by Stephan Knox
“Stone was really old,” Tannin started up his story where he’d left off. “Though, you wouldn’t know it by looking at him. Much of his hair was still black. But there was another elder among us, who was even older than Stands on Stones. He claimed he was older than the new world was. And he told stories of how it all happened.”
“Are they still alive now?”
“I’m sure Stone is. But Song Keeper was really old, his long hair was completely silver.” He thoughts wandered off a moment and he shook his head, uncertain. “It’s been some time since I have been home. I can’t be sure.”
He could smell her growing nervousness as they both finished off their meal. But it didn’t mask the steadily growing scent her body put out as it shifted, becoming more alluring throughout the day and well into the evening. The pheromones of her heat wrapped around his senses and yanked on him, enslaving him to want and ravish. It was a war inside himself, not to just toss her on the bed and start their union right away. Good thing, however, for the new added thickness of soft downy fur, just in case it came down to that.
He was rather surprised when she got up and started to walk out, pausing to glance over her shoulder at him. Nervously, she scratched at her nose, and he realized then she was perhaps embarrassed. She didn’t know how to do seductive. Not even close. But, her scent alone, and his desire to keep her at his side was lure enough to have him up on his feet and following her.
He found her pants first, piled on the floor just outside the door, then just ahead towards the hot springs was his tunic she’d been wearing.
When he caught up with her, she sat on the edge of one of the pools, her feet already dipped in, and she cut through the steaming surface, creating swirling designs with her fingers.
She tried to keep her eyes down as he disrobed, but he caught her sly glimpses, then finally she just abandoned the notion and stared right at him.
Her gaze turned a touch glossy as she followed him into the water, taking advantage of having the freedom to look for once. She may be untouched but she was a woman who was aware of what she had been denied all this time.
“Come here.” He pulled her all the way in as he lowered down, submerging himself in the welcoming hot bath and he drew her next to him, letting his hands drift over her body to enjoy each small curve. He let out a growl, feeling his male member bob to life under the water as if it were some waving flag that it was there. Like his sym, it seemed to have a mind of its own and had some wild notion that it was being ignored. Which Tannin was— to some extent— trying to prolong the moment just a little longer as they searched for a mutual comfort with each other.
He still had some soap mixture left over from the night before and he used some of it to wash her. More simply an excuse to just touch her everywhere. Every inch of her body traced by his fingers and memorized by his sight.
The respite, the fresh air, and food had done her well. The black ring that marred her neck was finally fading and the dark circles under her eyes, mere shadows. Her hair was another matter and he’d failed to get several of the mats out. Even using the brush, there were a few that refused to surrender. Whether Aari sensed his next intention or not, she surprised him with a request that most definitely put him to a new task.
She turned, just bleakly glanced over her shoulder at him, even the request came out as a small squeak, “Can you give my Symbiotai a name? Like you did for yours?”
He was speechless at first. He’d meant to nod, but somehow it came out as a shake instead, because he didn’t even know where to begin to find a name— a proper one for her sym.
“Something sweet and pretty like she is?”
He smiled then pulled her back against him, hugging her, and kissed the side of her head. “Ask her if she likes the name Beyha?”
“Does it mean anything?”
“It means, beautiful,” he whispered.
He felt Aari melt against him, felt the touch of her skin grow warmer than the steamy water, and then he felt her little Symbiotai flutter just under the skin, sending him her response. He knew she liked it before Aari told him.
“She likes the name Beyha.”
“Good, now let’s take care of your hair.” He turned her around and lifted her, guiding her legs to wrap around his waist as he leaned back along the ledge of the pool, and reached for his knife.
He saw the worried look in her eyes and she shook her head just as before. She had silently enjoyed having her hair growing out long. Even he had to admit that after their visit on Horozoh he’d seen that her hair was beautiful, once it’d had some care.
The only way to have it that way again was to allow him to cut out the dreads that were taking up permanent residence on her head.
He drew in a deep sigh and hugged her to him, still holding the knife in his hands, but kept it out of her peripheral vision. “I love you, Aari,” he whispered, then reached up, and made the first cut.
She let out the quietest yelp then buried her face in his neck as he cut the remaining tangles free, one at a time, until they were gone.
He tossed the knife aside then combed his fingers through the fresh choppy strands of hair then lifted her head and kissed her before those teary eyes could convince her of anything except what he wanted her to feel. And that was, he loved her, and wanted her.
Having moved from their bath to their new bedroll, Tannin broke away from the heat of her mouth. He took her hands and pressed them to the mat at her sides then lowered over her to breathe in the scent of her skin, starting at the hollow of her throat, and moving down towards her sternum. When he darted his tongue out to taste that alluring combination of clean flesh and mating heat that dampened her skin, he reveled in the sweet saltiness it created. Goosebumps were prominent beneath the fingers he brought to her waist and small ripples followed the path of his touch.
Up and down, he licked and nipped at her quaking skin, focusing on the delicate lines formed by her collarbones before lavishing affection on the visible arches of her rib cage.
