“Did you see us that day, Hel? Was I right? Or was it just wishful thinking?”
Brilliant green eyes flashed with knowledge and desire. He knew what she spoke of. He’d seen her.
She bit her lip and smiled. “You can tell me. I watched you too. In the Garden before Siraj appeared. I wanted you then. I do now. All of you.”
Hel gave up the battle. His training, everything he was demanded he take care not to hurt her, not to overwhelm her with his passions. Sun Guards ate, slept and breathed restraint. Do not look. Do not touch. You are more than a man. You are all that stands between the future and chaos. It was hammered into him again and again until it was a part of him. But inside his feelings were far more primitive. Volatile. And her words, the knowledge that she wanted him, set the beast within him free.
Need erupted from his throat with a roar. He stood straight and flipped Xian onto her back at the edge of the hot spring. With one of his hands he gripped her wrists and held them over her head, gaze riveted to her breasts heaving with each panting breath.
He barely recognized his guttural voice. “You want all of me, Xian? Your wish is my command.”
His free hand gripped her knee, lifting it high as he began to fill her with long powerful strokes. Years of pent-up desires filled each hard thrust. Hel knew he was being too rough. Knew it was her first time, but her Goddess forgive him, he could no longer hold back.
“Take it.” He punctuated each word with a sling of his hips, watching her body arch off the ground with the force of his penetration. “Every. Last. Inch. All of me.”
The sleek heat of her body burned his cock, her hungry sex squeezing him tighter, as though her body recognized his, didn’t want him to leave. She cried out, calling his name the way she had in his dreams. But this was real. Her body was real beneath his. He couldn’t get enough.
She came. Came again. Tears of climax slid down her cheeks. Her body writhed, and her hands curled into claws in his grip and still he couldn’t stop. He never wanted this to end.
He was bent over her, half in, half out of the splashing water, when he felt the strong male hand on his back. Hel was about to shrug him off, focused on claiming Xian, but the gruff voice stopped him.
“You said I could put my cock nowhere without your permission, Sun Guard. You said nothing about my hands. Or my tongue.”
Xian’s body jerked beneath his at Siraj’s words and drew his gaze. Her eyes were wide and her pupils dilated from surprise and…interest? Hel’s mind was spinning with unsated hunger, his muscles rope-taut. When one hand joined another and lowered to his ass, he was too aroused to resist.
Hel continued to pump his hips against Xian’s, watching her beautiful face contort in ecstasy. He was focused on her, but he was also waiting, holding his breath in anticipation as he sensed Siraj kneel behind him in the water.
Xian’s tongue slid out to wet her lower lip as she felt Siraj’s kiss. He kissed her calf where it met Hel’s heated side. Her ankle where it clung to Hel’s tailbone. Siraj continued to kiss her as his hands spread Hel’s cheeks, his wet thumb slipping down the seam of Hel’s ass.
He slowed his thrusts, unsure what he should do. What he should feel. When Siraj pressed his thumb inside the ring of muscles, easing its way with the firm stroke of his tongue, Hel’s shout echoed through the small cave.
The feelings. He wanted to rip Siraj away, to push against his mouth and demand more. Each flick of his tongue sent a charge like heat lightning up his spine.
Xian bucked her hips against his, her voice breathless. “Show me, Hel. Show me how he touches you.”
Hel groaned. “You will undo me, love.” He took her mouth without another word, thrusting and swirling his tongue, mimicking Siraj’s mouth. He let her hands go and she lifted them to his shoulders, nails digging into his skin as she moaned against him.
His cock grew harder inside her, and blood burned in his veins. Too much sensation. The feel of Xian’s sex clinging to his cock, Siraj’s thumb pressing deeper inside his ass, along with his talented tongue, sent Hel over the edge.
His vision blurred as instinct took over. He ate at Xian’s mouth, taking her hard and fast, loving her screams vibrating against his lips. His climax rocked him to his soul. Everything he had, all that he was, poured into her. Xian. He felt the power of it as he had with no other.
He lifted his head and looked into indigo eyes gone soft with satisfaction. Siraj had moved away from them, and Hel sunk into the water, dragging Xian’s limp body down with him.
