by Ophelia Bell
“Hungry,” she said, then licked the sheen of sweat from his collarbone and moaned.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were in estrous, too,” Silas said, almost to himself. He moved his hand down her arm and she sighed at the cool, tingling sensation that followed. The swell of madness in her mind abated a tiny bit, but her physical need remained.
When his hand came to rest at her midsection, she let out a moan against his skin.
“Is this where the trouble is?” he asked, pressing a little harder at her belly, just beneath her navel.
“She’s on the verge of madness,” Gavra said. “Her aura’s going wild with it. You have to do something.”
The rich sound of Gavra’s voice made her turn to look at him. The world wobbled and tilted, the light blurring around the big man, making him look softer than she knew he was.
“So pretty …” she said, and reached out a hand as though to pet the outline of him in her vision.
Gavra chuckled. “You’re already mad, love, if you think that.”
Her gaze shifted down his body, taking in the contours of his strong muscles, the ridges of his stomach, and the prominent vee of corded muscles that defined his hips, pointing to the pinnacle of his virility that hung long and thick between his thighs. She licked her lips and lurched toward him.
“I need …” she groaned, frustrated by the strong grip that held her back. “Nnn …”
“What you need is to release some of that magic in you. How long has it been since a male saw to your needs, Assana?” Gavra asked.
“N-never …” she said. Though she had a vivid memory of a naked satyr she once threw herself at when filled with the same uncontrollable urge to … what? To taste, to lick, to suck, to fuck. But no, that was wrong, that image … that satyr was her brother, and she knew how wrong it was of her to have wanted him, but the powerful ache in her belly had been too strong then, and it grew stronger now, even though she wasn’t in her primal form.
She needed a cock.
No … she needed to regain control of herself.
“Silas, help me,” she whimpered. “Don’t let me hurt you.”
Even as she begged for it, her body rebelled, her hips twisting on his lap where the unmistakable bulge of his erection strained at his pants.
Silas grunted when she pressed her ass back against him. His hands went to her hips, squeezing to immobilize her.
“I’ll help, but you have to hold still.”
“Need you,” she whined, spreading her legs and pressing her slick core to the ridge of him.
“She’s at the edge, man,” Gavra said. “Don’t let her have your cock or she’ll lose herself. Nymphs are funny that way.”
“But she needs to get rid of that energy. I can feel it pushing at her limits.”
“She doesn’t want to fuck … you heard her. She’s never had a man before. She isn’t ready.”
Silas chuckled. “You think I can’t take care of her without fucking her? This is what I’m made for, even more than you.”
“You know me, Silas. I was made for fucking. I was made for fucking the two of you, and you can be damn sure if I wasn’t trapped in this room that’s exactly what we’d all be doing now. It’s what she needs, but I know it is not what she wants.”
Beneath the writhing tangle of pure lust, Assana’s conscious mind rejoiced at how well he understood her.
“Don’t want … madness,” she said, shaking her head, though she kept shifting in Silas’s lap, reveling in the sensation of his arms around her body and his clothed cock against her ass.
“I’m going to take some of it from you,” Silas said. His hands shifted from her hips, one arm sliding up her body to wrap beneath her breasts. He pressed his lips against the side of her face from behind as he pulled her back against his chest. “You’ll feel better soon, baby.”
She sighed and gave into his light touch, tilting her head back to rest on his shoulder as the hand at her hip moved down to her upper thigh. Silas groaned at the slick wetness that coated the inside of her thigh, and his cock twitched beneath her.
“By Gaia’s essence, I’d love to be inside you now,” he murmured. His fingers found her core, slippery with her need, and he probed gently, his touch tantalizing enough to make her cry out.
The madness loomed closer as he dipped his fingers in between her folds and stroked. She reached back and clung to his neck, her nails digging in as she struggled to hang onto her mind in the face of the pleasure he inflicted on her. He promised he could help relieve the press of insanity. She trusted him because he belonged to her … because they shared a need for the same man. And that man was watching them now.
Assana opened her eyes and Gavra was still there, standing on the other side of the barrier that blocked his doorway. His arms stretched out, hands gripping either side of the doorframe so hard his knuckles were white.
“Don’t draw it out, Silas,” Gavra said. “She needs relief before the primal power takes over.”
“Don’t fucking tell me how to make a woman come,” Silas shot back.
His fingers swept up through the channel of wetness between her thighs and found the hard apex of her desire. Assana cried out at the first touch of his fingers on her clit, arching her back and spreading her thighs wider.
“Yes,” she moaned, forcing herself to hold still while he rubbed her clit in swift little circles. Silas slid his other hand higher, cupping her breast and gently sweeping his thumb back and forth across her nipple. His touch aroused her, but also calmed her with a cool, tingling magic.
“Feel me, Assana,” Silas murmured. “Focus on where I touch you, where the pleasure is. You need do nothing—only feel. Be in my arms, let your body belong to me. Your mind is yours, your body is mine. I’m the one who controls your body, not the primal magic.”
“Yes,” she said, sighing and quivering as his steady tempo continued in a hypnotic cycle. His fingers at her breast swirled in tiny spirals, the pattern shifting directions every few circuits. Between her thighs he did the same thing until she was completely lost to the rhythm and the rising swell of pleasure that was his to control.
