Chapter 14
Chapter
Fourteen
Leda
I woke slowly.
My head was still fuzzy from the drops Bokkan had given me for the pain. My arms ached and burned where Venna had clawed me.
Still, I felt better than I had when Bokkan put me to bed.
I couldn’t believe I let him help me wash my back and braid my hair, much less carry me to bed, and tuck me in as though I was a child.
No one had taken care of me like that in decades.
In the deepest part of my heart, I liked how it felt when he took care of me.
I liked not having to worry about anything but being in the moment.
It was still a bad idea to let my guard down around him. Not because I still didn’t trust him, but because I couldn’t let myself get attached to him. In the short time I was around him, it was clear he was honorable. Kind. Strong. Caring.
If I wasn’t trapped in a realm that wasn’t my own, with daemons that viewed me as a pet at best or a sexual plaything with no rights at worst, I would want to explore that. I would want to see if the chemistry between us was as combustible as I thought.
It didn’t even matter to me that Bokkan was a completely different species than me. As alien and terrifying as he was, he was still beautiful.
My thoughts turned to seeing him naked in the bath. Yes, he was a work of art. My nipples throbbed at the memory. I rubbed my thighs together, wishing the pressure would relieve the ache inside my body, an emptiness that needed to be filled.
My body heated, and I threw the blankets off, trying to cool down. A trickle of alarm moved through me because I knew the fire had died down and the room should feel too cool. The worry was quickly swept away by another throb of arousal.
My hands fisted in the sheets as I tried to resist the urge to run them over my breasts and down my belly between my thighs. I didn’t just want to come, I needed it.
Panting now, I couldn’t stop myself from touching my body. My hands cupped my breasts, squeezing and shaping them. My nipples were hard and so sensitive that even the scrape of the shirt against them was nearly too much.
Without underwear, I could feel the wet gathering between my thighs.
I left one hand on my breasts, and the other smoothed down my stomach to the bare skin of my hip.
My breath hitched as my fingers trailed across my flesh to my pussy.
The tip of my middle finger skimmed over my clit.
The touch sent a bolt of sensation through my body.
God, why was I so sensitive?
I circled my clit with a light touch and squirmed on the mattress. When I dipped my fingers lower, slipping two inside my body, I could feel how wet I was. Wetter than I’d ever been before.
My back arched as I pressed my fingers deeper and pressed my palm against my clit. I could feel the twitch and pulse of my inner muscles, as though I was already on the edge of an orgasm.
The alarm bells in my head came back. I’d never felt like this before. Sure, I’d been horny, even desperate, but never to the point that I felt like I had no control over myself or my body.
As my thoughts raced, I heard heavy footfalls in the hall. Bokkan’s footsteps. I knew the cadence and weight of his strides by now. He was coming back into the bedchamber. I couldn’t let him find me like this.
I tore my hands from my body and rolled off the bed.
My skin heated further, and I had to bite back a whimper at the sensation of my nipples rubbing against the shirt I wore.
I managed to make it to the bathing room and shut and locked the double doors behind me just before the bedchamber door opened.
My chest heaved as I hurried to the sink and turned on the water. Cursing silently, I washed my hands with soap and icy cold water. Then, I splashed the chilly water on my face and neck, hoping it would cool me down.
There was a light knock on the door. “Leda? Are you well?” Bokkan asked.
I was too caught up in my wildly careening thoughts to realize how strained his voice sounded. How the low, rough timbre had grown harsher and deeper. Almost a growl.
“I’m okay,” I called back. “Just woke up a little overheated.”
I braced my hands on the counter on each side of the sink and stared into the mirror in front of me.
My face was flushed, and my hair had escaped my braid, the wavy strands wild as though I’d been tossing and turning in my sleep.
My beaded nipples were obvious beneath the thin white shirt, and my inner thighs were slick from the arousal still gathering between my thighs.
Sweat dripped down my spine and between my breasts as my body grew hotter.
I couldn’t go out there like this. The whimper I’d suppressed earlier rose in my throat and escaped before I could stop it.
Bokkan’s voice drifted through the door. “I know something is wrong, Leda. Please let me try to help.”
The ache in my pussy and abdomen sharpened, drawing another soft sound from me.
“I don’t want to upset you, but if you don’t answer me, I’m going to have to unlock the door and come in anyway.”
