Chapter 4
Four
Huh, Ivy thought feverishly. I guess I’m seducing him after all.
She should be terrified. She had a Skullstalker skulking toward her, a sight that most mortals didn’t survive.
But the pollen made her only focus on the parts of him that intrigued her—his height, his toned muscles bulging against his robe, his intense gaze.
She even wanted to run her fingers through the moss growing over his cheekbone. To touch the tips of his fangs. To—
Another wave of heat ran through her, making her shudder against the nest. Whatever this monster was going to do, she needed it now.
Still, Ivy’s survival instincts weren’t completely dormant.
“Can we even—” Ivy asked weakly, pulling her dress back down with shaky hands. “I mean… you’re not even human.”
“I will not mate you properly,” Vale assured her.
Disappointment and relief rushed through Ivy in equal measure. She dug her fingers into the fur that coated the nest. “But you said—”
“I will assist,” Vale repeated. Then, in a move that made Ivy’s breath catch, he climbed onto his knees.
He was still huge like this. Still loomed over her, that piercing gaze fixed on her in a way that reminded her eerily of a mouse being stalked by a fox.
“You do not need to fear,” Vale said as he leaned closer. “I will take care of you. The pollen will leave your blood. And then we can get back to work.”
“Oh,” Ivy squeaked. “Um. Okay.”
She wanted to say something about how she didn’t expect a Skullstalker to be such a dedicated worker. But he gripped her legs, and his touch forced everything from her mind that wasn’t primal excitement.
His claws pricked through her dress. For some reason, this only made Ivy more excited, her hips bucking without her consent.
“S-sorry,” she stuttered. “I can’t stop it.”
Vale didn’t reply. He pushed her dress up, and Ivy was surprised to see genuine hunger in the slack line of his jaw. She hoped it was metaphorical hunger, but she couldn’t tell with all his robes hiding… whatever equipment he had down there.
Ivy bit her lip, still self-conscious even with the pollen raging through her. In terms of seduction, this was possibly the best-case scenario. She was awful at seduction, a fact she tried to convince her uncle of, to no avail. But her uncle told her to do it, and so she had reluctantly agreed.
He would be proud of me, Ivy thought, and then had to immediately stop thinking of her uncle.
Just as he had purposefully shied away from any graphic detail when he was urging her to “do whatever it took” to make the Skullstalker attached to her, both of them had avoided each other’s eyes as he talked in confusing metaphors.
Vale pushed her thighs apart. Ivy let him, legs shaking despite the desire surging through her. His fangs were so sharp. What was he going to do?
Another pulse of hot desire flooded through her, a lance of pain following it. Ivy cried out, her fingers twisting in the fur-lined nest as the pain took over.
Then something soft and slick touched her thigh, and the pain subsided.
Ivy looked down. Vale’s tongue was sliding up her leg, so long and pink it made her gasp. It ran through the slick on her thighs—evidence of what the pollen was doing to her—and a strange rumbling noise emerged from Vale’s throat.
Not quite a growl. It was almost… a purr?
Those dangerous fangs did not come close to her leg, only his long, otherworldly tongue. It moved closer to her hole, brushing her folds so gently that Ivy gasped.
“You’re—” Ivy panted. “Are you going to—?”
Vale’s tongue drew back, and Ivy whimpered in protest.
“You need something inside you,” Vale explained. “This will suffice.”
Then his tongue was on her again, licking a line up her folds and grazing her clit. Ivy keened, one hand leaving the fur-covered nest to wrap around one of his antlers.
Both of them froze.
Ivy squeaked, letting go of the antler like it had burned her. “Sorry! I’m—I’m—ah!”
Another wave of pain cascaded through her. Then Vale’s tongue started to move again, and the pain vanished.
Ivy returned her hand to the fur, her heart hammering.
She hadn’t been thinking, too caught up in the pollen.
She wouldn’t do it again. No matter how much she suddenly wanted to touch those strange, barbed antlers.
This wasn’t for his pleasure, she reminded herself.
It was so she could finally get to work.
Vale’s hot, wet tongue pressed inside her hole. The first brush was surprisingly tentative, and through the haze of pollen-lust, Ivy was surprised. Then his grip tightened on her legs, and his tongue pushed forcefully inside.
