Rookery Cove: The Darkness

by Stephanie Burke

  “Then I will be your love, little one. I will be your lover and your Master, and your confidant. No one will ever take any part of you away from me again.”

  May jerked her head up, confusion in her eyes, but his kiss cut off any comments.

  “I --” He lapped at her upper lip, making her shiver with the emotions he evoked. “-- will always be there.” His tongue eased in the crease between her lips, parting her mouth for his pleasure. “When you call, I will come,” he breathed into her mouth before his tongue invaded, tasting her, teasing her, mastering her. “Always, Minn ást. Aevinlega.”

  “Manx,” May purred as she sank into his embrace, relishing the feel of those masculine arms wrapping around her. “Heimili. `Eg er heimili.” Home, I am home.

  Then somehow she was on her back in the center of that huge bed, and Manx was looming over her, his red eyes boring into hers.

  “Home, love. Yes,” he purred before his mouth again took hers in a punishing kiss, his teeth nipping, his tongue lapping at her mouth.

  “Manx.” Her hands tangled in his hair and she held him to her, his mouth traveling down her neck, nipping at the sensitive flesh there.

  May’s eyes closed on a moan as her body helplessly arched up into his. His hands traveled down her length, dragging a trail of cool fire in their wake, parting her thighs, making a place for him to settle there. And his mouth teased and sucked at her, leaving marks where he bruised the skin before gently laving away the hurt.

  This is what having a lover was about, May discovered as she tugged at his head to force his lips toward a straining nipple. A lover was someone there who offered comfort and sharing. It was like having a master, but it went so much deeper than that.

  It was unexplainable, the passion that she now felt.

  Manx was connecting with her soul, and she loved that. She felt so special.

  “Yes, sweetheart.” Manx nipped at a nipple, before licking and kneading her breasts. “Melt for me. I want to feel you hot and wet for my touch.”

  May mewled as pleasure doubled her over and she found herself spreading her thighs wide, inviting him into her most private of places.

  “Please, Manx,” she breathed, all her mind seemed capable of allowing her mouth to say.

  Instantly, his hands found her heated core, sliding between her legs to tease at her clit.

  May gasped, her back arching as fire shot through her loins. She loved the feel of him, thick and hard between her thighs. She whimpered as his cock swelled against her leg and she nudged it, teasing him with her soft skin.

  This loving was all about her, and Manx’s every move made that abundantly clear.

  “So soft and beautiful, little one.” Manx slid lower, his tongue leaving a wet trail down her stomach and over her shaven pubis. “Soft and clean,” he continued, his mouth dipping lower.

  May inhaled deeply, her hips arching up, her mouth opening wide as the burning heat of his mouth began to eat at her pussy.

  His tongue laved her labia as his shoulders forced her legs wider apart. His fingers trailed over the sensitive skin of her perineum, plucking at the nerve-rich skin that separated her anus from her vagina. His teeth nibbled at her succulent flesh, making her head thrash from side to side as she fought to control her movements, as she fought to hold still to receive the maximum pleasure from his actions.

  She was blissed out, in heaven, as her hands tangled in his hair to hold his face to her most sensitive parts.

  And when his lips gently surrounded her clit, suckling at it, she began to rhythmically push up, to fuck his face against her hot pussy, moaning cries escaping her throat and filling the air with the sounds of desire.

  “Fuck, you are sweet,” he finally gasped, pulling away, looking up at her, his face shiny with her desire as he slowly licked his lips. “I can’t wait to be inside of you.”

  “Yes, please,” May managed, chest heaving as she fought to pull oxygen into her starved lungs.

  “Then open wide and let me in.”

  Without any other preliminaries, Manx spread her legs wide and pulled them high up on his thighs. He aligned his prick with her opening and, leaning over, shoved his hips upwards.

  “God, Manx!” May screamed, filled with the length of him.

  “Yes, beautiful,” Manx breathed, his arms going behind her back, supporting her as he pulled her upright, sinking her deeper onto his cock as he pulled her face to face. “I’m so hard inside you,” he said, again licking along her face. “Ride me!”

