Storm Unbound

by Leo Hull

  “Consider it done,” Tristan promised, his voice and gaze firm.

  “Good. We’ll bind on it,” Lydia said pulling her hand free, her pale cheeks turning the slightest shade of pink.

  “We will? Why do we need to that? My word is my bond.”

  Lydia snorted. “You don’t want to fuck me?”

  Lydia’s aggressive question rocked Tristan backwards. “I didn’t say that. I thought you and Serena were, you know, a couple? I don’t want you in my bed just because you feel like you have to be.”

  “Who said I didn’t want to be?” Lydia whispered coyly. She turned her back on him and crawled to the window, her tunic doing nothing to hide her charms. She presented a strong argument, her interest glistening openly. “Serena has nothing to do with binding.”

  Tristen gawked at her, stiffening rapidly as his struggled to make sense of this strange land. “Where are you going then?”

  “Stealing Slivers.” Lydia climbed halfway out the window, then paused and looked back. “And don’t even think about trying to slip any language in our contract about sex.”

  She vanished out the window before he could muster a reply.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Yes, Nessa!” Tristan groaned, his hand winding its way into her silver hair and guiding her mouth up and down. Her tongue lavished him with attention, never pausing in her intimate exploration of his straining desire. His other arm clutched Annik against him, pulling her hard body against his, the softness of her ample breasts accentuated by the rest of her muscled frame. He let his hand drift down to her firm ass, built by years of training for peak performance into a round monument best appreciated from behind.

  “Good girl,” Annik cooed, wiggling herself closer to Tristan. She let a hand trail across the ridges of his abs to gently cup Nessa’s face, stroking her encouragingly. “Show him how thankful we are for rescuing us.”

  Nessa muttered some reply, her words muffled by her full mouth. Annik giggled and turned Tristan’s head to her.

  “I know you want me, and after what you did, I think you deserve whatever you want,” Annik promised, her lips so close to his he could feel her breath as she talked. Tristan groaned and tried to kiss her, but she danced playfully back.

  “Try not to come,” Nessa muttered, briefly pulling away.

  “What? Isn’t that the point?” Tristan asked confused, but unable to look away from Annik’s eager eyes.

  “No, we have to come together for it to work,” Nessa said before diving back down onto him. She took him deep, further than she ever had before and Tristan nearly lost control. “Not yet!”

  Frustrated, Tristan tightened his grip in Nessa’s hair. It seemed shorter than he remembered. Had Talek forced her to cut her silver locks?

  Awareness swirled and Tristan blinked his bleary eyes. Lydia knelt over him, her delicate fingers wrapped around his manhood and an impatient look on her face.

  “Lydia?” Tristan pushed himself up, his dream falling away. He was still in his small rented room. The morning light filtered in and the noise of the city waking drifted through his open window. “Why didn’t you wake me?”

  “I tried!” Lydia insisted. “I thought you would like this, and once you started talking about Nessa and Annik, I didn’t want to interrupt. I know what’s it’s like to dream of the woman you love after losing her. I didn’t want to take that from you.”

  “Love? I…” Tristan trailed off. He certainly had deep feelings for them both.

  He’d never met someone like Nessa before. Her adventurousness and carefree approach to life were infectious, as was her eagerness to be with him. She’d never known or seen him in his past life, and his confessions about drowning himself in alcohol were met with casual shrugs and assurances that that was his past, but it wasn’t who he was now. She looked at him with unabashed admiration, and though he told himself repeatedly that she was just doing what she needed to secure his help, as she drifted off cuddled in his arms, he wanted more for her. He wanted to be the man she thought he was, an aspiration as foreign to him as Saeli.

  Annik, on the other hand, had seen him at his worst. He’d spent years floundering in the Corp, scraping through on natural talent and second chances he didn’t deserve. By some stroke of grace, his childish thrashing of Gori had shown her something in him he didn’t know or want to admit existed. She’d given him a last chance he hadn’t wanted, and it had worked. Tristan felt gratitude, but more than that he wanted to live up to Annik’s view of him. She’d seen Tristan at his lowest and still accepted him, knowing he could be better when even he saw himself as worthless.

