Page 40 of Where the Shadows Land (Garden of Hope #1)

They captured her in another kiss, swallowing every whimper and cry she made as they toyed with her clit.

They rubbed her in small, slow circles with just enough pressure to make her knees tremble.

Her small fingers dug into the grooves of their skin, her grip tightening each time they circled over the top.

Astoria responded to every touch, every kiss, every rock of their hips.

Under their influence, she was brighter.

Her need was greater, her cries louder, and her soft body was more yielding.

Mairuk held Astoria upright with their arm over her chest, their hand toying with her left breast. Their other hand was between her thighs, playing with her drenched cunt.

She took two of their fingers with ease and mewled into their mouth.

They worked both fingers in and out, her pussy squeezing tight around their fingers and pulling them deeper with every flutter of her walls .

Astoria moaned and ground her hips into Mairuk’s palm.

She tore her lips away from theirs to catch her breath.

Her dark pupils were blown wide, her skin flushed and covered in goosebumps.

Naked with kiss-swollen lips and eyes that glittered with tears, her perfect beauty ensnared Mairuk.

Their influence clear in her eyes, they slipped one finger from her soaking cunt and slipped it inside her ass, preparing her body to take them.

Once she became their loktossi , the magic would mold her to their perfect shape, marking her as theirs.

A deep wave of possession crashed over them, and they pulled Astoria tighter against them.

Soon, she would become theirs and no other would dare take her from them.

Soon, she would be bound to them, body and soul.

“Mairuk, please! I want to come, please!” Astoria’s eyes screwed shut.

Her walls pulsed wildly around their fingers.

Mairuk upped the pace and applied more pressure on her clit.

Her pussy fluttered and her desire drenched their hand as she tumbled toward release.

They pulled away right as her body tensed, and an angry scream tore from her throat. “No, don’t stop!”

“Remember the game, our vixen. You do not get to come until you are begging and weeping for us. You are not there yet,” Mairuk said.

“Please! Please, please I’m so close,” Astoria whined.

Mairuk hovered their fingers over her holes, just out of reach. The heat of her body warmed their fingertips, and her desire dripped from their hand to the forest floor. “No.”

Astoria whimpered and ground her body back, seeking any friction to grant her what Mairuk denied.

They stilled her with a firm grip on her waist and brought the finger they used to stretch her pussy to their lips.

Her eyes went wide as they licked all her juices off.

Her flavor ruffled their gills, tart and rich, across their tongue.

Popping their finger out of their mouth, Mairuk reached between their bodies and sighed as the cool spring air hit the wetness coating both their shafts .

The combination of cool air and hot skin sent pleasurable tingles all down their spine.

They stroked themselves twice and coated their hand with their fluids to help stretch her tight holes.

Once they were certain Astoria cooled off enough to not come right away, Mairuk sank their fingers back inside her.

One in her ass and the other in her pussy.

They fucked her slow and deep, and pressed on her clit hard enough to force her hips to buck into their hand.

Astoria threw her head back and cried, the salty tears trailing down her soft cheeks.

Her white-knuckle grip on Mairuk’s arms drove them further.

They timed their thrusts into her tight holes with each roll of their hips against her back.

They kissed up her shoulder, to her neck, then hummed next to her ear.

“You are so pretty when you cry for us.”

“Please, please let me come. Please,” Astoria cried. Her hiccuping breaths and sobs were each punctuated with beautiful moans that had Mairuk curling their fingers inside her.

“No. We are going to play with your cunt until you convince all Twelve of us you have earned it. Do not come, vixen. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Astoria panted.

Mairuk moved their fingers inside her, stroking as deep as they could reach.

They pounded in and out of her, over and over again.

The wet sound of their fingers playing with her was louder than her breathy gasps.

Her walls quivered and they stilled, denying her release for a second time.

Her stunning sobs shook her chest with the force of her cries.

“Please, Mairuk. Please let me come. I need it, please. I’m so close!” Astoria’s sobs were so strained Mairuk barely understood her through her tears.

They licked the tears off her cheek, then took her lips in a devouring kiss.

Mairuk pulled away, dizzy from the intoxicating taste of her.

They growled into her hair and curled their fingers.

“If you want to come, you have to work for it, vixen. Fuck yourself on our fingers. Ride our hand until you come apart for us. ”

Astoria needed no other encouragement. Her hips rocked against their palm with frenzied desperation.

Her walls clenched hard around their fingers and she came with a scream so loud it rung through the forest. She gushed over their hands, her knees buckling as she came.

Her head lolled against their chest, her dazed, blissful expression so pure Mairuk ached to cover her pretty face with their spore.

Mairuk dismissed the mycelium around her ankles and turned her to face them.

They kissed her as her delicate arms wrapped around their neck and her thighs squeezed their middle.

Mairuk pulled back and watched as their upper shaft thrust between her lower lips.

She shuddered against their chest when the head of their upper shaft brushed against her clit, and they growled. “Are you ready for our cocks, Astoria?”

“Yes!” she cried. “Please, I need your cocks inside me. Please fuck me, Mairuk. Fill me!”

“We cannot deny you when you have begged so sweetly for us,” Mairuk cooed. They lined themselves up, then thrust into her waiting holes. They sank inside with no resistance, their influence on her so embedded that her body yielded to them.

Astoria moaned, her fingers digging deep into their skin. She met their thrusts and gasped when their kastae settled over her oversensitive clit. Her hips bucked and her eyes rolled back into her head. Her inner walls clenched so tight they hissed. “May I please come?”

“Yes. Do not stop coming for us until we fill you up,” Mairuk commanded.

Astoria curled into Mairuk’s chest, her body trembling with the force of her release.

Their chest muffled her cries, but the reverberations of her pleasure rang through their entire body.

They thrust deep, lifting her enough to tug on their kastae then slamming back in to the base of their shafts.

Her fingers reached up into their gills, caressing them with featherlight touches as she clung to their neck with her other hand .

Each caress of their gills while they were inside her made them shudder.

Her delicate little hand grabbed one and tugged.

Mairuk’s mind went blank. Their roots expanded all at once, their heads opening and locking in place.

She tugged again, and Mairuk came with a roar.

Their hips thrust despite their inability to move.

Astoria’s pleasure-filled cries lingered on the periphery of their awareness and with each gentle caress of her fingers in their cap, more of their spore spilled inside her.

Mairuk’s knees buckled, but they remained standing. They clutched Astoria to their chest and rubbed her back as they came down. Every flutter of her body pulled more of their release inside of her. It took Mairuk several minutes to shake the daze enough to come back to themselves.

Mairuk planted several kisses across Astoria’s shoulder and whispered their praises into her skin until their shafts let her go.

Their release, now a dark purple from the blood berries, spilled down her legs.

They picked up both sets of clothing, then scooped Astoria into a bridal carry and walked them both back to the garden to clean up.

“I don’t think I’ve ever felt you come so much.” Astoria giggled. “Neither have I ever seen you so dominant.”

“The height of spring is our rutting season. We will only grow worse over the next several weeks, but it will pass. We will go as easy on you as we can,” Mairuk said.

“Don’t you dare . Could you chase me again?

” Astoria’s eyes were wide and blown from their influence.

Tears stained her cheeks, and her scent shifted again now that she was full of their release.

She smelled like theirs , and that paired with her question had their olctae twitching against their thigh.

Astoria might have smelled like she belonged to Mairuk, but as long as she looked at them like that, there was no questioning it. She owned Mairuk, too. They planted a kiss on the top of her head and hummed their agreement. “There is nothing we would deny you, our vixen.”