Chapter 41 Shade
Shade
Iwas prepared to spend the night watching her sleep, but I was pleasantly surprised when Ginger slipped out of her cottage a few minutes after her friends.
My sneaky goddess.
The rain had ceased, leaving the air feeling damp and heavy and smelling like living things.
The opposite of the dark realm I’d been trapped in for fates knew how long.
I shivered at the memory, and a twinge of pain twisted in my skull.
Ginger looked around. Always so vigilant, my wife.
She didn’t see me nestled into the trees, cloaked in my shadows.
Where are we going, little faun?
I followed her through the woods. She was graceful—impressively so. Her delicate steps hardly made a sound. She slipped seamlessly into a quick jog that was even more elegant.
It didn’t take long to figure out which direction she was headed.
She was going back to the riverbank.
My stomach twisted in a way that wasn’t entirely unpleasant.
Had she forgotten something? Was she curious about the scene of the accident?
Or was she looking for me?
I sped, allowing my shadows to carry me.
If she was searching for me, I would make things easier for her and be right where she left me.
I beat her by a few minutes. It was impressive, really, that she could remember the way. Not many folk were able to navigate the forest, especially with only the light of the dual moons as a guide.
I knew my wife was clever, but the reminders made me proud, nonetheless.
Crickets chirped as they re-emerged to play their nighttime songs, and the river gurgled more calmly now that the storm had subsided.
I stayed safely away from the bank. I wasn’t interested in reenacting my earlier performance.
I wouldn’t swim for the rest of my life, if I had the option.
She stilled a few paces away from the edge of the trees. My shadows shivered at her nearness. They ached to touch her. To caress her.
To merely be near her.
She took a few deep breaths, and then she hesitated.
She shifted her weight back and forth.
Thinking of running, wife?
She murmured to herself, almost too quietly to hear, but my shadows listened for me. “Just do it. Don’t be a pansy. Just. Do. It,” she chanted under her breath.
I crossed my arms over my chest.
It took a while, but she eventually moved again.
She left the safety of the trees in five quick strides.
And she nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw me.
“Shade! Gods!” she hissed. She slapped a hand over her chest and sucked in a quivering breath.
“Ginger.” My cheek lifted in the smallest of smiles.
“I was just—I—” She struggled for words.
I waited.
The faun heaved out a massive breath. “I came to see you—to see if you were still here.”
I had expected an excuse, and her honest answer pleasantly surprised me “Oh?”
Her hands twisted nervously in front of her. “I wanted to thank you. For earlier.”
Her gaze snagged mine and held.
I nodded once. “It was nothing.”
She stepped closer. “No, it was not nothing. You put yourself at risk. For m—” She cleared her throat. “For Brambleby.”
For me, she was going to say. “I wasn’t at risk.”
“Oh? I’ve seen you bleed. You’re not made of stone.”
“Are you calling me weak?” I tilted my head curiously.
She rolled her eyes, her natural stubbornness breaking through her nerves. “No. Obviously not. But are you immortal?”
“I… I do not know.”
“Exactly,” she said. “You could have risked your life. And for that, I want you to know how grateful I am.”
Pride swelled in my chest, so swiftly I feared I might burst. “I would do anything for you,” I said quietly.
She swallowed. Her mouth opened, but no words came out.
She turned to leave.
Mentally, I begged her to stay. I wrapped a loose tendril of shadow around her antlers, letting it settle onto her shoulder.
Miraculously, she lingered.
And then she turned. “Shade?” she asked.
“Yes?”
She straightened her shoulders.
And then she threw her arms around my neck and yanked me down.
Shock froze my muscles solid for a moment.
And then my instincts took over.
Her strength was no match for mine, and I bent to bring my face to hers.
But she was leading, and for that I was delighted.
Her lips were tentative at first. Nervous.
But her mouth on mine was nearly enough to bring me to my knees. I wrapped my shadows around my shins to brace them, just in case.
Ginger kissed me like a woman with nothing to lose. A woman putting her heart on the line.
And I accepted every caress of her lips greedily.
My hands ached to slip around her waist, to thread into her gorgeous, wild hair, but I was afraid that one wrong move would bring this moment to a screeching halt.
She deepened the kiss, arching into me and sighing quietly.
I wanted to bite her. To claim her. To take over.
Her heart thrummed audibly in her chest—quick as a hummingbird. My pulse sped to match.
My trousers felt suddenly, dreadfully too tight, my arousal trapped and aching.
Ginger pulled back to look at me. “What’s wrong?” she asked, panting slightly.
“Nothing is wrong in the entire realm, Ginger.” Everything was right. Blissfully right.
“Then why are you just standing there?”
I grinned. Slowly, I let my hands settle onto the sides of her neck. “Do you want more from me, wife?”
“Please.”
That one word was the most erotic thing I’d ever heard. I stroked my fingers over her velvety skin, slipping my fingers into her hair. My palms cradled her head. “So polite,” I whispered.
She huffed in frustration. “Don’t make me beg.”
“Would you?”
“Let’s not find out.” She caught me by surprise, bracing her hands on my shoulders and jumping to wrap her legs around my waist. The new added height allowed her to press her lips to mine freely, and she took advantage.
I groaned into her mouth. Her entire front was pressed to mine, and the sensation set my blood aflame. I dropped my hands beneath her thighs to better support her weight.
I stroked my tongue against her lips, and they parted without hesitation. Her mouth was so hot, so sweet, so perfect.
I took over the kiss, devouring her, exploring her mouth the way I’d been dying to for weeks now. I was insatiable. Greedy.
Small whimpers escaped her throat, and her fingers dug into my neck. She clung to me like a lifeline.