  “I don’t know how I feel about them,” Tristan whispered, acutely aware of how odd it was to be discussing this with a near stranger, a woman he’d only met twice that was now busy gently licking and sucking his cock. In one of his finer moments as a new Bolstered, he’d made the mistake of just casually mentioning another woman to one of his lovers, a mistake that ended with him hurriedly trying to collect his clothes from the street outside her window. Lydia seemed to not just take Tristan’s dreams of other women in stride but embrace it.

  “Don’t finish in my mouth. I’ll get us both close then we can finish together.” Lydia slid her lips around him, her tongue dancing playfully around his sensitive shaft. A hand slipped between her legs. She eagerly lavished him with attention, filling her mouth to the point of gagging only to somehow take more on her next trip down.

  “Wait, what did you mean we have to come together?”

  “At the same time. That’s how binding works.” Lydia sat up, releasing him and pulling a chain from her neck. Two Slivers were fastened there, and she worked to free one. “Put that on yours. I only want to do this once, so don’t mess up.”

  “Wait, why do we have to do this at all? Can’t we just agree like normal people?”

  “Binding is what normal people do,” Lydia countered, her eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

  “But, why? With Nessa I was starting to feel a connection, but why can’t we trust each other? We don’t need to feel each other’s emotions to work together. Why can’t we just write up a contract or something?”

  Lydia gawked, then a grin spread across her face. “You two are totally in love if you were starting to feel each other like that.” She giggled, her fingers reaching out to play with him. “She really didn’t explain the binding very well. The connection you two felt, that’s rare and not the main point of binding. The two really have to want it and have a lot of sex to reinforce the bond. How long were you two together?”

  “A few weeks as we marched back to Saeli. She got kidnapped after just a couple of days here.”

  “A few weeks? How much were two fucking?” Lydia gasped, her hand’s pace picking up. “It can take years! You two are hopelessly in love.”

  Tristan blushed, unsure of what to say. Lydia might be comfortable discussing his feelings for another woman while stroking his cock, but he wasn’t sure how to process them even by himself. The strangeness overwhelmed him. “If the connection isn’t the point of binding, then what is?”

  “The contract. What else would it be?” Lydia stated, frowning at Tristan’s blank look. “You did agree to terms with Nessa, right? The binding makes it so you work towards the contract.”

  “What? It compels you?” Tristan’s bond with Nessa hadn’t felt like it forced him to do anything, but now he wasn’t sure if it had exerted some subtle influence.

  “Not exactly,” Lydia released him and pulled her hand from between her legs. “You really don’t know?”

  “No, I just thought it was ceremony and there was some sort of tradition that backed it up.”

  “There is that, and bindings can be broken, either by the behavior of the parties or by removing the Sliver. That’s why you can’t feel Nessa anymore.”

  “And why she was freed from Perran,” Tristan added, recalling how Nessa had mentioned Perran had failed to protect the binding and thus ended it. “But I did
n’t feel like it was making me do anything.”

  “It doesn’t force you. The binding won’t even work if you are hesitant and hold back, even if you have sex and do all the rest.” Lydia shrugged. “It just helps you stay committed and focused on keeping your word.” Lydia paused, her eyes unfocused as she thought in silence. “Imagine you were shipwrecked in the sea and trying to stay afloat. You can swim and do it all on your own, but if you come across a piece of driftwood and hold onto it, keeping your head above water will be much easier. You still have to hold it and do your part, but it helps.”

  “I guess that makes sense,” Tristan said, unsure if he followed the subtleties. “But I still don’t think we need this. We have the same enemy, the same goals. I trust you.”

  “You’re strange.” Lydia’s grey eyes sparkled with amusement.

  “I’m strange?” Tristan laughed.

  “Yes. Now, before we bind, we need to agree on terms.”

  “Who says we’re going to bind? I don’t think we need to, and I’m done having sex with women that don’t want me.”

  Lydia’s eyes narrowed to slits as thin as she was. “You think I don’t want you?”

  “You’re in love with Serana.”

