Bastial Frenzy (The Rhythm of Rivalry: Book 4)

by Narro, B. T.

  A tired grumble leaked out of him accidentally as he turned and put his arm over her. “I’m glad you did. Was it nice being with both Rek and Vithos?”

  “Very, but a different kind of nice than this.” She kissed his forehead and then played with his hair.

  Like every other student bed in the Academy, Cleve’s was snug for two people. He could imagine Effie and her sister lying beside each other with plenty of room, but it wasn’t the same for him and Reela. He welcomed the proximity, though, enjoying the smell of her hair.

  “Did Effie ask you what happened when we spent the night together?” Cleve asked.

  “Of course.”

  “So you told her that…”

  “We didn’t lie together? No.” She caressed his ear and ran her hand through his hair, creating a pleasure powerful enough to make him forget pain ever existed. “Let her be curious,” she whispered. “Whatever we do together has nothing to do with anyone else. And it never should.”

  Cleve felt the same way. He gently kissed her welcoming lips. Then he closed his eyes and let his body completely rest with his next breath, his arm draped over Reela as they faced each other. He was ready for sleep.

  But then his eyes opened on their own for another glimpse at her face. Her brilliant green eyes were still open, bright just from the light of the moon. Her lips and body called to him.

  He kissed her again, this time more forcefully. Inadvertently, his hand came to her injured cheek.

  She twisted and grabbed his hand. “That hurts.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault. My damn scar. I hate it so much.”

  He moved the hair away from her face.

  “Don’t.” She turned to her other side. “Don’t stare at it. It’s hideous.”

  “It’s really not that bad on you.”

  “Yeah, in the dark.”

  “It’s not that dark in here. I can easily see the green in your eyes.”

  She rolled to her back and turned her head to look at him. Her eyes ran up and down his face, from his lips to his hair and back again. “You ever still worry about me using psyche on you?”

  “No.”

  She moved so she was snuggled into his side, her head on his shoulder. “Tell me what you’re thinking,” she whispered.

  “I was remembering how I always wanted to tell you how beautiful you are, but I thought my feelings were from psyche. I’d never met someone like you.”

  “You still feel this way about me?”

  “More than ever. Although there was a pain I felt when I was near you before.”

  “Pain? Why?”

  “It was like standing in the cold with the sight of a warm fire just in front of me, but I couldn’t feel its warmth because I couldn’t let myself get close. So I stayed back, freezing and miserable even though all I could think about was getting close to the fire.” He kissed her. “But now I can without being burned.”

  They let their hands take over the conversation. Reela ran her long fingers beneath his shirt and traced circles on his bare chest. His hand enjoyed the curve of her waist. Everywhere he looked along her body, he found beauty. Her eyes were hypnotic and seductive. Her lips were plump and delicious.

  He wanted to feel all of her, her smooth legs, her flared hips, the swell of her full bosom, her slender neck, her sharp chin that was a stunning contrast to the softness of the rest of her body. She molded herself to him as they kissed, and his hands told her how much he desired her.

  “I’ve never met anyone like you,” Reela said. “I don’t feel I even deserve you.”

  Cleve scoffed. If anyone was undeserving of the other, it was him. “If it wasn’t for you, I would’ve left for Goldram still frightened toward my feelings for you. This never would’ve happened.”

  She smiled. “I suppose I did win you over.” She kissed him soundly and smiled with satisfaction.

  “You’ve helped me grow in ways I don’t think you even understand,” Cleve admitted.

  Her smile flattened, her eyes falling down to his lips. She looked expectant.

  “You’re not going to respond?” Cleve asked.

  “Not when I’m waiting for you to kiss me.” She licked her lips in preparation.

  He threw off the sheets and rolled her beneath him, settling into the kiss. When their lips parted, he nuzzled her neck, her shoulder, and just beneath the top edge of her sleeping gown.

  “Even when you’re not kissing me, you still make me feel this way,” she said, reaching beneath his shirt to trace his abs with her nails.

