“This a dream?”
“No.”
Lifting my head slightly, I eyed him critically. “You sure?”
“Nugget.” Frustration evident, exasperation a dead giveaway as he growled under his breath, I continued on, unfazed.
“Yes?” My fingers paused briefly and my free hand wrapped around his wide neck. Head slumping back to its original position, voice fairly purring, I glanced up at him beseechingly.
The corner of his cheek started jerking in a familiar tick, and I strained towards him, planting a swift but solid smooch on the irritated flesh, nuzzling the spot as Troll froze and jerked back, clearly startled.
“What’s the matter?” I couldn’t hide the mirth in my voice as my eyes danced warmly. “Afraid I might nip you?” Chuckling under my breath as he gave me a look that said exactly that, I nipped his chin when he would have pushed me farther away, possibly setting me down. My arms tightened reflexively, assuming he was thinking just that.
“What’s wrong wit ye?” Troll muttered, a note of worry seeping into his voice.
“Nothing. Uhm, at least, I don’t think... so.” My brows furrowed and I had to think about that for a moment. “Actually, I feel good.” Peeking up at him, I smiled slowly. “Really good.” Licking my lips slowly, I leaned in and would have kissed Troll square on the mouth if he hadn’t pulled back at the last second. This only served to make his scowl darken as he studied me.
Blinking as my body lit up at his stern glare, my eyes glazed over and I felt very, very warm all of the sudden, particularly in my nether regions. Mmm. Warm. He’s very warm. Yum.
If at all possible, I would have climbed even closer, pressing us chest to chest, heart to heart, sex to sex. My lady parts fluttering at the mere idea, my whole body lit up, a pleasurable shudder wracking me at the mere idea.
“Where were ye before?” Scenting my intense arousal, Troll paused, licking those thick lips I wanted so badly to lean up and take a bite right out of. Mine.
“Then why do I want you to take me so bad?” I mumbled, rubbing my forehead tiredly. A small headache was forming, right behind my eyes, but I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out why.
“Before, nugget. It’s important.”
Ignoring the pounding in my head, I fought his hold, managing to straddle him in the process so he had to grip my back and ass or let me fall.
He grabbed my hips, instead, plucking me off of him and away before gently plopping me down.
As he stepped back I felt his loss keenly. Breath coming in harsh, gasping pants, I felt my lower lip tremble as my eyes started to water. A moment of panic swarming me, I ran at him, slamming into him hard enough to send him rocking back a little on his heels as my voice cracked on a sob. “NO!”
Troll let me cling to him for a moment before he gripped my shoulders, forcing me back. “What’s-”
“Wrong with me?” I cried noisily. “I don’t know!” A loud wail ripped from my throat and I reached for him again. “I... I... I cursed him! Okay? Trystan did it, and I cursed him! I cursed Trystan, and my family! I wanted them to feel what I felt, know what it’s like! I cursed everyone! And then I ran, and then...” As the whole sordid affair spilled from my lips, tumbling out without any warning, I couldn’t meet Troll’s eyes.
Once finished, I gasped out a sob, shaking like a leaf, snot and tears streaming down my face in a horrible mess. A large bit of cloth came over my face, smothering me, wiping everything cleanly away. For a second there, I’d fought, assuming he was thoroughly through and sick of me, ready to smother my sniveling butt, snuffing me out like a candle, as it were.
“An old crone?” I could make out Troll muttering faintly as he tossed the cloth aside.
Sniffling and hiccupping, tears streaming down my face in a fresh wave, eyes on the ground, I nodded. “She met me at the small pond in the clearing by the woods, and let me stay with her until the storm let up. Insisted, actually.”
Lifting my chin with a nudge of his hand, I slowly looked up. At Troll’s close proximity, I closed the distance between us, wrapping my arms around him tight as I pressed my lips determinedly to his. “Please,” I muttered against his hardened lips, “make it all go away. Please.”
Holding out for a full minute as I nipped and kissed at his lips distractingly, he gave in with a groan before cuddling me to him tight, titling my head to the side to accept him as his tongue stroked in to meet mine, cupping my neck in his large hands to hold me still.
