45. The Last Descent
Vivian
We’re gone just as the sun appears on the horizon with a small bundle of supplies the Cobra has given us and a new direction that takes us west and out of the mountains.
Last night after we left the plateau, the Cobra led us deeper into the woods and up the mountain he found us on, taking us to a clearing that was covered in bones. Recalling it now, I shiver, having stepped on several. Leaving us there, he entered a glass building built into the side of the mountain wall, returning a few minutes later with the supply bag and a pair of shoes for me.
Wiggling my toes, the shoes are a size too big, but I’m incredibly grateful to have them.
The sun’s at our back as we make our descent into a different forest, bordering a large lake below. If we follow the lake’s shore west, it will take us to a river that will lead us to our destination.
My mother, Celeste, and Zhallaix.
To my surprise, and Kyle’s excitement, the Cobra confirmed they were here. And not only that, they were reachable and not too far away.
He would not assure our safety. We will have to do that on our own. And he would not tell us much, only divulging the general location of where they are. The Cobra has a human mate of his own—which does not come as a surprise to Syasku—and has been wandering the forest at night to keep intruders away. Excited, there was another woman nearby who was also mated to a naga, I asked about her. He refused to answer any of my questions, and I dropped the subject quickly.
He scares me.
Even though the Cobra gazed at Audrin with gentleness, all but ignoring Syasku’s overprotective antics, I know he isn’t one to make an enemy of or disobey. He warned us if we lingered, we risk being seen by other nagas. His territory has been invaded by many in recent months.
It was why he was out at night to begin with, hoping to catch them off guard and kill them.
Syasku took his warning seriously, clasping his hand around my wrist and refusing to let it go.
Trudging through the forest, and putting as much distance between us and the Cobra’s territory, we still didn’t make it to the lake until that evening.
Once there, some of Syasku’s tense protectiveness waned, and he let me out of his sight long enough to take care of my needs.
After a few hours of rest where we eat fruit that we’ve foraged throughout the day, we discuss the trail ahead. Kyle offers to keep going, worried the Cobra might be sending us into a trap.
I don’t think he is. If the Cobra wanted us dead, he wouldn’t have gifted me shoes. Either way, Kyle’s been anxious ever since learning those he’s searching for are, indeed, nearby.
I, on the other hand, have only gotten more nervous. Now that I know I am going to have to confront my mother, it’s been all that’s on my mind.
Also, not sure how I feel about him leaving so close to sundown, Kyle smiles at me and pulls out a pair of night vision goggles from his pack. Placing them over his eyes, he tells me not to worry.
He’s done this before.
Watching him vanish into the deepening shadow, I feel another pair of eyes boring holes into me from behind.
Once Kyle is out of sight, Syasku comes up behind me and takes my hand, leading me and Audrin away from camp and to the lake’s shore. Upon arriving, I’m briefly struck again by how the setting sun makes the water sparkle. I never knew water could be so beautiful or that so much of it could be collected in one place, that it could be so vast.
I strip off my clothes and take Audrin for a swim while Syasku stands guard and watches from the shallows.
As stars appear, and the baby yawns, I bring him back to shore and feed him. Audrin passes out on my breast, adorably milk-drunk. Syasku takes him from me to bundle him in a blanket and cushion him under a berry bush nearby.
Afterward, he leads me back into the water.
Wading a little ways out, I turn around to face him, to see him once more before it’s completely dark and his body is encased in shadows.
His tousled silver-gray hair falls past his shoulders as his glinting eyes sparkle in the twilight, his muscled chest rippling with abs down to a tail covered in soft silvery-gray scales, the bulge at his slit heavily pronounced. The water barely moves as he slides through it and disappears beneath its surface.
When his tail is out of sight, he could be mistaken for a human man at first glance—that is until his sharply serpentine features are discerned.
Moving farther out to catch sight of him under the water, he emerges a short distance in front of me.
His intentions are clear as he swims closer, and practically salivating, I moan the moment I feel his tailtip slip up and between my thighs. It forces them apart, and I tremble with anticipation.
But he does not slide it across my sex. He waits until he’s towering over me before he touches me further, scraping his claw down my cheek. “Female,” he hums the word, low and deep.
Parting my lips, I place my hands on his chest, prickles forming all over my body.
