Chapter Forty-Four
FORTY-FOUR
ASPETH
Istep forward, my pulse skittering with a mixture of arousal and unease. “Hawk?”
“Mine,” he snarls again, and thunders toward me, his hooves incredibly loud on the stone floor. He grabs me and pulls me against him, and I bite back a sob of relief at the sight of him. We’re rescued.
“Thank the gods you’re here,” I whisper.
His hands roam over me, and then he grabs my arse and drags me against him. His cock is rock-hard, the heat coming off of him absurd. He grinds me against the bulge at his crotch and makes a guttural sound.
And then he tears my overskirt off.
The Conquest Moon. Of course. It’s upon him, and he’s warned me over and over again that he won’t be himself when the god’s hand is upon him. That he’ll be mindless with lust. He didn’t come after me because he was worried about me. He came after me to fuck me.
And the others are standing around, gaping.
Hawk hauls me tighter against him, grinding me against his shaft, and he makes another sound, one of pure bestial need.
“It’s the Conquest Moon,” I cry out, even as he claws at the waist of my pants, desperate to get inside them. I look over at Lark. “He’s not himself. You need to get out of here.”
“This way,” calls someone else. “Over here! We’ve got the ratlings under control.”
Lark hefts her shield and heads out the doors. The group rushes out, Gwenna and the others fleeing the chamber that’s kept us safe for the last while. I remain locked in Hawk’s arms, and I don’t think I could get free if I tried. He’s all over me, clinging and ripping at my clothing as if it offends him.
“Leave the Taurian behind,” the guild soldier calls. “He’s gone mad.”
Hawk rubs his snout against my head, drinking in my scent, even as he squeezes my backside so tightly that I squeak.
“He’s not mad,” I call back. “He’s just in rut.”
“Regardless, leave him behind. We’ll shut him in until it’s safe for him to come out. You can return with us and we’ll lock him in.”
Leave him behind ? Leave him trapped in the crypt by himself when he needs me the most? That’s the cruelest of things to suggest.
Hawk’s hands are roaming over my body, squeezing and touching everything. If he were in his right mind, he’d be full of apologies, because though Hawk is many things, he’s always considerate. But he’s not himself right now. He warned me, and warned me again. His big hand finds the front of my top and tears my chemise down, exposing my breast to his roaming hand, and I hastily fling my cloak over both of us as his mouth closes on my nipple.
I make a whimpery noise despite myself.
“Aspeth?” Lark has her weapons out, and she steps toward me. The others are behind her, ready to confront Hawk to save me from him.
I shake my head, clinging to him even as he sucks on my nipple, hard, under the cloak. “You…you all should go. Lock us in. Bar the door. Leave food. Come back…when the Conquest Moon is gone.” It’s hard to speak with his mouth being so distracting, and his fingers are driving between my legs, rubbing me through my pants.
“Are you sure?” Lark hesitates, about to reenter the crypt.
Hawk lifts his head from my breast and growls, low and menacing. I push his head down, back to my breast, and meet Lark’s gaze. I nod at her and mouth, “Go.” I’ve heard stories of the brutal rampages that Taurians in rut will go into, and it makes the ratlings seem tame.
I promised Hawk I’d be with him, and I mean it.
“Aspeth—”
“Get out of here,” I yell, even as his fingers tear a hole in my pants. “Lock us in!”
Gwenna surges back into the room, and for a moment I think she’s going to try to stop me. Instead, she tosses down her bag of supplies and then grabs the doors, shutting them behind her. I hear scraping and a bit of discussion on the other side as they try to figure out the best way to seal the doors, and—
—and then Hawk is pushing a finger into my channel and I suck in a breath, because I’m dry and his finger feels huge and invasive.
“Wait,” I tell him, squirming against his hand. “Wait.”
He growls, this time directed at me.
“Hawk,” I say, keeping my voice even. I have to stay focused, and hope that my calm bleeds over into him. I grab one of his horns and angle his head back, forcing him to look me in the eye. He thrusts his finger into me again, his features full of mindless hunger as his red gaze meets my determined one. “I’m here.”
“Mine,” he growls.
“Yours,” I agree. I squirm atop the finger that pushes deep inside me. “I’m here with you. I’m going to be with you every moment of the Conquest Moon’s passing. But I need to be prepared so it doesn’t hurt, understand?”
“Aspeth,” he rasps. “Mine.”
