Wolf-Bound: Unfamiliar Territory, page 20
Naked, she lay on the leafy carpet, staring past the stark brown branches and bits of pale mistletoe that towered above her to a sky the clear, brilliant blue of Damien and Devlin’s eyes.
The odor of wet earth, rich and pungent, tickled her nose. She breathed in deeply, savoring the scent.
A rabbit hopped out of the underbrush, pausing near her foot.
A falcon landed on a branch above her, preening its feathers while watching her with one eye.
“They like you.” Gaia stood over her. Jenny started to push herself up, but the spirit shook her head. “Remain where you are. Be one with the earth.”
She lay there for what seemed like hours, but of course it couldn’t have been, for the sun barely moved in the sky. Beneath her, the leaves disappeared and became the thick grass of an overshadowed glade. The trees above rustled, covered in new spring growth. She felt a deep thrumming, like a pulse. No ‑‑ less rhythmic, more pervasive. Stuttering, then staccato, then slow and steady, altering as conditions in the world altered. The heartbeat of a planet. She dug her fingers into the loam beneath the green blades, letting the sound travel into her body.
Warmth flooded her. Her breasts tingled and plumped, milk trickling from her nipples. Her pussy throbbed, and her womb ached. “What-what is it?” she whispered.
“It is a sign from the Mother,” Gaia answered reverently. “She is pleased. There is nothing more precious to her than love and life, and you embody both. She wishes you to revel in it, as she does. That is her Nature.”
“Thank you for your help last night.”
The vision shook her head. “I gave you only knowledge. The power is within you and those you love.”
“Are we really safe? All of us?”
Gaia gazed into the distance. “For now. That which has threatened must bide a while. You have thwarted its plan.”
She felt the danger still, however, faint but on the horizon. “This isn’t finished, though, is it?”
“At this time, She can see only that you and yours will be safe until your sons are grown. After that, the Sight becomes murky again. Uncountable paths appear, and only the choices made at that time will clarify the vision.”
“I guess it’s enough to know that we’re safe at least that long.”
“It will have to be.”
“What is he?” Silly to personify it, the Presence she had felt last night, but she couldn’t help thinking of the darkness as a male influence.
“Chaos? The Devil? Your kind has many different names for that which opposes us. To me, and those like me, it is simply the enemy. It is the antithesis of the Mother.” Gaia sighed. “Life is love and war and growth and death and joining ‑‑ so many things. There is no good without bad, no darkness without light. Yet, there must be balance. Aggression must be held in check, lest it lead to the ultimate destruction. Likewise, the urge to do good and to encourage this in others must be fostered in such a way that it does not become the ill light of fanaticism. This, the Mother seeks to do. Without her influence, this world would be completely without harmony.
“You see it today, in those places where the Mother has no representatives, no Weyr, no Gaia, to work through. Places where the whims of the few are answered daily, and become more and more extravagant even as their enjoyment of life itself wanes.
“The enemy is a being who wants all the world to be like that. He has attempted this before. Sometimes, where the world’s heart is weak and has lost its people, he succeeds.”
“He-he’s actually succeeded?”
Gaia nodded. “In other galaxies, on other worlds. In other…dimensions, I think you would call them. And he seeks to break through, into our world. Already, he is able to exert his influence beyond the border between his current realm and ours, in the places and on the people in our world where the Mother’s influence has waned.”
“I sensed him, last night. I could see the darkness in those men. And one of them ‑‑” She shivered. “I think it was looking at me, through him. I thought he reached out for me. For all of us.”
“Yes. He would acquire great power if he were to corrupt you.” Gaia chuckled. “His chagrin at the ease with which you cast him out ‑‑ that was gratifying. He is arrogant, you see, for he has found it surprisingly easy to attract followers in this world. At first, he seems like a benevolent god, for he offers all things to all people, their heart’s desire. Every want is granted, while needs are forgotten. But those wants ‑‑ they grow, into something sick and twisted. Even those who desire to do good find that, without limits, all paths lead to destruction. His is the living Death ‑‑ the absence of love, compassion, and companionship, for all of those cease to exist in a world where the only thing that is made to matter is what we think we want. If we cannot defeat him, as we face him time and time again, he will destroy us all, for without love ‑‑ the primary essence, that which leads to birth and growth ‑‑ the Mother cannot thrive. Cannot nurture and cultivate. There will be no more birth, no more life. The world would end.”
