15. Surrender

Part of me expected not to make it across the whole room once I turned my back on Nuada. The further away I got, the louder my doubts clamored, Orpheus walking in front of silent Eurydice. What if he doesn”t follow? What if this was a bad idea? Maybe I”m just being stupid. Maybe he doesn”t even want this, and I”m walking naked through a palace full of dog-people for no reason at all—

I didn”t turn around, though. I had enough pride to keep my shoulders square and my face turned away as I stalked off, anticipation thrilling through me. He was the Hunter. There was no way he could resist a challenge like that, right? Short of grabbing him by the dick, I didn”t think I could be any more obvious.

Between one step and the next, the ground in front of me changed from the patterned marble flooring of the Ruined Palace to the dank leaf-litter of the deep woods, the sunlight streaming through the windows turning green where it fell through the dense canopy instead. I whipped around, but the palace behind me was gone, too, leaving only a moss-covered stone arch, all that remained of the doorway I”d stepped through.

Far in the distance, I heard the throaty cry of a hunting-horn, and my skin prickled with the answering surge of adrenaline.

The challenge was accepted, and the chase had begun.

The Wild Hunt changes those who run with it and who flee before it. That magic wrapped around my bones, answering to my call as I leaned into the connection between me and Nuada with a sense of overwhelming relief. I was meant to be here, a killer at my back. I”d told him the truth that first night: I wasn”t a deer or a dog, and I refused to run as one. But there was one other creature who ran with the Hunt, and it was one meant for the Hunt as much as the hounds.

Even the Master himself had once been a horse.

I”d changed Key to suit me, taking command of his body with the power Nuada”s love gave me. It answered easily to my hand, and between one moment and the next my body went from a woman”s to a mare”s, obeying the image of the world I chose to dream into being.

A palomino mare, athletic and agile, her long mane unbound and hooves unshod, as free and wild as any other creature of the woods—and yet tameable, as the deer are not. Rideable. Winnable.

Behind her, the hounds she”d first seen in the fields of the mortal world, now running through the deep woods of the ancient faery forest, and with them…

Their Master.

Come and get me, I thought with feral joy, and leapt into a bounding run.

I could feel them behind me, the same thrilling terror scudding across me, like the winds heralding the approach of a thunderstorm. I ran for them, racing ahead of that terror, far faster than I”d ever been on two feet. Curvy girls may not be made for running, but racehorses certainly are. I felt like I could outrun death.

Trees flashed past me, ancient things grown to enormous size. I ran in their shadows, heedless of the destination, my hooves striking the ground with surety. Nothing mattered but the run, the race, the beautiful end. Even fallen trees and the cuts of streams gave me no pause, my new form leaping through the air with the same elegant ease with which it ran.

The horn sounded again, closer now. In the periphery of my vision I caught glimpses of movement, the fastest of the hounds drawing nearer. Fear clawed at me, animalistic panic from the deepest instinct of a prey animal, making my hooves just a little fleeter and stretching my pace just a little longer. But I knew who had loosed his hounds on me—and what he was.

My soulmate.

Fear was the vanguard of the Wild Hunt and the Dullahan both, but the power of the Wild Hunt was mine, and so was the Dullahan himself. That fear didn”t rule me like a base animal. It crashed into me, flooding my veins, and transmuted into the wild exhilaration of rollercoasters, of street racing, of base jumping. If I”d had the throat for it, I would have been laughing with reckless abandon—but my bright whinny sang into the air, and all around me the voices of hounds joined mine in soaring harmony.

A hound veered out of the woods, snapping white teeth at my heels. I kicked out at it instinctively, but the hound knew how to harry prey, and my sharp hooves cut through air instead of hitting their target. More dark forms appeared in the periphery of my vision, red eyes blazing as they closed the distance between us.

The crack of a whip snapped through the air, the sound leaving my ears ringing. I juked out of the way of a hound”s bite, daring a look behind me as I veered through the trees. I caught sight of Nuada crouched atop his black horse like a jockey, his hair whipping behind him and his expression ferocious. Gripped in the silver bones of his right hand was a whip made of vertebrae, the length snaking through the air as he swung it.

