Page 38 of In Love With the Leshy

“We’ve been here before.” With his fingers, he brushes my hair over my shoulders.

“I know.” I kiss his neck. “It’s my favorite place.”

“Mmm.” He moans. “Mine too. But you know what happens? You lose control and beg me to have my way with you.”

“I wouldn’t say I beg,” I pull back to look into his emerald green eyes. I wonder if that’s why Irina named him Emerald.

“Oh, you beg,” he assures me. “You should hear yourself.”

He slips a hand between my legs and rubs the heat of my crevice at the top of my thighs. I moan and buck my hips against his hand.

“Dripping with dew, you feel so ready for me to spread those petals and help you bloom.”

The combination of his words and his touch set me on fire.

“I am ready. Why are you dragging this out? Take me. Please.” He’s right. I do beg.

Removing his hand and pulling his lips away from my skin, Em removes me from his lap. I stare at him, open-mouthed and frustrated that he’s halting the action before we get to the main event yet again.

“Spend your life with me. Here. As my mate. As my wife. And I promise to take away the lustful desire that pains you.”

“Yes!” I blurt out, not giving any thought to my answer or what it means to relinquish my life as I know it to Emerald Hickory, the Leshy. The Leshy that I’ve fallen in love with.

*

“Looks like someone finally got his head out of his ass!” Masha says as Em opens the door to the cottage for me.

“Are you going to let her talk to me like that?” He asks.

“When you deserve it.”

“Maybe I need to rethink this. Having you gang up on me is no fun. And it’s only going to get worse as Ana gets older.”

“You’re staying?” Masha asks, excitement lighting her blue eyes.

“Not only is she staying,” Em says, slinging his arm around my shoulder and tucking me against his side, “Erin agreed to be my mate and wife.”

Congratulatory hugs are given before Em ushers Masha into the other room, giving her orders for the upcoming ceremony this evening. He promises it will be a cross between a Leshy mating ritual and a wedding ceremony.

Chapter 18

I stand in the moonlight, in the middle of the spring, with nothing but a sheet draped over my naked body. The water is warm, but the night air has a biting chill to it. My long brown hair is entwined in a braid hanging over my shoulder.

The seconds tick by in slow motion as I wait in silence, keeping statue still. Standing in the open, naked and helpless before the assembled animals, unnerves me. Fang, my only protection in the blackness, sits at the water’s edge. I tend to prattle on when I’m nervous, but I’m not allowed to speak. To myself. To Fang. Or to anyone else. Em explained I must be presented to the animals with total submission and compliance; otherwise, they may wish to test his control. Most likely by attacking and killing me.

Animals gather around the edge of the water, making me tremble. Even though Fang is watching over me, I imagine a myriad of ways this can go off the rails. Animals of all kinds join in the festivities. Some that I’ve never seen before. Safra and Lola come to sit near Fang. That’s something. At least I know they’re in my corner. Only feet from them sit a bear, a coyote, and a snake; they cause me to break out in a cold sweat. Not to mention the unusually large Black Widow and Brown Recluse spiders that I know are poisonous.

What strikes me as unusual, though, is how they all sit around the water, waiting, just as silent as me, and not attacking one another. Every time a new animal arrives, the rest creep closer to the edge without touching the water or allowing the newcomer to obstruct their view.

Thunder rumbles and the wind blows, shaking the leaves and trees, causing them to bend and sway. The wind picks up to hurricane proportions. I recognize the sudden strange weather conditions as an announcement of Em’s arrival. I stand strong, not allowing it to knock me down or push me around. Just as suddenly as the wind picked up, the bluster comes to an end.

“I’ve called you here,” Em’s deep voice comes from behind me, “to witness my claim on Erin Clark.” He walks around the outer edge of the spring, essentially backing the animals up. He explains what’s going to happen, and as curious as I am, the moment I see his naked body, my focus shifts, and all I can think about is the way his muscles tighten and contract as he moves. And how enormously large his manhood is. You’d think I’d be used to it by now. But I’m seeing it from a different point of view, and I’m reminded that tonight promises to be brutal.

“The ritual will conclude this evening in my cave with our official coupling, where bound together as mates, I shall mark every inch of her with my seed.”

The water sloshes behind me as he enters. I tremble. Having no idea what to expect, I take a deep breath. Em takes hold of either side of the sheet. I release it, symbolic of the transfer of my life from my hands to his. He pulls it open, exposing me to the animals, and lets it fall into the water.

“Behold my queen.” Standing behind me, his front presses against my back, offering his familiar warmth. Taking my hands in his, he spreads our arms out wide. Feeling his erection against my ass, I swallow my nerves down and pray that he has no intention of probing his extra-extra-large projectile into my unexplored puckered hole. With our arms open and my breasts perked up and attentive, he leads us around the perimeter of the spring for all the animals to see.

---