Chapter Sixteen

Dakata

Black rage dulling the pain from his wounds, Dakata wanted vengeance. He wanted to find a way to bring back those fuckers who had dared to make his blissful one’s soul bleed and kill them all over again. Everything Silas felt, Dakata’s demon felt. Deep in bone and blood, their connection stole his sanity, and someone had wanted to sever that bond. Take what was most precious to them—Silas.

He roared, the destruction around him unseen.

“Fuck, Daks, come on, you need to—”

Lights flashed around him. Merihem’s voice faded away as he got torn from his realm. The violence of the act stunned his demon into silence. He couldn’t fight it.

A part of him already knew who was summoning him—calling to his soul to return to them.

Of his altered senses, his nose was the first to identify where they were. The tree’s scent was uniquely Silas.

I’m here bonded one, come to me.

His enormous body shuddered at the anger releasing its ugly hold on him as branches stroked over his bloody torso. We have you. Let my oak heal you, as will I.

The whispered words, the offer so pure, made the center of his being pulse. His eyesight flickered, the tree in front of him appeared like a vision from the mist. It formed into the mighty beauty it was. Then the stroking branches cradled him, bringing him effortlessly into the tree. To Silas.

That’s it, settle my bonded one. Feel the earth’s natural healing energy. My tree’s energy. Let it become a part of you.

His soothing voice was nothing to the picture Silas made laying inside the center of the tree on a leafy bed, naked, his arms lifted in welcome. “Let Dakata out, he will be safe here,” he murmured, his fingers wiggling enticingly.

Dakata’s demon side wasn’t ready to listen, not yet. He wanted to check their blissful one was indeed whole and safe. The branches released them, and the tree as sturdy as the ground held his massive weight as he kneeled next to Silas.

“I will, first I need to touch,” his demon stated gruffly.

Bloody and desperate, Dakata resisted forcing his demon to hurry despite his own urgency to do exactly what his demon half was doing. Even with the stench of death and what covered his clawed hands, Silas lay there watching him with hooded eyes.

“You see, I am safe.” His slim, gentle fingers ran over the bleeding wound on Dakata’s side, and he tutted. “Lay next to me, my oak will tend your wounds.”

The gentle persuasion worked like a charm when less than a minute later—something that had never happened in Dakata’s long life—after his demon became satisfied Silas was indeed safe, he released his hold on Dakata.

He groaned in appreciation when Silas pressed his slender body fully against his. Leaves continued to brush against his skin, branches rubbing at the aches and pains. None killed his pain more than holding Silas in his arms.

More shudders wracked his body at thoughts of what could have happened to his blissful one, with the rage and fear subsiding. He should have given more careful thought to what would come from such a union. They should have protected what Silas held most precious. He had failed his blissful one, and it was why his demon had gone on a rampage, not listening to reason. Kishi, wherever he was… he would pay for his part in making Silas suffer.

“Shush now. There will be no more death laid at my feet. I will not have you or your demon put in harm's way for vengeance.” Silas’s fingers ran over the sliced skin that was healing. “You have dealt with those who hurt us. Let it be enough.” He chastised gently and kissed the palm of his remaining dirty hand. His eyes searched Dakata’s as he whispered, “Promise me.”

His demon shifted uncomfortably inside him, as conflicted as Dakata’s human side at making such a promise. A promise that they would honor upon death and beyond into the next cycle of life.

“We can promise you this,”—he weighed his next words—“we will not seek vengeance on Kishi, his fear will rule him for a very long time for his actions.”

They would. The devastation Dakata reigned on the demon realm made sure of that. “But if anyone so much as touches a hair on your head or seeks to harm what you hold most dear and I feel your pain, I will make them suffer financially . Demons are greedy creatures, so I will crush their businesses, take that which gives them their lavish lifestyles in whatever realm it is in. Will that suit?”

Dakata wasn’t used to bargaining away his demon’s rights to rampage when someone attacked him, which was exactly what had happened when Wanda had been taken. Silas was silent, not saying anything right away, and Dakata couldn’t assess whether his concession was something his blissful one would agree to. It was disconcerting, an unusual position for him to be in, and one that he’d never experienced before. His way had always worked in the past, and it wasn’t like he wasn’t fair to those who were fair to him.

Silas held his gaze for the longest time before he slowly nodded. “I will hope that no one decides to give me pain, for their sakes. I imagine your methods would be ruthless.” He stroked a hand down the side where the leaves continued to stroke his wounds. “Sleep now and allow our tree to heal us,” Silas whispered against his temple.

His lips brushed over Silas’s hair, and he released a contented sigh.

Dakata sensed the moment he slipped into sleep. His demon side was watchful as Dakata’s human side did as their blissful one wanted. We will keep him safe.

~/~/~/~

Consciousness came with the stroke of warm, gentle fingers over his chest. Seeking fingers. Dakata’s eyes slitted open as he registered he was fully naked and flat on his back on a thick plush bed of leaves that was more comfortable than he’d ever imagined. More so than the memory foam mattress he’d paid a fortune for. The canopy of branches cocooned them, the energy pure, and scented with his blissful one waking up body parts as he inhaled deeply.

His groan was husky and drew Silas’s gaze from his wandering hands. “You are healed,” he murmured softly, his eyes alight with joy.

