Keystone

by Chloe Adler

  Well then he really won’t like what Oceane had to say about what will happen if Azotar doesn’t leave as promised. Best not to bring that up just now. “I understand but . . . you’re here now and you can protect me in Tara. Once we get back, we’ll tell the others, and together, we’ll deal with Betty. Fair?”

  He cocks his head. “All right, one thing at a time. First, let’s get you dry and into some clothes.”

  God yes. “I’d like that, thank you. But where did you get clothes?”

  “I gathered some things from the castle.”

  The last time I was there, we were being attacked by Azotar’s insipid weather. Where is the fachan now?

  Vasily whistles and Japheth the abada whinnies in response. He lifts his head from across the field, his muzzle dripping. He was drinking from the water cairn, the same natural fountain I drank from before. I almost lost my mind to the want and desire of that crack-water. I take a step toward it, as if it has a hold on me once more, but no, I must resist. It granted me a multi-octave singing range, but next time it could take my voice altogether. Not something I’m willing to risk. Tossing his green mane, the abada trots over and stops in front of me, pressing his soft muzzle into my hand.

  Vasily reaches up and pulls a tightly wrapped bundle off Japheth’s back. Placing it on the grass, he unties it and removes a soft bundle and an elaborate bone-carved sword sheath. He uses the wrap to dry me off and then hands the light strip of cloth to me so I can finish the job myself. Worried about my hair and the frizz factor, I tie the wrap over my head, covering my locks.

  “Whose clothes are these?” I take the pants and shirt he holds out. They are beautiful, made of a light, soft materials painted in rich hues.

  “They belonged to my sister.”

  “Katrina?”

  “No.” His tight curls bounce as he shakes his head. “My other sister.”

  I let the words hang, cold in the air. He’s rarely spoken of his family. When it’s clear he’s not going to add more, I let the subject drop. “Thank you.” He lets me hold on to his shoulder as I don the clothing. When I’m dressed, I let my hands roam down the hard planes of his chest.

  He clutches my elbows, staying my wandering hands. He leans down and captures my lips. I press against him and he pulls me close, guiding my body into his. His hands move to my back, stroking down to my ass cheeks, then cupping them.

  After a long minute he pulls back, his voice husky, eyes at half-mast.

  “Well then, time to go and meet your family.” I force a smile.

  He growls, the sound so quiet that if I weren’t standing so close to him, I wouldn’t have heard it. “I don’t like this.”

  “Why not?”

  “It’s dangerous, unchartered territory and I don’t know how they’ll react.”

  “To me?” I put my hands on my hips.

  “No, of course not. They’ll love you. I don’t know how they’ll react to unbinding Azotar.”

  “I don’t have a choice.”

  “Of course you do.”

  “No.” I shake my head, dislodging the coverlet, which falls to the ground, springing my curls free. So much for hiding the frizz. “I need to do this.”

  “Fine.” He sets his jaw.

  “Great. So what do we need to get there?”

  He swallows. “A synergist,” he points to me, “and the sword that belongs to her.”

  “What sword is that?”

  “Sanne.”

  “But how can that be when no one could wield it until me?”

  He looks up to the sky. “The stars aligned?” Shrugging, he takes a step closer, licking his lips. “You do trust me, don’t you?”

  “Of course I do.”

  “Good, because some of this is going to seem a little weird.”

  “Weird how?”

  He chuckles. “Can you go with it and not ask questions?”

  I bounce up on my tiptoes, circling my arms around his neck. “I can’t promise that but I’ll try.”

  “Good enough.” He runs his hands over my breasts in small, tight circles. My head falls back and he descends on my throat, kissing and licking.

  I don’t understand why he’s so amorous right now but I push the worry away. Maybe this is part of the weirdness. I let my body respond to his touches, shutting off my brain. The petting and caresses increase until he’s kneading my tits and pinching my nipples, rolling them between his fingers through the light fabric. My knees weaken and he strengthens his hold on my breasts until I regain my balance.

  “First we find Sanne, and then . . .” he growls in my ear.

  And then what? But he’s already stepped back and taken my hand. Bending down, he snatches the bone sheath off the ground and leads me over to Japheth, who is eating grass and ignoring us.

