3. Sun
Chapter 3
Sun
I awoke with a start, glancing down to find the remnants of Hadi’s release still stashed away in the corner, and it shattered any delusions I had that the dream-like encounter with my king was just that, a dream.
It shouldn’t have been any different with Hadi. By now, it felt natural to do what humans would indeed deem unnatural with them.
But this time felt different in a way I couldn’t explain and refused to explore any longer as I stood and stretched my renewed body. Sex had a way of making me feel better, and now it physically rejuvenated me.
It felt more manageable that way; it felt safe to ignore the spark of something more I saw in his eyes than what my rational mind conjured up to replace it.
Hadi took what he needed from me and left. We were no longer enemies but were now the most temporary of my acquired acquaintances. Because, in the end, once the emperor was dead, would Hadi rest until he ascended the noc throne once more?
No.
Would I allow him so he could murder the rest of the humans of Naran?
Of course not.
So, just as I warned Clem not long ago, we were allies now. In the future? Only the gods knew.
…Is what I would’ve said before meeting the goddess face to face. Now, I wasn’t sure if any being, mortal or supreme, could decipher what was in our future.
No need to overthink, I thought while most definitely overthinking. Just go with the flow. Take pleasure when you can. Dole out pain when necessary. I’m sure he’s just tired of sitting on the sidelines.
At least, that’s what I deluded myself into thinking, ignoring everything that went unspoken as his enormous cock rutted against me and after he marked me with his web-like seed, fangs flashing in his frenzied release.
There was something more left unspoken between us in the heat of Hadi’s embrace.
Feigning ignorance was the best route, I decided. It was easier to keep my lust in check than examine the overwhelming emotions of the strange relationship I’d entangled myself in with not one but four nocs. I had to keep my beast in check, I reassured myself, trying to put up feeble defenses around my wounded heart still raw from betrayal, too tender to surrender to that…
“Fuck my feelings,” I gritted out, slapping my cheeks as I approached the doorway, left slightly ajar. Hadi must have decided it was time to join the others, which was somewhat annoying… as if I wanted him to remain with me until I woke.
I tried to shake all those emotions away, but Hadi’s eyes lingered in my mind. What were we now? Mortal enemies to what? Lovers? That sounded absurd even to me.
Mortal enemies to convenient partners suited us better. We would stick with that until Emperor Gaulu’s head hung from a spike as the traitor he was to the holy throne.
And speaking of my soon-to-be-dead emperor, my rest did not provide new answers to that conundrum either. I had little doubt we’d be ambushed before we reached the border of Kari. It was a matter of when, not if.
And what then? If we managed to survive, we’d surely be injured. It took a series of miracles to make it this far, and the goddess Tsuki seemed all out of miracles to bestow upon us now.
No matter. I yanked off my filthy robe and pushed the doors open, the cool breeze freezing on my nude skin.
“Emperor Gaulu will not rest until I’m dead. I can’t retreat into delusions; I must face reality head-on, sword drawn. But for now…” I trailed off, my body yearning for the hot springs and dreading the war ahead for the first time in twenty-five long, hard years.
Those were tough words, but even after resting my weary eyes, I was still no closer to figuring out how to carry out the most important mission of my life. All I was doing was spinning my wheels, coming to the same hopeless conclusions.
Had I lost my warrior edge in the madness of discovering treachery as wretched as his?
“Enough whining,” I scolded myself, looking up the empty hallway as I closed the door behind me.
By the sound of low voices and splashes drifting to my bedroom, my nocs were still in the hot springs. Walking on shaky feet, I followed the sound, hoping a relaxing bath would allow my mind to settle long enough to formulate a plan of action.
My memory carried me through the motions of preparing for the hot springs, cleansing my body before the long soak to ease my aches and pains. I stared into the rippling water of my wash bucket as Hadi and Clem’s voices grew louder and clearer, bodies obscured by the steam.