When I reached for the front of his pants, he pulled back, breathing harshly. “The crone,” he muttered, licking the taste of me from his lips as he stared at mine, “she have a name?”
“I-I don’t remember,” I mumbled, gripping his wrists tight where they kept me back, trying to pry them loose, desperate to turn his attention towards more important things. “I just, I need you.”
“Think, nugget,” he murmured between frantic kisses as he slowly lost control of the situation. “Need ye ta think.”
When I’d finally managed to wedge my fingers into the front of his pants, gripping him tight to give him a few good strokes, I muttered hurriedly, “Niniane, I think. She said ninny something before I fell asleep. Now let’s-”
Troll let out a sharp curse, a horrified look on his face as he gaped down into mine. “Niniane?” Shoving me back and away from him sharply, tumbling back a few feet, voice barely above a whisper, a haunted, hunted look crossed his stark features.
Eyes widening when his legs hit the bed and he stumbled back, I ran towards him, ready to launch myself at him. He was too fast for me, though, and dodged, sending me belly first into the bed. Shocked as I hit a huge stack of animal furs, I rolled over, glaring up at him as the folds of my dress swirled around me.
“Hey!” I barked. “Why are you running from me?!”
“No,” Troll muttered, shaking his head wildly, “tis trickery. There’s shite afoot, nugget. We willna, canna, be doin’ this. Nothin’ more than a trick, alright. There be assholes playin’ where they shouldna be. Dinna ye see?” But the huge erection in his pants, the head popping out through the top, a deep angry purple, twitched and jerked.
“Explain it, then?” I purred, not meaning a word.
“There’re Elementals. Four arses runnin’ their corners, see? They...”
I wasn’t listening as he talked on. In the back of my mind I must have known this was all too damned strange and weird—a trick, like he’d said—but I was running on pure instinct. At least, I assumed it was instinct.
“Bearer!” Troll bellowed, groaning, cupping his hand protectively over his cock as I eyed him lustfully. “Show yerself! Now!” The hard grit in his voice only served to turn me on more, my nipples hardening to tight, throbbing points, jutting out towards him, as if to beckon.
Crawling forward on the bed, I got up on my knees, chin lifting stubbornly as I met his fiery glare.
“I thought you wanted sex,” I huffed, crossing my arms belligerently over my chest. It just made my breasts stand out more. “Well?” Arms spreading out wide, I made a show of slowly pulling the ties at my shoulders, letting them fall with a soft smile, revealing the round, creamy swells of my breasts. “Come on, then. Take me.”
Swallowing thickly, Troll let out a strangled, choking sound, hands slapping behind him, white knuckling one of the chests pressed up against the wall. Eyes narrowing, I cupped a plump breast in offering, holding it out for him.
There was a loud crack as his fingers clamped down and dug in, destroying the trunk lid’s top, eyes blazing bright orange.
“Niniane! Now!”
An idea struck then and I slowly turned, presenting him with my backside as I slowly bent at the waist, head falling towards the bed.
“Don’t you want me?” Wiggling my ass in invitation, I let out a low moan. Troll roared and shot across the room. Within seconds my skirt was over my head and I could feel him, hot and hard, pressing at my entrance demandingly. Gripping the sheets, I let him lead, ready
for him to take me hard.
Before he would have taken me fully, the fat head of his swollen cock nudging my wet slit, slowly forcing its way in, he snarled and stopped, bellowing out in frustration.
Why won’t he mount me? My senses prickled, runes humming low. Doesn’t he want me? That niggling, insidious voice whispered through me, spurring me on. It was vital somehow—he must have sex with me, now.
Though I was following my body’s natural instincts without question, I still couldn’t pin point what, exactly... Why was it so detrimental?
That gave me pause. Why, though... why now? When did I become driven by urges?
“Fates preserve you, woman!!! Now!!!”
As fast as I felt us spiraling towards the inevitable—a long, hard fuck—the floor dropped from beneath us and we both shouted out as we fell.
Screeching as my stomach dropped, the world morphing and changing, whipping around me as my hands flung out, reaching out graspingly for anything.
I screamed, eyes opened wide as I free-falled, dipping into black, blank, open space.
