Chapter 19
Elpis
The beast hovered over me while I panted into the soil, lifted my hips, and spread my legs per my instincts’ demands. The male caressed my back slowly, almost reverently, before curling his fingers and raking down it. I felt no cutting, only lines drawn by razor-sharp claws. He was so brutally powerful, yet so tactful. I shuddered and a trail of my arousal streamed down a thigh.
The male took a sharp intake of breath, and I heard the rustling of clothing being removed. His warm mouth returned to my ear, sending small puffs of smoke to mingle with my foggy pants. “I’m the one who caught you, female. I’m the one who gets to mount you. I state my right to claim and mate with you. Here. And. Now,” he uttered with a husky, guttural growl, dragging a single claw down my spine to graze over the folds of my sex. Gaping at the rush from his declaration, my body responded by igniting my libido. A wave of lust rippled through me, and I shivered violently, already trembling from the cold air.
A strong male wants me! I moaned low in my head, barely able to think more than simple, primal thoughts .
I must have spoken aloud because the male responded in my ear. “One of the strongest. An absolute dominant,” he asserted in a rougher, superior tone as he wrapped his arms around my torso and flexed. I sobbed into the dirt and continued presenting, dying to have one of the strongest pick me. For his protection, I’d give him everything.
Pick me! Choose me!
He bit the back of my neck to keep me still and slid his warm hands to anchor on a breast and the curve of a hip. He groped and squeezed my flesh, groaning erotically into my spine. The noise sent a jolt of pleasure down my back to pool into my core, and I cried out in carnal need. I dug my fingers in and tried to encourage him to mount me, shifting my hips over to where he was. He growled at my provocation, released my neck, and yanked me off the ground.
I felt a lurch and squealed to find we’d left the ground. The male landed on a moonlit ledge, and I whimpered in fear at how high we were. I looked around, and there was no path down to the ground. The only escape from this male was to leap to my death. This meant he’d chosen me.
The male placed me down on a pile of his clothes, and I landed on all fours. I scurried away from the edge, but he held me in position so we both faced the expansive view of the starlit mountains. He leaned over me and murmured, “At ease, female. You’re under my protection now. My wings are your wings.” He licked up my neck, and I whined louder, desperate to be mounted. My body was a swollen, heated mess, and I was painfully in need of relief. “Time to let me in…” he groaned, lapping at my neck and panting in turn.
He widened my already spread thighs and tilted my hips toward his. One fist gripped my hair like a rein, and the other hand slid two clawless fingers down through the folds of my sex. I gasped and tried to back up into him, but he deftly spread me and slid his fingers into my channel. With deeply anchored fingers, he pushed his wet hand forward to keep me in place. I moaned at his invasion and jerked slightly, wiggling my hips to temp more from him than his fingers.
“Ahh.” He hissed and pulled his fingers from my heat. “Dripping. Your nectar’s everywhere,” he rumbled in approval, and I heard a slick rhythmic sound, like he was stroking something with his wet hand. He tightened his grip on my hair, and a broad, unyielding object pressed against my sex. When two fingers parted my folds to allow its entry, I felt a tightness at my sex’s opening, and my entire body tensed in nervous anticipation.
“Loosen, female. Let me in,” he growled and caressed my bottom suggestively. He massaged my inner thigh, but my sex clenched instead of opening. “I refuse to hurt who I mate.”
A palm came down on my bottom, slapping me lightly enough to startle me. I bucked in surprise, but the split second my body relaxed from the scare, the male squeezed past my entrance. Heat rolled through my body, and I twisted my torso in euphoric arousal. I felt my body release more slick so it could further encourage the male’s entry. His hands flew to clasp the handles of my hips and wrench me back to meet his next thrust. Assisted by my wetness, he slid in another inch, and I scrabbled at the stones on the cliffside to find an anchor, overwhelmed by his descent.
