Chapter 17 - The One That Feels

I've been buried by politics. Yuck. Trying to unbury myself and proud to present Chapter 17 of The One That Feels. If you've been reading, you've probably waited anxiously for this chapter. Nem and Thommas have just made good on the promise spoken at the bridge to enter Garuth... which means there are steamy times in their future. Like immediately in their future. Like if you want to read the hot sexy steamy stuff, it's in this chapter. This one, right here.

If you haven't been reading, as tempting as it may be to skip to the steamy stuff, I'd suggest starting with Chapter 1. For real. Sure you may not need the early chapters to make sense of them having sex. But when you get to Chapter 18, you're going to be really confused if you don't start at the beginning.

February's ARDOR (my newsletter) will be coming out soon. Be sure not to miss it! To make sure, I suggest signing up for the newsletter, which gets you access to ARDOR Briefs, which show up in the alternate months and aren't available at all to non-subscribers. As always, the full newsletter is posted in beautiful pdf format on the ARDOR page.

And now... the steamy stuff:

​Chapter 17
The glow of the circle faded and I had to fight to recognize anything beyond the slim body that I held so carefully against my own. Nem’s head rested gently against my chest, his arms around me, his hands on my back. He was trembling.
 
“Nem?”
 
“I’m ready,” he choked out softly.
 
“Nem, it’s not like that.”
 
“You said… it wouldn’t be soft or gentle, that you would…”
 
“That’s had you afraid?”
 
Nem nodded against my chest.
 
“Shh,” I said, kissing his forehead, mindful of the great antlers rising from them. “It’s not what I meant, not the way you mean it.”
 
“It’s not?” he asked, the words coming out in a nervous sputter.
 
“No.” I pulled back just enough to look down at him, even as he nervously glanced away. “Look at me.”
 
He looked up, that silver fire subdued as his eyes swirled with dusky grays.
 
“I love you.”
 
He trembled and there was a flash of that gorgeous light behind the gray.
 
“Let me show you?” I asked, stroking the hairline at his forehead, past the elegant rising crown of his antlers, and lifting loose strands of liquid silver hair to tuck them back behind the curved point of his ear. He whimpered softly, and I carefully squatted and then lifted him into my arms, carrying him through the threshold to the bedroom. I set him down and stripped off my tailed jacket, letting it fall to the floor.

---

​Two steps brought me back to the door. The seer had collected his rattles and nodded to me as he showed himself out. I could feel the absence. His presence had grown strong during the ceremony. Had he known? For the goblin, it would be a great honor. Once my name and title had meant something. He was old enough to know it. A whispered word sealed the doors, and some sense of modesty had me closing and locking the bedroom door too.
 
I leaned down to grab my coat and tossed it over the back of a chair. Nem stood, still shaking. I moved toe-to-toe and reached to the lapel of his jacket, pulling loose the elegant flower that had graced it, pure silver petals that would never be seen in the real. I sniffed it and then gently touched the soft petals to his nose, and traced them down to his lips. Nem still trembled visibly, though this, I hoped, was excitement as much as fear, and I set the flower gently aside to set my hands again on his lapel, looking for permission.
 
Nem gulped, and nodded his assent. I pulled the jacket off him carefully, setting it aside with painstaking care I hadn’t taken with my own, and then pulled the pin from his cravat and loosened it, using the length of silk to wrap around behind his neck and pull him close enough to kiss. He whimpered into that touch of our lips as I set the cravat also aside, and did not free his lips as I worked on the tiny buttons of his shirt. Nem wrapped his arms around my neck, crossing them at the wrists and pulling us close enough to make the unbuttoning difficult work.
 
Finally, enough was open that when we separated, I could spread my fingers beneath the fabric against the bare, pale skin of his chest. I gasped with want of him as I felt the skin beneath my fingers. The fire in his eyes burned stronger now, and he pulled at the silver fabric of my bow tie with delicate fingers. The fabric slid against my collar as he loosed it, and then he was unbuttoned my shirt, seeking that place on my neck that he’d marked, the moist touch of his lips sending a thrill through me when he touched it. His tongue flicked against the marked skin, and then his teeth, and then he was sucking on it and placing new marks over the old. How I kept on my feet through the delicious haze of that pleasure, I could not be sure, but I dutifully continued to undo button after button until there were none left to separate. I pulled the fabric of his shirt tails free.
 
He moaned into the flesh of my neck as my bare hands were finally free to roam against his chest, his stomach, to slide around his side and tease the skin of his back. I could barely think, my world narrowed so completely to the lips against my neck, the electric touch of his skin against my fingers. I managed to pull my hands away from him for long enough to free his cuffs so that I could pull the shirt back and off him. Nem had groaned when he tried to take off my shirt, as he realized that he’d not undone the cuffs. As he abandoned my neck, I couldn’t help but cry out in loss. He worked quickly to free my arms of the shirt and push it back also, joining the pile of clothes on the floor.
 