I wondered if Bracken and Kiar bothered to wash off before they entered the springs. There was evidence Hadi and Clem at least knew what to do, with about twenty empty buckets surrounding me. I chuckled softly, thinking of Clem clumsily floating, trying to clean off Hadi’s large body.
“Guess I’ll find out soon enough,” I said aloud, hoping the water wasn’t clouded with dirt from the other two as I finally entered the springs properly.
The scene that greeted me brought a weary smile to my lips. Clem lounged on the water’s edge, a sparkle in his large solid black eyes as he dipped a finger in the pool and nothing more. His master, Bracken, took up an entire half of the large enclosure, leaning against the rocks, wings stretched out, arguing with Clem.
Kiar? He was missing in action, but I expected nothing less. He couldn’t handle his liquor, to my surprise, as he swerved hard on the walk here, eyes fuzzy, and was probably dozing off somewhere by now—that or patrolling as he often did, all to avoid me.
Ouch , that stung, so I stopped thinking about it.
Which left Hadi, who was staring directly at me as I crept closer. He could’ve taken up a whole pool by himself, but they had chosen the largest spring, so Hadi and Bracken took up half of each end. His brown hair was wet and slightly curled, delicately framing his rugged features. His tan skin and muscles rippled with water.
Hadi’s gaze was always unnerving, but when our eyes met, I felt something flutter in my gut rather than twist in anticipation of battle like before.
How strange… The others didn’t make me feel like this after the first time. At least, I don’t think. Get it together, Sun. You’re coming off weak, I thought as I reached the water’s edge and understood what the argument was about.
“I… don’t like bodies of water much,” Clem whispered, and I frowned as his body shifted to a deep melancholy blue. “You know this, master. Stop teasing me.”
Bracken shot me a half smile, but he seemed distracted. Then the batbeast huffed, and both of my larger nocs turned their full attention to Clem.
He was more gloomy than usual, that was for sure. But if Clem didn’t want to bathe, I didn’t see why that was such a big deal.
“You have to be stronger. You can’t always count on me to fight your fears and chase away your shadows, Clem,” Bracken said, a surprising tenderness in his tone as I slid into the pool near him and as far away from Hadi as possible. Which wasn’t very far, to be honest.
“I know…” Clem sighed, antennas drooping.
I felt bad for suggesting the springs at all. I didn’t think Clem’s hesitance to get in the water was based on fear. Why he was that way, I wasn’t sure.
A mini wave hit my back, and I turned to see Hadi nodding, splashing water over his backside with his lower set of hands as he crossed the upper set.
“Your bonded speaks the truth. You’ve conquered the grave, Clem. A bath is beneath you. It should not inspire fear.”
And, as if reading my mind, Hadi added, “You’ll cause Sun distress, getting so upset when he brought us to this place as much for us as for him. Your awakening is in the past. Get over it and bury the awful memory away.”
Now Clem shifted from bright blue to bright green as I turned back to gaze at my mothian. Abruptly, he tossed his legs into the water, visibly shaking.
“I’m sorry, Sun,” he said as I waded over to him, brushing against Bracken’s fur, and gripped his knees, Clem’s upper hands on my shoulders.
“Don’t be. I didn’t know. I should be sorry,” I tried to reason, but that only seemed to upset Clem more as he gently slid into my arms until we were both waist-deep in the water.
His breath sped up, and he trembled violently in my embrace. I held him closer, rubbing his back, confused about how to comfort him.
My mind began to spin as I recalled that word. Awakening. I’d heard it before when Clem explained the appearance of the nocs, shuddering all the while. He was born by the sea and had a bad association with water because of it, I gathered.
For some reason, this new information made me feel sour. Each was a whole world, my nocs, who had lived an entire life before me. Where did I fit into their world after all of this was over? Abandoned by my closest friends and now my ruler, where would I fit in anywhere?
“Sun?” Clem whispered, snapping me from my troubling thoughts. His lips were near mine, causing my heart to race as he leaned in to whisper something into my ear…
Only to blow my eardrum out with a screech.
