I followed him through the shallow pools toward the deeper water, watching the tensed muscles on his back as he let his spear fly again. What a magnificent sight it was to see my huge barbarian mate providing for me in this most primal way.
I had never realized it until now, but this was exactly what I had always longed for in my life. I had always wanted a big strong man who wouldn't be afraid to take care of me, who was willing to do whatever it took to give me what I needed. Vock and Konko were certainly doing those things. I felt as if I were the luckiest woman in the world.
The longer I watched Konko fishing, the more convinced I became that I had to find a way for my twins to both claim me. As well as that, there was a deep mystery going on in this jungle and I intended to get to the bottom of it.
If I chose one of the twins and ended up hurting the other, how could I live with myself? That was the thing that neither of them seem to understand. Making me choose between them was just as hard, if not harder, for me than it was for both of them.
And it didn't take a psychic to see what this competition between brothers was doing to them. They were at each other's throats, willing to do anything it took to win me over. I didn't want to be the cause of their relationship collapsing. If they ended up hating each other forever because of me, I could never forgive myself. There had to be another way.
I stepped further out into the water, dipping my toe into the main part of the lake. Konko was right ahead of me, wading deeper into the silver water that stretched out as far as the eye could see. He let his spear fly again and brought up an even larger fish this time. He'd already thrown three foot-long fish onto the shore behind me and I doubted we needed any more.
“Come back,” I said with a laugh, waving him back toward me.
“Just one more,” he said.
I sat down on the stone, my feet dangling in the deep water. Konko was several yards ahead of me, the water up around his waist.
He thrust his spear into the water and brought it back up empty. He growled and hefted it again.
In a blinding flash of splashing water, a giant green form lunged from the water, its sharp white teeth snapping at my mate. The creature bit down and pushed Konko into the water. I screamed and stood, unable to see him under the water.
Splashes and bubbles flew up from under the water. I screamed Konko’s name over and over again, but could only see flailing splashes and no sign that he was still alive.
I continued screaming for Konko, terror in my chest and burning in my brain. The creature emerged from the water, a cross between an alligator and a hippopotamus. It charged toward me, swimming faster than an animal that big had any right to move. I screamed and started to back away, but I tripped on a stone and fell hard on my ass. The creature crawled up the stone slab and began snapping at me.
I thought that it was the end. My life flashed before my eyes. The prospect of my life with my mates and our happily ever after disappeared was replaced with was sheer terror. The beast snapped its strong jaws at me, inches from my foot.
Behind the creature, a massive roar reverberated from the water as the body of a gigantic panther emerged from the deep. It was huge, the size of a small elephant. It pounced on the creature's back, biting into its neck with its massive jaws. The panther and the alligator struggled, the alligator flailing under the panther’s bite.
In a cloud of confusion, I wasn't quite sure what was going on. I knew the panther had to be Konko. Even though it was the most frightening sight of my life, he was there for me yet again, saving me from imminent death.
The alligator tried to twist away from the panther’s bite, snapping its sharp teeth at the cat and at me. I scuttled away on my hands and feet before struggling up to stand. My heart beat so fast I took several breaths before running back to where Konko had thrown the fish.
The panther used its massive claws to hold down the alligator. Konko bit harder and harder into the creature’s neck. I watched in horror as the two beasts fought in front of me. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the alligator stopped moving.
It lay limp on the stone slab below the panther. I looked up into the panther’s shining yellow eyes, seeing my mate hidden in their depths. I croaked his name, still not fully able to reconcile what I had just seen.
I knew that the Vock and Konko were shapeshifters who could take the form of a giant cat, but seeing is believing. Now that I saw it with my own two eyes, I could still hardly believe it.
The panther panted as if the exertion had exhausted him. I wanted to go to him and offer him help. Even though I knew it was Konko, it was still a terrifying site. I was rooted in place, unable to move. The panther collapsed on the stone slab and I watched in horror as the giant creature slowly transformed back into my blue-skinned barbarian.