He was right. There was something wrong. And I needed help. I just wasn’t sure what kind. Or if any of the daemons could help me. It didn’t seem like they understood much about human physiology.
Trying not to think about the throbbing in my lower body, I moved to the double doors and unlocked them. I only opened one of them a crack—just enough to peek through with one eye.
Bokkan’s tense face stared down at me. He appeared worried, but he also looked the way he had that morning when he woke up with me on top of him. As soon as the door opened, he inhaled deeply and the edges of his black eyes glowed red.
I knew then that he could smell what was happening in my body. That he knew I was desperately aroused.
“Something’s wrong with me,” I whispered. “I woke up so hot and…” I couldn’t say the words, not with him staring down at me with the heated expression on his face.
“Needy,” he growled out.
I nodded. “This isn’t normal for me,” I admitted. “Or for any human woman I know. It’s like I have no control over my body, and I ache…” I paused. “Inside. I ache inside.”
I heard the scratch of claws against wood as his hands gripped either side of the wide door frame.
Before he could respond, there was another knock. This one on the door leading into the hall.
“Master, is Mistress Leda all right?” Masu called.
Bokkan closed his eyes and took a slow breath. “Would you be willing to talk to Masu about this? She understands a bit more about humans since she’s worked around your kind before. If not, I will call a healer here.”
I really, really didn’t want to talk about this with anyone at all, much less the imp, but I had no choice. I couldn’t go on this way.
“Okay,” I agreed, opening the door wider so I could slip out of the bathing room.
Bokkan pushed away from the door frame and walked to the outer door of the bedchamber. Then he opened it and gestured for Masu to come inside.
“It appears something is happening to Leda,” he said.
Masu’s eyes moved over me before she sighed. “Oh, dear,” she murmured. “I’d hoped this wouldn’t be a problem, but it appears I was wrong.”
“What’s a problem?” I asked, trying to focus on the imp rather than my desperate need to hump someone or something and find relief from the painful emptiness between my legs.
“The tincture for pain. It is safe for humans, but some of your kind will sometimes have a bit of a… well, reaction to it,” she explained. “It, uh, increases your desire to fornicate.”
I snorted at her words. “I wouldn’t call this just an increase,” I retorted. “I feel like I’m losing my mind. Like I have no control over myself at all.”
She frowned. “I am sorry, Mistress Leda. While it does sometimes happen, it’s not common. I didn’t expect it to affect you since you didn’t seem affected by the same herb in the food I’ve been making you. Including the dinner I made last night.”
“You gave this to her last night as well?” Bokkan asked.
“She’s been eating small amounts of it since she got here,” Masu answered with a shrug. “It’s drifen. It’s used in nearly every dish I make. In fact, it’s used everywhere here.”
“Then why is it only affecting her now?”
“Maybe because it’s concentrated in the tincture and mixed with other herbs?” Masu suggested.
That made sense. I’d been feeling attraction and arousal around Bokkan almost as soon as I got here. Just not to this extent. Was that why? Was it because I’d been eating this herb and not because I was just plain ole attracted to him?
“Is there anything I can take to counteract this?” I asked, interrupting their back and forth.
Masu shrugged. “I am sorry, Mistress Leda. I do not know. I can send a few messages to other household imps I know that work with humans and find out. I am afraid that it may be tomorrow before they reply to me.”
I let her answer soak in before I asked, “Is there anything I can do to help this…” I swallowed hard. “Feeling end faster?”
She nodded, which gave me hope. Until she answered, “Find a male to pleasure you.”
I felt all the blood rush to my face so suddenly that I thought I was about to faint. My eyes darted to Bokkan. “Um, could I talk to Masu alone for a moment?”
“No.” The abrupt answer was accompanied by the daemon crossing his arms and scowling down at me.
“Bokkan, I just need to ask her a question, and I’d like some privacy when I do.”
He didn’t move.
Rolling my eyes, I took Masu’s arm and guided her over to the fireplace. I knew his acute hearing meant he would still be able to eavesdrop, but it made me feel a bit better.
Leaning closer to her, I whispered, “What if I, uh, pleasured myself? Would that help?”
“I don’t know. But why in the gods’ names would you want to do it yourself?”
If my face got any redder, I figured my head would explode. “Because I’m not comfortable letting any of the males here touch me like that. Or touching them like that.”
Masu’s eyes slid over to Bokkan. “Really? None of them appeals to you?”