Page 28 of Hoof It

Twenty Eight

Chapter 27

Jimazu

I turn around in a slow circle as I survey the area where I’ve decided to stop for the night. My mate is exhausted, and that’s partially my fault. All of the extra heavy emotions have also played a factor into it as well. I want to make her as soft of a bed as I’m able to, but this deep in the forest, it’s easier said than done. My only real option is to gather as many leaves as I’m able, build a pile of them, then lay one of the furs on top of the pile.

I attempt to do just that while Darcy watches curiously. Rarely is there a strong wind in this part of the forest because of all the trees, so there aren’t many leaves laying around. A breeze kicks up, pulling even more loose from branches. I know, deep in my soul, that it’s likely Pan’s doing. Reminding us that he will always provide for us.

The breeze dies down, and Darcy helps gather more, while I begin creating a bed-shaped pile of leaves. After we’ve gathered and arranged all that we see, I motion for the bag on my mate’s back. She slides the straps off her shoulders and hold it out for me. I open it and pull out the first fur. My mate helps me shake it out before we lay it on top of the leaf pile. I pull the second fur out of the bag, and we shake it out before placing it on top of the first one.

I take a step back and glance at Darcy. She’s surveying our work thoughtfully.

“I don’t know that I’ll ever get used to sleeping without a bunch of pillows. No wonder my neck and shoulders needed to be popped and stretched so badly.” She shakes her head for a moment.

“This isn’t the first time that you’ve mentioned pillows. What are they, exactly?”

“Oh! They’re soft rectangles that most humans place on their bed, and they go between your head and the mattress. They usually help with your spinal alignment, depending on the type of pillow. Although, some are really bad for you and don’t do much good.”

I look around us, then down at my own body. “I don’t have a pillow to offer you, however I can offer you the use of my chest all night. You seem to sleep pretty well when you’re lying on me.”

My mate grins up at me. “That’s true. Plus, it gives me that much more reason to cuddle with you all night.” She shrugs both of her shoulders.

Darcy moves as though to climb between the furs, but I stop her. “Don’t you want to remove your shoes before laying down? I have yet to see you sleep with them on.”

She smacks her forehead and groans. “Ugh. Yes. I already hate wearing shoes anyway. There’s no way I’d willingly sleep in any shoes, let alone hiking boots.” She bends down and loosens her boots before climbing between the furs, then looking up at me expectantly. “You comin’?” She lets out a yawn.

I debate within myself as to whether or not we need a fire tonight. With no wind, this time of year, it won’t be too chilly. We’ll be under my thickest fur, and have one another’s body heat all night. That settled, I join my mate in our makeshift bed and once she’s laying across my chest comfortably, I pull the top fur up our bodies.

Darcy lifts her head before stretching to meet my lips with hers for a quick kiss. She lays her head back down and her fingers lightly stroke the hair on my arm. She manages to fall asleep quickly. I’m quick to follow her into the land of dreams.

The sun is just starting to peek through the tree tops when Darcy stirs. Her movement is what wakes me. I crack a single eye open after several attempts. My mates chin rests on the back of her hand, and she’s staring at me with a soft smile. It widens when she realizes I’m now awake.

“Good morning, little mate,” I manage to groan out. I’ve slept in some uncomfortable places, but this was for sure the first time I’ve slept all night on a pile of leaves on the ground. I’m more tired now than I was last night, and now my body aches.

“Morning, my beast. You slept pretty hard. I’ve been awake forever, waiting for you to wake up. I got up and went to one of the bushes over there—” the hand not under her chin motions off to the side “—and was able to empty my bladder. Now I’m hungry and bored. And ready to get walking.”

“Well then.” I reach up and rub the sleep from my eyes. “I suppose it’s time for me to get up and relieve myself. Will you shake out the furs and get them back in the bag?” She bobs her head. “We should get to walking now, and I’ll find us something to eat on our way.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” she agrees, drops a kiss to my chest, then rolls off of me. I push myself up to sitting, then stand slowly. As I walk towards the bushes, Darcy is putting her feet back into her shoes and tightening them.

