2. Aurelia
Chapter 2
An urgency I’d never experienced before overwhelmed me. On my knees, on the ground, I tried to rub my thighs together to alleviate the mounting pressure of my craving for this man. My body shook from suppressed need, my lack of control in this situation sending adrenaline and arousal spreading over my nerve endings. My peaked breasts, raw and sensitive, rubbed against the thin fabric of my clothing. My jaw clenched as sweat beaded along my forehead.
I needed his touch, desperately. His hard cock pumping inside me. His teeth scraping against my shoulder, ready to bite down.
I internally struggled with the thoughts running through my mind. This wasn’t just a light fantasy; it felt devastating. I couldn’t seem to step out from underneath this drug. This delicious euphoria consumed me, refusing to let me escape with my usual tricks. If I kept pushing back on it, my journey would take a sharp turn. I’d end up like Raz, except I’d be out in the open, undoubtedly leaving the path and wandering the forest. I could not allow that to happen. The punishment this time would cripple me.
Was there even any danger? The feeling of being watched earlier had occurred when I was working that Moonfire Lily. It had felt the same as a moment ago. Had I imagined the emberflies scattering? Was any of this real?
Thinking logically... there was no way a man could’ve slipped through Granny’s incredibly tight security and then decided to leisurely entertain a woman on a dark path, waiting for her consent to do so. That seemed very far-fetched.
Not so far-fetched was succumbing to one of my products, railing against it, wandering the wood, and getting punished to within an inch of my life. I’d been warned when I’d left the path before. I was not in a hurry to do it again, emberflies, predators, and strangers be damned.
Taking a deep breath—and in disbelief I was making this decision—I sank into this feeling. These were the hazards of my trade. I let go of any reservations and gave in to it totally.
Someone’s voice echoed in the silence, far away. I couldn’t make out the words. Strange desires seeped into me, wild thoughts of the stranger mounting me like some ravaged beast. Oh gods, I wanted him to rut wildly. To dominate me. To claim me. My wetness soaked through my clothes. I didn’t even know what he looked like. The darkness shrouded his appearance. He could obviously see me, though. There was something provocative in the realization that he could detail everything about me... and I didn’t even know the color of his eyes.
The stranger’s knuckles trailed down my hair, the gentle caress so at odds with the wild, untamed beast I sensed within him. It was only when those same long fingers speared into my tresses, using the loose strands like a leash to gently push me forward, that I moaned. My palms hit the dirt. I may not have been bowing down to him, but I was an offering, bent over in supplication, on hands and knees.
“That’s right,” he growled, leaning over me from behind, his hand touching down on my ass. It spanned a whole cheek. A vibration ran through my body, the feeling so fucking delicious.
His hand trailed to the other cheek and then to my center. His fingers ran down my cloth-covered core, his middle finger tracing the seam of my trousers. My breathing turned heavy as the tip of his middle finger found the right spot and rubbed.
My eyelids fluttered and I dropped my head, gyrating my hips slowly. Holy fuck, he knew exactly where and how firm to touch, exactly how fast to go. The guy was good with his hands.
This had to be a product of my imagination. No one I’d ever met could seem to get it right, even with instruction.
“More,” I groaned, balancing on one hand so that I could hook the thumb of the other in the waistline of my trousers. I peeled the fabric down to my hip.
The stranger’s hand paused for a moment, indecisive, and then he stepped closer in a rush as though he couldn’t help himself. His foot scraped against the ground. He grabbed my trousers with two hands and yanked them down.
The night air washed over my bared skin. His palms slid down my outer thighs. One of his knees hit the dirt behind me. Then the other. Soft lips glanced across my flesh, his kisses gentle, his grip on my legs hard.
His mouth didn’t waste time like his hands had. His tongue parted my core, tasting immediately, sending me down to brace my weight on my forearms. His growl of pleasure nearly undid me. He licked up to my asshole and circled, the sensation tickling a little yet strangely pleasureful. He backed off for a moment and I could hear movement behind me, the air disturbed, before feeling his hands grip my hips from below and lifting.
I gasped, walking myself back with my hands as he pulled my hips. My knees hit the dirt again, my shins resting against big shoulders, and I realized I was now straddling his face. He pulled me down like he was starving for me, taking my clit into his mouth and twirling his tongue around it as he sucked in pulses.
“Holy . . . fuck-ing . . . shit.” My mouth dropped open in a silent scream.
His fingers rubbed along my wet pussy, his growl deep and low at my obvious arousal, before delving in. They curved exactly right, rubbing firmly. He sucked in perfect synchronicity.
