Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
The red haze thins.
It happens in fragments, like waking up from a nightmare where you know you’re dreaming but can’t force your eyes open. My rational mind resurfaces in pieces. Sloane. I jumped out of a window and threw her over my shoulder. I left everyone behind and kidnapped my female.
My body still rages. I put her down and stepped back but I’m massive, transformed, pacing this empty room because it’s the only thing keeping me from grabbing her again.
Every cell screams at me to claim her. The feral and the man are fighting inside the same body and I don’t know which one is winning.
I always thought this Irontree curse was simply a fake tale told about ancient Irontrees turning into the worst kind of beast during winter frenzy. But it’s happened to Garlen, Keric and now me.
It’s very, very real.
My claws score the fresh paint on the walls.
Steam rises off my skin. Through the bare window I can see mountains and light and none of it matters because all I can smell is her.
Her real scent, not the chemical corruption that still burns in my lungs.
Each breath I take pushes the synthetic terror a little further back.
Sloane’s not in danger, she’s standing right here in this empty bedroom, watching me pace, and she’s not afraid.
Why isn’t she afraid?
She steps toward me. “Jonus. I know you’re in there. Come back to me.”
Her palm finds my jaw again. Burning hot skin meeting cool fingers. The contact sends a shudder through my entire body and a sound escapes from my throat that I don’t recognize.
My world shifts from red to something closer to normal. Her real scent is overpowering the chemical bomb that invaded all of my senses. The jump and run from Garlen’s house helped. And her touch is doing what nothing else could. But I’m still on the edge, hard, aching and desperate.
All I want is to sink inside of her wet heat.
I grab my female and place her back against the wall. I’m crowding her, my bigger body pressed against hers, my claws digging into the wall above her head. “I’ve kidnapped you,” I snarl. “All I want is to fill you with my seed. Tell me to stop. Tell me to stop and I’ll find a way.”
I shake with the effort of holding myself back.
Simply pressing my erection against her, through two layers of fabric and not going further is taking all my concentration.
Every tendon in my body is rigid. My claws now dig into my own palms hard enough to draw blood because if I reach for her right now I don’t trust myself to be gentle.
Because modern orcs don’t take. We ask. Even when every cell screams for conquest.
She lifts her chin. “I’m not telling you to stop.”
“Oh hell.” I squeeze my eyes shut. “I’ll fill you with my seed. You will get pregnant right away,” I growl, my mind full of glorious images of her stomach swollen with our offspring. “You will have only orc sons. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
“I understand.”
“There’s no human birth control that works against the potency of an orc. The moment I’m inside you—”
“Jonus.” Both her small hands are on my face now, forcing me to look at her. Those blue eyes steady. “I’ve been thinking about what it would be like to start a family with you.”
“And you still—”
“I am ready. I’ve always wanted kids. The timing is right and I want this life with you. I want your orc sons, Jonus. I want to raise them together, with you.”
Heat forms behind my eyes. This human female stands in an empty bedroom with a feral orc twice her size who just kidnapped her through a second-story window and she’s telling me she wants to give birth to my offspring. “I never thought any female would want this with me.”
“I want everything and I’m lucky you want me in return.”
And then she kisses me.
It’s our first real kiss. Not the desperate, terrified contact I was imagining. Her lips are soft against mine, careful around my tusks, and she tastes like coffee and sugar from this morning and I swear my knees almost buckle.
When she pulls back, my head is clearer. The rage is settling, but the physical need hasn’t decreased a millimeter, if anything, the tenderness of that kiss made it worse. My erection throbs and seed leaks from the crown. I want to sink into her so badly I can barely breathe.
I lean my hips in, so she can feel the outline of my shaft. She moans with delight. The scent of her arousal fills the air.
“You want this?”
“Yes, please.”
“I need to take care of you first. My body hasn’t fully returned to normal, which means I’m still too big. I’ll hurt you at this size and I refuse to do that.”
I step back and take her hand, pulling her with me to the center of the room.
I strip what’s left of my shredded clothes and pile them on the carpet near the fireplace.
There’s no flame but the hearth is wide and the carpet is soft and new.
I add her cardigan and anything else I can find to make a decent surface.
