by Ivy Asher
What in the actual fuck? Who tickles someone that’s trying to beat the shit out of them?
I growl, annoyed by the fact that he’s clearly not taking this seriously. I wiggle away from him slightly and slam an elbow down on his neck. A threatening rumble moves from his body to mine, and he reaches up to pin my hands down. I shift until my fingers are razor sharp again and call on my wings. I use my wings to help push me off of my back and start swiping at Ryn.
He may be up for a tickle party, but I want blood and retribution.
Ryn snarls at me, or rather his gryphon snarls at me, when I claw lines up his neck and cheek. Pigeon comes screaming forward, and I can practically hear her saying oh no he didn’t while she pulls off imaginary earrings and readies herself for a brawl.
Ryn blinks, and his gryphon’s eyes disappear. I shove Pigeon back with an I got this and use my wings to shove Ryn off of me. I leap up and then fly backward, keeping him from tackling me again. He jumps up in the air to even the playing field. I turn and make a wing sprint in the direction of Kestrel. Ryn grabs me by the ankle before I can even get a yard away. He drops like a sack of boulders, back down to the ground, pulling me with him as he does. I screech and kick to try and break his hold, but he’s too fucking strong.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he grunts out as he continues to muscle me out of the air. My wings flap furiously as I try to keep that from happening. I inadvertently kick up wind, dust and other forest debris as I try to get away.
“Thought I’d look in on Treno,” I grunt back.
Satisfaction flares inside of me when Ryn reacts the way I knew he would. He gets pissed. Now that I know Treno is a sore spot for him, I won’t be able to stop picking at it.
“You think that Marked prick cares for you?” he challenges, triumph flashing through his gray eyes as he manages to finally pull me to the ground.
I try to leap away, but he’s too fast. He grabs me by the waist and pulls me under him.
“You think he’ll ever care more for you than he does power?”
I land blow after blow against Ryn’s chest, arms, face, neck.
“He’s not capable of it, Falon,” he warns, ignoring my assault like it’s nothing.
Pigeon is practically clapping inside of my head, and I’m confused by it until she slams me with desire.
“Damnit, Pigeon, this is not foreplay,” I yell at her, but she ignores me and immediately starts bombarding me with flashes of gryphon porn.
“If you’re trying to turn me off, it’s working!” I yell at her, and the flashes immediately stop.
I study Pigeon for a beat. “One minute you want to rip him apart, now you want me to fuck him?” I ask, bewildered by the one-eighty.
“You have all you need, Falon, you just don’t want to admit it. You like the game too much,” Ryn tells me, pulling my focus from Pigeon back to him.
“What?” I ask incredulously.
“You like being chased. You like the hunt. You especially like being caught,” he declares, finally pinning my hands on each side of my head.
He leans down in one quick motion and runs the tip of his nose in a circle around my diamond hard nipple. Fire explodes low in my abdomen, and a moan sneaks out of my lips. My legs spread open in invitation, and Ryn chuckles.
“So much for your thighs not working like that,” he teases, and I growl at him.
Shit. I’m pretty much never going to live that down now.
“You want to talk, or you want to continue showing me how much I like being caught?” I snap up at him.
Ryn brings his eyes level with mine and settles himself between my thighs. I like the weight of him there, and Pigeon sends me her eager agreement.
“Now, now, Huntress, don’t underestimate your prey,” Ryn chides. “I can talk and show you at the same time.”
He grinds into me slowly, the leather of his Narwagh armor rough against my sensitive skin in a way I really like. I lean forward and nip at his bottom lip, and a satisfied purr rumbles in his chest. The sound has me wondering if his gryphon is as horny and unapologetic as mine is. His full lips skim mine, and it focuses my thoughts solely on the feel of him against me. He doesn’t move to kiss me or fuck me; he seems content on simply teasing my mouth...my breasts...my pussy.
I growl in protest, and it seems to amuse him even more.
