2. Clem

Chapter 2

Clem

C lick. Click. Click.

My nervousness slowly morphed into frustration as Sun absorbed himself with making weapons and ignoring me.

“Sun?” I asked, shaking him out of his intense fascination with peeling away the layers of the stone.

He’d been made to mine it as a slave to the traitors currently occupying Yewan, and now he seemed intent on discovering all of the Blood Onyx’s secrets when he had better things to explore.

Like my body, as a matter of fact!

“Yes, you need mana. I heard you the first time,” Sun replied, raising an eyebrow, and shooting me an incredulous glare as I squeezed his shoulders with all four of my hands. “You don’t need my help to get mana. Small prey will do, won’t it? Things that can’t hurt you. I’ll keep watch so you won’t be harmed.”

“Or hmmm .” He tapped his chin. “Maybe we can forage for some berries in the brush? Though I doubt many are left at this time of year.”

Sucking on my lip, I shook my head no as Sun rose to his feet. Now, eye to eye with him, I tried to plead my case.

“I can’t hunt, and we can’t forage. You’re not invincible, even healed by my magic. We can do something else to gather mana instead,” I said, resisting the urge to reach for the silk on his body. I wanted something much more filling than silk could ever be.

“You can’t or you won’t? Which is it, Clem?” he asked as he pressed the blunted tip of his half-fashioned knife into my chest.

It made my heart race, eyes fluttering shut briefly, wondering what it would feel like to have him cut into me. But then I shook away my nature and let my rationality bubble back up to the surface.

“I can’t hunt,” I protested, thrusting the obsidian dagger back toward his chest, careful not to cut him with it. “And foraging in the woods will be too dangerous. And I’ll die without it. We’ll die without mana, Sun.”

He inclined his head as if to ask, Is that true? I’m sure you have more than enough until they return.

I nodded meekly, not lying this time. I really would disappear without it, and Bracken and Kiar were nowhere in sight after two hours spent slaughtering beasts. I could feel their hunting success with small bursts of mana that hit here and there. But it was not nearly enough.

I needed more. I needed him. I just needed to get Sun to agree with me and surrender some of his nectar before it was too late.

Keeping us all alive as solid creatures was harder than it looked. Hadi was stirring, too, draining me. I could feel the tether fraying, and by how pale Sun was turning, his heartbeat erratic, somehow, he could feel that we were dying too.

Even if his mind wasn’t aware of our situation, his body knew.

Sun’s frown deepened. “If you need mana, you’ll have to work for it. I can’t make it appear out of thin air for you. Don’t worry; I’ll come with you. I’ll hunt and teach you, too.”

I felt a little warm and fuzzy inside, imagining Sun on the prowl, protecting me, taking down predators with his new set of tools. It sounded quite exciting!

But I didn’t want mana from blood. And I couldn’t stand to see another scar on my mate’s body, especially because of me. Despite being a skilled warrior, Sun was a little dense when it came to matters of the heart.

“I can work hard for mana another way,” I whispered into his ear, and finally, he understood, eyes shooting wide open as his cheeks flushed with color.

More and more, Batu Sun seemed more akin to me than foreign. He turned all sorts of precious colors to signal his moods. I’d grown weary of his displays since he would only return to me black and blue in captivity, covered in bruises, highlighting his pain.

But this lovely shade of powdery pink coloring his cheeks, neck, and ears? I could see myself getting addicted to this hungry look on Sun’s face.

“You’re impossible,” he murmured, even as he tugged at his new robe. “I said no more fucking. But I suppose they have been gone long enough to bend my rules.”

I had to quiet the rush of sounds flowing from my wings, clicking too loudly out here in the woods. Vulnerable. Without Bracken’s and Kiar’s direct protection. And now we were about to be in an even more compromising position.

“Let’s mate!” I cheered, sinking to my knees, eager to taste Sun again and swallow his seed, but he tugged at my antenna before I could reach for his shaft.

“No. You’re not getting off so easily,” he said, urging me to stand until we were nose to nose again. “Since you love sucking cock so much, Clem. We’re mating to live, not for your fulfillment.”

I shuddered, surprised by the roughness of his hands as he drew me in, having already abandoned his blade, arrow, knife, and carving stone on the ground.