Oh, shit. That was the Dullahan behind me, hunting me down like an enemy marked for slaughter.

Relentless.

Remorseless.

”If he enters the hunt, he won”t stop until he”s run you down. Is that what you want?”

The whip cracked again, close enough that I imagined I felt the wind on my haunches.

I pinned my ears back, ferocity twining with the exhilaration of terror. I wanted it—but I was no tame mare. If Nuada wanted to have me, he was going to have to fucking work for it.

I put my head down and ran.

Branches lashed at me, stinging where they struck me. Every strike of my hooves threw clods of dirt into the air, pelting against my stomach and hind legs. I had to keep jerking out of the range of the hounds, evading their sharp teeth. My hooves connected with one, the thud of impact and sharp yelp of pain sending a spike of guilt through me, distracting me—

With a CRACK like thunder, the whip struck my side. I screamed, leaping away from the pain—and nearly collided with his black stallion. I tried to evade, but I was too close, and the black dogs hemmed me in. Nuada leapt from his horse, kicking off of the saddle, and even my last desperate twist to the side couldn”t save me.

My soulmate”s weight hit my back, his legs clamping down on my sides and fingers gripping my mane. I screamed again, in frustration and fear, trying to buck him off.

But the moment I paused in my headlong rush, teeth sank into my flank, and the pain of a hound”s bite was far, far worse than having the Dullahan on my back. I twisted midair, my hoof cracking across the beast”s jaw, and bounded into a full gallop again, my withers soaked with sweat and every breath aching.

Nuada growled, a predatory sound of delight, and jabbed his heels into my ribs.

I ran for him.

The hounds harried me, but I didn”t focus on evading them, letting their teeth catch me in sharp moments of pain. I couldn”t get out from under my rider with them there—so I needed to leave them behind.

I ran, searching for a way out, searching, searching—there! The bright flashes of light off a river—a barrier I could put between myself and the white fangs of the hounds. With my vision tunneling and breath rasping, I poured the last of my strength into a full sprinting gallop.

Closer… closer…

Putting everything I had behind it, I threw myself for the far bank of the river, the hounds drawing up short behind me. For one timeless moment, I hung in the air above the water, hot victory flooding me—

The Dullahan”s whip wrapped around one of my forelegs, yanking it backwards.

I landed badly, the snap! of my bone as my foreleg broke sounding like a gunshot. My shoulder hit the ground as I fell, screaming from the pain. I couldn”t hold onto the shape of a horse, forgetting everything but the blaze of agony—but then Nuada”s fingers laced through mine, and he yanked my arm straight, the bones setting and healing in an instant.

Instinct had me shoving myself away from him, tears running down my face and my heartbeat roaring in my ears.

Nuada stalked towards me, his whip dragging on the ground and his horse”s tail hanging behind him in a black sweep. His eyes blazed, as red as his hounds”, elven ears lifted and tilted towards me in high focus. There was nothing else in the world for me—only him, his lip lifted in a snarl, his pulse visible in his throat, his fingers hooked in dangerous claws.

”You asked for this,” he said, his basso voice rough with emotion.

He flicked the whip at me; I flinched away, whimpering. My heart raced, chest aching, the undeniable fear of having a hungry god looking at me like food making my pussy throb. He was going to take me—use me—devour me—

His hand went to his waist, unbuckling his belt with a jerk. ”You demanded this.”

My back hit stone, and I huddled against it, naked and terrified and wildly turned on. ”I did,” I said, my voice shaking.

He shoved off his battle-skirt, the furs dropping to the ground. My eyes dropped to his half-hard cock as he started stroking it, the shape halfway between a man”s and a horse”s, with a blunt head and a silver ring through it in a Prince Albert piercing. I couldn”t stop staring, my pulse rabbitting and limbs shaking with exhaustion. His cock was huge, as thick as my wrist and easily as long as my forearm. Holy shit, what had I gotten myself into?

