Coven: a dark medieval paranormal romance (Witches of the Woods Book 2) (6 page)

“You look beautiful,” I whispered to her as she strode toward me. She beamed at my words. I felt myself getting hard again.
Damn, this night was going to be difficult.

“What did you talk about with Maerwynn when she kept you back?” Ada whispered as she scrambled up the rocks to sit beside me. I grunted in reply. I knew what Ada wanted, to know how I knew Maerwynn and why she acted the way she did around me. But I wasn’t ready to explain that to her, not while her life was still in danger.

I need to leave Ada believing I am the hero, instead of the villain I really am.

Maerwynn’s women bustled about, preparing for the evening meal. The five men did the actual cooking, coughing as they bent over the smoky fires to turn the meat and test the flavourings. There were thirty-two women in all, ranging in ages from three toddlers to young teens up to wrinkled crones, each one impossibly beautiful, clad in diaphanous shifts that clung to their curves as they moved between the three bonfires. They crowded around us, cooing over Ada, grabbing her arms and leading her down to the water’s edge, offering her wine and meats.

As a man, I had to eat with the other men. We were not permitted any meat, but instead had a small meal of root vegetables and broth cooked over the fire. I tried to talk to the man to my left, who wore a small pendant of a half-moon around his neck, and seemed to be in charge of the others. But he shook his head at me. We finished our meal in silence.

Aubrey fell in with the other woman with ease, and soon she was sharing their cups and telling stories. Bernadine sat off to the side, her head inclined with Maerwynn’s, the two in deep discussion about something. Every once in a while they would look up at Ada, and frown.

Ada sat with Brunhild and Ryia, but she didn’t say much. Her gaze kept moving back to me. I wondered what she was thinking. I was watching the way the firelight highlighted the flimsy dress and her swaying curves, and desperately trying to control my urge to fling all her clothes off and take her right there on the riverside.

Damn you, Clarissa.
I glared down at the cut on my palm, which was pulsing with heat. One of the men handed me a skin of mead, which I gulped back thirstily.

After the meal, several women produced instruments: a handheld harp, flutes, drums made with deerskins. I watched Ada from across the fires as she sat, entranced by the women who shed their clothes and danced in wild circles around the fire. She stood, as if to join them, but one look from Bernadine and she sat back down again.

Late in the evening, when the moon was high overhead, I walked Ada back to her cabin. She glanced around her, making sure Maerwynn or one of the other women wasn’t watching, then yanked me inside the cabin and slammed the door shut.

“You’re not supposed to be in here,” she said. “Brunhild tells me men aren’t allowed inside the cabins.”

“I know.” I stepped toward her, brushing a strand of her hair from her pale cheek. My cock pressed urgently against my leg.
Leave now, Ulrich.
I commanded myself.
Before you do something you regret
.

I remained glued in place, my feet rooted on the ground like two great oaks, trapped by the softness of Ada’s skin and her searching gaze.

“Yes, you know.” She whispered, running her fingers along the skin of my forearm, sending a line of fire shooting down my arm. “You’ve been here before.”

“I have.” I said stiffly, tearing my hand from her cheek. “But that is all I can tell you now. Please Ada, you must trust me on that.”

“I
do
trust you, Ulrich.” she whispered, stepping closer to me. Her breasts brushed up against my chest. The nipples stood out through the diaphanous fabric, hard as stone. I moaned.
Why is she torturing me like this?

“Ada—”

Ada raised her shoulder, and shrugged off the sleeve of her dress. The fabric fell away, leaving her breast completely bare. Moonlight streamed in from a window above the bed, making her skin glow with a luminous light. Knowing I was making a mistake and not caring, I reached out with my fingers and grazed the side of her breast, running just the tips of my fingers over her hard nipple and enjoying the way her whole body shivered as my fingers danced across her skin.

“This is a magical place,” she whispered. “Here women are free, unchained from the bonds that the men of power place upon them. The women dance and hunt and do whatever they want.”

I gulped.

“Here, I am free, Ulrich. And so are you, I think. Please,” Ada’s voice croaked. She shuffled forward again, grabbing my wrist and pulling my hand to cup her entire breast. “I need you. Be the beast that I came to love in the dungeon. See how far you can push me. See how much pain I can handle.”