This isn’t going as I’d like. Time for bigger moves, then. I grab him by the face and kiss his nose. It’s broad and dry, and when he huffs like a charging bull, he huffs right in my face. If he can’t be in his own head enough to prepare my body, I need to take control. Maybe I can make him come at least once just to get the edge off. If nothing else, if I can get his cock wet with his dripping seed, maybe that will ease the way enough. “Hawk.” I make my tone as sultry and seductive as I can. “I want to put your cock in my mouth.”
“Aspeth.”
I can’t tell if he’s hearing what I’m saying or if he’s completely lost. “Aspeth’s mouth,” I say in a flirty voice, and lick his nose. “Your cock. My tongue.”
He groans, dropping me to the floor.
I’ll take that as a good sign. I slither out of his clinging grasp—not as easy as it sounds—and clamp my thighs together. He’s cored a hole right between the thighs of my pants and ripped my skirt. The buttons on my shirt have popped off. I need to get rid of the rest of my clothing before he leaves me nothing to wear at all.
So I make a tease out of it. I undo my cloak, twirling away when Hawk reaches for me again. He snarls angrily, lunging for me, his red eyes wild. I’m baiting him, but I can’t help it. I need a breath or two to strip down. “I’m yours,” I remind him. “You want me naked, don’t you?”
“Naked,” he replies thickly, and strokes his hand over his cock.
“Naked,” I agree. I shimmy as I kick my boots off and slither out of my pants, hoping they survive the next few days. Once my socks are gone, I give my arse a little wiggle and he reaches for me again. He grabs me, pulling me close, and buries his face against my neck even as he reaches for my pussy.
“You want my mouth on your cock, don’t you?” I ask, even as I hastily pull the remnants of my blouse and corset off. There’s not much left to salvage, and my thin chemise is in tatters. The sight of my clothing seems to frustrate him, and before he can destroy more, I hide it behind me. If he keeps this up, I’ll be left without a top, but then his mouth is on my breasts again and I forget everything else.
He’s ravenous with need.
Hawk’s mouth roams over my skin, and then he focuses on my nipple, sucking on it as if his life depends on it. His other hand strays between my thighs again, and I wait for him to tease my clit, to prep my body. He doesn’t, though—just goes straight for thrusting again—and I work my way free from his grasp again. “No,” I tell him when he tries to drag me back.
“MINE—”
“Yours,” I agree. “But you don’t want to hurt me, right? I need to get used to this. All of this.” And I cup his cock boldly.
It’s a mistake. He immediately hisses as if in pain, recoiling.
Oh. His knot.
I feel it, like a swollen ring radiating heat around his groin.
I’ve been thinking so hard about myself that I’ve forgotten that this isn’t fun for him. My poor, honorable Hawk. I run a hand down his chest and pet him, trying to soothe. “New tactic,” I whisper. “Wanna watch me get myself off?”
He groans, his gaze locked on me, and I’m going to take that as an affirmative.
All right, I’ve never performed this for another, but now seems like a great time to start. The last time I touched Hawk’s cock, it didn’t feel as…swollen is it did just now, so I can only assume that his knot is adding all kinds of terrible pressure and me mouthing things wouldn’t help. I need to prepare myself for this or it’s going to be a very long Conquest Moon.
I spread a discarded cloak on the floor of the crypt like a blanket and then sit down upon it. Every moment feels like a moment in which I’m waiting for Hawk to pounce on me, but as long as he’s still got his pants on, I can take things a little slower. I suspect that when the pants come off, so will the last of his control, and it’s probably a good idea that I’m not pleasuring him with my mouth.
I…I don’t know what I’d do if he pushed his knot into my mouth. Choke to death on his cock, I suppose. I bite back a hysterical giggle at the visual image and spread my thighs apart.
“Mine,” Hawk rumbles, reaching for me as he kneels on the floor to watch.
“Not yet.” I bat his hand away, living dangerously, and ignore his angry snarl. “I’m preparing myself.”
He reaches for me again, and then pauses when I brush over my clit. His wild red eyes focus there, and he watches as I strum my fingers over my body, trying to entice it into arousal. I’m nervous, not only at Hawk’s aggressiveness, but at the fact that this is the first time I’ve done something like this at all.
