Chapter Thirty-Eight: Guilt and Wants

Dinner was a quick affair. By the time me and Noelle had dried and dressed, the others were already sitting around the table with plates of food dressed in normal clothes. Everyone but Tiana and Rhallani, at least. A quick inquiry and Tsuki told me with a wide grin that they’d taken their meals in our room.

Just like every meal after a close battle, it wasn’t until I’d swallowed the first bite that I realized how hungry I was. I let the others talk while I inhaled my food. The twins had been worried about our delayed return, but it seemed Serena had already put their fears at ease. They were both in higher spirits than I’d seen so far from them, which was good.

Noelle’s exhaustion was starting to become even more apparent. She’d only made it halfway through her plate before her head was starting to droop. Serena did her best to keep the conversation going, but I could tell that whatever had been bothering her was still weighing heavily on her mind.

Then Ryoko’s energy seemed to run out all at once. She went from talking excitedly about how Garm had taught her to make simple energy drafts to needing one herself. Tsuki laughed softly, then stood and pulled her sister to her feet, then bade us all goodnight.

I looked down at Noelle and ran my fingers through her short hair. She swayed in her chair, blinking sleepily. “Why don’t you head up to the room.”

Noelle nuzzled into my arm, then shook her head. “No. I will stay with Tsuki and Ryoko tonight. I want to sleep as much as possible.” She tilted her head down, but her lips were curved up ever so slightly. “Then we will know how much to celebrate.”

With a laugh, I gave her one final kiss on the head and she went off after the twins. Then it was just Serena and I. “Is it time to have that talk?” I asked her.

She looked away, her gaze scanning over the other customers in the room. “Not here,” she said softly, without meeting my eyes. Then she stood and strode for the door. Trying to ignore the growing pit in my stomach, I followed.

Head down, she turned and strode down the road until she reached an alley between the inn and the next building over. She looked into it, then back over her shoulder at me with uncertain eyes, then she strode into the alley.

“Whatever is weighing so heavily on you,” I said after she finally came to a stop, “I’d like to hear it if you’re willing to share. All of it. No need to hold back.”

She wrapped one arm around herself and began chewing on the thumbnail of the other. “I thought I was going to lose you today,” she said finally.

The words felt like a punch to the gut. “I know. I wish there had been another way, but even in retrospect I wouldn’t have done anything differently.”

She turned away from me, leaning her shoulder on the wall. “How far down did we go before you guessed there was a queen?” she asked.

“My first inkling was when we pulled Tiana out of that cocoon, but I wasn’t certain until much later.”“And the moment you even realized it was a possibility, you knew you’d take her on alone to buy us time to escape.” It wasn’t a question.

I let out a long breath. “Half the reason I took the job was because I know how to fight Valax. My skills, my insane Resilience, and my past mean I’m specially suited for it, just like with the blightwolves. It was never about throwing my life away to save yours, it was about minimizing damage. Holding out long enough to find a way through.”

She glanced at me over her shoulder, but made no move to turn towards me. I said, “I meant what I said after. I wasn’t giving up on you or trying to go out in some blaze of glory, I’m just the only one of the party built to survive against enemies stronger than me. The plan was always to lead her away and find my way back to you.”

She didn’t refute me, but the tension between us didn’t fade in the slightest. Whatever her point was, she was still working her way to it. “You didn’t tell us that, though.”

I jammed my hands in my pockets. “No. It was one of those situations where if you were still alive at the end of the day to be mad at me, then it was well worth it.”

Her bottom lip trembled slightly, but she clenched her jaw. “You told Tiana, though. She knew you weren’t behind us even without looking back.”

“It wasn’t a trust issue if that’s what you’re worried about.” From the look she gave me, I knew my guess was wrong. “I couldn’t tell Noelle. She’s still in a precarious place, and there was no way to guess how she’d react to me needing to stay behind.”

She nodded curtly like that had already occurred to her. I frowned. “I didn’t need to tell Rhallani, but she’s in a different position than you.”

She looked away again. “I know. You two love each other. You don’t need to say it for me to be able to tell.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” I said immediately. “Rhallani doesn’t have a combat class. From the moment we met, she’s been well aware of the fact that she’s a liability as soon as the fight goes sideways. Even when we aren’t facing down legendary monsters, she has no way to defend herself against monsters without combat skills. Not with her stats. Even the golem can only do so much. The second the queen showed herself, she knew the best thing she could possibly do was find a way to get out of danger entirely.”

That seemed to finally relax her a fraction, and I took a chance and stepped closer. I gently took her arm at the elbow. “And yes, I do love Rhallani. But in terms of relationship and how it started, she’s in a different position too.”

Her brows furrowed, but in confusion instead of whatever anger she was feeling. I squeezed her arm and said, “Rhallani is an Arelim. A demi-human. More than that, she’s legally tied to me for another five months and some change. She’s quite literally stuck with me, for better or worse. At times I worry she’s put me on a pedestal, but even if I’m half the man she hopes I am I can offer her a better life than she could have on her own thanks to the Accords. Because of the world we live in, she was left with no other option than to give every part of her to me and hope I wouldn’t betray her.”

“You’re not a demi-human though,” I rubbed my thumb along her arm. “If, gods forbid, things don’t work out for us, you’ve still got your freedom. It might be difficult, but you can still forge your own path in this world. In the eyes of society, we’re on much more equal footing. And,” I tucked her hair over her shoulder so I could see more of her face, “Rhallani doesn’t have a bad relationship in her past to hold her back.”

She tensed. “How did—”

I shrugged. “I didn’t till just now, but I’ve suspected. You mention you’ve fooled around with guys before, but you still get so flustered by the smallest things sometimes. Intimacy especially. Makes me think my competition isn’t exactly steep, but it does exist.”

She flushed and looked away again. “My mom always said you shouldn’t talk about past relationships when you’re in one, so I never brought it up. But yes, my last relationship didn’t end well.”

I smirked. “I won’t push, but you don’t have to worry about stuff like that with me. Fuck knows you’ve all heard enough about my shitty past. Whatever you want to tell me, I’m happy to hear it as long as it’s coming from you. But that isn’t why we’re here, is it?”

She shook her head. “The others make sense, and there’s no real reason you would have told Elisa.” Then she took a deep breath and pushed off the wall. With clenched fists, she turned towards me.

