Of Ashes And Sin_A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance

by K. N. Knight

  “And we’ve barely started yet,” Oran quipped. We all laughed, and now things felt relaxed. I was no longer awkward at being in such a horny, needy state in front of them.

  I was still wearing my pants, I discovered, as Rael slipped them down my thighs, quickly followed by my panties. Then I was standing naked, surrounded by three huge men. It was very hot, ultimate wildest fantasy hot.

  I gazed at them languidly. “Am I the only one who gets naked here, or are you all going to strip off, too?” I demanded.

  They didn’t need to be asked twice. Three sets of clothing were discarded in seconds, revealing three huge, rock-hard cocks. I reached for them instinctively, taking one in each hand, before dropping to my knees and placing my mouth on the third. They gave sighs and groans of appreciation and a fresh surge of desire tore through me. Once I’d tasted each of them, they lifted me up and carried me into the back of the wagon. It was very dark and I soon lost all awareness of who was touching me or entering me. Skin slid on skin, warm and damp with fresh perspiration, while my mouth and body were claimed over and over, and one orgasm after another was coaxed out of me. We tried positions I hadn’t even known existed, and I did my best to keep them all pleasured, all at the same time.

  We didn’t stop until the first signs of dawn showed through the open door of the wagon. And then I fell asleep, sated with pleasure and affection for these three men who’d made me feel so desired and incredible.

  The next couple of days were a blur. I needed to have sex all the time. Needed it like I needed to breathe or sleep or eat. We stayed by the deserted building for two days, and spent practically the whole time in the back of the wagon. We didn’t have sex all the time; there was a lot of snuggling, too. Hours of kissing and caressing and murmuring sweet nothings. The guys were full of compliments and made me feel like the most desirable woman in the world, and I gradually started to believe they could possibly be happy sharing me between them.

  We toyed with the idea of staying one additional day.

  “You still have that fire in your eyes, Ranger,” Rael commented.

  “What do you mean?” Self-consciously, I gathered my hair into a ponytail, twisted it and laid it over one shoulder.

  “You look like you want to eat us alive,” Oran said with a dirty smile.

  I sighed. “The mating frenzy hasn’t passed yet, has it?”

  “Nope.” Zain wrapped his arms around me from behind and nuzzled my hair. “And it really suits you.”

  We were all standing in front of the wagon in the cool of the early morning, gazing at the sun glowing orange above distant hills.

  “I vote we move on,” Rael said. “The nights are always long, and there’s plenty of time for mating.”

  “Are you sure?” I took a step toward him and looked deep into his eyes. With a groan, he dipped his head and kissed me, his tongue immediately flickering between my lips.

  While the guys weren’t driven by the moon, I could feel my mating frenzy made their animals wild, and they were as hungry to mate as I was. Zain hadn’t let go of me, and I was sandwiched between the two guys, their cocks hard and pressing into me. Zain started to kiss my neck as Rael took possession of my mouth, and their hands wandered everywhere. I cast a glance to the side to see how Oran was reacting. I was always worried that somebody would feel left out. But he was watching with burning eyes. I sensed he often preferred to watch the other two take me, biding his time, until they were spent, and then he’d have me all to himself.

  “Let’s leave after breakfast,” Rael murmured.

  “But we ate already,” I said against his mouth.

  “I mean after this,” he said, flashing his teeth in a wicked grin.

  When we finally left the farmhouse, Oran hadn’t so much as touched me, but he’d watched every delicious moment of me mating with Zain and Rael with an unwavering gaze. I saw the tension in his body, his cock straining against the front of his pants, and I wondered how he could stand to deny himself for so long. But I also kind of got it—it was a trade, and I knew he’d make up for it later.

  We traveled all morning, along a road that was becoming steadily more cracked and potholed. But the weather was also turning warmer, so I rolled up the sleeves of my shirt, then the legs of my pants.

  “I think we’ll be in Southern Reaches tomorrow, if the roads don’t get any worse,” Rael said, looking at his map.

