She was so wet for his possession, so frantic for it by the time he turned her in his arms and she felt the head his cock slide along her cleft that she could barely catch her breath. He curled over her, bending her toward the ground as he pumped his hips in an effort to enter her completely. She gasped, panted for breath as she felt him stretching her to her limits, felt the thickness of his shaft scouring her channel. The muscles along her passage quaked with the pleasure rippling through her, gaining in intensity and frequency as he began pumping into her almost frenziedly.
She groaned his name like a mantra, craving the feel of him, loathe to reach her peak and end the wondrous sensations pelting her with each stroke. It felt too good. She couldn’t fight her body’s rise toward rapture. A whimper escaped her as the first convulsion of her climax hit her, a long, drawn out groan with the second until she was gasping hoarsely.
He shuddered, shook so hard with the effort to fight his own release that he shook her and then abruptly jerked his cock from her. Her throat closed with disappointment when she felt his semen scald the tender lips of her sex and run down her legs.
For several moments he held her tightly and then slowly he straightened, turning her in his arms. “Gods damn it that was close!” he said, panting for breath. “Little fool!”
Emma opened her eyes to look at him in confusion.
He shook his head, lowering his brow to hers. “You have not figured out yet that I am witless where you are concerned?” he said raggedly. “Do not let me do that again! I mean it, Emma! Let alone encourage me to do anything that stupid!”
Her throat closed. “Why?”
He squeezed his eyes as if seeking patience. “Because, little fool, if I was to impregnate you in this form, you would bear a centaur!”
Fear sent a cold shaft through her. “But … wouldn’t it be a centaur anyway? Your mother …?”
Aydin heaved an impatient breath. “I am the fool,” he muttered. “You cannot shift as we can. It would not matter if you could, but I know that if I should impregnate you in my man form, the child would be born in that form.”
“And in this form?”
“Centaur. Gods! It does not bear thinking on.”
It didn’t … and she was vastly disappointed. She supposed it might be considered the height of kink, but she happened to like it when he had sex with her in centaur form! Or maybe it went way beyond the height of kink? It was almost worse that she felt so disappointed that she couldn’t possibly bear a baby centaur. Somehow, she supposed because they’d said their mother was human, she’d gotten the idea that the baby centaurs were small enough that she could deliver one.
It made her feel inadequate in a whole new way, made her wonder how they could possibly want her when they knew her limitations as a human. “It wasn’t good for you because you had to pull out.”
Surprise flickered in his eyes. He touched her face lightly with his fingertips. “Dearling, being inside of you is good for me.”
She blushed with pleasure. “Having you inside of me is good for me,” she said, smiling faintly.
He leaned down to brush a quick kiss along her lips and then pulled her close, stroking her almost absently. He lifted his hand when he’d stroked her arm and made a sound of irritation. “I have been too rough. You are bleeding.”
Emma pulled away to look at his hand and then lifted her arm to look at it. “Yuck! I’d forgotten I was such a mess!”
He sent her questioning look. Reluctantly, she moved away from him and climbed carefully into the pool of water to bathe off. He followed her, pulling her into his arms again when she’d splashed water on her scratches until they stopped bleeding.
She really hadn’t noticed, she thought wryly, but she was going to. She was bruised and banged up enough that moving was going to be torture once she’d had time to stiffen up from it.
She was content for the moment, though, enjoyed feeling his arms around her despite the twinges.
He released her after a little bit. “We should back to the camp. I am certain I will have to build another fire if we are to eat tonight.”
They hadn’t brought anything to dry themselves with, but then she’d had other things on her mind when she’d followed Aydin. Waiting until he’d scooped up his loincloth and tied it at his waist, she led the way back. She discovered when she bent down to grab her trust underskirt that Aydin was watching her. Smiling, she wiggled her hips at him.
He grinned at her. It was such a beautiful smile it made her heart fist in her chest.
When she dried off, she tied two strips around herself as Colwin had showed her and moved to sit near Aydin, trying to finger comb the tangles from her hair. Adyin watched her for a moment and then opened the pouch he used to carry his flute and his flint. After digging around a moment, he pulled out a small, crude wooden comb that looked as if it had been whittled from a piece of wood or possibly bone. Emma lifted her brows in surprise when he held it out to her, wondering if he’d been holding out on her all this time.
“I made this for you,” he said uncomfortably. “It is not much. I did not have anything really suitable to work with.”
Pleasure suffused her. “You made it? For me?”
He shrugged. “I will make a better one when I find the right materials to use.”
It was actually more like a hair pick than a comb, but so much better than just her fingers! “But this is nice! Thank you!”
It was nearly dark by the time Colwin returned. He looked tired and disgusted, but he had two small rabbits. “Sorry. I had almost despaired that I would get anything.”
“It’s a shame we don’t have a pot,” Emma said. “Soup would have been good! It’s cool now that the sun’s set.”
“We are higher than we were,” Aydin said. “We have been climbing for the past two days. Likely that is why it was hard to find the jupits.”
Colwin looked a little less disgusted. “I had not thought of that.”