Whatever she was about to say was interrupted by someone staggering around the corner behind us. In instinctively put an arm on her shoulder to push her behind me if the need arose, but it was just a very drunk customer nursing about half a bottle of hard liquor. They stumbled in, mumbling under their breath, then staggered over to a nearby wall where they slid to the ground and wrapped around their bottle. In no time, they were snoring softly.

I was still looking at the man, a bushy beard sticking out from under their hood, when Serena said softly, “you didn’t tell me because you didn’t think I’d believe you.”

I didn’t turn around. “Not sure what you want me to say to that,” I said just as softly. “I either hurt your feelings or I lie, and I’d rather not do either.” When I looked back at her over my shoulder her fists were clenched so hard they were shaking. “I was reasonably certain you’d believe me, but after our discussion yesterday, I was just unsure enough to not want to risk it.”

There were angry tears in the corners of her eyes, but she blinked them back. “Do you know what the worst part is?” I shook my head once. “The worst part—the part that makes me so angry I can hardly think straight—is that you were right not to tell me. Even now, I’m not sure I would have believed you, and I can’t help but hate myself for it.”

I couldn’t hold back after that. I stepped in close and put my palm to her cheek. I drew her in close, but not all the way. Not yet. “Please don’t hate yourself, Serena. Not on my account. Never that.” She grabbed a handful of my shirt and a single tear tracked its way down her cheek. “What changed? I’m not upset that you doubted me, but I’d at least like to know why you’re beating yourself up so badly.”

She closed her eyes and leaned in close, sucking air in through her nose. “How much do you remember? About when you were poisoned?”

My body tried to recoil against my will. Put distance between me and her. I fought the impulse, though only barely. “Not much. Not towards the end, at least. I remember seeing people from my past. Times from my past. Times best left in the past.”

Another tear slid down her face. “I tried to go to you. When I saw you, alive, my body just moved on its own. I was so scared I’d just never see you again. That you or I would die deep in the tunnels and the other would never know how. I didn’t know you weren’t yourself until it was too late. Until you had me pinned on the ground.”

This time I did draw back. I took two steps away. She followed me for one, then paused uncertainly. “Did I hurt you?” I demanded.

She shook her head adamantly. “No! You thought I was someone from your past, but you knew it wasn’t possible. That the person you were seeing was dead. You thought I was…” Her breath caught in her throat. This close I could see the redness in her eyes. That she was on the verge of tears.

But I remembered. “I thought you were Ina.”

She nodded. “Yes. You held me down, afraid I was an enemy, but even drugged out of your mind you couldn’t bring yourself to hurt me. To hurt her.”

I drew back another step. “I’m sorry.”

A sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob broke free from her throat. “I thought we were done apologizing.”

Her words felt like lashings. Emotions roiled in me, and what came up was a flash of anger I knew was irrational. “So is that what this is about? You catching another glimpse into my past? You knew it was bad. You’re smart enough to know that what I’ve shared isn’t even close to the worst of it.” It wasn’t that simple, I knew, but my heart was starting to hammer in my chest. I clenched my sweaty palms. Whatever was coming next, I knew it wasn’t going to be pleasant.

“I didn’t know…” she breathed. I opened my mouth to tell her she could hardly blame herself for my inability to talk about the past, but her next words robbed me of my ability to speak.

“I didn’t know until I saw the way you looked at me. The way you thought you were looking at her. Not just the pain, but the guilt.” More tears rolled down her face. “I know you’ve been through so many horrible things, but I had no idea you blamed yourself for so many of them.”

I felt like she’d taken a cudgel to my chest. “Serena…” I managed.

“That’s why I wouldn’t have believed you,” she barreled on, casting her face down and clenching her fists at her side. “I finally understood. You told me once that you kept throwing yourself into fights not expecting to see the other side. I thought it was because you didn’t want to live. That the world had simply taken too much from you. I didn’t realize it was because you wanted to die as penance for all the things in your life that you blame yourself for, even when you had no right to. Especially then.”

Every word felt like a whip slicing into my flesh. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She threw her hands up. “You’re right! I’m just a nobody girl who lived a sheltered life in the middle of nowhere. My worst days come nothing close to being as bad as some of your better ones, and I know there’s nothing I could ever truly do to bridge that gap. I know you’d never want me to be able to, and that drives me crazy!”

She took a breath to center herself. “But I know this. All those deaths had nothing to do with you. You blaming yourself is just self-imposed penance for things you had no control over!”

I couldn’t look at her right now. My eyes found the drunk who had stopped snoring. “You weren’t there.”“Maybe not,” she said, stepping in front of my line of sight, “but that doesn’t change the fact that the only one to blame for every single one of them is Karn. Not you. Never you.”

“If it weren’t for me, then Hannah—”

“You didn’t ask Karn to slit her throat!” she shouted, and I recoiled. “You didn’t hand him the knife! You didn’t rat her out! She died because she cared, and you know as well as I do that even if he hadn’t killed her then he’d have killed her at some point during his twisted experiments!”

I took two more steps backwards. “I never told you how she died.”

She flinched, but she didn’t let her gaze drop from mine. “No, you didn’t. I knew you never would just like I knew I’d never ask, so I prayed for guidance. I asked Allura to help me understand, and she did.” She closed the distance I’d made, her chin held high. “I saw it happen, Zaren. I watched the memory from outside of it like a ghost. Karn did it just as much to keep the others in line as he did to punish you. It was his fault, not yours.”

My back hit the wall opposite the tavern and she kept coming, placing her hand on my chest. Just above where my heart was trying to smash through my sternum. “And do you know what I saw? In her last moments? I saw hope. She cared about you, Zaren. And that affection didn’t get her killed, it kept her alive. In here.” She prodded my chest with her finger. “She was a kid, and so were you. She died, but she spent her last days knowing that at least someone in the world gave a shit about her.”

She reached up with her other hand and wiped a tear off my cheek that I hadn’t even realized had fallen. “Whatever blame you could possible have in her death is far overshadowed by what you gave her. Ina, too. Nobody was meant to leave those experiments alive. Not if I understand even a little of it. You did, and you brought the memory of every person you lost with you.”

