The Heat of the Hot Spring
Sammy
He had planned this. One hundred percent without a doubt.
I knew it the moment the trees thinned and the slight sour scent of sulfur hit me. The breeze carried the aroma of minerals. A steam rose from the land just ahead.
I stopped walking. Guruk did not.
He continued three paces ahead before realizing I had fallen behind and turned to look at me with an expression of innocence that he had in no way perfected.
“You planned this,” I said, arms crossing over my chest.
Berry hopped down from Guruk’s shoulder as if sensing the shift in my mood. Guruk answered without apology, “The hot spring is along the route.”
I shook my head. “The hot spring is along a route.”
Guruk snapped his fingers. “Indeed! The route we’re taking.”
I narrowed my eyes as Berry placed their tiny paws on my shins, sending warmth to flow through me. I did not relent. “The route you chose.”
He tilted his head. “Is that a problem?”
I opened my mouth. Closed it. The steam drifted through the tree gap in a lazy curl, warm even from here. My feet, which had been increasingly vocal about their opinions over the last several hours, made their position on the matter quite clear.
“No,” I sighed, with what remained of my dignity. “I suppose, it’s not really a problem.”
His grin, slow and unrepentant, lifted the tusk on his right side.
I held up my hand in warning. “Don't.”
He said nothing. Blasted orc, didn't need to. He turned back toward the spring with the serene expression of someone who had won and was gracious enough not to say so. I followed him through the trees because I was not, as it turned out, capable of being annoyed at a hot spring.
The gap in the trees revealed a wondrous sight.
A natural pool, maybe twenty feet across, nestled into a shallow rock basin with steam rising off the surface in soft spirals.
The water had a faint lavender hue from the minerals.
So different from Earth, yet familiar in its warmth.
The rocks around the edge had been made smooth from years of use.
Dark purple moss crept up the far side in thick, velvet patches.
Somewhere nearby, water trickled, an overflow channel feeding downhill into the valley.
“It’s beautiful.” The word was an understatement, but I had no others.
Berry made a pleased sound next to me, and then sprinted for a flat, sun-warmed rock nearby to curl up on. Their three tails wrapped around themselves in a tight spiral, and with the most adorable yawn, they fell asleep.
“A comfy corner,” I said, smiling at them. “Very on brand.”
Guruk had already set down the bags and was producing, from the depths of the canvas supply pack I had objected to and then benefited from every single day of this journey, a folded blanket, two cups, and the tin of calming tea from Petalor’s apothecary.
Like a magician, he set a small pot of water to heat over a fire built with the efficient speed of someone who had done it ten thousand times.
I sat on the blanket and peeled off my boots.
The ground was warm beneath my bare feet. With heat rising from below, the rocks nearest the pool radiated something deep and constant. I pressed both palms flat to the earth and felt it hum back. Quieter than the singing meadow. More...intimate.
My cheeks heated as I glanced at my gorgeous orc. I cleared my throat and asked, “Does this place have a name?”
“Hmm. The elders call it the Syrena Spring.” Guruk settled beside me, close enough that his arm pressed against mine. “The name is older than the village. No one knows who gave it.”
“Syrena? Like serene.” It fit perfectly. “Yeah. I can feel why.”
We sat for a while without speaking, which was its own kind of serenity. Guruk poured the tea and handed me a cup without asking if I wanted one. He always knew when I wanted one even before I did. I wrapped both hands around the ceramic mug and watched the steam rise off the pool.
The tight, low-level hum of anxiety that had lived behind my sternum since Berry’s signal pointed east loosened. Not gone. But not the urgent pressure either.
“I want to go in.” I set the cup aside and reached for the bottom of my tunic.
“Then we shall.” He stripped off his linen shirt, revealing every ounce of his sculpted chest to my gaze. Sunlight reflected off his teal-green skin.
My mouth watered as I pulled my tunic over my head and set it to the side. “You planned the stop. Did you also plan for us to swim?”
He reached into the canvas bag and produced two folded towels.
I stared at them, laughing internally at his antics. “Guruk, you packed towels?”
A glimmer sparked in his mint-colored eyes. “We were always going to need them.”
I smiled. “You packed towels specifically for this.”
“The towels have multiple uses,” he said with gravity. “They are a general supply item.”