  And she did.

  With her head thrown back and his arms supporting her, May rode him like he was the steed of orgasmic victory.

  Up and down she fell, her hands tangling in his hair, using it for reins as he thrust upwards, bucking her and moaning his pleasure.

  The shadows that seemed to live constantly around him added their support, cupping her ass and parting her cheeks, sinking deeply into her anal cavity.

  “Manx! Oh, God, those tentacles…”

  Manx’s low chuckle was his only response as he picked up the pace. “Fuck me, baby,” he purred. “I know you want to. Be my lover as well as my slave.”

  Then the shadows were swirling around her, caressing her skin until it was almost oversensitive, teasing her erotic zones as well as fucking her ass as she bobbed on his cock.

  Sensation was building from so many places that May thought she would die. Then his hands left off caressing her breasts and her sides to press against her neck.

  “With this last band, I mark you as mine. I alone am allowed to remove this. I alone will ever place this upon you.”

  Between his hands a thick band of darkness emerged. It wound between his fingers almost lovingly before it pressed to the skin of her neck.

  May gasped at the hot-cold sensation that sent shivers down her spine and caused her to erupt in orgasm.

  “Manx!” she screamed as her inner muscles clenched around the rock solid hardness still pumping her, prolonging the ecstasy.

  “Do you accept this?” he asked, his eyes glowing brightly. “Will you be mine?”

  “Já,” May shrieked, as yet another orgasm built on top of the last one. “Yes!”

  There was a flash of light and a curious tightness around her throat. It wasn’t enough to alarm her, but it was definitely making itself known.

  “My collar.” Her body clenched around his throbbing cock, setting off small explosions in her brain. “It’s mine once more.”

  “Minn ást,” Manx whimpered, hearing her words and understanding that his Frau was indeed trying to make herself remembered to the vessel who now housed her. “Yes!”

  Breathing heavily, May sank against her lover/master, her breath rasping in her throat, tears of release welling up in her eyes. Then she felt him, still solid within her. “Please, Manx,” she managed. “Take your pleasure from this body.”

  That was all he needed to hear.

  With an audible growl, Manx flipped May back onto the bed, his cock never leaving its warm berth deep inside her. Then his hips were pumping, slamming into her body, screams tearing from his throat.

  “Take it,” he bellowed. “Take me. Take all of me!”

  “Yes!” May was screaming in response, knowing that no orgasm was forthcoming from this almost brutal pounding, but relishing the feel of her man slamming into her body. It offered her comfort of another kind, the feeling that she was needed, that she would never be replaced.

  “Manx,” she wailed, letting her body go limp, offering all that she was to her lover, her master, her Manx. “Take me!”

  “Feel me,” he growled, his hands tightening on her hips, surely leaving bruises that she would admire later as her marks of honor. She did this to him! She brought his body to this impasse. She alone was capable of giving him true release. “So good, my lover.” His body stiffened, his eyes narrowing though they stayed locked in on her face. “My… love,” he gritted out, throwing his head back and roaring.

  The bilateral spl
it in his jaw yawned open, exposing rows of wickedly sharp teeth and the gaping darkness beyond, but May felt no fear, only a soul deep satisfaction that only she was able to bring him to this level of release.

  As for Manx, he felt as if his spine was melting, pouring out of his throbbing dick and straight into his lover’s welcoming body. His true mouth gape wide, but he found himself unable to care. She had brought him to this level, and she should be proud that she was able to shake his legendary control.

  Closing his mouth, he felt his body slump against her. Gathering up enough strength to roll to his side, he removed the bulk of his weight from his mate. “My Frau,” he breathed, chuckling as he realized she had lapsed into slumber.

  Then he groaned, hearing the claxon of his computer’s alarm going off. He looked down at her beautiful sleeping face. “Always, something stops our tender moments,” he growled, rising to his feet. Knowing this could mean the life or death of the Cove, he mentally prepared to confront the enemy. He ran his fingers one last time over the collar that encircled May’s neck before he turned toward the caverns.

