddling next to him. They both curled on the cool tile floor of the bathroom, and it was Benedict who spoke first.
“You do amazing things to me, woman,” he murmured, and it made Marcie laugh, her voice a little hoarse.
“That's only fair,” she retorted. “You do amazing things to me.”
“I want to keep doing amazing things to you,” Benedict said, suddenly serious. “I want you, and I need you in my life.”
Marcie blinked, staring at him. She could feel those same strong feelings that had occurred earlier rising up in her again, and there was a very large part of her that only wanted to throw herself into his arms and agree.
Instead, she looked at the facts. She had only known him for less than two days, and caution overruled the wild part of her.
“That's... that's very new,” she said slowly, and Benedict shrugged.
“Just because something is new does not mean it is not true,” he said.
For a while she was still because she didn't know what to say. Though they were quiet, the silence was pleasant and soft. She knew how he felt, and if she were honest, she knew how she felt as well.
“Benedict?” she said softly, and she was greeted with a grunt that was more than half snore.
Marcie shook her head. She knew that she wouldn't be getting any more out of him until he’d had more rest. Given how much he had done yesterday, and how much they had gone through together, she could hardly blame him.
“Come on, love,” she said, pulling him to his feet. “You won't be happy if you fall asleep on this tile floor, no matter how nice it is.”
He grumbled at her, but he was sleepy and docile as she helped him climb to his feet. She guided him to the bed, where she tucked him in and watched as he turned over several times and fell into a deeper slumber.
“Such a handsome man,” she said, running a gentle finger along his dark eyebrow. He frowned in response to her touch, but he turned his face to it as well, seeking the comfort of her presence even in sleep.
She got up from his side and considered her options. She still didn't know where she was, and though she knew she was safe, that wasn't enough. Her clothes were still disgusting from her dip in the lake the day before, but she found a robe that covered her up well enough.
“Okay,” she said softly. “Time to go exploring.”
***
The house she was in could barely really be called a house, she realized. It was enormous, with marble floors and vaulting ceilings that seemed to soar up in the air. It was properly a mansion, tastefully decorated, and still in many ways far more homey than anything she would have thought something that big could be.
There were little touches that told her it was a home, and from the pictures hung up on the walls, she realized that she was in the abode of Bryan Hillman and Vicky Campbell. The former was the Colossal City superhero known as the ghost, and the later was the broadcast journalist who had been taking on the woes of Colossal City for almost ten years. Marcie had grown up in Colossal City, and the superheroes who called it home were no strangers to her. Still, she was amazed to realize that she was now in a place where they lived and congregated.
Down a long hallway hung with grand paintings, she saw a number of smaller pieces. Though they were framed just as nicely, they were children's crayon drawings. Marcie drew closer to look, and she found that they were all pictures of superheroes rescuing children. One superhero had a wolf's ears and tail, and she guessed that one must be Bellaron, the shapechanger. A man and woman were colored entirely in purple, and they must have been Lynxar and Lynxonna, aliens from another star. Lynxar led the heroes of Colossal City, but Lynxonna had fallen in battle not long ago. Archer Speedlight fired arrows from a glowing bow, and there was another picture that featured nothing but a smiling little girl, though there was an empty space by her that should have held something.
“Kids have a tough time with Bryan. They want to include him so much, but you know. Usually they can't see him.”
Marcie whirled around, startled, and she found herself confronted with a pair of pretty green eyes that regarded her with amusement.
“You're Vicky Campbell!” she blurted out, and the woman laughed.
“Yes, and you must be Marcie Beauchamp.”
“You... you know who I am?”
“Well, I do take the liberty of learning more about the people I choose to let into my house,” Vicky said, amused. “I hope you don't mind me running a quick report.”
“Not when you're letting me stay in such nice rooms,” Marcie responded.
Vicky nodded, her green eyes glinting. “Well, maybe if you're having such a good time, you'll give me first crack at whatever it is that you've got going on in the woods.”
Marcie frowned and Vicky waved a hand at her.
