Feral Empires: Fanning Flames

by Stephen L. Hadley

  “I know,” Jenn said. “But you’re alive. And I’m here now.”

  Growling, Liam yanked his hand away from Jenn’s. Standing, he paced the room in a huff. It didn’t help much, but navigating by the light of only a single candle was just distracting enough to take the edge off his anger.

  “If I do this,” he said, slowly. “And don’t like what the Mayor has to say, then what?”

  “Then that’s the end of it,” Jenn said without hesitation. “We’ll do whatever you decide. We can go look for Scott, join the militia, or just hide beneath this brothel and fuck until the Occs find us. It’s up to you.”

  Despite himself, and everything else, Liam chuckled. He glanced at Jenn, remembered the night before, and quickly looked away. The sudden change in his mood was not lost on Jenn, however. She rose, frowning slightly.

  “Liam?” she asked.

  “I slept with Kathryn last night,” he said.

  It was almost comically easy to watch the emotions play out across Jenn’s features. Her hands balled into fists and the vines securing her armor clenched and tightened until the wood and cloth beneath creaked audibly. Her eyes, too, seemed to grow haunted for a moment and they swept to the staircase so purposefully that Liam half-expected her to sprint toward it.

  Then she sighed and the fight seemed to drain from her.

  “I understand,” she said, so softly that he could barely hear her words. “Thank you for telling me.”

  “Jenn, it wasn’t…” he trailed off, uncertain how to continue.

  “Special?” she suggested. “Better than normal?”

  “I wasn’t trying to hurt you.”

  “You didn’t,” Jenn said. She managed to sound somewhat earnest, too. “Do you remember what I said back at the Institute? I don’t care if you fuck Kathryn, as long as I’m first in your heart. So, am I still?”

  Liam nodded.

  “Now and always,” he said.

  Jenn exhaled sharply and the sound had more in common with a sob than a simple breath. She made her way to his side, practically tottering for the first few steps. Wrapping her arms around him, she pulled him close and rested her brow against his shoulder.

  “And I love you, Liam,” she whispered. “Now and always.”

  He wanted to kiss her, to reassure her that he’d spoken honestly, but Jenn’s arms held him too tightly even for that. He settled for the top of her head, then sputtered when several strands of her hair managed to sneak into his mouth.

  Jenn laughed, drawing back and running fingers through her hair to reposition it.

  “Sorry,” she said. “I spent most of the night working. I haven’t had a chance to do anything with it.”

  “Working?” Liam said cautiously.

  Jenn nodded and folded her arms in a very self-satisfied fashion. “That’s right,” she said. “I’m helping Tobias reinforce the city’s walls.”

  “With… plants?” Though he managed to keep a straight face, Liam couldn’t quite resist the urge to adopt a slightly more teasing tone.

  Jenn glared at him. “With wood,” she said. “I grew saplings in a few of the cracked sections and layered it with thorns. It might not be as good as metal, but it’ll do the job for now.”

  “Right, sorry,” Liam said. He leaned in and kissed Jenn’s brow, and was relieved when she did not prevent him. “I didn’t mean to poke fun.”

  “Yes, you did,” she said.

  He stared her down for a moment, until the two of them broke out into reluctant grins. Leaning in, Jenn wrapped him in another tight embrace, though thankfully not as tight as before. Together they stood there, swaying slightly as they each savored the closeness that had been sorely lacking the last day and a half.

  “I am sorry,” he said, at last. “Are you sure you’re not angry?”

  “I was,” Jenn admitted. “But it’s… complicated. I wasn’t angry when you told me.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I could tell you’d fucked Kathryn the second I saw her. So thank you for telling me, instead of making me ask.”

  “Wait, what?” Liam pulled back slightly. His brow furrowed in surprise. “How could you tell?”

  Jenn stared at him a second, then gave a scoffing laugh that practically dripped with condescension.

  “Are you kidding me?” she asked. “Her neck looks like you tried to strangle her. Anyone with two eyes and half a brain can tell what happened.”

  “Really?”

