Chapter 5
When they arrived at the turn in the path that would take them right, toward her hut, or left toward the river, Gorta took a left.
“Aren’t we going home?” she asked.
“We are going to the river.”
“Why?”
“Is it in your nature to question every action I make?” he asked, turning to regard her with a combination of smirk and raised brows on his face.
She flattened her lips into a straight-line as she stared right back at him. “Yes. It is,” she said defiantly.
Gorta’s countenance morphed into a grin. “Good. I like a challenge.”
“Why are we going tah the river?” she asked.
“I cannot feed you air, or only water.”
“Oh. Ye’re going fishing.”
“Will you tell me now that you will not eat fish?” he demanded.
“I’ll eat anything if I’m hungry enough,” she admitted.
“And well you should.”
Twenty minutes later he stood thigh deep in the river, arms crossed over his chest glaring at her.
“I don’t understand what ye’re so put out about,” Nora said as she glanced down at the three large fish on the river bank at her feet, then at the single fish sitting a few feet away.
“How do you do it?” he demanded.
“Do what?”
“The fish. How do you manage to call them to you and get them to jump into your hands?”
“That’s not what I did.”
“Then explain it. What did you do?”
“I tempted them.”
“With the idea of being dinner?” he snapped.
Nora laughed. “No, with the idea of having dinner.”
His brows bunched, but he remained standing in the river, his arms crossed over his chest.
Nora sighed and reached into the pocket of her torn skirt. She withdrew two strips of the only food she had remaining and held them out to him. “I held one of these and allowed the water tah make it waggle back and forth. The fish came tah eat it, I threw the fish up ontah the bank.”
He dropped his hands and walked toward her, reaching out to take one of the strips from her. “What is this?”
“It’s called a fruit roll.”
He canted his head as he met her gaze. “You’re telling me fruit grows like this in your time?”
Nora smiled at him imagining a fruit roll tree. “No. Ye cook the fruit down and spread it thin tah dry. Then ye roll it up and take it with ye.”
“Like dried meat, only it’s fruit,” he said.
“Exactly,” she said.
He looked at the strip of fruit in his hand and waded back into the river. Leaning over he submerged it in the water and stood there perfectly still. It didn’t take long, just five or six minutes really, until he stood triumphantly, a huge fish gripped in his hands. Grinning at his own success, he tucked the wiggling fish snugly under his arm and waded for the river bank while munching on the fruit he’d lured the fish in with. “I am still the greatest fisherman,” he declared.
“If ye say so,” she agreed.
He smiled smugly, not realizing the level of sarcasm she was tossing his way.
“Where did you learn to make these fruit rolls?” he asked, eying the last bit he held before he popped it in his mouth.
“My sisters know I enjoy them so they will bring them and leave them at me home from time tah time along with some other favorites.”
“In your time?” he asked.
“Yes,” she answered, realizing suddenly that they might have noticed her missing again.
“Then we are unable to make more,” he said sadly.
“I can try. They may not be as sweet because we have no sugar, but I can try.”
“I don’t know sugar. But I can give you honey. Will honey make them sweeter?” he asked.
“It might.”
“I’ll find you honey,” he said with a firm nod.
Nora watched as he gathered the fish they’d caught and started walking away from her. “Where are ye going now?”
“I will clean the fish across the river, a fair distance from here. Leave the entrails for the wild animals, nothing will go to waste.”
~~~
Later that evening they sat beside the fire outside her hut, eating fish that had been cooked over the flames of the fire Gorta had built.
Nora watched him as his gaze lazily took in everything around them, before he sighed and sat back against the log he dragged over to recline against.
“This is a good home,” he finally said. “It is peaceful.”
Nora looked around and tried to see what he was seeing. “It is, for now.”
Gorta’s gaze caught hers and for a very uncomfortable moment he refused to allow her to look away from him. “Why do you anticipate trouble. There is no indication that things could go wrong, yet you wait for it.”
Forcing herself to look away from him she shrugged. “Isn’t it better tah be ready? Especially with our history.”
“Maybe. But then there is such a thing as calling bad fortune to you, as well.”
“I’m not calling bad fortune. I’m trying tah prevent more heartache. It’s the only way I know tah protect ye.”
He sat quietly, watching her as her face changed expression with the thoughts rolling through her brain. “What did you do differently this time, that could have made so many changes?” Gorta asked her.
Nora opened her mouth to answer, then realized she hadn’t done anything. Fate had. “It wasn’t me,” she said.
“I don’t understand.”
“I didn’t do anything different. Fate did. I’d given up. I’d just lost ye for the last time. I had no fight left, and knew there would never be another chance. I leaned against a tree in the circle and didn’t even try tah move home, or any other place. I just waited.”