It’s not a bed, it’s a pile of torn fabric on the floor of a house we don’t own yet.
I stand before her naked, with my horns tall, tusks elongated and my leaking erection bobbing in front of me. “Come here.”
She gazes at me with wide eyes.
“Take off your clothes,” I order. “I want to see every inch of you.”
She licks her lips and then pulls her top over her head and drops it. Her bra follows — simple, practical, and underneath her breasts are round and full with peaked nipples that make my mouth water. Her pants slide down her wide hips. She hooks her thumbs in her underwear and pauses.
There’s a flicker of hesitation.
“Do not hide from me,” I growl.
“I’m not—”
“You are. I can see it. What are you afraid of?”
She swallows. “I know what I look like, with my rolls and cellulite and I know that—”
“Sloane, you are the most beautiful female I have ever seen. Your body is perfect.”
“You’ve never seen a naked female before.”
“And I never want to see another one. Only you. For the rest of my life.” I hook my fingers in her underwear and pull them down her thick thighs. She steps out of them and she’s bare before me and I almost lose my mind.
Curves everywhere. Heavy breasts with rosy nipples. A soft belly, wide hips and thick thighs with dimples that I want to bite. The auburn hair between her legs. The freckles on her stomach I didn’t know about. She’s magnificent.
“Lie down,” I tell her.
She lowers herself onto the pile of clothes by the cold fireplace and she lies on her back.
I kneel between her thighs and spread them wider. She’s already wet — I can smell her arousal, thick and sweet, and it’s the best thing I’ve ever scented in my life.
“I’ve studied for this,” I tell her. “I know what to do.” But nothing could have prepared me for the reality of lowering my mouth to my female and tasting her for the first time.
She’s hot and slick against my tongue and the sound she makes when I lick through her folds is going to live in my memory forever. A choked gasp that turns into a moan that turns into my name. “Oh god. Jonus—”
Her taste lights up all my senses.
I listen to what her body tells me. I vary the pressure and speed, paying attention to what makes her gasp versus what makes her moan. When I find her clit at the top and circle it with my tongue, her entire body jerks.
Her hands fly to my horns.
The effect is immediate and devastating. Pleasure shoots down my spine, straight to my cock. I knew orc horns were sensitive, but her fingers gripping sends electricity through every nerve in my body. I groan against her and the vibration makes her cry out.
“Don’t stop,” she begs. “Don’t you dare stop.”
I growl against her again deliberately and she arches off the floor. The vibration is doing something incredible to her. I file this away and keep going, alternating between long licks and focused attention on her clit, growling each time her grip tightens on my horns.
Her thighs clamp around my head. Her hips rock against my face and I let her use me, gripping her thick thighs and holding her steady, giving her something to ride.
“Jonus — I’m going to — I can’t—”
I suck gently on her clit and growl one more time and she shatters.
Her whole body convulses. Her thighs squeeze my head. Her pussy clenches against my tongue and she screams my name so loud it echoes off the bare walls of this empty house. I work her through every tremor and aftershock, only pulling back when she’s limp and gasping on the floor.
My body has finished it’s change. The unnatural bulk is gone. My tusks have retracted to their usual length — still prominent, but not the daggers they were before. My horns have lost their wicked curve. I’m still big. Still an orc. Still hard and aching. But I’m more myself and ready to take her.
She looks up at me with glazed eyes. “That was...”
“That was the first time,” I promise. “We’re not done.”
She reaches for me. Her hand wraps around my shaft and I hiss through my teeth. The sensation is so intense my vision whites out for a second.
“I’ve never done this,” I tell her honestly. “I don’t know how long I’ll last.”
“You’ll last long enough.” She strokes me once, twice, and I’m leaking onto her fingers. “I’ll guide you.”
I cover her with my body and brace my arms on either side of her head, caging her beneath me. She’s small and soft under my body and the contrast makes something possessive rumble in my chest.
Her hand positions my crown at her entrance. The heat of her against the tip of my cock nearly ends me over the edge.
“Slow,” she whispers. “You’re bigger than anyone I’ve been with. Go slow.”
I push inside. Just the crown at first. She sucks in a sharp breath and her fingers dig into my shoulders.
“You alright?”
“Keep going. Slow.”