  “And? You’re in love with Nessa and Annie. This isn’t about love.” Lydia’s eyes trailed down to where he stood proud and bare, throbbing with every pulse of his heart. Tristan swallowed hard as Lydia stared and licked her lips. Her pale cheeks flushed, and her voice lowered. “At the Baths you reminded me just how bad I need it. I’ve been so focused on finding Serana I’ve ignored everything else.”

  Tristan studied her. She certainly looked willing. “We could just have sex, then.”

  “No. Serana and I are promised to one another.”

  “But sex for binding is okay?” Tristan asked, feeling further from understanding this land with each new detail. Lydia nodded and finally looked up at him, her eyes unfocused with need. He wanted her. “Okay, but you choose the terms. I trust you without them.”

  “What?” Lydia gasped. “You don’t want any input?”

  “I’ll hear them first, but I trust you.”

  Lydia chewed her lip, her eyes wide. The silence stretched and Tristan wondered if he’d messed up, made an offer that stepped on some cultural taboo.

  “You have to help me until Serana is rescued, kill Osred, and rescue me if I’m captured or hurt.” Lydia paused. “The binding ends when Serana is safe and Osred is killed.”

  “That’s it?” Tristan asked, expecting more after how things had gone with Nessa. “I’m okay with those.”

  “You are?” Guilt flashed across her face. “You’re sure?”

  “Why wouldn’t I be? That sounds like it should cover you, and like I said, I’m only doing this because you’re insisting on it. I trust you to help with Annik and Nessa,” Tristan said with a shrug, rushing to continue as Lydia frowned, “not that I’m not interested in you.”

  Lydia chewed her lip, then reached a hand between her legs. “Attach the Sliver to your chain,” she instructed, her eyes hooded as she focused on her pleasure. She dropped her head, enveloping him in her talented mouth. Her eager tongue swirled gloriously along his rigid rod.

  Tristan fumbled at the chain around his neck, his fingers brushing against the inert metal that had linked him to Nessa. It had been quiet since she’d been taken, and he missed the bursts of her emotion that would slip through. Attaching the Sliver proved tricky with Lydia working intently on him. She grunted in annoyance and lightly bit down on him whenever she caught him staring and getting lost in the pleasure. She didn’t make it easy for him and had by this point had revealed the startling ability to take him into her throat.

  When he was done, Lydia took his Sliver, pressed the metal against hers, and spoke their short contract. She handed his back, an eager glint to her eyes.

  “There,” Tristan grunted, dropping the chain around his neck, but Lydia was already climbing on top of him. She held him upright and rubbed her slick slit along him, then lowered herself. Tristan gasped at the snug fit and Lydia’s eyes closed in concentration. “You’re tight!”

  “It’s been a long time,” Lydia hissed, her finger flying on her clit. She leaned forward, one hand on his chest as she let a bit more fill her. She made small motions to spread her wetness along his shaft. “Can you hold it?”

  “For now,” Tristan grunted, more worried about his urge to grab the pale beauty’s slender waist and drive himself fully in her.

  Lydia was wet and determined and the minutes ticked by as she let each fall of her body take another inch. Once she had him fully inside, she leaned back and rocked her hips against him. Their union was hidden beneath her tunic and Tristan wanted to see her. He grabbed the hem and lifted.

  “Wait!” Lydia insisted, reaching to pull at her tunic.

  “I want to see you.”

  “You do?” Lydia blushed and loosened her grip. Tristan pulled it off her, his hands immediately finding her ass and a perky breast. Her nipple was hard, and she leaned into his hand. “You like them?”

  “Your tits?” Tristan grinned and pinched her pink, sensitive bud. She gasped but didn’t pull away as he twisted gently.

  “They’re small…”

  “They’re perfect for you.” Tristan ended the argument by pulling her down, sealing her lips with a kiss. She met him eagerly, but when he tried to roll her over, she resisted. She was tiny, but if the waifish Shade wanted to be on top, he had no problem as long as she did the work. He slapped her ass gently, a mild motivation to move her hips.

  Lydia’s enthusiasm grew, their moans intertwining but not quite drowning out the wet noise of her slamming on him.