  “Up you go.” He grasps my waist and lifts me onto the abada’s back. When I’ve settled myself atop the beast, he hands me the sheath and vaults up behind me, the motion effortless. “Japheth, take us to Sanne.”

  The mount lifts his head, his ears turning backward, the same way a horse’s does. Vasily wraps his arms around me and pulls me close, into a bulge that presses hard against my ass. And then the mermaid-colored steed jolts forward, almost knocking me off as he bounds through the meadow and into the forest.

  During the entire ride, Vasily rocks his hard-on into me. He reaches up to massage my breasts with one hand and the other dips down below. I have to hold the sheath up to grant him access. Fingers move against my clit, pressing and releasing in a delicious rhythm. I rock my hips between his fingers and his raging cock. Why now? Who cares? It feels too good. I lean my head back against his chest, and his hand moves up to slip beneath the waistband of the flowing pants. When his bare fingers touch my wet slit, I groan and raise my hips further to meet his flying fingers. He slides two fingers inside and presses his thumb against my throbbing bud. I almost drop the sword, letting my hand fall to the side of the horse. Vasily’s other hand squeezes my breast, pumping the firm skin with the same rhythm as his hand below. With each thrust he yanks me into his cock, which feels like a pipe pressing into my ass. He rocks me up and back while the abada cantors through the forest. My breath hitches and the sensations build. I fight them, fight myself, fight my body and him. My brain screams no and I bite down hard on the inside of my cheek, drawing blood. But the excitement builds, rocketing through me. I can’t let go. Not here, not now.

  “Please, I can’t,” I gurgle, trying to push away. This feels so good and I’m so close to an orgasm but this is too weird, even for me. His hand shoots from my breast to my throat, pinning me in place against him.

  “You will come for me now. You will come on my hand. You will drench me through these pants. You have no choice but to obey.”

  His voice is so deep, so commanding, hypnotic and it almost pushes me over the edge, but I resist. I clench my jaw and shake my head against his rock-hard chest.

  He plunges a third finger inside. His head drops to my neck again and he licks and bites me there, his hand still wrapped tightly around my neck. I try to hold on but the fight is futile and as soon as he draws blood, I climax, bucking in his arms, slamming the sheath against the abada’s side, causing Japheth to pick up speed. The orgasm consumes me, weakens me and doesn’t stop at just one climax. Vasily keeps me pinned fast against him, sipping the blood from my punctured neck and pumping my pussy until a second orgasm rockets through my body. He growls, grinding his rigid cock into my backside, and his body quakes with an orgasm of its own but he doesn’t let go of me. We come together, his hot cum spurting through his pants and coating the back of mine, warm and wet. He crushes me to him, and the abada slows to a trot.

  Unable to hold myself up after two intense orgasms, I sag against him. He lets go of my neck, both his hands and his mouth, and wraps his arms around me. What the fuck was that?

  Chapter Eight

  The horse creature stops and I force open my eyes, the sheath finally slipping from my gr
asp and landing with a soft thud on the blanketed forest floor. The loke tree rises tall and majestic before us. The forest of Calixto, where I left my sword.

  “Can you sit up on your own?” Vasily whispers.

  I lean back into him instead, finding moisture in my parched throat. “Why didn’t I pass out? You drank from me and yet . . .”

  He runs a finger down the side of my face. “Because you’re getting stronger. And because we’re in Tara. I don’t need blood to sustain me here, only on Earth.”

  “Then why?” I croak.

  “Because I could, without you passing out. Because I love the way your blood tastes. Because you’re mine. You belong to me, Amaya Reynolds.”

  “You and the Stetlers.”

  “Yes,” he growls in my ear. “You belong to us.” He kisses my neck before sliding me forward and dismounting. Reaching up for my hand, he helps me down.

  At the base of the tree is Sanne, just where I left her, sunk deep into the rocky surface, and lying next to her is the ornate sheath I dropped. Vasily picks it up as I grab her hilt with both hands and pull. She slides out like butter and I gawk at her gleaming blade.

  “You’re looking at her with more love right now than you do at me,” Vasily teases.

  Spinning around, my smile falters. “What was all that about? Why did you . . .”

  He puts a finger to my lips. “Shhh. It doesn’t matter. Let me pleasure you. Let me make you feel good.”

