“Though, I suppose, being a man, you think I should have just become the king’s mistress like he wanted. I’d be a whore, but at least I’d eat, right? And then maybe I wouldn’t appear so offensively small to you.” Sophia pressed her lips tightly together, walking faster to get away from him.
He let her be for a moment, before asking, “Did that really happen to you?”
“What does it matter,” Sophia answered, already cursing herself for revealing so much to him. The last thing she wanted was Malak feeling sorry for her, or thinking she was weak. Actually, it would be better if he just stayed irritated with her. When he was irritated, he wasn’t trying to seduce her with his charming smile and wicked looks. “The past is done and I really don’t feel like discussing anything about myself with you.”
“You told me,” he growled in irritation. “I didn’t ask.”
Sophia merely glared at him. Neither one of them said another word on the subject and hours passed in hostile silence.
Malak handed her a big chunk of dried meat from his pack and they ate as they moved, drinking water out of a pouch. The field gradually thinned as they neared a wide rocky path. The rolling field turned into small hills. The small hills grew into larger foothills. And, as the day turned into evening, the foothills finally rose in the distance to show a range of glorious mountains. Not completely unaffected by the glorious sight, Sophia tried not to make her awe over the beautiful landscape too apparent.
“We camp up here,” Malak said, pointing up the hillside to a rock clearing cut into the cliffs. “The high rock face will protect us from the wind during the night.”
“We’re stopping?” she asked in surprise. “There are still a couple hours of travel time. The moon’s full. I say we keep going.”
“At this pace we’ll be there in maybe a half a sennight’s time,” Malak said. “You should conserve your energy.”
Sophia hadn’t thought to ask how long it would take. She assumed they would maybe camp a night, two at most. “A half sennight? How long if you shifted?”
“I can make the run from Lycaon to Fenris in little over a night. Lycans can run faster at night because the air is different. It would be longer if I ran by day.”
Sophia couldn’t see spending night after night with Malak. She nervously looked around. Then, biting her lip, she said, “That’s not acceptable.”
“What?” His eyes rounded as he looked her over.
“That is too long. I need to get back. Look at the moon. It is a little redder, I think. We really should try to make better time.” Sophia took a deep breath. “You don’t want to be with me. I don’t want to be with you. We obviously have no liking for each other’s company. I say you shift and we bare each other’s touch long enough for you to get me to the portal.”
“Do you really find my presence so distasteful?” Malak asked.
“Yes,” she answered, not giving herself time to feel guilty over lying.
“Do you know what? You’re right.” Malak threw up his hands. “I don’t want to deal with you for a second longer than I have to. I should have just run you to the portal last night.”
“Maybe you should have.”
“Fine,” he growled, only to shout louder, “Fine!” Malak shrugged off his pack and reached for his waist.
Sophia took a step back. “What are you doing?”
He ripped the cloth from around his hips and tossed it at her. Her eyes rounded, seeing his naked body clearly in the silvery moonlight. The shaft between his thighs was halfway raised from a bed of dark hair. As she stared, it only grew stronger, lengthening and becoming thicker. Her body responded and she couldn’t look away. She gripped his warm tunic to her chest. It smelled like him.
“I’m shifting to take you back,” Malak said. “Unless you wish me to stand here while you continue to look your fill?”
Sophia gasped, instantly turning her eyes away. Nothing she’d ever seen had been so interesting and terrifying at the same time. “I-I…”
“I’ll try not to get my fleas on you,” he snarled.
Sophia heard a small growl and glanced back. Malak had transformed into a big, black wolf. She took an instant step back in surprise at how ferocious he looked. Malak’s grey-green eyes were gone, replaced completely by gold. He didn’t move as he looked at her.
She’d never really looked at a lycan shifted before. The few times she had seen the transformation, she had been under the spell and hadn’t noticed how it happened. His body was nearly three times the size of an ordinary wolf. Even as he scared her, the power of his shifted form excited her. Her heart leapt in her chest and her body heated--not so much with desire for the wolf form, but desire for Malak in his human form, knowing he could become this wild beast.
