Feral Fever

by Feral Fever (lit)

  "And when my heir is born?"

  "If you produce an heir by Aisling within that three-month breeding period, and if Aisling births the youngling, the offspring will be raised by Luvk tradition at the mother's lodge until the youngling reaches ten years of age. At my lodge, Calen. You may send a woman of your choice to rear the youngling with values you find acceptable. Even live nearby if you must. But you will only have sexual access to my mate for the one term of breeding until she is or is not fruitful. If you request anything else, you'd better speak to Aisling instead of her commander. Or we'll fight this out like warriors. And you know I'll win." I rose and turned to return to my lodge.

  * * * *

  Lehd couldn't stand hearing his mate sob. The pitiful sounds stabbed at his soul until he left his post at the door and entered the guards' lodge.

  She sat on the dirt floor, back to him, leaning against the wall and his elevated bedding with her arms up as if she hugged an invisible person. But truly just cried into her forearms.

  Sun's jest! How could they all abandon her while Borun laid out the rules for Calen's access to her? I yanked off my mask and hoisted her lightweight form into the air.

  Her body stiffened, and she met my gaze. Tears would have washed paths down the cheeks of a person who'd cried. Not on Aisling. Not after we'd abandoned her here far too long. Every space of her cheeks glistened with dampness.

  "You came back?" she whispered.

  Curse Borun for making us guard all the doors during daylight hours when the world was crashing down around our mate. I planted a kiss on her cool salty cheek and sat upon my sleeping furs, drawing her warm soft curves against my chest. "I never left, sweet one."

  She tucked her nose into my neck and burrowed in as if to ensure she had claimed a grip on me so I could never leave. "Where," she gasped and sucked down a long breath, "Where did everyone go?"

  "Borun is clarifying to Calen how he may deal with you during breeding. And the rest are guarding the doors."

  "Borun is?" she asked with surprise.

  "Yes. And we should all beat him for making you cry like this."

  "No fighting." She snaked her arms around my neck and kissed the pulse buried there into a pounding throb with delightfully soft suction. "Although, it's adorable how you want to defend me."

  My heart shimmied with a sigh.

  Not my throbbing groin. It drummed.

  "I just want my mates with me." She planted another evocative kiss on my jaw line and turned to flutter her lips against the rim of my ear. "I know you'll protect me from Calen."

  I raked fingers through the mass of her loose white hair, again and again. "Oh yes. Every move Calen makes will be so scrutinized and monitored so much that he will probably abandon his plan and leave you before his seed has taken root. Just because he asks for Breeder's Rights doesn't mean he'll be happy with the process."

  Her warm giggle tickled my earlobe. "Is that what you've all planned? You could have let me in on your secret instead of leaving me here to expect the worse."

  That Borun. I grated my teeth.

  "Oh," she scolded, pulling my cheek toward her.

  Her haunting blue gaze sucked the anger out of me before she planted her mouth over mine as if she could read my thoughts. Or just knew what I was thinking with those omniscient eyes.

  The door shoved inward.

  Borun stared us down from the sunlit doorway.

  "I told you to guard the entrance, Lehd," Borun said, grabbing the door's edge and shoving it shut, softly. "I see you're as determined to bed Aisling as Calen."

  Aisling just watched us.

  "That isn't fair, Borun. You didn't have to stand outside the door, listening to her cry."

  "Well she isn't crying now. And no longer needs to be." Borun switched to speaking with his mouth. "Calen has been dealt with. He will have Breeder's Rights after Aisling heals from birthing my younglings. And if his three months are fruitless, he will abandon his ridiculous endeavor. All is resolved, little one."

  Aisling's eyes widened then shrank back to normal. Her hip scooted into my aching arousal and she turned back to quickly brush a kiss across my lips. "What were we doing?" she whispered.

  Borun sighed. "I'll guard the door."

  Borun must have realized Aisling needed some attention after her ordeal he had instigated by purposely leaving her to wonder what unfolded as he tended to Calen. All the better for me. I sank my lips to the delicate skin beneath her jaw line.

  Soft. Throbbing against my flesh.