  “Time to play mouse and hound,” he chuckled, making his way through the outer rooms to the elevator that would take him to the surface. His alphas trailed after him, seeming to snicker at him as he moved with a spring in his gait that had not been apparent for some years.

  “Don’t gloat.” He chuckled, running his fingers through his hounds’ hair as the shadows converged. They cloaked him momentarily, then dissipated, leaving him clothed entirely in form-fitting black. A dark cape of shadows hung from his shoulders, snapping with his movement.

  He waved his hand and the world shivered and swirled. When it righted itself, he was standing in the cove he had marked as his target site. As he’d suspected, the computer terminal on the wall was open and again there was the scent of corn chips and that other odd smell. But this time, there were also a few minute hairs on the computer screen.

  “I knew you would mess up.” He bent close to examine the hairs, a smile on his face. “Got ya.”

  He tossing the hairs into the air, where the shadows converged on them and hid them from view, he felt a tremble of distress on his neuro pathways. Rising to his feet, he closed his eyes to pinpoint this latest disturbance. It wasn’t his Frau, whom he determined was still resting in his bed. That meant it was the one other person he had been monitoring -- Okibi.

  “Go, protect my Frau,” he whispered to his hounds, satisfied when they turned into a flash of black and vanished from sight. He knew they would do his bidding, giving their very lives to protect what was his.

  With a wave of his hands, the world again distorted, and when it became whole, he was standing near the top of mountain looking at a lone familiar figure. “There you are.”

  Okibi didn’t turn to watch Manx approach. He knew she’d felt him coming and had been arguing with herself as to whether she wanted company.

  “You know you do, or you wouldn’t have hung around. Not that you could hide from me anywhere on this island but the sky.” She glanced up at him and snorted at the familiar smirk he always wore for her for so many years. But now, he realized, he had a smile for one other. And damned if she didn’t look good all passed out in his bed and smelling of their shared climax.

  “Hell, Manx. You have better things to do than listen to my bullshit. How’s the Frau? You seem --” She paused to smile and Manx arched his brow. “-- relaxed.”

  Manx shook his head. “You know her training is going well.” He settled his tall, firm length on the rocky crag beside her and shifted until he found a comfortable spot. Not as good as languishing in bed, but there was something to be said for a bit of fresh air and sunshine.

  Okibi felt a laugh bubble up. Manx didn’t need verbosity to convey his meanings. His rumbling tone told her just how fantastic “well” really was. They sat, looking out at the rolling waves, smelling the heavy aroma of pine and sea salt, quietly being.

  “Okay, here’s the thing,” she began, as Manx knew she would. “I’ve learned something over the past couple of days. It’s unsettled me. I always thought I was a one-guy chick, you know? But Viktor --”

  “That’s the griffon you told me arrived a couple of days ago. Symon’s second in command, right?”

  “Yeah.” She looked worried to him. “Anyway, to make a long story short, the number of available females is less than males amongst griffons. It’s commonplace for two or more males to share the same mate.” Okibi looked him full in the face, telling Manx without words exactly what unnerved her. “But it isn’t just the female they share.”

  In matters of survival, Manx preferred to take the practical route. Of course, they would need to share power as well as a mate in order to protect her and what was theirs. A triad was useless if one of the sides was not equal to the others. It was more complicated than strength, skill, and prowess… more complicated and yet so simple if you had the correct mindset. And in order to obtain the correct mindset, you had damned sure better be willing to share everything, including yourself, to ensure that equality.

  Okibi dropped her forehead to her palm, sighing as the sea breeze ruffled her hair. She didn’t need to answer him -- her reactions spoke for her.

  “You know, Okibi, I’m not really sure why you’re confused. What do you see when Branimir and Viktor look at each other?”

  “Respect, affection, warmth, camaraderie. And love. It’s obvious they love each other very much.”