  Growling, Jenn shoved him toward the cot and the lighted candle on the adjacent table. Liam stumbled and caught himself against the edge, but did not sit. Fortunately, Jenn did not seem to have intended for him to. She made her way into the light and yanked down the collar of her vine-wrapped breastplate to display a row of bruises dotting the skin between her breasts and collarbone.

  Try as he might, Liam could not fully ignore the potent memory of kissing and nibbling his way across that particular patch of skin two nights earlier. Now, unlike before, the memory made him smile, rather than grimace.

  Unfortunately, Jenn seemed to misinterpret his grin.

  “Remember these?” she demanded. “Where the hell did you think they came from?”

  Though Jenn’s point was obvious—and Liam mentally kicked himself for not connecting the dots earlier—he couldn’t bring himself to endure her chastisement. After all, his previous liaisons with Jenn had taken place almost exclusively in the dark. And given that his own bruises healed near instantaneously, he ought to be forgiven for his lack of education.

  “Chafing?” he said with playfully exaggerated naivety. “I know sometimes your hips get a bit scratched when—”

  Jenn shoved him, hooking his ankle with a stealthy vine to ensure he landed heavily on the cot. He’d scarcely managed to blink in surprise when Jenn was upon him. Vines erupted from the edges of her armor, several setting her breastplate aside while others snaked down her limbs to encircle Liam’s wrists, neck, and ankles. Then, before he could draw in breath, much less cry out, one of Jenn’s hands clapped over his mouth.

  “Not one word, Liam,” she whispered. “Not one. Understood?”

  He glared at her, unmoving.

  Sighing, Jenn leaned in and nibbled his earlobe. Then, after a few seconds of this, she moved in and kissed his cheek.

  “This isn’t a betrayal,” she said. “I’m not going to tie you up and drag you to meet the Mayor. Just think of this as… hmmm… payback, I suppose?”

  She trailed a hand down his chest, pressing hard with her fingers as if to examine the muscles. As she neared his waist, however, the vines around his throat tightened, just enough to summon a hint of pressure at his temples.

  “You fucked her right here, didn’t you?” Jenn asked. She was beginning to breathe hard, every word a raspy hiss. “Right here in this bed?”

  Liam made no reply, until Jenn’s face snapped up to meet his. Her eyes were wild and her cheeks flushed.

  “Didn’t you?” she demanded.

  Unable to speak without choking and unsure how else to respond, Liam nodded.

  Jenn shuddered, her eyes fluttering shut and a breathy almost-moan escaping her lips. The hand she’d used to cover Liam’s mouth pulled away, then cupped the space between her legs. Then, almost as if her touch was the signal they waited for, the rest of her vines began to writhe and peel away the final layers of her clothing.

  Jenn touched herself urgently, the wetness of her pussy spreading easily to coat her fingers and inner thighs. After a few seconds of this, her eyes opened abruptly and she stared once more into Liam’s eyes.

  “Tell me about it,” she gasped. “Tell me everything.”

  Liam squirmed, growing more and more concerned by the second. While he was no stranger to some of Jenn’s sexual peculiarities, he’d never seen or heard anything of this sort from her. Reaching up, he was relieved to discover the vines restraining him had loosened somewhat and he could free hi
s neck sufficiently to speak.

  “Jenn,” he said. “What’s going on? Why are you—”

  “You’re mine!” she snarled suddenly. Leaning in, she pressed her brow against Liam’s until his head began to ache. At the same time, the vines tightened anew and forced his wrists back down against the bed. “And I’m yours! Your first! First in your heart!”

  Liam tried to speak, but could manage nothing but a wordless cough.

  Jenn, however, showed no signs of slowing. She shuddered, squeezing herself with both hands as she writhed in his lap.

  “It should have been me,” she moaned. “I should have been the one to do it. But you chose her. So now, you get me too. I want you to do everything. Just like you did before. I want to know how it felt.”

  Liam laughed—or tried to, anyway—as the pieces fell into place. So many of Jenn’s quirks had struck him oddly since they’d bedded down together. But now, at last, he understood.

