Chapter 30 Theron
THERON
By the time we find a place to stop for the night, the light is already fading.
The mountains behind us are turning purple in the distance, their jagged peaks softened by shadow, and the forest below is thick and dark with the scent of pine and damp earth.
I choose a small clearing near a narrow stream—nothing fancy, just a patch of relatively flat ground surrounded by tall trees that break the worst of the wind. It’ll do for our purposes.
I Shift carefully so Elowen can climb off my back, then stretch out my shoulders, working out the lingering strain from the flight.
My Drake is restless beneath my skin,—still keyed up from the excitement with the Emperor Hawk and the long flight that followed.
He doesn’t like being grounded—not when she’s so close…
not when Elowen smells so hot and ready.
I ignore his desire and get to work.
We don’t bother with a fire. The night is cool but not cold, and I don’t want to risk drawing attention out here—not this close to the mountains and whatever else might be lurking between here and the Sacred River.
Instead, I unpack the provisions and hand Elowen a piece of bread and some dried meat.
“It’s not much,” I tell her, sitting across from her on a fallen log.
“It’s fine,” she says softly.
She looks tired. Not just from the journey, but from everything—the fear, the magic, the strain of the curse. Her cheeks are flushed, and her lips are slightly parted, like she’s still catching her breath even though we’ve been on the ground for a while now.
My eyes keep returning to her lush mouth…remembering that kiss. Gods, I want to kiss her again—so fucking much!
I drag my gaze away before I can get myself into trouble and try to concentrate on my food.
We eat in silence for a while, the only sounds the quiet rustle of the trees and the soft trickle of the stream nearby. The water glints faintly in the fading light, reflecting the first hints of stars above.
“You did well today, little one,” I tell her after a bit.
She looks up at me, surprised.
“I nearly fell off a mountain.”
“You didn’t,” I point out. “You kept going. You got the feather.”
A small smile touches her lips.
“With your help.”
“Still counts,” I say.
She ducks her head a little at that, and something warm settles low in my chest. I love her shy little smile…the way she can be a woman full of courage one minute and a bashful girl the next.
We finish eating and rinse our hands in the stream. The water is cold enough to sting, and I watch as she shivers slightly, drawing her robe more tightly around herself.
“Get some rest,” I tell her. “We’ll head for the Sacred River at first light.”
She nods and settles down on the bedroll I laid out for her.
I’m lucky I’m able to take what I touch in Drake form with me, or we wouldn’t have either provisions or blankets right now.
I take my own roll a short distance away, putting just enough space between us to be decent… but not nearly enough to be safe.
I still want her and I can feel that she wants me too. But I know we need to be careful—we can’t cross that line, or we might go too far.
I can’t risk changing the color of her eyes.
I lie down on my back, staring up at the darkening canopy overhead. The stars are just visible through the gaps in the branches—faint and distant. Normally, the quiet of the forest would calm me but tonight, it does nothing.
Because I can feel her.
She’s not touching me…not even saying anything. But her scent drifts to me on the night air, warm and sweet and laced with something sharper now—something that makes my body tighten in response. The curse is working on her. I can smell it, feel it, almost taste it in the back of my throat.
Need…heat…desire…they all drift across to me, making me restless…making my shaft so hard it fucking aches.
My Drake stirs inside me, also affected by the sweet scent of Elowen’s desire.
“Ours,” he growls low in the back of my mind. “She is ours. Go to her. Take her. Let us Bond her to us.”
“No,” I mutter under my breath, turning onto my side and then onto my stomach, facing away from her. If I can’t see her…if I can’t breathe her in quite so deeply, then maybe I can keep control.
My Drake doesn’t like that.
“She needs us,” he insists. “Her heat calls to us.”
“I know it does,” I whisper harshly. “That doesn’t mean we can take what she hasn’t offered.”
The Drake huffs in irritation but subsides a little, though the tension remains, coiled tight beneath my skin.
I close my eyes, which turns out to be a mistake. Because the moment I do, all I can see is her. Not as she is now, wrapped in her blanket and trying to sleep a few yards away, but in my arms, soft, warm and willing.
I push the thought away and try to get to sleep. It’s been a long fucking day and all the flying in Drake form has tired me out. At last I drift away.
But the minute I do, the dream takes me fast and hard.
One moment I’m lying on the ground, fighting myself—and the next I have her beneath me, her red curls spread out like fire over my bedroll, her eyes dark and heavy-lidded as she looks up at me.
“Theron,” she whispers, and the sound of my name on her lips goes straight through me. “Please, help me—I need you! The curse…”
“I know, baby. Let me help you,” I murmur, though my voice sounds rougher than I mean it to.
“Yes, please…”
Her hands slide over my shoulders, down my chest, exploring me with a kind of hunger that sets me on fire. I lean down, brushing my mouth against hers, tasting her slowly at first and then deeper when she opens to me with a soft, needy sound.
Gods, even in my sleep, she tastes so fucking good—like warmth and sweetness and something uniquely her.
My hands move over her, learning the shape of her, the softness of her curves, the way she arches into my touch like she’s been waiting for it. She’s so responsive—so eager—and every little sound she makes drives me further out of my mind.
Her robe melts away and she’s naked under me. Her full tits fill my hands, and she arches and moans breathlessly when I tease her nipples.