She put a hand on either side of my face and pulled my head down so she could press her forehead against mine. “I don’t know what deal you made with Allura, but I know it involves them somehow. I won’t ask what or how, and I’ll never push you to tell me more about your past than you’re ready to, but I won’t let you keep carrying this guilt. I won’t.”

I felt like the alley was spinning, so I wrapped my hands around her waist and pulled her into me as much to anchor myself as anything else. “I don’t think I know how to not carry it. It’s as much a part of me as anything else.” The admission seemed to surprise her as much as it surprised me.

“Then let me ask you this,” she said softly. She was so close I could feel her breath on my lips. “Do you really think it’s fair to them that you carry around so much blame? You said to Rhallani that you felt destroying their book was an insult to what they went through. If you ask me, then blaming yourself for their deaths is an insult to the love they felt for you.”

I sucked in my breath. Another blow, but one that felt like it had taken some of the weight from my chest. “You really don’t pull any punches, do you?”

She shook her head as much as she was able without breaking the contact between us. “Not when you make me this angry. Consider this my revenge for scaring the shit out of me back at the mine.”

A smirk, against all odds, found its way to my face. “Which time?”

Her jaw dropped. She pinched my side with a surprised laugh, “you asshole.” Then she nestled into me, resting her head sideways on my shoulder with her face pointed away from mine. “I want to hear you say it.”

I took a moment to breathe. “Say what?” I asked.

“You know what.”

I did. “Even if I don’t mean it?”

Her hand slid up between us until she could put it back to my face. “Especially then. I want to hear you say it over and over until you start to believe yourself.”

I put my hand over hers. “It wasn’t my fault. Any of it.” The words were hollow. A perfect stranger wouldn’t have believed them for a second.

She practically melted in my arms. “Again.” I repeated the words. Then again. Then once more. Each time, in spite of myself, they sounded a little less like a lie. Then, when she demanded it a fifth time, I buried my face in her neck and said it into her. She giggled, then wrapped her arms around my neck.

We stood like that with her running her fingers through my hair until my heart had calmed down to reasonable levels. “See?” she said, “Tiana isn’t the only one who can ‘call you out on your shit.’” Her tone was playful, but there was a trembling undertone that told me she was testing the waters.

I stroked her back. “Serena,” I chided, “you aren’t jealous, are you?”

She pulled back just enough that she could look me in the eye and no more. “It’s hard not to. I mean, have you seen her body? And that class? Talk about tough competition.”

I quirked a brow. “She does have a nice chest, but you’ve got her beat back here.” I grabbed two handfuls of her ass and she gasped, pushing herself into me. “And with your most recent class skill, I’m wondering if you aren’t headed in a similar direction.”

Her eyes widened a fraction. “Oh no. I hadn’t thought of that.”

I laughed, then leaned in and pressed my lips to hers. We explored each other slowly at first, then with more and more need as the tension from our previous conversation started to fade in full and our bodies caught up with our mouths.

Reluctantly, she pulled away. “I’d understand if you’d rather I bunk with Noelle and the twins.”

“Not on your life.” I pulled her back in, and she giggled into my mouth. I finally let her up for air and pressed my lips to her temple. “Never hold back if you think I’m drowning. I need you more than I’m willing to admit most of the time.”

“Mmh,” she moaned, leaning into me, “I’ll hold you to that. Now we should probably stop making out in an alleyway. Apparently Tiana brought some toys for Rhallani.”

I sucked in a hiss. “That poor girl has no idea what she’s in for.” Rhallani was enough of a menace with only her hands and body. I couldn’t imagine arming her with more weapons.

“Nope,” Serena agreed. She slipped her hand in mine. “We’re okay, then?”

“Better than okay.” I gave her another quick peck. “Come on, let’s leave the man to his alley.”

From the blush that spread across her face she forgot we weren’t entirely alone. I laughed, then let her pull me back towards the front door of the inn. I still felt emotionally battered and bruised from our conversation, and I didn’t think I was ready to put aside that blame any time soon, but I could at least try. For her.

But right now I had a horny Arelim and a somehow hornier mage to worry about.

# # #

I really thought Rhallani had run out of ways to send my jaw crashing to the floor. How foolish of me. The sound of wet slaps and moans coming through the door confused and slightly worried me at first, but the moment I opened it and walked into the room all the blood I needed for rational thought went southward.

Tiana was bent over the bed, covered in a sheen of sweat, crying out in ecstasy while Rhallani stood behind her, pounding her with a strap-on. My little Arelim slammed away with a frankly shocking amount of strength, sending recoils of tantalizing flesh through Tiana’s body and making her own breasts bounce magnificently. From the way her face was contorted in pleasure, I figured the strap wasn’t one-sided.

The door shut behind us and Serena gasped, which caught the attention of both girls. Rhallani’s head shot towards us first, an elated grin on her face, and Tiana looked up at us with bleary eyes less than a second later. Rhallani started hammering even faster, her fingers digging into Tiana’s hips hard enough to make her knuckles go white, and Tiana’s eyes rolled back.

The busty mage screamed while she came. Her body went limp in Rhallani’s grasp, and the Arelim’s climax was only a step behind. Rhallani managed to stay standing through her orgasm, only sliding her fake dick out of Tiana after she’d caught her breath. Tiana groaned, a wave of wetness sloshing out of her puffy lower lips as they were vacated, and sunk into the bed.

Rhallani ran at me on shaky legs. “Zaren!” She leapt into my arms threw her own around me and the strap bounced off my thigh. I staggered back under the unexpected attack, but she laughed jubilantly. “Tiana has a magic strap-on! Can I have one? Please please please please? I’ll do whatever you want! If you really love me you’ll get me one! It’s amazing!”

I couldn’t help but laugh myself while I held her up. I set her down and planted a kiss on her lips to stop the barrage of begging. I tasted what I could only assume to be Tiana on her lips, then pulled back. With a raised brow, I grabbed the fake cock and ran my hand down it. It was made from a soft, pliable material that was still slick with juices and was probably an inch or two smaller than me, but I could indeed feel magic thrumming through the material and its base that was strapped around her thighs. A slight tug confirmed that there was indeed another half to the strap currently buried in her.

Her knees nearly buckled, and she grabbed onto me. I chuckled. “If you enjoy it that much, how could I possibly say no?”