After relieving myself, I head back to my mate. She’s managed to get both furs folded and put back into her bag, and is just sliding the straps back onto her shoulders. I motion for her to stay for a second, then I leave the trees and look around to make sure we’re still alone. Seeing no signs of anyone or anything else nearby, I turn my head back towards Darcy and lift my hand to motion that it’s safe to begin the next part of our journey. She’s by my side immediately and together we step out of the trees and back to the edge of the stream.

“Is it still safe to speak out loud, or do we need to use the bond again?” she asks me.

I shift my attention to my more sensitive animal ears as I take in every sound around us. “It’s safe to speak aloud. We’re the only human-sized creatures out here.”

My mate hums an acknowledgement. We walk for maybe an hour before either of us speaks.

“Are you hungry, little mate?”

“Kind of? I don’t usually eat breakfast. But all the extra walking the last day has my stomach disagreeing with my usual routines.”

I look around on both sides of the stream. I spot some berry bushes a short distance away and point to them. Darcy’s eyes follow my hand and when she sees the bush, she looks at me with a grin that tells me she’s up to something.

“I’ll race you there!” Before I have a chance to respond, she takes off running. She’s clearly underestimating the speed in which my longer legs can carry me. I dig my hooves into the ground briefly, then take off in a sprint. We reach the bush at the same time. Darcy’s chest heaves as she struggles to catch her breathe. Even I’m a little winded. Obviously, I don’t run nearly enough for such a short distance to be such a workout.

My mate puts her hands onto her hips then bends at her waist. After a few moments, her breathing has slowed and she stands upright. One glance at her face has me speaking. “I think we may need to run every now and then.”

“I think you may be right, actually. Especially if we keep having sex as often as we have been. I need to do more cardio outside the bedroom.” She huffs out a laugh.

Walking up to the bush, I inspect the berries before I start pulling them off by the handful. The blackberries look to be fully ripe. I pop one into my mouth and the moment my teeth crush down onto it, the juice explodes across my tongue. It’s sweet and tangy. I proceed to pull a handful off the bush as Darcy steps to my side. She sees my full hands and cups hers together, indicating that she wants me to pass them to her. After I fill her hands, I pick up a single berry and hold it near her mouth. She opens up, and I drop the sweet berry onto her tongue.

As the juice from the berry hits her tongue, her eyes roll back and she groans. “That’s so good!”

I hold several more up to her lips and she greedily takes them in, licking my fingers in the process. “Behave, little mate. Eat your breakfast.” I shake my head at her in amusement.

We walk as we eat the sweet berries. By the time we finish them all, our hands are stained a deep red. I can feel the sticky juice drying in my short beard. My mate’s lips are stained and it looks as though she painted them. I want her stained lips wrapped around my awakening cock. I force my eyes away from her mouth and focus on the reason we’re out here. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Darcy hold her berry-stained hands up as she looks at them. She glances to the stream then at me.

“I think I need to stop for a second and try to clean my hands.”

We stop walking, and my mate steps closer to the water. She drops down to her knees and submerges her hands into the stream. Once she starts scrubbing them together underwater, I move to her side and do the same with my own hands. By the time I’ve managed to remove as much of the red as I’m able to, Darcy is attempting to scrub her lips with the cool water. I shift to face her and take her wrist in my hand and give it a light squeeze.

“Allow me.” I use my thumb to wipe away the sticky stain. I leave the red on her lips, and only clean up around them. She nips at my thumb before I pull it away, and a smile pulls at my own lips.

“I like your lips like this. We may have to keep some of these berries around so that your lips are always this color…” I trail off, lost in the thought of my cock between her red lips once again.

“I know that look, Zu.” She bites the corner of her bottom lip for a moment. “I can guess what you’re thinking about. I’ll have to remember to ask the girls to bring me my favorite red lipstick.”