Her hips churned, seeking friction, her core grinding against my torso.
My cock throbbed so hard I feared I would finish inside my own trousers.
I let my hands slide along her thighs, over the curve of her ass. I growled into her mouth. Her flesh was so soft, even through the fabric.
I considered tearing her trousers right off, but I was unwilling to remove my hands from her body, even for a moment.
I gripped her ass cheeks, pulling her even tighter against me.
Her back arched. Her mouth left mine as she panted, sharp and rhythmic.
“Shade,” she huffed.
“Use me, Ginger,” I murmured, dropping my mouth to her neck, grazing my teeth against her delicate skin. “Take your pleasure from me.”
She whined. “I don’t—” She broke off with a sharp cry when I sank my teeth into her neck. The bite wasn’t hard enough to break the skin, but merely to distract.
I lifted my head, meeting her heated gaze briefly before capturing her mouth in another searing kiss.
And then I dropped us backwards.
Using my shadows to cushion my fall and keep her legs from getting smashed, I fell onto my back on the riverbank, keeping Ginger pressed to me. Her knees settled on either side of my hips, and she startled, only for a moment, before leaning back in, resuming our intoxicating kiss.
Her heart sped even faster, and my own pulse thrummed to match.
In this position, my hands were free to explore, and Ginger could grind herself on me however she needed.
I shoved her cloak aside and stroked my fingers over her ass, her back, her neck, every inch of her I could reach. She turned her head and licked at my mouth, her tongue a delicious torment. The kiss turned frantic. Frenzied.
Our mouths danced together, neither of us fighting for dominance, but both yearning for as much luscious contact as possible. Her blunt teeth scraped against my bottom lip, drawing a groan from my throat.
My swollen cock ached in a silent plea.
I grabbed her hips with both hands, shifting our bodies until she perfectly straddled the swollen shaft of my cock.
She gasped. I let my head fall back to the hard ground.
Only our clothes separated my cock from her soft, wet heat. I could practically feel her arousal soaking through the fabric.
She wanted this just as badly as I did.
Almost.
I squeezed her hips, pulling her down and dragging her forward a few inches.
Sparkes danced in front of my eyes.
I was going to come, just like this. I was already impossibly close to bursting.
Ginger planted both hands on the center of my chest. Breath sawed in and out of her lungs. Experimentally, she swirled her hips.
The friction was somewhere between bliss and torture. I groaned.
“Just like that,” I encouraged, the words gravel in my throat. “Make yourself come by grinding yourself on my cock. I bet you’re so close already, aren’t you? I haven’t even taken your clothes off, yet.”
“Yes,” she whispered quietly. I glanced to find her face flushed, her expression tightening.
She was embarrassed.
That was unacceptable.
I tightened my fingers and bucked my hips, driving my erection into her, intensifying the friction. She huffed on an exhale. Her hips resumed motion, grinding, swirling.
“That’s it,” I encouraged. “Good girl.”
Her motions sped. She settled more of her weight onto my pelvis, gaining confidence, taking control.
I grinned wickedly.
Pleasure ripped through my stomach. I wasn’t sure what was pushing me to the edge, the feeling of Ginger’s body rubbing over mine or the sight of her so shameless chasing her own bliss.
I clenched my teeth, begging my cock to behave, to hold on until Ginger could find her release.
Her hips gyrated, grinding rhythmically. Her heart thundered dangerously in her chest.
She was so close.
I forced my eyes wide. I refused to miss a single detail when she finally came apart.
I was a selfish, greedy man, and she was mine.
My shadows coalesced, surrounding Ginger, caressing her skin. I choked on a gasp. I could feel every piece of her.
The sheen of sweat slicking her skin.
The warmth emanating from her frantic muscles.
The tendrils of hair falling around her back and shoulders.
The shadows solidified.
Ginger cried out. Her muscles tensed.
Tendrils of shadow wove into her hair, yanked her head back, wrapped around her arms. They slipped beneath the collar of her tunic to reach more of her smooth, soft skin.
She writhed, a high-pitched keen escaping her throat. Her hips flexed and stuttered. The tendons in her neck tightened and corded.
She trembled as she came.
I bucked my hips, continuing the friction to draw out her orgasm, watching her.
I didn’t want to forget a single second of this moment. I would replay it over and over in my mind for as long as I lived.
I couldn’t control my own body’s reaction anymore—my hips jerked and twitched as my cock spurted in my trousers. I forced my eyes to remain open, glued to Ginger’s face as pleasure ripped through my middle.
Slowly, she stilled.
My shadows loosened their grip on her hair, her arms, allowing her to move.
She looked down at me.
I had never seen a sight so exquisite.
A tentative smile spread over her face.
I matched the smile, my own grin evil. I wasn’t anywhere close to done with her.
I flipped us over, pinning her to the damp ground beneath me. She was getting dirty again, as was I.
I didn’t care in the slightest.
“What will you do to me, now that you have me?” she asked, soft and hot and panting.
Her hands drifted to the waistband of my trousers.
She glanced down, noticing the wet spot there.
A flush spread over her face, from her throat to her hairline. She shyly met my eyes. “Oops.”
A shard of memory, a javelin in my brain, sliced through my focus.
An axe hacked at my skull from the inside. My spine jerked itself straight.
I hissed in agonizing frustration. Fuck! Why now?!
There couldn’t have been worse timing for my broken mind to stitch itself back together.
Wetness dripped from my nose. I slapped a hand over my face, catching the blood before it could splash onto Ginger.
I yanked myself away from her. “I have to go,” I said hastily.
She sat up. “No, wait—”
I fled, making it as far as possible before the pain doubled me over and stole my senses.