Swallowing a ragged sigh, I remembered how disturbed Sun looked when he hurt me before, when we all came together in the forest. He’d tugged hard on my antenna, to the point it was painful last night, and of course, I liked it.

I knew now that humans found it strange, rather than exciting, to see mothians like me turned on by pain. I didn’t want Sun to turn sickly pale again, fear and disgust in his gaze directed at me.

Yes, I much preferred the feral energy radiating from his dark eyes right now as he closed in. Our lips met, and sparks of pure pleasure lit up my spine and flowed through my veins.

He bit my lower lip and I opened more for him, Sun’s tongue easily overpowering my own as I ate my fill. I circled his waist with my lower arms, and then his shoulders, and allowed myself to be devoured by him.

Sun didn’t waste time with sweet nothings, hooking his forearms under my calves as he lifted me into the air. He wobbled a bit, a testament to how drained he was. But then he backed me into the tree just as quickly to steady us as mana surged inside of me and flowed into my mate.

I bit down on my lip to stop myself from shouting, not expecting him to pick me up so easily. I didn’t know why, maybe because he had been weak for so long, but I reminded myself most humans could manhandle mothians like me with ease.

“You asked for this,” Sun grunted against my neck, slicking my fur and bum with his straining cock. “And now I can’t wait.”

I licked the shell of his ear, confused as to why he reminded me. Of course, I asked for this. I practically begged.

My upper arms clutched his neck, lower set circling his back, grabbing the fabric bunching around his muscles.

Sun palmed my cheeks and drove into me without mercy in one fluid thrust, moaning into my ear, “You’re always so damn tight Clem. Fuck… ”

When I mauled him before, desperate for his mana back in the prison cell, I couldn’t fathom mating with Sun to feel so magical. I was just pushed to my limits, of lust and hunger, and desperate for a quick fix.

But this was way better than sucking his mana down by a long shot. Or even fucking Sun while he was drowning in pleasure from Kiar and Master Bracken.

His rage, his lust, his passion poured into me with each balls deep, brutal thrust, and I loved it. I craved it, too, seeing as his cock was more delicious than munching on silk.

Sun was pounding my ass, harder and deeper, his vigor returning to him tenfold as our master and his left hand hunted for us. I could feel them finally circling back with their kill.

Just in time. I moaned into Sun’s slack mouth, whimpering as his nails dug into me until it was painful. It was so beautiful. I wanted to die like this, trapped in his arms, filled with his desire.

“Clem! Yes, Clem, take me. Take all of me.”

His blunted claws clawed my butt, Sun’s teeth sinking into my neck as he came as abruptly as he began, slamming inside of my spasming hole a final time as we shouted our mutual release.

Power surged throughout my body, amplified by the slaughter in the woodlands. After what felt like an eternity, Sun released me, and I sank to my knees in front of him. I clung to his hips, touching his softening cock with one hand as I clutched mine with another.

“May I suck you now? Please?” I begged and Sun chuckled, brushing loose locks of hair from his forehead.

He nodded, and I wasted no time swallowing his length, savoring the musky taste of his essence as I stroked myself to the tempo of my bobbing head.

I didn’t need the mana anymore; I just wanted to pleasure my mate and it was a good excuse now to do just that.

Sun’s hands were gentler, brushing through the fuzz on my head, cradling my jaw as I brought him back to full length. His head rolled back, his sweet moans music to my ears as finally he stiffened and exploded down my throat, cumming inside me again.

Drinking every last drop, I licked my lips as he pulled out. Sun rested his cock on my cheek, and I licked his shaft, tongue curling around his dick, cumming into the palm of my hand with a shudder, finally sated.

“You’re killing me, Clem.”

I gulped, sucking my tongue back in and choking on it, stunned into silence as Sun laid down beside me. Or more like collapsed with his ass still hanging out, having enough sense to at least tuck his cock away before he fell.

We warmed each other underneath the tree as I helped him dress, wondering if my secret had been revealed. I circled Sun’s body, fear overwhelming me as I struggled to speak.

“...I know you need the mana, but you might suck the last drop out of my body if we keep having sex like this,” Sun murmured, spinning in my arms until we were chest to chest. “That’s why we need to keep our hands off of each other. Just for a little while. Help me convince the others when they return. We need to keep in the right state of mind for war.”

