shock of the first dream, I’d changed my tune about seeing Anyan when I was sleeping. Even if I couldn’t remember them exactly, I’d decided that a dream was better than nothing. That said, I never expected my prayers to be answered, as though Morpheus were some radio DJ taking requests.
But upon closing my eyes in the dark, sterile environment of my borrowed room, I promptly opened them to find myself in the snug confines of the hut’s little sleeping nook. I was also naked, and not alone.
‘Oh, puppy,’ I cooed as the barghest stroked a calloused palm over my flank. The fur beneath me was soft and warm, tickling against the backs of my knees. The barghest was even warmer, although not so soft.
Stormy gray eyes met mine as his mouth descended for a kiss.
‘We don’t have much time,’ he said in my ear, his voice low, as if afraid someone was listening. ‘He’ll find us quickly enough, and he’ll spy, even if he can’t touch us here.’
‘He?’ I thought, confused. Why would someone want to listen to Anyan and me in bed? But all thoughts disappeared in a puff of pleasure as the fingers stroking down my sides moved inward, to the V in my legs. I groaned, a throaty growl of ecstasy, as Anyan’s thick fingers dipped into my sex.
‘So wet for me.’ The barghest’s voice was rough in my ear, and I pushed my hips up into his hand in response.
His fingers found their rhythm, driving my pleasure forward. I cried out, so close to the brink after only minutes of his hands on me. He knew what drove me wild, what I needed. Speaking of which…
‘Do that thing,’ I moaned. ‘That thing with your power…’
The first time we’d had sex, he’d used his power like extra hands, touching me all over. It had been incredible, like nothing I’d ever experienced.
Anyan chuckled, pinching my clit gently for my impertinence. An act that did nothing to decrease my arousal, believe me.
‘Greedy girl,’ he said. ‘And I’d give anything to fuck you like that again. But my powers are no longer mine.’
Why not? I wondered, but not for long. Anyan added a thumb and a pinkie to his routine, and pretty soon I was gasping for air and seeing stars.
‘You’ll just have to make do with plain old me,’ he said, nipping and sucking on my neck as I shattered around his fingers, crying out in unabashed pleasure until he wrapped his free hand behind my neck to clamp a hand over my mouth.
I kept singing his praises, even if they were muffled, as he kept my orgasm going until it became almost painful.
Only then did I push his hand away, curling in toward him in a boneless heap only to feel his hardness against my belly. When I could move again, I reached down a hand to stroke him. I looked up into those iron eyes, so full of sadness and affection that my heart broke. I knew that I was just as sad, and just as in love, and that there were so many things I should be saying to him, even if I didn’t know what they were.
But Anyan always knew what to say, even if he didn’t speak too often.
‘Ride me, Jane,’ he told me, shifting so that he was on his back. His hands wrapped around my hips and pulled me up and over him, until I straddled his hips. ‘Ride me, and remind me who I am.’
With tears in my eyes, I did just that. Taking him deep in my body, so deep I gasped, I set a gentle rhythm that didn’t last long. Soon enough he was bucking up toward me, setting a driving pace. Our bodies slapped against each other in the warm silence of the hut, and it was like a Beethoven symphony to my ears.
The tears fell, unbidden, as I rained kisses on his also-wet cheeks. Finally, Anyan came, and I sucked the cries from his lips even as I exulted in giving him such pleasure.
I fell forward on his chest, letting him hold me as I watched the flames dance in the fire pit in the center of the hut.
‘And I am me again,’ he said eventually, stroking a hand over my hair, down my back. ‘At least for a little while.’
I listened to the beating of his heart under my ear and I knew I missed him very much. So I told him so.
‘I miss you,