by Cynthia Sax
Drawn to her, Acon had taken them into her territory. He followed the water until he reached the spring she frequented. Although he did not wish to share her with anyone, he knew his brother’s temperament. Merc would seek her out on his own if Acon denied him. It was preferable that he controlled the young mountain god’s viewing. “If we are quiet and wait here, you will see her.” He crouched down behind a boulder. The rock shielded them. They were made of the same substance.
They did not have long to wait. Acon felt her approach as did Merc. “What the…” his brother whispered. He leaned forward, eyes wide. Acon put a firm hand on Merc’s shoulder. The young mountain god would not touch her. She was his.
Kyma hummed as she walked, her cape swirling around her. It was a joyous tune. Her tread was light. She was happy. Acon’s heart filled with warmth. He had made her this happy. Kyma turned her head from left to right, scanning the forest. She paused in their direction but then laughed as though amused. Throwing her hood back, she bent down by the stream, her hand cupping the water.
Beautiful did not describe her. It was too inadequate a word. She was all the vivid colors of nature rolled into one. The snakes sparkled like jewels on her head. Her face glowed. Her lips parted. Acon wished to be the water nourishing her.
His fingers dug into stone. Stone. Merc gulped air, his skin an ashen gray. Smaller than Acon, he struggled to absorb Kyma’s minerals. “Merc.” Acon spun him around, facing him away from the gorgon. It was not enough. The stone continued to spread. He threw his brother behind the boulder, the thud of rock against rock echoing in the forest.
“Who is there?” Kyma’s voice cried out.
“Merc,” Acon groaned, kneeling beside the mountain god. His breathing steadied. The stone receded. Acon felt Kyma run from them. The blissful waves rolling off her lessened.
“Fuck, Acon.” Merc grabbed his collar, his eyes wide. He looked drugged. “Fuck. Is that her? Fuck.” He grinned.
“That was her, little brother.” Acon sat down with a thump, weary from the close call. “She near killed you.”
“But what a way to go.” The mountain god laughed. “Fuck, that felt good.” Jealousy surged over Acon. He wished to be the sole one to share her gift. “Everest will not give her to the Olympians. He would be a fool if he did.”
“Everest will not touch her.” Acon stood. The thought of Kyma with any other mountain god made him quake with anger.
“He will want her, brother.” Some of Merc’s humor fled from his face. “He cannot help it.”
“She is mine.” Acon clenched his fists. “I will fight to keep her.”
“That is a good thing.” Merc’s head lolled back, his grin again giddy. “Because you will have to.”
Chapter Four
She’d almost killed someone today, an innocent man. Kyma drifted toward the ancient ruins. She had carelessly exposed herself. She should be more prudent. She would tell Acon, her lover, that this could not be.
He waited for her as she neared the trysting spot. He resembled stone, his naked body the same color as the altar he rested upon, and she thought, in that frightening first moment, she had already lost him. She would spend decades caring for his body until the elements ground him into dust. The slow parting would destroy her.
“Is that you, Kyma?” he rumbled, his face turned unseeingly to the sky. The pain eased from her. He lived.
“And if it was not?” She swept back the lock of black hair that had fallen over his blindfold. His face was broad and powerful. He had a nose that was bent at the bridge. It had been broken once or perhaps, she traced down the displaced cartilage, twice. “You would be at the stranger’s mercy.” She outlined his firm lips and laughed as he nipped at her finger.
“I am at your mercy, beautiful.” He made no attempt to move. “The rope is beside you.” He held out his arms, crossed at the fists.
He would be blindfolded and bound. One last loving could not harm him. “I warn you, Acon.” She wrapped the silken bonds around his wrists, pulling them firmly, and tied them in a knot no human could break. “You will be sacrificed to love this eve.” She kissed the skin above the rope. “Raise your arms so I may inspect my offering.”
He was laid out in naked splendor, his hands tied, his eyes covered. She discarded her cape and leaned over him. The tips of her breasts brushed against his warm skin and she sharply drew a breath. He was a warrior: hard, masculine, and dominant. She touched his square chin. Without questioning her motives, he had given his power to her.