Silas’s entire focus on him was a heady thing. Add in his gentle touches as fingers skimmed over the budded flesh of his nipples and Dakata’s need woke with a violent surge. His vision wavered as the blood in his body located lower, closer to where the hands started to wander.

His cock looked large next to Silas’s hand when it curled in the hair at his base. With an intention that had Dakata panting, Silas ran a fingertip up the bobbing length. “So beautiful. Your skin is silky, like that of a peach.”

Dakata barked out a laugh at such an absurdity, but he kept his thoughts to himself, not wanting Silas to stop touching him.

“Do you taste the same?”

He had no answer, not that he could have gotten his throat to make a sound when Silas's tongue lapped at the head of his cock, and his groan vibrated down his length, lodging in his balls. I believe you may be tastier.

You’re a tease, Silas.

Whatever Silas’s reply was with the laughter, Dakata didn’t hear it as Silas’s lips widened and the head of his cock slipped between plump lips. The teasing tongue ran over the head, tickling his slit, seeking his seed.

“Need…” Dakata found his wrists held captive by the tree when he reached to touch Silas.

Relax my love, let us have our pleasure, he cajoled when Dakata went to tug on the branches.

He groaned, moaned, and screwed his eyes shut at the decadent expression of his blissful one sucking on his shaft. The fingers teased through the silky hair at the base of his cock, and Silas made a humming sound of pleasure while he pierced the tip of his cock with his tongue.

Legs and arms quivering, branches held him captive. Others moved over his body acquainting themselves as Silas sucked his cock deeper into his throat.

He made a choking noise when Dakata was barely a third inside. Silas drew off, wiping his lips with the back of his hand. His eyes sparkled. “I’m thinking I want you inside me, and my mouth isn’t the place you fit…”

Dakata moaned at the branches that slid up his hard length when Silas came up to sit, staring intently. His cock got displayed by the tree for Silas. It was strange and more arousing than Dakata would have ever considered possible.

Pre-cum slid down his length the longer he stared, and the tree teased him. He hadn’t ever been prone to begging, not even as a small demon, yet he’d have sold his empire to get Silas to do more than stare.

“Touch me.”

Silas’s grin was pure mischief. “I am.”

Dakata growls of complaint ended with a loud mewl as leaves tickled the tip of his cock and his nipples.

The delightful torture seemed to go on forever as pre-cum pooled at the base of his cock. Only when his whole cock was slick did Silas come and straddle him. His eyes glowed so bright that the brown looked like warmed honey. He rose, and the branch holding his cock moved, and Dakata lost his breath at the touch—cock against the slick, sticky ass. “How,” he gasped at a loss to understand how Silas could produce slick when he wasn’t an animal shifter.

“Sap from my tree,” he murmured as he rocked against Dakata’s hot flesh. Thrills of pleasure assailed Dakata, not solely his own, they came from dryad and tree.

Dakata strained against the binds. Easy, my love. Please allow us to show you how much we treasure you.

Unsure if it was Silas or his tree, Dakata didn’t care, he relaxed as much as his body would allow, feeling the pressure against the head of his cock increase.

Pleasure and pain took a combining role at the squeeze of the ass rocking slower than a three-toed sloth could move.

Tortured.

He was being tortured with pleasure.

What a blissful thing.

He couldn’t argue when their combined stickiness ran down his cock and aided Silas to inch ever lower.

His eyes rolled into the back of his head at the ass clenching him tighter than an anaconda. Muscles contracted, then gripped ever harder, sending the tendrils of lust out in quick bursts to compete with the pain of having his cock strangled. He was in hell… in the best possible way.

His breath stuttered, and his skin gleamed in the beams of sunlight filtering through the web of the canopy above them. As did Silas’s as his ass finally nestled against Dakata’s pelvis.

Chest heaving from the effort, Silas pressed palms flat against Dakata’s torso, moving them over the warm skin slowly, coming forward until their mouths were within inches of each other and Dakata was past the point of his patience.

His demon laughed at him as Dakata demanded, “Kiss me… do something… fuck anything… just move…”

Silas gave him a serene smile—Dakata was clueless at how he could when he had impaled himself on his enormous cock.

His blissful one groaned, coming closer still, his hard shaft became trapped between them. Then his mouth was on Dakata’s, the taste earthy and sweet. It filled him from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. The woes of his arousal, which pulsed with each new kiss, he temporarily pushed aside. The need to drink in each kiss that left him… bound in love , was everything.

It was there in each loving brush of lips as Silas held his gaze, conveying his emotions in an unmistakable way. They touched Dakata’s heart. Wrapped it in the warmth and natured it, calming his mind.

“You are part of our roots. Forever bound to the trees, plants, and life force of the earth. We recognize your soul.” The next kiss brought with it the crushing need to come, then Silas murmured as his ass squeezed and he rocked, “And we join it with ours willingly. Forever.”

Vision full of white, his body ceased as he spiraled into the universe. Free falling for a brief second until tree and man wrapped around him and his cock spurted deep in the convulsing channel, hot ribbons of cum filling their blissful one. Silas’s seed sprayed Dakata, their lips remained sealed in a hungry kiss as his demon—for the very first time in his long life—left him in total peace.