Chapter 18 #2
His hand cupped between my legs to cinch me tight against him so that the entire ride rubbed me against his cock.
We were so close together I counted his piercings through my clothes.
Light filtered through the tall trees and now that the danger had passed, the journey was as enjoyable as an escape into the wood could be.
Noth offered me food from his pack and got crumbs in my hair as he ate the rest of the bread above me.
When I elbowed him in the gut for it, he unbraided my tresses and produced a silver comb–because of course he did–and brushed them all out.
The gentle tugs, his still-raging hardon, lulled me into a pleasant haze until we came to a clearing.
I didn’t see anything that said we had arrived, but Noth stopped the salamander and dismounted.
I re-braided my hair to keep it out of my face.
“No one knows about this place. It should be safe.”
Noth called out a word of power to the surrounding plants. “Occultata Plantae.”
The forest shivered around us, shifting and opening a doorway.
I got down to touch the living plants that made up the gate.
Wide enough for us to walk side by side, Noth pulled the salamander behind us.
Inside, a canopy of strangely colored and fantastically shaped flowers dangled down to touch us.
I couldn’t say I was thrilled with having them brush against me after the encounter with the Devil’s Bells but it was beautiful.
The delicate archway ended in a door covered in finely wrought silver.
It gleamed with the reflected light of the glowing flowers.
Noth hesitated as he set a hand on it. “I’ve never brought anyone here.”
I smiled at the way he said it and the slight blush on his cheeks. “Anyone?” I asked.
“A woman. I’ve never brought a woman here.”
My chin quivered trying to contain my smile. He was actually shy about it. I had been too close to death an hour ago. All I had left in me was sincerity. “I’m ready to be wowed.”
Noth’s smile, neither too toothy nor a smirk, made everything flutter inside me. His earnestness was ten times deadlier than his Nightmare.
He pushed open the door with a dramatic turn of his wrist on the handle and revealed a cavernous space that stood absolutely ruined.
Grasses scorched to the ground. We stepped in and I touched broken stems hanging limply in the dust-filled breeze.
Scars of turned earth sat exposed to the stillness.
Flower petals plastered against the wooden boxes marked Sumus Machina.
Shattered panes of glass littered the ground.
Only Brad would turn this beautiful greenhouse into a storage closet.
“Is that Gertrude?” I asked. Why did my voice wobble?
Noth knelt down to touch the few magenta leaves spared from the destruction. “I propagated her here a few times. I couldn’t bear to lose her too if something happened.”
He looked up at me so soulfully, I burst into tears.
“Oh my Godds! What is happening?”
He sprung up, patting me down, checking for injuries.
But it was my heart that was bruised and I didn’t know what else to do about it.
My whole body crushed under the weight of, well…
everything. I hadn’t even really cried when Rue died.
Years of bottled emotions came pouring out in a torrent of saltwater.
“Are you dying? Did you lose a limb I didn’t know about?”
Noth was trying to make me laugh and that just made me cry harder. A great gulping sob encompassed the ruined greenhouse, destroying any calm the space had regained after Brad left.
Noth wrapped his arms around me and his shadows crawled over my arms and legs for a full-body hug.
“Don’t worry, Pumpkin. It can all be rebuilt,” he said softly.
He was right. The greenhouse wasn’t completely destroyed. Some of the glass had been broken and the plants could mostly survive with an injection of his magic. He righted a small cat statue with his shadows as if to show me.
“It’s not just that,” I sobbed into his coat.
“We will get that girl back. I won’t tell anyone you have a lady crush, Pumpkin.”
I went to hit him, but his shadows didn’t allow me much movement. “Don’t call me that even if I look like a round, lumpy mess at the moment.”
He fisted a chunk of my hair, a growl coming into his voice.
“I know you think I call you that just because it annoys you.
But it's really because you taste like my favorite season. Rich, full earth with an undercurrent of spice and a whisper of death. Just breathing you in reminds me of blood-red leaves and firelight. It makes me a slave for you.”
My tears immediately dried up. How many times had I thought he was insulting me?
Comfort flooded my whole body. He tipped my chin up, his lips slightly parted, but I was the one who wanted to pant.
The pressure on my jaw sent my head backward further and further.
Then all the way back until I flailed in his grip.