  “What way?”

  “Like I’m hungry to be close to you. To touch you. Kiss you.”

  “I didn’t even know girls could feel that way.”

  She brought her hand to his cheek in a light slap. She held it there as she grinned in a way that made it clear his remark was absurd. “Stop speaking, you’re ruining it.”

  He pressed her into the mattress and took her mouth again in what soon became an intimate dance of lips and tongues. As their passion grew, he positioned himself where his urges were telling him to go, closing all the distance between their bodies. Her hands fisted in his hair. She let out a moan and moved her hips in rhythm with his.

  Then Reela wrapped her long fingers around his biceps and squeezed hard. As they continued to move together, waves of pleasure rippled through them.

  She tried to yank off his shirt. It got caught around his shoulders, and he practically ripped it in his hurry to remove it. She ran her nails up his back and her mouth along his neck. Suddenly he couldn’t stop himself from pushing against her even harder. His hands kneaded her breasts through her gown. He knew where this was going if he didn’t stop himself, and it took all his willpower to let her go and prop himself back up on his forearms.

  He stared into her eyes. She looked right back into his, moving her fingers from his temples to his hair. She lightly tugged him down, and he felt drawn to her again as if he could hear her thoughts.

  She wanted more of him, just as he wanted more of her.

  She slid out from beneath him, quickly sitting up and kissing him. They undressed each other in a hurry, tossing their clothes every which way.

  He paused, allowing his eyes a chance to drink in the beauty of her body. Then he purposefully moved over her again as she ran her fingers lightly from his chest down to his stomach, then surprised him by going even lower.

  She stretched forward to kiss his lips as she explored him, the touch of her hand sending his heart racing wildly as his desire for her chased every other thought from his mind. Slowly they came together, Reela using her hand to guide him.

  Everything that happened between them, Cleve knew he would never forget. The moans, pants, and whispers. The way she threw back her head and shut her eyes tightly. How she clawed at his back and arms. Everything she did made him want her even more.

  The only thing better was when they were sated and she draped her bare leg over him, laying her head on his chest, seemingly lulled by the beating of his heart. He was on the verge of sleep when he heard her whisper.

  “Cleve.”

  He looked into the depths of her emerald eyes. They were glistening as if she was about to cry. He felt ready to melt no matter what she said.

  “Never leave without me again.”

  Suddenly, he had new strength and more desire. He didn’t know where it came from, but he wasn’t going to stop it. He kissed her fiercely as he tucked her beneath him. She eagerly welcomed him into her body again.

  He paused to let her catch her breath and then began to move. She grabbed his hair and opened her mouth as if screaming in silence.

  Sometime during the night, he awakened when Reela sighed and snuggled into his warmth. He was exhausted. Part of him worried she was going to touch him in a way that would make him need her again, while another part of him encouraged the idea.

  Only then did he realize he’d never responded to her words.

  “I didn�
��t even know I could feel this way,” Cleve said.

  She brushed her hand against his cheek. “Are you saying what I think you are?”

  He kissed her as his hand glided down her back. She’d become sweaty from all their passion, as had he.

  “Yes,” he answered. “I want you to come with me wherever I go.”

  Expecting sleep to take him before his next breath, he was surprised when Reela began to kiss him hungrily. She slid her leg over him to climb on top.

  He was about to tell her he was too tired, but then she started using her lips and tongue in a way that aroused him so completely that he was ready for her once again.

  Chapter 26:

  EFFIE

  Cleve wasn’t up by the time Effie was ready to walk to the dining hall. So she sat at the table in the kitchen and let her thoughts take over. The Slugari were joining battle training that day. She was a little nervous about how she would handle training to use the extra Bastial Energy she’d felt in the Slugari colony. Though, she was more excited than anything else.

  Alex usually slept as long as he possibly could and sometimes was still half asleep by the time he made it to Warrior’s Field. At times his group would break for lunch at the same time as Effie’s group of mages. Since the army’s return from Tenred, she always sat with at least one of her close friends in the dining hall.

