Chapter 13
Magma
The light is draining out of the jungle fast.
Carla catches herself against a root with a sharp little intake of breath as she stumbles forward. She manages to keep her footing.
“You okay?” I whisper.
“Yes.” She’s breathing a little more heavily.
She gives me a small smile, but it’s clear that she’s exhausted. There’s a drag in her step and her shoulders are hunched. She’s favoring her right foot. She’s been walking on bare feet for hours over roots and stones.
She isn’t going to be able to keep going for much longer.
“We’ll stop soon to rest. I need to find somewhere we can hide for the night,” I tell her, keeping my voice as soft as I can make it. “Can you keep going a little longer?”
She nods.
I pick the clearest line I can find, holding branches aside, pointing out roots before she reaches them, slowing my stride to half of what it wants to be. She doesn’t complain. Not once. She just keeps putting one foot in front of the other, her mud-caked ponytail swinging with each step.
“You must be thirsty,” I whisper.
She makes a noise of agreement. “I would kill for some water.”
My own throat feels like sandpaper. My stomach has been gnawing at itself since midafternoon. If I’m feeling it, she has to be feeling it ten times worse.
“I’ll figure something out.”
“That would be amazing,” she whispers.
We have to push on. There’s no choice. She trips again. Harder this time, pitching forward with a gasp.
I catch her by the arm before she goes down. I’m pretty sure that at this point, she’s walking blind.
I scoop her up, one arm under her knees, the other behind her back, and bring her in against my chest.
She makes a startled sound. “Magma. Put me down. This is really not necessary, I can—”
“Shhhhh,” I tell her. “You can’t see and I can. Let me do this.”
She goes still. Then, slowly, some of the stiffness goes out of her, and she loops one arm around my neck.
The warmth of her against my chest. The soft press of her hip.
The brush of her breath against my collarbone every time I take a step.
I lock my attention on the jungle and keep it there.
On the spaces between the trees. On every sound within a half-mile radius.
I listen hard as I walk. So far, we’ve been lucky.
We haven’t had one Red encounter since the male I killed, and we’ve mostly left the fighting behind us.
The roars and screeches that chased us through the morning have thinned to almost nothing.
Every now and then, a distant crash rolls through the canopy, or a screech tears across the sky, and Carla’s arm tightens around my neck until it fades.
The remaining ferals must still be throwing themselves at the coastline, still trying to get off the island while the borders are in question.
That will die down soon, and when it does, the ones who failed will come slinking back into this jungle, angry and beaten and looking for consolation.
I only hope that we are long gone before it happens. I just need to get her to that castle.
I narrow my eyes at a tree I see in the distance and start toward it.
As I get closer, it becomes apparent that it’s another strangler fig and a monster of a tree, too.
I’ve spotted a few of them dotted through this jungle, their roots woven around long-dead host trees in thick, braided columns.
Sometimes, when the host has rotted away entirely, there’s a hollow at the base that creates a natural den.
This one is the biggest I’ve seen yet. The root structure is wider than my office back at Draig, a knotted cage of wood climbing thirty feet before it disappears into the canopy.
I put Carla down at the base of it.
I circle the trunk, running my hands over the buttressed roots, and there, on the far side, low to the ground, I find what I was hoping for.
A crevice between two thick root columns, a black mouth of an opening.
Relief loosens my shoulders. I drop to my knees and sniff at the opening.
Then I put my ear to the space, hearing nothing.
Good.
Lastly, after using my hands to widen the opening, I look up at Carla, who is squinting hard in the dark, trying to see what I’m doing.
“There’s a space beneath this tree. I’m going to check if it will work as a shelter for us tonight.”
“Under a tree?” She sounds like she doesn’t quite believe me.
“Yeah. I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Okay,” she whispers.
I look up at her, all covered in dried mud and grime, and wish I hadn’t. I take in the swell of her hips, and her full breasts, and force myself to look away because my dick is thinking about getting hard again.
Fuck it!
This is so damned irritating. I wish I could turn it off.
I pull in a deep breath and then work my way inside the small space. It’s a squeeze for someone my size, but the hollow opens up beyond the gap. Beneath me is a dry dirt floor and some dead leaves. It’s tighter than it looked from the outside.
There’s hardly room for two people, but it’s dry, and it’s hidden. We’ll have to sleep practically on top of one another. Not ideal, but it’ll have to do. It’ll keep us safe for the night. That’s what is most important.
I crawl out and turn to her. “It’s cozy. I need you to go inside while I go and search for food.”
She bends down and squints at the opening.
I have to look away because I want to stare at her ass.
What the fuck is wrong with me?!