“Holy...” My hips jerked of their own accord. “Holy...” I had zero control of my body right now. Drug or no drug, I would not have climbed off this ride for my life. “Holy?—“
I couldn’t catch my breath. I couldn’t get my bearings. Pleasure coursed through me in a growing swell. I clawed at the ground, overcome. No one had ever been this good. Ever. We had clearly entered my wildest dreams.
I was going to find more Moonfire Lily if it killed me.
“Almost...” I was right on the edge, tensing up now, riding his face with abandon. If I suffocated him... Well, he will have died of noble causes.
His teeth scraped my sensitive flesh and I blasted apart, swearing, yelling, shuddering against him. My mind went completely blank and all I knew was pleasure, taking me to a place I hadn’t yet been.
As it settled, I drooped over him, my body tingling. He kept going lightly, his ministrations languid now, his tongue moving slowly. When he was sure I was thoroughly over my climax, he gently lifted me again so he could crawl out from under me. I didn’t bother moving, still focused on the pleasant aftershocks making me shiver.
His hand gripped my shoulder and he tugged gently to get me to straighten up before his touch and his body heat disappeared from behind me. My trousers were still secured around my knees, restraining my movement. The cool air kissed my wet core, a sharp reminder that I was bared to the night.
He circled to my front and I let my eyes drift open, finding three things that startled me. One was that the emberflies had returned to drift slowly around us, like our own personal sea of stars. The second was that the blackness had receded just enough that I could make out shapes. There was no more moonlight seeping through the dense canopy than before, no other lights to help; it was that I could just barely see in the darkness. And what I saw was number three.
The stranger stood before me, tall and broad, with wide shoulders and a distinctly V-shaped frame. Bumpy arms and bulging legs indicated well cut muscles, and his strong stance and aura of confidence more than hinted at his power and authority. I half wanted to see more detail, to see the plane of his face and ascertain the look in his eyes. Another part of me, though, found it strangely more arousing with the blank canvas. With the mystery surrounding this man.
He moved, bending a bit, a hand coming slowly toward my face. His thumb and forefinger gripped my chin. He pulled just so, opening my mouth. His hand left my chin and slid along my cheek to the side of my head. He pushed his hips forward until soft flesh butted up against my lips.
My stomach swirled with the uncontrollable need to taste him. To drink him in and swallow him down, to savor the feel of his flesh in my hands. I wanted to make him as mindless and sated as he’d made me.
I licked, finding the little slit and tracing it with my tongue. I braced my hands on his thighs before feeling upwards, tracking the large mass of muscle. I circled his tip with my tongue as one hand found his balls, cupping firmly. He’d clearly stepped onto the path in the nude. I sucked him in, taking him as far as I could and then backing off, gripping his shaft with my free hand and stroking as though my hand were an extension of my mouth.
Liquid danced across my tongue, and though it must’ve been precum, it in no way tasted like it. Instead of being tart and mostly horrible, this tasted sweet, like candy with notes of the sticky buns Granny made when she was in a particularly good mood. It was delicious.
There could be no more doubt. This was definitely a drug-induced erotic hallucination. And unless there was a particularly horrible come-down, it was going to bring in lots of gold when I figured out exactly what had caused it.
I sucked harder, wanting more of that flavor, taking more of him than I usually would. I massaged his balls as I pulled back. I swirled my tongue around his tip before sucking him in again, feeling his hand fist in my hair. He pulled me away.
My mewl of displeasure was heartfelt for the first time in my life. I usually hated giving head—a chore I did only because I wanted it in return—but this time I had a need to keep going. I wanted his sweet release on my tongue, his knees weakening as a result of my efforts. I wanted to please him.
The strong fingers of his other hand wrapped around the base of my jaw, massaging. He pulled me forward and his cock was back, pushing in deep, hitting the back of my mouth. I just barely kept from gagging as his fingers applied pressure, wanting me to relax just there. To release the tension.
I did as he wished and was rewarded with him pushing in deeper. Receding and then deeper still, down into my throat. Faster now, fucking my face.
This should be highly uncomfortable. Much worse than the pump-suck action I usually employed. But gods help me, I fucking loved it. I wanted more of him. All of him.
His tip dripped and I swallowed greedily, holding onto his thighs as he yanked my hair with each thrust. My eyes watered and I looked up at his face, knowing somehow that he’d get off on it. Not questioning why. Deeper and deeper he went until his balls butted up against my chin.
“Good girl,” he growled, so soft.