He slides a wet tendril of my hair behind my ear. “How are you feeling?”
His gruff voice moves through me, plaguing me with awareness, and reminding me how easily he makes me frustrated. Until a moment ago, I couldn’t even smell him. Now his scent floods me, and I am hungrier than ever.
It’s been a certain type of hell these past two weeks not being able to climb him because of wounds still healing. It’s worse than having no privacy. I crave him like I crave air and water.
I rub his chest with my palms, needing to feel his stiff muscles under them. “I’m good. I want you.”
That’s all I need to say for him to pounce.
Lifted to him by his tail, he brings my breast to his mouth and suckles hard, covering the other one with his hand. I cry out and clutch his shoulders as he switches back and forth between them, lashing them with his tongue, taking my remaining milk as he kneads them with his palms, rolling my aching nipples.
My head drops back as his tail spreads my legs apart, and he penetrates me with the end of his tail. Shocked, I hitch, bending my knees to clamp around him, wiggling my hips. Digging my nails into his scales, his tailtip nudges me open, pushing as far into me as it can go.
The pressure makes me buckle and gasp. I hitch again, my hips jerking back and forth.
Pinned on it, held up completely by his tail, I cry out from the sudden stretch and fullness of it being inside me, shaking and shuddering. I release a shaky breath as his mouth continues sucking my nipples. Losing my grip on him, I drop forward, writhing on his tail.
There’s no pain, only delicious sensation, every nerve ending vibrating as his tailtip works me in rapid circles. Wrenching my eyes closed, my climax hits quickly, and feeling me constrict around him, he growls and circles his tail harder, forcing me to clamp down on him even more to stop him expanding me. My climax continues into another, and then another, battling the muscles of his tail with my sex.
Impaled and breathy, the larger part glides across my backside and presses my body into his chest, prodding my legs to wrap around his waist. He controls every one of my movements, allowing me no purchase except him.
“I want your hand,” I gasp out. “Give me your hand.”
Shifting upward, he lifts his right hand, and I take it, threading my fingers with his. “I love you.” He lowers to suck my nipple back into his mouth and pauses. He raises his head. With ruffled locks of hair on his face, he’s never looked more wild, and untamed.
He glances at our joined hands and squeezes mine back. “You were mine from the beginning, little female. I have loved you every minute since.” He pulls his tailtip out of me and gathers me to him. Taking me back to shore, he positions me facing away from him and on the ground until I am on my hands and knees.
He slides his tail under me as he moves behind me. Lowering further to my elbows, and completely exposed to his view knowing the shadows won’t hide much from him, I submit to his will.
He presses his face, his fingers, to my sex and runs his forked tongue over it. My back straightens and my butt lifts with a moan.
Probing, caressing, and penetrating, his fingers cajole my clit as his tongue settles at my opening. Still sensitive from my last orgasm, I shove my hips back against him, demanding another.
Moving his fingers lower, they push deep inside me as his tongue circles, petting me inside and out. My hands grip the grass.
He lashes me with his tongue, dipping his fingers in and out like he can’t get enough like he needs to worship my sex or perish. Whimpering uncontrollably, I try not to buckle.
“You birthed my son and thissss—” he groans and hisses against my slick opening “—will birth me many more. Many, many more.” He plunges his tongue inside me, and I jerk forward, crying out, and right over the pinnacle. Clenching around his tongue, he pushes his fingers back inside.
Dropping my brow to the ground, I gasp with pleasure.
His tongue and fingers vanish and the pressure of his cock takes their place.
I close my eyes and brace.
Syasku grabs the back of my neck with one hand and drags the claws of his other down my back.
Crying out again, he pushes his cock into me, groaning as he does. Falling over me, he thrusts his knot in and starts plunging it in and out. I’m trapped beneath him, surrounded by his tail, his body, his arms, and his hands, and there is no softness anymore. He circles his hand under my neck and slams into my backside, forcing my body flat to the ground. My teeth grit, holding in my scream.
My backside jerks, and my front grinds the ground, with each impale. He presses his face into my hair, and his hot breaths fan over me as grunts and hisses along my scalp.
He makes me forget everything except him.
Ruthless in his rutting, I let him take what he needs. In and out, his knot opens me, spilling hot seed deep within. It leaks out to trickle down my thighs, making them slippery.