“Who did this to you?” Noth snarled.
He must mean the bruise on my shoulder, across my collarbone and up my neck, starting where I hit the stair. I touched it, still sore. Somehow I forgot about it in Noth’s arms. Who would have thought the shadow-wielding Nightmare would make me feel treasured?
“I tripped,” I said.
“Don't cover for any of my people. Anyone who puts a hand on you will be erased.”
I almost laughed. Until I realized he was serious. Someone might die because I was clumsy. While I appreciated the sentiment, I didn’t need that added to my list of fuck-ups. “Are you going to fight the stairs to your palace?”
“I'll dismantle them brick by brick.” He didn’t pause for breath.
“Seriously, I tripped during your grand entrance, you maniac.”
It came out watery. His concern undid me. I shook in his arms, my fears rushing up into the back of my throat. More tears leaked out across my cheeks.
“It's okay. I have you. You can tell me later and I will repave every one of those stairs into a ramp.”
“I failed.” My usually confident voice was a hiccup. “Again.”
“To stay upright?” he teased.
I buried my face in his chest. “I'm just going to repeat my same mistake over and over in life.”
This had to be a record for me. I hadn’t cried this much as a child.
“I should have fought his army to my throne room so I could strangle him myself and be done with it. Did anyone hurt you other than the stairs?”
“No. The worst I had to do was touch Brad's underwear.”
Noth’s look turned murderous.
I balled my fists. “No. Not like that. It wasn't even a real punishment. He didn't get to the torture and I got off unpunished, per usual, in this charmed life I lead.”
An unGoddly light lit in Noth’s eyes. “You want punishment, Pumpkin?” His whole body promised something very wicked.
“I don’t deserve to power up after this. I want to forget how badly I failed.”
“You didn't fail. You survived. But it will be my pleasure to punish you. You powering up I can’t help. I’m just a part of you now. And you’ll have to take it like a bad girl.”
He made it sound so dirty. The exact thing I needed as he trailed his hands over me.
“Heal yourself, witch. I want the only marks on your body to be mine.”
What was the man doing to me that I instantly complied?
The sigil ripped through me so fast I would have staggered if Noth wasn’t wrapped around me like some sort of demented eel.
He gripped my jaw with his hand and I wanted to fight it because no one took control of my head.
But instead, he massaged my jaw and my bite eased enough that my teeth ached.
How did he know I never got rid of the bad habit of constantly clenching my teeth?
He forced power through the thing I now recognized as the mate bond. I wish I could say it was unpleasant, but it felt like all of our stars aligned.
“I'm sorry, beautiful girl. I need to personally inspect every inch of your skin.”
He drew me to the ground and his shadows ripped off both of our clothes in an instant. His hot breath poured over my newly healed flesh. All the fine hairs on my body stood at attention as his hands ghosted over me, searching for injury.
I gripped his cock in my fist, squeezing, proving I was fine. “You came for me.”
“Always. You shouldn’t have been a second in his company.” His kisses grew feverish.
“Then make it up to me.” My chest cracked open with a faintly remembered emotion.
“My, my. We are a greedy little slut. My greedy slut.”
Men had used that word for me often enough that it should have felt like an insult, but on Noth’s tongue I felt like his Queen.
I opened a little more, chest heaving with more than pleasure.
He gripped my clit, pinching it until I was writhing beneath him, wetting his hand so he could stuff three fingers inside me without warning.
“That's not what I want.” I tore at his hair and he pinned me with mine, fingers working inside me.
What I wanted weighed so heavily, it was about to drown me.
“I don't have what you want, Pumpkin. I have what you need.”
He did. I gulped a deep breath as a wave of heat washed over me at the sound of his nickname.
And all the pieces clicked together for a spiking orgasm that he pumped his fingers through.
He made wringing the stars from my eyes look so easy, but I saw the truth of him now. I shouldn’t have been surprised.
Used to recovering through muscle stress, I folded in half to put my thighs on his shoulders and twisted to put him in the dirt.
I was close enough to his tantalizing tongue to be tempted, but I kept my eye on the prize.
That dick was going to rearrange my lungs if I had anything to say about it.
That pierced masterpiece was overdue in my pussy.
Once I had it inside me, perhaps the words building on my tongue would be knocked loose.