He lay limp on the stone next to the dead, bleeding alligator he had slain with his own teeth. Finally, I broke out of my paralysis and ran to him, sinking to my knees beside his weakened body.
“Konko,” I gasped. “Are you all right?”
“I will be in a moment,” he said, his voice distant and weak.
“You saved me from that thing,” I said.
Respect and reverence for his strength and power tingled at the base of my brain. I would always want this man after seeing what he had done for me, for us; there was no going back now.
After several moments, Konko was able to stand and we walked to the beach where the fish still lay, ready to be gutted and cooked over a fire.
“Are you hungry, Kimmy?” he asked, his strength returning to his voice.
“Always,” I said with a giggle.
Konko used his flint to build a fire on the beach. We sat beside the fire on the sandy beach and roasted the fish. The flavor was full and rich, like salmon and cod with thick sweet fat that ran down my chin when I bit into it. After I'd had my fill of the fish, I cocked my chin toward the alligator still laying on the stone in the middle of the pools.
“What are we going to do with that?” I asked.
“The Metag beast is good eating,” he said. “We will butcher it, feed my Kong beast mount, and take the rest back to the treehouse for dinner.”
15
Konko
I brought Kimmy back to the safety of the treehouse and returned to the beach to butcher the Metag beast. I had bundles of sweet meat wrapped in leather over my shoulder as I returned to the treehouse and my mate. On the way back, I stopped at a Cici berry grove and picked huge handfuls of the sweet berries to go with our Metag beast meat. It would be a good meal for my mate.
After what happened on the beach, I doubted my strength would be enough to satisfy my woman. But I knew I had to try. My desire for her grew more potent with every passing moment. Even after exerting myself with my shift I could not stop thinking about sinking between her sweet, soft thighs. Nothing was more luscious or lovely than the sight of Kimmy’s arousal shining in her eyes.
When she’d watched me take down the Metag beast, I thought she would recoil in fear, but exactly the opposite happened. My little human knew what it meant for a male to protect his female. When I’d finally shifted back to my human form, I saw the light of respect in her eyes, shining more brightly than I had ever seen from a female in my life.
Just the thought of it made me hard as a stone as I finished picking the last of the Cici berries for my Kimmy.
I packed up the meat and berries and carried them back through the jungle to the treehouse. I fed a large portion to my Kong beast and then leapt up to the ladder. I climbed into the treehouse and found Kimmy throwing logs into the fire pit. She had a nice warm fire blazing and a cool breeze drifted through the slats in the treehouse windows. I smiled at her and joined her beside the fire.
“You got a lot of meat from the Metag beast,” she observed.
It was indeed a lot of meat. Almost as much as Vock and I had taken from the Cocoche bird. It would last us the rest of our stay in the treehouse. It would give Kimmy the strength
she needed when I took her, and finally claimed her.
I knew she wanted to believe that there was some way that Vock and I could share her, but I knew it was impossible. When I had looked at her through my panther’s eyes, I knew I had to make this woman mine.
My brother had always been my greatest ally and my closest friend, but I would be damned if I let him have my woman without a fight. I would convince her to let me give her the claiming bite when we rutted. After our evening meal, when the cool breeze of night settled on the treehouse, and the flames of the fire roared against the darkness, Kimmy would be mine.
I put the Metag beast meat on to a spit and roasted it over the fire. Kimmy stood and crossed the room to lay down on the fur covered pallet. She gazed out the window at the jungle beyond.
“Where are the ancient ruins?” she asked as I put another piece of Metag beast meat on the spit.
“Not far from the clan’s treehouses,” I said. “Why do you ask?”
“Because I want to see the hieroglyphs you talk about that show the images of changing non-Zimbres into Zimbres.”
“Those are just myths,” I told her.
“Just like the weapons are myths?” she challenged.
I let out a deep sigh. She did have a point. But I couldn't let her get her hopes up. At the end of the day she needed to choose between me and Vock. I knew that this was what needed to happen.
