Simon had huffed a sound that might have been approval, his eyes clearly appreciative — even as his own hand slipped down Maria’s front, warm, steady, unhurried. Finding the already-slick heat between her legs, and then opening it wider, and casually trailing his fingers against it. Teasing her, playing with her, while he so coolly watched the shocking scene before them.
And surely it was shameful, depraved,something— but Maria could only gasp, and squirm, and spasm against his touch. Moaning aloud as Drafli pumped his liquid pleasure into Baldr’s hungry mouth, holding his bottom lip open so that the slick white spilled down Baldr’s chin, dripping to the floor. And then, after a sharp, dismissive snap of Drafli’s hand, Baldr accordingly knelt down to lap it off the floor, his face a furious shade of red, while Drafli strode around behind, grasped his bent-over arse, and again drove inside.
Goodgods. Maria was shivering and whimpering at the sight, but Simon was still watching with visible approval, his finger now nudging deeper between her parted legs. “Ach, there is naught to fear in this,” he murmured, close in her ear. “Baldr longs for his mate’s strong command, ach? Every orc in this room can taste this, and most of all his mate. It has always been thus, between them.”
Right. That did make sense, based on all Maria had seen of them so far, and she shot Simon a grateful, flustered smile before settling in closer against him. Allowing herself to sink into the sight of this, the feel of it, the blazing hunger, the power of Simon’s still-teasing touch. One hand playing with her nipples, now, while the other lazily slipped its fingers in and out between her thighs. Making lurid noises with every movement, but he didn’t seem to notice, his eyes still fixed appreciatively on Baldr and Drafli’s sweaty, writhing bodies before them.
At some point, Baldr had begun fighting back, kicking and flailing against Drafli’s fluid strength — a development that only appeared to ramp Drafli’s hunger higher. His black hair now flying loose around his face as his graceful body braced against Baldr, hurling him onto his back on the table, pinning him there with his full weight. And then he plunged deep inside again, while Baldr jerked and thrashed, his mouth howling, his neck and torso streaked with red and white, his clawed hands dragging Drafli close —
And as Maria watched, flustered and frantic, Drafli finally bent low, and kissed Baldr on the mouth. Soft, sweet, astonishingly gentle, especially in the light of all else he’d just done — and it was that, somehow, that finally set Baldr shouting against his lips, his curled-up body spraying yet more white between them.
And then, suddenly, it was done. Drafli’s sweaty body sagging heavy onto Baldr’s, his face again buried in Baldr’s neck, while Baldr’s arms and legs twined close and careful around him. Again, almost as if it were a rite, a vow, a cleansing.
They stayed there for a long moment, their bodies heaving together — and then Drafli gently disentangled himself, and rose unsteadily to his feet. His glittering gaze sweeping over the watching orcs, the challenge visceral and powerful in his eyes.
And this time, it was Simon who spoke first, drawing a hand away from Maria to press it over his heart. “I see your gain, Skai,” he called out, the words weighted with finality. “You have my blessing.”
Drafli’s eyes flared with bare gratefulness, and he bowed briefly toward Simon, his own hand in a fist against his heart. And as the other watching orcs also spoke, adding their voices to Simon’s, it was almost as though Maria could see Drafli’s cold bitterness pooling away, the tightness easing from his eyes. And as he reached back toward Baldr, and drew him onto his wobbly feet beside him, his slow smile toward Baldr was astonishingly stunning, enough that Maria surely wouldn’t have recognized him, if she’d walked into the room at this moment.
Drafli had flicked a finger at Baldr’s cheek, snapping his smoky eyes wide — and then Baldrlaughed. The sound bright, shivery and warm, his head thrown back, his eyes alight with joy. And beneath Maria she felt Simon chuckle too, the warmth purring hot and indulgent through his chest.
“This was good, ach?” he murmured in her ear, as Drafli slid an arm around Baldr’s waist, and drew his shaky form over toward their bench. “Any worthy Skai knows how to please his mate, ach?”