Her ragged gasps, when he bit down gently, told him what he already suspected. If she held any further reservations about his nature, she was also excited by it. He followed the curve of her body up until the fullness of a breast grazed his cheek, teasing him with the soft contact. He lifted his head to watch as her breasts rose and fell with heavy breaths that relayed her nervousness, further impassioned by the promise he’d made to make her feel all the things she’d denied herself.
The sight of them did far more for him, he was certain, until watching wasn’t nearly enough and he dropped his lips over one of them, divulging his tongue with the savoring sensation of a tight nipple on his tongue.
Aari’s hands snapped around his head, fingertips digging into his hair as her back arched, crushing her breast to his lips as she gasped under the sensation. But it wasn’t just the taste or the firm feeling of her nipple, or the sound of her breath that rewarded him most, but the scent of her arousal that turned sevenfold in that moment. It threatened to make him as drunk as it had the night when he had sated his tongue with the taste of her, from between her thighs.
A soft whimper echoed in his ears and he felt the tips of her fingers twine loosely in his hair. So much for keeping her hands at her sides, not that he’d expected her to. With all the sexual energy pouring through their bodies, there was no way in all of destiny he would be able to keep his hands off her either.
Naked, he lay over her small form.
He kissed the grey shadow that still ringed her neck. As much as he hated it, he hoped some hint of it would never fade, as a reminder of how close he had come to losing the most precious thing Destiny had ever offered him. A life with Aari.
Aari lay under him, warmed by his body. Her own zapped and tingled with nervous anticipation, but Tannin took a torturously sweet eternity as if touching her for the very first time, and he had to memorize ever detail, every quiver his calloused fingertips made.
&
nbsp; The kissing, nipping, and touching never ceased. His body moved like a wave over hers, his hips lowering between her thighs, and he pressed against her, crushing overly sensitive nerves, teasing the ache that she had never allowed herself to give into. Now she could— and would— and it was as though he’d set a spark to dry kindle. Every cell in her body went up in flames.
There was still some remnant amount of fear shivering inside her; a life time of suppressing what her body and her sym craved. However, with every passing that she felt the thick shaft of Tannin’s sex, grinding against her was like dangling pastry meats before her famished eyes while nurturing her hunger with a full flask of whiskey mash. Somehow it all flooded into her system and made her dizzy.
Her body begged to feel him inside her. She felt the moisture building between her legs and felt it coat him with each passing slide across her flesh. She didn't think she could be pushed to a higher exhilaration. That was until he slipped his hand under her back and began to massage along her spine to stimulate her Symbiotai.
Drunk and reeling in sensation didn't come close to what she felt when he did that. And she let out a tight whimper that at some point mutated into a full out moan of pleasure.
She burned like a torch. She lifted her legs around him, closing her thighs around Tannin’s hips to hook the backs of his legs with her feet, using the leverage to lift her hips up to ride against him in return of every one of his own rolling motions. The growls that came out with each if his bated breath filled her ears, touching something deeper inside, and the low vibration made something inside her melt in a good way. She recalled all those times listening to the men who’d come to visit her old roommate. How the sound of their growling breaths drove her mad, wanting to hear it in her resound against her own ear. Now Tannin made those very same sounds and they were all for her.
“I need you now,” he told her. The words rattled with a husky breath and she nodded her compliance. She needed him too. There was just no way she could hold out. No was not the word screaming at the tip of her tongue.
She squirmed under his weight meant to hold her down. It almost felt ritualistic, to ensure she felt his alpha dominance over her, to keep her compliantly submissive. She liked it. She couldn’t explain why, only that she did.
Tannin shifted, his hands moving over her body like a storm of touch. A precise movement of his hips and then she felt the blunt end of his shaft nudging at her willing entrance. A slight gasp escaped her lips. And she looked up, catching his intensely heated gaze as he stared down at her, watching her body’s reactions.
His advance paused but neither retreated. He lowered his face to kissed her neck, then her jaw, lowering down on elbows around her head and he looked into her once more. His blue eyes darkening as he stared down at her intently. Some strange discontinuance like time had stopped for them. Only the finest, fragile threads holding them back.
She felt the twinge of pressure as his cock hovered just outside of her body. “Now. Please, Tannin,” she whispered. Then he took one of her hands, intent to distract her, and pulled it up around his neck, just as he dropped his hips.
The surprised her and she threw her head back, pushing into the bedroll, letting out a loud gasp that lodged up in her throat with the sharp pain that struck when Tannin broke past her hymen then paused inside her. She felt the swelling of his chest against her, the struggling sound of his control came out in a raspier gruff, and then he slowly pushed in deeper, his member stretching her inner walls in an unfathomable sensation.
As much as she wanted and needed this strange and diabolical feeling, she also didn't know what to expect. And that made her a little afraid. But Tannin went slow, picking up in small micro pushes, in and out, without going all the way, but working his way a little farther in. Each roll of his hips working up a hungry wave that only lent to intensify her need for sex! Oh, by Destiny, her mind screamed inside her head, she wanted him!
