by Ophelia Bell
As she ranted, his gaze grew heated and a slow, wicked smile spread across his face. The very expression caused her core to pulse from the promise in those swirling eyes.
“Kitten, you are fierce when you get pissed.”
“I’m fucking serious,” she said, though her arousal sapped some of the determination from her tone.
“Show me, then,” he challenged.
“Show you what?”
“How much you want my cock inside you.”
A hot rush of excitement flooded her from her chest all the way to her core, but he was right. She narrowed her eyes.
“Fine,” she said. She braced one hand on his broad chest and lifted her hips. Reaching between her thighs, she wrapped her fingers around the end of his shaft and aimed his tip between her soaked folds.
The mere contact made her already shaky control crumble further, and she clung to her anger like a lifeline. She needed to see him surrender to the pleasure she knew she could give, while still keeping the upper hand. She needed to prove her point, that she could—and would —control her own pleasure if she wanted to … and could control his as well.
Holding the end of his cock, she pressed him tight between her thighs and slid along his length, her slick juices coating the underside of his shaft. The wet friction shot jolts of pleasure through her core, but she held tight to her resolve, determined to see him crack.
“I could have just done this, couldn’t I? Rubbed myself all over you without letting you in. Would that have worked? Could we accomplish what we need this way?”
Neph’s brows twitched and he licked his lips. Swallowing, he shook his head. In a gruff voice, he said, “You needed to be penetrated.”
“Did it have to be your cock, though?”
“No.”
“You said the ursa use their fists on females … fuck them that way. I know my cousin talked about it before. She’s never had a dick inside her, as far as I know, but she’s far from chaste. Tell me, what fucking difference does it make what part of your body gets shoved into mine? Huh? I think you secretly wanted to have that imaginary honor of being the first dick inside me. Well, congratulations, but don’t forget I’m the one who let you in, and I’m the one who gets to decide if you’re allowed in again.”
During her entire speech, she kept rubbing her pussy up and down his cock, teasing his cockhead at her entrance without ever taking him inside and repeatedly rubbing the very tip of him on her engorged clit. She was drunk on pleasure and power by the time he reached for her, wrapping his big hands around her thighs and squeezing.
“For fuck’s sake, kitten, will you please just fuck me?”
“What if I want to come just like this?” she asked, letting the pleasure build in her core as she rubbed him harder against her clit.
Neph let out a desperate growl, tilting his hips up into her grip. She squeezed him, enjoying the way his eyelids fluttered closed and a breath escaped his lips.
“Do what you want. Please just take me with you. Let me come.”
He looked so desperate, so worried, as though he genuinely feared she’d keep torturing him this way. But her desire had reached a fever pitch, her hot channel aching to be filled again. Not quite as desperately as when her estrous flared full force, but close.
She raised her hips and slid his tip down until the thick head pressed at her ready opening. Neph’s features tightened with the strain of his need as she sank down little by little, her breathing quickening as he stretched her. He’d shoved into her so quickly the first time, she hadn’t had time to enjoy it. This time she didn’t care how badly he wanted in, she simply wanted to feel every inch of him sinking into her.
“That’s right, kitten. Take me. Take all of me. I’m yours.”
She closed her eyes, savoring the sensation accompanied by the raw, desperate need in his voice. In that moment, she knew he didn’t lie, and that she indeed owned him.
That understanding made the pleasure exponentially more delicious when she began fucking him. Once fully seated on his huge cock, she twisted her hips, simply enjoying the completeness with which he filled her. He let out a rough groan, shifting his hands to her hips, but he didn’t do more than squeeze, as though he restrained himself from forcing her to move. She braced her hands on his shoulders and lifted her hips, her eyes fluttering closed as the thick head of his cock brushed against the tender pleasure core inside her.
His swirling blue gaze was still fixed on her when she opened her eyes again, craving the look he gave her.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he rumbled. “Gaia’s tears, I love you.”
The sound of his words burned in her chest, and she bit her lip to keep the overwhelming emotion from bursting forth. The physical pleasure merged with that warmth, flooding her body with pure ecstasy. She gasped as it swelled in her core, then abated, only to swell even higher on her next downstroke on his cock.
He met her rising and falling motions with rhythmic pumps of his hips, pushing ever deeper and angling his hips just so, sending glorious currents of pleasure through her entire body. She’d never imagined being fucked could feel so good, and nearly lost track of the rhythm when the pleasure filled her nearly to bursting.
She let out a whimper and pressed her face into his neck. Neph chuckled into her ear.
“Don’t worry, kitten. I got your point, but I need to fuck you hard now or I’m going to go fucking mad.”
“Uh-huh,” was all she could manage, and as he gripped her hips tighter and slammed his cock up into her, she bit down hard into the pliant flesh of his shoulder.
He let out a soft grunt followed by another low, gravelly laugh. “If you aim to mark me as yours, you might want to wait. Don’t give him any more ammunition against me, all right, kitten?”
