Chapter 12 - Aloryk

I wish Polly would just come back over here so I can tuck her safely under my wing again. As odd as it was to feel someone between skin and feathers, it was comforting to know she was completely surrounded by my protection. Plus, I very much enjoyed the tickle of those hot little breaths of hers skittering over my shoulder as her body was pressed close to mine.

She has been searching a while now for the plants that help with infection and pain, and I am finding it increasingly difficult to keep alert. I watch as my Polly slowly makes her way back toward me on the bank of the river, searching on and under every bush. The closer she comes, the more relaxed I feel. That soft, darkness behind my eyelids starts renewing its call. I must not give in, but it has promises of gentle rest from this searing pain in my wing.

When I wake, I wake with a start. The river-waters still slowly trickling by before me, but the skies are not so bright as they once were.

The realization hits me like the sudden downpour we endured earlier this day. "Polly?" I stand, stifling a groan as I do, casting my gaze this way and that as I scent the air. " Polly ?"

She is here. I can smell her. She is not in my sights though, and my heart leaps to my throat as I try to decide which direction to start searching first. I am a decent tracker, but the skill is one I had to learn, not one that is entwined with my instincts. I reach for the blade at my hip because that - that - is nothing but instinct.

Just as my foot ventures in one direction, I hear a whimper in the opposite. The noise makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand like Protectors watching over a Temple. I follow the noise, stalking around a few trees. Did my female wander so far from me? Her scent increases and turns… musky-sweet? I do not understand it, and yet it makes me salivate. "Polly?"

A long moan meets my ears and as I climb a giant tree root three times my size, I see her on the other side. She is laid on the jungle ground as though hurt - a thought that has me leaping down toward her, ignoring the searing pain shooting up my wing. " Polly ?! What happened ?!" My eyes scan her form quickly, searching for wounds and ailments, but all I catch is the shock on her face as she sees me, the deep blush blooming on her cheeks and chest… and the curious way her hand quickly retracts from her lower coverings as if she had put her hand to a fire.

"Aloryk!" she squeaks, scrambling back as I kneel to see to her. "S-something weird is going on and I-" she shakes her head at me, a sheen of sweat coating her brow. "Can you just leave me alone for a while? Just for a few minutes. I just really… uh…"

Something is definitely wrong with my female. Her eyes have roamed my form before, but now they look positively ravenous as she bites her bottom lip and… are her hips undulating?

"Polly-"

She shakes her head vigorously. "You need to go, Aloryk. Please. I just need to do something. If I don't-"

It is then that I notice what she is clutching in the hand that had not been buried in her lower coverings - a small bunch of a very dangerous flower. Quickly, I cover my nose and mouth before yanking the little yellow blooms from her grasp and throwing them as far from us as I can.

It is not far enough. The flowers scatter themselves, spreading their afflicting pollen, so I bend to scoop my protesting female and take her away from the flower's reach.

"Aloryk, please ," she whimpers. "Why am I-"

"Those were stonecock flowers," I tell her as she pets my chest. She must have mistaken them for the ones used for pain. "I do not know how they affect human females, but with Trixikka they…" my words falter as I continue to carry my Polly. She has hooked her arm on my shoulder and pulled herself up to nuzzle at my neck. My steps come to a dead halt and my throat bobs as I swallow.

"What do they do?" she whispers, nipping lightly at my skin, a sensation that starts up my purr involuntarily.

My tail twitches and my eyes slide shut as my mind conjures images of me laying my female down and performing all the mating acts I have learned about on her gorgeous, luscious body. Polly's hot, wet, little tongue pokes out to swipe over my skin and my knees almost buckle from the sensation. Quickly, I put her down. We are far enough away from the pollen's reach now and I need to come to my senses. What were we talking of before? Oh, yes, the effects of the flower on my kind. "The stonecock's pollen will cause the Trixikka's…" my words trail off as I see Polly's attention fixed lower on my body - to where my loincloth is decidedly tented. "Well…" with nothing left to explain, I simply gesture toward my swollen cock.

"A… flower did that?"

No, you did that. I do not say this however, I have more pressing matters on my mind. "How are you feeling? I am told that females have no cock to grow rigid, so I do not know how the pollen will ail you."

Her eyes tear away from my cock to land on my face "I… uh…" only, it seems she is unable to focus as her gaze drops again as her chest starts heaving with each breath as she stares.

"Are you having trouble breathing?" I ask, stepping forward, that delicious scent of hers enveloping me.

"Uh, no, I…"

The scent is not unlike something else I have caught on a breeze before, but my mind is having trouble conjuring what exactly it is. It is something I have scented back at the village. Something… something to do with the females…

"I…" Polly shifts where she stands, staring at my tented loincloth. I watch as she wets her lips and it reminds me of how that little human tongue had swiped across my skin. She looks like she yearns to repeat the action, and Goddesses save me , I would enjoy that very much. "I need…"

What does she need? Whatever it is, I will make it so. I just do not understand what-

Oh.

The stonecock pollen. The scent. I know what it reminds me of now; occasionally I would scent it on the other females - mainly my High Spearess when her mate, my High Spear would enclose her within the cage of his wings and murmur low words to her and her alone.

The other females had taught us of this. She is… her body is preparing to welcome a mate's cock. That is what that scent means.

For some reason, I start to salivate at the thought before I catch myself.

It is the flower.

It is not my Polly. She is not willing this for herself.

This is… this is not right.

If I learned anything from the teachings of the females back at the tribe, I learned that above all else, consent and choice is the most important thing to a female.

"Polly, I-"

" I really need to come ," she gasps in a rush before clamping both her hands over her mouth. Her amber eyes go wide as though she could not believe the words she had just spoken.

To come? That is when a female reaches the zenith of her pleasure during mating acts, no?

I close my eyes and groan at the mere thought of it, bending forward and bowing my head until my forehead tips to hers, leaning on her smaller form ever so gently. When I open my eyes, Polly's hands have dropped from her face and she is staring at me with such hunger, I feel I might burst into flames from it. The thought of her allowing me to-

No.

No, no, no.

I take a shaky breath. "Polly, it is the pollen making you feel this way."

"Aloryk," she says, blinking up at me as she grabs for my hand and brings it to her breast, cupping the perfect, soft curve in my hand. " Please ," she begs, pressing herself into my hand.

I am not proud of the pitiful whimper that escapes me after that - after feeling her in my palm. " Polly -" I choke out. Goddesses, save me! This is the most delicious torture. "Polly, I-we cannot-" I blabber, her soft breast still in my hand. I stand there, gawking at her like a youngling being presented with his very first spear - only this is endlessly better than any spear! - before I shake my head and make to step away.

My little human female is faster. She hooks a hand into the waistband of my tented loincloth and tugs me closer, looking up at me with bright, fevered eyes as she demands, "I don't think you understand just how much I need to come right now. Either you help me out, or I'm doing this myself."