“If it stains your lips like this, I’m all for it. The thought of these staining my cock…” A full body shiver starts at the base of my spine and spreads upwards. “Gods above, Darcy.”

She bites her lip again, then leans in and kisses me. Our lips meet. The kiss is full of need. Our tongues crash against one another. My hands weave into her hair while one of her hands slowly slides down my abdomen. Regretfully, I pull away after a few moments. “Soon, little mate. I’d much rather take you in our new home than out here.”

Her pupils are blown and there’s a light blush spreading across her cheeks. Her lips are even more red now than they were moments prior. I stand and hold out a hand for her. She takes it and I easily pull her to her feet. She kisses my chest and we set off again, hand in hand.

We talk off and on to pass the hours as we walk. I can feel how sore my mate’s feet are, though she tries to hide it from the bond. When she trips over a mid-sized rock, I stop and crouch down. With a light huff, she climbs onto my back. The way that her body relaxes once she’s off her feet tells me that I was correct in offering to carry her.

She settles against my back and takes in a deep inhale of my skin. I reach up and hold onto her hands as they hang down my chest. “Relax, little mate. We’re nearly there, I think.”

The sun is high in the sky, which tells me that it’s mid-day. and Pan told Darcy that the cottage is a day and a half walk from the cave. I’m not sure if that includes stopping over night or not; I can only hope that it does.

The next time I glance up at the sky, the sun hasn’t really moved much beyond where it was the last time I looked. When I look away from the sky, I feel faint traces of magic. It stops me in my tracks. I close my eyes and try to sense where it’s coming from.

“What’s wrong, Zu?”

“Can you feel that?”

She doesn’t respond right away. I open my eyes and turn my face towards hers. Her eyes are scrunched closed, and I can see them moving around.

“Yes. What is it? It feels…prickly? No, that’s not the word.”

“It’s ancient magic. I don’t know who it’s from, or why it’s out here.”

“Do you hear anyone around?”

I tap into my animal senses, then shake my head.

“No. There aren’t even any small animals nearby. The magic doesn’t feel malevolent. It feels…”

“Comforting. Like home. It feels the way that Pan did when he appeared in my dream.”

No sooner than she pushes the thought, a breeze swirls around us. Darcy giggles as it picks up loose pieces of her hair.

“It would appear that it is in fact the Wild God’s magic. I think He’s guiding us away from the stream.” I pull one of my hands away from hers and point in the direction that I sense the magic trailing from. “Our home is that way.”

My mate shifts backwards and uses her free hand to smack my hind end. “Onward, Buttercup! There’s fuckery to spread!” She cackles a laugh when I’m startled.

Only hesitating for a few seconds, I resume walking, checking in with my senses to ensure that we’re still following the magical trail. We’re deeper in the forest than I’ve ever ventured. Despite being just past mid-day, it’s dark in this part of the forest. I walk slowly so that I don’t miss anything that could possibly trip me up or cause me to drop my mate.

The trees begin to thin out at the same time that the magic feels stronger. When I walk between two gnarled trees, it feels as though I’m walking through some sort of magical webbing. The magic is so strong here that it has my fur standing on end. My mate rubs her hands up and down my arms, and only then do I realize that I’m covered in gooseflesh.

“Holy shit. Zu, look!” Darcy points straight ahead of us.

My eyes follow her arm and see what she’s pointing at. My mouth drops open and I’m stunned. The sunlight breeches the trees and shines down onto a house in the middle of a large clearing. It’s exactly as my mate described it. There is even smoke curling up from the chimney. Darcy unlocks her legs from my waist and I release her hand. She slides down my back and steps next to me.

We look from the house to one another, both too stunned to speak for a long moment. Then, she takes my hand into one of hers and takes off running towards the house. I match her pace and it only takes us a few seconds to reach the cottage. We step up onto the porch together. I lift our joined hands and use them to turn the brass knob on the heavy wooden door.