  We stopped for lunch directly on the road. I realized we hadn’t seen anybody else all day. Even though people typically headed south as winter approached, they didn’t seem to be traveling on this road.

  After lunch, Oran grabbed me and dragged me off to the bushes. I pretended to protest, but my body responded to him immediately, and I let him guide me into a thicket of trees. He kissed me hard as he stripped me before making me crouch down and take him in my mouth. Then he turned me to face a tree, spreading my feet apart, and entered me roughly from behind, kneading my breasts with urgent fingers. He took me hard, harder than the other guys, and I loved the wildness of it. I loved the way he was the most restrained and least animalistic in his personality, but when it came to mating, he was the roughest and most demanding. I didn’t want it to be soft with him. I wanted something different, to feel like he almost wanted more than I could give. I came hard as he pinched my nipples to the point of pain, and he came soon after, holding me tight, his nails digging into me as sharp as claws.

  When we returned to the others, I was little sheepish, but they looked amused more than anything. One more lesson, I thought. I don’t have to have sex with all of them at the same time. I’d been a little worried whether I could sustain having nothing but foursomes once my mating frenzy wore off.

  We made a good pace during the afternoon. The first place we tried to camp was already occupied by another wagon and horses, and all of us eager for a repeat of the last couple of nights, we pushed on until we came to the parking lot of a very burned-out forest. We hunted our food, but it took a long time because there wasn’t much there. The trees still smelled a little singed and ashy, and I had the impression the fires had burned hotter here. The earth also felt dryer, sandier, with an orange tinge, and beyond the forest, there were some unusual rock formations—steep, narrow peaks and hills with very flat tops, as if they’d been sheared off by the tools of giants. There was a narrow stream deep in the woods, just about enough for washing in, and I got cleaned up gratefully. When I’d been by myself, I’d often gone two, three days without washing, due to the lack of facilities, but now that I was with the guys, it’d taken on a new priority.

  “It’s different here, isn’t it?” I said as I returned from the river.

  “We’re getting closer to the dragons,” Zain said. He was sitting on the back board of the wagon and held an arm out to me. Automatically, I went over to him and snuggled in against his body. He was a real huggy guy, and I loved it. I never felt so safe as when I was in his arms, surrounded by his warm, firm bulk, his sweet breath blowing on top of my head.

  “How do you feel about that?” I asked.

  “Excited. A little tense, I guess. They’re an unknown quantity.”

  “Do you think it’ll be dangerous?”

  He took a long breath, and I could feel the vibrations of his rumbling deep in his chest. “Rael doesn’t think so. I’m not so sure. But there’s no way I’m going to risk exposing you to danger.”

  I looked up at his face. There was possessiveness and concern in his black eyes, and I knew he cared about me and he’d do whatever it took to protect me. My heart melted a little. I’d promised myself I’d keep it safe from these guys, but with every day that passed, it got harder and harder.

  He took my hand and raised it to his lips. “You’re precious, Ranger, and I’ll always take care of you. I hope you know that.”

  “I think I do,” I said, and we fell into a long, tender kiss.

  At first, it wasn’t sexual. It was intimate and emotional, and I forgot about everything in the world
apart from the sensation of his lips on mine and his strong arms wrapped around my waist. But then his hands slid under my shirt, and desire sparked in me. My fingers slid into his short hair and I started to kiss him harder. With a soft growl, he lifted me up, wrapping my legs around his waist, and he carried me inside the wagon and laid me on the mattress. Then he zipped the entrance flap closed. It was just him and me; the others weren’t going to join us. As I lay there watching him, my body tingling with desire and tenderness, Zain undressed himself, then he undressed me and lay down beside me. We made love, slow and languid and intimate.

  When we emerged some time later, I immediately looked for Rael, but he was lounging at the entrance of one of the tents, trying to read one of his books in the moonlight, apparently unconcerned.

  The four of us spent the rest of the evening talking, discussing our thoughts on the journey that lay ahead. Rael seemed more excited than apprehensive, while Oran was blasé, but now that I was getting to know him, I understood it was a defense of his, and it was hard to get him to admit to any weakness.

