Chapter Fifteen
Buck
When the scent of food grew stronger and we found ourselves gathering with the wolves and witches to partake of their offerings, I caught sight of Cliff sitting with the matrons next to Rayne and Ida Maye. From the stiffness of his shoulders, I gathered that he’d not find his spot among them. He belonged elsewhere, perhaps with some of the younger males.
As if on cue, Ida Maye waved her hand at Remmy, gesturing from Cliff to his group, making him get up and leave with a smile of relief. My heart swelled, and I stood back, relishing the gentle touch of Storm’s hand on my shoulder, squeezing with affection.
I lost sight of Brook for a minute and found him scooping up River to carry off to the tables. They’d never say no to an offering of home-cooked food. Flesh, labor, and toils of the land all displayed before them for their enjoyment to be shared and sustained upon. It seemed right.
I made my way toward Remmy’s table, letting me touch base with Cliff before sitting down with Grayson, the beta leader of the pack, acting alpha.
With Vida being passed about, we spoke of new things to come, and Grayson made sure to let me know the house we would stay in was ours unless we wanted to look at a few spaces where the houses were ready for complete overhaul. I nodded along before our conversation drew Remmy in and Sy from Cliff’s table, pleading with me to aid in building something new.
I already had a perfectly nice home in Oklahoma, made with my own gifts and my long-passed followers in ways natural to the land. Though, guiltily, I’d need something if I were to stay here.
“The packhouse is fine.” I smiled, but their admonishing words drew my gaze away to a hopeful smile. Cliff leaned back in his chair nearby and raised a brow. “But you’ve an idea, don’t you?”
They silenced as Cliff nodded while Sy spoke. “So, the pack has permits and we need to build something, and I want to experiment with these new wattle and daub designs. Your boy there gots himself some major smarts when it comes to building. Sustainable architecture is a growing field and his designs are top-notch.”
An ember of lust settled in my chest as I glanced over at Cliff, locking eyes with him. He was perfect for me, a connoisseur and conservator of the earth. I barely heard anything else when I gave my consent. “Do it. Yes. Whatever he wants.”
His cheeks ruddied with blush and he looked away. “I’m fine with whatever though.”
“This seems like a good venture to sink some seed money into. Buck, how are your funds doing?” Storm nudged me, but I shrugged.
“I think my land is now part of a conservatory and trust, and I get a small stipend for its upkeep . So, I don’t have much to offer.” I wasn’t ashamed of it. I’d never taken more than I ever needed from my followers. Ostentation didn’t suit me.
“How much you need to start up?” Rayne’s voice piped up over my shoulder and Camden, Sy’s brother, rattled off numbers and brought Remmy in for terse discussion. “Really?”
A few hems and haws as they spoke had a deal struck soon after, and he was handing information to Cliff, promising us a new start in life, because with our gifts and enough knowledge, a pipedream of an evening could become a small fortune.
Maybe I should have been embarrassed, but as a god, life had always provided for me well enough that I didn’t see a need to hoard. But, having had to start over again so soon, I realized the days of relying on good fortune were over. I had a mate to support; one I’d never want to disappoint.
I thought I lost something in the conversation, as hands were shaking and Cliff was in my space once more, being ushered off by a few people. I scrambled to offer to clean up as usual, but they refused. All of them wanted me to spend time with Cliff, and I eased my protest. What made it a sight easier was my mate’s eyes going soft and decidedly lascivious. Something about the Stormlands, the unofficial name of their pack, brought out comfort in people who otherwise held reservations. And with Cliff’s comfort, I knew I’d see more of him than I’d coaxed free very soon.
“Are you happy, my aspect?” I offered a stretched arm and found him pliant and easily tempted into my side. He warmed me like the sun on stone as he pressed in with his solid form.
He leaned his head in, lips brushing the side of my neck and jaw for a second, before he breathed deeply. “I think so.”
Rayne had given me several human phrases that were common these days. Houston. We have liftoff. My cock chafed inside my pants, and it was all I could do not to banish them on the spot.
A firm hand rested on my upper arm; sweet breath scented with tea flowering between us. “I’ll be happier once we can go to bed.”
“You must be tired from it all.” I offered him a gentle smile and inhaled deeply, catching an earthier scent in the sweet tea air of him.