Ivy jerked, her mouth falling open. It was too much—of course it was, it was a Skullstalker’s inhumanly long tongue. It was too big, too thick, pressing against her walls before they were ready to let him in. It ached to the point she worried he would tear her.
And yet Ivy’s hips moved on their own accord, trying to get his tongue deeper.
“Yes,” she heard herself moan. “Like that!”
Her hand came up again, instinctively reaching for the antler she had just pulled back from. But before she could stop herself, something wrapped around her wrist.
She looked over. It wasn’t his tail, like she had been expecting. It was a vine. This one looked like it was made of shadows, soft clouds wisping over her skin as it held her still with surprising force.
Vale’s tongue paused once more. When Ivy looked down, he was watching the vine with an air of… frustration? Ivy had assumed he was the one who ordered it. Just how much was he in control of his void?
“Ridiculous,” Vale muttered. Then he lowered his head yet again, and his tongue resumed its rough shove inside her.
Ivy sank her teeth into her lip, letting the pollen roll through her.
She felt like she was going insane. She was lying with her dress rucked up, baring herself to a literal monster, and it was all she could do not to moan for more.
She just wished she could tell if he was enjoying this.
Not that she cared, it was just— Well, it was nice to be enjoyed.
For a moment, when the vine wrapped around her wrist, she had entertained the idea that he couldn’t control himself, that she was distracting him to the point of letting his void run amok.
Another wave of pollen-lust slammed into her, and Ivy cried out, voice breaking with need.
“Please,” she babbled nonsensically. “Please, please, Vale!”
She tried to grip his antlers. Another vine shot out and coiled around her wrist, holding both her hands down against the fur-lined nest. Then two more vines wrapped around her ankles, pulling her legs apart.
Ivy moaned. She should be even more terrified now, but for some reason, all she felt was exhilarated.
Then she got another pulse of borrowed emotion, just like she had when the pollen first showered over her: joy.
It was so huge and bright she couldn’t help but laugh with glee, even as the borrowed emotion faded.
Vale’s tongue slid out of her again. Ivy gasped, jogging her hips fruitlessly. When nothing happened, she looked up.
Vale was staring down at her, his glowing green eyes unreadable. Ivy wished she could see under his skull mask. There was only so much she could read from the exposed part of his face.
Vale pressed a retracted claw to the vine tying her left ankle. Ivy twitched in response, wondering if he was picturing the same thing she was. This was the second time she had been tied up and presented to him.
Vale’s claws slid out, drawing the vine tight. Ivy waited, trembling with nerves and pollen-lust. Would he cut her free again, like he had done with the ropes her Circle had tied? Or would he continue like this, with Ivy bound and spread out for him to do whatever he wished?
Finally, Vale sighed and let the vine slip free from his claw.
“What a strange gift those mortals gave me,” he said, as if to himself.
Ivy started to reply. But the pollen sent another pulse of pain through her, and all that came out of her mouth was a whimper.
“Yes, yes,” growled Vale. “You have no patience.”
“Sorry,” Ivy managed.
“I was not speaking to you,” Vale said. He gave the vines around Ivy’s limbs one last glare. Then he lowered his head and plunged his tongue inside her, so thick and fast Ivy keened.
It was too much, again. But how wonderful it felt to be given more than she could handle.
And Ivy was stretching, her walls slowly giving way to Vale’s impossibly long tongue.
Each thrust went deeper until he was pressing against her limit.
And still he thrust, fast and pulsing, letting out a muffled growl as spit dripped down her thighs.
Ivy bucked mindlessly, lost in it. She tried to touch her breasts, but the vines held her back.
Somehow, their constant pull only sent her closer to the edge.
She had made herself come several times while he was gone, but this felt different.
She could feel the pollen inside her: shifting, burning, expectant.
“Please,” Ivy begged, sobbing with it. “Please, I need— You have to touch me!”
She squirmed and twisted, but it was no use.
She could do nothing but lie there while he plundered her, his grip tightening on her thighs and his growls getting louder.
He was definitely affected, Ivy realized with the small part of her brain that wasn’t shaking apart.
She still couldn’t tell if it was to fuck her or eat her.
She stared down at him, wishing she could see his cock. Was it big? It had to be; he was massive. She imagined him looming over her, his pretty little offering for him to do what he wished, and bringing out that big, inhuman cock—
One of Vale’s not-quite-retracted claws touched her clit. It was sharp, more a graze than a press, but it was enough.