Chapter fifteen
Chapter fifteen
I didn’t go back to training for a few months.
I wanted to get my point across. Although it may have been obvious that I had some attraction towards him, Darce couldn’t play with my emotions and trick me that way.
The way he had kissed me showed that he had his own desire for me.
It may have been emotionless, but he had been lying about not finding me attractive.
No one kissed someone that way unless there was clear sexual magnetism.
Walking to the Shielding Valley three months after our kiss, I wondered if Darce would even be there.
He probably had more important things to do than train a Dylin female.
What if I never saw him again? Enyo nudged me, making a low, soft grumble in her throat.
She was so attuned to my emotions lately. Darce needed the gold; he’d be there.
As the entrance came into view, Loki and Enyo held back, turning their necks to look at me.
“Go on. Let’s see if they are there.” They would have missed Boulder.
I hated keeping them apart for so long. Loki charged for the entrance first, picking up their scents, I hoped.
Enyo kept a little closer by my side as we entered the cave.
My eyes found Darce sitting on a large tree stump as I emerged into the clearing. He was stroking Loki, who had already reached him. Boulder came hurtling at Enyo and me, almost knocking me over with excitement.
“We missed you too, Boulder,” I laughed, watching the three of them begin to chase each other around the lake.
Darce was walking towards me with his hands in his pockets. “I wasn’t sure if you’d show up,” he called out to me.
“I almost didn’t.”
“Alora, look, about the...”
“I don’t want to hear it. I’m paying you to train me. You can think what you want of me, but I’m here to accomplish one thing: become a warrior. I want to completely forget about our last meeting.”
“I didn’t kiss you as a trick.”
“Really? You could have fooled me!”
“Damn it, Alora!” Darce let out an exasperated groan. “You want the truth? Well, here it is. Yes, I am attracted to you. If you had stayed long enough to hear me out, I would have apologised sooner and told you the truth.” What was he saying? No, this couldn’t be true.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“So you can be honest with me.”
“What do I need to be honest about? I have no idea how I feel! All you do is confuse me. You play with my emotions, constantly mock me and trick me. I have no idea who you really are. All I see is the version of you here in the Shielding Valley. How the fuck am I meant to feel about all of that?”
“Alora, gods, for the last time, I didn’t trick you.
I was distraught that I was your first kiss.
Honestly, how have you led such a sheltered life?
Surely you’ve had plenty of offers?” Darce was pulling at his hair.
It was at the longer length where the ends curled.
“Do you really know nothing about fornicating?”
“Our males teach us when we’re ready...” I trailed off, not wanting to talk about my sexual awakening right now.
“You are a ridiculous race.” Looking at me intently, Darce sighed deeply.
“If it has disgraced you by having your first kiss with a Noxlin, I apologise deeply. I won’t do that again unless you ask me to.
I respect you and your wishes, and am deeply sorry if I offended you.
” Wait! He would kiss me again if I asked him to?
Why did my heart flutter at that thought?
That playful smirk was on his beautiful face. “Did you want me to kiss you again?”
Rebuffing myself, I scowled at him. “Once was more than enough, thank you!” When I dropped my training bag down, Darce gave me a small smile. “Can we get on with the training now?”
“Have you been practising those moves I showed you?” Putting his hands on his hips, he looked me over. “Your muscle tone still looks good. I’m pleased to see that you still did your core work while you were sulking.”
“I wasn’t sulking!” I seethed, sitting on a rock to change my boots. “Why do you have to be such an fucking asshole?”
“Why is your mouth as dirty as mine these days? Do you use this kind of language back home?”
“No, I save this for when I’m around you, you fucking prick!” I had to admit, my language these days was far from the innocent dialogue of my kind.
“I’m honoured,” Darce teased, holding his chest. “Oh, I’ve got something for you.” Leaning into his bag, he gave me something wrapped in a dark cloth.
“You brought me a gift?”
“Not a gift. Something useful. Hopefully, it’s the right size.” He watched me open it. I smiled at the fighting leathers wrapped inside the cloth. It was such a thoughtful gift. “I was going to give it to you the last time we saw each other, but things went...a little off course.”
“Are you tired of seeing me in these thin garments?” It was wrong to flirt with him, but his gift had made me bold. I motioned to the white, almost see-through fabric that was wrapped over my undergarments.