He said this with an approving nod up at Drafli, and Drafli nodded back as he silently sank onto the bench beside them. His hands making a purposeful gesture toward Simon, far slower than what he’d done with Baldr, and Simon returned it with a shrug, a companionable bump of his shoulder against Drafli’s.
“Ach, you no need to thank me,” he said. “You should do the same for me. Youhave. Ach?”
Drafli jerked a shrug too, his eyes sliding up to where Baldr was still standing before him. Looking just as dazed and bemused as Maria currently felt, his skin and hair an utter mess — but Drafli only looked up at him, mouth pursed, before gesturing down between his knees. Meaning for Baldr to sit on the floor at hisfeet, goodgods— and to Maria’s genuine surprise, Baldr instantly obeyed. Dropping to curl up between Drafli’s thighs, his head resting almost reverently on his knee.
And in the midst of Maria’s own hazy hunger, she suddenly felt an unmistakable indignation, surging against the contentment in her belly. “Seriously?” she heard herself say toward Drafli, her voice thick. “I hope you know how lucky you are, asshole. After all the shit you’ve put him through? You ought to be thanking Skai-kesh that he’ll even stilltalkto you. Or that he didn’t take up Joarr on hisverygenerous offer, while we were away.”
She’d twitched her head toward Joarr, who had somehow appeared out of nowhere on Simon’s other side, and was currently smirking at Drafli. Earning a furious-looking gesture from Drafli in return, though his narrow eyes were still fixed firmly to Maria’s face, his lips curled back in a feral, vicious snarl.
“Ach, Maria,” cut in Simon’s voice, deep, disapproving. “You no shame another Skai thus. No when he only seek to honour his kin’s ways, so he might keep his place serving them.”
But Maria couldn’t seem to stop glaring back at Drafli, returning his snarl with a sneer of her own. “But you accused Baldr of only caring until a woman showed up!” she hissed at him. “And I can tell you from personal experience, asshole, that he still very much cared about you while he was helping me, though the gods only know why!”
Drafli looked ready to spit at her, his hand flashing out a serious of enraged-looking gestures — and this time, Baldr blinked his hazy eyes up toward Drafli, and reached up to grasp his hand, holding it still.
“No, Draf,” he said, his voice husky, surprisingly stern. “You’re wrong on that. I won’t leave you for a woman, or a son.Ever.”
He sounded very sure, his eyes steady on Drafli’s face, and Maria could see a slight sag in Drafli’s shoulders, his hand slipping down to card into Baldr’s hair. Even as he again bared his teeth toward Maria, and she shot him a chilly smile back.
“See?” she demanded, triumphant. “I hope you appreciate him, asshole.”
But against her, Simon had made a sound that was half-laugh, half-groan, and he pulled her around to look at him, his eyes glinting. “Maria,” he said, the warning heavy on his voice. “You no hear me? You no speak to your kin thus. Now kneel, and cleanse your mouth of this.”
He accompanied the words with an imperious snap of his hand toward the floor, not unlike the one Drafli had just used on Baldr. And Maria stared at him, the uncertainty clashing against the wild flaring hunger, as Simon gave the gesture again, his eyes dark, arrogant, dangerous.
“Now, woman,” he ordered. “You no ken I stop cleansing you once you are my mate? This is only more cause to teach you our ways. Now kneel, andsuckle.”
The heat and the rebellion swarmed with equal, dizzying strength, and after one more impatient jab of Simon’s finger, Maria silently nodded, and slid down between his knees. Toward where his monster was already fully swollen, jutting out thick and dripping, oozing its sticky white…
She felt her tongue brushing against her lips, her face flushed painfully hot — but then her gaze darted up, toward where three pairs of orc eyes were watching her. Joarr with palpable amusement, Drafli with a vindictive-looking triumph, and Simon with a brow raised, his hand slipping down to stroke up his full length, displaying it for Maria’s rapidly blinking eyes.
“I said, suckle, woman,” he told her, his voice low. “You wish for my good cleansing, ach?”
Gods. The hunger flashed higher, sparked by that look in his eyes, that easy command in his voice. And Maria was nodding, furtive and frantic —fuck, yes — and in return Simon’s lips curled up, his hand sliding down to catch in her hair.