  As for me, I was clueless. I had no real idea of what to expect. Whether it would be dangerous to be the bait that would capture a dragon. And what true-born dragons were like anyway. I did my best to trust the guys when they said they wouldn’t let any harm come to me.

  When we decided to go to bed, I climbed into the wagon, expecting the guys to follow me as with the two previous nights. But as I was occupied, digging through my bag, I heard the door zip closed and sensed only one of them was there. I inhaled, picking up Rael’s cool-water scent.

  “Just the two of us?” I asked into the darkness.

  “All night long,” he purred, and before I knew what was happening, he was pulling me down onto the mattress, his hands running all over me. “You have no idea how hard it’s been to know the other guys have mated with you today,” he said, his voice a low growl in my ear.

  “Hard in a bad way or a good way?” I asked.

  “Oh, mostly in a good way. I’ve spent the time concocting all kinds of plans for you to make sure you like mating with me the best.”

  As he kissed me deeply, his cock hard against my thigh, I wriggled in delight. Having three unbelievably sexy guys competing to pleasure me was beyond my wildest dreams.

  The next morning, I was awoken by Oran and Zain bursting into the wagon, already hard and needy.

  “Are we going to start every morning like this?” I said drowsily, once the two of them had taken me one at a time, and I’d come for them both, climaxing dreamily around their big cocks.

  “During your mating frenzy, anyway,” Zain said, stroking my face. “It makes us insatiable, too.”

  “I had that impression,” I replied with a grin, stretching. I was lying on my side, Zain facing me and Oran pressed up against my back, and I loved being surrounded by all that muscle and smooth, warm skin.

  We set off earlier than usual, the sun already hot. Progress was a little slow as the road was mainly dirt or broken asphalt, but we kept going, only taking short breaks. Oran was hoping to change the horses at the end of the day, so he pushed them a little harder than usual. They were strong and a well-matched pair, and we made sure they had plenty to eat and drink throughout the day.

  After lunch, a change came over me. I was heavy and lethargic, and my feet became slow and clumsy. Zain took a look at me. “Why don’t you go lie down in the wagon for a while?” he suggested.

  “What’s wrong with me?” I said, yawning.

  Rael peered at me from the far side of the horses, and a grin spread across his face. “Nothing. But I’d say your mating frenzy has passed. You’ll probably feel tired for a little while.”

  I shrugged. “Okay. If you don’t mind. And just for a little while.”

  I felt guilty, but it was luxurious lying down on the mattress and being borne along in the warm, sweet, dry air.

  I dozed for a while, not more than an hour, I thought, and when I woke up again, the guys were talking in excited voices. I got to my feet, checked I felt awake enough to survive a hard landing on the road, and jumped out of the wagon.

  “Are we in Southern Reaches?” I asked as I joined the others at the front.

  “Yeah, we think so,” Zain replied from the bench seat.

  The road was lush here, lined with rich green vegetation that seemed to belong to a very fertile climate. There were fruit trees, and I recognized wild lettuce and plantain growing along the sides of the road. When the horses tried to snatch at it, Zain paused and let them have their head for a while.

  “We’ve seen a couple of cultivated fields in the last few minutes,” Rael said, “but no people so far. It’s weird.”

  “There must be towns nearby if people are farming the land,” Oran said.

  “Let’s hope so,” Rael replied.

  Zain clicked his tongue, and the horses reluctantly began walking again. It was so warm I took off my shirt and tied it around my waist, leaving me in just a black tanktop. I noticed the guys casting me admiring glances, and I smiled to myself.

  “I think we’ve got something here,” Oran said as the road curved to the right, revealing a break in the vegetation that suggested a turnoff. We pulled into it and were greeted by a row of mud-brick adobe-style houses that had suffered the fires and seemed to be deserted.

  Zain brought the horses to a stop. “I think it’s abandoned.”