“I’m not so sure about this.” She looks back at me.
“I need to find us food and water, Carla. I understand your concern, but I can’t leave you out here in the open. If one of them comes along…”
Her eyes widen with fear, and her heart rate kicks up a notch.
“I’ll cover the entrance with brush. No one will know you’re there. You’ll be safe until I come back.”
She holds my eyes for a second, and then she nods. She crouches onto all fours, her ass in the air, and my balls tighten.
I look away, my jaw tight. Anger churns inside me.
I’m an asshole.
I’m perverted.
She makes these little grunting, groaning noises as she eases into the crevice.
My dick gets rock hard.
I grit my teeth tighter.
“Is this a good time to mention that I don’t like small spaces?”
“You’re doing great.” My voice is thick.
She huffs out something that’s almost a laugh. Then she pulls in a deep breath and slides the rest of the way in. The dark swallows her.
“You good?” I ask, crouching at the opening. I’m so glad she can’t see that my cock is at full mast.
“I’ll be fine.” A pause. “Magma?” Her voice has gone thin and high. There’s panic creeping into the edges of it.
“What is it?”
“Don’t leave me for too long.”
The sound of her fear lands somewhere deep in my chest and stays there. My dragon doesn’t just stir; he rises, roaring inside my skull, clawing toward the surface, demanding I act.
“I won’t.”
“Okay.”
My beast doesn’t want me to leave. He wants me to reach into that hollow and pull her back out into the open and put my mouth on her throat, my cock inside her, and to mark her so that every male on this island knows exactly who she belongs to.
No!
Fuck off.
She isn’t ours. She’s Flint’s female.
He snarls once, low and bitter, and then, thankfully, he subsides, sinking back down where he belongs. I breathe out through my nose and make myself focus on what matters.
“Carla. Listen to me. Stay very quiet in there. Don’t come out for anything or anyone, unless you know for certain it’s me. You only react if you hear my voice telling you to or if you hear me say your name. Anything else, you stay put, and you stay silent. Understood?”
“Understood,” she whispers from the dark.
I drag a screen of fallen branches and broad leaves across the crevice until even I have to look twice to find it. Then I straighten, take a pull of the night air into my lungs, and head out into the thick of the jungle.
My cock stays as hard as nails, making it difficult to think clearly. How am I going to spend the night with her right up against me?
That tiny crevice isn’t big enough for the three of us. My cock has to go. I’ll scare her with this thing. I hate how aroused I am after what happened to her.
I’m annoyed and angry at myself. This isn’t like me at all.
My dragon is frustrated. It’s all the adrenaline.
Fuck!
Once I’m a little away from where I left her, I lean against a tree with one hand and fist my cock with the other.
I need to take care of my erection, then I need to take care of Carla; of Flint’s female. I need to have pure thoughts where she is concerned. I need to be a friend to her, not a fucking perverted old asshole.
I palm my cock a little harder and start sliding my hand up and down my length. My eyes close and my mouth drops open just a little as I suck in air.
I imagine Carla on her knees in front of me.
No! Think of someone else. I fist my cock harder.
Think of someone else.
I can’t. It’s her. She’s on her knees, her ass in the air. Her skirt is tied around her middle, but in my imagination her pussy is bare and so damned pink. It glistens with her juices.
She wriggles her ass in the air, groaning even though I’m not inside her.
She’s covered in mud everywhere. It’s wet and slick over her body. Carla peels off her bra. Her tits are so fucking plump and milky white against the brown of the mud. Her dark nipples are tight.
She goes back onto her knees, sticking her ass up high. A clear invitation.
I rub my hand over my tip, finding the pre-cum there, using it to coat my cock. I make a soft groaning noise as I start pumping again; this time, my hand moves up and down my slick shaft.
In my sick imagination, I’m on my knees behind Carla. I grab her lush hips. Then I’m thrusting into just about the tightest pussy I have ever fucked.
I grunt, my hand working my cock faster.
Her tits sway. She’s making these noises, her pussy so snug.
I bite back a hard groan as I start coming, my seed leaving my body in hard spurts. I keep fisting my cock until the shudders leave my body. I slow, finally letting go.
I lean against the tree trunk, trying to catch my breath.
My cock is still hard, but I feel better. It’ll go down soon.
Thank fuck!
I need to get through this, and then I need to find female company again. It’s been too long. Probably as much as two, maybe even three years since I was last with someone.
Far too long.
I’ve deprived myself. That’s what this is.
I stand, push out a deep breath, and then I’m walking through the undergrowth. I need to find food and something to drink. Then I need to get back to Carla…to Flint’s female.