She leapt at me again, peppering me with kisses and wordless noises of joy. By the time I managed to pry her off again, this time with the help of a snickering Serena, Tiana had managed to find her feet.

A dark red flush had spread over her face and she found herself unable to meet my eyes. It gave me a good chance to give her a quick once over, and what I saw made sure that I was at full mast for whatever was about to come. Naked as the day she was born, fully bathed, and standing next to an actual fucking bed, I felt my length throbbing painfully in my pants.

I stuck my hands in my pockets while Serena went to her bag in the corner and started stripping off clothes. “Feeling better after a couple releases?”

Tiana let out a small squeak, but it was Rhallani who answered while slowly stroking her fake cock. “A couple is right, that was only her second orgasm.” Tiana shot her a dirty look and Rhallani grinned. “Turns out ‘increased sensitivity’ does not mean it’s easier for her to cum.”

“Thank you for that, Rhallani,” Tiana said, somewhat hoarsely. Then she looked back down at the ground. “Though she isn’t wrong. It’s at least easier to think, now.”

I crossed the room and put a hand on her shoulder. Her skin was hot to the touch, and her chest heaved in a way that made it very hard to look away. I managed to, though. I slid a knuckle under her chin and tilted her head up, only an inch or so lower than mine, and looked into her eyes. “Would you be more comfortable with some clothes on?” I asked her.

Rhallani made a displeased noise, but Tiana just bit her lip. “Um, maybe. Or you could lose some. One or the other.”

Before I could so much as move, I felt Rhallani’s hands undoing the ties on my shirt so she could pull it over my head. She went for my belt, but I caught her hand. Tiana stared at my chest, running her hand along it with a hungry expression. Unable to strip me further, Rhallani simply pushed into my back, then reached around and started slowly stroking me through my pants.

“Feel good enough to make a decision? Or should I tell the innkeeper we need another room?”

She swallowed. “I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” she said just a hair too quickly. Her already deep blush darkened. “I just…I mean, I definitely…” The words died in her throat and her fingers curled against my chest.

I stepped closer so that our bodies were only separated by the smallest of distances. This time I grabbed her chin between my thumb and crooked forefinger. “You should know that I don’t really give a shit about conventions or anything like that, and I’m not going to judge you for saying whatever it is you need to say.”

My eyes flicked to where Serena had sat on the bed, completely naked, leaning against the headboard with her legs spread just enough to show me how wet she was.

Rhallani slipped around us to embrace Tiana from behind. “You can tell him, you know. If you want, I can start spouting out fantasies so that whatever it is you’re embarrassed about sounds tame in comparison.”

Her eyes widened. “I don’t think that’s necessary! I just—” Rhallani’s hands started sliding over Tiana’s front, and she closed her eyes with a shudder. “Oh, fuck it.” She pressed herself against me with her hands on my chest, then slid them up to my shoulders and looked up at me with hooded eyes. “I want you. And I want more than just…” she rubbed her body slightly against mine, her rock-hard nipples trailing fiery trials on my chest, “…than just this. Just sex. I just don’t know how to draw the line between my skills and…and the other stuff.”

I took that as my queue to slip a hand to her waist. A soft moan slipped through her slightly parted lips just at my touch, and I grinned. I used my other hand to push Rhallani’s head downward. She resisted, then her eyes went wide and she dropped to her knees.

Tiana was nearly as tall as I was, so I couldn’t quite see what Rhallani was up to back there. From the way Tiana’s eyes shot open and she pressed her body into mine with a sharp cry, I could only assume it involved tongue.

“Here’s the way I see it,” I said, sliding a hand up to cup her mountainous breast while the other slid up her back to push her into me. “From what I know about your skills, nearly all of it can be fully utilized by a tendril or two. And even if you wanted nothing to do with me, Rhallani here,” I lowered my hand to push Rhallani’s face deeper into Tiana’s rear, “can take care of the repercussions of your overcharge skill.”

Tiana let out a breathy moan and I lowered my lips to hers, pausing just a hair’s breadth away. “Anything past that, I do because I want to do it. And hopefully because you want it, too. How does that sound to you?”

Her answer was to do her best to reach my tonsils with her tongue. One hand grabbed a fistful of my hair while the other dug its fingers into my ass, pulling me into her so she could grind against me. She cried out again from whatever Rhallani was up to and pulled back just enough to talk. “Is this really okay, though? We’ve known each other for less than two days.”

“Certain death builds bonds faster than months of being together. I’ve seen who you are under pressure, I’m willing to take it on faith that you’re pretty amazing during the day-to-day, too.”

She moaned again, bucking against me then pushing back towards Rhallani with her hips. “Fuck! How is she so good with her tongue? Are you sure she’s straight?”

I laughed, then ran a hand through Rhallani’s hair. From where her head was positioned, I was pretty sure her tongue was buried in Tiana’s asshole. “I’m thinking she’s bi at best. Not that I’m complaining.”

“Mmmfuck! Me niether,” Tiana breathed. Then heat flashed in her eyes. “But I meant what I said. I want you, Zaren.”

I heard a slight pop from behind Tiana. “Mm,” Rhallani smacked her lips, “forgot to mention, she knows shit. Like, lots of shit. Put the pieces together after the queen started screaming. I vote we deal with that later, though.”

Then she was diving back in with enough vigor to lift Tiana up slightly. I took advantage of the lift and grabbed one of her long, tender legs and lifted it up. She threw both arms around my neck to keep from toppling over backwards while I brought the leg high enough for her to be nearly doing the splits, her knee folded over my elbow while I pinned her thigh to her side.

Her breath was hot on my face while she looked into my eyes with unbridled lust. “I-I seem to remember you still owing me,” she said quickly.

I grinned, and she relaxed in my arms. “I sure do. You’re welcome to cash that promise in now, or you can wait the night out and see just how far I’m willing to go without it.” Without needing any instruction, Rhallani’s hands found their way to my pants. In record time—and without leaving Tiana unattended for even a second, by the look on her face—my pants were falling ot the ground. I stepped out of them while Rhallani lined me up.

Her entire body jerked when my head pressed against her. She was soaking wet and fiery hot, and I could feel her hips shifting, trying to slip me inside. I said, “I’d hate for you to waste such a boon on something I’d happily give you. All you have to do is ask.”