I nodded, still nervous Sun knew more than he was letting on as he buried his face into the crook of my neck, humming into the fur circling it.

It was times like this that I needed my master by my side. He’d know what to say, what lie wouldn’t cause Sun to spiral into despair. If we did not fear an ambush, Bracken would have carried Kiar and their catch back by now and I’d be spared this anxiety of not knowing if Sun knew the truth.

But outnumbered by enemy nocs, we were forced to wait for them to return on claw and tail.

Not that I minded all that much once I calmed down. Sun closed his eyes and drifted off for a while. He was taking cat naps quite often, which was understandable as Hadi grew stronger, draining us all a little bit more.

Besides, it was nice to have him wrapped in my arms like this, to provide him some comfort for once when he had given me everything, including my life up until that point.

“It makes our mana stronger. Sex and…” Sun whispered, as he woke from his nap suddenly.

“Death,” I finished his sentence, pushing back his silky white striped hair plastered to his sweaty forehead again.

“Kiar’s theory tracks,” he said. “So, hunting should do us all well. When they return, we should all be stronger, no?”

“Yes,” I said, not liking the way Sun’s gaze hardened after my confirmation.

He rolled over until he hovered above me, the same height but much stronger than me, lean with muscle like a panthera, the sleek, feline, level-two nocs that resembled humanlike predators.

Sun cocked his head to the side, and I did the same, mirroring my mate unconsciously.

I smiled when Sun smiled at that, sitting up now, no longer looming over me like he was waiting for a chance to slit my throat.

Still, I sensed a tightly coiled tension inside of him, an angry white-hot heat ready to strike until, finally, he whispered, “How old are you, Clem? How long have you served Bracken and…”

Oh, I thought, frowning as he glared at a jagged shadow on the frost-covered ground that skittered away into the shade of the tree.

Sun was angry because he could sense his future king. Yet, that didn’t explain why he suddenly asked me such a strange question in the midst of cuddling.

It destroyed the lovely atmosphere we created, and Sun wasn’t one to make small talk. Of that much, I was certain.

Nevertheless, I felt compelled to answer as he stared at me, a strange gleam in his gaze that felt familiar. He was expecting a response–no, demanding it. This time, I didn’t think he’d accept an obvious lie.

Sometimes, it felt like Sun was purposely leading me into a trap with his words. Like he was daring me to slip up. But I couldn’t, wouldn’t, or else risk destroying the fragile bond we had forged.

“Since the time nocs ruled this world, that’s how long I’ve served my master,” I said, and it was true. “And Bracken began serving Hadi before he even took the throne, during the initial conflict.”

I counted on my freezing fingers, “That was five, no, maybe ten years after the Great Awakening. My memories are hazy seeing as I was like a young child at the start, naive about Naran. But shortly after the Great Awakening, I began warming Bracken’s cave. After your people fled Yewan, and Hadi founded the Nocturnal Kingdom, he demanded his most loyal servants form the noc nobility, and we began living there.”

“Hmmm…” Sun hummed, not looking pleased by my response as I frowned.

I tiptoed around the truth as usual with my mate. One small lie, about knowing how to break the tether, had spiraled into an intricate web of secrets, and it was hard to keep up. I knew just by staring into his face that I couldn’t reveal everything to my mate. Not yet anyway. I didn’t want him exploding in anger and running away again.

Every I just revealed were small lies mixed in with big truths, as I remembered everything from my awakening, down to the details of the dirt beneath my nails. It was true that the timeline as it related to the exile of humans from Yewan was fuzzy. I was chained inside master’s cave most of those days, drunk on desire, being trained for his pleasure.

Regardless, I remembered everything when it came to master and me . My memory before serving him invoked nothing but trepidation in me, causing my hands to shake and my wings to click nervously, uncontrollably.

My cocoon had been breached by humans within the first moments of my awakening. Fire, chaos, smoke, blood, and the sickly-sweet stench of death like rotten, maggot-infested meat as bodies bloated in the sea. I’d flown through it all, my senses overloaded, desperate to live even though I barely knew what it meant to be alive back then.