He tried to prepare me, though. If I hadn’t run off last night, determined to get the other half of the ring, we’d have had sex this morning. We’d probably still be in bed, and none of this would have happened. It’s too late to fret about such things now, and it’s certainly not going to help me come. So I lie back and try to picture things that I find arousing. Things like…Hawk’s broad shoulders. The way he rubs his muzzle over my neck, as if he can’t get enough of my scent.
When he rubs his muzzle over the curve of my hip, I moan.
“Aspeth,” he groans, and then he pushes my thighs apart with big, strong hands. “Mine.”
“Yours,” I breathe, even as I trace circles around my clit. I watch as he dips his head between my legs, his thick tongue snaking out and licking my entire cleft all at once. My toes curl and he clamps his hands around my thighs, holding them open as he pushes his tongue inside me. It feels enormous, but wet and hot and so strangely good. I whimper again, and touch myself faster, determined to climax at least once before we get down to business.
He works his tongue furiously in and out of me, thrusting with it in an imitation of mating, and it teases my very insides. I’ve never felt anything like it before, and combined with my frantic rubbing of my clit, I can feel the orgasm building inside me. “Please,” I whisper, arching my hips. “Oh, please.”
Hawk thrusts his tongue into me again, lapping at my core. It makes a wet squelching sound, and then he grunts with pleasure. “Slick.”
“Slick?” I echo, dazed.
He pulls away briefly, glancing up at me with those wild red eyes. His fingers brush through my folds and then sink into me with another indecently wet sound. He makes it happen again, and again, and I’m mortified at how wet I am and how more of it just seems to keep coming. “Slick,” he says again. “All mine.”
Oh. Right. Because my body is responding to his. Because his scent is all over me and my pussy is deciding now is the time to gush like a waterfall. I’d be embarrassed but Hawk loves it, loves every wet slurp his fingers make as he eases into me again.
My fingers slip down to my clit once more, teasing it.
He pushes my hand aside and closes his mouth over my clit, sucking on it as he watches me with bright red eyes. His fingers move in and out of me with wet sucking noises, like my body is licking him back—
I come, my legs jerking and a cry escaping my throat. It rips through me with all the force of a storm, so intense that my back arches off the cloak even as Hawk continues to suck and suck and suck upon me.
I wait for the climax to ebb, even as Hawk continues to work his mouth over me. When he doesn’t lift his head, I realize he has no intention of doing so, and another small climax bursts through me, my legs curling up even as he shoves them down and continues to suck on my now-oversensitized clit with near-brutal intensity.
Oh gods. There’s no distracting him away. I push at his head, only for him to ignore me and continue to lap and suck at my clit, sending quivers through my body. I shove at him again. “Hawk, let me breathe.”
He only holds my thighs tighter, the suction around my clit growing more intense by the moment. How many climaxes is he going to give me before he stops? Ten? Twenty? The thought makes me clench, both with excitement and a little bit of worry.
“Hawk,” I insist again, and then shove at his face. How do I distract him? How do I get him to notice me? To lift his head? An idea hits and I moan loudly, then cry out, “Oh, Wallach .”
He stills over me. My nerves prickle, and I immediately worry I’ve made a mistake. Does he even realize that’s his name? Who he was before he was Hawk?
“Mine,” he growls again, crawling over my prone body. “ My wife.”
“Yes, yours,” I agree, cupping his face in my hands as he settles his weight over my body. “I just wanted to get your attention because—”
I break off in a squeak of surprise as he rubs his cock against the entrance to my body. Oh, okay, we’re doing this now. He pushes into me, and I make another whining noise, my hands sliding to his shoulders and clinging as he continues to push into me with what feels like entirely too much cock. It’s not painful, but it doesn’t feel incredible, either. It’s an uncomfortable sensation, of being stretched in places I’ve never been stretched before. I gasp and pant for air, feeling as if I’m being hollowed out from inside.
He eventually stops pushing forward and I tremble, holding on to him as he gazes down at me. I know he’s lost to the Conquest Moon’s hold on him, but truthfully, he’s being quite gentle for someone abandoned to a rutting frenzy. I reach up and stroke his cheek to reassure him. “I’m here, Hawk. I’m here with you. Just like I promised.”
I love you.
The words float to the top of my mind but I don’t say them. It seems wrong to in this moment, when he might not even remember they’re said. When he’s crushing me under his weight and his cock is trying to reach my navel from the inside.