She rubbed her outer lips up and down my head while she leaned in and kissed me, her tongue tracing my lower lip with a throaty moan. She pulled away and whispered, “fuck me, Zaren.”

I slid into Tiana’s dripping core, my head parting her already swollen lips with little resistance. Her silken walls were fiery hot wrapped around my member. I hilted myself with one swift motion and she cried out again, her walls clenching around my shaft sporadically. “So…big!” she gasped, her nails digging into my skin hard enough to draw blood.

I thrust once, sending spasms through her body, and we all nearly went tumbling. Then Serena was there, giving me something to thrust against while she fondled the mage’s large bust.

Tiana buried her face in my shoulder with a muffled whimper, one arm wrapped around my neck and the other cupping my head with her fingers sunk into my hair like she was holding on for dear life. I started fucking her for real now that Serena was there, and she moaned into me.

“Mmm,” Serena said, running her hands all over Tiana’s body, “she’s so soft! Plush and cushy everywhere I go. I can definitely see the appeal.”

I leaned forward enough to kiss her over Tiana’s shoulder. “I’m sure you can, though toned and muscular certainly has its own place in my heart.”

She flashed a dazzling smile at me. Then she started trailing kisses along the nape of Tiana’s neck, her hand sliding around the mage’s stomach to slip between us so she could start rubbing her fingers over Tiana’s clit. I buried my own face in Tiana’s mane of dark red hair and nibbled at her ear, and she went crazy. She clamped down on my cock with a shriek that was muffled by my shoulder, and I felt Serena’s hand going into a frenzy between us. From the slurping sounds I could just barely hear over Tiana’s screams, I knew Rhallani was showing her asshole no mercy either.

Tiana’s toes curled and she just kept cumming, crushing herself into me with all the strength she possessed while I kept steadily sliding my length in and out of her. Her screams died down to a low whine, then her head jerked back and she started spasming again. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and her mouth stretched open in a soundless scream. I trailed kisses along the underside of her jaw and down her neck and Serena kept nibbling on her other side. I felt Rhallani’s nimble hand on my sac, fondling and massaging me while I kept fucking Tiana.

I could feel my first orgasm rapidly approaching and picked up speed. Tiana—though she looked like she was barely clinging to reality—wrapped the leg I held up around me and gave me no choice on where I was to finish. I left her leg wrapped around me and grabbed a handful of her ass and slammed myself into her all the way to the hilt and unleashed my load inside her depths.

The seal broke. A scream that threatened to shred my eardrums ripped itself from her throat and she came so hard it made her previous climaxes look tame in comparison. I fired rope after rope into her, my face still buried into her neck, while Serena and Rhallani coaxed every bit of pleasure from Tiana and I that they could.

Tiana’s entire body was rigid and trembling for several seconds, then she sucked in a huge breath and her bones turned to liquid in my grasp. If I hadn’t still been buried in her, I might not have been able to stop her from flopping to the ground.

I slid out of her carefully and another tremor wracked her body. My head had barely cleared her folds before Rhallani plunged her tongue into Tiana’s core, scooping out my seed with her tongue and reducing what was left of Tiana into a moaning puddle.

Serena helped me gently lay Tiana back onto the bed, resting her head on the pillows, with Rhallani impressively eating her out the whole way down. I brushed the hair from her face and she arched her back with a wordless whimper, and I finally took mercy on her and gently pushed Rhallani’s head away from her lower lips. “Easy, Angel. Let’s not break her on our first night, alright?”

Rhallani froze in the middle of wiping her mouth with a feral grin plastered on her face. “What did you just call me?”

I paused. “No good?”

“Say it again.”

I cupped her cheek. “Angel.”

She shuddered and closed her eyes. Then she nodded vigorously. I kissed the top of her head, then laughed when she immediately dove to start cleaning my member off with her mouth. I groaned as her tongue trailed circles around my sensitive head, then turned back to Tiana, whose eyes were still rolled firmly back into her head.

Now I cupped her cheek, turning her face towards me while remaining at an angle that gave Rhallani plenty of access to me. “Tiana? You still in there?”

Her only response was a wordless babble. I tucked a lock of hair out of her face. “We didn’t go too far, did we?” I asked with a hint of worry. Things had happened a little quicker than I’d expected, but at no point did she seem to want it any other way.

A trembling hand reached blindly for me. I guided it to my face and she pulled me down to lock her lips to mine, giving me a sloppy, tired kiss. When she let her head fall back to the bed, she had a wide smile plastered on her face. “Good. Very good. I’ll be okay in a minute, just need to…come down…”

I pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Take your time. I’ve got two other girls to take care of, so you can have a bit to recover.”

She ran her hand through my hair with a happy hum, then let me go. I looked from Serena, who once again had her back to the headboard beside Tiana and was slowly working two fingers in and out of her sex, to Rhallani who was slowly and dutifully cleaning every part of my cock her lips could reach with stars in her eyes.

“Now, if memory serves, I owe the both of you some orgasms. The only question is, who should I fuck into a stupor first?”

Rhallani let my once-again hard cock slip free of her mouth. “I’ve already cum a handful of times just playing with Tiana. It’s Serena’s turn.” She rose, running her hands all the way from my thighs up my body, only stopping when she could wrap her hands around my head to pull me in for a kiss. I felt the strap pressing against my thigh, still wet, and she gasped softly at the sensation, then grinned. “You still haven’t fucked her silly, which isn’t fair at all if you ask me.”

I turned to Serena, whose hand had paused. She flushed, her expression torn between lust and apprehension. “Now wait just a second…” she warned.

I just grabbed her by the ankle and yanked her towards me. She shrieked, then giggled when I crawled up so that I was straddling one of her legs while holding the other up to spread her wide. “Tell me to stop, and I will,” I said, lining my member up with her entrance.

I slid the underside of my shaft against her lips and she arched her back against the bed. One hand went to her breast while the other twisted itself into the covers. “Now why would I ever do that?” she said, her voice sultry.

With a grin, I hilted myself in her. Her head fell to the pillows and her back arched off the couch, but I didn’t give her the luxury of acclimating to being so suddenly filled. She was plenty drenched, so I started slamming in full right out the gate. I used the leg not between my legs for leverage to slam my hips into hers and she cried out in pleasure.