She would not abuse his trust. She kissed him, a whisper of lips against lips. She had never kissed a living being before. It was an intimate gesture. He opened his mouth and she probed deeper with her tongue. He tasted of the earth, natural and wholesome. She was not the only one affected by him. As they kissed, her snakes caressed Acon, rubbing their soft scales over his cheeks and forehead.
She nibbled, following the thick vein beating along his neck. “Kyma.” His chin buried in her living curls, pleasing her snakes. They hissed with happiness, tumbling over themselves to touch him. Kyma smiled. He had been right that first night. They were perfect for each other.
She licked the hollow between his pecs. He squirmed, chuckling softly. “Ticklish?” she asked, delighted her strong lover had such a foible.
“Impatient,” he corrected but there was levity in his voice. “You say I am the sacrifice. Will I be teased to death?”
“Mayhap, wretch.” He twitched as she playfully pinched his flat male nipples. “That is for me to decide.” She soothed the pain with her tongue. Distracting him with her mouth, she slid her palm over his rippling stomach to his engorged cock. It jutted out like an Egyptian obelisk, proud and magnificent.
She dipped her fingertip into the dab of precum at the tip and swirled it around his cockhead. He bobbed in appreciation. “Do you like that, lover?” He groaned, the sound like rocks tumbling down a mountain face. “Should I assume that is a yes?” She circled his shaft. In the light of dusk, he was the color of granite. That excited her even more. He was her man of stone, her living statue, and she wanted him. She pumped his cock while his chest rumbled.
She could see his muscles twitch as she touched him. He had no unsightly hair upon his body. His balls were smooth and hard, like large water-washed pebbles. They retracted against his body. As she tasted them, sucking one, then the other, into her mouth, her snakes rubbed against his cock, licking him with their forked tongues.
“Kyma, love, I cannot last.” He shifted.
Love. There was a popping sound as she released his balls. No, she had misheard him. She was a monster. He could not love her. “Not yet, Acon.” She wrapped her hands tighter around his cock. “For I wish you to come inside me.” She climbed upon the altar and straddled his thighs. Kneeling, she positioned him between her pussy lips, and sank down. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head. The gods, he felt good.
He looped his joined hands over her head, down her shoulders, until they rested on the small of her back. “We are connected, beautiful, joined at the hips and bound by the rope.”
More than that connected them. Kyma stared down at his clenched jaw, his trusting face. She would remember this moment forever.
“Your sacrifice begs to be taken.” He pushed up with his hips. She tightened her legs around him to prevent being dislodged.
He begged to be taken. She held his sexual fulfillment in her hands. Kyma kissed his broad chin, moving in an undulating motion on top of him. She slowly rocked, her pussy muscles squeezing and releasing him in a continuous caress. “You are killing me, goddess.” The rumble from his chest increased in volume.
She was killing both of them. His throbbing shaft was a tuning fork in her pussy, setting off tremors. They rippled inside her, building and building. She fucked him faster, her breasts slapping against his hard chest. The stinging pain accentuated her pleasure, driving it higher. She panted with effort. She needed it harder, faster. She couldn’t.
&nbs
p; She dug her fingers into his shoulders. “Acon, I need --” Although she couldn’t find the words, he knew. He answered her call, thrusting up, taking her deeper.
The controlled squeezing became fervent spasms as her orgasm overtook her. “Acon!” she cried out, arching her back.
“Kyma,” he boomed, coating her womb with wet heat.
Leaves rustled close to them. Before her brain could interpret the noise, she was flat on her back beside the altar, Acon’s body covering her. “What?” She struggled.
“Shhh…” He pressed a finger to her lips.
She stared up at him. The remains of the rope dangled from his wrist. The blindfold circled his neck. Yet he was alive. He peered around the altar. He had not turned to stone. How could that be?
She froze in horror as a girl skipped by, a flower wreath upon her head, a basket in one swinging hand. Acon pressed Kyma’s face into his chest, his body warm and comforting. Five seconds earlier and the child would have been another victim of the monster. “I am a monster.” She trembled, in shock over what had nearly occurred.
