by Rhavensfyre
“I want you.” Palms softer than Rohanna expected for someone who worked with hammer and steel all day slid along the back of her hands, then roughly pulled her shirt free from her jeans. Her stomach muscles twitched when Alex snaked her hands along her bare skin, circling the taut skin and skimming along the curve of her bra.
“Raise your arms,” Alex whispered. She pulled Ro’s t-shirt up and over her head in one quick movement. The bra came off next with practiced ease, and Rohanna’s small breasts tumbled free from the last barrier between them. Rohanna arched her back, anticipating Alex’s touch on her breasts. She bit back a groan of disappointment when Alex released her instead.
“Turn around,” Alex commanded. She did. Deep blue eyes gleaming with dark desire gazed down at her. “Goddess, but you are beautiful.”
She spoke with such reverence in her voice that it made Rohanna want to weep and cry out in joy at the same time. Alex planted a soft kiss on her brow, then captured her lips for a scorching kiss. Alex’s fingertips mapped out her pulse line, tracing the line of her collarbone before laying a palm on her chest. Ro’s captured heart pounded wildly beneath Alex’s hand.
“So hot,” Rohanna gasped. She felt like she was burning up, yet Alex’s skin felt feverish compared to her.
“I do tend to run a bit warm.” Alex grinned. “And the presence of a beautiful woman doesn’t hurt.”
Rohanna swayed in ecstasy when Alex found her breasts, first with nimble fingers then with her lips. Alex lowered her onto the bed, covering her body with her own before kissing her again. An insistent tongue sought entry and was given permission when her lips parted of their own accord. Alex’s hand snaked down the flat planes of her stomach to finger the metal button of her jeans.
Alex continued her single-minded campaign. She slithered down Rohanna’s body, peeling the offending jeans away as she moved, until Rohanna lay naked on the bed beneath her. Alex reared up, tossing the jeans on the floor before returning her attention back to Rohanna. Alex gazed down at her, eyes smoldering with pleasure as she watched Rohanna squirm beneath her. The movement seemed to excite her, so Rohanna did it again, writhing beneath the woman kneeling above her until Alex growled at her.
“Holy Hells, woman. Don’t do that unless you mean it.”
“Well? You do seem to have me at a disadvantage,” Rohanna bluffed, smiling up at the still dressed woman as sweetly as she could. Her voice didn’t waiver, despite her nervousness. Alex was right about one thing, she wanted this. Badly. No, she thought, I want her, and there’s the difference.
“Do I now?” Alex asked, grinning down at her in a most delightful way. “Perhaps I should fix that?”
Alex pulled her shirt up and over her head in one quick movement. The shirt hit the floor, mingling with Rohanna’s clothes. Rohanna openly admired Alex’s sleek physique. Her breasts were small, the areolas dark and flushed. The golden tan of her skin held no lines or breaks. She either sunbathed nude or the coloring was naturally hers. The thought sent a flush of heat down her thighs, tightening muscles deep inside her. The world could have ended around them, and she wouldn’t have cared. Alex slowly unbuckled her belt and then, with tormenting deliberateness, unbuttoned her jeans one slow pop at a time before returning to Rohanna’s side.
Rohanna gasped then moaned deeply at the sensation of soft breasts pressing into hers, of a demanding mouth at her neck, and a wandering hand caressing down her stomach until fingertips found soft curls. Her hips jerked, trying to force Alex to continue along the path she had started. A low chuckle and a firm hand on her hip stopped her.
“So eager,” Alex murmured.
“Yes.” The word escaped her lips through clenched teeth as Alex slipped her fingers along sensitive lips to find the drenched folds hidden within. “Yessss.”
The sheets twisted in her fists, her hips rocking against Alex’s palm as she leisurely stroked her, carefully avoiding her swollen clit.
Rohanna gasped at the spike of pleasure that shot like lightning from her breast to her clit when Alex sucked her nipple, lashing the sensitive flesh with her tongue until her other breast ached for the same punishment. Emboldened, she threaded her fingers through Alex’s thick hair, pulling her head back and guiding her lips to her other breast. Matching her boldness for boldness, Alex hummed her approval as she nipped and tugged on Ro’s nipple, just shy of it being more pain than pleasure.