“Ah-ah-ah-oh-fuck-ah-ah-Zaren-fuck!” she moaned.

I kept one arm wrapped around her leg and used the other to start fingering her nub. Her walls instantly clenched down on me, but I only started moving faster. Fucking her with everything I had while I assaulted her clit, sending waves of pleasure through her beautiful body with every thrust. Her first orgasm finally started to die down, so I pushed her leg up until her shin was even with her face.

I leaned over her, pressing my lips to hers, while I kept fucking. I’d thrust for nearly half a minute before she managed to start kissing me back, then her hand found its way to my rear to pull me in deeper. Rhallani’s hands and lips trailed across my back, then my backside, then she moved around us so that she was laying with Tiana. She watched us with hooded eyes while she leaned down and started whispering something in Tiana’s ear.

Serena came again, arching and making it impossible to keep kissing her. I pulled back just far enough for my head to remain in her folds, then I grabbed her leg and flipped her over. The feeling of her folds twisting around my cock was nearly enough to push me past the point of no return, but there was still light in her eyes for me to fuck out of her.

She glanced at me over her shoulder, daring me to do more. I grabbed by both elbows and slammed my hips into her and she screamed through the wide smile on her face. I used my hold to fuck her even harder and her head dipped, gutteral moans slipping through clenched teeth every time our hips met, and Tiana’s hand drifted over to finger Serena’s clit while I pounded her from behind.

With Serena unable and unwilling to do anything but get fucked by me, I glanced towards the mage. She seemed to have recovered and smiled shyly at me while she helped me bring Serena to another body-racking orgasm. Then Tiana gasped, and we both looked down to see Rhallani sliding the strap up her legs, sliding the backside into Tiana’s folds.

She moaned while Rhallani fastened the strap in place with lightning fast fingers, then her eyes went wide as Rhallani crawled her way up her, trailing kisses and nibbles from her navel, between her breasts, up her neck then to her full lips. Then Rhallani was lowering herself onto the fake phallus, slamming down to the hip in one go.

“There,” she said with a satisfied breath, “this should be easier on you until it’s time for Zaren to wreck you again.”

I shook my head in exasperation and returned my attention to Serena while my Arelim started to slowly ride Tiana’s strap. I pulled Serena into my chest, wrapping one hand around her waist to replace Tiana’s fingers at her clit, then I wrapped the other around her throat. Her moans reached a new pitch while I sawed in and out of her, and the moment I pressed down on the sides of her throat release claimed her violently. Her hands shot back and grabbed me wherever they could reach, locking me in her grasp.

Once again I fucked her through her orgasm and she practically sang her way through it. I made sure not to press on her throat enough to make her pass out, and by the time she was finished with her climax her hips were slamming back into mine hard enough that I hardly had to move at all. I shifted the hand around her throat up enough to turn her chin towards me and claimed her lips while she impaled herself on my length.The pleasure was beginning to build and I knew my limit was close. She whimpered when I pulled out of her, but her disappointment was short lived. I flipped her around once more and guided her down onto her back. I slid back into her silken embrace and she wrapped her thighs around me hungrily, her long toned legs wrapping around my rear and hooking together behind me. I got the message.

I resumed slamming into her just as hard as before and her head shot back. I buried my face in the crook of her neck, kissing and nibbling the sensitive flesh there, while I held my release off as long as I could. She writhed underneath me, begging me to finish inside her, while her hands grabbed whatever they could to pull me in deeper. Finally, just when her slick walls started to twitch around me, I let go. Her nails dragged down my back and she cried out louder than ever before while I filled her with a load just as large as the one I’d deposited in Tiana just a short while ago.

She came with me, and I kept kissing her until her orgasm gave up its hold on her. Then I turned her chin towards mine and took her mouth until she finally unhooked her legs and let me slide out. She stared at the ceiling with glassy eyes and a heaving chest that I took a second to give a quick lick to. A shudder ran down her face, and she smiled at me.

“Mmmh, perfect…” she breathed.

“Thats—hah—what I’m talking about,” Rhallani said from where she still rode Tiana. I gave Serena a peck and slid over so that I was behind Rhallani.

I slid my hand down her back and trailed my thumb in slow circles around her backdoor. “I’d say it’s your turn, but you seem to be doing just fine all on your own.”

She bucked her hips towards my hand, which caused her to hilt herself on Tiana’s strap. She groaned. “Zaren! You can’t just keep teasing me like that, you’ll drive me mad!”

There were more than enough juices to go around, so I coated my finger and slid it into her rear entrance. She clenched around me like a vice, and her groan turned very quickly into a moan. “I wasn’t planning to tease you for long,” I promised.

Heat flitted across her face, but she bit her lip. “I don’t know. You’re pretty big, and without…preparation…” She cut off with wide eyes when she saw what I held in my hand. The object Noelle and I had stopped to pick up. A canister of lube. “Zaren…” Her tone was equal parts warning and longing.

I pulled my finger out of her long enough to scoop up a more than reasonable dollop of lube and started working it into her, Tiana scooped a good amount out as well and started lathering it on my rehardening cock, still slick with Serena’s juices. “Tell me what you want, Rhallani, and I’ll deliver.”

She gasped, then started sliding up and down the strap while I fingered her ass. “I want it all!” she said quickly. She jammed her eyes shut and picked up speed while I slipped a third finger in. “I want to do everything! Try everything! How can I know what I like if I don’t try!”

I pulled them out quickly, got more lube, then jammed them back in. Her head shot back, and I pressed my lips to her jaw just below her ear. “I can work with that, but I meant here and now.”

Her lips found mine for a frantic second, then she pulled away. “I want you to fuck my ass. Pin me down and use me until you blow your load as deep in me as you can reach, no matter what happens,” she breathed.

I chuckled. “I definitely don’t have to worry about beating around the bush with you, do I?” Then I wrapped my non-lubed hand around her waist and lifted her off Tiana. She voiced a complaint, but I silenced her with my lips. “Baby steps. Let’s see how you like just anal, then we can move on to more.”

“Promise?” she breathed.