She buried her head into his shoulder, laying a kiss on his neck. Hel’s gaze clashed with Siraj’s, dark with unresolved passion. Nothing had gone the way he’d imagined, but he hadn’t lied to her.
Now that he’d had her, there would be no going back.
Chapter Seven
Hel was hot and angry. He’d gone to gather their packs and bring Luna into the shade of the cave’s overhang. Alone. He was mad at himself for not thinking of it earlier, not taking care of their supplies and the rare animal that was, even now, looking at him with disappointment. He was mad at Siraj for playing up his injuries this morning, relying on Xian’s compassionate nature to save him from the task.
Those injuries hadn’t been on anyone’s mind last night. But Xian had smiled up at him, and he knew he could not deny her.
Last night. After the first time, he’d been insatiable. Xian had been more than willing, as had Siraj. They hadn’t spoken of what he’d done to Hel, and there’d been no repeat of the intimacy. Hel was thankful. He wasn’t ready to think about how much he’d enjoyed the other man’s touch. The two of them had silently agreed to work together to bring their sensual Priestess as much pleasure as humanly possible. And they had.
The memories of what they’d done stirred his arousal yet again. Xian’s mouth filled with Siraj’s cock as Hel took her from behind. Hel’s head buried between her thighs while Siraj fucked her voluptuous breasts.
Siraj had been true to his word in letting Hel set the pace. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever be able to truly share Xian. In his mind, in his heart, she had always been his alone. But he had to admit, he loved enhancing her pleasure with Siraj’s help. As long as he was the one in control.
When he walked back into the limestone enclosure, taking his shirt off to wipe down his sweat-soaked body, it took a moment for his mind to register what he was seeing. Xian and Siraj were lying on her robe beside the pool, naked bodies entwined in an erotic embrace. Siraj’s reddish brown braid was draped over her thigh, his eyes closed as he feasted on Xian’s arousal. Her hips rocked against his mouth as her own full lips wrapped around as much of his long cock as she could take.
The blood rushed to Hel’s cock so fast his head spun, and a new wave of anger washed over him at their moans. He had been dutifully seeing to their safety and supplies while Siraj had taken full advantage. Injuries his ass.
He stood, still as stone, watching the two of them find their pleasure. When Siraj lifted his mouth to cry out in climax, Hel moved swiftly, yanking him away from Xian’s mouth as he came.
Siraj’s neck arched at Hel’s grip on his hair, his seed dripping down his cock. “Shit, Sun Guard. Oh, fuck that was good. Why did you stop us before she came?”
Hel glanced over at Xian. She’d come up onto her knees, her arms covering her breasts as she stared at him in surprise. Her wide eyes and flushed skin told him she was still in the grip of passion, still unsatisfied.
Good.
“You didn’t follow the rules, Siraj.”
The idiot smiled serenely. “Not true. I was merely showing her what I did for you last night. It was she who decided to pay me back in kind. I did not break my vow, for I put my cock nowhere. She took it.”
Hel didn’t crack a smile. “You aren’t a Sun Guard or a Wanderer, and you definitely aren’t an ordinary citizen from the cities—so you don’t know. There are punishments for those who don’t follow the rules.”
Siraj narrowed his eyes
dangerously. “Are there now?” Hel watched his gaze drop to his pants, his erection straining against the fabric. “What kind of punishment did you have in mind?”
Hel swore. He couldn’t deny what he wanted. Couldn’t deny the knowledge in Siraj’s eyes. But he could show them both who was in charge of their pleasure.
They’d drive him insane.
He unlaced his pants. “Xian. I want you to stay right there, spread your legs and keep your hands on your knees where I can see them.” He looked over at her long enough to ensure she obeyed, then turned his stare on Siraj. “You can show her how you use that talented tongue of yours from here. Or do your injuries hinder you?”
Siraj licked his lips, still wet with Xian’s juices. “I can take whatever you can, Sun Guard.”