“For what?”
“To fade away, so that it would all stop.”
“Nora…”
She shook her head gently and lifted her shoulder in a half-shrug. “The fireflies appeared in the circle, and continued tah move back and forth between me and where they’d originally appeared. They wouldn’t stop, so I got up tah look and found a shotgun and ammunition there.”
“What is that?”
“It’s a weapon. More deadly than anything ye’ve ever seen. I tried many times tah bring it with me, but when I arrived it was always gone. The portal wouldn’t allow me tah bring it with me. This time, though, it came tah me on its own through the portal.”
“I saw it. When I was watching you, I saw you operate it.”
She nodded. “I hid it away knowing that if it fell tah the wrong people, so many other things could go wrong. I just need it tah protect ye.”
“I don’t need protecting. You’ll keep it hidden for if you need it to protect yourself,” Gorta said.
“If I’d had it just once in all the other times, I might have been able tah save ye then.”
“I’m here now, Nora. I’m not planning to die any time soon. I’m just as bewildered at the turn of things as you are. I’m sitting with a woman who is my all, and yet, she’s not the same as the last time I saw her.”
Nora nodded, realizing how unreal this all must seem to him. “I’m sorry. It’s just a part of me everyday life. I forget that it’s all new tah ye. Ye must be very confused.”
“It takes a bit of getting used to, I’ll admit that. But not as much as you’d think. Don’t forget that I have magics just like you do. My people are descended from the Fae. Stranger things have happened, though I doubt more heartbreaking could exist.”
Nora met his eyes across the short distance between them. “I don’t know what tah do now.”
“What was your plan before?”
“Find ye. Keep ye alive, bring ye back tah me own time.”
“Figure the rest out then?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“You’ve found me, and I’ve found you. I am alive, but more importantly, so are you. As far as the bringing me back, let’s just take some time and figure things out.”
“But yer people…”
“I know. I’ve been listening. And I’ll be careful, but for now, I’ve tired of the worrying. It’s time for other things.”
“Such as?” she asked, irritated that he had so little concern for all of her fears.
“Such as, will you waste this time worrying about what could be, or what has changed and why, instead of taking advantage of the gift we’ve been given?” he asked.
“What gift have we been given?” she asked tiredly.
“You, with me, in the same time, and neither one of us is dead or dying.”
“At the moment.”
He chuckled as he went from reclining to sitting up and clasping his hands in front of him, resting them on his knees. His eyes bore into her as he waited for her to realize what he planned.
“Ye’re looking at me like ye’re going tah attack,” she said nervously.
“If you don’t get yourself up and come here this very instant, I may.” He slowly licked his lips, as his gaze traveled down to the tips of her toes and back up again.
“Oh!” she exclaimed, casting a quick glance down her own body and up before looking in his direction.
“Up. Now.” He pointed to the ground in front of where he sat. “Here. I need you here.”
Nora’s heart skipped a beat.
Gorta remained seated, his arms resting on his raised knees as he watched her, daring her to deny him.
“Just like that,” she said.
He watched silently, leaving her to decide how she’d proceed.
Nora considered her options, coming back around to the same conclusion each time. This male was her husband. Always had been, just like she’d told him. Shakily she got to her feet and walked over to him.
When she made to sit beside him, he held up a finger, stopping her.
Nora froze in place, waiting to see what he wanted next.
The same finger he’d held up to stop her movements, now waggled up and down at her clothing. “Remove it.”
“Excuse me?” she asked.
“Take off your clothing. I want to see what’s mine,” he said. His voice was strained, a bit deeper, but still fully controlled.
Nora hesitated, looking around at the darkness surrounding them, wondering about who or what might be out there lurking.
“There is no one, and you know there’s no one.”
“I didn’t know ye were there earlier.”
“If you don’t want to do this, Nora, just say so.”
“I, I do. I just worry.”
“About so many things. Just let it all go and feel, woman. Live in the moment. It might be all we have.”
She was looking into his eyes when he said those words, and for just a split second in time, she saw the fear that he too harbored deep inside. She nodded, fully convinced that if now was all the time they had, she’d take every single moment of it, as she quickly unbuttoned her blouse and threw to the side, immediately following it with her skirt. She stood before him, completely nude, waiting for his response. She wasn’t as young as she’d once been, and she had no idea how he’d react to her body.
He startled her when he reached out quickly and snatched her skirt from the ground. Spreading it out at his side he looked up at her and reached out a hand.
Nora placed her hand trustingly in his, and allowed him to pull her gently to him.