  “Um, you just did.” I look up at him, my brows pinched. What the fuck is going on? The bulge in his pants still rages as though he never came at all, except the dark stain and my sticky backside say otherwise. Did he drink something that’s made him into a horn dog who has to keep coming? Maybe he took a magical Viagra. “Vasily, I don’t think this is the time or the place . . .”

  He hands me the sheath, waiting with hands on his hips until I slip the sword into it. Then he pulls me close, Sanne tight between us. Japheth retreats into the forest and Vasily’s hand drops to the wet spot between my legs. He caresses me there. I wriggle uncomfortably.

  “Do you want me to stop?” he growls.

  “I don’t understand how this turned into sexy time. We’re on a mission, an important one. We don’t have time for this.”

  He stops touching me and takes a deep breath. Then he holds me at arm’s length and looks into my eyes. “What if I told you that our mission depended on us making love?”

  I snort. “I’d say that’s ridiculous.”

  “But what if isn’t ridiculous?” He waves his arms around the forest of Calixto. “A year ago, even two months ago, wouldn’t you have said the notion of Tara was ridiculous?”

  He has a point. “Yes but—”

  His lips crash into mine and his hands seize my hips, clenching them hungrily. Then he stops, pulling back again. “So what if it were true? That we needed to make love right now in order to complete the quest. Would you agree? Because if you don’t, I will stop and respect your wishes.”

  I hold up a hand. “Of course I’d agree. You make it sound like it’s life and death though, which makes me want specifics even more.”

  “Historically, sex has always been a way for synergists to access their powers, but only after he or she has had enough planeswalking experience and only with someone they truly love.”

  “What? Why?”

  He shakes his perfect curls. “Why is anything the way it is on Tara?” He shrugs. “The power boost is especially necessary to reach other planes beyond Tara.”

  “And I’m just hearing about this now because . . . ?”

  “It wasn’t relevant before, and I did not want to throw another weird caveat into our midst. You were already absorbing so much about yourself, about Tara in such a short time. But this time, I’m afraid there’s no other way.”

  I take a moment to digest that, then nod. Oceane did say something similar. His hands travel down my body, sparks flying between his fingertips and my skin. Part of my mind wraps around his words but the reality is that his heated touch is far too distracting. At this point I’d probably agree to blowing up the world, if that was his plan.

  He leans in, his breath tickling my earlobe. “Any more questions?”

  I groan and lean into his impressive bulge. “No,” I breathe.

  “Can I take you now?”

  “Oh yes, please.”

  Without another word, he spins me around so my back is to the tree and pushes me up against it. Sanne falls to the ground between us in the process. Hot, wet lips cover mine with a tongue so insistent, so delicious that my senses expand, welcoming the sweet scent of blooming flowers nearby. Lost in the moment, my king picks me up by my waist and sets me on a wide branch above my head. Bending down, he retrieves the sword in her sheath and hands her to me. Then he hops up next to me with the agility of a cat. His eyes drop, roaming over my body. He stands on the branch and unbuttons his shirt, flinging it to the forest floor below. “Also needed is for you to keep hold of Sanne, just like you did when we were on Japheth. Can you do this—for the future of our worlds?”

  I giggle. “Whatever you say, now that you’re half naked and my brain is struggling to grok even simple concepts.”

  “Exactly what I wanted to hear.”

  I lick my lips as he unbuckles his belt, opens the front of his jeans and frees his thick cock. Drool pools in the corners of my mouth and he smiles, watching me watch him.

  “You want to taste me?” he teases.

  “Yes, please,” I gasp.

  “Here, throw one of your legs over the branch so you’re straddling it.”

  My brain freeze clears. “Why? In a tree?”

  “This tree is how we can travel to Juna, together. This particular loke tree’s roots wind magically through space and time, connecting it directly to a long-dead loke tree in Juna.”

  “How?”

  “My beautiful inquisitive synergist.” He bends down, framing my face with his hands, and drags a scorching kiss along my lips. “It was spelled, by my ancestors after they found Juna. It’s how we will bring the royalists back when the time comes. No more questions now.”

  I do as he first asked and straddle the tree limb, securing the sword under one of my legs. He squats between them, dropping to his knees.

