Page 24 of Where the Shadows Land (Garden of Hope #1)

ASTORIA

M airuk tore their gaze away from her, and a muscle ticked along their sharp, triangular jaw. “If you want us, Astoria, there are rules.”

“Rules?” Astoria squeaked.

“Yes.” Mairuk took her chin in their hands and held her stare.

“First, given that something about us inebriates you, you must tell us what you want now. You will tell us where we can and cannot touch you. Second, you cannot use us, then ignore us once the shame settles in. If you want us, you cannot hide. Third, you will tell us the moment anything hurts. You are small. There are humans in cities who have Ardelok lovers, but we cannot tell how much you can take unless you tell us. Do you agree with these rules, little vixen?”

Astoria licked her lips and blinked up at them.

Goosebumps rose all over her skin and her nipples peaked to hard, aching points.

She was naked on the couch before her monster, their eyes locked on hers.

She ached all over, but that didn’t dampen the pure want coursing through her veins.

Her emotions were as wild as the weather, but would that change if she stopped fighting herself?

Would that change if she finally allowed herself to give in?

Her fingers traced up their arm to the firm blue ring at their neck that pulsed under her touch. “Yes.”

“Tell us what you want. Be specific.” Mairuk lifted Astoria from the couch and carried her into the bedroom. Her hips caught the edge of the bed as they leaned over her in the dark room, the soft pink glow of their eyes the only light.

“I want you to touch me. With your hands and your tongue all over my body. My breasts,” Astoria said, cupping one in her hand.

Her other snaked further south to the red curls between her legs to her slit.

“In my pussy. I want to touch whatever you have between your legs with my hands and mouth, too.”

Mairuk chuckled in her mind. “ Whatever we have between our legs? You do not know?”

Astoria shook her head and blushed. “I don’t have the slightest idea.”

Mairuk laughed, and by all the gods, the sound of it made her stomach flip. They leaned back on their knees and undid the fastenings of their pants.

Oh great gods, they have two?

Twin shafts the length of her arm undulated above her stomach, writhing and wrapping around each other, then separating again.

The same fibrous texture of Mairuk’s skin continued down both shafts, but the bumps and ridges were more pronounced.

Their length was about as long as her forearm, and their upper shaft was thicker than her balled fist. The head of each was somewhat reminiscent of their cap, but folded down against the shaft.

Mairuk flexed and the heads pulsed, each small cap opening into a full circle before settling back down. At the base of the sky blue to amethyst shafts, a third appendage wriggled and squeezed around nothing. The small opening had thin tentacles inside that reached out toward her.

Astoria gulped. By all the fucking hells.

Mairuk was a large being, but they had to be exceptionally blessed.

Astoria hadn’t seen a shaft so large, and certainly not anything that was going to go inside of her.

If she was a smart woman who cared about the state of her insides, she would have run screaming.

Something so large would never fit inside a human.

Their shafts would destroy her, and for some reason, that gave her pussy a heartbeat. “What do I call this?”

“ Olctae is the word our kind use, though shaft, dick, or cock would all be close enough. The small one is a kastae , or a sucker.” Mairuk wrapped their large hand around both their shafts and brushed a finger over the smaller appendage.

Wetness dripped down onto her stomach from the shafts and tingled against her skin.

“I want those inside me, too.”

“Is there anywhere we cannot touch you?”

“My feet are ticklish, so not there unless you want to get kicked in the face.”

“Noted.” Mairuk hummed in her mind, the sound so warm and rich she thought she might combust. Mairuk slipped a hand behind her hip and squeezed the globe of her ass. “Can we touch you here?”

“Yes,” Astoria groaned. “Is there anywhere I can’t touch you?”

“No. You can touch us anywhere and everywhere. Be gentle with our gills, they are delicate and highly sensitive.”

“I will be,” Astoria promised.

Mairuk leaned over her, and the fresh scent of the forest after rain overwhelmed her senses. Their olctae wiggled against her stomach, cool and textured. Each writhe produced more tingling lubricant that clung to her skin.

Astoria wrapped her arms around Mairuk’s neck and held tight.

They kissed her soft and slow, exploring her lips with theirs.