The t-shirt he seized and ripped away, greedily sliding his hands under the ripped fabric to touch my skin. If I’d thought the touch of my fingers on his skin was electric, then the feel of his on mine was pure pleasure. I moaned desperately as he ripped and touched and ripped some more. And then I was free of it and we were both kicking off shoes and pulling, half hopping at socks to get them off. Then he lunged at me and again attacked my neck with eager lips as I gasped out his name.
 
I could feel the smile against my neck, momentary, as he shifted from one mark to the next, but he did not release me. I nudged him backward until we reached the bed, and then I pushed him gently backward onto it. His hair spread against the mattress, framing his head in a silvery halo of silken strands. His face was flushed, and the red tint was spreading under too pale flesh down his chest. He was so muscular, lithe and beautiful. His nipples were small and pert and perfectly placed, his waist narrowing only slightly from his chest, a flat stomach muscular as mine was not, and then that silvery down of hair that trailed into his trousers. I gulped and my eyes filled with tears.
 
“Nem, my Nem, so beautiful.”
 
He gulped again, but smiled as he undid the clasps of his trousers and kicked them off. My heart stuttered. A bit of silk covered his waist, narrow and tight to his hips, wrapping skin-tight against his ass. He’d worn it for me. It was my turn to swallow, and I did as I dropped my own trousers, and let my boxers fall with them, leaving me naked between legs that hung half off the bed. He smiled and moved to sit up, but I pushed him back down with a grin.
 
“Not yet, my Nem.”
 
He beamed at me and I realized I’d never called him that. Not to him. I settled myself onto the bed, hovering over him, and kissed him gently. “My Nem,” I whispered between kisses, “I love you.”
 
He cried out and wrapped his arms around me to pull me from my precarious perch on knees and elbows to land in a sprawl on top of him. The impact caused him to gasp and then he kissed me with a terrifying, beautiful passion. There was silk between my cock and his, but I could feel the heat and the hardness of his desire through them. I moaned into his mouth and he laughed as our lips parted.
 
I pushed myself back up on elbows, but left my waist against his, rocking so that our cocks rolled against each other. He gave a little half gasp at the sensation and laughed again. “It’s real. I…. It’s real.”
 
“Not a dream this time,” I said, and leaned down to kiss him. “I’m your mate. And you’re mine.”
 
“I wore—”
 
“I saw,” I said. “I like it.” I grinned and kissed him, then gently moved both of us more fully onto the bed. I kissed him very deeply on the mouth, and then against his neck, the dip over his chest, and teased against the flesh of a nipple. He cried out at the last, moaning desperately as I licked at the hard nub of flesh, and then moved to the other. He bucked up against me, seeking friction, but I shifted my body higher on my knees so he couldn’t reach me to rub against me. The last thing I wanted was for our first time to end with him coming before I even got that beautiful silk off his body.
 
My trail had reached his stomach, dipping my tongue into his belly button and then following the narrow trail of silver hair past his waist. I licked him through the silk. His groan told me he wanted more and I pulled as he shimmied until the last barrier between us was gone. I thought I might die of happiness when I heard his gasp as my tongue flicked against the head, licking a bit of wet heat around the crown and then covering it gently and sucking, just for a moment.
 
“Oh… oh, Thooommaaas!” He moaned and his hips jerked, and I wasn’t ready as his cock suddenly filled my mouth completely and deep. I managed, somehow, not to choke. His hands gripped my head, pulling me down deep as he thrust into my mouth, and from the hold, I realized how desperate he was. It wasn’t how I’d imagined doing this for him; I’d wanted him to last, but if he needed it…. I wrapped my tongue against the thrusting flesh and sucked hard. I had his thighs held in my arms, keeping his thrusts from getting too intense as I narrowed my world to the cock in my mouth and the cries of my love and I sucked and licked and tickled and gripped tight to his legs as I coaxed him to ecstasy.
 
“Thooommaaas, pleeeaaase!”
 
He held my head tight against him, thrusting with abandon, and I wrapped my lips tighter and hummed. He jerked, suddenly and desperate, and then his cock pulsed, and my mouth filled with thick hot wetness. I licked and sucked as Nem cried out, and then let go of my head and whimpered. I pulled away, my mouth still so full of his come that it dribbled, overflowing into my beard. He was still wincing a little and trembling and I realized he must get extra sensitive after. Of course, he’d have had no way to know to tell me. I smiled and traced a finger around my lips to capture what had landed on flesh rather than beard, popping it into my mouth.
 
“I… I… I want to….”
 
I remembered that feeling and hoped he was feeling what I had—a desperate urge to taste. I slid back up his body and kissed him. Nem moaned into my mouth as his tongue explored and tasted. When we parted, he stayed close for a moment and licked at the come that had landed in my beard and he smiled. “That was incredible. Oh, Thommas, it was….”
 
I smiled. “We’re not done,” I said, stroking his face lightly. My voice was a little hoarse and throaty and he shot me a heartbreaking look.
 
“I didn’t hurt you?”
 
I shook my head. “You were vigorous,” I said, leaning in to kiss him again. “Hot.” I kissed him. “Sweet.” And he had been. It was something I hadn’t tasted in a long time, the seed of the Realm, and it was genuinely sweet with only a hint of the bitter saltiness that men of the Real tasted of.
 