I took the forest-green towel decorated with sunflowers from his grip. His strong fingers grazed mine. Then, he reached for the drawstring of his pants and pushed them down over long, muscular thighs. He wore nothing underneath.
I sucked in a breath.
Standing fully nude, he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. His voice was low as he asked, “Ready?”
Before I could answer, he jumped in. The resounding splash covered my bare feet and the bottom of my leggings.
“Hey!” I chided. “That’s no fair.”
Guruk broke the water, smiling that toothy, tusk-framed grin. “What is that expression, you say? Last one in’s a rotten worm?”
I huffed and stripped off my leggings. Then, quickly made work of my bra and panties. It was my orc’s turn to be flustered.
Easing into the hot spring, I kept my gaze locked with his. “It’s eggs, my orc.” When the water covered me to the waist—and I was close enough to reach my mischievous male—I shot him a seductive smile and said, “And this is payback.”
With as much force as I could muster, I waved my arms like a windmill and splashed him.
His deep laughter shook the spring. “Now, you’ve done it.”
Ten minutes into a splash battle later, and we were both panting.
“I yield.” The big softy held up his hand.
I pounced on his back, circling my arms around his neck and my legs about his trim waist. “You admit defeat?”
“Yes, yes, little one.” He grabbed me gently by my biceps and spun me around so that I was pressed against his chest. “I am yours.”
My heart beat hard behind my sternum. Those simple words could knock the breath out of me. But I didn’t need words; I needed him.
“Guruk,” I said, a plea as desire swept through me.
His mint eyes darkened to a deeper hue, a cross between teal and sapphire. His scent wrapped around me, permeating my senses, a smoky campfire essence that was uniquely him. I grabbed the back of his neck and pulled his head down. His lips crashed into mine.
He snaked one hand through my hair and tugged at the nape. I moaned.
“You’re mine,” he growled against my mouth.
Guruk lifted my upper body free of the water until my breasts were in line with his seeking tongue. I nearly jumped out of the spring as the cool air hit my heated skin. Then he was on me, sucking and licking with abandon.
I cried his name. It only urged him on in his pursuits. His seeking fingers circled my clit at the same time he took long, deliberate swipes of his tongue across my right nipple. My hips moved restlessly in the water, greedily needing more.
I yanked hard on his hair, forcing his head up. “Take me, Guruk.”
A fire lit in his gemlike eyes. “With pleasure.”
He flipped us in the water so that my back was cushioned by the earthy moss of the spring’s ledge. Positioning me where he wanted me and drawing my legs around him, he lined up his thick cock. He smiled far too proud of himself, but I didn’t care. He asked once, “Ready?”
The question mirrored his earlier one, heating my blood. Unable to speak, I nodded.
With a smooth, fierce stroke, he plunged inside. I never tired of my orc stretching me open. The fit was so tight that I screamed every time. Yet the bite of pain mixed with the headiest pleasure I’d ever known.
“Yes!” I cried so loud surely every creature in the forest heard.
Guruk quickened his pace, the water splashing all around us.
I met his thrusts with equal desire. Seeking my mouth once more, he tightened his grip on me. I fell apart as his tongue touched mine and his cock kissed the deepest parts of me. A moment later, he roared his release.
Breathing heavily, I slumped against his chest. He hummed quietly, his lips brushing the top of my head. For a few minutes, we simply held each other in the beautiful spring. The sunlight shone on the water, making it sparkle around us. His heart beat matched my own. I sighed.
He stiffened and gently placed his finger under my chin to tilt my head up. “What is wrong, my little human?”
I smiled and tried to hide my churning thoughts. This breath of time with my orc was perfect, a stolen moment in the midst of my inner storm. But…
“My Samantha,” his voice pitched low as he eased from my core and shifted me into a bridal carry, “you may tell me anything. You know this, yes?”
“I’m just,” I snuggled closer to his chest, my arms sliding around his waist, “I’m scared for my friends.”
Guruk didn't move. Didn't change his posture or his expression. He just held me close, one arm under my knees and the other a stable force at my back. He waited for me to take things at my pace.
“It’s my fault,” I bit my lip. “I did this.” The guilt gnawed at me like an ancient beast. It was equally old, stemming from the trauma of foster homes and losing my found family.