“You think you want the climax right now, but you’re a huntress, Falon. You need to stalk it,” he tells me, running the tip of his nose up the side of my neck in a very delicious way. “You need to chase,” he declares, bringing his lips temptingly close to mine and then pulling back when I try to close the distance. “You need to lust for the kill,” he states matter-of-factly as he starts to grind rhythmically between my thighs.
I moan and tilt my hips in a way that increases the friction between us.
Ryn kisses me finally, drinking down the moans his body is coaxing from me. His tongue twirls with mine, his lips suck at mine and nip. He kisses me so thoroughly that I almost come from that alone. Ryn reads my body like it’s his favorite book, and he pulls back just as I get close to riding my release over the edge. I whimper, putty in his capable hands, and he chuckles.
“See, Falon, you have everything you need right here. Treno isn’t going to hunt or be hunted. He isn’t going to break you open one thrust at a time like you need. He doesn’t know you well enough to know when you need to dominate or be dominated.”
“Ryn,” I snarl. “Shut the fuck up about Treno and get inside of me!”
Ryn’s eyes light up with victory, and he rolls off of me onto his back. I don’t need an invitation, and I climb on top of him, grabbing the neck of his gouged armor vest and pulling him until he’s sitting. Fire is banked in his gaze, and I can feel his eyes on me like they’re his hands as he looks from my lips to my breasts. I untie the vest and pull it off. I shove the tunic underneath roughly over his head and then move down lower.
I untie the laces over his hips and cock, skimming the dark brown curls that peek out of the top of his pants. I can see the outline of him pressing against the animal skin of his pants, and I can’t help but lick my lips. I want my mouth around him. I need to taste his want and feel his needy fingers in my hair as I swallow him down.
Ryn tilts his hips up as I get his pants untied, and I pull them off his well-muscled thighs, down his calves and...shit. I forgot about his boots. I quickly yank them off, one foot at a time, and by the time I get Ryn fully naked, I’m so wet and ready that I’m pretty sure I’m going to come before he can even get inside of me. He watches me just as hungrily, and I crawl back up his legs and palm him. He’s shiny with desire, and I stick my tongue out, eager to taste how his lust is flavored. His hips jerk up, and he hisses as I run my tongue up the underside of his cock.
My hard nipples skim his thighs as I wrap my lips around his head. I bob shallowly at first and then gradually take Ryn deeper and deeper into my throat. I hum appreciatively when he moans my name. Wrapping my palm around his base, I work in time with my mouth to make him feel like I’m taking all of him in my throat.
I clench around nothing as he threads his fingers in my hair, bucking into my mouth and worshipping me with his moans and praise. Out of nowhere, he pulls my mouth off his cock and pulls my lips up to his.
“Hey!” I protest, and he laughs.
“I want to come in your cunt, Falon, not your throat,” he declares, his lips kissing me into submission.
He pulls away and palms my breast, dropping his mouth to suck on my nipples as I reach down and position him at my entrance. I drop down on top of him, and sure enough, I come right away. Incredible sensation shoots out to the tips of my body and then gets sucked back to where his cock is buried deep inside of me. I ride him and my orgasm as it ricochets through my body.
I grind against his base until his brown curls are soaked with my release and his lips are against my ear.
“Yes, that’s where you belong, my Huntress. Your body aga
inst mine, your lips screaming my name, your cum all over my dick, my mouth, my fingers. This is where you should always be, and this is my place now too. I live now to feel you spasm with pleasure around me. I exist to worship you, your mind, your heart, your body. You’re mine now,” Ryn declares.
He flips me onto my back and lets his body claim me the way his words are trying to. I throw my head back and float on all the exquisite sensations his dick and mouth are calling from my body. He nips at my neck and jaw, palms my breasts, and he fucks me hard. It’s all so good that my staccato moans turn into a steady thrum of just his name spilling out of my lips. Ryn bites at my shoulder hard enough to register the pressure but not enough to break the skin. He buries himself between my thighs and roars out his release, the meat of my shoulder still between his teeth. His thrusts get more and more shallow as he empties himself inside of me. Then suddenly, just when it seems like things are slowing down, he grinds into me, and it hits everything just right and sends me over the edge one more time.