He pressed his face into hers. Need and caution warring inside him, but not enough to deter his love for her. If she told him to stop, he would.
He rolled her face over to the side with a gentle nuzzling and kissed her cheek, then worked a trail of kisses down her neck.
Her whispered call for him to finally enter her was the sweetest plea that ever brushed his ear. The second best was her first gasp as it fluttered with a stirring blend of fear and hunger just as her thighs widened for him, then closed around his hips when he did as she requested and pushed in, breaking past the tender membrane of skin. He watched every flicker of emotion on her face, and the wince of pain jolted him with a touch of shame. He wished that it hadn’t hurt her. She’d had enough pain for several life times.
Her gasp filled his ear with a warm brush of air, but her fingertips pulled at him, refusing to allow him to withdrawal. And so, as her body beckoned him, he continued to push farther inside her body.
She gulped as he felt his cock stretch her insides to accommodate his thickness, pushing deeper— fitting into her as if he’d been designed for that purpose alone.
Tannin felt like he’d died and come back to life in the stars. He instantly rolled his face against her head to settle the overwhelming sensation to rut and scent her. Using the contact of her to still the chills that shocked his system as he felt her silky walls hug around his cock.
There were no words to describe how incredible it felt to be inside her. Perhaps once upon a time there had been, but he didn’t need the words from the old-world— just to experience her was enough. Closing his eyes, he felt himself tumbling.
He moved over her, sliding inside bliss. Somehow managing to maintain a sensuous rhythm, sliding in and out of her tight heat with singular determination. He devoured every breath and whimper she made like they were a sweet confection. He needed to feel her body’s release around him; needed her complete surrender while he emptied himself into her shuddering body.
The friction of contact as he moved, enraptured them both the way green tender crackled in a bonfire.
A light sheen of sweat began to coat their bodies, making his skin slide over her like slippery clay. The earth rocked underneath them, and he gripped a thigh, clutching her to his hips while he kept his crushing weight off her small frame, but nothing slowed the movement of his hips as carnal lust took over both their bodies’ needs. With every retreat of his hips, Aari’s chased after him. He felt her silky walls tighten around his cock in a rebuttal to prevent the retreat.
Breathy whimpers mewed in his ear as if begging that he remained buried deep inside her. Her desperate gasps pleading for what she didn't know. But he did. The storm of euphoria had her so tossed about, she didn't understand what was happening to her. However, her body knew what it wanted and needed all of it from him. Her body wanted to be sated and bonded. He felt the heat in his spine, felt his sym shifting. He moved a hand under Aari and felt the same shifting movement inside hers. And then quite suddenly, a flood of emotions and so many other things crashed over Tannin’s thoughts. Such sweetness he felt inside her, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to hold out for long even if he tried. They were too ravished in the epicenter of a maelstrom, complete and annihilated by the intoxicating sex.
Aari’s gasps became growling whimpers as he picked up in rhythm, pumping into her faster with long, forceful strokes, pulling almost completely out before slamming all the way in until he could push in no farther.
He dropped down and just curled into her body, crushing the small pearl of her clit between them. That’s when her nails found his back and dug in as she screamed out.
Aari’s body locked up, and her head fell back with wordless moans escaping with her breath. She could hardly hang on, making her all the more grateful for the weight of Tannin’s body lowered over her. She felt his lips along her jawline, but she could not bring herself under control to meet his kiss as this rattling explosion took over her— and then Tannin began to move inside her again. She wasn’t even aware the desperate squea
l that filled the room was hers until she heard his rough whisper in her ear.
“Don’t be afraid. When it hits, let it wash over you.”
Before she could ask what he meant, his face contorted, a loud moan slipped from his lips and she felt jets of liquid warmth erupting into her. She choked on her cry of fear and confusion when a rush of white-hot pleasure/pain of her own exploded inside her, starting in her womb and spreading outward. It felt as if her entire body had fallen numb and now the blood was ripping through her decimated muscles and veins, bringing the deadened tissue back to life faster than she could comprehend. Waves of warm bliss, chased with ripples of sharp heat ensnared and enkindled nerve endings then eased her down like she was floating after a deathly drop from up high.
Then a new fervent sensation expanded from her theca. The burning heat exploding through her limbs as violent seizures overtook her body. Her arms went from Tannin’s back to slamming down into their bedroll, her fingers curling in fists into the fur stuffed bedding. Her legs became heavy and fell from his waist and then the whole world seemed to vanish into shadows, leaving her blind, and a horrible high-pitched shrill echoed in her ears.
She was aware of everything that was occurring but was trapped inside her own body, covered in darkness.
Terrified, she struggled to breathe, and scents engulfed her nose— forest and rain, earth and grass— musky, woodsy— animal.
She felt her sym moving quickly inside her body, pushing its way through soft engorged tissue to connect with Tannin’s own Symbiotai. Hyper pitched breaths chuffed against her cheek as Tannin endured much of the same, while both their Symbiotai moved to find each other and create their own moment of union.