CHAPTER TWELVE（Untitled）Branikk

CHAPTER TWELVE

Branikk

In all my great planning for how to woo my bride, I forgot one salient point.

Teasing her also teases me.

Holding her tightly all day in the saddle, touching her constantly in a million little ways, letting her press close all night…

It's the sheerest torture.

I've sported a painful cockstand for days. My poor erection is going to turn purple if this goes on much longer.

A growl rumbles through my chest as Aurora leaps over a small stream, rocking my bride's body back into mine. Free locks of her hair lift in the wind of our passage, tickling across my cheeks like the promise of a caress and carrying her scent to me. I want to use my tusks to rip away the fabric holding her hair high, see it tumble golden around her bare shoulders and breasts.

See it spread across my furs.

When we stop for the evening in a small glade near a creek, I slide to the ground and lift down my bride, my hands lingering on her waist until she steps away from me.

"I'm sorry there isn't any grass, my friend." I pat Aurora's neck. The unicorn will be forced to graze on forest undergrowth.

"Bah. As if you have control over the landscape and can will a meadow into being." She snorts and bats my shoulder with her horn. "Do not give yourself powers beyond your ken."

"He can do that?" Grace asks.

"Not that exactly. I can sense trees." My magical connection to wood allows me to shape weapons and help my arrows fly true, but it's not all I can do. My father has the full gift of working with living wood, able to shape the insides of heart trees into our cottages. I have just enough to sense them. I close my eyes and stretch outward, letting my magic fill me. The surrounding trees call to me, a whisper of presence from each. They are not loud. They are strong, and their roots run deep. They do not need to shout to be heard. They blanket the area around us for miles in every direction, their deep, quiet voices thrumming with solidity.

I open my eyes. "There's not a sizable break anywhere near."

"I will make do," Aurora says. "It's not the first time I've dined on leaves and won't be the last. Besides, dogwoods don't taste half bad."

Once I remove both saddlebags, she trots over to the indicated tree and rips off a clump of leaves.

"I'll go hunt for our dinner." I brush my hand up Grace's bare arm as I reach for her shoulder, keeping my touch light and teasing, pleased to see her shiver.

"Yep," she blurts, swallowing and nodding quickly. "Dinner."

I hide my grin until I'm away from the camp. I love how responsive she is to me, even if it makes my cock ache.

I'm no longer certain who I tease more, her or myself.

Arrow notched, I hold my bow at the ready as I pad quietly through the trees. It takes almost no time at all to spot a pair of hares, and my magic makes my arrows fly true for quick, clean kills.

I stop at a creek near camp to prepare them for cooking, cleaning off in the cool water.

Only a few yards upstream, a small pool offers a different kind of temptation. Cold water will be perfect to cool my ardor before returning to my bride.

Decision made, I kick off my boots and unstrap my sword. My arms stretch overhead, peeling off my shirt, my hair releasing from the neck hole in a soft swish that tickles over my shoulders. After bending forward to strip off my pants, I straighten, naked, swollen cock heavy and bobbing as I step into the stream.