When she was all but standing on top of him, he looped his other arm behind her knees, forcing her to fall into his arms. As he caught her he turned, laying her on the skirt he’d spread out across the ground to his right and came down on top her at the same time. His body was spread out on top of hers, his face and lips hovering a half inch above her own. His breath mingling with hers as he just almost kissed her, but not quite.
“Say it, Nora.”
She didn’t know what he wanted her to say.
“I will not take you as mine, until you say it.”
“There are so many things that…”
“Here and now,” he said, teasing her by angling his head to be able to kiss her more deeply around his tusks, once he began to kiss her, but still holding back.
“I am yers. Always.”
“No matter?” he asked.
Nora nodded and blinked away a tear that managed to escape.
“I am yours, always have been. Open for me, Nora. Give me what is mine.”
Nora’s hands came up to stroke his back before holding his body to hers. “I’ll never turn ye away. Take all I have.”
He smiled and lowered his mouth to hers, kissing her into breathlessness. His kiss remained gentle for only a moment before his need began to build. The rumbling of his chest, and the growl he emitted did exactly what nature intended — they had her as worked up as he was.
Her hands smoothed down his back toward his rear, but instead of gripping his muscled, rounded ass, she gripped his breeches. “These have tah go,” she mumbled against his mouth.
His reply was unintelligible as he continued to kiss her.
“Off!” she shouted, turning her face away from him and shoving at his chest.
“Mine!” he shouted indignantly.
Nora rolled her eyes at him. “Take the breeches off!” she clarified, slapping his ass.
He grinned as understanding took hold. Gorta pushed himself up off her body and stood over her as he unfastened his breeches and shoved them down his thick thighs to his ankles. He stepped out of them and kicked them away while he looked down at her and stroked himself with one hand. “Do you want this?” he asked.
“I do,” she said hungrily.
“For now, the here and now, or longer?”
“Forever.”
He smiled as he knelt over her, pushing her thighs open to allow for his big body to fit between them. “Forever,” he repeated.
“Forever,” she confirmed.
“I need you now,” he growled.
“I’m right here.”
“I need you now and will not be able to hold back. I will spend more time with you later.”
“Huh?” she asked, not quite understanding his meaning. It became clear a few seconds later when her ankles were gripped and raised in the air at the same time her body was yanked a few inches down the skirt and her ankles were pressed back toward her ears. Her ass was actually lifted off the ground as he looked down at her.
Gorta’s chest rumbled like an angry dog the entire time he held her in that position. Angling his hips, he rubbed his thick, throbbing, straining cock up and down her swollen lips, coating it in the evidence of her excitement. Each time he rubbed his cock up and down her slit, the head of his cock bumped against her clit, sending shivers through her body.
“Gorta, please,” she whispered hoarsely.
His face had been raised to the sky, lost in the sensations of their bodies together, but at the sound of her voice, he looked down at her. His eyes were like a wild thing, flashing in the darkness. The dark green of his skin flushed in his excitement, his long, black hair intricately woven into ornate braids decorated with beads and clasps falling around his shoulders and back, his tusks shining in the moonlight, all of it, almost enough to send her over the edge into ecstasy with no more than the length of his cock rubbing against her.
“I need more,” she begged.
He just barely tipped his head to the left, then let go of one of her ankles so he could press on the head of his cock and push it into her waiting opening. He lifted one corner of his mouth in a snarl as he felt her warmth welcome him. Scooting even closer to her, he grabbed her hips in his hands and yanked her body toward his as he drove his cock deeper.
Nora screamed.
Gorta roared in triumph as her thighs fell to the side, struggling to accommodate the width of his body between her legs. He repeatedly pulled her onto his length, basically using her body to fuck himself as he pulled her onto his cock, then pushed her almost all the way off, before yanking her toward him again as his cock drove into her.
Nora watched him, trying to appreciate the raw hunger and beauty of the wild creature that her male had become while mating her. But the pleasure, the sensations, the emotions were just too much. Her hands gripped the skirt, now bunched up beneath them, as she arched her back and screamed her pleasure to the night around them.
Somewhere in the wild savagery that had overtaken Gorta, he recognized her cries as satisfaction, and allowed himself to tip over the edge of control into the same delirium that had overtaken his woman. As he emptied himself into her body, he began to swell, locking them together until the savage inside him decided that he was ready to release her. He dropped the majority of his body to lay atop hers, his elbows bent next to her arms, holding a great deal of his upper body weight up off her as they both recovered.
Nora lay beneath him, dragging ragged breaths into her body, while somewhere in the back of her mind she was thankful that he thought to hold himself up off her enough to allow her to breathe.