Cool air caressed her tortured breasts when Alex slid away from her to kneel on the floor. There was no place else for her to go, not for what she did next. She wrapped her arms around Rohanna’s thighs and pulled her to the edge of the bed.
Rohanna had no time to respond. Anything she might have said was lost the second Alex’s tongue found her center, the strong muscle so different from the simple stroke of a finger. Then she found Rohanna’s clit, treating it to the same lavish attention she had given her breasts, and she lost the ability to speak.
Teasing along the hard bundle of nerves, Alex brought Rohanna close to the edge over and over again, only to back off at the last second. Rohanna groaned in frustration; the need to come was overpowering. Tossing her head back, she moved her hips frantically against Alex’s mouth in a bid to find the release she desperately needed.
“Alex, please,” Ro begged, her hips coming off the bed in response to one delicious swipe of Alex’s tongue. Rohanna’s hands convulsed around the bed sheets in rhythm with the sharp pulses of pleasure building inside her, before finding Alex’s hands. When Alex flattened her tongue on her clit then drew it into her mouth, Rohanna screamed, grasping at the air.
Their fingers laced together in a crushing grip, Alex encouraged her to rise as she curled herself around her orgasm, her thighs wrapped tightly around Alex’s head. Her whole body tensed, poised at the precipice for one long moment before tumbling over the sharp ledge of long held restraint. She fell back onto the bed, the deafening sound of her blood drumming in her ears in time to the sweetly aching pulse between her thighs. Alex continued her light teasing licks until she begged her to stop, but her begging didn’t end her torment completely. Alex shifted lower, drinking deeply from the hot wetness she had created, curling the sweet essence along her tongue until Rohanna’s thighs quivered uncontrollably and her begging was reduced to whimpers.
Alex crawled back onto the bed and kissed her. Ro could taste her own arousal still lingering on Alex’s tongue and lips. A sudden, irrational, and completely overpowering desire to taste Alex made her shudder in anticipation. Ro wanted to run her tongue along those long thighs until she found the same sweet essence to savor, spiced by the sounds of Alex’s moans and desperate pleas until she screamed out her pleasure. The aggressive nature of the fantasy almost derailed her in its intensity.
She had two choices: accept the depths of her fantasies and give herself the freedom to act on them, or back away now and crawl back into her fears and isolated life. Torn between the two paths, she took in a deep sobbing breath and lost herself in the scent of Alex’s skin. Earthy and rich, it reminded her of sandalwood with just a touch of cinnamon, and beneath that was the heady scent of her arousal, sweet and aromatic. From lips to breast to the flat planes of her stomach, Rohanna traced the lines of Alex’s body. When eager fingertips slipped along the damp curls between Alex’s thighs, a soft gasp from the other woman made her look up.
“I want to taste you.”
“I won’t say no,” Alex said. Her eyes glittered in the dim light, but there was no mistaking the heat in that heavy lidded gaze. The tableau froze between them. Rohanna knelt between Alex’s thighs while she watched silently, waiting for her to bow her head and bring their night full circle. Alex reached down and stroked Rohanna’s cheek with the back of her hand then ran the pad of her thumb across her bottom lip.
Her skin tingled beneath that gentle touch. The strange sensation rushed through her like a whirlwind, awakening and numbing the nerve endings circling her brow before racing down her spine. Rohanna felt something shift, bo
th inside her and around them, as though some strange ritual was in action that required completion. She could feel the energy between them build. The tension wasn’t just sexual. It held something else, something she couldn’t quite put her finger on.
“What is happening between us?” Rohanna whispered.
“Nothing that shouldn’t, and everything that should,” Alex answered.
The cryptic answer made Rohanna frown. “I don’t understand.”
“That’s okay.” Alex brushed the hair away from Rohanna’s brow before speaking again. “Rohanna, you don’t need to fight this. Embrace who you are. There is only joy here, and the promise of release.”
Rohanna bowed her head.