Jen sat up. “And this might actually happen? Could even happen in my lifetime?” she asked, remembering what the Goddess had told her before.
A delicate shrug. “That was one path. For now it is averted. You cannot imagine how your denial of him, your love for each other, strengthened the Mother. But he is not defeated, only weakened for a time. There will be other attempts.” Gaia’s eyes like oceans drew her in. “We may prevail only if your love is strong and true. The ones who surround you are potent. Their strength is your strength, but only through you can they become that which may continue to defy the enemy.
“Go now. Know that I will be with you whenever you call, but your task now is to raise your family. Your love will lift them up, and when the time comes, they will be equal to the task.”
“You’ve seen this?”
Gaia shook her head. “That future is still cloudy.” She touched her breast, over her heart. “I feel it, here. Again, I say the Mother has chosen well.”
Jenny shook her head. So many people, counting on her for so much. What if she failed them? What if she wasn’t as strong as everyone seemed to think? “But ‑‑”
Gaia was gone. Jen sat naked on a patch of wet leaves. There was a flapping sound above her as the falcon took flight. The rabbit’s ears twitched, and it bounded into the dripping brush.
She pushed herself up and started to brush off, but no leaf clung to her. Her skin remained clean, dry, and warm. She smiled. Nice trick, that.
The rush of ripeness the Mother had called to her remained. Her breasts were plump, full, aching to be suckled. Her flesh burned with desire, every inch of her body longing to be touched, her pussy aching to be filled. With a few concise movements, she dressed and then strode quickly back toward the house. Time to do just what the Mother wanted.
Revel in life…and love.
Epilogue
James O’Shea stretched prostrate on the floor, while Lazaa’s whip crossed his back again. “Three wolfling whelps and an untrained witch! How could you fail?”
“N-no one warned us about her.” O’Shea swallowed the liquid seeping into his mouth from his swollen lip.
A sharp crack. Moist, slapping sounds as the flails encountered his bloodied flesh. He bit down on his lip again, but this time, a whimper escaped.
He froze in fear. The sounds of suffering usually fed Lazaa’s rage, worked him into a frenzy. O’Shea had watched men die under his whip because they couldn’t hold their tongues.
To his utter surprise, the man stepped back. “Stand up.”
He struggled to his feet, every movement making the flesh on his back scream. He ground his teeth together. His lip poured blood as he bit through. He had lots of practice with pain, but this ‑‑
His superior’s sharp black gaze cut him like a knife. He almost whimpered again. Almost, but now that the pain had receded just a bit, the other emotion was making itself felt. Desire, a need only heightened and fed by his agony.
Lazaa’s dark gaze flicked to Jimmy’s stiff cock. Shame filled him as the man smiled. That was the only reason he had lasted so long in this guy’s employ. He had a thing for pain, and his boss knew it. The man sensed with uncanny accuracy just how far he could go, leaving Jim bloody but not quite broken, with his traitorous cock standing at attention, aching with need.
He dreaded the day it went past that point. Hoped he could somehow get out before it happened. Because it would. Lazaa had a way of breaking the people around him, giving them what they wanted to an extent they’d never imagined, until they just couldn’t take any more.
His tormentor ran the dripping red cords of the lash through his hand. “I-I could go back,” O’Shea stammered. “Now that I know, I’ll find a way. I ‑‑”
The man looked at his palm and grinned. Bad things happened when Lazaa smiled. It was all Jimmy could do to keep from wetting himself.
