Page 89 of Over the Emerald Valley
But her young, cheeky fledgling—a Kushite hunter rescued from the Sai called Gahiji for his masterful abilities to track and capture prey—wasn’t on offer. Gahiji reminded Solon of Temaj when they’d first met. All lip and snark. But underneath, just a man who deserved more from the world than what the world had given him.
Temaj employed his best pout while fondling himself, probably just as much for Solon’s pleasure as for his own. “I’m a good influence, if I’m any influence at all. Certainly, that’s what you told Eshe, yes?”
Solon began to strip off his clothes, one item at a time, still standing over Temaj. “Indeed, it’s not. I told her the truth. That you’re a sly, unruly nuisance likely to overwhelm her protégé with your saucy and brazen ideas.”
Temaj’s gaze tracked Solon’s every movement as he undressed, revealing skin inch by inch—a slow tease Solon had learned Temaj enjoyed. And if the glistening tip of his erection was anything to go by, Temaj was enjoying himself very much.
“You called me sly?” He grinned.
“And a nuisance,” Solon repeated.
“Yes, but I’m your sly nuisance.”
“That you are.” Naked from the waist up, Solon unlatched his belt, all the while watching Temaj’s delicate fingers as he teased himself even lower. “And I am yours.”
“You’re neither sly nor a nuisance,” said Temaj. “No offense.”
“What am I?”
“Gentle and kind, with a moral streak a mile wide. Thank the gods you have me, or you’d never have any fun at all.”
Solon dropped his skirts, stepped out of his shoes, and hovered over Temaj on all fours. “You’re all the fun one man can handle.”
Temaj abandoned his stroking, gripped Solon’s waist, and attempted to tug him closer, but Solon didn’t budge. “What do you want from me, plucky?”
Of course, Solon already knew. But he loved to hear Temaj say it. Loved the filthy stream of requests made in bed and out of it. Though the hour was far too late for humans to be wandering the path by which they’d come, he also loved the potential of being caught. Of having Temaj here in the open, under the starlight, to calming sounds of flowing water and night birds.
“Fill me,” said Temaj. “Make me moan for it. Take me with your cock and your fangs until I beg for release, then deny me, only to start anew. Please. I need it. I’ve waited so long. Been so good for you.”
Solon dropped his weight onto Temaj’s chest, pressed his hips between his spread legs, and rocked their shafts together.
“Tell me how you’ve been good,” said Solon as if he hadn’t been watching while Temaj gorged himself exactly for this purpose.
“I drank and drank for you. I gave them all their pleasure and took none for myself. I’ve saved that for you, and it hurts. Please. Don’t make me wait.”
This Solon knew to be true. Eshe and the others had cultivated a group of devoted humans, humans they could rely on, humans they protected, humans who fed them. Though he couldn’t bring himself to drink from them, Temaj had no such qualms. Tonight Temaj had flitted from donor to donor, bringing each whatever pleasure they desired with expert skill but denying himself the same.
Temaj had been hard for hours. So had Solon. This game they sometimes played could go on all night and leave them both shivering from want before they gave in.
“You’ve been good.” Solon rewarded him with a kiss, snaked a hand between them, and pressed on Temaj’s full mound of a stomach. Hunger flared. And though he wasn’t a jealous man, Solon was eager to replace the scent of humans on Temaj’s skin with his own.
“Give me what I want. Take me. Mark me. Bite me,” Temaj babbled, arching and squirming for more contact.
Solon could deny him no longer. He grasped Temaj’s throbbing cock and gave it a few strong pulls, inciting a string of whimpers flying from his painted lips.
Temaj bent in half, drawing his legs up and leaving himself open for Solon’s exploring fingers. His habit of preparing himself ahead of time endured.
Dipping his fingers along the crease between Temaj’s cheeks, Solon found him already slick with oil and ready for his cock.
“Is this what you want?” He pressed two fingers inside to find the spot that made Temaj howl and quake.
“N-not your fingers, your cock.”
“Patience, plu—”
Temaj roared to life beneath him, using every bit of his preternatural strength to heft Solon off him and toss him onto his back in the grass. “I’ve been patient enough.”
Solon landed with a thud, and the air was knocked from his lungs, but he loved Temaj this way too, bossy and demanding, taking what he needed.
