“Good,” he murmured, tilting her head back, nudging her mouth open with his other hand — and then, oh hell, he was there. That slick, rounded head slipping between her lips, opening her wide around him, sinking itself full and deep, settling close against her throat.
“Pretty, ach?” he purred, his hand tangling tighter in her hair — and Maria realized, with another jolt of heat, that he wasn’t even talking to her. Rather, he was talking to Joarr beside him, and he was even dragging Maria’s head back, nearly all the way off his swollen length, as if displaying her stretched mouth and reddened cheeks for Joarr’s amused eyes.
“Ach, I knew she should please you,” Joarr replied, as Simon drew Maria’s head forward again, nestling himself back into her convulsing throat. “You needed one so eager to honour you. One so steadfast, in her worship.”
Simon wasn’t arguing with this assessment, and his thumb absently stroked Maria’s hot cheek as he slid her backwards again, until he was almost all the way out, pulsing his fiery sweetness onto her tongue. “Ach,” he murmured, quiet. “But you no wish you had kept her? You ought to have this, also.”
But Joarr waved it away, even as he winked down toward Maria’s flushed, suckling face. “Ach, no,” he said coolly. “I no need worship, only hard fuck. And this one crave giant prick, and this I no have, you ken? You no saw her wiggle and wail upon your stone, whilst she was parted from you.”
With that, Joarr actually reached down, and — somehow — produced the stone in question. The one Simon had sent as agift, oh gods, and Maria felt herself moan at the sight of it, even as she sucked its real version deeper into her mouth. To which both Simon and Joarr laughed, Simon with an affectionate warmth in his eyes, Joarr with a smug, twinkling satisfaction.
“See?” Joarr said, as he dropped the stone into Simon’s hand. “And I now have new woman in my scents.Easierwoman, I ken.”
With that, he stood up and strode further down the wall, toward where an unfamiliar orc was bent double over Killik’s groin. And with a few swift yanks of Joarr’s hands, he was grinding his hips against the orc’s bare arse, his head tilted back, his eyes fluttering closed.
Simon had given a pointed tug on Maria’s hair, snapping her attention back to where he was still indulgently watching her, his thumb again stroking at her cheek. “When I cleanse you, you shall swallow all,” he murmured. “And you shall speak with care to your new kin. And after this” — he ground himself deep and deliberate into her throat — “you shall have my reward. Ach?”
He’d inclined his head toward the middle of the room as he spoke, oh gods — and Maria felt herself frantically nodding, her eyes wide and pleading on his face. Earning a low chuckle in return, his hand guiding her head with more purpose now, easing her back and forth. Taking his pleasure with her, using her mouth as he wished, and she didn’t miss the nudge of his shoulder at Drafli beside him. Wanting him to witness this, perhaps, and with a shock of heat Maria realized that Baldr was currently doing this exact same thing to Drafli, both of them kneeling before their sprawled Skai, flaunting their hunger, their worship —
Simon’s release surged without warning, flooding with shocking, dazzling power into Maria’s mouth. So much that she had to fight to swallow, to keep it all inside, coughing and gagging against his invading strength — but he only kept waiting, brows raised, watching.Cleansing.
And when it finally finished, and Maria had somehow choked it all down, Simon drew his spent length from her mouth, and gently tilted her sticky, reddened face toward Drafli. Drafli, who’d been watching this with blank, wholly unreadable eyes, both his hands clutched tight into Baldr’s hair.
“Speak, woman,” Simon commanded her. “Honour me.”
Maria’s hunger was still swerving and tingling, and she drew in breath, licked at her swollen lips, held Drafli’s watching eyes. “I — I’m sorry I insulted you,” she said, hoarse. “And called you names. But youwilltrust Baldr’s word, from now on, and take good care of him. Won’t you?”
A bright incredulity had flared in Drafli’s eyes, and he jerked a sharp nod, his hands clenching tighter in Baldr’s hair. And when his gaze flicked back down to Baldr again, Maria could see the bare intensity, the affection, in his glinting black eyes.
“I’m glad,” Maria said, her voice quieter than before. “And congratulations, Drafli. I see your gain, and honour this.”
Drafli gave another curt nod, his gaze not once leaving Baldr’s face as he ground deeper inside — and when Maria glanced back at Simon, that was surely approval in his eyes. And in the way he was patting her cheek, his mouth curving into his warm, crooked smile.
“Good,” he said firmly. “Now what do you speak to me, my pretty one?”
And Maria was smiling back, eager, hungry, hopeful. “Thank you for cleansing me, Simon,” she murmured. “Now will you finally stop tormenting me, and give me my damned reward?”
His answering grin was almost a reward of its own, stunning and dangerous. “Ach, woman,” he said. “Come and scream, whilst I teach you how an orc rewards his mate.”
41
Maria trembled all over as Simon finally led her across the Skai common-room. Through the clusters of carousing orcs, drawing their eyes, their gazes prickling on Maria’s bared skin.
But there was still no fear. No shame. She was Simon’s mate. She was Skai. And they were finally home together, and she was finally, fully free of her old life, of its contracts and obligations and revenge. Free of everything but this heated, heady craving, which had already been simmering for what felt like hours now, and was bubbling dangerously close to the surface, almost about to burst.
And Simon knew it, reading Maria as easily as he always had — and that was why he was scarcely even touching her now, tilting up her head with a single clawed finger. Enjoying the answering gasp from her mouth, while the smugness flared across his wicked watching eyes.
“You long for me, ach, my pretty one?” he purred. “And you shall again flaunt my prize before all the Skai, ach?”
Maria’s nod was frantic, fervent, and Simon’s mouth curled up higher, his black tongue flicking against his lips. “Then kneel for me,” he ordered, with an imperious wave of his hand toward the fur-covered table behind her. “Show me what is mine.”
Oh, gods. Another gasp had escaped Maria’s mouth, a shudder wrenching up her spine — but she instantly obeyed. Clambering up onto the table, and then twitching to turn back toward him, to worship — until his big warm hands caught on her hips, holding her there, facing away from him, on all fours, vulnerable, exposed, shivering.
“Ach, thus,” he said, his hands spreading against Maria’s hips — and then yanking her slightly backwards, so her knees were nearly at the edge of the table. So he could — Maria choked aloud — flip up her loincloth, and then spread her trembling thighs wide apart. Baringeverythingin between, exposing all her most secret parts to the cool open air of the suddenly silent room.
“Better, ach?” Simon murmured, as she felt his audacious thumb lightly tracing up her quavering crease, teasing, torturous. “But I wish to see more, woman.”
More. Maria twitched another nod, and dragged in a bracing breath as she arched her back, angled herself out. Feeling abruptly far more exposed than she had before, and Simon huffed a low, approving laugh as his thumb slipped back down her crease, and then sank deep into her spasming, convulsing heat.