“No.” Lazaa’s black eyes pierced him again. “The moment is lost. The door has closed, and the Mother’s victory has weakened our benefactor, and so has weakened us.” His jaw tightened, and Jimmy tensed, thinking he would strike out again. But the man calmed himself, a half-smile curling the edges of his lips. “It will be some time before we can attempt the transition again.” He drew the lash through his palm once more. “I do believe you lasted longer than any of the others, before crying out. I admire that. I’ve always admired that about you.”
Jimmy trembled. This was something new, this almost genuine flattery. He didn’t know what to say, what to do. He remained silent.
The whip-thin figure nodded. “I also like a man who knows when to keep quiet.” He lifted a hand, crooking a finger. “Ezell.”
The witch stepped out of the shadows.
“Heal him.” His gaze narrowed. “But leave the scars.”
The woman nodded, her red gown shimmering in the light as she swayed gracefully to his side.
Her hands touched his ragged flesh. Jimmy tore at his lip again while she worked, her every touch a new agony.
The healing took quite a while. His legs trembled with exhaustion by the time she was finished, and the witch’s voice was a hoarse, tired whisper. “I’ve done all I can. There is so much damage, time will have to finish the job.”
Lazaa stepped behind him. “Mm. That will do.”
Ezell glanced up at O’Shea as she moved past. “Oh.” She reached out a hand to touch his lip.
“No.” Lazaa’s voice cracked like a flail. “Leave that.”
She nodded and scurried from the room.
“Melaine.”
The naked, voluptuous redhead lolling on the couch stood and padded across the room. Lazaa rested an arm across her shoulders, his fingers toying with the ring piercing her nipple.
“Our benefactor has a new plan. More subtle. It will take years to accomplish, and someone dedicated to nothing but its completion must oversee it.” The dark eyes pinned him once more. “You are very dedicated, are you not?”
O’Shea dropped to the floor, abasing himself before the man. “Completely, Master Lazaa.” His voice shook with conviction.
“Up!” The impatience in his tone had Jimmy leaping to his feet despite his stiff back and weak limbs.
“Please him,” Lazaa murmured to the woman beside him. “Then feed him.”
“Th-thank ‑‑” The Master held up a hand, and Jimmy pressed his lips together tightly. “Come to me tomorrow.”
“Yes, Master Lazaa.”
“Jimmy.” The voice was a purr, and he stopped breathing as the man stepped close. His hot tongue lapped at the trail of blood on O’Shea’s chin. “Don’t fail this time. You won’t like what happens if you fail. You will beg for death, but that would only be a release, and why would I offer you that? Do you understand?”
He cursed himself for the ripple of pleasure that ran through his body as the man sucked the last droplets of blood from his swollen lip while watching him with knowing eyes. “Yes, Master Lazaa,” he whispered.
The master of the Dark Guard turned and strode from the room.
Melaine clapped her hands. Half a dozen girls materialized from behind the doors and curtains lining the walls.
Shelly dragged him to the carpet. Her teeth closed on the lobe of his ear, drawing blood. Melaine’s mouth surrounded his cock, roughly biting its head. A blonde he didn’t know pressed her lips to his, grinding his injured flesh against his teeth.
He gasped, fingers digging into the carpet’s thick nap.
Nails scratched, marking his flesh.
He writhed, his body trembling. Bites peppered his chest, his abdomen. “Yes,” he whimpered, though some small part of him hated what he had become, what he was allowing them to do. Melaine grasped his balls, squeezing hard. “Yes!”
The fire built in his groin, every hurt driving him higher and higher, until agony and ecstasy were one and the same, and he laughed and cried at the same time, cock spurting. In the beginning, he’d thought this was heaven.
Now, he knew it was only the beginning of hell.
Rachel Bo
Rachel Bo is an award-winning author currently published in several genres. On the weekends, she works as a Clinical Laboratory Scientist. During the week, Rachel writes and rides herd on her handsome husband, two wonderful daughters, a rabbit, a snake and several remarkably hardy goldfish.
You can find Rachel on the Net at http://webpages.charter.net/rachelbo/ or e-mail her at rachbo03@yahoo.com.
Rachel Bo, Wolf-Bound: Unfamiliar Territory