He groans, pressing his muzzle against the side of my face, and his hips jerk. He thrusts into me, and I suck in a breath, because that feels…different. Different than just having his enormous penis hanging out inside me, forcing my innards to make room for him.
Hawk thrusts into me again, and my breath stutters. All right, that definitely feels good. “Better,” I whisper. “Oh, so much better. I think I like that.”
If he can understand me, he doesn’t show it. He grips me by the hips and continues to pound into me, his movements slow and steady and sure. I relax, because this whole “rutting” thing isn’t so bad. My pussy is a little achy, but overall I’m enjoying this. I love the strange way he feels over me. How big he is and how small and dainty he makes me feel. I never thought I’d care if I was tiny or helpless, but under him, I like the sensation of being smaller and lost against his larger strength.
He moves quicker, his shuttling hips picking up speed. His breath accelerates, too, and he’s starting to push into me with such force that our hips slap together, and my pussy makes a wet, squelching sound. He leans over me and drives deep, his hips working, and I gasp as he lifts one of my legs, locking it around his hips. It changes the angle of his thrusting, and everything feels intense. My pussy clenches around him, tightening as another orgasm crawls through my veins, and I wheeze as every muscle in my lower body locks up in response, the climax making my back taut.
Hawk grunts, and then moves faster, hunching over me. I’m dimly aware of his presence, of his pounding, merciless cock, as the pleasure of release washes over me. I’m so glad I agreed to do this. So glad that Hawk is mine. So…
He pushes deeper into my body, and something enormous hammers at the entrance to my channel.
My eyes fly open, and I tense. “H-Hawk?”
He grunts again, lost in the moment, and pushes harder. When that unyielding, too-large bit pushes against my body once more, I realize that he hasn’t knotted me yet. That there’s even more to fit inside.
Oh gods. I suck in a breath. Now I see the issue. He pushes against me, and when my body doesn’t give, he makes a frustrated, bestial sound. He lifts his hand to his mouth, his long, thick tongue snaking out, and licks his fingers. Then his hand moves between our bodies, quicker than I can process what he’s doing, and he rubs my clit with it.
I cry out at how good it feels, new pleasure surging through my body. More slick comes from me, the wet noises between us growing even louder.
As I do, he thrusts forward sharply, and then he’s inside my slicked, well-juiced body. Sort of. He pushes and pushes, wedging his knot into my wet heat, and I bite my lip. All the while, his hand works on my clit, and it’s the oddest mixture of pleasure and discomfort I’ve ever felt. It’s too much, his knot. I can’t take it all. He continues to press into me, and I feel as if my body is going to shatter around him, that I’m too tight. That I can’t take any more. I clamp on to his surging body tightly, unable to do more than hold on as he knots me.
He fills me so full that I can’t bear it, and all of me quakes and trembles. With another animalistic growl, he pushes deep again, and it’s like something gives inside me. We both gasp, and then Hawk is the one shuddering, his big body shivering as his release boils out of him. I wait, and then it’s like something wet spills inside me. I squirm at the sensation, and he makes a low gasping sound and it sets off another round. Over and over, I feel him bathing my insides with his release, and just when I think he’s done, he lets out another jet and groans once more.
And I’m helpless to do anything but take it. Take all of it. The exquisite pleasure of the orgasms have disappeared, and everything feels tight and achy and uncomfortable. Even Hawk’s pleasant, heavy weight over me feels like a bit too much. I bite my lip, because this is part of what he warned me about—that he’d knot me and we’d be stuck together, bodies locked, until he releases me.
I just didn’t ask how long it would take.
I really should have, I chide myself, even as I shift underneath him, trying to get comfortable. How long are we going to be together like this? Hours? Days?
I remain quiet, playing with the short hair that covers his shoulders as I wait for him to find himself.
Hawk eventually groans, lifting his head. “…Aspeth?”
“I’m here.” My voice is small, and I wriggle my hips, trying to find a better position. There isn’t one. I still feel like an overfilled waterskin. “Are you all right?”
He pants, as if he’s been running up a mountain. “Just…trying to stay in my head…difficult.” Hawk’s big body shifts, and then he surges into me again, almost involuntarily. “Knot…Conquest Moon…”
“I know.” I stroke the short, fuzzy fur on his cheek, a wave of foolish affection moving over me. “You’re all right. I’m here with you.”
The god’s grip on him must be less intense while his knot deflates. He runs his muzzle over my shoulder, then my ear. “Where are we? Did I…hurt you? Are you…all right?”