  "Oh, Lehd, you are so perfect." Her fingers thrust into my hair and pulled at my war braids. "You make me melt," she groaned against my ear.

  The wetter, the better. I could just lean her over the bed. Pound into her from behind.

  My manhood lunged.

  Not yet. Not until I had her gasping for more where she clung to me. I massaged the throb down her neck with my lips to the hard line of her collarbone and flicked my tongue out, over and over, back and forth along the solid bone until my tongue's tip thrust into the little depression at the base of her neck.

  "Lower," she whimpered and slid her palms down to the bulging muscle in my upper arms. "So perfect, Big Boy," she gasped into my ear. "Inside me, Lehd," she groaned. "Please, I want you inside me."

  So little patience. I yanked off her shirt and peeled off the undergarment cupping her succulent breasts.

  Mine. So mine. I leaned away from the heat of her body and gazed between her extended arms at the two sweet mounds dotted with taut beads. Mounds that had grown so large from brooding I almost couldn't hold them in my hands.

  She threw her head back and groaned in anticipation, arching those hard nipples up for my view, never giving up on her palms' quest to memorize the undulating musculature of my arms.

  For a taste of her soul. I leaned down and latched onto one nub with my teeth.

  She squirmed until she slid a leg across my lap to where she straddled my erection, arching her back more, tilting those glorious nipples up for my pleasure. She leaned back onto her palms where she planted them on my thighs.

  My manhood throbbed at the feast presented before me. I held the bend of her lower back in place with one hand, sliding the fingers of the other down beneath the edge of her pants to finger the crease in her ass.

  My beauty ground her hips against my aching arousal, teasing me with the image of her breasts presented as a veritable feast. I bent to devour one mound, grinding the taut nipple between my teeth, cupping the other breast, squeezing it.

  She groaned and rocked her hips.

  I wanted her pants off. I wanted her on her hands and knees. On my sleeping skins. I wanted to plunge. Over and over. Until I planted my seed and slapped her ass with my balls. "On your feet, sweet one," I whispered against the curve of her breast, licking it for good measure.

  She moaned and rose, dragging the other hard nipple across my cheek.

  Purposely. Like I'd be tempted to yank her back to suckle like a youngling. Not today. I wanted to plant my root deeply in that hot womb. "Take off your pants."

  "Oh," she sighed, playing with the closure of her Earth garment, turning, wiggling her hips slowly, shoving down the pants, revealing the delicate dark undergarment I wanted to tear off her divine body with my teeth. She swayed her hips so much I rose to slide my palms across the velvet of her iron ass.

  "That's it, Lehd. Touch me." She shoved that sweet flesh into my hands.

  Oh yes. I fully intended to touch her. "On my sleeping skins."

  She shot me a seductive smile over her shoulder and began to sit on the edge of my bed, luring my hands along with her retreating flesh.

  "On your hands and knees," I ordered.

  Her smile curled with conspiracy. She presented her rump to me and ran her splayed fingers across the little black panties hiding her spirit's entrance.

  Blessed sun, the desire on her face made my seed swell my manhood to the point of bursting. I pushed her needy fingers off her ass and
ran my hands over the swells forming her seductive backside.

  She gasped, arching her back down, thrusting the object of my attention more so into my palms. "Hurry, Big Boy."

  Her wet panties proved her need matched mine. I curled my fingertips beneath the edge of the black lace, tugged her undergarment down past her toes, and extracted my aching shaft from my leathers.

  She thrust her soft wet skin against my turgid flesh. "Oh, Lehd."

  That's what I wanted. My mate enchanted with me. Only me. At the moment. I slid the tip of my arousal into the dampness between her sex's folds and locked the head into her firm notch.

  She jerked backward, impaling her hot silk a few inches.

  So much for patience. Since when was life dictated by patience anyway?

  Her demanding sheath quivered around me.

  My body shivered in anticipation. I rammed forward, sinking until my root slapped against her sticky skin.

  "Oh, Lehd, I like it when you're needy." Her body tensed, squeezing my thoughts into numbness.

  "So needy." She rotated her hips.