“Troll?! Troll!” My voice echoed, howling and scared, but I’d already stopped picking up speed, my dress, still over my head, slapping at my face, suddenly flying down to my ankles. Tucking into a tight ball as I felt the world shifting again, I screamed.
I felt it before anything else, a tingling across my skin, a hint of something in the air, and then I was smashing soundly into a blob-like, watery, ice cold, thick mass, finding myself suddenly surrounded by it, encased inside.
That fire that felt eternally lit in my belly extinguished as I sank towards the jelly like substance’s bottom. Struggling back to the surface, it wouldn’t give, the gelatinous mass swiftly suctioning me towards the opposite end.
Expecting to find rocks or sand along the bottom, I gasped as I hit open air. Then, body free once more, I was hurtling out into the wide open blue.
Shrieking again, I had to pause long enough to take a deep breath, then start it up all over again as I tumbled, limbs flung out like a flying squirrel, wind whipping past me, flapping my wet hair behind me wildly as the world whizzed by.
The sky was the wrong way. Or was I? The problem solved itself as my body rolled, my panicked shrieks throbbing in my ears as earth rushed towards me, the sky properly above.
Coming to a stop, more like a hard flop, on a large patch of wet, green grass, I howled as my ankles buckled under my weight, tumbling me to the ground.
Troll landed with a bellowed curse and a thump, skidding through a dry patch of ground that sent him tumbling at a roll, and right into a large body of water.
Stumbling to my feet, I shot off after him, diving in when he landed with a heavy splash, sending wave after wave rushing over the small embankment to smack at my skin like a harsh slap.
I didn’t give it a single thought as I dove in after him, diving straight down until I saw his large body, sinking fast, headed right towards the bottom.
As my skin met his, he jerked and his head shot up. Reaching up, eyes flashing black with sparks of blue, he gripped my wrist and shot up off the bottom, taking me with him as he swiftly sliced through the deep, clear blue water like it was nothing, our heads surfacing at the same time.
As I took in a few big gulps of air, not realizing I’d been under for so long, I gasped in exasperation.
“Oh, my god!” I blurted. “Will this night never end?”
“Feelin’ frisky still, then?” Troll rumbled worriedly, a hint of anger lacing his tone, as if my wanting him was the worst thing to ever happen in the history of existence.
“No, actually,” I muttered thoughtfully, glancing down to where his eyes had strayed through the slow moving water, eyeing the small gap that separated us. “And is that such a bad thing? I’m your bonded, you big, dumb oaf. Is the idea such a travesty? God forbid your mate actually want you! Ugh! Ruined, my left tit, hah! That fall must have scrambled your brain, troll!” And then I muttered much lower, eyes narrowed warningly on the behemoth wading around a mere foot from me, “I’ll never understand you, and I’m beginning to wonder why I ever tried.”
“Hmm. Really? Ye dinna.” Glancing down at himself thoughtfully, face pulled down into a deep scowl, thick arms and legs pumping to keep his large, hefty frame afloat, he just shrugged.
“No. Really, I don’t, okay.” Face scrunching up tight like I’d just sucked a lemon, I glared at him scornfully.
Tilting his head to the side as he lifted it to stare at me, he watched me a moment longer before giving a firm nod. “Must just be me, then. Alright, so it worked.”
Huh? What’s he talking about? Suddenly I felt like we were having two entirely different conversations.
“You really are nuts,” I muttered, beyond irritated, giving his face a sound splashing. When he didn’t react right away, I swam a little closer, wondering if he truly had bumped his noggin a little too hard on the way down. “Hey, what’s wrong with you, and what are you babbling about?”
“The water.” Lifting a finger up and out, he flicked a bit in my direction.
Flinching, I swiped a droplet from my forehead, ignoring the small smirk my instantaneous reaction produced. “Yes, I see it, oh, slick and mighty grey one. What about it?”
“It worked,” he said simply. The look on his face was as if he thought I might be getting a little slow.
“Worked... to do what?” I demanded, tossing my arms up in the air, body shooting up a little bit in the process.
About to answer, his mouth clamped shut and he grunted, eyes glued to the area just below my neck.
“Well?” I wasn’t in the mood for this, still prickly from all the dream hopping. What next? I wondered. I don’t think I can handle much more.