Cool energy filled her mouth, then expanded through her face, down her neck, chest, and arms. Lower and more consuming with each gentle kiss.

The bright, dazed feeling of Mairuk’s touch buzzed through her system and she basked in the lightness of the sensation.

She pulled them closer and lifted her hips in search of more friction.

Mairuk growled and pressed their weight into her, keeping her still.

Their textured, almost bark-like skin against her bare flesh sent sparks running through her body, straight to her pussy.

They pulled their lips from hers and let their tongue lick down her neck.

The texture and coolness left behind called goosebumps in their wake.

One hand gripped her whole breast and kneaded it in their rough palm.

Their tongue flicked against her nipple on the other side and she moaned, arching up into their touch.

“You taste so good, little vixen.” Mairuk’s multilayered voice delivered the praise straight into her mind, wrapping around her awareness as soft as silk. Their tongue flicked at her nipple again, then they took it into their mouth and sucked.

Astoria whimpered and clutched onto Mairuk.

She ran her fingers over the waxy scales of their cap, then brushed against the gills on the underside.

Softer than silk, the folds fluttered around her fingers.

Mairuk’s entire body twitched and their dual shafts seeped more liquid onto her belly.

The building heat under her skin burned so hot it ached.

Like fire warming her fingers after a long day in the snow and ice.

Uncomfortable, but delectable. Too much and not enough all at once.

Mairuk continued their slow exploration of her body.

Their thin, tubular tongue swiped over the folds of her stomach and caught the dribbles of their arousal in the process.

The soft glow from their three pink eyes hypnotized her as they moved lower and lower, out of her reach.

She fisted the sheets once Mairuk settled in place between her spread thighs.

Their tongue moved down her hip, then her thigh, and finally her knee before trailing back up.

Each swipe of their tongue inched closer to her pussy, but it never got close enough.

Mairuk gave the other side the same treatment.

Each lick slow and teasing. Astoria panted, unable to find the words tangled in her throat.

The cool brush of their breath over her sex tore a strangled gasp from her lips. “Please Mairuk!”

“So our vixen does speak.” Mairuk chuckled into her mind and dragged their tongue up her inner thigh, licking up the wetness that coated her there. “Let us hear you, Astoria. We will not give you what you want unless we hear it from your pretty little lips.”

Great gods, they expect me to talk? Astoria lost herself in the haze of need and sensation.

The thick fog of inebriation sat heavy on her eyelids, making it a struggle just for her eyes to remain open.

Yet, she managed it and the world grew brighter before her eyes.

Soft ripples of iridescent lights shifted in the air alongside glittering silver threads that emanated from Mairuk in beautiful waves.

Each of their gentle licks was the very essence of pleasure that seeped into her skin.

For a moment, Astoria swore one of those glittering silver threads arced from their tongue on her thigh and landed straight on her pulsing clit.

“Please Mairuk,” Astoria panted. “Put your tongue inside me. I need it.”

“You sound so sweet when you want something. Perhaps we will wait so we can keep listening to you. What will you do if we don’t give you what you want?” Mairuk’s teasing tone was a warm, sultry vibration against her mind. Soft as a whisper, but clear as day.

Words were too hard for Astoria to formulate, so she slipped a hand down her stomach and between her thighs. Spreading her lower lips, she ran a finger over her swollen clit. Her breath hitched with each slow, circular rub. “This.”

Mairuk’s low growl vibrated through the air and Astoria shivered.

Mairuk gripped Astoria’s small wrist in their large palm and pinned it against the mattress.

The moment her hand was out of the way, they dove into her.

Their long tongue flicked against her clit, the ridges and texture dragged over her with the most blissful friction.

Each scrape pushed her higher into the clouds of bliss.

The haze made her bones light and vibrated a pleasant song in her chest.

Each inhale tickled the roof of her mouth with magic and bliss.

Blood rushed through her veins, and her heart pumped at a rapid pace.

Her eyes fluttered closed, and she rocked her hips into Mairuk’s face.

Not one to be rushed, they held her down with their free hand.

Their large palm pressed on the soft fat of her lower stomach, both stilling her and adding to the ever-building pressure .