She let out a low groan and nodded, releasing her teeth from his skin and sinking them into her lower lip again instead. The steady, pounding slams of his cock into her tender core pushed her ever higher, his fingers digging into her hips and urging her down on top of him in matching rhythm.
She was at the edge already when he let out a growl, and with one hand cupped her face and angled her head so he could look her in the eyes. She got lost in those whirlpool depths, unable to look away despite the rush of dizziness that overtook her.
“I’ve got you. Come when I do, love. I want to fucking drown in you.”
Her world spun in the maelstrom of his eyes, the ecstasy sucking her in until she could do nothing more than surrender to its pull. Staring into those depths, she cried out his name and leaned back, arching her head toward the ceiling as she let the need drive her movements, chasing that glorious climax as she met his violent thrusts with her own writhing hips.
Neph let out a rough, strangled yell, some strange, barely coherent combination of affirmations and endearments as his cock spasmed inside her, keeping time with her own pulsing climax. Her orgasm cascaded through her like a dam bursting and the noises of their fucking grew wetter and lewder, skin smacking with each movement. By the time she slowed and sank down onto his chest, her thighs were drenched with her fluids and his mixed together. She didn’t care a bit about how big a mess they’d made when Neph slipped his arms around her and nuzzled at her ear.
“Anytime you need to prove yourself on my cock, you just go right ahead, kitten. I meant it when I said I’m yours.”
She let out a happy sigh. “Couldn’t let you get away with that. If he doesn’t like that you’ve fucked me already, he can suck it.”
Neph’s chest vibrated with a deep laugh. “I’m going to tell him you said that, assuming he’ll speak to me.”
She frowned and pushed herself up on her hands, staring down at him in consternation. “Was it really that bad between you at the end?”
His face clouded, the swirling sea blue of his irises turning stormy. “I said some things I sh
ouldn’t have. Things that hurt him deeply. Things that weren’t true, and he knew it. He was always the best at discerning a lie. He told me to take it back, but I knew it was the only way to make him go. If I hadn’t, my sister was prepared to take more drastic measures.”
“Which is exactly what she’s done now.”
He nodded sadly. “Yeah. She promised she’d do this if he ever set foot back in the Haven. She’s wanted to put him away for a long, long time, and now she has.”
“What did you say to him?” she asked.
“I said I didn’t love him. That I never would, and that he’d ruined any chance we might have had of being together.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Neph
“Oh. Wow.” Vrishti slipped off him and grabbed the soiled shirt to clean up some of their mess. It was like every time she orgasmed, a dam quite literally burst inside her.
Now Neph watched a dam of a different type begin overflowing as an errant tear seeped from the corner of her eye.
“Kitten,” he said in a rough voice. “Why the tears?”
She touched her cheek, rubbing at the wetness. “I don’t … I can’t imagine how that must have felt. If you’d said it to me, I’d be heartbroken. And you’ve really never seen him since?”
“Only once, but we didn’t speak. The day is burned into my memory, but probably for the wrong reasons. It was his sister’s wedding, which I should have paid more attention to, but all I could see was him and the utter hurt in his eyes. If either of us had been more aware, we’d have known she was there too, in the crowd.”
“She …” Vrishti said, frowning. “She who?”
“Meri. The reason for all of this. She hadn’t yet made her move, but not even a day later, everything changed.”
The old regret surged forth like a dark, cloying cloud inside his chest. His throat tightened around the words, and he shook his head when she touched his shoulder.
“What is it?”
Forcing air into his lungs, he gave her a plaintive look. “Vrishti, there’s something I’d like to do with you … I wanted to wait until the three of us were together, but I want you to understand what he and I have faced, and it’s difficult for me to find the right words. It’s better if I show you, but that means we must meld.”
“Are you sure? Isn’t that part of mating for your kind?”
“It is, and I’m not asking lightly. I want to meld with you permanently once we get to him. This would only be the first step. No different than the first time your claws tear my skin when you mark me. Ultimately, we’d have to do it three times … and a fourth when we exchange blood. Now, I just need to be able to share my mind with you.”
“All right. What do we need to do?”
“Nothing. We’ve exchanged essences enough that this should be easy.” He smoothed his palm along the side of her face, savoring the way she sighed and leaned her cheek into him. Spreading his fingers out, he found the pressure points at her temple and just behind her ear.
The magic flowed through him swiftly, and the second it penetrated her mind, she let out a soft gasp, her eyes widening.
“Shh. Let it happen,” he whispered.
Vrishti closed her eyes and sank back down against him, her head on his shoulder while his fingers maintained contact until the meld was complete. Within moments, the realm of her mind opened to him and he stared around in wonder at what he found.
A more beautiful mind he had never encountered. Vrishti’s was meant to be Summer’s home soon, but it was as if the immortal spirit that embodied that most fertile season had already claimed its place in her. He wandered through a verdant garden, filled with trickling streams and beds of wildflowers. Tall trees stood at the edges like sentinels, their deep green leaves rustling in a summer breeze. It was more beautiful than his own home, and he half-wished he could simply move in and never leave.
