Page 22

Seventeen

R uby woke up to something warm and wet touching her cheek.

She opened her eyes. Slate was bending over the bed, his tongue pulling away from her face.

She squinted at him. “Did you just… lick me?”

“You were taking a very long time to wake up,” Slate replied. “I was worried. So was the dog.”

The dog spirit scratched at the door with a mournful whine.

“You will not be let in,” Slate called. “Shoo.”

There was another sad bark, followed by the sound of the spirit slinking away.

Ruby laughed. It quickly trailed off as she realized what was surrounding them.

It wasn’t bedsheets like she thought. It was fur.

Fur and feathers. But no dirt, like she was used to smelling when she was in his forest nest. This nest was full of sweetness and softness; literal sweetness, she realized as she spotted wrapped chocolate tucked next to a shadowy feather.

She sat up, staring around the bedroom. The only thing remaining of her bed was several pillows tucked around her. The rest was all nest, complete with leaves and dark spiderwebs.

“Gods,” she whispered, overwhelmed.

“I cannot sleep without it,” Slate said quickly. “I can remove it if you wish.”

He started to rise. She grabbed him, pulling him back down into the nest with her.

“No! This is good. This is…” She looked around, letting out a disbelieving giggle. “This is incredible . Is this going to stay here?”

“For as long as you wish.”

She stared at him, amazed. She had a fuzzy memory of asking for his nest last night, but she hadn’t thought he would actually do anything about it. The idea that he’d done it on some mumbled, sleepy request made her heart turn over in her chest.

She rubbed the edge of his skull mask fondly. “What about your forest? You’ve been sleeping in it since before my town was founded.”

“Long before,” Slate agreed. He wrapped an arm around her cautiously, as if he was waiting to be rebuffed. “The forest is still there. But… you are here.”

Ruby’s eyes burned. She ducked her head, breathing in the heady scent of fur. “I would have come to your nest in the forest.”

“I wanted to make a new one.” Slate twisted his tail, sweeping it over the massive nest they were curled up in. “Do you like it?”

Ruby looked around again at the soft furs and chocolates tucked into the lining.

“I do,” she said. “Thank you. For staying.”

She pressed her face into his neck, trying to hide her burning eyes. Slate rubbed her back, but there was something hesitant in his touch.

Ruby pulled back. Slate’s black eyes were wide behind his bone mask, his tail swishing anxiously.

Ruby frowned. “Slate? What is it?”

“I have something for you,” he admitted.

Ruby tensed at his serious tone. She sat up, clutching a layer of fur over her bare chest. “What is it?”

Slate hesitated. “You cannot naturally fit me. Your mortal body is too small.”

Ruby shrank into herself. She could feel his come dripping out of her swollen hole onto the fur below them. He hadn’t cleaned it up with his tongue like he often did.

“I can do it,” she insisted. “If we just?—”

He cut her off. “There are limits. We have both felt them.”

Ruby flushed, averting her eyes. “I had limits the first time, and we worked on them! I know I can do it.”

Slate shushed her, pulling her into his lap.

Ruby steadied herself against his chest, her eyes stinging. “Are you… telling me it’s useless? Are you telling me to leave ?”

It didn’t make sense. He just made her a nest. Maybe this was his way of saying goodbye?

“No,” Slate assured her. His tongue slid over her red cheek, nudging the corners of her eyes where tears were starting to well.

He was being very touchy, Ruby considered as he ran his hands up her bare back. If he hoped that would make it easier to let her down like this, he had something else coming.

But before she could insist they keep trying, Slate spoke again.

“I have sought out a spell,” he said. “It has diminished me. But it will allow me to fit inside of you.”

Ruby stilled, her mind racing. Diminished?

“Do you mean it made you…” Ruby sat back, eyeing his loincloth underneath her hips. “Smaller?”

“No.” Slate nuzzled her neck, breathing in her scent. “It will rearrange your body. While I am inside you, anyhow.”

The revelation shot through her, leaving glowing red embers in its place. Ruby knew she should be horrified. Part of her was horrified, imagining organs and muscles moving to make way for his giant cock.

She pulled back. “Will it hurt?”

“No!” Slate growled, dragging her closer until she was crushed against him. “It is painless. When I am finished, your body will return to how it once was.”

“Oh.” Ruby let the realization wash over her. It felt like something physical, like water dripping over her head and down her body.

She could have all of him. She could have what she had wanted since the first time he bent her over the ward stone. She could feel him fuck into her as deep and rough as he wanted, no need to hold back. She could have his hips flush against her, his knot stretching her until they locked together.

And then she would leave. Would she ever have him inside her again? Would he even want her ten years from now, or forty? Would he slip into a decades-long slumber by accident and wake up to find her long gone, just like he feared?

“Mortal,” Slate said quietly. “ Ruby .”

Ruby looked up at him. He was watching her. Waiting for her response, she realized.

He rubbed idly at her naked thighs. He was so close to her puffy entrance, still leaking his slick. Come dripped out of her and onto his loincloth, onto the nest he had constructed around her while she slept. He would have had to lift her so delicately to place her onto this mountain of furs.

Ruby watched his come pool out of her. Suddenly all the devastation at the idea of never feeling him again was gone, replaced by a fiery need that almost made her giddy. They could do it. They could really, truly do it. Whatever came next, they still had this.