“Give me that need, Assana. Let it go. I’ve got you.”
“Silas … Oh, Gaia.” She opened her eyes and met Gavra’s hungry stare. His gaze was filled with a combination of raw need and worry. What did he see when he looked at her?
“Come for him, baby,” Gavra said. He licked his lips, the strange flick of his forked tongue sending a shiver through her as she imagined how it would feel between her thighs. She had the sense that Gavra was imagining the very same thing when his mouth spread in a wicked smile.
“When I’m out of here, you can bet I’m having a taste of you, and as soon as you’re ready for it, I’m burying my cock deep in that sweet, juicy cunt.”
The promise sent her spiraling. She cried out as the rush of sensation flooded her core, seeping into her limbs. Silas murmured more words of encouragement into her ears as Gavra urged her on. She bucked her hips, writhing and riding Silas’s fingers as they continued to work her, pulling her climax from her body with quick, deft strokes until finally he plunged his fingers deep into her clenching core and fucked her with them.
“That’s right, baby, fuck my fingers. Squeeze me until you’re done. Gaia, you were so flooded with power I think I’ve grown roots.”
Her body continued to shudder and convulse in his arms, but he held her, seeming to know exactly how long to keep massaging the inside of her pussy. Gradually the spasms subsided and she fell limp in his arms.
Both men let out relieved breaths and Silas gently removed his fingers from between her thighs. He repositioned her on his lap, cradling her against his chest. She let herself be held, the safety of his arms a welcome change from the worries she’d come here with, though she knew she would have to deal with t
hose soon enough.
The most wonderful part was that her mind was clear now—clearer than it had been in a very long time. Not even after her visit to the Diviner had an orgasm left her feeling so free and unburdened.
She let out a long sigh and straightened, looking into Silas’s eyes. They were a rich, woody brown with greenish flecks that reminded her of mossy logs. There was an odd ring around his iris that glowed blue, however, bringing to mind the blue stone in the clock at the Stonetree lodge. Nymphaea magic … it was the power he had taken from her.
“Are you all right?” she said.
“I’d be lying if I said yeah,” Silas said, his voice strained. “It probably should’ve been two of us, off-loading that power from you. Holy fuck, how long have you been walking around with that?”
She glanced at the ceiling, thinking back, but couldn’t recall a time without that dull throb, an incessant presence in her mind like the buzz of a beehive had taken up residence not long after she came of age.
“Only a couple thousand years. Since I grew these …” She cupped her breasts, remembering the first time she learned how much she enjoyed having them touched when she and the other Thiasoi maidens would play together in the Haven.
Silas groaned at the sight of her breasts pushed together and closed his eyes. “Sweet fucking earth mother fuck …” When he opened his eyes again, he seemed to struggle to focus on her. “But you’re feeling better now, right?”
She smiled at him. “Better than I’ve felt in forever. Thank you.” Leaning in, she pressed a kiss to his lips. She’d meant it only as a quick thank-you peck, but his arms were suddenly around her, his tongue sliding between her lips. His embrace was hot and urgent, and she allowed herself a moment to indulge in the closeness and the delicious hunger evident in the way he tasted her. After a few seconds, she pushed back.
“I will make it up to you, I promise,” she said, then moved to stand. “I must speak with the clan leaders now about my mother’s new demands.”
When she stepped away from him, she looked back and gasped. “Silas, what happened?”
His feet had been bare before, but now where they met the floorboards, they seemed to merge into the wood, his skin covered in rough brown bark that flowed into roots. The woody tendrils twisted through the floor around the bench, burrowing as though seeking the earth beneath.
“Gaia is drawing your power from me,” he said. “I’ve had this happen before … an ursa female was pregnant and her mates were away. I stepped in to help. She was so flooded with fertile energy I nearly couldn’t take it, but it’s what male ursa are meant for—helping give the excess magic back to Gaia. I usually have a partner so this doesn’t happen. It’ll pass … don’t worry. I just might not be going anywhere for a little while. The good news is that it’s definitely power from your Source. I think the Sanctuary’s sucking it up pretty quickly.”
“You could say you gave him wood,” Gavra said, and Assana shot him glare.
“I’ll stay and wait,” she said.
“No, you should go. I’m supposed to be here anyway,” Silas said. “Just … can you tell us what your mother said first?”
Assana winced. Glancing between the two men, she took a deep breath. Finally, she met Gavra’s eyes. “She wants you and your brother. Says she won’t restore the Source’s power until the two of you are in the Haven.” She swallowed the bile that rose at the idea of what her mother had planned for the pair. “I have to bring you both tonight at midnight or she’s cutting off the Source completely.”
“Why the hell would she want them?” Silas asked. “The breeding pact was for ursa males.”
Gavra was the one to answer. “Because we’re more powerful. She likely wants to breed me to her nymphs, but I don’t trust her intentions for Aodh. Fate only knows what she’ll do to him if she gets her hands on him.”