“I work with the sci
entific community, too, and I know how tough it is for you guys to get funding. When I see someone doing interesting work, I like to help where I can.”
Marcie bit her lip, torn between asking for help and knowing how effective someone like Vicky could be.
Vicky smiled, nodding at the picture. “Bryan was there when you and the bird man crashed on the roof. We were both pretty excited when we realized who your friend was.”
“Benedict?”
“He's a judge, one of the lawkeepers of the shapechangers. We've known about the shapechangers for a while, and some of them I think would even call us friends. However, the issue is that most of the people who change their shapes are really, really, really shy. They keep to themselves, and it bothers people like Lynxar and Bellaron, you know. They worry about the fact that if it comes to a fight, they won't know who the good guys and the bad guys are.”
Marcie nodded warily, unsure of where Vicky was going.
“So maybe if you do me a favor, I'll do you one.”
“I'm listening...”
“How about if I give you some gear and get you back out to the lake, because that’s what I bet you're planning to do, and in return, you make Benedict sit with us and play nice. He seems like he's the kind who has a problem doing that with lesser mortals, but he needs to see that this is for his own good.”
Marcie nodded slowly, thinking of the options, and she realized that everything that Vicky said was right. “How do we get started?”
***
Vicky wasn't joking when she said that she could get Marcie everything she needed. The news anchor had contacts all over the city, and by dusk, Marcie had a backpack full of gadgets that were thousands of dollars better than her original set and a ride back out to the park. Underneath her clothes, she wore a wet suit that would keep her warm if she had to venture back into the water, and when she had left, the journalist had given her a hug for luck.
“Just remember that I get first crack at the interview when you manage to unearth that monster,” Vicky had said, making Marcie laugh.
“Well, you certainly can, I'm just afraid that it'll be about things that aren't very interesting, like teeth and eyes and environmental factors.”
“I can make that sound good. Just be careful and come back safe, okay?”
Marcie had agreed, but now, with the light falling and the night birds beginning to cry, she understood that it might have been a slightly rash promise. Though she had a few guesses about what was in the water, she was painfully aware that she didn't know anything for sure.
However, she had never let doubt stand between her and the prospect of scientific discovery, so she put aside her doubts and got to work. One person could never hold an animal as large as the one that she and Benedict had seen, but as a scientist, documentation came first.
She pulled the cameras from their cases, and one by one, she started to secure them to their stable stands on the marshy ground near the water. If something happened, she wanted to make sure that she caught it, and though she knew that she could be out there for days yet, the security of having more eyes to watch comforted her.
Marcie was just finishing her setup when there was a whoosh of wings and a soft thump as Benedict transformed from his golden eagle form to land right next to her. She smiled to see him, ready for a kiss and a hug, but she took a step back when she realized how furious he was.
“What the hell are you doing out here?” he demanded.
She narrowed her eyes, stung. “I'm doing my job. Why are you so angry with me?”
“I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that you are now blithely traipsing around a lake where you nearly died not once, but twice in the last two days,” he snapped.
“I'm doing my job,” Marcie repeated. “Look, do you think that I've never been out here in the dark before, or that I'm not ready for what's going to happen? Do you really think that I'm incompetent when it comes to doing the thing that I've trained my whole life to do?”
Benedict bared his teeth in frustration. “I think that you're ignoring risks that you've decided aren't convenient. Why would you possibly come out here looking for trouble when we were trying to recover at the mansion?”
Marcie blinked. “Benedict, are you angry that I left you?”
For a long moment, her lover was utterly still, but there was something telling about the way he froze, and in the space of a single moment, she forgot all about how irritated she was and reached out to take his hand. Though his hand was still in hers, he didn't fight it, and she squeezed it tightly.
“I didn't know where you were,” he said finally, his voice stiff. “I woke up, and you were gone.”
Marcie winced. She hadn't even left him a note, and suddenly she could see him waking up confused and alarmed.
“Those are safe people, you know,” she murmured. “Vicky and Bryan, and all of the other Colossal City heroes. They're people who work to protect others. Vicky was telling me that they want to meet you properly, and that they want to learn more about all of the other judges and the ways of your people...”