Emma had no idea whether that was true or not, but she was glad Aydin had thought of something that helped Colwin’s feelings about his hunting efforts.
As had been their habit, they put the small fire out as soon as they’d finished cooking the meat. For the first time, though, Emma felt really regretful that they had to. She hadn’t exaggerated. The night was cooler than any of their previous nights on the trail.
She wasn’t unhappy about it long, however. When she’d settled on the pallet, Colwin settled close beside her and drew her against his length. A few minutes later, Aydin lay down behind her and moved close enough to give her his warmth, as well.
Heaven, Emma thought, couldn’t be this wonderful!
* * * *
Emma surfed toward consciousness on a crest of rising desire that kept her hovering just below complete awareness, or at least struggling to. The lure of pleasure from her lover’s touch was far more appealing than reality. Bit by bit little things intruded, however, that convinced her it was no dream—bird song, the faint rustle of a breeze through leaves, the light against her eyelids. The tug of his mouth on her breast clenched it as it sent a harder shaft of need through her, made her belly clench with readiness. She lifted a hand to stroke his hair, arching her back to give him better access.
The slight movement caused pain to shoot through her and she uttered a gasp. He took it as an invitation to move to her other breast.
She relaxed again as pleasure swiftly surmounted the twinges of pain in her sore muscles. She recognized that mouth, the hands, she thought, lifting her eyelids just enough to verify her suspicion.
As if he sensed her gaze, Colwin lifted his head, shifted upward to align his mouth with hers and kissed her with a hunger that rapidly brought her neediness to a level with his own. When she felt his hand on her thighs, urging her to open them to him, she parted her legs for him, panting with eagerness while she waited for him to settle his hips between her thighs and align the head of his cock with her body.
She’d forgotten how
huge he was. Despite the wet welcome he received, his first thrust gained little headway beyond pushing her away. A mixture of amusement and impatience flitted through her as he adjusted his hold. She pushed her thighs wider to accommodate him, planting the soles of her feet firmly to brace herself as he bore down again. The resistance of her flesh to his was almost as exciting as it was frustrating as she felt him slowly gaining ground. He desisted, sawing shallowly a moment before he tried again. With the next hard thrust, he filled her to capacity and then some. Again he sawed slowly for a few moments and then thrust again, burying himself root deep.
He paused, panting for breath as he’d scaled a mountain instead of her passage. She held perfectly still, enjoying the twinges of complaint from her inner muscles as they adjusted to his girth and then enjoying the sizzling currents that wafted through her even more as he began to move rhythmically along her channel.
Lifting her feet from the ground, she hooked her heels beneath his buttocks as set a pace that produced an almost constant barrage of pleasurable waves. One with each retreat, a second with each advance until the tension coiling toward maximum capacity at a rate that had her panting for breath. The determination to enjoy to the fullest and savor the feel of him inside her yielded to the fervor to attain her destination. She reached for it eagerly, moving with him, urging his with her touch and her own movements to thrust faster and carry her away. Tremors began to ripple through him that built her own excitement higher. It touched off the explosion she’d been striving for and she sucked in a keen gasp of pleasurable surprise as the shockwaves inundated her with pure bliss, clutching at him tightly to ride the crest as high as she could go.
He faltered. She felt his cock jerk threateningly within her, felt him tense to withdraw. The absolute determination to keep him buried deep inside of her and feel him come hit her. She tightened her legs and when she felt him slipping out, reached down to grasp his buttocks, pulling him back. He shuddered, uttered an agonized growl and drove into her in defeat, jerking hard against her as his body expelled his seed.
The heat of his seed bathing her womb completed the sense of bliss wafting through her. She released a sigh of contentment and relaxed her frantic grip on him, wilted limply as the strength seemed to leave her completely. His weight as he sank heavily against her gave her a sense of triumph on top of the contentment.
He lifted his head when he’d caught his breath, studying her face. She sighed, reluctantly opening her eyes a fraction and stared up at his wary expression for a moment before closing her eyes again.
She wasn’t certain where the impulse had come from but she discovered she had mixed feelings about it. She was more inclined to pretend to be too out of it to realize what she’d done until she’d had time to decide exactly how she felt and understand why the impulse had been so strong.
When he finally disengaged his body from hers and moved off of her, she stretched, stifled a yawn and finally opened her eyes and sat up.
A jolt went through her when she met Aydin’s narrowed gaze. Her mind instantly descended into chaos, but although she couldn’t sort the thoughts and questions pounding so swiftly through her mind, she had no trouble deciphering the look. It was heated, filled with desire.
He’d watched. It had aroused him.
Was there also a twinge of resentment and jealousy in his eyes?
She wasn’t certain, but he broke from her gaze after a long moment and looked down at his lap. He was aroused, but his focus wasn’t on the erection he was sporting. He was using the edge of his sword to strip the bark from a long, narrow limb.
She glanced toward Colwin and discovered he’d risen and walked away.