“Ada, we can’t—” but I couldn’t even find the words.

“We can
try,
” her voice was fierce, determined. I’d never seen this side of Ada before. Part of me was frightened, thinking that I had damaged her, I had made her into something she was not. But the other part of me, the part that still fantasized about her tied up in the dungeon,
relished
it.

With a single swipe, I scooped up Ada’s body and flung her on to the pile of furs that served as her bed. I laid her out on her back, straddling her buxom frame as I pulled the arm of her dress off her other shoulder, revealing her breasts in all their glory.
She’s so beautiful.
My eyes wandered over her exposed chest, hungry to devour her.

I bent down, and cupped her breast in my hand. My whole body tensed with the force of my desire. I took the nipple into my mouth, moaning against it as I savoured the taste of her. Ada’s back arched. At first I thought this was because she was enjoying herself, but then her body went stiff and a strangled sob escaped from her throat.

“Ada?” I snapped my head up, searching her face. Her mouth opened and closed, but no sound came up. She pressed her hands against her chest, over her heart, her body wracked with convulsions. I froze, my cock straining to be free, heedless to the pain I had caused her.
This is bad. This isn’t right.

With a great effort, I gained control of my faculties. I slid off her, staring down at her in horror. I felt helpless. “How do I make it stop?” I cried.

“Don’t stop.” She choked out.

“What?”

“Keep going,” Ada gasped, gritting her teeth as she fought through the pain.

“Ada, I can’t. Look at you, you’re in agony.”

“Keep—” But she couldn’t even finish the sentence, she was in so much pain.

I pulled the fabric of her dress up over her breasts. “We can’t do this,” I said sadly, my voice strained with longing. “My touch is going to kill you.”

“There has to be a way …” she gasped.

“There is a way. I kill Clarissa. The oath goes away. It’s the only choice we have.”

“No, I mean…” Ada broke into a grin. “Of course. The oath seems to recognize when you touch me, because you are giving pleasure to a woman other than the one you are bound to, but it doesn’t affect me when you simply think of me, does it?”

“I don’t understand.”

“You think of me, you worry about me, you think loving thoughts, yes?”

“I’m thinking of you always.”

Grinning, Ada shrugged off her dress again, pulling it right down over her hips, revealing the luscious curves of her body. I licked my lips, growling low in my throat. “I’m thinking of you especially now.”

“And yet, the pain comes only when we touch.” Ada grinned wider. “We don’t have to touch, Ulrich.”

“Not to suggest that staring at your body doesn’t fill me with pleasure, because it does, but I really need a bit more than just admiring each other from afar.” I gestured down at my breeches, where my cock stood to attention like a standing stone.

“That’s exactly what I mean.” Ada’s gaze followed mine down to my crotch. She licked across her lips as she regarded the hardness pressed against my leg. “Remove your garments.”

A grin spread across my face as I realized what she was intending. It wouldn’t be the same, but at least… at least I would have some relief. As quickly as I could, I undid the strings of my waist and pulled my tunic over my head, stepping out of my breeches at the same time. Ada’s eyes flicked hungrily over my body, finishing between my legs, where my cock stood rigid as a tree trunk, the end twitching in anticipation.

“You please me, Ulrich.” She said softly. Her words sent a shiver of delight through my body. I loved seeing her take charge like this. “Your giant, thick cock pleases me. Now, take it in your hands.”

I did as she commanded, feeling my fingers close around my shaft. Her eyes bore into mine, and my stomach skipped. Somehow, even though we weren’t touching, the space between us didn’t act as a void, rather it drew us closer. I felt more exposed, more intimate, than I ever had during our dungeon sessions.

“Now,” Ada said, her eyes sparkling. “Run your hands up and down your shaft. Start slowly, don’t get too carried away just yet. I want it to be slow. I want to see everything.”

I followed her instructions, my hands warm against my own skin.

“Imagine that is me,” she said. “I have my lips wrapped around your cock, and I’m sliding it into my mouth, back and forth, moving deeper each time… is this working?”

“Oh yes,” I groaned, as I increased my speed, applying more pressure as I imagined her plump lips wrapped around me, her head bobbing up and down as she took in the full length of me. My cock grew harder in my hand. “But I don’t think this is fair. You’re giving me this incredible gift, and yet you get nothing.”