Acon held her to him. His lust for her had put her at risk. She wouldn’t have forgiven herself if she had killed the girl. He wouldn’t have forgiven himself if he had caused her that grief. “You are not a monster.”
“I am. I almost…” Her head was bent, her eyes hidden from him.
“You did not.” He cupped her chin, raising her face. “And if you were truly a monster, you would have killed her and not regretted it.”
“I have killed, Acon.” Straight white teeth abused a full bottom lip. He wanted to kiss that fretting mouth.
“I have also. I’ve killed many.” When he was a young mountain god, he had unwittingly set off landslides, covering entire villages. Sometimes in the night, he could still hear the screams. “Yet I am not a monster. I am a warrior, and I have a weapon like a sword or ballista, only it is more deadly. Your weapon” -- he curled one of her snakes around his finger -- “is as powerful but much, much” -- he grinned as her locks reached out for him -- “more beautiful.”
“Beautiful,” she repeated, wonder softening her voice. Had no one ever called her that before? “Why do I not affect you, Acon? Who are you?” She gripped his arm. Around her fingers, his skin hardened. “What are you?” Her eyes widened.
He smiled. Others feared him, but not his Kyma. “I am of the Ourea. I am a mountain god, made of stone, and my home is across the sea in a land of green jungle and endless summers.” He would take her there, make love to her in his waterfalls, lie with her upon the fern-covered floors around his base.
“The Ourea.” Long dark lashes fluttered. “You fought the Olympians. You are creatures of legend.”
“As are you, Kyma.” He raised her hand to his lips, slowly and meticulously kissing each fingertip. “You make men hard.” He sucked on her baby finger. “You make this mountain god very hard.” He pulled her hips against his, his cock prodding her stomach. Seeing her face had shortened his recovery time tremendously. It boded well for those snowcapped nights.
His gorgon blushed. It was an endearing sight. “Only you would wish to be that hard.” She spread her fingers over his chest. “We have to be careful.” She dropped to her knees, her mouth a breath away from his cock. “You stand watch. I will remain hidden.”
He hungered to taste her, to eat her sweet pussy. “Kyma, I…” His words fled as she brushed his cockhead with her lush lips.
“I have dreamed of doing this but never dared.” She stretched out her tongue while she looked up at him, brown eyes sparkling. Gods, she made him crazy. Minerals flooded his body as she licked his sensitive shaft, her gaze not leaving his. “You taste of sea-sprayed stone, salty and wet.” Acon struggled to control himself.
He shuddered when she took him into her mouth. Her snakes caressed his thighs and stroked his balls like hundreds of flexible fingers. His cockhead tapped the back of her throat. She could not take him all but it was enough. If not for the minerals strengthening his legs, he would have collapsed with gratification.
She released him, licking along his cock. “I have seen the humans do this many times and wondered why.” She swirled her tongue along the slit at his tip. Snakes twined around his shaft. “Now I know. It feels” -- she tilted her head, and the snakes tightened their hold -- “powerful.”
“It feels wonderful. You feel wonderful. You are wonderful, so beautiful.” He was babbling like a mountain stream. He snapped his mouth shut.
“I am not done.” She wrapped those luscious lips around him. Her mouth was hot and wet. Her head bobbed as she worked him. Fingernails dug into his ass. He rumbled at the joy of it. Needing to touch her, he ran his fingers through her living curls. They hissed happily. She groaned, the sound vibrating his cock.
“I’m going to come,” he warned her. She didn’t withdraw. She sucked, drawing him in deeper. “Kyma!” he yelled as he shot hot cum into her mouth. She swallowed again and again until he was drained. “Gods.” Lightheaded, he fell to his knees beside her. “I lied. You are a monster, a cock-sucking monster.” She laughed, and he pulled her to him.
Chapter Five
Kyma woke to thunder. “What is that?” She sat up, lifting her hood so she could better see. The sky was blue. Not a single cloud blocked the morning sun.
Acon flopped an arm over his eyes. “Brothers,” he groaned. He lay naked underneath her.