“I’m fine.” More or less. I’m alive. I’m knotted, and my husband is here with me. He sounds full of remorse and I don’t want him stressing over anything. “You were very gentle.”
He snorts, and I swear, it makes his cock jump inside me. “That doesn’t sound like a Taurian in rut.”
“You were enthusiastic, then. But it wasn’t so bad.” I pause. “Also we’re in a crypt, which is slightly creepy, and there might be ghosts watching us.”
He lifts his head, and as he does, I can see that the crazed look in his gaze is somewhat lessened, but not by much. “So we are. You haven’t seen any spiders, have you?”
Laughter bubbles up inside me, and giggling just makes the tight connection between our bodies that much more sensitive. I shift under him, smiling. “We were a bit too busy being attacked by ratlings to check for spiders, alas. But we’ve been here for a while—most of a day, I think—and no sign of spiders.”
Some of the tension in his shoulders eases. “Good. The last thing I need is a spider biting my balls while they’re aching like this.”
I smother another giggle.
“Where are the others?” he asks.
“They beat a hasty retreat when you freed my breast and started licking it.”
“Smart.” His hand moves to my breast, teasing the nipple. “They are quite lovely tits, though.”
I bite back a moan, because it’s evident that even though Hawk is himself at the moment, he’s still not sated.
“I could make you come,” he murmurs, stroking my nipple with slow, thoughtful motions. “I could make you come over and over again while you’re locked against me. While you’re helpless and pinned against my knot. I love that thought. In fact, I’m going to do that…but after you tell me everything that’s been going on. Spare no detail.”
“It’s a bit of a long story.”
“Neither you nor I are going anywhere for a while, little bird.”
I rather like that he calls me his little bird. It doesn’t sound like he hates me. So I tell him about the ring we found. The ring that even now is painting everything with a continual red glow. I remind him of my father’s artifact issues and how I need to save him. I don’t tell him that Gwenna was the one that initially stole the ring—I put that on my shoulders. And I tell him about how it was my idea to come down here and talked the others into coming with me. “I blackmailed them,” I tell him. “They’re blameless.”
“You’re full of shit,” he tells me, an amused smile curling his mouth. “Blackmailed them with what?” He continues to stroke my nipple, sending flickers of desire through my tightly knotted body.
I’d anticipated a few things about Hawk’s rut, but I hadn’t anticipated this—the constant staring into each other’s faces while we wait for his knot to go down. The intimacy of this moment, with his body so deep into mine. The connection between us. It’s changing everything, and I feel vulnerable and yet so very seen, too.
“All right, perhaps I didn’t blackmail them. But it was my idea and I don’t want them to suffer for it.” I tell him then about Magpie, and how she’d suggested that she knew people and she’d come with us…and then finding out she was working with Barnabus when he showed up.
Hawk doesn’t seem surprised by that part. “I found her with him. They were celebrating. Said you’d left. I knew they’d done something and I lost my shit. I might have had them arrested.” He pauses, thinking. “I might have also punched Barnabus in the face, but my memory is hazy. I can blame it all on the Conquest Moon.”
“Arresting them?” I shake my head, frowning. “What’s arresting them going to do? That’s a slap on the wrist. The guild—”
“Won’t do much, aye. At least not to Barnabus. Just like they won’t do much to you. They can’t ruin their relationships with the holders. But the rest of us can get caught in the cross fire.”
My heart aches. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
He just gives me a wry smile, as if he doesn’t quite believe me. “You couldn’t have waited for me to come home? Asked me for help instead of Magpie?”
“You’re too honorable. You wouldn’t help.”
“You think I’d rather sit around with my horn up my arse? Watch you get sent home and put in danger?”
“First of all, I don’t know how you could put your horn up your own arse without some pretty thorough twisting. Second of all, I don’t know. I’ve been so used to taking everything on, to expecting no one to help me. I’m sorry I didn’t come to you.”
“You should have. I’m your husband. It’s my job to protect you.”
“You’re my husband in name only, remember?”
“That’s not what it feels like.” He rocks his hips, and I suck in a breath, because it does, indeed, feel like we’re far more than just two strangers in a marriage of convenience. Today has changed everything.
No, I realize. It changed long ago. I’ve just not acknowledged it until now. I’ve lost my heart somewhere along the way to this huge, fierce Taurian who hates spiders.