“My choice?” Mostly a question and just shy of a whisper, Rohanna tasted the power of those words before repeating them, stronger this time. “My choice.”
A deep sigh drifted down to Rohanna’s ears when she bent down and pressed her lips against the heated flesh waiting for her. She moaned in ecstasy at the first taste of Alex’s arousal as she snaked her tongue out to explore the slick folds. The sound was almost primal, coming from deep in her throat, yet it was a pale echo to the sounds she drew from the woman arching into her as she urged her on. Rohanna’s arousal reignited when she brought Alex screaming into the night, bringing a fresh flood of moisture. She felt slick and heavy, her clit swollen and hard from teasing Alex’s orgasm from her.
Alex flipped her, pressing the length of her body against her as she moved between her thighs. This time she wasn’t as gentle. Her hand slipped between them, seeking Rohanna’s core, and slipped inside her without warning. Rohanna gasped at the sudden intrusion, her muscles clamping down on Alex’s fingers as they slid as deep as they could go, only to withdraw again. Each time she did this, Rohanna felt a profound sense of loss. Having felt the fullness of Alex inside of her, she wasn’t prepared for the emptiness left behind when she withdrew. She wrapped her arms around the woman towering over her, shamelessly grasping at the muscles flexing across Alex’s back in time with her movements.
“Ahhh…Alex!” she called out, her hips pistoning frantically until the tension inside her unwound in one blinding flash of ecstasy. Her whole body shook, convulsing around Alex’s fingers as she teased aftershock after aftershock of pleasure out of her.
The low, throaty sound of a pleased chuckle followed her into oblivion. Before she drifted off, she had a vague awareness of a blanket being thrown over her, Alex’s warm body pressing into her from behind and a firm arm draped across her middle and pulling her close.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“What the hell?” Rohanna sat up, pulling at tangled sheets as unfamiliar as the room around her.
What happened? What had woken her? Rohanna grasped her head, squeezing her temples almost painfully, willing the dream to make itself known. Frustration welled up inside her. She couldn’t remember. She was sure it was another nightmare, but if she couldn’t sort it out before falling back asleep, she would just return to the same bad dream.
“Dammit, why can’t I remember?” Ro slammed her fist into the mattress next to her. She was getting so tired of the endless cycle of waking just to dread falling back asleep.
The bed shifted next to her, reminding her that she was sharing it with someone else. Rohanna was usually alone in the middle of the night with her nightmares, but not this night.
Alex. Oh, God…Alex. She had accepted Alex’s invitation to dinner, but had ended up here, in her bed instead. Her stomach growled, reminding her that they had forgotten about dinner. Other hungers had demanded attention, awakening inside her with a ferocious need she couldn’t ignore.
Alex’s bedroom was almost pitch dark now, she was sure the fire had gone out long ago, burnt to ash and charcoal, their intended meal shriveled to nothing by the heat. She shivered. Only a scant few hours ago it had felt like summer inside the dark room, full of heat and humidity and blinding sunlight held at bay by closed eyelids. Old fears grew in the dark and quiet places; she didn’t want to be alone with them.
“Alex?” Rohanna’s voice trembled a little despite herself.
Alex’s long black hair had come loose from its braid and now draped across her shoulders and back. Rohanna reached out and touched the thick tresses, fascinated by the heavy strands that spilled onto the bedsheets like a river of black ink. Her hair was so dark, it made the shadows look pale and grey in comparison.
“Alex, wake up, please?”
Alex made an odd noise in her throat, her body unfolding from where she lay.
“Ro?” Alex mumbled drowsily, turning to face her. Her hair fell away from her face, and Rohanna shrieked. Alex’s confusion couldn’t hide her eyes. Even with her eyebrows drawn tight and her face in shadow, they shone eerily in the dark around them.
“What’s wrong?” Alex asked, instantly awake.
“Get away from me!” Rohanna managed to speak past the fear gripping her throat like a vice.
“Rohanna?”
“No.” Rohanna shook her head violently. She had suffered through violent, even frightening nightmares before, but this one was exceptionally cruel. Her chest hurt, pierced with a blade of her own making. “This, you…nothing but another nightmare. I need to leave, to wake up from this.”