I hid, I ran, I cried and screamed as I avoided the humans’ swords and my fellow noc’s claws for years. Only by sheer luck was I spared. Until Bracken captured me, soaring above the battlefield with me in his claws, until my master made me his and chained me in his lair, I had known only fear laced with forced lust as a consequence of my nature.

Despite my best efforts to gloss over the dark details, Sun’s face twisted in disgust, and something darker I couldn’t place, as he realized something that didn’t please him in the least. His lower lip quivered nonstop, and his left eye twitched as if punched.

“You’ve been with Bracken… since you were that young? You were born during the invasion of the nocs? Am I understanding you correctly, Clem?”

I pursed my lips, not sure what to say. That was correct, but it was the wrong answer because it made Sun unhappy. And I suspected it would make Bracken unhappy, too, to see Sun this displeased because of his actions.

He had protected me, after all, so I didn’t understand why that seemed to piss Sun off and make him shudder in revulsion at the same time.

“Since we were both young?” I suggested, and to my relief, relief flooded Sun’s grim expression. “During the chaos, when the goddess summoned us and threw open the gates of the void, we were both very young. We didn’t have what humans call parents or families. So, Bracken and I, well, I relied on him and believe we relied on each other back then.”

Sun nodded, and delightfully he seemed intrigued now, rather than disturbed. I kept talking, sprinkling in lies when it suited me.

“I believe Hadi came first and is–what do you humans call it… He was a prodigy since he was born, the only noc of his kind. He was the one who united us against the human’s backlash. Bracken and Kiar joined Hadi before I met them, and we are all around the same age, I think, from the first wave of nocs. But they became princes after the collapse of Yewan.”

Sun nodded thoughtfully.

“So, you were teens by then, when you came from the place nocs resided before encroaching on Naran? By warming his cave, you mean you lived together as orphans?” Sun asked and I nodded fiercely, not really sure what a “teen” was, and knowing we weren’t orphans. We also had never been anywhere else as far as I knew, and I also warmed Bracken’s cave with my body, but seeing as his interpretation made him unclench his fists, I had to agree.

“Yes! When Hadi consolidated power under the nocturnal throne and took over Yewan, I joined him. I… I was like a gift for Bracken, since most of the new nobles left behind their old lives to serve the king, but he took me to the capital with him,” I said.

Sun nodded absently, murmuring under his breath before whispering for me to hear, “Ah. I’ve heard of this. The emperor’s youngest bride was sworn to him when they were children. Or maybe it was the crown prince’s future bride?”

I stared at him blankly again and Sun sighed, “I wonder if Hadi was a prince in that other realm, wherever you all came from, including your parents. No matter. The point still stands. I guess noc royalty have similar practices.”

Rubbing his forehead in slow, concentric circles, Sun said, “If I’m understanding you correctly, you were both like orphans as children, but Bracken was just a bit bigger and stronger. And then when Bracken became a noble, you… Well, you were like a bride? I think I understand… At least I hope.”

I nodded along, even though nothing he said made any sense to me. Brides were female humans, and I was a male noc. And children were small humans, even more defenseless than those of my level, and we were the weakest among all nocs. But I hadn’t been a child when I met Bracken, all of us had been adults.

To be honest, I had never seen a noc that resembled a human child. Still, a smiling, calm, and content Sun was better than one who was angry with me or our master. So, I didn’t correct him.

“But wait,” Sun said, eyes wide, Bracken and Kiar very close now by the sound of rustling leaves nearby. “That means… that means you’re younger than me?”

“Um, I supposed so. We all are, I think. Including…” I drifted off, not wanting to bring up Hadi’s name again.

Sun reacted to the mention of our king like a hex, a vicious, evil energy leaking from his pores. My master told me this vile scent was a pheromone humans leaked during war.

Hadi wasn’t even present, just a mere shadow, and yet Sun was flooding the air with it, as if ready to cut him down at any moment.

Lately, Hadi’s presence almost felt oppressive. The veil between our world and the next was thinner with each passing hour. I could feel it in the air, in the tremor of the wind and the shifting of shadows on the ground. Hadi’s reawakening was near.

“No…” my mate gasped as I focused on him.

Sun seemed to be doing mental math, arriving at an answer that shocked him, if his open mouth stare was any indication.