“Oh, do you think so, do you?” Ada grinned cheekily. She leaned back against the furs, stretching herself out of her full length. My eyes swept down her body, languishing on her bountiful curves and swelling breasts. She placed her hands against her own naked flesh, one on the round of her belly, the other cupping her breast, and began to move them slowly across her skin.

I pumped my own shaft as I watched her running her hands along her own body. Her face twisted in delight as her fingers swirled around her own breasts, and she licked the tips and touched them to her hard nipples, mimicking the touch of my tongue. She leaned back against the furs, her breath coming out in short gasps as her fingers traced the outlines of her curves.

“I am imagining this is your touch,” she whispered. “It makes my skin flush with desire.”

I moaned, my muscles tensing. Seeing her touch herself like that, knowing she was thinking of me, of
my
touch, sent me right to the edge.
Gain control of yourself, Ulrich. Control, that’s it. That was what you’re good at. That’s what you enjoy.

I slowed my pace, trying to draw out my orgasm, to prolong this exquisite feeling of need.

Ada slipped her dress further down over her thighs, moving her legs wide apart so I had a clear view of her mound. She reached down with her fingers and parted her lips. I saw she was already dripping wet. I longed to touch her there, to send her screaming into oblivion. But just to know she was thinking about me fucking her as she touched herself was enough to send me close again. I gritted my teeth and slowed my pace even further.
Not yet.

She moaned loudly as she slipped one finger inside of herself, drawing it out again to show me the juices that dripped from it. She sighed with pleasure as she inserted the finger again, followed by another.

I couldn’t control myself. My hands pumped faster, excited by watching Ada touch herself. It took all my willpower to slow my pace again. I wanted to draw this out, to enjoy the view.

Ada swirled her fingers around inside of herself, exploring her own folds. Her expression changed to delight as she discovered sensations she’d never felt before. Another moan escaped my throat. I’d stopped stroking myself altogether, but my cock jerked in my hands. I was nearly ready to burst. A single touch would send me over the edge.

Slowly, Ada pulled her fingers out of herself, and held them up to show me. Each was slick with her own juices. Ada grinned wickedly, and moved her hand back to her mound, dancing her wet fingers up along her slit, swirling the tips around her clit.

“I’m imagining this is your tongue, slipping over me.” Ada breathed. I ground my teeth together, biting down on my tongue until I tasted blood. Every muscle in my body tensed.

“Oooooh,” Ada moaned, as her fingers found that swollen bud. She swirled the tips around her, building up the pressure and speed as she drove herself toward climax. Her back arched against the furs. She was nearly ready to burst.

I wrapped my hand around my shaft, squeezing hard as I imagined climbing on top of her, sliding myself into her wet folds, and biting her delicate neck as she squirmed beneath me. Ada took her other hand and inserted three fingers inside of herself, while her other fingers continued to swirl and drum at her clit. Her face twisted with an expression of pure joy, and she opened her mouth to cry out.

As I pounded my own cock furiously, Ada’s orgasm tore through her body, her limbs convulsed violently, and her hands fell away as she lost all control, giving herself over to the hot waves of pleasure. The cot rocked beneath us as she thrashed against the furs. Her cry tore through the silent night, the sound sending me over the edge.

I came with a moan. My cock twitched in my hands, growing harder, then shooting off a spurt of my own juices. They fell across Ada’s bare, beautiful stomach. My body shuddered under the force of my passion. Red stars blazed across my vision. The world ceased to exist, and I floated in a wave of oblivion, an ocean of hot, swirling passion.

I slumped forward against the furs, my shoulders sagging. My legs felt weak, numb to the touch. Slowly, the heat left my limbs, and I relaxed against the furs beside Ada.

“That was—” I tried to find the words.

“—amazing.” Ada grinned back at me. She started to tug her dress on, but I held her wrist.

“Stay as you are.” I let my eyes wander over her skin, now flushed with heat. She had never looked more beautiful to me than this moment. “I want to enjoy you a little bit longer.”

We lay sprawled across the bed together, watching out the window as the moon rose higher in the dark sky. Occasionally, Ada reached out and stroked my skin, almost as if she was checking if I were still there. I longed to wrap her in my arms, pressing her delicate skin against mine, but after the pains she had, I didn’t dare. So instead, I stroked her cheek.