“Malak?” she asked.
Malak lowered his head and lifted one large paw into the air. She didn’t move. He came toward her. She took a step back. He kept walking, his head down, until he reached her. His head brushed her outer thigh, lifting slightly in a friendly gesture. Sophia gasped in awe, slowly leaning over to touch his head. His fur was soft and warm. She turned more fully to him, touching him with both hands.
Malak made a small growling sound in the back of his throat, not threatening, just a soft noise. His head turned and he nudged his nose between her thighs, sniffing deeply. Sophia gasped, instantly knowing what he was sniffing for. The low growl turned into a much more wicked sound as he pressed up into her, doing it again.
“Ah,” she gasped. Then, coming to her senses, she hit his head several times. “No, bad Malak! Bad!”
He whipped back from where he sniffed her sex, and seemed to glare at her.
Sophia, realizing she’d yelled at him like a dog, weakly said, “Sorry. I mean, stop doing that.”
Malak nodded once and turned his body so his side was to her. Sophia hesitated and picked up his pack before climbing on. She adjusted her body, resting the best she could along his back with a bent knee over each side of him. Malak stretched, only to lurch into a full sprint. Sophia gasped and held on tight to his fur as the countryside became nothing more than a blur.
* * * *
Cupid rubbed his gnarled hands together, watching Malak run off with the mortal on his back. Oh, aye. He knew just what he had to do. The blonde human would be how he made good his life debt to Malak. It was clear the lycan didn’t care for Sophia. Why would he? Her hair was shiny and she had two finely arched brows on her face. Not to mention, she was ugly, smelled like flowers and had pale, smooth skin.
Ugh.
No pustules or scabs. No liver spots or protruding lesions. No hairy moles or rashes. Cupid would never understand how the species of humans managed to breed with creatures as hideous as Sophia.
Ach!
Cupid had kept a close eye on them all day, watching them as they left Lycaon with the dawn. It had taken some doing, but he managed to discover that Lady Sophia was being taken back home to a portal and that King Larus ordered Malak to do it. Lord Malak was usually smiling and laughing, especially when around women, but with this one he was stiff and angry. They hardly spoke to each other and when they did it was to fight.
This was perfect, for all the reasons he’d kidnapped the human sister in the first place. They were abandoned in the human world. No one looked for them. And, if Larus had ordered Sophia thrown back into the portal, it was clear no one wanted her in the immortal world. Malak would do his duty and take her to the portal, but after that, he’d be free to extract his hatred on her.
Oh, aye, this was just the grand gesture he needed to be out of Malak’s debt. Malak would send Lady Sophia to the mortal world before the wizard who guarded the portal to complete his mission. Then, Cupid would pull Lady Sophia back into the immortal realm once she had gone through and deliver her back into Malak’s hands without the wizard’s knowledge. After that, the lycan could freely punish and torture the object of his hatred without anyone knowing.
Cupid picked at his nose, diggin
g deep only to withdraw it covered in snot. Sucking on his finger, he let a smile spread over his flat, wide lips. This was a good plan. How could Malak refuse to accept such a favor? Cupid would bring her back to him, making sure to wait until the red moon came so she was trapped and under Malak’s complete control.
Now this was a perfect idea. How could it possibly go wrong?
* * * *
Malak ran like he had never run before. The feel of Sophia’s parted legs against his back, just knowing her sex was pressed close to him, was too much. Her smell was intoxicating, so much so that he could think of nothing else. When he’d pressed his nose into her thighs, mindlessly moving to smell the torrent of her cream that had flooded her at his shifting, it had been all he could do not to pounce on her.
What had he done to be so tortured by the gods?
This was the very reason he’d made her walk in the first place. That, and the secret hope that she might soften enough toward him if he gave her time. He thought by camping out at night, just the two of them, might actually make her come to him. No one would know and they would be able to act on the sexual tension brewing between them. Or maybe it was just his tension brewing. Lifting his head, he sniffed. No, she was aroused as well. Malak ran faster.