”You”re mine, Alexis Sharpe,” Nuada snarled, his cock flexing as he said the words. A bead of wet slid down along the ring to fall in a silver line. He crouched down over me, his precome dripping onto my wet pussy. ”And I intend to claim you.”

Oh, fuck, I was such a fucking slut for this, loved the sight of his dripping cock—

”Th-that… that won”t fit—”

He stroked himself, long slow movements that sent more of his slick dripping down onto me, the visual making my core clench with a flash of pleasure. Nuada dragged his crimson gaze down along my body, licking his lips in anticipation.

”Rest assured, it will,” he said with hungry possessiveness. He wrapped his silver fingers around my breast, squeezing hard enough that I whimpered again, my head falling back and hips lifting. Nuada laughed, low and satisfied. He leaned close, his lips brushing my throat. ”Surrender,” he demanded, his voice husky.

”I already told you,” I panted out, jerking my face away and shoving myself a fraction further from him, heels digging into the dirt. ”Fucking make me.”

”Ahhh,” he breathed. ”Very well.” All the seduction left him in an instant as he grabbed me by the throat, his silver bones digging into my soft skin. He hauled me away from the outcropping by my neck, his fingers tightening until I saw stars.

I mewled, a tiny helpless sound, my heartbeat too loud and my vision too dark. He smirked, then flung me down against the ground. Before I could hope to recover, gasping for air as my blood rushed back into my head, Nuada hooked his arms under my legs and hoisted my hips up, my shoulders scraping across the ground.

I tried to kick, feeling like I should fight, but I was too tired and the heat of his cock pressing against my pussy was too perfect. All I could do was shift my hips as if I might escape, trying to wriggle away despite the grip of his hands. But it felt so good, and I couldn”t stop myself from squirming, bucking my hips up against the blunt head of his cock. The heavy beat of his pulse commanded mine, forcing my body to relax. Every breath came with the edge of a whimper, the feel of his hard shaft rubbing against my slick skin commanding my full attention.

Nuada lined his cock up with my entrance, eyes flicking up to my face with feral want. ”That”s right. Be a good girl and take it.”

The command rocked into me with the force of a tidal wave, and I couldn”t grab enough willpower to resist him. I cried out with the pleasure of it, back arching as a spike of power drove through my core, and a heartbeat later Nuada thrust into me.

My whole world narrowed in an instant to the drive of his cock as he commanded my body to take him. I could feel it happen—the blunt head of his cock like the prow of a ship as he cleaved me open, bottoming out in my depths before pushing past them. My body bowed around him, transfixed by the massive girth spearing into me, deeper than anything I”d ever taken before.

He growled, low and rolling, and drove himself into my core.

I cried out, my hand going to my stomach as he pushed past my navel, my body changing to suit him. The pressure of his cock drew back with a sense of aching loss, then drove in again, filling me with uncompromising demand.

Nuada started moving faster, his thrusts matched with hard jerks against my thighs as he demanded everything my body could give him. I answered him without even thinking about it, bucking up against his shaft, gripping down on him with a moan of satisfaction. Even that small response was enough to make him stake his claim, and with a snarl, he snapped his hips forward, everything inside me shifting as he forced me to take his length.

I let out another shuddering moan as I felt his skin against mine, his cock fully hilted in me. I couldn”t stop my thighs from shaking, my pussy spasming around his thick length, stretched almost beyond bearing.

”Good girl,” he growled, drawing his hips back before slamming them against me again. Nuada started fucking me in earnest, rutting into me with the relentless aggression of an animal.

The words sent a wash of raw pleasure through me, making me shudder and gasp as the reward of obedience to the Master of the Hunt shimmered under my skin. Every movement of his cock as he fucked me made the tension inside me spike into unbearable need, my eyes wide and unseeing as I teetered on the brink of ecstasy. I wanted it, needed it, had to come or I would die—

I tried to shift my hand to touch myself, but Nuada grabbed me by the wrists and pinned them above my head, holding me down as I bucked up against him, desperate for it.