  “Spank me again,” Lydia begged, breaking the kiss and burying her face into Tristan’s neck. Tristan slapped her tentatively, then harder when she bit his neck to encourage him. Each spank sent a jolt through Lydia, her pussy clenching around him as if to beg for more. Her cute little butt took on a rosy glow that slowly deepened to match the flush of her cheeks. He timed his slaps with her thrusts, then cried out as she bit down hard and went rigid.

  The suddenness of her passion and her spasms around his cock overwhelmed Tristan’s control. He grabbed her ass, holding her down as he filled her. He grunted, his muscles straining as he held her writhing body. The Sliver burned around his neck, the heat of their passion captured and bound in metal.

  At some point their lips came together, and the two kissed until Tristan began thrusting into her again, his interest renewed.

  “Once is enough,” Lydia whispered reluctantly. She pushed herself up and off him, and Tristan groaned in disappointment. She looked down at the mess they had made. “I should have made you pull out, but you felt too good.”

  “You won’t get pregnant.”

  “You’re right. I know an apothecary that leaves an upstairs window unlocked. I’ll visit them tonight unless you have the coin to—”

  “No, I mean, part of my Gift is I can control my seed.”

  Lydia’s eyes went wide, then relief washed over her. “That’s useful, but I’m still not fucking you a second time, much as I want to. Staring at me like that is only going to make things harder for you. Get dressed and I’ll tell you what I know. Then you can tell me about where you and Annik are from.”

  Tristan sighed, but nodded.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The wind grabbed Lydia’s tunic, whipping the hem up and revealing pale cheeks still red from their coupling. Tristan growled and forced his gaze upwards. She smirked knowingly and seemed to savor his frustration.

  “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” Tristan grumbled. She shrugged, but the corner of her mouth twitched. “You know this isn’t exactly comfortable.”

  “It’s not for me either but consider it motivation for rescuing your women.” She walked towards the wall at the edge of the hill and leaned against it, her taut hamstrings begging Tristan to run his hands along them. She looked out over t
he city then pointed. “I’ve been sneaking around Talek’s place for weeks and I think we should be able to both get what we want.”

  Tristan sighed and stood next to her. From the wall of the acropolis they had a commanding view of the city, including Talek’s compound. Behind the wall, there was one large building and a smattering of smaller ones, all made from the white stone popular in Saeli. The small buildings were simple single-story structures built in the shadow of the walls, but the main building towered above the entire neighborhood, with balconies supported by stone arches looking out in all directions.

  From here, small dots representing guards and other staff swarmed like ants. Tristan reassessed his earlier confidence at being able to fight his way in.

  “How?” Tristan asked. “He has a small army in there!”

  “Yes, but we’re not exactly going in without our own abilities. Serena works in the kitchens, the small building attached to the big house. They lock her up at night in a room in the compound, but she starts working hours before sunrise to prepare Talek’s breakfast.”

  “Annik and Nessa?”

  “He has a dungeon in the basement.”

  “You’ve seen them?”

  Lydia hesitated and Tristan was surprised to get a fleeting sense of uncertainty and regret along their bond. It was so subtle and brief he wouldn’t have recognized it without his experiences with Nessa. He liked Lydia, even after the rocky start to their partnership, but hadn’t she just told him this sort of connection was slow to form?

  “Not exactly, but I know they’re in there. They have extra guards stationed and I overheard them talking about a guard that was nearly killed by a prisoner. She had apparently broken her own hand to free it, then grabbed the first guard that wandered too close.”

  That sounded like Annik. He could just imagine her gritting her teeth and forcing her hand through a manacle just to get a crack at a hapless guard.

  “They sounded scared of her,” Lydia continued, “and the guards were arguing about who had to go in with food even though they apparently had beaten her unconscious and moved her to a more secure cell. The dungeon will be tricky since there is only one way in and out, but that’s where I come in. I know where they keep the keys, so I’ll steal those then give them to you. Once you’re in place, I’ll make a distraction to draw most of the guards, you take care of the few left at the dungeon. You might have to fight your way out, but with Nessa and Annik that shouldn’t be a problem. That will draw the guards back to you, so I sneak in and spring Serana! How does that sound?”