Vock and I had agreed to it the moment we'd seen her and there was nothing that could change my mind. She was tiny. Over a foot shorter than Vock and I. And even with her generous curves, she was simply built on a much smaller scale than the Zimbre.
“Why are you being so stubborn?” she asked.
“I’m being realistic. There are many old myths from the time of the ancients that continue today, but nobody takes them seriously.”
“Yet you're willing to believe that the cupids could give you some codes for this ancient technology that will defeat your sky devils? You believe that the cupids’ codes are real. But you won't accept that there's a possibility that the myth of changing a non-Zimbre mate could be real. I'm beginning to question whether or not you just want to beat your brother at a game.”
Her words cut me deeply. And I had to admit that there was some sense in it. Perhaps, upon seeing her, there was part of me that really did just want to better my brother. But my brother was my closest friend. Besting him would not serve either of us in the long run. We agreed to protect her, and that was what I vowed to continue doing. Regardless of whether or not she agreed with how I did it.
“My brother is my ally. I have no desire to beat him, and this is not a game. My only desire is to protect you, as is his.”
She sighed and pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs. The look on her face told me that she was still unconvinced, and regret pooled in my chest. How could I make her see that choosing between us was the only solution to the problem?
I slid the cooked meat from the spit and brought it over to where Kimmy sat on the bed. I had to try to make things better for her, make her forget all this nonsense about the ancient myths.
The ancient weapons and the myths of changing a non-Zimbre were completely unrelated. If it had been possible to change her, I was sure that the cupids would have told Vock and I about it in the first place.
At the least, trying to change her wouldn’t work, it would waste our time, and she would be disappointed. At the worst, it could harm or kill her, or perhaps interfere with a true claiming. The last thing I wanted was to create unnecessary problems.
I sat beside her and offered her a plate of meat with a handful of berries. She accepted the plate and began to eat with her fingers, her hair hanging in a dark curtain over her face. I couldn’t see her expression, but I could feel the sadness rolling off of her in waves. I had to make this better.
This was not how I’d imagined our time together going when I’d taken her from Vock’s cave. I’d thought we’d come to the treehouse and rut until she was so fulfilled that she had to accept me as her mate. I never would have imagined I’d bring her out here just to disappoint her over some old myth.
But I wouldn’t let it end like this. When she finished the food on her plate, she lifted her eyes to meet mine and smiled.
“That was really good,” she said.
A drop of berry juice was on her lip and I reached over to wipe it away. Her tongue flicked out of her mouth to sweep over my fingertip. Energy surged from her tongue and through my finger and hand, running all the way into my loins. My cock went rigid, and I could wait no longer.
I gripped her thigh in my hand and pulled her down on the bed under me, my cock a stiff spear of need between my legs. Kimmy looked up at me, her blue eyes wide with wonder and longing.
“Konko,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around my neck.
“I must have you now, Kimmy. I can wait no more.”
I pulled her leather dress up her hips and over her shoulders. She was naked and beautiful under me. Her pale skin had darkened a shade since arriving on Zimbre and it made her luscious flesh even more enticing.
The scent of her arousal rose into my nostrils, and I took a long draw of the enticing smell. My mouth filled with saliva as my need grew painfully hard. Her round, full breasts pointed up at me, peaked by stiff nipples.
I flicked my tongue over her pink buds, one after the other and then sucked one into my mouth. My cock twitched, and I knew I had to taste her cunt. Sliding my tongue over her breast and down her stomach, I sank between her legs.
The smell of her sex intoxicated me. My inner panther growled, and I ran my thick tongue up the length of her slit. The taste of her nearly undid me. So sweet and succulent, better than the rarest delicacy on Zimbre. I could never get enough of her.
Lapping up the juices that flowed for me, I growled against her heat. She squealed and squirmed under me as I gripped her thighs and ate her cunt, dipping my tongue in and out of her channel, lapping up every last drop.