“I could tell you otherwise.” He stroked my back, warm and reassuring. “I could give you all the reasons why you should let go of this guilt, but only you can free yourself, my heart.”
“I…,” my body trembled. I knew my orc was right, but shadows were a hard part to let go of.
I spoke my biggest fear aloud, hoping to purge myself of it.
“I’m scared of what we find at the falls.
Because right now, not knowing…well, they could be okay.
Any of them could be okay. Mako and Tia, Abby, Robin, and Valeria, and even Raine, even my absolutely maddening frenemy Raine!
They're all still possibly fine somewhere in Havenlore, and we just haven't reached them yet.” I exhaled, the knot in my chest a tight ball. “Once we get to the falls and find out what’s there…”
A bird flapped its wings overhead. I looked up for a second, then snapped my gaze to my orc .
“What if they’re not okay? What if we don’t find them?” I sniffed. “Or what if it’s worse?’
Guruk held me impossibly tighter as if he could pour all of his strength into me. “Hope says they are okay. Fear says they might not be.” He kissed my forehead. “You are carrying both. No matter what we face next, you hope and fear because you love them.”
I pressed my lips together hard.
“And for what it is worth,” he continued, his voice dropping to the register he used when he meant something with all his heart, “I believe they are okay. Havenlore is not a cruel world. It may be odd to you, and it has its darknesses, but it does not tend toward cruelty.” His hand found mine under the water.
“To whatever end, the falls will give us something to work with. And we will do this together.”
“You don't know what we’ll find,” I said, swiping at stray tears.
“No.” His free hand pushed mine away. He wiped the moisture from my cheek with the unhurried care he brought to everything that mattered to him. “But know I will be beside you regardless of what we find.”
I turned my face into his palm.
The heat of the water and the heat of him were indistinguishable.
“Okay,” I whispered into his hand. That with a touch more strength, “Okay.”
The tug of his fingers beneath my chin was gentle. When I looked up at him his expression undid the last of the remaining tightness in my chest.
“Sammy,” he said, in the voice that made my name into something permanent.
And then he kissed me with infinite care. We made love, slower this time, with the affection that grows between two people over time. The spring held us in its warmth, and everything else could wait.
The light had gone pink at the edges of the sky by the time we climbed out.
Which was significantly less graceful than getting in.
The rocks were slick, and I misjudged a step and grabbed Guruk’s arm at the same moment he grabbed my waist. We stood there reorganizing ourselves for longer than strictly necessary because neither of us was in any hurry to be further apart than we had to be.
“My graceful human,” he observed with obvious sarcasm.
I huffed. “Well, I didn't fall.”
“You did not fall,” he agreed, with the gravity of someone awarding a significant honor.
I took my towel, resisting the urge to swat his naked backside, and hid my smile in it instead.
He wrapped his around his shoulders and reached to pack the items we’d left ashore.
I sat back on the blanket, wringing out my hair and feeling, for the first time since we had left the village, something close to rested.
Not done worrying. Not finished being afraid of what the falls might hold.
But underneath all of that, I was…steady.
Berry stirred on their rock, blinking, and looked between us with the air of someone returning from sleep and rapidly assessing whether anything had changed.
“We’re okay, Berry.” I waved at them reassuringly, shocked the little florin had slept so long, and especially thankful they hadn’t awoken during Guruk’s and my more, ahem, spirited activities.
They chittered once and tucked their nose back under their tails.
Guruk caught my eye, and we shared the brief, helpless smile of two people who had been quietly outmaneuvered by a florin and accepted it.
“Tomorrow,” I said, stretching out on the blanket and watching the first pale stars appear. I stifled a small yawn. “Next is the market right? How far?”
Guruk laid beside me. His body heat a blessed warmth as the sun set. “A few hours, if the path is clear.”
I nodded. My notebook was in my bag. For once I didn’t reach for it.
Some things didn't need to be written down.
Some things were better left exactly as they were, warm and unhurried, the steam still rising off the pool in the darkening air, Guruk solid beside me, Berry snoring softly on their rock, the spring holding all of it quietly in both hands.
I pressed the memory flat in my mind like a wildflower between pages.
Then I closed my eyes and let the night come.