Coming to a cliff, he stopped, needing her to get off so they could cross. Breathing hard, he felt Sophia shift on his back, but she didn’t get up. Jolting his shoulder, he bounced her lightly. She mumbled, but still didn’t move. Malak focused his attention past her exotic smell. He detected her steady heartbeat, backed by her steady breathing. She was asleep.
Very carefully, he lay down on his stomach, keeping her on his back. Then, letting his body shift back to human form so as not to wake her, he felt her moan and curl alongside his naked back. Malak nearly howled when her leg slipped between his to nestle intimately close. It took some maneuvering, but he managed to slip her gently onto the ground next to him. As he pulled away, she moaned in protest.
Malak crouched, studying Sophia as she slept. He pulled absently at his bottom lip in thought, before reaching out to brush a wayward strand of blonde hair from her face. She must have been tired if she fell asleep on him. He did detect little dark circles underneath her closed eyes. It was chilly out and he felt her shiver from the cold.
He grabbed his blue tunic off the ground and looked around. Seeing a small outcropping of rocks, he jumped up onto a ledge and laid his tunic on the ground to make a bed. Then, jumping back down, he picked Sophia up, cradled her to his naked body and leapt back onto the ledge with her in his arms. Her eyes opened briefly. A soft smile came to her mouth and then she fell back asleep.
Malak laid her on the bed. Unfastening the knot on her shoulder, he took her overtunic off and lay down next to her taking the spot closest to the ledge, before covering them up. Since he’d used his tunic to cover the ground, he was naked beneath the blanket. Luckily, there was room on the ledge so they didn’t have to touch and where they did, her linen undertunic kept his skin from pressing along hers. Malak wasn’t sure he could handle much more physical contact.
Stretching out on his back, he threaded his hands behind his head as he looked at the stars. Sophia moaned, turning to rest her head on his chest for a pillow. Malak stiffened, taking a deep breath at the contact. Easing her head from over his heart, he let her use his arm instead, wrapping it along her back to hold her to his side. Not knowing why, he brushed his lips against her forehead, not kissing her, just a light stroke. She made a soft noise as she continued to sleep, curling into his warmth. Her thigh lifted onto his. Malak groaned, doing his best not to wake her. He must have really done something wrong, because the gods were trying to kill him.
* * * *
Sophia wiggled her body into the warmth at her side. Whatever it was, it felt good, safe. It had been so long since she’d slept, and even longer since she’d truly felt safe, that she didn’t want to wake up.
Something hot touched her thigh, working along her flesh to her hip. She wanted it there, stroking her, making her ache. The movements were slow, languid. The heat slid down her leg, pulling at the back of her knee, drawing her closer to the warmth she craved. Sensations flooded her body, coming from every direction--the hand working back up her thigh and rounding toward her butt, the stiff heat pressing through the linen at her stomach, the smell of Malak.
Malak?
“Malak?” she groaned, her voice heavy from sleep. Sophia blinked, opening her eyes. Malak was next to her. At her word, his naked chest pressed closer to her aching breasts causing her treacherous nipples to start tingling. Gasping, she tried to shake the fog off her brain. She didn’t stand a chance.
Malak’s mouth blindly searched for hers, bumping her cheek and drawing over her lips. The press of kiss was everything she remembered and she was helpless against the deep onslaught of his probing tongue as it invaded her mouth. His hand on her butt kneaded her flesh, pulling her closer as it somehow worked her skirt higher up her waist.
Malak’s body twisted and suddenly she was beneath him. Her eyes flew open and she tried to scream. All that came out of her mouth was a long, sultry moan. The feel of his body was wickedly delightful. At the sound of her voice, his eyes flickered open and she saw the grey-green depths slashed with liquid gold before they shut once more.
Raven black hair tickled her and she couldn’t resist running her fingers into his silky locks, only to touch his muscled back and chest. He left her lips, moving his mouth to her neck. Animalistic noises left him as he kissed the pulse at her throat.