  “Does that bother you?” Manx couldn’t care less whether the griffons were involved. And he didn’t think Okibi did, either. In fact, he knew she was very much satisfied with at least one of them because the effects of her Kokugen Nenshou were so faint as to be unnoticeable.

  “No. It’s not them, or even us. It’s… I was taught, and all I’ve ever seen, are phoenixes in a monogamous pair. How will mating with them affect my family?”

  “Ah, I see. You worry about bringing shame to the Oh-So-Honorable Rowe name.” He rolled his eyes in a very sarcastic, very Manx manner. “You know what I’d say, Okibi.” Manx reached a hand out and lifted her face so he could look into her black eyes.

  “Fuck ’em.” Okibi chuckled softly.

  “And then eat ’em.” He smiled broadly at her, pleased to see the worry and confusion fade from her beautiful face.

  “I can’t help it, Manx. You know how important the family line is to them.”

  “Yes, it is. But Okibi, they love you. I’ve met your parents. They want you to be happy, to be fulfilled, to be settled. Do you think the griffons can give you that?”

  Okibi searched inside herself, thinking hard on Manx’s question. The burning need in her body was quelled for now, but deep down, Okibi was wholly fulfilled. Watching Branimir and Viktor, she had known what they shared was so much more than sex. It had been wild passion, lusty delight, and if she was honest with herself, true lovemaking, despite its savagery.

  “Yes. I’m terrified they can.”

  “It’s too late anyway, Okibi. I can smell the fire on your skin. They both passed the Charenjo Nenshou, didn’t they?”

  She nodded

  “Then what the hell are you sitting here sulking for? Your parents will deal with it, if both griffons survive the last stage. I promise you. Your family would be the last to go against the rituals and dictates of your race. If they both survive, then both are your mates. Now, go to them. You know that’s where you want to be.”

  Okibi stood and dusted off her butt. She held a hand out to Manx and pulled him to his feet. “I can’t wait to meet your Frau. Thanks, Manx. Hey, you know I love you. Thank the gods it didn’t work out between us.” She embraced him.

  “Most definitely.” Manx gave her a pinch on the ass, laughing when she yipped and let him go. She smacked him on the arm before trotting toward the tree line.

  “You might want to move.” Mischief danced in her eyes.

  “I hate it when you do this.” Manx shook his head at the now glowing Okibi. Her h
appiness illuminated her whole being. Hell, she had already known what she was going to do. She just wanted a little validation, he decided.

  With a wiggle of eyebrows at Manx, and a deep breath, she broke into a sprint, running full tilt toward the cliff’s edge. She leapt from the land and out into the air, her body exploding with fire, metamorphosing from human form into phoenix in the blink of an eye. From within blue flames, her massive red wings spread wide, catching on the air current and lifting her high into the sky.

  “One of these days, she’s gonna drop like a rock.” Manx watched her coast through the clouds for a few minutes. With a small smile and a sigh, he turned to the trees. His Frau had another lesson to learn, and the teacher was in the building.

  Chapter Eight

  Mayleen was floating, twirling through a warm, dark mist. She was at once one with everything and still felt as if she were missing something, something great.

  This nagging feeling of loss seemed to grow the more she thought about it and soon it was too much to even contemplate just floating. She had to discover what was missing, find what had gone wrong.

  She began searching, the soft warm mists now a hindrance as they never thinned out enough for her to see.

  She had to find it… no, him.

  Where was he? Didn’t he know she was waiting for him?

  She could still feel his collar around her neck, the link to him that never faded. She could feel his manacles around her wrists, fur lined but tight and firm enough to let her know he was there for her welfare, that as long as he lived, he would allow nothing ill to befall her.

  She could feel his hands across her body, those large fingertips that could dole out both pain and pleasure at his whim. But she knew that even in giving her pain, he was showing her she had a special place in his life, in his heart, that she could never be replaced.

  Now, where was he?

  She tried to force her mouth open as the darkness swamped her.

  No longer was it calm and comforting -- now it was enveloping and cloaking, choking the life from her, streaking her mind.