Nem smiled and kissed me. “I want to do you,” he said, a declaration made impossible by the fact that I was rather heavy and lying on top of him.
 
“Mmmm,” I mumbled against his neck. “I think I’d like that,” I whispered, my voice still throaty and hoarse, and I hoped a little sexy. “But not right now.”
 
There was a flash of pain in the fire of his eyes, but I quickly shook my head. “I want you to. I do. But I want this more.” My hand sought out the curve of his ass and Nem’s eyes got wide. He trembled again, and there was no way for me not to feel it.
 
“Untouched,” he whispered to me.
 
“I know,” I said softly, kissing him as tenderly as I could with my need so desperate. “And from now on, it will be only mine.”
 
He whimpered a little, but drew back his legs and pulled them back by the knees. He looked at me with such desperation as he spread them and opened himself to me. “My mate,” he said, silver tears in his eyes, “it’s yours.”
 
I kissed him on his lips, losing myself in the hot heat of his mouth for a moment. Then my hands went searching for the tiny vial of oil I’d asked for from the goblins. With it securely in hand I eased myself down his body leisurely, kissing at his pale flesh as I went. When I reached his waist, I briefly teased the head of his cock, still leaking little droplets of cum. I licked and let him jerk and wriggle and whimper, and then I set the vial aside where I could reach it easily and lifted Nem’s ass up.
 
Nem was still trembling when I buried my face against his crack, and then I let loose my tongue, and Nem began to moan. It was a beautiful sound, ecstatic and needy and full of wonder. I gently maneuvered my tongue, rounding it, and then began to push. I had to move quickly to hold Nem’s ass still, as he jumped quite spectacularly, and then the luscious sound of his moans got even better as the moans took on the character of words, desperate wanting begging words, and the first among them was “Thommas” in such a wanton plea that I couldn’t help but bury my tongue deeper.
 
By the time I was done feasting on the ass that Nem had given me as mine, he was boneless and begging and desperate. I searched out the vial where I’d left it on the bed, and slicked a finger, gently teasing the furrowed muscle that I’d left quivering. I didn’t need to tease long before Nem’s ass was eagerly clenching against the finger. I moved it carefully. I’d told him I couldn’t be gentle taking him, and it was true. One I started, it would be rough, but I could at least prepare him for that. He hissed as I added a finger and his strangled moan as I began scissoring and stretching him was desperately needy. By the time I had the third finger in, Nem’s voice had become a constant plea.
 
“Oh, Thooommaaaas!” He clenched against my fingers. “Please, please, need you… need your….”
 
I smiled. He was ready. I poured the oil over my hand and slicked my cock thoroughly. It would have to last. Once I started, I wasn’t going to stop. I slid up his body and hooked my elbows around his knees. I was hard enough that positioning my cock was simple. I pushed against his knees and he groaned, but eagerly brought his lips up to meet mine. We were both trembling, anticipating. “You ready?” I asked.
 
I didn’t wait for his nod to begin to press. Nem’s eyes screwed shut, his face burning red, and then I felt the soft pop of flesh as the crown of my cock was swallowed into Nem’s body. He winced and gasped slightly.
 
“Mine,” I growled and Nem nodded, his face running with sweat.
 
I pushed in deep and then pulled out so only the head was inside. It was a swift move. Hard and desperate. He’d been stretched but he still gasped.
 
“More?”
 
Nem opened his eyes and looked at me, and when I saw the fire there, the nod, I was lost. I pushed myself back in deep, my toes straining for purchase on the thick blanket as I tried somehow to get deeper inside him.
 
“Thooommaaas!” Nem moaned, and his hands found and cupped my face. “Please,” he said, the hot ring of muscle clinging tightly to my cock, “want you!”
 
I leaned my forehead against his and repeated the motion, a long deep stroke that elicited my name again.
 
“Yours!” he screamed.
 
“Mine?”
 
“Yes! Your mate! Want you. Please, Thommas. Please! Need you. Oh… oh… oooooh Thooommaaas!”
 
I moved inside him, the clench of his ass gripping against my cock as I took possession of him. This was mine, his body, his sex, his desperate moans. They all belonged to me, and I took them and made them mine until there was no sound of want from Nem that I didn’t know intimately. He wrapped his legs around my waist as I pushed, each thrust pressing against something inside Nem, something beautiful that had him screaming for me to thrust harder—and I did. I pounded hard, and deep, and the strokes had me shaking and covered with sweat, trembling, until finally with a jerk and a hastily pressed kiss against Nem’s lips, I came in a rush, hot thick liquid pulsing through and out my cock. I trembled and jerked against his ass as my body desperately tried to make sure that my come went as deep inside him as it possibly could.
 
Slick and wet, I slipped out of him, and trembled, sated, on top of my mate. Nem kept whispering my name in hot wet gasps against my ear. I shook, and I held him and I tried to find the breath to speak. In the end, I just looked at him, and I let the barriers fall, and then I entered him again, and filled him, and we made love over and over until finally we both fell asleep, our limbs desperately entangled.