  He understood why she seemed unbothered by others knowing the schedule of their lovemaking. He understood why she made no attempts to quiet her climaxes, or his, no matter how nearby others might be. He understood why she seemed almost to delight in broadcasting her intentions by dragging him off when he was surrounded by the maximum number of people.

  Liam forced himself upright, straining for the vines around his neck. They resisted him for a moment, almost choking him in the process, then seemed to melt away. He slid his hands around Jenn’s back, pulling her hips down against his with one and using the other to seize a handful of hair and yank her head back, exposing her throat.

  “You knew, didn’t you?” he growled. “That very first night after we rescued Kathryn. You knew she was watching us from the barn.”

  Jenn whimpered high in her throat and nodded urgently. Her bare hips ground against him as she used her vines, hands, and anything else at her disposal in a clumsy attempt to strip Liam of his trousers.

  “I knew,” she said.

  “And you enjoyed it,” Liam added. He muttered the words directly into Jenn’s ear, then dragged his teeth down the side of her neck without waiting for an answer. Every inch or so, he slowed, making as if to bite her and observing Jenn’s delighted shudders. “You enjoyed knowing that she was watching. You wanted her to know that you’re mine.”

  “Yes,” she said.

  The arousal was so obvious in Jenn’s voice that even the single word destroyed the last of Liam’s reservations. Wriggling, he tugged his trousers down around his knees and pulled Jenn back against him. Her slick folds parted against the underside of his shaft, trying in vain to admit him. No sooner had she settled against him than Jenn began to grind against him. Immediately, Liam’s cock twitched as the stiff button of her clit flicked against the ridged neck of his shaft.

  Desperate though he was to continue, Liam would have none of it. It was time for the final confirmation. He stilled Jenn’s grinding with a hand on her hips.

  “You’re not mad that I fucked Kathryn,” he said. “You’re mad that you weren’t here. You’re upset that I didn’t make you watch.”

  The cry Jenn gave then was wordless, but unmistakable. Her hips quivered beneath his hand, begging him to touch her—to fill her.

  And so he did. Guiding Jenn’s hips up with one hand, Liam used the other to maneuver his erection into alignment, then drove her down to meet the first of his many thrusts. Jenn cried out as she was stretched open, her insides clenching down around his girthy shaft. Without any prompting, her hips began to gyrate, stroking his cock with the silken walls of her drenched cunt.

  Liam allowed her to do so, but quickly grabbed another fistful of hair to draw Jenn’s head back and curve her spine into a delicate, defenseless arc. Doing so thrust her breasts forward and he nuzzled one with his cheek. Ordinarily, he might have spent the time teasing her nipples, but Jenn’s vigorous riding left them bouncing and far too difficult a target.

  “It started just like this,” he growled. “She climbed in my lap and faced me.”

  Jenn moaned, her insides squeezing his cock desperately. She twisted around, contorting herself until she could just manage to meet Liam’s eyes. Her own were half-lidded and cloudy with lust.

  “How was it?” she asked. “Was she tight?”

  Liam grunted as Jenn’s pussy tightened further. He thrust upward, ignoring the crushing grip as he buried himself to the hilt, yet again.

  “Tighter than you,” he said. “But she didn’t have these.”

  He grasped one of Jenn’s breasts and squeezed gently. For several seconds, and throughout the corresponding collisions of their bodies, he simply enjoyed the feeling of her breast shifting and bouncing against his palm.

  “What else?” Jenn asked, breathless.

  “Hmmm…” he mused. Between the delights of Jenn’s body, the memories of the night before, and the increasing nearness of his orgasm, it was getting harder to put words together. “Well, she came, of course.”

  Jenn whimpered, her pussy tightening in fluttering, irregular waves. Her hands pressed into her own stomach, just above her waist.

  “I didn’t know it was coming,” Liam continued with a grin. There was something marvelously wicked about arousing Jenn with accounts of his encounter with Kathryn. Somehow, it felt as though he was getting revenge for all the ways she’d upset him over the past two days, and making up with her, simultaneously.