“No, Rohanna! I’m not…” Alex couldn’t say it, couldn’t deny that she was a Nightmare. She swallowed her denial and tried again, skirting around the truth as tightly as she was allowed. “This isn’t a dream, Rohanna. I’m real.”
She reached out for Rohanna’s hand, only to find empty air when Rohanna scrambled off the bed. She landed on the floor with a bone-jarring thud. Unable to tear her gaze away from Alex, she reached behind her for the clothes she had so eagerly discarded earlier.
“What are you?” Rohanna whispered, unable to contain her horror. She fled out the door, the sound of it slamming shut following her as she ran.
Alarmed and confused, Alex rolled out of the bed and strode to the door. Her words should have reassured Rohanna, not sent her skittering away like a frightened child.
She caught sight of Rohanna just before she disappeared behind a large stand of trees. She touched the handle, turning it a bit before remembering that she was naked. A string of colorful curses escaped through the door without her. Alex didn’t care that she was skyclad. If she chose, she could arrive at Rohanna’s destination before she did and clothes would just get in the way. She considered it, then discarded the idea. Rohanna would demand an explanation she couldn’t give.
When she turned around to retrieve her clothes, she caught sight of herself in the small mirror behind her and gasped. A wave of nausea hit her. She felt the world shift beneath her feet, making her lose her balance. She slammed her palm onto the wall to steady herself, hard enough to make the trailer shake.
“Great Goddess, no wonder she ran,” Alex said, trying to focus on the image in front of her. Flames danced in her eyes, the color of a gas jet—blue on white, without a hint of a pupil inside. Pain crashed into her, bringing her to her knees. She dug her fingers into her scalp, desperate to ease the razor’s edge slicing through her brain. A hundred voices clamored for room all at once, all dreaming, all exposing their deepest desires as they slept. Their auras assaulted her senses. They pierced her mind, a hundred steel lances forcing their way in on singular points of pain until she could separate the clamoring hoard and push them to the edges of her consciousness.
Instinct guided her, along with the vague memories of old tales told around campfires. They were meant to instruct the earthborn children of Epona, to explain the reasons behind the sacrifices made in their name, but they had only angered Alex. The old stories had served to remind her of what her people had once been and how far they had fallen, now they guided her blood towards a long forgotten birthright.
Once she could sort them out, she cast about her more purposefully. Most of the auras felt crystalline and relatively free from corruption. She discarded them as harmless. One a
ura stood out from the rest. It was a sickly color, yellowish brown and black. It made her think of the filthy windows dotting the side of an abandoned factory. Filmed over and opaque from years of pollution and despair, it reeked of corruption, the edges eaten away from years of moral rot. Impressions turned into thoughts that turned Alex’s stomach. She pulled herself upright, shuddering at the depravity of the man’s desires. The need to protect what was hers reared up inside her when she discovered his sick fantasies included Rohanna.
Alex screamed, the sound becoming something altogether inhuman before ending abruptly. The silence that remained was deadlier in its absence of a warning.
The sound of thunder intruded on the middle-age man’s dreams, bringing with it his first nightmare since childhood. His unconscious mind was just as corrupt and twisted as his waking mind. Dreams were a place to relive his sick fantasies over and over again, there was no guilt to seed nightmares meant to remind him of what was right and wrong…until tonight.
He had strategically placed his small trailer along the edge of the camp. As one who found excitement in watching others, he was paranoid of others observing him. Unfortunately, his purposeful isolation carried no protection from what was coming for him now. The second scream of the night was not one that could be heard by others. It happened in a place as alone and bereft of life as a storm tossed beach. Sharp white teeth and vengeful eyes followed his dreams and turned them into something else, a beast that ate itself from within. Not fair! Cries for mercy were ignored, much as he had denied the same to his victims, yet he felt he was deserving of them. “No mercy, no quarter. You have been found wanting, and this is the punishment for your crimes. Never again…” The voice was inhuman, cold and imperious, and it passed judgement on him without benefit of judge and jury. “Never will you hurt me or mine, or any other.”