Xian held her breath, her body shaking in reaction. She wasn’t sure what had happened with Siraj. She’d been curious about what he’d done with Hel, and he’d known. One moment he was telling her of the time he’d sailed with a group of highly sexed pirates, of what he’d given in payment for safe passage down the coast, and the next he’d lowered his head between her legs. It had felt so good, and his erection had looked so painful, that she’d had to respond in kind.
When Hel returned she’d been frustrated, aroused…and guilty. It seemed wrong to experience that kind of pleasure without him. It was him she’d wanted. Hel had awoken this need inside her, not Siraj. But still, there was something about Siraj. He wasn’t constrained by the rules that held the rest of them back. His view of the world, the way he spoke to her—without hesitance, without reverence—was attractive. She was drawn to him. Not like Hel, but still tantalized.
She watched Hel wrap Siraj’s braid around his fist, watched Siraj reach inside the open flap of Hel’s pants and grip his thick, blood-flushed shaft with firm fingers. Her nails dug into her thighs.
Great Goddess, but they were beautiful together. Siraj kneeling at Hel’s feet took nothing away from his masculinity. There was no submission, only power as he took Hel’s cock into his mouth. Only strength as Hel pumped his hips, growling as Siraj took everything he gave and more.
Her body was shaking with the need to come. She dragged her hand up her thigh, needing relief, needing to join them in their passion. Before she could touch her sex Hel’s malachite gaze pierced her flesh.
He shook his head, skin tight over his face. “Do. Not. Fucking. Dare. You watch. Don’t touch what is mine.”
Siraj lifted his head and grinned. “She likes watching us, don’t you, sweet little Xian? She loves it. I bet she’d love to see more.”
Hel snarled. “I don’t believe I said you could stop.”
Siraj chuckled, but instantly wrapped his lips around Hel’s erection once more.
Hel spoke to Xian through clenched teeth. “Is he right? Do you like watching him swallow my cock? He’s good. I’ve never had anybody able to take this much.”
Xian whimpered, but he wasn’t finished. “Do you want to see me fuck him? Are you that curious?” Siraj moaned against his flesh, and Hel bared his teeth. “I can see he likes that idea. Or would you rather I just bent you over and took your ass, High Priestess? Let us feel firsthand what it is we’ve been missing.”
She was surprised by the sudden rush of fear and curiosity. High Priestess. What was she doing here? Breaking every rule put into place to protect her, to protect the future. She stood, grabbing her robe to wrap around her as she ran outside, ignoring the male shouts of denial.
The harsh rays of the sun hit her like a physical blast. She was vulnerable. Out in the world with no protection, in more ways than one. For a moment she wished for the ignorance of yesterday. Before she’d read any of the journal. Before she’d known a man. Before she understood what it meant. What love meant. “What have I done?”
“Changed everything.” Hel spoke into her ear before pulling the fabric of her robes over her head protectively, shielding the rest of her from the strong light of day with his body. “And damned if I’ll let you out of my sight long enough for you to change it back.”
He picked her up and carried her back inside. She watched him share a look with Siraj for a long, tension-filled moment.
Siraj sighed and reached for his pants and boots. “I should go tinker with my treader, bring it closer so Luna’ll have something to commiserate with.” He reached for his belt and untied one of the small pouches, setting it on the ground. “You’ll need this. Trust me.”
Xian and Hel were alone. He sat, still holding her in his arms, and rocked her as though she were a child. As though she were precious. She didn’t feel like a child. Not after what she’d seen and experienced. Not with the hard ridge of his erection pressing against her bare bottom. But he had something else on his mind.
He spoke in a hushed faraway voice that had Xian straining to hear. “I was nine when Father found me in these ruins. I don’t remember much before that. I was the child of a warrior. A Wanderer. I’d wanted to prove myself. I was too young to go with the raiding party, but that didn’t stop me. Unfortunately they were overtaken. Everyone died, but I escaped. I ran away.”
She felt his chest lift with a shaky breath. “I think I was scared. Ashamed. So I came to live in the ruins. It wasn’t long before I saw Father. He was a part of the Sun Guard, scouting ahead prior to the High Priestess Ani’s arrival. I’d injured myself, I was sick with fever, and I followed him.” He chuckled. “Father almost killed me, but when he saw how young I was, how ill, he took care of me. Hid me out of sight and smuggled me back to his longhouse.”