“Not really… I want to take you to bed.” Cliff stressed my name, but I didn’t catch his meaning until the color in his cheeks darkened and the scent of hesitant arousal made what thread-thin control I had snap like a hair.
I wrapped my arms around him with a snarl and surrounded him in the warm embrace of my power, driving us toward the small home we would temporarily reside in.
He shouted as we lifted off the ground, part dust in the wind and energy of the earth, solid in places enough just to hold my mate until he too could take an earthen form. Perhaps we’d mingle one day, drift in the breeze like Storm and Rayne often did on dreary days.
By the time we reached the house, he was laughing, clutching to nothing until he spread his arms, and we settled to the ground, my being twirling about his feet before resolving and slipping into the house with him in a flurry of wandering hands. “Grow stronger, my aspect. Learn to mingle your energy with mine and show me your many forms. I yearn to know what you will become for me.”
“I’m what you get, dude.” Cliff offered me a guilty grin that I took advantage of, dipping my thumbs into his not-quite-dimples to hold his face up to mine for a breath-stealing kiss.
“What I see in you is a kaleidoscope of things that bring me joy. You are sunbaked earth and fertile soil. You’re tumbled stone and loamy dirt, pushed aside by cloven hooves in tepid spring.” I whispered against his lips, each pause punctuated by a kiss as he melted against me.
“I—” Cliff pulled back; his eyes lit with the subtle flicker of godlike power in his depths. He looked at me strangely, brows furrowing as he reached up to touch my face in return, fingers tracing markings on a face I’d not worn centuries. “I see…”
My heart, if it could be called that, trembled as his eyes darted over my face, in their glassine surface a reflection of something I’d worn in the days where pottery sang the tune of death whistles and blood flowed in rivers the harvest season before a foul winter. I opened my mouth to protest what he saw, closing it the moment I saw the vicious sharpened points of my teeth in his eyes reflected back at me. Blue paint streaked my eyes in a mask, dark lines highlighting features in cruel ways.
He narrowed his eyes and reached to the top of my head, fingers touching not the shaved parts of my head, nor the adornments in my oiled hair, but the hat I so often wore. When he brushed it off my head, it fell to the floor rather than discorporate. The hat I’d remade a dozen times since I’d gotten it, but it was still the same hat, part of me in image, not in spirit like my clothing. So, when his fingers laced through my loose locks, brushing them back toward the thong I envisioned them tied in, I nearly melted with relief.
“That’s kinda cool. It’s like I can pick the version of you I want.” Cliff had no fear or disgust in his eyes, only awe and heat. Without any hesitation, he pulled me in, deepening and sinking into another rough kiss. His comfort in the shape of another male becoming more evident in the way his jaw moved, head tilted. And, I’d never say it, but the way he submitted to me was like honey, drawing me in with its sweetness.
“And I’ll be whatever you want,” I said, a promise in my words that I’d carry to the end of our days.
“Right now? I want you to be Buck. I want you to be strong and kind. I want you to make me feel good, feel right.” He tugged at the front of my shirt with one hand, hand gripping into my hair with the other. “I want you to fuck me so hard I forget how much it bothers me.”
I groaned into his mouth as our lips crashed together once more, tongues sliding while we made our way to the bed. With effortless grace, he had his pants off, shedding them like a snake its skin, shoes going off odd ways as socks flew with but a shake. When I slid a hand under the hem of his shirt and groaned, he responded with a shuddering breath, tightening his belly at the very brush of my fingertips. When I palmed his taut muscles and swept my hand to his side, trailing my digits up to bring his shirt with them, he ceded, throwing his head back and slipping his arm away to allow the fabric to part, messing up his thick, dark hair.
I brushed my nose along his cheek, nuzzling into his hair as my clothes went the way of all good things to earth once more so we could press against one another.
My cock had flagged mere moments before, waiting for his reaction, but under his lustful eyes and responsive noises, it rekindled, plumping still even as I lined our cocks up to rub against one another. “How should we—”
The question fizzled out on my tongue as he sank to his knees. “I’m not a god or really anything, yet. Would my worship mean anything? I don’t know you as well as I want, but I need to do this.”