“Look. At. You. Ta-king. Me. In!” he grunted, slipping deeper with every syllable. Electricity sizzled down my arms and belly at his admiration. My abdomen clenched, and my core tightened around him. He cried out in pleasure and lurched forward to bury himself to the hilt, forcing a guttural noise from my throat. I shuddered and pawed at the ground, whimpering at the fullness of his sex. It was a massive, long rod, fully embedded in my abdomen to establish its territory. Even its broad girth was pushing my limits. I pressed against his hips, his groin, and rubbed encouragingly. My body was on fire, and I needed him to finish the claiming.
“Oh, you need more. I know, I know,” he snarled and adjusted his hips. His sack rested heavily between my thighs, and I continued to press and rub against him. “I’m the one to fulfill your heat. Only me. Do you understand?”
I whimpered and ducked my head.
“Only me! Is that clear, female?” he snapped, and I nodded enthusiastically. “Good…” he whispered and rubbed my bottom tenderly in approval. I moaned loudly and sensually at his warm touch, shivering additionally from the cold. He growled and traced his claws down my goose-bumped back. I felt him angle differently as he leaned slightly one side, and the crawling vines nearby were engulfed in flames. It wasn’t enough to warm me completely, but it took the edge off the chill. Either way, I was focused on the scorching heat of his hands on my back, his thighs behind mine, and his sex within me.
He adjusted his grip on my hips and slowly began to pull his thick cock from my channel. I lamented at his departure, and as his head slid along my inner flesh, my core clenched to try to keep him inside me. He growled and jerked back, then rocked forward to plunge inside again. I gasped at the pleasant surprise, thrilled to have him returning. He repeated the motion until he was gliding smoothly, and it wasn’t long before he was swiftly sliding in and out to the edge. Every pump into me stoked a flame, and I became more and more lost to instinct.
I could have easily been pushed forward by his forceful thrusting, but he kept me safely in place. I didn’t know if I was shocked or terrified staring off the cliff’s edge because everything but pleasure and lust was drowned beneath my hormones. Every slam of his hips made me lurch forward, seeing more of the ground when all I wanted was to see more of him. So far, I’d been focused completely on touch and sound. When I turned my head to look at the male behind me, I moaned at the sight.
He was glorious and god-like. His short, tousled locks swept forward with each thrust, and his muscles were covered in a sheen of sweat, highlighting every sculpted curve with agonizing sharpness. His neck was corded from his exertion, and his pecs and abdomen constricted just before his hips came crashing into me. The bulk of his biceps and forearms drew taut and worked feverishly to give me what I needed. His body spoke for him and told me it’d provide.
He glanced up when he noticed I was watching and growled softly between grunts and pants. A drop of sweat trickled down his clenched jaw, and his provocative eyes flashed in the dark, catching just a razor’s edge of moonlight. He subtly showed off his elongated fangs and huffed out a lick of blue fire. I didn’t know how I could tell, but I knew he was trying to show me that he could possess me more than other males. Deeper than other males. More completely than other males. Arousal crashed into my belly, and I cried out to him, still keeping our gazes locked.
I want him, I want him, I want him! my mind screamed in a frenzy.
The male reared his head back and hissed out a burst of blue fire. I watched the swell in his throat bob as he tilted his head down to stare heatedly at where we were joined. He glanced back up at me through dark, furrowed brows and growled more aggressively. His hands dug in, gripped me tighter, and slammed us together.
I had to turn back and maintain my grip on the ledge because his thrusts had become almost violent. The slaps where his hips collided with my bottom grew louder and wetter, and I started wailing from the pleasure of our primal act.
“That’s it, that’s it, that’s it,” he snarled as he ravaged my heat and ravished my body, his thundering raising by the word. “Perfect. So perfect. So perfect for me!”
Yours, yours, yours! I chanted in my mind.
He sped up, sliding along my gripping channel until he hit the very end of my depth. I bucked at the sensation and braced myself for the onslaught. A roaring cry exited the male’s mouth, and he began to thrust harder and faster than I thought possible, bottoming out with every pump and tensing until his excited quivering rattled into me. He lifted and tilted my hips so that every slap rolled into the apex of my sex, making my eyes snap shut from its intensity. I gaped at the blooming sensation and petals of pleasure slowly unfolded until all were unfurled.