  Gods. I couldn't wait. I thrust my hips. Again and again. Ramming balls deep into the tight channel to her soul. Until she groaned pleas for completion.

  Her body clamped even more tightly around my sensitive jerking rod and trembled.

  So mind-numbing. My thoughts were lost to sawing into her tight flesh. If only the moment were one that never ended. But then there'd be no reason for stealing away with my mate into corners…

  My seed burst inside her.

  My hips ceased to care I milked my seed with her clenching channel. I couldn't move. Couldn't draw breath. Could only lean over her gasping hard body and gulp air near her ear.

  "Oh, Lehd, life without you would be torture."

  ?

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Almost a year later…

  Aisling placed the tiny duplicate copy of herself into the curve of her were-mate's bent arm and shot him a smile. "The girls look so small when you hold them. I can't believe they're six weeks old already." And he was so gentle with the twins.

  Borun breathed deeply then smiled carefully. "Sit with me for awhile." He nodded toward the pillow at his side. "How do you feel?"

  I felt as though I'd fully recovered from childbirth. But that wasn't why he asked. "Sick. The trembling hands are the worst part though. All the suffering with four mates seems so ridiculous." And the breastfeeding only made me crave sex more. But Calen would be arriving soon. Whether my mates liked it or not, I'd have a warrior around who could satiate my blood lust.

  Borun's stare only magnified the itch clawing every inch of my skin. "Don't turn to him unless you must, little one. Calen might have been King for a year, but we can't trust him."

  Borun seemed a little jealous. Or was that fear dancing in his eyes? "I'll be fine. It's just something I must do until I'm pregnant."

  "Never submit to him alone, Aisling," Borun insisted with his concerns.

  Yes, fear lurked in that warning. But what could I do? My commander had sanctioned the mating. I had been ordered to carry Calen's child if possible. "I'm just a surrogate. I'll carry the youngling if I can. And Calen will reign over the united clans."

  Borun stared at me blankly. "Aisling, I am so grateful for my younglings. Calen would be nothing but grateful as well given your body is fruitful. But I can't bear the thought of anything happening to you. You must swear you will not agree to any of his ploys to secret you away for sexual pleasure. He cannot be trusted. Your dealings with him must be monitored by all your mates. We will protect you."

  "I'd be a fool to risk losing what I have with you and the babies." I scanned the shadows of my lodge, settling my gaze on my daughter's little bundle of orange stripes, then sliding it to the other stripe-less miniature version of me. I didn't want to risk the loss of any of my mates. My life was so perfect. Except for that little blip of Calen. And I was about to face my blip.

  "Calen has been summoned," Borun said a bit grimly.

  "Already?" I whispered and stared into his golden eyes.

  "You will be safe," Borun managed to utter normally.

  Probably for my sanity. But Calen had managed to work a strong friendship with Goro and the Marshals once the Order relocated its training facility to Luvk. The Order landed its metal structures near the portal I had passed through. And Calen lived outside the Order's walls, almost as if he were part of the Order, until the year played out and I was ready to breed.

  Talk about waiting with a wolf drooling at every corner.

  But my mates accompanied me everywhere. Protecting me. Loving me. As much as they could without penetration. And Darla's little gift, crates of impossible-to-acquire Earth items, only compounded my problems. I'll just call the gifts treasures. I didn't gain too much weight. Like what does a pregnant Earth girl do when getting her hands on peanut butter, potato chips, dark chocolate, and candy corn? Gorge. The clothing was more my problem. Lots of cargo type pants I loved. I'd worn them since birthing the babies. Borun was extremely fond of the pants. But Darla's vicious sense of humor in bringing along a crate of lacy lingerie had been the thorn in my husbands' sides. Apparently, I taunted my mates with glimpses of lace-stretched chest or ass to keep them chomping at the bit to mate with me the moment the mark of a youngling wove across my belly. The universe had to be repaying me for the favor with Calen now.

  Why Calen now, universe? Albeit he had been the force behind clan unification. Not me. I served as the go between bridging the forces that needed assistance closing the portals and the forces that could shut them down. So maybe I played some role in helping Luvk reclaim its identity. All because of Goro. But where was Goro's plan heading now? I felt destined for the sacrificial altar, spread-eagled, butt naked. And Goro doesn't seem to care.