It felt too good. She didn’t want him to stop, didn’t think to make him. His whole body rubbed into hers, pressing her against the hard ground. She knew the sensations flooding her female sex, felt the wet cream building like never before. Touching her own body, fantasying with her mind, had never brought her this much pleasure.
Malak’s mouth worked kisses along her throat only to devour the other side of her neck. He sucked deeply at her flesh, nibbling, licking, kissing. The hand on her butt moved away and she felt his hand cupping her sex, parting the sensitive folds as he explored every intimate inch of her. He didn’t hesitate as he thrust a thick finger up into her tight passage.
Sophia gasped, her eyes opening wide. Malak groaned, rocking his hand against her, joining the first finger with a second. His mouth left her neck, only to cover her budded nipple as it strained through the linen of her undertunic. He kissed her through the material, sucking and licking and biting. The feel of heat so intimately inside her, pushing in and out, in and out, combined with the workings of his mouth left her lightheaded.
His legs were between hers, keeping her knees parted even as she instinctively tried to close them. Just as she started to feel the strong tingle building in her sex, he pulled his hand away. Sophia moaned in protest, shaking her head back and forth as she wantonly wanted more.
Malak’s lips were back on her neck, passionately kissing her skin and his hand massaged her breast. The sensations were too much. She didn’t know where to feel or how to react or what to think. The heat came back to part her sex, focusing her mind on that one point on her body, but this time the heat was thicker and harder than before.
Seconds before it happened, Sophia realized what this meant. Malak was about to stake claim to her maidenhead. She moaned, but it was too late to protest. Her hands were gripping his shoulders. Her thighs were parted to him and his body was poised at her entrance.
With a rough thrust he was embedded inside her. Malak growled, pulling back only to push his shaft deeper with another thrust. Her legs tensed. He did it again, each time seating himself deeper inside, stretching her, prying her body open to him.
At first it burned, the pain overtaking the pleasure, but as Malak kissed her neck, she felt a strange euphoria taking the pain away. He growled in the back of his throat, a possessive, territorial sound that gave her a small sense of satisfaction. His hand slid from her breast and he braced both palms on the ground. His knees pus
hed up, angling her hips to deepen his already penetrating thrusts. His hips worked against hers, riding her, controlling her.
Despite the almost brutal, primitive way he moved, it felt wonderful. She arched into him, accepting his claim. Tension built between her thighs and she didn’t want it to ever stop.
Sophia opened her eyes, gasping to find his face partially shifted. Crimson blood stained his mouth and chin, and she saw his sharpened fangs. His muscled body worked as he took her hard. She was too far gone with arousal to care. Her body spasmed, tightening as it clamped down on his thrusting shaft. She gasped as the most wonderful, tumultuous feelings assaulted her entire body. Nothing in her world had ever felt like this.
As she stiffened, Malak grunted and joined her. His back arched, his hips flush against hers, as he groaned, jerking his release inside her. Sophia felt as if she couldn’t breathe. Malak collapsed on top of her, bracing his weight with his bended knees and elbow as not to crush her as the harshness of his breath fanned over her neck. The position of his body kept her trapped beneath him and he stayed embedded deep inside her.
As the pleasure subsided, reason slowly dawned. Sophia stiffened, her eyes flying open as she drew her arms back as if his flesh would burn her alive. Weakly, she touched her throat, remembering the blood on his mouth. Warm sticky fluid met her hands on both sides of her neck. Sophia did the only thing she could think of. She screamed.
Chapter Four
Malak was mindless, content to stay deep into the soft folds of the woman’s body. No, not just a woman. Sophia. She’d accepted him. The details were foggy, but he was inside her and she had not resisted his claim to her.
Then she screamed, the piercing sound of fear and outrage ringing through his head. Malak’s whole body jerked. He pushed up and away from her, torn between the need to protect her and the desire to stay close to her skin. He looked around for the thing that scared her. A dragon flew overhead and he relaxed.
Naughty Cupid Trilogy Page 33