Xian lifted her head from his shoulder in surprise. He wasn’t born in Kroy Wen? Wasn’t chosen by the High Priestess from birth to be a Sun Guard? She looked at the scar on the back of his neck.
He noticed the direction of her glance. “I did that myself. Not very well, I admit, and Father never let me forget it. I wanted to blend in. But not at first. Father told the others I was one of the lost. A young Sun Guard lost in the Garden of the Moon during training. It’s not an unusual occurrence, so it was easy enough. Still, he risked everything for me. But I didn’t understand that then. I almost ran away, back to the Wanderers…my family. Despite my shame, everything I’d learned about the heretics of the city, the cruel foreign Goddess of the Temple told me I would surely be killed if I stayed.”
“Why didn’t you?” It was suddenly important for her to know the answer. Why would he have stayed? Become a Sun Guard no less?
Hel met her gaze, unblinking. “I saw a young Priestess being chased by her tutor. She couldn’t have been more than seven or eight, but she was sneaking out of the Temple to watch the horses go by. Fearless.”
Xian felt her eyes widen. Her? Was he talking about her?
He smiled. “When they’d passed, she allowed the older Priestess to drag her away. She looked up at me as she went by, her eyes a color I’d never seen the rival of…and she smiled. I heard her tutor scolding her, saying she needed a keeper.” Hel shrugged. “As quickly as that, I found my destiny. I knew that I wanted to be the one to protect you. I wanted to be the one you smiled at again. So I embraced my new life and never looked back.”
Xian’s heart was pounding so loudly she was sure he could hear it. “Why are you telling me this?” The knowledge of what the elder Sun Guard had done, in the wrong hands, could have Hel and his Father killed. Especially since Hel had become the personal Sun Guard of the High Priestess.
“I’m trusting you with everything that I am. All my secrets. I’m trying to tell you that I—”
She covered his mouth with her hand. She wasn’t ready to hear more. Not now. She replaced her hand with her mouth. Showing him without words how she felt.
Hel soon took control of the kiss. Lowering her to the ground, he pressed his body between her thighs. The loose laces of his pants dug roughly into her flesh, the sensation only exciting her more. He pushed down his pants and she moaned into his mouth, loving the feel of his bare skin on hers.
He lifted his
head, his cheeks flushed. “You’re right. No more talking. Let’s see what Siraj left for us.” He reached out to grab the pouch and a small vial slipped out.
Xian recognized the liquid. The Priestesses who worked with the herbs that drugged and aroused the Sacrificed, also created this. An oil that heated the body and eased the way for men and women alike. It was a popular item, always in high demand with the traders.
Hel’s rough chuckle told her he recognized it too. “Good man. Now what were we talking about earlier? Trying something new?”
She shivered beneath him. He meant taking her as a man takes another man. The idea was as intimidating as it was thrilling. “What if I can’t—”
“Take me?” His smile reached his brilliant green eyes. “You can, Xian. Trust me.”
Adrenaline made her giddy. “I do, Hel. I trust you with my life. And my body.”
His smile wavered slightly. “Two out of three. Good enough, Priestess. For now.” He kissed her again and she lost herself to it, until she felt him lift his hips and apply the oil to his erection.
She jumped at the first brush of his thumb along her sex, and lower, along the seam of her ass. A warm tingle penetrated her skin instantly, her arousal building swift and strong. Oh, Goddess. “Hel.”
His voice was rough. “I feel it too. The heat. Fuck, Xian, I need you.”
“Then take me.”
Hel turned her over, spreading her legs wide and entering her sex in one movement. Xian shouted in surprised pleasure, her body beyond ready for him. She pressed her forehead into the ground, her breath coming out in joyful sobs as he claimed her.
When he pushed his thumb inside the tight ring of muscles hidden by the full curves of her ass, she arched her back, opening for him, loving the stretch, the sting. The oil set her nerves ablaze, and there was no room for anxiety or tension—only desire.
Wasteland: The Priestess Page 6