Nuada shifted his angle, dropping my hips a fraction, and suddenly every drive of his hips rammed his pubic bone against my throbbing clit with a searing pleasure. My whole body started shaking, the tension in my muscles growing as I gripped down around the unyielding pressure of his cock. It felt so good, oh fuck, the pleasure radiating into my core as he bottomed out in me over and over and over again. I couldn”t stop whimpering, his hand like a manacle around my wrists, my body falling into the rhythm of the spikes of pleasure as Nuada”s thrusts pressed his pelvis against my needy clit.

It felt like falling apart—like I was shivering to pieces, held together only by necessity, disintegrating from the tension I couldn”t escape. ”Please!” I sobbed out, hot tears stinging my eyes as I met his every thrust, fucking myself onto his cock. ”Please, I surrender, Nuada, ohmigod, please let me come—”

”Beg again,” he snarled, fucking me without mercy.

I whimpered, trying to angle my hips so he”d hit me just right, and he denied me, not letting me have what we both knew I needed. ”Please, please, I have to come, please make me come—” I couldn”t even keep getting the words out, my whole body screaming for release, everything focused on the press and drag of his cock spreading me open. ”Oh, God, please—”

”That”s my good girl,” he said in a growl. ”Shall I be a generous god, and let you have it?”

”Nykhir, please—” I begged, arching up into him.

He shuddered at the sound of his true name, his hips stuttering, but in the moment before he lost himself Nuada snarled, ”Come for me.”

His cock drove into my depths as ecstasy shattered me. I screamed out my pleasure as my core slammed down against him in waves, my whole body bucking up against Nuada as his hot come spurted into me. The pressure of his cock inside me spiked as he came, his cockhead flaring and come filling me behind that seal.

And I just kept fucking coming, every shift of his hips matching the pulsing rhythm of my core as pleasure rocked through me with the force of an earthquake, making me whimper. My fingers clutched at the air, wet dripping down my thighs and ass as everything built on itself—until Nuada snarled and drew back a few inches before slamming himself home.

Everything fell apart, my whole body releasing as I squirted around his cock, a flood of heat and ecstasy that took everything I had. I shook, my mouth open in a silent o as I had the best fucking orgasm of my life, stretched beyond bearing and taken to the limits of my endurance. It felt incredible, my whole existence leveled by the force of my orgasm, bliss and the pleasure of obedience combining to leave me a panting wreck sprawled beneath him as I came down from the peak.

The look of raw ecstasy on my Hunter”s face made my pussy spasm again, the aftershock leaving me whimpering as he rocked his hips against me, the pressure easing. He held himself above me on all fours as another shudder ran down his body, his head hanging and breath coming hard.

I could feel his pulse inside me, our hearts beating together, and all at once I finally understood the longings of that heart. Nuada was so many things, and had worn so many faces. But deep underneath was a man like any other, who wanted to be loved—not in spite of what he was, but because of it, every sharp edge and dangerous depth.

And I did, I realized, with a sensation like the sun dawning inside of me. I”d always loved him—loved pitting myself against the hunter, dancing on the edge of the world with the call of the void singing in my ears. I was a reckless, solitary, wild thing, and like any tigress I needed a tiger to take me to mate. Keilain had given me a home, and Nuada would give me the danger I craved.

”Come closer,” I murmured to the eyes in the darkness, letting myself step up to the brink of eternity.

He let go of my wrists and let my legs drop off his shoulders, lowering our hips to the ground without pulling out of me. I met his hazed eyes, his pupils wide dark pools and his irises merely mahogany once more. Flushed with bliss, I brushed his sweaty hair out of his face, smiling up at him.

He leaned his cheek into the touch, eyes fluttering shut. ”Lexi,” he said, his voice rough with longing.

”Nykhir,” I said, using the name that lay at the heart of his soul, love warming mine. I leaned my face up to his, pausing a hairsbreadth from his lips, my nose alongside his, and whispered, ”Surrender.”

He shivered, lashes parting so he could meet my gaze once more. ”Yes,” he said, like it was a promise, and pressed his mouth to mine.