His thrusts quicken as his free hand pushes under me and roams over my breasts. He tugs me against him and keeps me there as his movements become clipped, racing to the end.
His last thrust is brutally hard before he empties inside me. Seed gushes out between us, warming my already flushed skin.
When he’s done, he turns me slowly in his arms, slipping out of me long enough to have me sit upright and straddle him. Positioned on top of his cock, I settle against him and catch my breath, heaving, enjoying the fullness of him seated inside me.
It’s been months since we last rested like this, and I’ve missed it.
He combs my wet hair with his claws. “Did I hurt you?”
I shake my head. I’ll be bruised tomorrow but I liked feeling his strength used on me. I admire his strength. It’s nice when it’s between my legs.
His chest rumbles, and his next hiss sends soothing vibrations through me. “I have chosen well.”
“No, naga.” I can’t help but laugh. “I chose well.”
Looking down at our joined bodies, I purse my lips and circle my hips. When he doesn’t stop me, I lift and slide back down. Soon, I’m bouncing on him, taking my pleasure the way I want it like he has his, working his stiff cock until I see stars behind my eyelids.
We stay by the lake shore that evening and deep into the night, only resting when Audrin wakes to be fed. The next morning when I rouse from sleep, I hear splashing coming from the lake. Finding I’m alone, I rub the sleep from my eyes to peer towards the source of the noise.
Syasku is in the water with Audrin, helping him move his tail through it to teach him how to swim.
Glancing at the sky, I realize I’ve slept in. The sun is at its zenith above me.
Time is moving too fast.
And I’m definitely bruised. My nipples are raw and there’s a bite mark on my thigh.
Still… not wanting this moment to end with Syasku and Audrin, I watch them quietly until Syasku notices me.
When his gaze lands on me and heats, I blush, remembering last night and why my body aches so much today.
By mid-afternoon, we pack our few supplies and leave.
Syasku easily finds the trail Kyle has left behind. Following it, we soon reach the place where the lake becomes a river.
As we travel along it, I begin to linger behind, expecting we’ll be coming upon the others soon.
The trees thin and the overgrowth fades away, nearing the outskirts once more. This time, on the south side.
With each step forward, my anxiety grows, returning from wherever Syasku banished it to last night. My eyes flick everywhere, searching, expecting my mother to appear at any moment.
It’s almost evening before we come upon the first sign of them.
The sign being a group of animal skulls roped together and hanging from a branch.
Staring at them, my lips flatten.
Syasku quietly hands me Audrin as he creeps forward, taking the lead. Heart hammering, my limbs twitch with nerves.
Not in a million years, nor my wildest dreams, did I see myself in this situation. Part of me wants to turn back and flee while the other part is overly eager to put it behind me. Nothing could have prepared me to confront my mother—not Father, nor the ordeal he put me through, not the escape, having Audrin, nothing.
I thought I could handle anything at this point, but as one step leads into another, I’m not so sure anymore.
Just when I can’t take the anticipation any longer, the most beautiful creature I have ever laid eyes on appears in the tree branches ahead. Green scales glimmer in the golden twilight, and longer and leaner than Syasku, another naga appears.
Syasku halts.
The naga drops to the ground, and, to my surprise, approaches Syasku, and clasps his shoulder.
“You have returned,” he says.
“I have.”
The green one glances at me. “And you have returned with a bride and child.”
Both nagas turn to look at me and my back straightens.
The green one smiles warmly. “Welcome home, Syasku and Laura’s daughter. Everyone is waiting for you up ahead. Zaku warned us you were coming.”
Some of my nerves stop twitching and I smile back. Zaku warned them? How? I shake my head, deciding that’s a question for another time.
Syasku clasps the other naga’s shoulder in return, and as they look at one another once more, I realize everything is going to be okay.
I have nothing to be afraid of. Not anymore. Not with Syasku. I’m not sure I ever had anything to fear with Syasku by my side.
“I will let the othersssss know you have arrived,” the green naga says before grabbing a branch and disappearing into the canopy.
Syasku returns to me and takes a slumbering Audrin back into his arms. “Are you ready?” His eyes narrow as he peers down at me.
Exhaling, my smile grows. “Yes, actually. I think I am.”
We move forward together as one.
Always as one.
Come what may.