In answer, I shoved her down face first onto the bed. She giggled, then lifted her ass up and pressed her front into the bed. She grabbed a cheek in either hand and spread them, giving me a perfect view of everything.

“Use my ass, Zaren,” she breathed.

I pressed the tip of my cock to her entrance and she shuddered. Now that it was the moment of truth, the difference in size worried me. She wasn’t willing to wait, though. She put one hand on the headboard and pressed backward. She suppressed a cry at the pressure, and even I had to grip both her hips to steady myself. Then, just when I was starting to think it simply wouldn’t fit, the head slid past her rim with a pop.

She made a guttural sound with her face pressed into the bed and I groaned. Rhallani’s virgin asshole was by far the tightest place I’d ever stuck my dick, and the pressure was intense. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt her, so I waited until she started to relax around me. Then I started to push my hips forward.

Her arm shot out, grabbing desperately for a pillow, ripping it over so she could sink her teeth into it, and I started sawing in and out an inch at a time. She made pained sounds into the pillow, but anytime I stopped moving my hips she started moving hers. The hand not clenched into the sheets reached back to start fingering her core with vigor. I knew she wouldn’t be satisfied until it was all in, so I grabbed her hips and thrust myself all the way to the hilt with one final move.

She screamed into the pillow and her body clenched around me in one of the more powerful orgasms I’d seen from her. I stayed buried in her, unmoving, both to let her adjust and to make sure I didn’t finish too quickly. I’d never been inside an ass before, and it was more different than I’d expected it to be. Much tighter in a different way, but not unpleasant in the slightest. For me, anyways. I knew she’d feel more pain than pleasure the first time, but that moment of stillness didn’t last long.

Serena pushed herself up and ran her hand along Rhallani’s back. Then I saw the golden glow and felt a soft warmth seeping into my length from the walls that were still contracting around my cock. Rhallani let out a moan into the pillow still clenched in her teeth and started shifting her hips.

I shot Serena a grateful glance, then raised a brow at her pointed look. She shifted back to the headboard and spread her legs, and I shook my head. I started to slowly slide in and out of Rhallani, only an inch at a time at first until the pain started to fade. Then I reached forward and grabbed her arms, lifting her enough so that Serena could slide in.

I’d barely released her before she dove into Serena’s sex, causing the blond to arch and moan while Rhallani enthusiastically ate yet another of my loads straight out of the pussy I’d deposited it into. I returned my hands to Rhallani’s waist and slowly started to pick up speed.

I could tell Serena was still using [Healing Embrace], so it wasn’t long before I was hilting myself in Rhallani hard enough for the slaps of wet flesh to fill the room. Serena’s eyes closed, then her head leaned back against the headboard with her lips slightly parted. By the time Serena came, I was fucking Rhallani’s ass as hard as I’d ever fucked her pussy. She was practically screaming into Serena’s core, which was having quite an effect on the priestess.

But all good things must come to an end, and when I felt Rhallani clenching around me so tightly I could hardly move mine came sooner than expected. I slammed my hips into her plump rear a few more times and then buried myself in her ass, unleashing my third load as deep in her as I could manage, just as requested.Breathing hard, I carefully slid my sensitive member out of her now-painfully tight rear. When I finally slipped out, a deluge of cum followed. I gently guided her quivering hips down to the bed so that she was laying sideways with my cum dribbling out of her. Then I crawled up to where she laid with her head in Serena’s lap, a happy grin on her face.

I stroked her hair softly. “As good as you thought it’s be?”

Her eyes drifted slowly up to me and her grin widened. Then she opened her mouth wide and stuck her tongue out. Shaking my head, I positioned myself so she could wrap her lips around my very sensitive length, slowly and sensually twirling her tongue around the head. I was hardly surprised. I’d grabbed the safe-to-ingest lubricant on purpose, after all.

Serena ran a hand down my chest and came close enough to kiss me. “As hot as that was, I’m not sure I want anything this big,” she trailed a finger down my shaft, stopping when she got to Rhallani’s lips, “back there.”I kissed her back. “If you don’t, you don’t. That doesn’t mean we can’t start testing the waters a little and seeing how you like smaller things, though.”

She chuckled into me, then I heard shifting from behind me. I turned to see Tiana in a similar position that Rhallani was just in, her chest and shoulders pressed into the bed and her ass presented to me. She was reaching between her legs to spread her pink lips wide with two fingers.

“Rennn…” she moaned.

Rhallani had once again “cleaned” me to hardness. I ran another hand through her hair, and she smiled up at me. “Go on,” she said hoarsely, “I’ll join you once I can feel below my hips again.” She licked her lips. “Now that there are three of us, I wonder if we can find an end to that stamina of yours.”

I wasn’t sure if I should be excited or afraid of her comment, so I settled on both while I crawled over and slid my length into Tiana’s wet embrace with a single, fluid motion. She let out a throaty moan into the bed her face was pressed into and started thrusting her hips back into me. I had a feeling I was going to sleep very good tonight.

# # #

Jack wasn’t sure which feeling was stronger. The bile rising in her throat or the deep-seated need to sink her fist into that pretty face she saw through the window. Well, that her falcon saw, at least. She was still sitting in the alley below, her back to the inn her quarry was staying at, looking through its eyes. That did little to quell her rage.

There were too many damn windows in this inn, and her falcon’s wingspan was just a bit too large to be able to maneuver around them well. If it hadn’t been for the ecstatic screams of the blond, she’d have never found them. Her falcon had landed on the windowsill just in time to see him mercilessly pounding away at poor Rhallani’s rear.

At least, Jack was relatively certain it was Rhallani. She was an Arelim and she fit the description, even if Jack wished she was mistaken. She so rarely was, though. No, it was definitely Rhallani that he’d fucked in the ass until he filled her up. Then he’d made her clean him off like a real bastard. The glass of the window wasn’t particularly well made, so the image was a little warped, but he certainly looked like he’d enjoyed it.

He’d gone back to fucking the voluptuous redhead for now. With a body like hers Jack had figured she might be a whore, but she dispelled that idea quickly. She doubted he’d shell out for a girl of her caliber, especially when he could just do whatever he wanted to Rhallani. Besides, the way he handled her was far to intimate to just be a prostitute. No, they were close. Maybe not as close as he and the blond, but close nonetheless.