  As I look up, his perfect specimen of a cock bobs at the perfect height and I open my mouth to take him in, pre-cum glistening on the bulbous tip. As I lick up his slit, he moans, rocking back, and I wrap my hands around his dick and pull him into my mouth, sucking hard. He pumps into me and I take him, opening my throat to accommodate his bulk and loving every second. I grab his denim-clad ass to pull him deeper. His hands move to the back of my head, and we struggle impossibly closer. His dick thickens in my mouth and more pre-cum drips down my throat. I swallow greedily but he stays my head.

  “Release me.” His voice is gravel. “I can’t come yet.”

  I do as he says and he lies down between my legs, his face level with my pussy. Wrapping his hands around my ass cheeks, he angles the sword up and pulls me toward his face, burying his nose between my legs.

  “You smell divine,” he moans. “Like the most delicious ambrosia in all the universe. I can’t get enough of you.” He bites my pussy through the thin pants, pulling my lips into his mouth and drenching the entire area with his saliva. My cunt throbs, aching for him. He teases me through the fabric, plying my clit like a cherrywood bow across the golden strings of a violin.

  I wriggle my ass, trying to get the pants off but he holds me tightly.

  “Lie back on the branch,” he commands.

  I chance a look behind. The branch is barely wide enough for my body but I do as he says, my arms and legs cascading off the sides. He slips the sword out from under my leg, leaning forward.

  “Lift your head.”

  I do and he slips the sheathed weapon between my head and neck, like a hard roll pillow. Lying back between my legs, he teases my drenched slit, biting and licking through the
thin layer of clothing. A tooth catches on the fabric, snagging it, the distinct sound of something tearing breaking the silence.

  If I weren’t so busy trying not to fall, I’d worry about a hole in my crotch. Instead, I clench my stomach and ass to keep me and the sword balanced on the branch, but with his focused ministrations, my body gives in and I start to slip off one side.

  His strong hands wrap around my ass to steady me but not before an adrenaline rush surges through my core. I reach up to stay Sanne.

  “I’ve got you,” he hums into my bare flesh. His tongue shoots out, through the hole he made in the material, to explore my folds. Writhing on the branch, I reach my arms behind me to hold on to this wild cunnilingus ride. I wriggle my hips, my body stretching toward his mouth. My clit is ultra sensitive and he sucks it with delightful fervor, stopping every few seconds to flick at the swollen nub.

  I gasp and gurgle as the sensations build and I ready myself to come in his mouth. But he stops just moments before I can. I growl and raise my hips up but he resists, climbing up the tree branch and my body.

  “I’m going to make love to you now. Are you ready?” He waits, hovering over me until I open my eyes and hold his gaze, barely registering the bite of the bone sheath pushing into my neck.

  I can’t talk, my throat is tight, and my pussy throbs, so I nod. He presses his cock into the outside of my wet opening, twirling the head around it and I gasp, arching up. Then I remember. “What about a condom?” I croak.

  He leans down and nips my ear. “We can’t use one. Are you okay with that?”

  I look up into his smoldering eyes, heavy with lust, and lean into his swollen lips. “Why?”

  He pulls his head away from my kiss. “You said you trusted me?”

  I nod, trying to pull his face down.

  “I need to hear you say it.”

  “I trust you,” I pant and he gives me his mouth at the same time he thrusts his massive cock into my drenched pussy.

  We buck and move together, me raising my hips, trying to pull him in deeper. His hands brush my hair from my face and his lips lock onto mine. A new sensation floods me. It’s different than it’s ever been before, like a blowtorch igniting my very soul, filling me up until I brim with an explosive, uncontainable heat. Our rhythm builds as we both clasp the other, holding each other up in a torrential sea of lust. My arms wrap around his back, raking fingernails down the dark flesh, and my legs hook around his waist, pulling and urging him deeper. His arms pull me closer too and he arches his back to gain a millimeter more. It’s the angle and push we both need to explode. He comes with a roar, pounding into my flesh with a dark fervor I’ve never known and I claw at him so fiercely that I tear his skin but we don’t care. He pulls both me and Sanne up, sliding her behind my back to pull me against his muscled chest. I clench my entire body, coming with a roar of my own. Our screams fill the forest, echoing off the trees as our simultaneous orgasms tear through every fiber of our united body. In this moment, we are truly one being.