  "Calen's here, little one. He's waiting in the guards' quarters."

  Joy. Where are the ropes to bind me to the slab of stone?

  Morna hustled through the door, chuckled at the babes, and carried them to their Luvk cradles waiting near the fire's glow.

  "The bath?" Borun asked.

  Two simple words that meant one hell of a lot of stress. "Okay. I can do this." I sucked down a deep breath.

  Borun waved me toward the pool's white light in the darkness.

  Thank goodness for the shroud hovering over the bubbling water's glow.

  Borun's hand landed upon my shoulder. "Ready, my love?"

  Something choked my heart. Squeezed it beyond measure.

  "I think so," I managed to squeak out.

  He grabbed me into a monstrous hug and rubbed his lips against my ear. "We'll be here. Don't worry," he whispered as if to conceal his words from the rest of Luvk ears.

  Then I was standing again. Alone in the darkness beside the churning water. Waiting. The sacrificial womb.

  An eerie hum vibrated throughout my body.

  An omen? Or unadulterated fear? I peeled my clothes off, leaving my lingerie. White. The color that always made Luvk warriors drop and writhe on the stone floor. Maybe I'd earn some gentleness from Calen with the silk?

  The shadows shifted.

  Probably not my Borun. I grabbed the clip in my hair, pinched to offset the mechanism, allowing my hair to fall around my breasts. Why in the hell couldn't I look at Calen?

  "You're afraid of me," he said.

  Damn my thrashing heart.

  "Only a fool would hurt the one true treasure in the universe," he whispered and slid his fingers under my chin.

  Carefully. I gulped down a yelp.

  He turned my gaze to meet the silver glow of his blue eyes. "Can you understand what it's like to live sixty years and have nothing but a nagging mother and two wives who repulse you to the point of sickness? So ill I was that I demanded divorce."

  What did that mean? He truly despised his Queen mates?

  His gaze never wandered from mine. Never released mine.

  He took the two steps to face me head o
n, turning my chin with his hand, the whisper of the grinding sole of his boots shushing at the pool's gurgle. "I swear you will feel my respect for you. You will know how much I envy your mates." His touch fell away.

  My mates. Were they close? I scanned the unyielding darkness for any sign of stripes or movement.

  A touch chilled my waist.

  I flinched and shivered.

  "It's alright," Calen pulled me against his warm steely body, his hands sliding around my back, wrapping me into a warm embrace, smothering the light with his supple muscles.

  So damned many wonderful muscles.

  He held me, hugging me, rubbing my back. "Sit with me," he finally said and descended with me in his grasp, pulling me onto his lap. I sat there, legs hanging off one side of his body, staring at the stripes on his chest. "You're safe with me. I killed Kruk to protect you."

  Everything in my being resonated truth about his statement. Dare I believe him? What if he lied and I leapt into the darkness by handing my heart to him?

  "There's a place in the Sunrise realm my father took me when I was a boy. I remember the way the trees bent to touch the soil that fed them. The way the mushrooms, that is what you call them on Earth, I think, popped up beneath the overarching leaves. This was the one place I ever felt as if I had my father's full attention."

  What was he talking about? I slid my gaze over the silver ring of his harness, across the turn of his chin, up the black stripe of his moustache, to meet the silver curtain cloaking his blue eyes from my view.

  "That's where I learned a priest's truth. A priest's first son learns these things in secrecy. But I don't think there is reason to carry on this tradition now that the portals are gone. Do you?"

  He's asking my opinion? As if I was the one with answers? Why would it matter what I thought? "It's not my place to change Luvk tradition."

  He touched a fingertip to the corner of my eye and traced a tickling shiver down my cheek to my chin. "Your arrival changed everything."

  Maybe it did. The portals are gone. Any remaining Queens are overshadowed by Calen. And many of the Royal Guards line up to mate with unmated Marshals through volunteering for Marshal duty. There's no need for a council to help run Luvk affairs. Only time would show how much my presence disturbed the natural order within this culture.