by Eric Vall
I trailed my fingertips over the crests of her pale shoulders, smoothed my palms up and down her long gorgeous legs, and traced along the valley of her toned back. She shivered and tucked her head under my chin so we were pressed together as much as possible. Her ears and hair were feathery soft against my skin, and the smell of summer storms tickled my nose. I eventually lost the battle of self-control and burrowed my face into the dark cave of her neck. Then I teased her flesh with my tongue so I could have a taste of where her fresh scent was the strongest.
“Alex,” she panted as she brought my hand up to squeeze one of her full breasts.
I swiped my thumb over her peaking nipple and gently bit down on the soft skin where her shoulder met her neck. She mewled, and the sound went straight to my groin.
Which of course was the moment when the carriage finally rolled to a stop in front of the manor house, and Rylan jumped down from the driver’s seat.
We just managed to spring apart and fix our rumpled appearances a second before the door opened.
“Ah, thanks, Rylan.” I cleared my throat and hopped out of the carriage.
I offered my hand to Zoie, and she floated down from the cab as cool as a cucumber. I, on the other hand, struggled to stand comfortably with an erection that could probably hammer nails.
Thank the Goddess for long tunics.
“Why don’t you stay the evening, Rylan,” Zoie suggested when the boy refused to lift his eyes from the ground.
“I’m not sure it’s a good idea,” Rylan murmured with a sad shrug. He twirled his foot in the dirt, but he didn’t protest further.
“We have plenty of rooms, a carriage house, and even stables for the manapillars,” Zoie said in a casual tone as she caressed the soft white fur of one of the horse caterpillars. It waved its fuzzy antennae with a musical trill, and Rylan couldn’t help but smile as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue carrot thing for the beast to eat.
“But what about Asher Gordos and Vel-Rala?” Rylan asked as his smile faded.
“Don’t worry about them,” I said and patted his back. “If you don’t want to stay, that’s your choice, but at least come in for a moment and rest. You probably didn’t get a chance to eat, and I’m sure Arvid has something cooking in his kitchen.”
Rylan thought for a moment as the manapillar continued to crunch on its snack, and when it was done, the boy brushed his hands off and bowed deeply to the both of us.
“Thank you, Lady Zoie, for what you did, I will try my best to repay you what it cost to make up for my mistake,” he said, and then he straightened back up. “And thank you, Asher Brightwood, for saving my life yet again.”
“Rylan, you gotta stop calling me that, buddy,” I said and chucked him lightly on the chin with my fist.
He laughed out a little sob and suddenly wrapped his arms around my waist in a quick hug.
“Thank you for being so nice to me, Alex,” he sniffled and pulled back before I had a chance to react.
“Any time,” I chuckled as I ruffled his brown hair.
“I’ll put the manapillars up for the night,” he said as his usual bright smile returned to his face. Then he jumped back up to the driver’s seat and waved his hand.
Zoie and I watched him ride down to the carriage house next to the gates.
“I swear that kid is a walking magnet for trouble,” I muttered and turned to Zoie with a tired grin.
Zoie’s ocean storm eyes locked onto mine with a sudden intensity that had the smile fading from my face, and she held my gaze for a heartbeat before she practically jumped into my arms.
I caught her around her narrow waist as she twined her fingers through my hair and kissed the life out of me.
“Alex,” she said between kisses.
“Wha?” I managed to grunt. I could feel my higher thought processes evaporate like smoke under the hot-blooded desire in my veins. My pulse thundered, and I struggled not to take this gorgeous creature immediately on the first hard surface that presented itself.
“Alex,” she repeated through a moan as I licked a stripe up the side of her swan-like neck. “I am still under the Mourning Rite for one more day.”
“Oh.” I paused as her words parted the fog of lust in my brain. The reality was like an icy shock, and I placed her feet back on the ground. I went to pull away, but she held me fast in her embrace.
“No, what I’m trying to say is, I don’t want to wait any longer for you,” she said and twisted the hair at the back of my neck. “I don’t care about observing the Rite anymore because… because I…”
“I know, me, too,” I said and brought her in for another heated kiss. “I’ve wanted you from the moment I saw you, Zoie.”
My wife let out a trembling breath, and she ducked her eyes away from mine.
“You s-s-still have a chance to send me b-b-back,” she stuttered to a nervous stop and clutched my shoulders. “I’m trying to please you… I… I want you to be my husband. I will honor you, I will bear you strong children, and I will work tirelessly to grow this humble estate to one you can be proud of.”
“I want you to be my wife, too,” I said and pressed another kiss to her forehead. “I think I fell in love with you the moment I saw you, but my feelings have only gotten stronger since learning how wise and loyal you are.”
“Then follow me, and I will pleasure your body,” Zoie said in a breathy voice and led me to the manor by my hand.
Zoie took me around the side where a potted urn concealed a hidden entrance to the second floor. It quickly became clear she was taking me this way in order to avoid running into anyone else in the manor, and I was grateful for the fact because the urgency to finally be with her took up all of my remaining brain power.
When we finally reached my room on the third floor, I couldn’t help myself from slamming the door and kissing her furiously up against the hard wood.