Frowning, wondering if he’d taken exception to her focus on Aydin, Emma got up slowly, stiffly, discovering every muscle it took to get up hurt and her skin pulled painfully instead of stretching smoothly and effortlessly. Her ribs hurt the most. She curled an arm around them as she straightened, trying to stretch enough of the kinks out to move.
She didn’t look at Aydin again as she crept across the campsite heading toward the pool. She was embarrassed enough at her stiff movements thinking he might be watching her. She didn’t want to know that he was.
Colwin sent her an indecipherable look when she reached the pool. It wasn’t exactly a look of welcome, she thought wryly.
He actually looked … wary, she decided.
It didn’t take her very long to figure out why.
He knew he’d awakened her from a deep sleep with his lovemaking and he wasn’t sure of just how much she had been aware of or might remember.
She’d done a better job at her practiced self-defense than she’d realized, she thought wryly.
She wasn’t certain why she continued the pretense except that she wasn’t ready to face that particular reality at the moment. Untying the cloths she’d put on the night before instead of her dress, she dropped them to the ground and waded into the pool. Colwin studied her a few minutes, and then turned away and began to swim laps back and forth across the small pond while she focused on trying to clean her teeth and wash away some of the soreness and dirt. It would’ve been nice to have soap, she thought irritably. The sand that she’d been using to help scrub away the dirt she gathered from nature hurt like hell when she tried to rub it even gently over the patches of raw skin she’d gotten from falling on the rocky ground during the battle.
Soaking at least softened the scabs enough that her skin was a little more flexible by the time she got out, though. Either the water, or her movements had eased some of the stiffness from her muscles, as well. She’d used the cloths she’d been wearing to dry off and reached for her dress that she’d left to dry the night before when Colwin stopped her.
“You are bruised. This tight thing will only hurt more.”
She studied Colwin’s face, but with the best will in the world she couldn’t find a sign of ‘evil design’ upon her body in his expression, nothing but concern. It sent an indefinable warmth through her. She glanced at his hand on her dress and released her own hold it, realizing she didn’t actually want to bind herself up in the thing.
Truthfully, it wasn’t much closer to ‘decent’ than the rags she wound around herself and she realized that she’d slowly but surely grown accustomed to being mostly exposed.
It was weird, she thought, the things a person could get used to even when they didn’t especially want to, even when they thought there was no way they actually could grow accustomed.
Chapter Ten
“What do you think of this?” Aydin asked Colwin, tossing the staff he’d been whittling on to Colwin as they returned to the campsite. Colwin caught it, studied it for a moment and then slid his hands down the length. Grasping each end, he flexed the pole.
Caught by the flex of his arm muscles when he did it, Emma’s curiosity about the purpose of the pole was instantly supplanted by appreciation.
He shifted his hold after a moment to the center. “It needs a bit more work. Crude,” he said, “but I think it will work well enough in a pinch.”
Aydin caught it as he tossed it back, studying the pole with frowning intensity for a moment before he began whittling on it again.
Alerted to the fact that he was actually making something, Emma watched him, although she was far more fascinated by the play of muscles his labor produced. Colwin caught her attention after a few minutes. She thought at first that he was trying to rebuild the campfire they’d put out the night before, but since he was no where near it, she decided he was testing rocks to see which ones would give off the sparks.
When he kept striking the same rock, however, and knocking off chips, she gave him her full attention, studying the rock in his hand as it slowly took shape and became a stone arrowhead.
Pleased surprise went through her when she identified it. She got up from the pallet and approached him when he set it down and picked up another rock, looking a question at him when he lifted his head. He shrugged and she picked it up t
o study it.
It was nothing short of amazing. She didn’t think a machine could’ve produced a more perfectly shaped arrowhead. There was nothing crude about it and he proved he could produce one after another, each one perfect. She moved back to the pallet when her legs began to cramp and turned to see how Aydin was progressing with his project.
In the time she’d been watching Colwin, she saw that he’d shaped what had been nothing but a long pole into the graceful shape of a bow. He paused now and then to test the strength and flexibility.
He seemed dissatisfied, but she wasn’t certain why. Colwin had said it was crude, she remembered. It must not be made of the wood they generally used, she decided, or maybe he didn’t have the tools to make it the way they usually did?
When she returned her attention to Colwin, she saw that he was working on what looked like the blade of a knife. It certainly wasn’t an arrowhead and she didn’t think he intended it for a spear.
It dawned on her after a little bit that the day had brightened and neither of them seemed in any hurry to break camp and leave, although they had always left very early before, sometimes before it was even good daylight.
She supposed after the encounter with the ogres they’d decided they couldn’t afford to keep going without taking the time to fashion some sort of weapons. Or maybe it was because Colwin had had trouble getting food the night before?
She saw that Aydin was still limping, though, when he got up after a little while and disappeared into the woods. He was horribly bruised, too, from the rocks.
The bastards had hoped to kill him or at least bludgeon him unconscious, she realized, feeling her belly clench with dread all over again.
Colwin had more than a couple of painful looking bruises himself, but he’d managed to avoid most of the barrage Aydin had been caught up in.
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