Aspeth is silent.
“I will try to be gentle,” I remind her. “But it’s not always easy for us. As the Conquest Moon rises, I will grow more and more unable to control myself. Your very scent will distract me. I’ll want to touch you.”
Lick you.
Drag my muzzle over that pretty cunt of yours and just drink in your taste…
My words grow strangled even as my cock stirs. “I’ll grow jealous of other males in your vicinity, so if I seem like I’m in a bad mood, it’s not you. It’s the moon. And I’ll want to mark you as mine. Not in a bad way, and not physically, of course. Just to show the world that you’re mine. Some of the more flagrant Taurians take their mates out for public displays of lust, to remind the world looking at her that she’s claimed. I’ve yet to do that, but…I understand it.”
By the five gods, do I understand it. The thought of placing Aspeth on a platform in the market district and spreading her thighs wide so I can claim her in front of all? It appeals to the dark, base side of me. The side I’ve never really given free rein.
I swallow hard, because I can feel the knot rising, even now, weeks away from the Conquest Moon. I desperately stare at the crack on the wall, wishing Aspeth would say something. Her silence compels me to continue explaining, even though every word heats my veins. “When the hand of the god is finally upon me, you’ll know it. My eyes will turn red and my thoughts will be of rutting you, and only rutting you. Any birth control will have to be done by you, because if it’s left to me, I will try to stop it. Instinct will demand that I impregnate you.”
Hot, wild instinct.
The need to fill my mate between her thighs with my seed. To fill her cunt so full of my cum that there’s no chance she can rise from our bed without a child inside her. And because the moon is coming, the thought is an enticing one. It’s all wrong, but my baser instincts love it.
“I’ve heard from my mother’s brother about a Taurian who had a mate. She used a sponge to stop his seed inside her, and the hand of the god was so heavy upon him that he fished it out and then shoved it into her mouth to stop her protests while he plowed her. Heard she had twins, too, because the god was teaching them a lesson. But don’t be too alarmed by that. The god will understand when it’s not a good time, and I’ll make a plentiful offering to Old Garesh to appease him. But during the Conquest Moon? I’ll be lost, Aspeth.”
Even though she’s a stranger to me, and an irritating one, I can’t deny that her body is enticing. I can’t deny that a willing partner for the Conquest Moon is an exhilarating thought. I can’t deny that I’m looking forward to things. Just thinking about it has made my cock hard, seed dribbling down my shaft as I lie next to my woman and tell her all the filthy things I’m going to do to her.
“I’ll take you hard and fast,” I tell her, and my voice is a growl of pure unadulterated lust. “I’ll want nothing more than to shove my knot deep inside you and fill you with my seed. I’ll fuck you hard and bury myself inside, and then we’ll wait for my knot to go down. During that time I’ll be tied inside your body, locked to you. And then once it goes down, I’ll probably want to fuck all over again. Some Taurians don’t come up for air until the moon passes entirely. We’ll have to keep food and drink nearby. I’m going to be in an absolute frenzy. When we’re done, you won’t be able to walk straight for a week. That’s not bragging—that’s a fact.”
I reach for my aching cock and then pause, glancing over at the form of her in the bed. “I know it’ll be your first time, but I won’t be gentle. Can’t be gentle. I won’t brutalize you, but we need to get comfortable with each other before the moon fully rises. I’m not saying that to get my rocks off, no matter how it seems. I’m saying that for you. You should be comfortable with my body, and I should know how to please yours. That will make things easier for both of us. You should know Taurians aren’t built like regular humans. Just like we’re built bigger overall, we’re bigger everywhere. If you want an anatomy lesson, I’m happy to give you one.”
The idea pleases me. Not just the thought of shoving my hard cock into her hand and letting her explore it, but the practicality of it.
“Actually, we should add that to your lessons. We can meet after class. What do you think?”
Aspeth lets out a gentle snore.
Shock courses through me as I stare at her back. How can a female sleep at a time like this? When I’ve just explained to her in great detail how I’m going to rut her? Take her? In public if the need upon me is too great? That I’m going to fuck her so hard—
She shifts in the bed and as she does, I notice a smear of dirt on her arm. She was so tired from the rock carrying earlier that she must have opted not to bathe but just crawl straight into bed.
And here I am trying to have a conversation with her.
I snort at my own arrogance and adjust my aching cock under the blanket. Tomorrow, perhaps I won’t push them so hard. Or I’ll at least make certain Aspeth is awake before I launch into a conversation about my anatomy.
ELEVEN ASPETH
23 Days Before the Conquest Moon
“You fell asleep last night,” Hawk hisses at me as I trudge up one of Vastwarren’s sloping streets. Truly, are there no level places in this blasted city? Not a single gently meandering road? Does everything have to be an uphill climb?
At my side, the Taurian practically stomps his hooves as we straggle up the street. He’s sulking, I suspect, because I fell asleep while he was nattering on about gods and how Taurians are sacred. “You mean I fell asleep after a hard day of training when you decided you needed to lecture me? Like I’m some idiot girl who’s never seen a cock before?”
I mean, I haven’t, but he doesn’t need to know that.
His nostrils flare and the ring in his septum jumps. He glances up the street, where Kipp the slitherskin is bounding away happily, carrying both house and backpack as if he was born without fatigue. Behind him, Gwenna is doing a good job of carrying her pack, and both Lark and Mereden are lagging behind both of them. I’m at the rear, limping along in my boots and wondering what ever possessed me to try to become a guild artificer.
Oh, right. Because the enemies of Honori Hold will execute us to steal our lands. Can’t forget that.
And now I’ve got to deal with a pouty bull-man who tried to lecture me when I wanted nothing more than to sleep.
“Have you seen a Taurian cock? With the sacred knot engorged?”
Oh my, the word engorged just makes me all kinds of flustered. “I…well, no.”
“Then save some energy for tonight, because you’re going to see one.” Hawk leans in. “You need a lesson because I don’t plan on being the villain in this. It was your idea to marry.”
“So it was.” I can handle a cock showing. Truth be told, I find the entire idea a little fascinating. “But if you want me to stay awake, you’ll have to stop lecturing me and actually let me catch my breath today.” Already the backpack straps are burning two strips of pain on my shoulders.
“This is for your own good,” he reiterates, and casts a stern look in my direction. “Don’t think you can get away with anything simply because we’re married.”