  “We probably shouldn’t waste the horses’ legs if there’s nothing down here,” Oran said. “I’ll go take a look.” In a flash, he stripped, that long, muscular back grew glossy, golden-brown feathers, and he launched himself into the cornflower-blue sky. We watched as he coasted in a big, swooping loop around the surrounding area. And then he flew farther ahead until he was no bigger than a pinhead.

  He returned minutes later. He was perspiring as he regained his human form and got dressed again.

  “This town is deserted,” he said, panting. “There’s not much life in the next one either. I think the main settlement in the area is about three miles further on. There looks to be a couple of lodging houses and maybe a couple of stores as well.”

  I brightened at the thought of being in civilization, and judging by the way that Zain turned the horses quickly and everyone else started walking at a quick march, they felt the same.

  Before long, we arrived at another turnoff that had a commercial building on the corner, some kind of lodging house. Oran said we should keep going so we passed onto a dirt track that was lined with residential and commercial buildings. Some of them were patched-up brick houses, while others were made of mud bricks and looked like they might have been built since the fires. We came to a shop selling fresh produce and another one selling clothes and various knickknacks. The shopkeepers stood in the doorways, but didn’t reply when we called out greetings to them, and they avoided eye contact. Then there was an old-style restaurant, which was a rarity these days. Most restaurants were attached to lodging houses and were miserable affairs. But this one had a bunch of tables covered in blue oilskin cloths and actual menus laid on top of them. There were no customers, and the server didn’t return our waves as we passed. A little farther on, we found a large lodging house called Bill’s Inn. There was a chalkboard sign out front saying that they catered for and traded horses as well. We let out a whoop and pulled up there.

  A man emerged from the building immediately in a red-and-white checkered shirt and battered gray formal pants and introduced himself as Bill. He had a cheerful, round face with iron gray hair and beard.

  “Sure, we can accommodate y’all tonight. And Yup, we’ve got three pairs of horses here you can choose from. They’ve been rested awhile and are eager to get out again to tell you the truth,” he replied to our questions.

  “We’re sleeping in the inn tonight?” I said to the others in a low voice.

  “Of course.” Oran cocked an eyebrow at me. “We only rough it when we need to.”

  I grinned at him. I was getting used
to his haughtiness and understood he didn’t mean it in a serious way.

  Bill helped us to unyoke the horses from the wagon. I got the impression he was eager for something to do.

  “It’s kind of quiet here,” I said, hoping to draw some information out of him.

  He sighed and rubbed the back of his hand across his forehead. “Yeah. Quite a few people left Jasperville before and after the fires. And them that are left are pretty watchful and wary. They’re always ready to run for the shelters we built here to protect ourselves from the dragons.”

  Oran, Rael, Zain, and I shot each other significant looks, trying not to betray our enthusiasm to Bill.

  “I’d heard a rumor or two there had been dragon sightings here,” Oran said casually, leaning against a stable door.

  Bill blew out a noisy breath and also propped himself up on the stable door. “Well, to be honest with you, no one has seen a dragon in the area for at least two years now. But folks are still scared. Those dragons are dangerous and unpredictable. They were bad enough before the fires, but now they’re so much worse.”

  Rael rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Why do you think that is?” he said.

  “I don’t rightly know,” Bill replied. “They’re the kind of dragons that can also turn into humans. You know that, right?” He dropped his voice and gave us a conspiratorial look.

  “Yeah, I think I’d heard that,” Zain said.

  “Well, some of us speculate they’ve got less of their humanity these days since, for reasons of their own, they tend to stay in their dragon forms.”

  We waited for him to say something more, but when he didn’t, I nodded gravely. “So is there any kind of warning system for when someone sees a dragon?”

  “Yup. There’s a siren. And it’ll just about bust your eardrums if you hear it. We’ve got it hooked up to solar panels.”

  “So I guess we know what to watch out for then,” Oran said, throwing Bill his most charming smile.

  Bill nodded, not just once but repeatedly, as if he was gradually gathering agreement on the topic.