She gasped in surprise as I lifted her up, and her legs wrapped around my waist. It was the perfect leverage for me to grind against, and I growled low in my throat as arousal sizzled through my blood.
I’d never felt this turned on before in my life, and at this rate I wouldn’t even last before the main event, so I twirled us around and walked us over to the big four-poster bed.
I laid Zoie down onto the moonlight drenched sheets, and I took a moment to survey her as she stretched out before me like an offering.
She gazed up at me with her pupils blown wide, and she worried her bottom lip between her teeth. The silvery light through the window wove through her midnight locks, and alabaster painted the hills and valleys of her body like some priceless work of art. The silver inky swirls on her skin shimmered, and I realized the designs were supposed to represent the scales of a fish.
“You are so beautiful,” I murmured as I undid my armored belt and dropped it onto the floor along with the sword and shoulder armor.
Zoie smiled at me and sat up. Then she slowly reached behind her and divested herself of the mini concealed sais and scabbards from the small of her back. She stowed the ceremonial weapons on the side table for safekeeping, reached behind herself again, and undid the top of her dress.
The blue fabric fell away like rose petals and revealed the swell of her perfect breasts and pale pink nipples. With a smirk, she tossed the top to the side and beckoned me closer with one finger curling toward her in a sexy “come hither” fashion.
I made sure to put my Duelist Stone and herald core safely on the other table, shucked off my tunic, and then knee-walked toward my prize on the bed.
Zoie hooked the waistband of my pants with one finger to draw me closer, and then she undid the lacing that tied the front. With her eyes smoldering into mine like coals, she dipped her hand down the front of my breeches and explored my hard length with her soft fingers.
“Fuckkk,” I hissed as my eyes rolled back in pleasure, and I guided us both back against the pillows with my body sheltering hers from above.
From there,
it was similar to the dancing we did earlier that night. There was hardly any communication with words between us because our bodies were so in tune with one another.
I could sense her excitement in the way her skin broke out in chills when I slowly drew the skirt down her legs. I asked her a question in the way I stroked my palms down her thighs, and I waited for her to adjust to her vulnerable and naked state.
After a moment, Zoie answered me by surging up and pulling me into a hungry kiss that made my head spin like the decadent wine from the gala. I traced my callused fingers down her soft belly, and then I dipped them between her silky pink lips and found her soaking wet.
“Alex, something… I feel…” Zoie tried to gasp and moan in between me circling my middle finger around the most sensitive area of her velvety tunnel. She thrashed her head from side to side, and I couldn’t help but claim her tempting neck with small nips of my teeth.
“Put your hands in my hair, baby, and let go,” I said as I encouraged her to twine her fingers through my curls.
And then, with hot open-mouthed kisses down her soft belly, I reached my destination and tasted the moist flesh of her pussy. Her nectar was delicate and musky at the same time, and I explored that small hidden entrance of her tunnel.
“Uhhh!” Zoie grunted and twisted both hands into my hair when I made my tongue do what my fingers did earlier, only this time I alternated between circling clockwise and counterclockwise across her clit. This put her even more on edge, and she kept lifting her pelvis up in a silent plea for more friction.
“That’s it.” I surfaced for a moment just to give her a second to catch her breath and come back down to earth.
But I was greedy, and it really was only a second before I dove back in for more.
“Ah! Oh, Goddess! Ohhhhh!” Zoie’s knees clamped on either side of my head like a vise as her first orgasm suddenly ripped through her.
I held her as she sobbed and quaked until her muscles lost their strength, and her legs fell to the sides like the petals of a lotus. While she caught her breath, I rested my cheek against her lower belly, and I stroked her hip with my thumb as she floated back down to her body.
“How do you feel?” I whispered after a few moments.
Instead of answering, Zoie tugged me up the length of her body so she could devour my mouth as she tried to shove my pants down at the same time.
I groaned and helped her remove the bothersome fabric until my pants were down far enough where I could free my cock.
“Please…” Zoie begged, and then she then hiked both of her legs up around my hips, and I gripped myself at the base so I could slowly sink into her velvety heat.
“Ohhh… fuckkkk…” I groaned as soon as her pink pussy lips sucked in my tip. She was so wet, but her tunnel was tighter than I could have ever believed, so I had to back out a bit and then slowly push in another half inch before pulling it out again.
Zoie whined each time my cock moved inside of her, and it was the most wonderful sound I’d ever heard.
When I was almost fully sheathed, I paused and hovered over her as the intensity of her walls around me almost pushed me over the edge. We panted together as we both adjusted to the feeling, and I took sipping kisses of her beautiful mouth to keep the flames banked but still crackling hot.
“How does it feel?” I whispered into her ear.
“Amazing,” she sighed as her body finally relaxed under me, and then she pulled my hips closer with her hands. “You can thrust into me… I think I can take it. I want it. Please, Alex. I want to be your wife. I want you to love me.”
I didn’t need any more encouragement than that, so I gave a few experimental thrusts.
“Ohhhhhh…” Zoie mewled, and I nearly went crazy with desire at the sound.