His eyes darkened as he looked my body up and down. “If you want to become a warrior, you must look the part. Pretty, alluring clothes do not win battles.”
“You are not affected by my body at all in this thin material?” I spun around, making my intentions too clear. I was playing a dangerous game, but I couldn’t stop myself. Darce had admitted that he found me attractive. I was elated.
“Alora, I am teaching you to fight. If you want me to teach you how to fuck, that is an entirely different lesson.” My body clenched at the thought of Darce touching me.
I knew male and female body parts fit together, but fucking was something only Noxlin males did.
Dylin males mated females. It was mostly about their sexual needs.
It made me wonder how it would feel to be fucked by Darce. What would that even entail?
“You did not answer my question,” I whispered, looking up at him with dazed eyes.
“Do you want me to teach you how to fuck instead?” Quirking an eyebrow, he smirked down at my shocked look. Could he read my face?
“NO!” If I didn’t believe my own words, how would he?
“Well, stop asking stupid fucking questions then, and put those fighting leathers on! We have a lot of work to do!” Darce threw a gust of shadows in my direction, making me yelp when the coolness hit my bare legs.
He motioned at the large tree in the distance. “You can get changed behind that tree.”
“Do you promise you won’t look.”
“I’m not going to make a promise I might break.” Heat flared to my cheeks as he studied me. Where had all this electricity between us suddenly come from? “Go. We are wasting training time.”
Looking at the fighting leathers, I tried to work out how to put them on. They were Noxlin leather, which made it more difficult. Slipping out of my tunic, I stood there in only my small, gold undergarments that only covered my breasts and intimate area.
As I tried to figure out which way the leathers worked, I frowned. Darce called out to me. “How much longer? It can’t take that long to get dressed.”
“I have no idea how to put them on!” I shouted back to him.
Within seconds, Darce was standing in front of me.
His eyes widening, at the sight of me. “Holy Ether! A little warning, Alora. You’re practically naked!
I want to be respectful of your wishes, but I can only control myself to a certain degree.
” Looking down at the bulge growing in his pants, curiosity got the better of me.
His hooded eyes were affecting my own libido.
I wanted to feel his mouth everywhere. Tasting him on my lips wasn’t enough.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he cautioned, stalking towards me.
“If a kiss offended you, what I want to do to you right now will horrify you.”
“What do you want to do to me?”
“Are we really going to play this game after your reaction to a simple kiss?” Biting my bottom lip, I couldn’t find the words to respond. “I want to taste you, Alora. I’ve been dreaming of putting my head between your legs for a long time.” Taste me? Oh, he meant my...I couldn’t finish the thought.
“Y...yo...you have?”
Darce nodded. A few more steps and he’d be right in front of me.
“It’s been on my mind for over a century. Fuck, I shouldn’t be telling you this.” He pulled on the end of his hair, stressed. “Forget what I just said. We need to get back to training.”
“Do it,” I challenged, my voice trembling with need. I had no idea what he was about to do to me, but my body was willing.
“What?”
“Whatever you’ve been fantasising about doing to me. Do. It!”
His eyes turned molten black with desire. “Are you sure?”
I nodded as I swallowed hard.
“This is your last chance to back out. Once I start, I will not be stopping until you’re shuddering under my tongue.” Why would I shudder? “Alora?” Darce was asking my permission one last time.
“I’m not going to back out.”
Those six words were all he needed. He pulled me into his arms and crashed his lips against mine.
The salty taste of his skin made me realise he’d taken a dip in the lake before I’d arrived.
His kiss was urgent, needy. When his tongue darted in to meet mine, I gripped his shoulders, crashing myself against him.
His hands on my bare skin left a fire in their wake as his fingertips snaked down my back and grabbed by butt roughly.
Moisture pooled at my core. I had no idea what was happening.
“Lie down on the ground against the grass,” Darce ordered, pulling on my bottom lip as he broke the kiss.
Once I had done as he asked, he joined me, running his hands along my upper thigh.
He hooked his fingers into the garment that protected my intimate area.
“Last chance to back out,” he smirked, licking his lips.
“Fucking get on with it,” I yearned. Without another word, he yanked the garment clean from my body.