My head tilted upward, toward the silent sky, and I sobbed as an orgasm rolled through my body. The male yanked my torso up so I was arched against him, and with one hand on my hips and the other on a breast, he slammed in several more times before he shouted one last carnal roar. His wings snapped around us in his spilling of seed while our bodies rocked with pleasure. He released a strangled, euphoric cry, and his mouth crashed down onto my neck, sliding to where it met my shoulder. He bit savagely, and through the severe pain of piercing fangs, I gasped as a smaller wave of pleasure rushed through my orgasm.
With a mouth on my neck, he pumped his hips in time with my quaking, delivering his thick promise. His seed was hot! It was so hot! It flooded my channel, and for a moment, I thought I’d been scalded. There was no pain though, only pleasure. I moaned and tossed my head, feeling my muscles milk him until he was spent. He massaged my breast, and his other hand slid up my body to wrap around my waist. In a sensual change, his groans became softer moans, and his hips pressed gently against my butt, as though he was savoring our last moments locked together.
A moment longer, he clung passionately to me and wrapped us a little tighter in his wings. I was surrounded by him; he was everywhere—inside and out. His grip loosened, and he pulled his hips back, allowing his heavy cock to fall out of me. Some of his hot emission trickled down a thigh, joining my desire and sweat, but I didn’t think anything of it. We were done...
The male spoke from behind me but not to me. “Fuck… Toast...” He hissed as he traced a finger over my neck.
I was still in a haze but managed to mumble, “What?”
“Later,” he said with a sigh and buried his face in my hair while trying to catch his breath. He helped me up slowly and lifted me into his arms as he prepared to get us back to our campsite. I was glad for it—mine didn’t feel like they’d work with how much I had braced myself. He looked around, made sure the fires he’d lit had died out, and jumped from the ledge, flapping enough to land gently on the pine needles and grass.
We returned us to our site, and I nearly passed out on his chest, exhausted from what felt like a fever dream. The campfire blazed under his stoking, and I found myself being dressed, though not before my thighs had been wiped down. I was too tired to wonder why he was upset, wincing as he regarded me, and just wanted to go to sleep. He pulled me tight when we lay down to sleep but still seemed hesitant. Everything was fine. We’d mated… Everything had gone according to plan. Right?
Sir Keyon
Elpis was fast asleep against me, and all I could do was repeat the memories of the last… hour? Two hours? I could honestly say I’d lost all sense of time during our reproductive collision. When I’d awoken earlier, I was terrified to find Elpis missing. Even Toast went into a full-blown panic over her disappearance. He’d been doing so much better and now seemed to care about her as much as I did. We were equally beside ourselves.
I scrambled to my feet to find her and had been thunderstruck by her lingering scent. I knew immediately that she’d gone into heat, and she was fucking missing. That scared the shit out of me, and I raced to follow her potent trail, crying out her name.
The stronger the scent of her and her pheromones became, the more I sensed something getting tugged at within me—something ancient and primal that was between Toast and me. It was like a melding of us both, but at the same time, it was something completely new. Perhaps it came straight from where the absolute dominance had been residing within Toast.
I wasn’t quite sure, and it almost hurt my brain to try and pick it apart. Perhaps it wasn’t meant to be deconstructed. We were still a singular shifter—one individual between the two of us.
It overwhelmed my senses to the point where I hadn’t been able to hear Toast, and it roused a roar from my lungs to warn the fleeing female that I set my sights on her. The tugging turned into clawing, and I knew then that its escape was imminent. The emerging instinct gave me a burst of energy, and the essence of my dragon saturated my veins. It provoked my fangs and claws, encouraging me to catch my female and latch on until she let me claim her. If I was forced to wear her down first, then so be it.