  Sometimes a mage or two from her group would sit with her and Steffen, or with her and Reela. Other times, Steffen already would be eating beside his own classmates. But Reela didn’t seem to develop the same friendships with any of the psychics in her class.

  How she studied psyche was still mostly unknown to Effie, strangely. She didn’t even know what Reela was like with her classmates or her instructor. Effie assumed Reela wasn’t very friendly based on the looks she sometimes got from other psychics.

  Maybe she’s the same with them as I’ve seen her be with flirting men, Effie thought, easily remembering many times Reela had turned a grinning man into a cursing one.

  She stood at the sound of Cleve’s door opening. He was adjusting his shirt as if just putting it on as he came down the hall.

  “You were waiting for me?” Cleve asked, not pleased.

  Effie shrugged. “Not long.”

  He yawned and opened the front door, waiting for her to go through. He closed it after them, and they started their walk to the dining hall.

  “I’m starving,” Cleve said.

  Effie caught sight of a light bruise on his neck. She poked it.

  “What?” Cleve wiped his neck where she’d touched him, checking his hand and finding nothing.

  “I see you and Reela had some fun last night.”

  He heaved a disappointed sigh. “Is it that noticeable?”

  “No.” Unfortunately, it reminded Effie of the day after Brady had sucked on her neck, the day the traitors were revealed and Marie was killed. She kept her eyes ahead after that.

  There was something about Cleve that made him easy to talk to, at least for her. Alex was the same way. But with Cleve, she wasn’t concerned he would worry about her the way Alex would if she told him of her troubles.

  “Can I tell you something for you to keep between us?”

  “Of course,” Cleve said.

  “When nearly everyone went to Tenred except me, I was miserable, more worried than I’d ever been. Every day I regretted not going with them, overwhelmed with grief at the idea of any of them being killed when I could’ve done something to help.”

  “I know the feeling.”

  “I felt lost as I waited for them to come back, like life was on hold and could never resume if Reela or any of those I’m close with had died. Now that they’re back, I’m relieved, but there’s something else besides relief that’s stuck to me. I’m curious if you feel the same as I do.”

  She noticed Cleve studying her face. She turned to find a concerned expression. “I think I know what you’re getting at,” he said. “And yes, I do feel it now that I’m back.”

  “Like a storm’s coming that’s going to change everything,” Effie said.

  “Yes.”

  “I feel like I’m on the edge of a cliff, about to be blown off. It’s becoming harder to ignore this feeling.”

  “As someone who’s experienced with burying feelings, I can tell you that ignoring it isn’t the solution.”

  “Then what is?” Effie kicked a small rock in their path.

  “Accept it for what it is—a genuine concern.”

  “Then what?” she asked. “How does that change anything?”

  “Once you accept something, it’s easier not to dwell on it. If we didn’t worry at all, then we would still be little children. Each of us has concerns as the next battle approaches. But there will always be a next battle. Our challenges aren’t going to end anytime soon. To worry is healthy. Accept that your concerns are legitimate, search for a solution, and if you can’t find one, then accept things as they are so you can enjoy life while you have the chance. There are too many stories of unhappy people. I was almost one of them…”

  He seemed to stop with something else he still wanted to say.

  “But?” Effie inquired.

  “It sounds stupid.”

  Then Effie realized what it was. “Until you met us, right?” She laughed heartily and slapped him on the back. “Don’t worry. We’re glad Steffen and Terren met during housing registration too.”

  He didn’t object.

  She let her giggles come to an end, already feeling better about the future. Cleve was right, as usual. Reela was next on her mind.

  “So are you going to tell me how things are going between you and Reela?”

  “Good,” Cleve said with a tone as if he wanted to say more.

  “Very good?” Effie pushed.

  Cleve tried to contain his smile. “Very good.”