Benedict shook his head. It occurred to Marcie that if he had been a golden eagle just then, he would be rustling his feathers uneasily and staring around himself with those beautiful sharp eyes.
“Our kind don't mix,” he said, and his voice had the tone of an argument long since settled. “Humans, and now, aliens as well, I suppose, keep to themselves. My kind keep to themselves. There's nothing good that comes of getting too close or of learning more of the other. We're not made to come together.”
Marcie thought about that a moment, and then she looked up at Benedict. “What about us, then?” she asked, and there was a hollowness to the way she spoke that made Benedict look at her.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I'm not a shapechanger. I don't fly, and I can't turn into a wolf or a bear or anything like that, you know? I mean, Bryan Hillman turns invisible, and Bellaron turns into a wolf. That makes them closer to you than I am, doesn't it?”
Benedict frowned. “That's different.”
“No, it's really not, is it?” Marcie bit her lip, trying to find a way to explain. “Look, you keep saying that you have nothing in common with humans, and that you don't trust them, and that you don't want to associate with them. The problem with that is that I'm human. I'm just human. I run around in the woods and look at interesting animals, and I like to think I do more good than harm, but at the end of the day, I'm just a human.”
“I've never asked you to be anything besides what you are,” Benedict said heatedly, but she shushed him with a soft hand placed over his mouth.
“I know. Listen to me. The problem is that you keep wanting to lump people into two different categories. You want an us and a them. You want a way to stand apart from people who are like me while staying closer to people who are like you. The problem is that when you do that, you are stepping apart from who I am, and you are saying that there's this... this divide between us. I hate that. I... I can't stand the thought of something being between us.”
“Those are strong words from someone who wasn't sure where we stood this morning. You were the one who told me I was moving too fast, and that I was being overly hasty.”
Marcie bit her lip because he was right. She was talking as if they had some kind of commitment, but a part of her, one that her rational scientist brain tried to deny, already knew that commitment was there.
“I...”
She was spared the need to answer when she heard an alarmed bark from the water, and Benedict tensed up as if he had been shot full of electricity.
“Benedict?”
“Hush.”
Her trained ear told her that it was just an otter's distress bark, something that otters did to warn others of danger. Then she remembered who Benedict was and what he did, and she went still as well.
“They're the reason I'm here,” Benedict said tersely. “One of the otter families sent their daughter all the w
ay to Harrispont to ask for one of us. Her brother had disappeared. Something had taken him.”
“It wasn't the thing that attacked us...”
“Quiet.”
Marcie fumed, but she fell silent as every muscle in Benedict's body tensed. He listened as hard as he could, but finally he shook his head.
“You'll have to stay here,” he said. “Please, please be safe. I need to attend to this.”
“If it's dangerous...”
“If it's dangerous, it is absolutely my duty to meet it.”
She thought he would simply transform and fly away, but instead he grabbed her up for a deep kiss, one that warmed her right to her toes.
“Be safe,” he whispered. “I don't care if you can't say it yet, but you are already my heart.”
With nothing more than that, he turned into a golden eagle, and with a sweep of his wings, he was aloft.
Night had fallen while they spoke, and she watched in trepidation as his winged form disappeared into the darkness. Alone on the beach, she suddenly felt their isolation much strongly. She had always known that there were eyes in the darkness, but now, instead of being the eyes of friendly owls and cautious foxes, she knew that some of them were looking, and that some of them were hungry.
She sat down in a sheltered area of the beach to wait, and she was nearly nodding off when she heard a shout and then a scream. For a moment, she thought the scream was a hunting fox, but it sounded again, and her heart leaped up into her throat.
“No, Benedict,” she whispered, and she started to run.
***
One of Benedict's best friends in the northern part of the continent was a young woman who turned into an enormous snowy owl. While she could not match him in size or strength, he’d had great cause to envy her eyes. His own allowed him to see in the dark a little better than a human could, but it was still extremely dim while he searched the boundaries of the lake.
Tales of the Golden Judge: 3-Book Bundle - Books 7-9 Page 6