Her body was singing underneath mine, and we quickly found a natural rhythm where we bucked and writhed together in the sheets as my cock slid in and out of her grasping and hungry tunnel. My heart was pounding so hard inside my chest I thought it would explode, and my vision narrowed down to the sensations coursing through me and the delicious wet sounds our bodies were making.
It was wonderful, and it felt like we lasted for an hour struggling for our bodies to become one.
“Alex!” Zoie finally gasped, and I felt the incredible feeling of her tightening around my shaft.
“God, Zoie,” I moaned out as the approaching tide of my orgasm grew. “I’m going to…”
“Yes, inside me, Alex!” she chanted as she met me thrust for thrust. “I want you to fill my womb with your seed! Make me pregnant! I’m your wifeeeeeee…”
Zoie raked her nails down my back when she climaxed, and the exquisite feedback loop of pleasure and pain as well as her desperate words caused me to come so hard I saw stars and felt like the room was spinning.
And it was probably the best orgasm I’d ever had.
My balls and cock tightened as if they had just been kicked, and then my first release felt like I was pitching a fastball.
“Oh, Alex!” she shouted through her second orgasm as I buried myself deep inside her, and I felt my body spray a second, third, and fourth spasm of cream.
Zoie’s tunnel continued to squeeze and grasp at me while my sperm filled her up, and both of our gasps and shouts turned to growls as we bit each other’s shoulders while we came. Her body trembled as I cradled her close so we could both ride out the intensity of our shared climax. Then I rocked us together in short shallow bursts to savor the sensations, and this had the added benefit of sending Zoie through a series of pleasurable aftershocks that made her sob out my name on every gentle spasm.
After we both came down from our highs, I settled myself down on top of her with my head nestled between her soft breasts. My cock was still hard and deep inside of her, and her tunnel felt like a warm sauna of our mixed juices. It was delightful, it was wonderful, and it was the best part of my new life.
I was overwhelmed with the feelings I had for this beautiful cat-woman who was now my wife.
Zoie played with my hair in the contented silence as I drew idle patterns in the crease of her elbow. The silver ink was smeared from our combined sweat, yet I could see goosebumps rising on her porcelain skin every time I traced a sensitive area.
“Alex,” she finally whispered in a thoughtful voice.
“Hm?” I mumbled.
Her hand in my hair stilled. “Would you do something for me?”
“Of course, always,” I said and licked a little at the salty sweat drying on her tummy.
She squirmed and then brought my head up to kiss me playfully on the nose. The movement caused my cock to drag across the inside of her tunnel, and we both gasped with pleasure.
“I’m serious.” Zoie exhaled after her pleasure, and her eyes deepened into those troubling storm clouds.
“What is it?” I asked.
She cupped my face with both her hands, and her fathomless blue orbs poured into mine.
“Will you kill Asher Bala Ren for me?”
Chapter 8
“What?” I blinked at Zoie.
To be fair, I was exhausted from the insane party, and I was still pleasantly floating in the after-glow of a great orgasm, so I figured I had to have misheard her.
“Yes.” She nodded as she gave me a small smile.
“I’m sorry, but I thought you just asked me to kill that prick Asher Ren,” I said as I sat up so I could talk to her better.
Zoie gave me another solemn nod. “That is what I asked of you, yes.”
“I-- but--” I closed my gaping mouth and started again. “Okay. Why?”
Zoie sighed and sat up so she could face me as well, and I brought her legs up over mine and supported her with my palms at the small of her back. This way we could sit on the bed and talk eye-to-eye without breaking our intimate embrace.
“I told you earlier my being Varthan has its disadvantages, and you wanted to know why.” She gently stroked her hands up and down my sides as she thought a
bout what to say next. “On Vartha, commoners are born into military camps and trained as warriors. Sometimes the valuable looking-ones are sold to the Traders and then auctioned off. My sire taught me to fight, but my mother raised me to speak well and have poise. That way I could catch the eyes of the Traders, and then I could maybe be sold to Duelists who decided they didn’t want any of the wives or concubines they inherited in a successful Duel.”
“Yeah… Jenner mentioned something like that, and you kinda told Vel-Rala I’d do… whatever to her after I killed Gordos? Can you explain it?” I could tell this wasn’t the easiest topic for her to discuss based on the little furrow that bunched up her brow, so I gathered her a little closer.
“It’s true a successful Duelist has the right to take whatever assets he deems worthy from a triumphant Duel,” Zoie said as she snuggled deeper in my embrace. “But they get to pick and choose because not all assets will improve their status. They don’t have to take everything.”
“And it would just be more mouths to feed in the long run if a Duelist just took everybody,” I added.
“You are correct.” Zoie nodded with a smile, but then her smile dimmed somewhat. “But the winning Duelist could also just sell them. He can do whatever he wants with the old one’s estate after he wins. The Asher who lived here before was named Old Kel. His wives all died, and he figured he would lose to Dagmar, so Old Kel sold all his concubines, which meant Dagmar had to go and buy a wife after he killed him.”
“And so he bought you,” I said.
“Yes, Dagmar had to settle for a Varthan brought in by the Traders because he couldn’t afford to purchase someone with a more… refined background,” Zoie explained as her lips thinned.
“You seem very refined to me,” I muttered.