He plays with my nipples as I come apart again, chuckling when I slap his hands away. He rests his forehead between my breasts, and we both work to catch our breaths. He doesn’t pull out of me, and for some reason, I’m grateful for that. It’s as though we’re floating in this in-between world of pleasure and connection and intimacy. But the minute he moves, it will shatter. I’ll have to crash back down to a world where I don’t belong, dealing with shit that’s way out of my paygrade.
I just want to stay in this moment, Ryn between my thighs, pleasure echoing in ripples of warmth through me.
I play with the short strands of his brown hair. The light catches streaks of blond as the locks move through my fingers, and it’s like the sun is proudly pointing out all the places it’s kissed his soft hair over time. Ryn’s fingers trace up and then back down my sides in a slow, hypnotizing rhythm.
“We’ll be leaving by the end of the week,” he tells me, his voice and body relaxed against mine.
“What?” I ask, surprised by that statement.
He looks up at me, his gray eyes studying my face. “I had to change the normal exit strategy to accommodate you and several others who have been working behind the scenes here, but it’s all arranged. Five more days, and we can all be free of this place forever.”
“And go where?” I ask.
Ryn’s brow dips as if he thinks the question is odd. “We go with the Hidden and put an end to this war once and for all,” he states, like it should be obvious.
Zeph’s face surfaces slowly in my mind until it comes into focus. It’s as though I can still feel his hands around my throat and see the way his face contorted with cold rage when he told me to leave. His words play back in my head as if he’s snarling them at me still.
“Get home if you can, hide if you can’t, and hope a Cynas gets to you before the Avowed can, or worse, the Ouphe dregs track you down.”
“You’ll throw me to the wolves, just like that?”
“It’s where your kind belongs. Oh and, Falon, if you ever come back here, I’ll kill you myself.”
Ryn’s fingers tracing up my side pull me from the memory, and I shiver, not able to help it. Ryn doesn’t notice, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. I watch as he debates something for a moment. His eyes go far away for a beat and then they focus on me again as he settles on a decision.
“I was sent here to find information on what Zeph and I think might be a secret weapon. I found it, and now we can destroy the Vow once and for all,” he tells me, like this solves everything.
“Wow,” I state in response, not sure what else to say.
Ryn must hear hesitation in my tone, because he sits back, like my lack of excitement just slapped him across the face. He pulls out of me, and just like I suspected, I feel the peace around us shatter. I sit up, and we both stare at each other for a moment.
“What am I missing here?” he finally asks, and I release a deep weary breath.
“I can’t go back, Ryn. I want you to be where you’re safe, so I understand that you have to go, but that’s not an option for me. I’m still trying to get home, and I think I may be able to figure out how...here.”
The line in my mother’s journal about my gran finding a way for them to be safe resonates in my mind. Gran was a gryphon, and yet she must have figured out that there was something going on with the gates. I’m hoping there’s a book or something in the archives that will help me figure them out. It may take ages to find it, but I sure as hell won’t find it with the Hidden. Especially not if Zeph kills me, like he promised to do.
Ryn’s eyes harden, and his nostrils flare with anger. I can tell he’s trying to control his breathing, but the fury is etched all over his face.
“Your place is here, Falon. This is home now,” he declares, slapping his palm against his chest. He angrily gestures in the direction of Kestrel City. “You can’t stay here. It’s not safe, and I can’t just leave you. That’s not in me.”
“Ryn...” I start. “Zeph—”
“This isn’t about Zeph!” Ryn snaps, cutting me off. “I know you two got off on the wrong foot, but he doesn’t trust easily. If you knew what he has been through—”
“I don’t fucking care what he’s been through,” I shout at Ryn, not meaning it, but pissed all the same.
I get up and move in the direction of my clothes. Ryn steps in my way.
“He put his hands around my throat and told me if he ever saw me again, he’d kill me. This is about Zeph, and I can’t go back.”