I growled in excitement when I finally caught sight of her. Lust flooded my system at the sight of her bare, bouncing flesh. She seemed to be afraid and confused in her race for freedom but also excited. Had she known I was in pursuit? Had she been challenging me to catch her—to mount her? I grinned ferally, knowing in that moment that there was no female who could outrace me. In my overstimulated mind, I saw her as particularly weak but judged that her fertile, luscious body was made to be mounted. When I scented and saw evidence of her readiness drip down a thigh, I snarled at the call of her sweet nectar, and saliva flooded my mouth. My chest, abdomen, and groin clenched in agonizing arousal, and I felt like my entire body ignited.
When she finally gave up and fell, I slid to a stop and decided to enjoy her dance of need in the grass and pine for just a moment. She was tortured by her heat, and I was the one to corner her. My control slipped when she groped her own soft breasts, and my fangs itched viciously to release their venom.
I vaguely remembered stripping and speaking into her ear while she presented herself for mating. I wasn’t even certain who came up with the words that left my mouth. Likely me, but the memory was such a haze. I remembered teasing and groping her heated flesh to coax bestial pleads from her soft lips. She wanted a strong male to protect her, to choose her, and that was exactly what she was about to get from me, for I’d pick no other. I latched onto her with my jaw to goad her further. I savored her begging, and her shifting her hips to get me to mount her was so fucking beyond erotic that I completely lost the last ounce of my control. In less than a heartbeat, I snatched her off the ground.
That dragon instinct drove me to pick a perch where she couldn’t escape so I could rut her, as my mind had put it. I picked the best view of the landscape to show her my attention to detail, to prove that I would give her the finest nest for our offspring with the finest view.
I nearly chuckled at a particular memory where I’d deeply regretted not having my hoard of treasure to show off. I was so surprised by how ridiculously ancient that instinct was. Either way, in that moment, I was certain that being an absolute dominant was way more than enough.
I glanced over to stroke Elpis’s hair in her sleep. She was dead to the world and rightfully so. She deserved to rest for a week.
I’d ridden her like crazy… finally able to have sex again and with my fated mate. That was a fucking dream come true. The pleasure was incomparable, absolutely unimaginable, and I nearly finished multiple times while I was inside her. The poor thing received me at my hardest for her first time, and only Elpis could get me that large—like after I’d removed her chastity belt. I held back another chuckle and played with a strand of her shiny hair. It nearly glowed now in its luster.
Thank the gods I hadn’t hurt her. I’d been so worried about my unyielding girth, even in the midst of my lust. I looked for blood after we’d mated but found none. Not every female had a significant hymen, and Elpis must have gotten lucky. She probably would have failed the rot that was the ‘virginity test.’
You should try to sleep. We’re running off adrenaline at this point . Toast’s voice meandered into my head.
Toast… I can’t believe you made me mark her. What were you thinking? I asked, too tired to sound accusing.
It’s not permanent… It’s a partial mark. I didn’t inject deep enough. You were too far gone to hear me. I’d just come up with a solution to deter other males a bit… that’s all, he defended. He was unnervingly calm. Had us mating with Elpis settled him somewhat?
So you took control. I cannot believe you had the balls to do that while I was fucking her, I replied, almost shaking my head in amazement. How the fuck did you pull that shit off? That’s miles beyond your comfort zone.
That… instinct grabbed me as much as it did you. I just had more control because I’m our dragon half… he explained. Her pheromones completely exposed our primal drive. It was… incredible. And you can call me ballsy, but you’re the one who came in her.
I sighed and grimaced. I lost... control. To go from a sex drought to a fated mate was... overwhelming. I was surprised she didn’t comment on that… She probably expects the incompatibility to spare her. I have to say, I’ve never been more torn on hoping she’s a dragon.
All I have to say is… why would the Moon Goddess pair an absolute dominant with an incompatible mate? It doesn’t make sense. She must be one of us. We really need to keep an eye out for signs of pregnancy, Keyon. Keep her safe.