I focused on her tight little bud, knowing it was the key to her climax. She moaned my name, begging me to make her come. I intended to make her, over and over again. But watching her writhe like this, feeling her in my hands, knowing how badly she wanted me, it was addictive. Just a little longer. I wanted to keep her in this place. She was so fucking beautiful, so open for me.
I stiffened my tongue and ran it in a tight circle over her bud as I slid my sopping wet fingers in and out of her channel. She sucked a deep breath and arched her back. I could feel her cunt clench on my fingers as her entire sex pulsed under my tongue.
It was so gorgeous, I could have died right then and been a happy man. But I didn’t die. I still had more of my Kimmy to explore. My cock begged to sink balls-deep inside her and take her until our minds and bodies were melded into one.
Rising above her, she looked up into my eyes, her lips parted, the reverence and desire burning in her irises.
“Konko,” she whispered. “Take me, now.”
I didn’t wait a second longer. I pushed my cock against her opening, squeezing into her velvety tightness. It was heavenly warm. She stretched around me, gripping my shaft like a perfectly made sheath.
She threw her head back and called out to god. But it wasn’t god giving her this pleasure, it was me. I sucked her neck, so close to claiming her. My sharp teeth ached to penetrate her skin. They brushed over her soft flesh, so close to breaking through.
I growled and kept myself back. I had to know she chose me. It was the only way it was right. The only way I could possibly avoid making my brother and my mate hate me for all eternity.
Unable to resist her, I turned her over on her hands and knees and gripped her hips. She gasped and whimpered at the loss of my cock, but I slid it inside her again. She let out a satisfied sigh. I growled, gritting my teeth.
Not claiming her was driving me mad. All I could do was fuck through the haze of need pounding in my brain. I gripped her hips and pulled back, jus
t to thrust hard again. My balls slapped against her clit, my hips slapped against her ass, and my cock sank deeper inside her dark, wet hole.
She groaned, panting my name, saying “yes” over and over. I knew I would come deep inside her at any minute. Holding her wide hips tight in my hands, I pumped my need into her. It was the only way to get through the blind fury of lust to claim her as my own. I thrust, harder and harder, and Kimmy’s moans grew louder and more ecstatic. I could feel her pussy clenching, her climax unending as I fucked her mindless. Fucked away my pain. Fucked away the world and all the problems the Zimbre had gone through since the sky devils had arrived.
As my cum clenched in my balls, ready to spill, I looked down at her arched back, her curtain of black hair, the soft nape of her neck. My sharp teeth lengthened. My panther hissed and screeched, pacing in my mind. I had to claim her. I leaned forward, ready to bite.
“Say you will be mine, Kimmy,” I said, my voice animalistic and unrecognizable.
“I am yours, Konko,” she said. Her words made my cock throb. I leaned in to make the claiming bite. “But I’m also Vock’s,” she insisted. “I belong to both of you.”
I hissed, almost a scream. The sound tore from my throat as my cum shot from my loins and into her core. It pulsed hot and fierce against her womb. I held her ass in my hands, spreading her cheeks. I saw her tight hole, where she thought she could fit a Zimbre.
As my cock pulsed and shot its load inside her, my mind flew with wild fantasies of taking her ass. It only made me come harder, deeper, wetter. My hands gripped hard into her flesh. Her pussy gripped me in clenching pulses. With a final groan, I released the last of my load into her cunt.
I was so overwhelmed with the intensity of it, I stood stone still for several breaths, my head swimming. I didn’t come back to myself until Kimmy fell forward, slipping away from my body. She turned under me, and reached up to me.
I lay beside her, my head still swimming with lust. New possibilities flitted behind my mind’s eye. The sight of her ass in the throes of passion had done something to me. Now I wanted her. I wanted to be inside her tight hole. But how could I ever fit inside such a tiny creature? It would tear her in two.
Mate for the Feral Barbarians Page 9