Ryn opens his mouth to argue, but I shut it down.
“We fucked, it’s fine. You don’t owe me anything, and I don’t expect anything. I’m not some weepy girl who gets too attached because you stuck your dick in me. Maybe I’m not safe here, but I wasn’t safe with the Hidden either. I wish you all the best with this war. I just hope I can get as far away from it as possible,” I tell him, and then I try to step around him.
He blocks my path again.
“Falon, you are coming with me. That’s the end of it. You can trust me to protect you.”
Ryn’s words and tone are harsh. They lash out at me like a whip that not only wants to sting me with each crack but bind me so I can’t escape. Pigeon rustles uneasily inside of me as if she’s uncomfortable watching her friends fight and doesn’t know what to do about it.
I huff out a resigned breath, and my eyes soften. I step into Ryn like a good little gryphon that’s submitting. He relaxes slightly and brings his hands up to rub my shoulders comfortingly. Before he can touch me, I bring my knee up hard against his unprotected and uncovered balls.
Ryn gasps and folds in on himself. I waste no time sprinting away and leaping up toward the dipping sun. Pigeon takes over, shifting us right on cue, and we race back toward Kestrel City. I don’t look back at Ryn; I know he’ll recover soon and we don’t have a second to waste. If I can stay near the Avowed, he’ll stay away from me. He can’t afford for his cover to be blown over some misguided sense of responsibility. We’ll both be better off if we just go our separate ways and forget anything ever happened between us.
13
A booming knock on my door echoes around the room, and I glare at it as I towel dry my hair. I feel like shit, I had a horrible dream where I was burning alive, and then I woke up and had the weirdest fucking hot flashes. I think I slept maybe three hours, and I got up feeling achy and gross.
I just finished a long bath and was debating crawling back into bed for the rest of the day.
The only problem with that plan is that I’m not sure if Ryn can kidnap me from here. I haven’t seen him since our altercation yesterday, but I’m not stupid enough to think the arrogant prick won’t try something.
The knock sounds off again.
“Flower? Are you there?” Treno asks on the other side of the door, and relief and excitement start pumping through me.
“Calm down, bro! You just got your itch scratched yesterday, and look how well that turned out for
us,” I point out to Pigeon as she gets all fangirly inside of me.
I open the door and look up to find Treno’s smiling face. Damn. I forgot how tall he was.
“Did I wake you?” he asks, looking over my head at the crumpled bedding that’s askew all over the bed.
“No, come in,” I offer, stepping out of the way and opening the door wider. “How are you?” I ask a little awkwardly.
I haven’t seen him in a while, and it’s like someone hit the reset button on my feeling easy and comfortable around him, and now we’re just stiff and awkward. He walks in and looks around. I run through a short list of small talk options, but they all revolve around what he’s been up to these days and what’s new. I already know he was off doing war shit, but I feel wrong asking about that. Like somehow I’m betraying Treno, Zeph, and Ryn by inserting myself in the middle just by asking questions or being told about it.
I’m trying hard to be motherfucking Switzerland in this Avowed, Hidden showdown. Well, maybe not Switzerland exactly, as I think what the Avowed did—and are doing—is pretty fucked up. But either way, I doubt I’ll be helping anyone by shoving my nose in any of it.
“I want to apologize again for leaving the way I did. I wish there had been some other way, but my hands were tied. I swear to you, if it hadn’t been life or death, I would have never left you after—”
“It’s fine really,” I offer hastily.
He looks so upset, and I feel bad. I hope he doesn’t think I’m mad at him. His notes pop up in my mind and worry trickles through me. Shit. Was I supposed to write him back? I didn’t even think of that. No wonder he’s all grovel-y.
“I got your notes,” I reassure him. “I completely understand.”
“You do?” he asks, surprised.
“Of course! You have a duty to your people; I would never take offense to you putting that over me. I’ve been fine,” I tell him.
I offer a smile, and he studies me for a beat and then visibly relaxes. “I was so worried,” he admits, and I chuckle and reach out to rub his bicep comfortingly.