Licking his lips, he glanced up at me, clearing his throat hard before he muttered, “Ye know ye’re naked, nugget, right?”
Snorting, I sent a finger flick of water back at him. “Hardly.”
Rolling his big, overbearing troll eyes, he grumbled, “Fine, ye’re fully clothed, ye daft wench. That get up ye got on is the newest thing. Call it a birthin’ suit. Carry it wit’ ye always. But, just sos ye know, yer tits are jigglin’ about when ye flap yer arms like a wet chicken like that. Damned distractin’.”
“A wet chicken?” My face flamed bright red and I growled in the back of my throat. “Naked? Why, no, I’m not! I’m-” Blinking down at myself, it took a moment before my current attire, or sudden lack thereof, finally clicked. “I’m naked.”
“Yep, so ye are.”
My skin prickled as his voice dropped a few octaves, growing super deep and gravelly—a sexy, husky growl.
Sinking down a little deeper, my shoulders sagged. “I shouldn’t be naked.”
“No, ye shouldna. Not right now, an’ not wit’ me.”
Frowning and a bit confused by his odd ramblings, I asked curiously—purely for curiosity’s sake, of course—“Uhm, and why not, exactly?”
Swallowing thickly, Troll reached up with a heavily muscled arm and rubbed at the back of his neck. His eyes were back to that spot—or namely, my breasts—glued to the lapping water keeping them neatly hidden from hungry troll eyes.
“No’ gonna lie, nugget,” a deep, shuddering breath wracked his massive chest as the water around us suddenly churned, “it’s doin’ things ta me.” Thick grey nostrils flaring, he swallowed hard, bright eyes melting to molten lava.
Blue eyes widening, I glanced at the shore line, watching as thousands of tiny bubbles surfaced from nowhere, bubbling up all around us. “What is? And what is that? The water? Is it tainted or something? Should we get out? Ack!” Swimming fast, I gripped his arm and started tugging him towards dry land.
When he didn’t budge, I pulled harder, grunting with the effort, but ultimately ended up slapping wetly against him, slamming into his slicked up chest.
His arm banded around my waist and he snarled, hot breath tickling my ear. The bubbling water subsided a little, but I was still wary.
What had just happened?
“Troll, is there something... down there?” I whispered, eyeing our surroundings.
“Yes,” he gritted out, adjusting me in his arms as he settled me better against his wide chest.
“What are we in here for, then? It’s not safe! Come on, let’s go!”
“Canna.”
“Well, why not?” Turning slightly, I glanced up at him. It brought the right cheek of my bum close to a very aroused part of his anatomy. Troll was naked as well. Very naked, and very warm.
“Yer tits’ll just do it again.” Pressing us closer, he grunted as his cock nestled up to my ass, settling along the seam. Enfolding me in his big, strong arms, I let him press me farther against him. He felt safe.
And then it sank in. “My tits will... what? My tits?! Oh, for the- You! Ugh! Let me go!” Kicking out, I slapped behind me, relishing every grunt and growl he let loose before he finally let go.
Swimming towards shore, I ignored his bellowed laughter.
“I’m sorry. Canna help it.” There was a chortle in his voice that both shocked and relieved me, sending a wave of warmth straight to my belly, and ire to my eyes. He had a lovely laugh that warmed me to my toes, but what a jerk!
I really would never understand him—I wouldn’t—or our odd bond.
“Ye were an easy pick. I’m... I’m... I’m sorry. It’s just... An’ ye had me worried there, but then ye were good, an’ me bleedin’ dick was about to burst... Aw, nugget. Come back. Willna be doin’ it again. Troll’s honor.”
“Honor? Hah! What honor? You have none! Besides... you aren’t a troll, you’re an Ornthren.”
“I do... somewhere. Sure of it.” At the look on his stupid face, I flushed hard. “Know I do. An’ I’ll go an’ find it, by the boatloads, luv, just for you.”
“Yeah? Well, take your honor and shove it up your bum, you horrible, horribly mean... troll booger! And go pick on yourself! And, you know what? You know what else you can do? You can do that, and you know what I mean, to yourself! From now on, uhm, forever!”
The Toll Page 29