  “M-More!” Jenn panted. “Tell me m—”

  “You should have heard her,” he said. “Begging and moaning. She didn’t know what was happening either. I think it was her very first orgasm. You missed the chance to see it, to watch her cum for the first time. Right here. On this bed. Filled with my cock.”

  Jenn came as if on cue, her entire body convulsing with undisguised pleasure. She moaned, clutching at her belly as she bounced atop Liam’s member. Her insides gushed, drops of her juices leaking out from her spasming folds and racing down the creases on either side of Liam’s cock.

  Liam gave her a moment to enjoy her climax. And truth be told, he needed a minute to recover, himself. The slick, clinging walls of Jenn’s pussy had brought him within seconds of release. And if he was going to give her the full experience, he would need longer than that.

  He waited until Jenn’s eyes opened, then rolled suddenly, pinning her between his body and the bed. Eyes going wide, she stared up at him silently.

  “And then,” he continued. “I took her just like this.”

  Panting softly, Jenn grinned up at him. The sight was so intimate and so familiar that, for a split-second, Liam nearly forgot all that had happened.

  “Do it,” she pleaded.

  Liam’s fingers tightened in Jenn’s hair, pinning her to the mattress. He wanted little more than to give in to Jenn’s urging. But there was one more thing to do.

  “I will,” he said. “Drop your vines.”

  Jenn stiffened anxiously. She studied him for a time, then glanced at the stairs and around the darkened room with sudden suspicion.

  “Why?” she asked.

  He kissed her once, and was not offended when Jenn’s lips remained impassive against his.

  “She was helpless,” he explained. “Defenseless. Completely under my control. I want you to know what that feels like.”

  Slowly, over the course of several long seconds, the nervousness drained from Jenn’s face. In its place, only pure, gleaming arousal remained. She flicked her wrist, the same way one might swat an obnoxious gnat, and the last of the vines clinging to her outstretched limbs flopped to the ground.

  “Me too,” she purred. “I want to know what it feels like.”

  Liam pressed in with his hips, burying his shaft into her depths. Jenn’s back arched as he penetrated her, but otherwise, she made no reaction. Her gaze refused to leave his, even as her legs rose to offer herself more freely.

  “Do it,” she demanded. “Use me. I want to feel it.”

  Liam had forgiv
en her. He’d done it ages ago. But even if he hadn’t, there was no possible way his resentment could have survived hearing those words in such a lusty tone.

  He threw himself against her, seizing Jenn’s wrists and pinning her roughly beneath him. His hips bucked with all the force he could muster, stretching and plundering her depths as he plowed her intimate spaces. Though he had no illusions about making Jenn climax a second time, there was abundant lubrication for the work at hand. And under the circumstances, he was in no mood to be a generous lover.

  Jenn moaned as he pounded her into the mattress. Her charms were superfluous. All Liam needed at that moment was a hot, slick channel in which to vent his frustrations. And afforded such a luxury, he gave it all his attention. He fucked Jenn with everything he had, panting through gritted teeth as he drove himself towards his climax.

  When it came, it struck him hard and fast. Rather than the long, drawn-out affair that so often forced his eyes shut and drowned out the sounds of the world, Liam’s present climax ran through him like electricity. Choking back an unwelcome breath, he shuddered as the throbbing of his cock spread to his balls, and then to a deeper, higher spot at the center of his pelvis.

  He sighed as the height of his climax faded away, leaving him unusually calm. Rather than feeling spent as he often did, he simply wanted to move on to the next matter at hand. He wondered at the change for a moment, until he noticed Jenn staring up at him. She wore her typical, inviting smile, the sort that ordinarily would have seen him cuddling close to enjoy his post-orgasmic bliss.

  The feeling was not there.

  Pulling out, Liam swung his feet over the edge of the cot. He sagged against the wall, breathing deeply and purposefully as he waited for his thoughts to retake their original shape.

  “Liam?” Jenn asked, propping herself up on one elbow. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” he said, uncertain whether it was a lie or a convenient truth. “Just thinking.”

  “About what?”

  “Nothing important.” He patted her calf and carefully grabbed his discarded trousers with his toes. “It’s like I said earlier; this place is strange. I liked it better when it was just us.”