“Brothers?” The ground shook around them. Birds squawked. A tree limb fell. “It feels like an earthquake.”
“Their doing.” Acon sat up, reaching for his tunic. His eyes were dazed. His hair stuck to one cheek. Kyma smiled. Her lover was not a morning person. “They are trying to get my attention.”
“Gorgon!” The roar ripped through the air. The slate they lay upon split.
“Our attention,” Acon corrected, wincing. “We should talk to them before they sink the island into the sea with their bellyaching.” He stood.
“We?” She curved her fingers around his giant hand, suddenly afraid. “What do they want from me?” How had they known about her? She watched the expressions on Acon’s face as he debated with himself. What was he not telling her?
“I was to capture you.” He scowled into the forest. “My brothers had the fool notion to trade you for a seat on Olympus.” Pebbles were pulverized under his boots.
She was a political pawn between the Titans and the Olympians. Pain sliced through her. “You would…” She couldn’t finish the thought.
He stopped short. “That is not going to happen, beautiful.” Dark brown, almost black, eyes glared down at her. “I give you my word. When I agreed to that plan, I had not met you. I did not know…” Kyma’s breath caught. “I did not know.” He continued walking, his grip fierce on her hand. “Now I do.”
He loved her. Kyma glowed with happiness. He did not have to say it. She knew. She had a lover and her lover had brothers. She would have a family, a family she couldn’t kill. Could she? “Your brothers, are they like you? Do I need?” She tugged on her hood.
“With the smaller mountain gods, yes.” His mouth curled upward. “You are too much woman for them.” His words were smug.
“But not for you.” She laughed, hugging his strong arm between her breasts. He did not lack in confidence.
A tree toppled over. There was cursing. “Merc, Kyma. Kyma, my little brother Mercedario,” Acon drawled.
“Not so little.” A handsome young man stumbled onto the path. “And beautiful women…” His face twisted. “Beautiful monsters…” He flushed. “You may call me Merc.” He bowed and promptly fell over.
“That was a graceful introduction, brother,” Acon murmured. Kyma watched, amused as he picked the young god up by the scruff of his shirt and dusted him off. It was clear to her that Acon cared greatly for his brother. “I take it Everest has arrived.”
“He has.” The boy nodded, shaggy black locks flopping over his forehead. “And he is in a foul mood.” Acon walked on and Merc trott
ed beside them, snapping branches off as he passed. “He wanted to know why you have not captured the gorgon. No offense meant.” Merc turned to her, his mouth rounded in dismay.
“None taken.” She was glad her face was hidden by her hood. The boy was adorable. “I am a gorgon.”
Merc flushed bright red. “The most beautiful gorgon I have ever, ever --” He smacked into a branch.
How did he know what she looked like? “It was you at the spring.”
“Not alone. I was with him,” Acon confessed. His neck was also red. “That is the reason you are in one piece.” They’d spied upon her. Kyma drew herself up, offended. “It was wrong, but I made the mistake of calling you beautiful and he wished to see you.”
“You truly think I am beautiful?” Some of her indignation melted away.
“I know you are beautiful.” Acon squeezed her hand. “So Everest is pissed?” He turned to Merc.
“Yep.” The boy jogged back to his big brother’s side. “I told him that he may be bigger but you are the better fighter. You will do with the gorgon as you see fit and there is nothing he can do about it.” There was hero worship in Merc’s brown eyes.
“That must have put him in a better mood.” Acon’s words were rich with sarcasm. He stepped onto the pebbled beach. “Oh, shit. Everyone is here.”
“Aconcagua,” a warrior boomed. They were all large, tough males, the shortest only a couple inches smaller than Merc but the leader was the largest of the grouping. The silver-haired giant with a face as cold as ice stepped forward. “Did you bring the gorgon?” The pebbles rattled with his approach.
This god wanted to trade her. Kyma slid behind her lover. Acon wouldn’t let her hide, pulling her forward. “Her name is Kyma, Everest, and she is mine.” Her pussy moistened at his declaration of possession.