He wandered down a path lined with blankets of tiny blue flowers and found her, naked and reclining on a small, grassy hillock.
“There you are,” she said, giving him a shy smile. “I admit I’m not used to having other people in here.”
“You wouldn’t be,” he said. “You’d need a satyr’s or a nymph’s essence to trigger a meld. I am …” He paused, overwhelmed by the scenery, unable to adequately voice his feelings about being here to begin with. “… Honored that I get to be here.”
His gaze drifted past her to the sparkling pool that lay adjacent to the green slope of the hill she reclined on. The water swirled in a familiar way that couldn’t be a simple feature of her imagination. His mouth fell open and he stumbled down the hill to the pool’s edge.
“What is it?” Vrishti asked, standing up to follow him.
“The water. This is all you too?”
“It hasn’t always been, but yes, it is now. This garden seems to keep getting bigger every time I come here. I think of it as my secret place. When I started to practice using my power as an ursa, this is what I imagined. There was always a little brook, but this pool only just appeared today. Is there something weird about it? You have the strangest look.”
He let out an involuntary laugh. “Kitten, it isn’t strange at all. And I shouldn’t be surprised. It just never occurred to me that you would quite literally have the Source inside you. That’s what this is. It’s a part of your soul.”
“Oh … I guess that’s good, right?”
He glanced back at her as he stood. Her uncertainty was endearing, and he stepped closer, pulling her into his arms. “It’s just more evidence of how amazing you are. Now, I have something to show you. Hang on.”
He pulled back, sliding his hands down her arms and tugging on her hands as he stepped backwards. With each step the mental scenery around them changed, melting away as though it were fog. Gradually, it was replaced by a different scene, one from his ancient memories.
What unfolded were his recollections of a particular summer day in Egypt around three thousand years earlier. The day Aodh’s sister wed her lover, the man who would eventually hunt Neph’s kind nearly to extinction before switching sides to become their general in the coming war against an even older enemy.
At the time, there had been no reason to worry. Meri had been banished from the Haven and their lives had gone back to normal, or what might have passed for normal. He and Nyx returned to leading the nymphaea, and despite the ache of loss from expelling Aodh as well, he’d found a way to rejoice on the day he visited in this memory. He had performed with his sister in a glorious dance for the new couple that celebrated the past and the future and bestowed a blessing on the groom. The power they gave him through their dance would prolong his life and grant him psychic power in keeping with the power the immortal blue dragon who was his bride already possessed.
But aside from the time spent performing that dance, his entire attention was on the white-haired dragon on the other side of the dais where the wedding itself took place. He could not keep his eyes off the pale, shirtless man, who was resplendently garbed in silver from head to toe, with silver bands around his upper arms, a hammered silver neckpiece that gleamed in the sun, and a loincloth woven from silver thread. Aodh was flanked by his sisters in gold and green, then by their brothers in black and red, each one the perfect embodiment of their own color while they witnessed their blue sister wed the love of her life. The five of them soon offered their own enchantments to accompany the ones all the higher races had agreed to bestow upon the groom to ensure he could survive as the partner of an immortal dragon.
Neph was fortunate that he had no such attachment to a human, but at that moment, he almost wished he’d fallen for one. There would have been no complicated questions about how to justify their relationship and still do their duties by their race—that of procreating and producing children.
But the problem was that humans and immortals didn’t mix, at least not long-ter
m. And the dragons had long held fast to their own laws that prohibited them from mating with each other. Except in very specifically prescribed cases, they were required to choose human mates, but the immortal dragons who led the race were too powerful for the average human mind to survive very long.
They generally chose loneliness over love, or learned to find joy in the ephemeral nature of the human life. No good thing lasted, but that made it all the sweeter for them.
Through his covert observations of Aodh that day, it was clear that the dragon had not chosen the path of joyful abandon his red brother and golden sister both obviously embraced during the revelries that occurred just after the ceremony. Aodh had sat with his dark brother and simply observed, his gaze pointedly avoiding Neph.
The wound was still raw, and the event itself drew attention to the fact that the dragons were willing to push boundaries for the sake of love and happiness, and that the other higher races would band together to assist. There was no precedent against bestowing such blessings on a human who had already been touched by dragon power before birth. Fate’s hand was solidly in the mix for this particular human man, if a dragon had seen fit to grant him a blessing in the womb.
The thing that stood out strongest for Neph, however, was how rigid they were when it came to sticking to the laws they had made to govern how the races mixed.
They simply didn’t breed with each other, and he knew that despite the way they all came together for this one glorious event, many of the younger members happily enjoying the opportunity to pair up for a day with one of their sister races, they would all part ways when dawn struck tomorrow and wouldn’t look back.
So why the hell couldn’t he stop himself from looking back? Even though this was merely a memory he chose to relive to show Vrishti the day in question, that thread still tugged at his heart whenever he looked at Aodh.