“Please,” she breathes. “Oh please, Theron—I need you to take me! To fuck me.”
The word snaps something inside me and I can’t hold back anymore.
I move against her, fitting myself to her body, feeling the warmth of her against my skin.
She gasps, her fingers tightening in my hair, and I lose the last of my restraint.
“You want to be fucked?” I growl.
She nods, her blue eyes filled with desire.
“I need it—I need you. Please, Theron…”
“If that’s what you want, I’ll give it to you,” I growl in the dream.
She opens her thighs, inviting me in, her body so soft and sweet and curvy under my own hard, muscular form. Her pussy is hot and wet—ready for me and I sink into her in one long, slow thrust.
“Ah! Theron!” she gasps, arching beneath me. Some part of me knows this is just a dream, but it feels so real. Being inside her is like being clenched in a tight, velvet glove and I can’t get enough of it—can’t get enough of her.
My curvy little priestess moves under me, bucking her hips in time to my rhythm, giving herself completely. Her tits bounce with every thrust of my cock inside her and she moans and begs for more, her luscious mouth hungry for my kisses.
Mine…she’s MINE.
The thought comes unbidden, but it feels true—it feels right. She should belong to me—to us, me and my Drake.
And then the dream shifts. I look down and see that the cock thrusting into her is no longer my own—it belongs to my Drake. The silver scales and ridges are shiny with her honey and it’s fully twice as big, stretching out her little pink pussy and making her arch and moan under me.
“Theron!” she begs. “Oh Goddess, fuck me deeper—take me harder! I need you to!”
She clings to me, her voice breaking on my name as she takes everything my Drake and I have to give her.
“Ours,” the Drake growls. “She is ours.”
For once I don’t argue.
The dream crests hard and fast, my body throbbing with need as I take her over and over , fucking deep in that tight little pussy…and then, suddenly, I’m awake.
I jerk upright, breathing hard, my body tight with need and my mind still half lost in what I just felt. For a moment, I don’t know where I am. The forest comes back slowly—the trees…the faint sound of the stream…the cool night air against my skin…
Elowen sleeping beside me.
I glance toward her at once.
She’s still on her bedroll, turned slightly onto her side, her curls spilling across the fabric. In the dim light, I can’t tell if she’s asleep or not—but something about the way she’s breathing, the slight tension in her body…
Fuck. Is she awake? Was I talking in my sleep and if so, what was I saying? More important, did she hear me?
The fucking dream is still strong in my mind—I can still half-feel her under me, her tight little pussy wrapped around my cock.
Gods, I wish it was real, even though I know it can’t be. I can’t risk changing the color of her eyes and making her belly swell. I don’t wish the sad fate of the other priestesses on her.
But lying here thinking of her isn’t helping to dispel the heat and need I feel.
I get to my feet and head into the trees without a word, putting distance between us before I do something I can’t take back. The forest closes around me, dark and quiet, and I brace my hands against the rough bark of a tree, trying to get control of myself.
I can’t help it—I need relief.
Unfastening my trousers, I pull out my cock—mine, not the Drake’s this time—and begin to stroke.
I remember the way she looked in my dream—the softness of her curves, the way her pussy was so tight and wet and hot around me…
the way she arched up, offering herself…
begging for more…begging for me to fuck her…
“Gods, baby, can’t take much more of this,” I growl under my breath. And then I come, ropes of white spurting from the tip of my cock as I feel my Drake roaring inside me.
“Ours!” he’s saying. “Don’t waste it—should be shooting our seed inside her—should be Bonding with her!”
“We can’t,” I tell him for what feels like the hundredth time. “We can’t take her—she doesn’t want us to.”
The Drake protests that she does want it—he could smell the wanting all over her.
“That’s just the curse,” I tell him. But there’s no explaining—he’s an Ash Drake, after all. I can’t make him understand that Elowen’s body could want one thing while her mind wants something completely different.
At last I finish jerking off and tuck myself away again. I’m glad I did—it took the edge off, and my desire has faded enough that I can breathe again without feeling like I’m about to snap.
When I return to the clearing, the sky is just beginning to lighten with the first hint of dawn and Elowen is sitting up.
She looks like she had a rough night. Her eyes are shadowed, her lips slightly swollen like she’s been biting them, and there’s a faint flush still clinging to her skin. She avoids my gaze for a moment, then glances up at me.
“Good morning,” she says.
“Morning,” I answer.
I wonder if she dreamed too…I wonder if she heard me jerking off.
The thought lingers, heavy and distracting, but I don’t ask—some things are better left unsaid.
We make a quick meal of berries from a nearby bush—tart and slightly sweet—and drink from the stream. It’s not much, but it’s enough to keep us going.
“Ready for the second quest?” I ask her.
She nods.
“Let’s get it done.”
I Shift again, letting the Drake take over. This time, the change feels easier, more natural, as if he’s eager to be out in the open again. Elowen climbs onto my back without hesitation, settling into place between my spines.
Her hands rest against me—light, but sure, trusting in my Drake’s strength to carry her to where she needs to be.
I spread my wings and launch us into the air.
The forest falls away beneath us once more, replaced by rolling land and winding paths of water that glint in the early morning light. Somewhere ahead lies the Sacred River—the next step in her quest—the next test we have to face.
It should be simple—it’s just water—just another element.
I have no idea the Sacred River will nearly kill us both.