  After they ate, the weight of the future finally was off Effie’s chest, allowing her to breathe freely. Feeling content, she parted from Cleve to surprise Alex at his house before classes began.

  Letting herself in, she walked on the tips of her toes to his room. He didn’t stir when she entered. She’d heard his deep, even breathing enough by then to know he was soundly asleep.

  Effie removed her shoes and slipped beneath his sheets to nestle under his arm. He was a very deep sleeper, still no movement. A cruel idea popped into her head—she wondered how many of the belongings around his room she could stuff into his underwear before he awoke. It was the only clothing he slept in most days. She swatted away the idea as best she could, closing her eyes and letting the comfort of his warmth bring her close to sleep.

  When she knew it must be close to the time they needed to get to battle training, she kissed him on the cheek hard enough to wake him, barely noticing the feeling of his trimmed beard on her lips anymore.

  His eyes popped open. They closed again as he smiled, stretched, and then took her in his arms.

  “Morning,” he said in a gravelly voice. He kissed her cheek, nuzzled her ear, and began to move his lips down her neck as he rolled her beneath him.

  “You slept through breakfast,” Effie informed him.

  “You’re a better breakfast than food anyway.” He nibbled playfully on her neck, making a smacking sound as if he was eating.

  She laughed and pushed his face away. “That tickles.”

  He interlocked his fingers with hers and stretched her arms up over her head. Then he leaned down and brought his lips to hers. When she felt the familiar kiss, she knew what he had in mind.

  She let go of his hands to touch his cheeks. “No time for that. Battle training starts soon.”

  Effie kissed him again and wiggled out from under him, then swung her legs over the bed and jumped off.

  “Eff,” he called, now sitting at the side of his bed with a serious look.

  He held out his hand. She took it and came close. He stood and enveloped her with his big arms.

  “Be careful with the Sl
ugari, alright? All that Bastial Energy can be dangerous.” He kissed the top of her head.

  “I will.”

  He dressed, and they walked together until Alex needed to turn north toward Warrior’s Field. After their goodbye, Effie thought of a question.

  She called out, “Is Cleve going to be completely lost coming into your group so late?”

  Alex looked back at her over his shoulder. “He’s a show-off when he’s fighting. Some humility should help.” What Alex didn’t see until he turned back was a cluster of Slugari about to pass in front of him.

  He let out a startled murmur that Effie thought she heard as a curse. Then she heard Alex laughing. He straightened his back and put his hand over his chest. The whole group of Slugari veered over to him as he stood stoically. The little green creatures raised their claws to brush against his arm, making him lose his composure and look around frantically for a way out of the cluster.

  Effie backed away nervously. Her mind wasn’t in the right place to control the excess Bastial Energy that would flood her body upon their greetings.

  She jogged to her classroom.

  “The Slugari are close behind me,” she told her instructor.

  “They’re early,” Penny said. “Good. I just hope they brought more than one translator.”

  The rest of Effie’s group slowly trickled in. She was surprised to see Steffen enter and introduce himself to Penny. Soon, her teacher addressed everyone. “This is Steffen. He knows some Slugaren, so he’ll help translate when each of you is working with a Slugari.”

  Some of them already knew Steffen from the dining hall, greeting him as he walked to an empty seat in front of Effie.

  “You didn’t tell me you were going to be here,” she said.

  “Sorry. There’s been too much going on.”

  “Now that everyone is here,” Penny said, “let me say a few things before we meet with the Slugari in the training grounds.” She unfolded a scroll, glancing at it as she continued to speak. “The Slugari greet others by letting BE flow through their claws while grazing you with them. They should already know not to do this to anyone wearing a mage’s robe, but be cautious about it happening anyway. Our group is the only one training with the Slugari today. Depending on how it goes, the other groups may begin training tomorrow. Handling more BE than our bodies are used to is dangerous. We have the same chances of hurting each other as we do our enemies without proper training. For this reason, we’ll begin slowly, gradually building up in a safe manner.”