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“Theodorus, he’s one of her mates. He likes chess. If you were to challenge him to a game, he’d like that.”

“Good to know,” I say.

“He hangs out around mid-morning down by the pond,” she says. “Good luck.”

“Thanks for your help,” I say.

7

striker

“SHOULD I BEworried about Knight having disappeared?” Lotus is saying as she comes up the stairs from the basement.

“He’s fine,” says Arrow. “I can feel him in the bond. He doesn’t want us to interfere.”

“Oh, does that mean we shouldn’t interfere, though?” I say, crossing my arms over my chest. “This is Knight we’re talking about.”

Lotus taps her lower lip. “Good point. Arrow, can you take us to where he is?”

“All of us?” I say. “We can’t leave Acker here entirely alone.”

Lotus makes a face. “Right,” she says.

“Arrow, go and bring him back here,” I say. “Whatever he’s trying to do, he can tell us about it before he does it, right?” I turn to Lotus for backup.

She shrugs. “That makes sense to me. Arrow, bring him back.”

Arrow spreads his hands. “And what if he doesn’t come?”

“Well, he has to,” I snap.

Arrow draws back. “You’re in a mood, man.”

Lotus puts a hand on my shoulder. “You need to calm down, don’t you? When was the last time you emptied your balls?”

I turn to her, mouth dropping open. “You didn’t just say that?”

“Well, it’s not fair,” she says. “We all had sex recently, but you didn’t. You and I will go to the nest. Arrow will go get Knight. And—”

“I want to talk to you,” I say.

“Okay,” she says. “We can talk and fuck.”

I think that through and decide I can find absolutely nothing wrong with her logic, actually. It sounds like a relief, if I’m honest.AmI in a bad mood because I haven’t gotten off lately?

Lotus tugs me into the room, pushes me down on the mattresses, and climbs on top of me. She helps me remove my shirt, runs her hands over my chest, and then unbuttons my pants.

I shut my eyes and sigh, feeling even more relaxed.

She takes me out, fists me as my knot begins to expand, and begins to gently jerk my erection. “There you are, Striker,” she breathes. “Look at your big, beautiful cock.”

I grunt. “Uh, about talking, though…”

She continues to jerk me. “What did you want to talk about?”

“I just… I think…” Oh, yeah, this is going to be really hard to concentrate. I’m going to have to choose between my erection and communicating about this. I decide I can make it quick. I’ll just explain myself to her really fast, and then she can get me hard again. So, I concentrate on what I wanted to say, not on my pleasure. “It’s about Acker.”

“Acker?” She’s still playing with me.