“brACKEN!” Clem shouted as we were submerged out of the blue.
Bracken had poured two of his large palms full of water onto us as Clem screamed in horror. I suppressed a laugh as he tore away from me to beat at Bracken’s chest, which must have felt like twigs being thrust against a sturdy trunk. I caught Hadi doing the same, trying to suppress a laugh, as his expression hardened instantly.
“It’s not so bad, right Clem, when you join us and be brave?” Bracken drawled, snickering at Clem’s obvious displeasure. “All it took was Sun to convince you, huh?”
Bracken must have found it so funny he didn’t correct Clem for shouting his name instead of his title, or hitting him, for that matter. That was unlike him, who was quick to punish and discipline since I’d known him. It was a pleasant development.
To my shock, Clem shifted bright red, whining, “Don’t be a bully! Sun and I…” he glanced at me, “...were having a moment. And you ruined it.”
I had never seen that color before or heard him shout so loudly. Was he angry? But he couldn’t be. Clem didn’t get angry with Bracken, not to this degree.
Or maybe he had in the past, and once again, I was learning about how they were before me.
Bracken reached down and scooped Clem up by his neck. He licked him from his chin to his lips, and I flinched, knowing it wouldn’t be long until their eyes and hands and mouths were on me next.
“Don’t be angry, Clem. Relax. Hard times are ahead. Sun prepared this place for our pleasure, no? So, relax,” Bracken said as his tongue went from tasting Clem’s skin to entering his mouth as my mothian faded to a pleasant shade of pink. The vice grip on his neck appeared painful, but that seemed to turn my mothian on even more.
Damn them, always making up by screwing each other’s brains out!
I needed to leave but was trapped in place by the feral look in Hadi’s eyes as I turned to flee. It was hunger, but not the kind that was a prelude to filling his stomach. No, I had the sneaking suspicion he wanted to fill something else up as he rose, creating a higher wave as his lower body breached the surface.
My heart sped up, out of control this time, feeling dizzy and disoriented. Why the hell was I like this? Control the beast . If I succumbed now, I’d probably end up a crying mess.
I felt raw enough after what me and Hadi had done together. Seeing him in such a humane light had shaken me.
If we did more now, I’d beg not to be confronted with my years of foolish loyalty. I’d become so very, very weak if I allowed Hadi to break me, curling into his arms, sobbing like a child as he came inside of me.
Marked me. Claimed me. He’d make me confront head-on how Gaulu’s lies had blinded me for years with a self-righteous sneer.
“Join–” I cut Bracken off by raising my hand as he released Clem long enough to reach for me.
“Later.” At his indignant huff, I added, “I promise. For now, leave me out of it.”
Scrambling out of the pool, I traveled to the furthest spring without looking back, hoping to be alone with my thoughts for once. Truly, alone.
Since meeting my nocs, I hadn’t had a second apart, and it was starting to wear on my soul. When I was with them, all I could think about was fighting or fucking, and I needed to focus!
Removing my white towel for a second time, I quickly submerged myself in the new spring. It was much smaller, about two arms wide in each direction, but cozier for me. When I emerged, I headed straight for the change rooms however, the moment I stepped through the door, I was taken by surprise.
“Ha–!” Silenced by a hand over my mouth before I could speak, something long, thick, and wet curled around my waist.
I reached down to claw at it but was held back as a voice rugged with need whispered into my ear.
“Stay with me, Sun.”
“Kiar!?” I said as he uncovered my mouth and releasing a trembling breath as his bulging cocks pressed against my backside from within their sheath.
By the slur in his speech, I could tell he was still drunk from the bar. He quickly nestled me into his body, hands, and tail wrapping around me until I was trapped. And though I should’ve fought him off like I did the rest, my guilt over what he had heard in the bar ate me alive and I remained rooted to the spot.
“Stay with me,” Kiar repeated as if I could free myself from being woefully entangled by him, body, and soul.