My breath hitched as he took my cock in his solid fist and pumped, eyes gleaming up at me, all mossy stone, green fluorite, and inclusion-riddled jasper. Like the serpentine of Rayne’s eyes and the ring I’d made for him at Storm’s behest, I longed to adorn him in it. “As y-you wish.” I couldn’t hide my tremble.
“I don’t wish. I pray.” His husky voice held a slight rasp to it, throat raw and mouth thick with saliva, the lisp of it obvious in his words.
I nearly came on the spot, cock bucking in his fist, precum surging with a generous pulse. “I’ll do my best to grant every prayer you ever make. I swear it on my nature, on my element, and in my mother goddess’ presence.”
“I don’t ask for forever. I won’t ask for luxury. I pray for happiness. I pray for stability. I pray that the family you’ve started here welcomes me. I pray we spend long nights together and watch stars in endless skies and walk long trails, appreciating the land. I pray you teach me how to use my gifts as much as you teach me to love you the way you need. Most of all, I pray I won’t be ashamed to love you.”
“I’ll give you my always and offer you all I can. My days will be spent wishing and looking for ways to make you smile. I’ll hold you near and guard all that you hold in esteem. As your own brother has united to mine, our family is solid and you belong, regardless of my presence. Moreso, as your blood ties you. And we will howl at long moons and bathe in starlight. The trails we walk will heal for want of our attention, and I’ll guide your hand to show your true power. And whether you are ashamed to love me or not, I’ll hold your heart’s desires as my own. I know you can’t love me just yet, but when time comes, I’ll only take what you’re willing and able to give.”
He closed his eyes to soak in my words and opened his mouth, sucking me in with an anxious slurp. My praises and response to his oath bit forth on clipped syllables while he sucked me.
Hot tears trailed his cheeks, the dampness gathering over my thighs as he guided me deep into his mouth.
It was clear he didn’t know much about what he was doing, but his instincts weren’t going to fail him. I wasn’t going to fail him, either.
Tingles, prickles, and quakes ran up my thighs as he bathed my cock with his tongue, giving it the worship a god like me should have bathed in. Blood held no candle to his saliva, like honeyed ambrosia. I drank of his mouth, tasting him when we kissed, but on my cock, I nearly felt cheated out of his taste until the pleasure peaked.
His tongue darted and lips wrapped around me, stubbled jaw rasping against my hand as I reached down to palm his cheek. He dipped his head down as he reached for my hips and needed a gentle hand to not go too far. I’d love to feel his throat choking over my cock one day, but not before he could navigate doing so comfortably. “Cliff, please.”
His beautiful eyes stared up at me pleadingly when I rasped his name.
“I’m going to spill if you don’t stop soon,” I said, my voice a dry groan in my throat.
He pulled off me with an agonizing suckle, the head leaving his kiss-swollen lips with a wet pop, drool glistening on his lower lip. I wanted that image in my head for the rest of eternity.
“I was doing okay?” He swallowed the excess saliva glistening his lips and chin, licking errantly.
“More than so.” I didn’t drag him up to stand but knelt down with him, bare skin on the floor as we found one another in a tangle of limbs in embrace. Sex forgotten, he found his way into my lap, straddling me with arms wrapped over my shoulders. In return, I rested my hands over his hips, circling back to palm his lower back, just above the swell of his ass.
Needing something to do with his mouth, I assumed, he buried his face in my neck with wet kisses, tender nips, and infatuated suckling noises, sure to leave marks on my human visage. I’d let them linger. I’d never had such attention before, and I wanted nothing less. He was so desperate and unsure but taking everything he wanted.
When he lifted his hips and rolled his body against mine, rubbing his stiff cock to my belly, I barely had a breath between him lining my cock up and bringing his weight down, plunging the tip into his slick hole unannounced. His sharp hiss and noise of shock halted my frenzy, making me want to slip away, comfort him, but the moment didn’t last as he forced himself down with a wounded cry.
Bottoming out on my cock took everything he had, bowing forward to brace himself over my shoulders. His core shook and insides pulsed. He really did have no idea what he was doing, still, but his pleasure peaked all the same. “Holy shit.”
He gulped for air and cringed, breathing harshly through his teeth and before I could stop him, he unleashed, whimpering out his pleasure. Cum shot up between us, an errant spurt before decorating his chest with white ropes of release that rekindled my heated need, drawing my grip to anchor one hand on each pert cheek of his. “Done already, handsome?”