She commanded her falcon to shift to try and get a better look at Rhallani. First and foremost, she needed to get an idea of the poor girl’s mental condition. She didn’t look too injured, but she’d seen a healing skill from the blond, so that meant nothing. In fact, it could very well mean that he was doing even worse things to Rhallani than what Jack had seen so far since he could just heal her right up. Rhallani’s back was to the window, so all Jack could currently make out was the unreasonable amount of cum still dribbling from her well-fucked ass. Each drop was another nail in the bastard’s coffin.

Then she saw something that made her pause, if only slightly. He’d flipped the redhead over and started slamming his sizable manhood into her. She ate up every thrust, but then there was a flicker. So quick Jack might have missed it if she hadn’t been staring at the massive bouncing bust just below her face. A flash of discomfort and pain that she tried to hide, but Jack wasn’t the only one who saw it.

The bastard came to an abrupt stop. Whatever words they exchanged weren’t near loud enough to carry through the window, but he slid out of her slowly and gently. Then he laid down next to her and they started making out while he slowly fingered her. There was no more insertion, and they kept it up until the redhead clenched in obvious orgasm.

Then he cradled her in his arms and slid her to the corner of the bed where he wrapped her in covers and kissed her on the forehead. They exchanged more words. Slight disappointment mixed with obvious relief and gratitude on her face. He straightened up, his manhood still rock hard.

It took Jack far too long to tear her eyes away from it. It’d been a long while since she’d had anything resembling action, but she was not interested in someone like him. Someone that took advantage of demi-humans. So what if he was incredibly caring and gentle with his human lover the moment she’d shown soreness? If he couldn’t extend that courtesy to Rhallani, then he was as good as dead.

The blond wrapped her fingers around his length and shoved her tongue down his throat. Oh yeah, those two were definitely into one another. She must be as bad as he was to have Rhallani eating her out while her boyfriend reamed her asshole. In the alley below, Jack threw her half-full bottle of shitty liquor at the wall opposite her. Why were people so fucked up?

Then Rhallani shifted. She wasn’t unconscious, at least. Her arm went to her rear, sliding over her cheek. Jack had experimented a little, but she’d never taken anything like the bastard’s monster back there before. She couldn’t blame Rhallani for trying to massage what had to be a burning asshole a little—

Wait, what? Not massaging, slipping a finger in! Her back arched, and the finger came away with white on it. Rhallani sat up and licked the finger clean with clear relish. He was still occupied with the blond, but Rhallani still looked at him with…

With love. Clear adoration. She sat there for a moment, suckling on her finger, just watching him with the blond. Watching them sensually make out while she stroked his member and he kneaded her ass, one finger on her rear entrance.

Suddenly doubt filled Jack. She kept watching. Not as a voyeur, she told herself, but as a spy. Gathering important intelligence. But she was in no way prepared for when Rhallani finally started towards the bast—towards the man. Her target. The man she’d already figured she’d beat the shit out of at best.

She hadn’t made it far before he broke the kiss with the blond and looked at her, and the moment he did Jack’s gut twisted in knots. He practically fucking glowed when his eyes fell on her. He’d already been smiling at the blond, but from the dopey look on his face when he wrapped an arm around Rhallani’s back and pulled her into the embrace with the blond, Jack knew she’d been very, very wrong.

The kiss he shared with Rhallani wasn’t a master forcing himself on a slave. It was deep. Sensual. Loving. If anything, she was more eager than he was. And then, to make matters worse, Rhallani reached behind her and slid his hand lower. He cupped her rear and she pressed herself into him, his body shaking with what she realized was soft laughter.

The blond pulled him down so that he was on his back, then Rhallani was straddling him. Sliding his length past her lower lips with a look of complete and utter bliss. She sank all the way down and gyrated her hips a few times, then the blond whispered something in her ear. She grinned, then twisted her hand in a strange motion around the blond’s crotch while whispering something. All the juices on the blond’s crotch vanished and then she was swinging her leg over his laughing face.

When Rhallani started bouncing up and down Jack realized there was nothing further to be gained by spying on them tonight. She pulled her sight back from her falcon and sent it off into the night. She slipped the bracelet that connected them off and pocketed it, then sat in silence for a good hour.

She’d misjudged him. Badly, it seemed. Rhallani wore nothing on her but the bog standard guild collar, and though it was possible he had a skill that affected her mind, Jack’s instincts suggested otherwise. She couldn’t even be sure that the claim on her was fabricated, either. He was covered in scars, the worst of which was that nasty soulburn that covered nearly his entire right arm. How the fuck he’d gotten that was shockingly low on the list of questions now rattling around in her brain.

Finally she stood. She peeled off the itchy fake beard and tossed it in a nearby trash pile, then took off the bulky coat that made her look like a man and tossed it over her shoulder while she made her way through the dark streets of Anford.

Now that she had no other choice, she forced herself to comb through every word she’d overheard between the man and the blond. Serena, he’d called her, right? Jack hadn’t filed the name away at the time. Not with the content of the conversation. The man—she supposed she’d have to start using his name if he wasn’t the creep she’d thought—Zaren had some kind of dark past. She’d heard their little tiff and assumed he took his trauma out on helpless like Rhallani, but that seemed to not be the case.

But the more she recalled, the more excited she became. He carried some kind of immense guilt, she now knew. He’d lost people and blamed himself, but according to Serena that was foolish. She’d apparently asked a goddess—a fucking goddess—to show her his past and the goddess had actually come through. One that he’d apparently struck a deal with. Allura. It rang a bell, but she was hardly an expert on gods. They hadn’t done jack shit when she’d needed them most. And the names she’d said…Hannah and Ina…

Jack felt like she should know those names. They were familiar, but they weren’t. Like someone had mentioned them to her in passing once, only she couldn't remember who or when. Karn, too. Though that name made rage rise in her throat. Whoever he was, she wanted to rip his head off, and she had no idea why. That just made her even more interested.

She’d walked several blocks, lost in her own thoughts, when she realized she was smiling. No, she was grinning. Ferally. This was just supposed to be a quick in and out job. Beat the shit out of some entitled rich prick, “convince” him to turn his claim on Rhallani over to her, and get back to trying to find something interesting to do. That was all out the window, now.

Because this job just got very interesting.