“I don’t have a choice,” Assana said. “Mother won’t accept anything less than what she demanded. At least he’s not …”
“What?” Gavra asked. “Not fated for another female who would miss him? Put him and Vrishti in a room together and see if you still feel that way, and you know the reason your mother wants him has nothing to do with his bloodline or his virility. She’s hated him since he fell in love with your uncle.”
“Forgive me if I’m less concerned about your brother. It’s you I can’t stomach being in her clutches. Seeing her force you to breed with … with anyone else.”
Gavra had the audacity to laugh then, and she stared at him with wide horror. “Why do you think that’s so funny? You’re mine! I love my mother, and my Thiasoi sisters, but they can’t fucking have you!”
“Assana, baby. Who do you think you’re looking at? You have to know that it’s impossible to force a dragon like me to do anything he doesn’t want to do.” Glancing at Silas, he raised an eyebrow. “You know better, don’t you, Silas? When you had me on my back, you were about to try to fuck me. I’d have allowed it, not because you overpowered me, but because I fucking needed you to know I would give anything for you to trust me, and that includes taking your cock.”
She glanced at Silas, who was smiling back and shaking his head. “I figured as much,” he said. “So, I realize I missed something here … are you saying that it’s your mother who’s caused all this, out of some vendetta she has against the dragons … that she’s carried around practically forever? Why are we having this issue now and not before?”
Gavra answered for her again. “Because my sister has somehow managed to disappear with both of Nyx’s remaining men, and if there’s anything I’ve learned about nymphs over the years, it’s that you don’t fuck with a nymph’s men or you risk driving her insane.”
Silas frowned and gave Assana a confused look. She sighed. “He’s talking about my brother and my uncle Neph. Ever since my father was captured by the Ultiori, Mother’s been hard to deal with.”
“I’m not just talking about her,” Gavra said. “Meri’s the real threat. Something happened between her, Aodh and your uncle. I doubt it was a simple love triangle, but she sure as shit wanted what they could give her. When that was taken away from her, she lost it. I’ll gladly go with you if it means I can help get Nyx to back down from this insanity. We need Nyx back on our side if we’re going to be strong enough to beat Meri when she comes.”
Assana swallowed, taking in Gavra’s words. She wished like hell she could see some way to take these two and just drift out into the human world and hide from her troubles with them in some island grotto. But her family was falling apart, and she was the only one who could fix it.
“I wish Calder were here,” she grumbled, though she was happy that her brother had made it clear of their mother’s madness. Her uncle’s continued absence worried her, though.
“You have me,” Silas said, standing up and taking an unsteady step toward her.
“You’re free,” she said, smiling up at him.
“My feet still feel like they’re made of wood, but it’s fading. That was some potent water magic you flooded me with. I always knew there was a woman out there who’d make me want to put down roots.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Gavra said. “Go do what you need to do. I will warn Aodh to brace himself for a face-to-face with one of the two women who hate him most in the world. He’ll be ready.”
Chapter Seven
Silas
Silas hobbled along beside Assana, wincing as the blood flow returned to his legs and feet. The sensation of being so tightly bound to Gaia was never a bad thing, but the moments of immobility caused panic to well inside him to the point he was prepared to rip himself from the floorboards, regardless of how badly he was sure it would hurt.
None of that mattered in the presence of the woman who walked beside him. Assana was real; he still couldn’t quite believe it. He hadn’t been sure what to believe when he’d returned to the Sanc
tuary to learn that all that had gone wrong within the past week was a direct result of the dragons’ presence in his home. But if Assana existed, then perhaps Gavra had told him the truth about his own significance.
Not only did the beautiful nymph exist, but she’d just allowed him to service her through an ordeal that rivaled any female ursa’s estrous. His body still buzzed as much from the energy he’d channeled as from his awareness of her. His cock was still uncomfortably stiff in his pants, but gradually relaxed as they made their way to the grand hall of the Rainsong clan lodge to speak with Sathmika. The idea of facing the imposing woman was enough to dampen any lust he might have felt. Until his arm brushed against Assana’s and the charged sensation of her skin on his woke up every cell in his body again.
“You reek of dragon,” she said under her breath as they descended the staircase to the first floor. “Is your clan leader going to find that suspect?”
“Fuck.” Silas stopped in his tracks on the bottom step and looked at her, fresh panic rising up in him. He swiped a hand over his mouth and groaned. “She’s going to know what I did. Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“You reek of me, too, but I think that’s excusable. If you don’t mind smelling even more of me, I think I can help.”
Silas inhaled deeply, taking in Gavra’s aroma along with hers. Both mixed in a tantalizing combination of different spices—one intensely masculine and the other delicately feminine.
“I like the way you’re both all over me,” he rumbled. “But my clan leader is not going to be as thrilled if she finds out I was messing around with the captive I was sent to guard. What can you do?”
“Come,” she said, stepping into a shadowy alcove beneath the staircase and leaning against the wall. Silas’s cock perked up at the sight of her barely clad curves and the coquettish tilt to her mouth. He stepped into her arms and bent his head when she tilted hers up to gaze into his eyes.
Those dark, swirling orbs were hypnotic, and he lost himself to the feel of her when she pulled him close and kissed him.