We’ll... We’ll find out. I just hope she forgives us for marking her.
Partially. Partially marking her. Just enough to mark our territory. We can always finish it or redo it later.
Gods… so much to explain to her.
I made an effort to sleep then, unable to shake the exquisite images of our pulsing, writhing bodies until I was fast asleep.
I woke around the same time Elpis did. She rolled toward me and rubbed her eyes while I stretched a stiff wing and took a deep breath, feeling anxious as soon as I recalled last night. I needed to tell her about th —
What. The. Fuck! Toast said, borrowing my profanity for whatever disturbed him.
What’s wrong? I asked sleepily, trying to spot what Toast had seen through my gaze. My eyes fell on Elpis’s neck.
It’s gone… Toast pointed out, aghast. It’s fucking gone. My partial mark is gone! What the fuck? Where’d it go?
I pushed her hair back to get a better look while she blinked tiredly at me. Nothing. No fang marks. Her skin was pristine. I didn’t know why, but I felt deeply… something-ed. Offended? No, that couldn’t be it. Emasculated? No, still felt pretty fucking masculine. Robbed? Yes… I was loath to say it, but perhaps I felt a little robbed. I frowned as my fangs itched to lengthen and do it properly this time.
“Are you ok?” Elpis’s soft voice asked. I looked down to stare into her shiny, clear eyes. Her hair and skin glowed this morning, and she looked healthier than ever. Her pretty face tugged a smile out of me, and I think for the first time, I had to truly fight a magnetic urge to plant my lips on hers.
“Yeah… Yeah, I’m fine,” I said and ran a hand through my messy hair instead of kissing her. I turned and blew out a breath, not sure if I was relieved about her neck’s unexpected purging of our mark. It was possible she would have seen my marking as overstepping. Still though—as Toast had put it—what the fuck?
I reluctantly released her from under my wing so she could rise and get ready for the day. I slowly realized that she was still releasing the same pheromone, but it wasn’t as strong. Unfortunately, I was not immune to it and had to do some controlled breathing to calm my libido. I scrubbed my face with my palms and growled. This was going to be a challenge. I’d have to make an effort to stay upwind of her.
When Elpis returned, I asked, “How are you feeling? Are you sore?”
Blood rushed to her cheeks, and she shook her head. “N-nay… I’m all better. I’ve been healing faster as of late. ”
“Your beast is probably the cause. She must be strong!” I said with a grin, feeling deep pride in my female’s inner strength. My enthusiasm made her smile, and she packed her bag, showing she was ready to go. I handed her a ration bar, and she wrinkled her nose.
“Nay, thank you… not very hungry,” she said and looked expectantly up at me. “What’s our plan?”
“Like I said last night, we’re taking care of you,” I said, poking her playfully in the shoulder. “Would you like to find this witch and let me beat up your enemies? I’ll do it for free.”
She laughed and pivoted on the balls of her feet to swing shyly. Her mood became solemn. “Ah… I fear that they’ll come for me eventually. If... If I was worth buying only to sacrifice, I can’t imagine they’ve forgotten about me. I still can’t process it,” she said, her expression growing haunted. “It’s possible, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to shake that shadow. It looms.” She shuddered and looked over her shoulder for just a second. “I’ve learned so much and have been held back in a cage for so long. I need to catch up to my life. I feel so far behind everyone else. I don’t know if that makes sense, but it makes me anxious.”
“It makes all the sense in the world,” I said, laying a soothing hand on the shoulder that she’d just looked over in fear. I dearly wished she could feel the bond and receive my comfort. In her dark, concerned eyes, I saw her woes and craved easing them all.
She glanced away, flustered. “I’m… driven to learn more, but I can’t expect you to come with me. You have s—”
“Elpis, we’re past that,” I said in earnest, bending down to look her straight in the eyes. She flushed more and leaned back a bit. “We’re going to get your answers and crush your foes. I’m following you to the ends of the earth, and from there, we’ll fly, alright?”