“If Alhadya… Dear Gods! How is it possible I’m older than all of them? That can’t be,” Sun kept murmuring, like it was the worst thing in Naran to be older than his nocs.

Chuckling as I sat up, I asked, “How many cycles of the moon are you? I think we are roughly three-hundred and twenty-five?—”

“You mean how many years old am I? No one uses moon cycles like that. And I’m t-thirty next month,” Sun whispered, cheeks burning bright pink. “Which would make me the oldest in our squadron… I started as the youngest soldier, though.”

It was funny how Sun often slipped into military distinctions. But that wasn’t the most amusing thing to me at that moment. It was that he was visibly embarrassed. I poked his cheek as he swatted my hand away.

He was pretty in pink, but that color signaled being embarrassed in humans mostly, even during their heats. For the life of me, I didn’t know why being thirty should be embarrassing or possibly make him horny.

“Is that considered old for a human?” I asked and Sun shrugged.

“...Yes and no. In reality, it is not very old. But many do now grow old in this new savage world,” Sun said, a hint of sadness in his tone.

I was curious to know how some humans stayed young and how others became old despite both experiencing the passage of time, but I figured I’d ask Sun another time. For now, I was interested in learning more about him, and sharing more about myself as well.

“Well, I am twenty-five years old, born in the second winter month!” I held up all of my fingers, plus five, and for some reason that made Sun laugh. “When I awakened by the sea, we did not have snow, only the cold. I was born under the Star of the Ice Dragon. Those born under this sign are strategic, gifted hunters, and abundant cultivators of magic!”

Sun snorted, “Did you read that in one of your books? You had time to study astrology in Bracken’s cave, hm?”

I felt that he was teasing me, but looked past it as he beamed at me, wrinkles pinching the corners of his eyes as he laughed. I don’t think I had heard a more lovely sound than Sun’s laughter up until now.

“Sorry for laughing. It’s a good thing you studied so hard like a cloistered monk in Bracken’s cave. You couldn’t have saved your friends otherwise,” Sun admitted with a gentle smile.

I clicked in agreement, grabbing his hand, holding it over my heart, “Yes, yes. And look on the bright side, now you’re our de facto leader! Humans organize themselves by age and rank, right? Little by little, we can find a new way to live free outside of prison. As our elder, you can teach us the way. Our hearts are in unison, so why not our lives?”

“…Even poison can taste sweet if given in small enough doses,” Sun said cryptically, releasing a weighty sigh as his gaze flicked to the forest and he snatched his hand away in a hurry.

I had the sneaking suspicion he was referring to the tether that bound our souls, and I frowned, suppressing more nervous clicks.

“Enough chit-chat. They’re here. We eat and make camp. And thank you, Clem, I do feel much better,” Sun said with a radiant grin. “Save your energy for later. No more healing me tonight.”

He stood and offered me a hand to help me stand. As I clung to Sun’s arm, his hand absently stroking the fur on my head, all I could think about was them wrapped around me again. Maybe I was in heat, because the need to mate felt more important than our survival as I squeezed him tight.

“Well, poison or cure, being with you feels right. I’m glad we’re friends,” I said, and to my dismay, Sun looked through me, like I was still a ghost and not there beside him.

“There’s no such thing as friendship between a human and a noc. But for now, we can be allies, Clem. As you said, this is a mutually beneficial relationship… Until it is not.”

With that, Sun released me, greeting first our master Bracken and then Kiar, who came back with a massive bounty draped on his long black and white tail. Bracken held his under one arm.

I followed Sun, gingerly brushing my fingers against his, relieved when he peered at me, not through me, grabbed my hand, and held.

His actions said one thing, while his mouth said another.

Not that his duplicity mattered to me, since I’d been lying to Sun since we first met. It would take time to make my brave warrior submit to his new leaders, but that time would come soon enough.

We’d escaped the clutches of those vile traitors, so now I just had to work my magic slowly to help Sun see reason.

Because I didn’t want to be friends with Sun anymore. I would be his everything, and so would our little clan be to him. And as I gazed at Sun’s jagged shadow, an inky spider mark stretching out beneath his feet, I knew our king would have it no other way.

After all, there was joy to be found in absolute submission, especially in a world where a risen Hadi executed his revenge. He would slay anything and anyone, who stood in his way.