He shook his head, back arching forward as he situated himself better over my lap. With a haggard breath, he rolled his hips, braced his body, and threw his head back with a petering groan. “I’m good to go half a dozen times, remember?”
“But you’re not in heat.” I shuddered as I aided his motions to stroke his velvety channel over my length.
“Does that make a—” He halted, groaning out loud as he found a particularly tender spot to stroke my cock over. “Difference?”
“Dunno. I never had an aspect before.” I licked my lips and leaned in such a way as to make my cock more available to him.
“And I never had a god before. We’re even.” He cupped my cheeks again and drew me into a starving kiss that had me tensing up and ready for release.
Unable to warn him, my breath caught against his mouth and every nerve in my body fired with a sharp jerk. Every heady pulse of pleasure shot from my cock, filling him with my release.
Bathing his insides seemed to cool his frantic rutting into a respectable pace. He shuddered, dropping himself flush to rock his hips with tender little motions that eked the last from me.
I wouldn’t let it stop there though. I used my grip as leverage and twisted my hips, rolling back and over to pin him to the worn wood floor with a gentle creak of joists. He didn’t fight me, letting his legs fall open lewdly to let me have my way. And I did.
His unfocused eyes hovered over my face and drifted lazily down my body to where we joined, mesmerized as I grabbed his hands, pinning his wrists above his head. “This okay?”
He gave me a breathless noise and a nod, full lips parted for a shivering breath that he caught between his teeth with a hiss. He still tugged his arms, though, stretching his taut form beneath me, firm muscles rippling with each tug and jerk.
I kept going, changing my pace every time his body shook and breath hitched, letting myself release at my own pace.
I’d fucked in many places over my long life and legend. I’d fucked in the open, on full display for ceremonial reasons, fucked in closets and behind closed doors, but Cliff made me careless. Having barely made it in the doorway, right there on the floor, feet away from the couch, and a few short strides from the bedroom, we fucked the second we had privacy.
Eventually, between bouts of lust, we made it into the bedroom, bypassing the couch. I barely noticed when a soft knock and crack of the door came at some point.
“Keep up the good work, guys.” River’s smarmy tones piped through the house before the scrabble and thump of an irritated hare met my senses. “Jacque’s home safe.”
Cliff turned his head toward the source of the sound, distracted from our pleasure for but a moment as I snarled, drawing his face back to me. “I appreciate it, River.”
Cliff opened his mouth, an apology unshed on the tip of his tongue. I kissed his words away, very aware of the fact that I hadn’t heard the door shut yet.
“You guys need drinks or anything? A snack? Seems like things are a little intense.” River’s coy words caught me off guard, drawing Cliff from our moment.
“Drowning River, you will leave this instant!” I turned my head to shout through the half-open bedroom door, my rage carrying, the ground giving the barest of trembles beneath us.
At the surge of power, Cliff’s entire body writhed beneath me, power flashing in his eyes, channeling me with little reservation, crying out in utter pleasure in the most stricken way before a tittering giggle and clipped slam of the door punctuated his orgasm.
As if the slam of the door gave me permission, I let myself fall, my untamed orgasm spilling my last for the evening into Cliff. He groaned and went boneless beneath me, arms falling limp to his sides. His chest, sweaty and trembling, rose and fell with harsh pants until it sought out a shallow rhythm.
I withdrew from his body, my cock spent and the world around me heavy, like the air wanted to press me down and cleanse the thoughts from my mind. Each heartbeat had my thoughts muffled, vision waning. I opened my mouth to speak, and my body forced itself to inhale deeply, the rush of blood through my body, rushing in my ears. “What is…”
I pulled back and shook my head, sinking back onto the bed, a foreign emotion spiking my senses. Fear.
As if he understood my plight, Cliff drew my body in against him and inhaled deeply. “It’s okay. This is what being tired feels like.”
“It’s awful,” I groaned, earning a warm chuckle.
“That’s why we sleep to get rid of it.” Cliff stroked the back of my head, fingernails lightly trailing my neck. “It feels good.”
The forced breath wracked my body again. “Feels terrible.”
He yawned, holding me to him. “Yawns are contagious, man. Let it happen.”
I shook my head once more before the heaviness enveloped me in woolen darkness.