She flung her arms around his neck and kissed him, running her tongue over his fangs.

He made a muffled noise against her and pulled back. “I will take you to the anointing room.”

He wrapped her legs around him and started to lift her.

She kicked him in the back. “No! Let’s - let’s test it first.”

Slate faltered. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Ruby said instantly. There was a small voice in the back of her head reminding her that if the ward failed when they could be completing the ritual to renew it, the deaths of her entire town would be on her head.

But it was easy to ignore. The ward had been failing for months, it was not as if it would suddenly break if they put off the ritual for another twenty minutes.

She kissed him deeper, sucking on his impossibly long tongue until it threatened to choke her. She made an incoherent noise, which he translated correctly by throwing her onto her back among the furs.

He crawled down her body, kissing and nipping at her bare skin. She closed her eyes, wishing that his fangs would press harder and finally break the skin. She wanted a mark. A ropey scar. Anything to prove that her time here had been real.

He kissed her navel. She imagined a thick blue line painted over it and shivered hungrily. Soon she would be anointed, a construct of a spell made to be plowed and used. But for now?—

“You don’t need to start with that,” she reminded him breathily as his long, dripping tongue circled her entrance. “You can just use your cock.”

He raised his head, his black eyes incredulous.

“Where exactly is the fun in that?” he demanded. Then he pushed his tongue inside her in one long slide.

They both moaned in shock as his tongue kept going. Usually, he could only fit half of it, just like his cock. But it kept sliding inside her, in and in and in .

Ruby gasped in amazement. She could feel him all the way in her torso.

She could even feel her insides moving, sliding in a way that should have frightened her.

But instead, it just made her feel… hot.

She had spent so much time wishing for more of him, and now she was getting it.

No matter what had to move to make him fit.

His nose brushed her clit, and Ruby jerked. His mouth rested against her entrance, his tongue inside her all the way to the root.

“ Gods ,” Ruby moaned. “You’re so big .”

Slate groaned against her, the noise vibrating through her clit. He started to tongue-fuck her in earnest, last night’s come squelching out around him. She felt him seal his lips around her entrance and suck, and her hips bucked involuntarily at the incredible pressure.

“I can feel you so deep,” she groaned. “Gods, Slate, give me your cock. I want to feel it.”

Slate rumbled and grabbed her waist. He started to bounce her, pulling her onto his tongue and then sliding her back off. Up and down, the nest’s fur sliding against her naked back.

He made her come like that, gripping the nest and wailing. He didn’t slow down as she sagged against the bed, shaking with exertion.

“I want your cock,” she babbled as he kept licking into her. “I want it, please give it to me, ohhhh ?—”

He pulled his tongue from her with a slick pop. His eyes raised to meet hers, glittering black.

“Is this not enough?” he rasped. “You’re trembling.”

“I want it.” Ruby stroked his horns, trailing from the points to the ends where the horn became skin. “It’s everything we’ve been working up to. I’ve worked so hard, Slate, please… please give me my reward.”

Slate’s jaw snapped shut as he growled. He blurred up her body and hooked his arms under her knees. His eyes never left her face, even as he lined himself up against her entrance.

“Little witch,” he said simply.

Then he shoved in. There was no careful working the head in, no minuscule thrusts working himself inside. Just one hard thrust, so long and deep they both cried out in shock.

Ruby gripped his shoulders, her arms straining with the width. It was nothing compared to the strain inside her: she could feel her body adjusting yet again, everything sliding and expanding to make room for his enormous length.

She looked down and whimpered. He was all the way inside her…

Almost.

His knot sat against her entrance, tight and starting to swell. They both groaned as he ground against her.

“You are so tight,” Slate said roughly. His hands spasmed around her legs. “How does it feel?”

Ruby tried to answer. Then his hips hitched, and whatever she was about to say cut off in a shocked groan. She craned her head again to watch it happen, his hips barely sliding out before fucking back into her again.

He was huge . He had been right: there was no way a mortal could have taken him. Not without magical help.

Ruby thanked the gods for whatever spell had allowed this and kissed his chest, the only part of him she could reach.

Slate bent down, curling hard so he could kiss her mouth.

“Ruby,” he mumbled as he fucked her. “Little witch. Mortal. Mine .”

“Yours,” Ruby gasped, her eyes growing damp with it. She could barely move, too lost in the feeling of his impossible cock moving inside her. She was going to come again; she could feel it within every inch of her.

Slate’s hips worked faster, jarring her up the bed.

“Again,” he begged. “Say it again.”

“I’m yours,” Ruby managed.

Slate snarled against her mouth, the sound trailing off in a desperate whine. His hips shoved forward with more force than ever, and Ruby yelled in triumph as she felt his knot squeeze into her.

Slate stilled. His mouth opened on a roar as he spilled inside her, each hot pulse sending Ruby closer and closer to the edge until she fell over with him.

Her vision greyed out. When she came to, he was panting on top of her. Her hole was stretched around his knot, which throbbed in time with her heartbeat.

Slate huffed against her hair. “I… I will last longer during the ritual.”

Ruby laughed. The vibration made Slate groan, his soft cock twitching weakly inside her.

Ruby shifted happily. She ached, even with the magic smoothing the way. She would be surprised if she would be able to walk without a limp tomorrow. But she had never felt so complete as Slate gathered her in his arms and kissed her, his knot locking them together in the warm center of his nest.