The rest of my tension drained away, basking in the glow of his praise—which was alarming because usually I got deeply annoyed and often violent if a man talked to me like I was his pet. Like I needed his approval. But this stranger’s tone held none of that. We were on the same team, each of us striving to give the other what they needed. Those words now, like this, said like that... It was all kinds of hot.
I hollowed my cheeks with suction, loving those little yanks in my hair. I felt his pleasure like it was my own. And then I felt the base of his cock begin to swell. Clearly he was a shifter, a wolf. They were the only magical beings that could form knots, the bases of their dicks enlarging enough to lock them inside of their mates.
My lips butted up against it as he pummeled my mouth and suddenly I needed it inside of me. I craved to be locked with him in a lover’s dance, feeling him pulse, answering with my pleasure.
I pushed his legs with my hands and pulled back against the tight grip he had on my hair. He relented his hold immediately; something that must’ve given him pause. I would’ve been panicked that the job would go unfinished.
I reached up for him, my hands bumping against his body.
He caught my wrists, beginning to lift me up. I pulled, though, trying to bring him down to my level.
He sank to the ground in front of me, his warm breath dusting my face. I ran my hands across his torso, salivating at the mighty pecs. Up to his shoulders— hulking things, incredibly wide. Around to the back of his neck, pulling him to me.
He leaned in slowly, taking his time. I could feel his gaze on me, roaming my face. Settling on my lips. With him I didn’t need detailed sight. I seemed to be connected to him in a strange way, able to anticipate his movements, feel his whereabouts and intentions.
His lips brushed mine, unhurried. Soft, as though we’d been lovers all our adult lives. As though we were reuniting after a long time away, savoring the moment. Deeper now, his lips nibbling, sucking in my bottom lip. I groaned with his taste, drew him closer, nearly crawling up onto him to get closer still.
Our kiss turned urgent. His tongue delved and his hands gripped my butt, lifting me with ease. But my legs were trapped in my trousers. I couldn’t wrap them around his hips.
He spun me so I landed with hands and knees positioned on the dirt. He moved in behind me, slow like a predator, readying to take what was his.
Shivers washed across my body, feeling that heat. More warmth leaked through my chest.
A hot, rough hand grabbed my right hip. My breath sped up. Another hand, at my left hip. His fingers kneaded a little as a knee hit the inside of mine, wanting my legs wider. I complied, the anticipation killing me.
One of his hands disappeared only to have the head of his cock slide up my wet center. His growl sounded possessive as he pressed in, getting him all slick. The blunt tip paused at my opening.
My eyes fluttered closed as my head dropped. It felt like all my nerve endings were sparkling, alive for the first time in my life.
His hand slapped back down on my hip and he thrust.
Lights danced behind my eyes. A searing ache erupted in my core. He was big. Larger than I’d ever experienced, stretching me until I whined, panting with the effort of not wiggling away.
He held himself there. “Relax, baby,” he whispered, leaning over me, his chest to my back.
I did as he said, trying to give in to that ache. To release my tension.
“That’s my girl,” he murmured, his voice deep and intoxicating. One hand snaked around my body and his fingers touched down on my clit, massaging. “Get used to me. Relax.”
I relaxed further, working on steady breaths.
He started moving, his fingers working, drawing out slowly and pushing back in. The pain receded quickly until all that was left was a slow build of pleasure. I pushed back against his thrusts, feeling that knot against my opening. He lifted my body a little as he leaned, his front still to my back. He thrust faster, hitting me a little deeper. His knot pushed against me, wanting admittance but he held back. His lips pressed against the skin of my shoulder, his teeth just beyond.
I shivered violently, holding my breath. I knew what he was contemplating—to dig his teeth into the place where my neck met my shoulder and apply a special kind of magic. A claiming kind of magic, ruining me for any shifter not strong enough to override his claim with their own.
My body started to shake, knowing I should pull away. I needed to shrug him off. But I couldn’t seem to manage it, instead leaning harder, moaning with the onslaught, wanting his mark. Wanting his knot. His seed.
His movements turned frantic to match my own. His finger rubbed against me. His teeth scraped.
An orgasm tore me to pieces, making me scream out my pleasure. He yanked out of me a moment later, his breathing labored, his grunt of release meaning he hadn’t come inside of me. The pleasure was so intense I wilted down to the dirt as I continued to spasm with aftershocks.
Rough hands grabbed me and pulled me back, crushing my back to his front. His lips brushed my ear, his voice deep and firm.
“Run. Leave this place. It’s not safe for you here. Get out now, tonight. Don’t look back. Find your way to another village and disappear. This is the only warning you’ll get.”
And then he was gone, peeling his body from mine and drifting out into the night like a phantom, leaving me breathless, bare and disoriented.