Down below, the penis rose.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  “Cameron, we can’t do this again.”

  “You bet we can’t.”

  She knew the look. She recognised the twinkle in his eyes that told her he’d get what he wanted. He always did. She might have argued further, if not for the exciting touch warming her loins.

  Muscles slack, brain melting, she let go of the last qualms confining her mind and, with a contented sigh, enjoyed his treatment. When he removed the linen, her member looked stiff and hungry.

  “Dear Gods. It’s always available for service, isn’t it?”

  “Most of the time.”

  “Don't you mind?”

  “Never with you.”

  His good humoured tone elicited her grin, but her smile quickly faded as he started rubbing his palm on his nipple while sliding his free hand down to his pussy. He rested his fingers there.

  “Let’s see how this works.”

  Although he sounded genuinely curious, awkwardness settled over her. She refrained from halting his massage when she saw him fiddling with his folds, but couldn’t stifle her embarrassment for long.

  “Cameron, I’m uncomfortable with this.”

  “And I’m intrigued.”

  He worked his finger in lazy circles just above his opening, and she realised he was stroking the same place he’d licked a few nights ago to give her the orgasm. She had been a woman then, raving under the hot tongue of the Lord of the Clans. He expelled a long sigh as his eyes widened.

  “Wow! This is interesting.”

  Lust crossed his features while he kept on kneading his folds. A pang of desire hit her as she watched him caressing himself, and her penis hardened. The awkward feeling bearing down on her disappeared in a wink. She wanted him. Pulse matching the insane desire swelling inside her, she ached to drive her thick cock into his wet pussy. And push until he wailed.

  “Lie down.”

  His startled look pleased her without end. He removed his hand to do what she asked, all the while staring into her eyes. She knelt between his spread legs. Determined not to falter this time, she placed her erection against his slit. She hissed as their flesh came into contact, and he sighed.

  As much as she yearned to penetrate him, the hugeness of her dick made her pause. Wasn’t she about to hurt him? He must have sensed her hesitation because he circled her wrist with his fingers.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. I just think that... I’m afraid I’m too big. It won’t fit.”

  Her uncertainty grew to apprehension as he chuckled softly while raising an amused eyebrow.

  “Hasn’t it already?”

  True, he had given her much joy before with his virile body part. She just had trouble picturing this engorged hard-on penetrating him. Instead of letting her dwell on the issue, he stroked her forearm.

  “Make love to me.”

  She shuddered at the blatant excitement contained in his whispered words. He released her wrist to draw his legs up. Mind overruled by lust, she seized the front of his thighs, and moved her hips forward.

  She couldn't refrain from moaning as her tip went through him. Shards of pleasure slashed at her stomach while she stalled her compressed dick. She recalled the first night they’d mated, in another area, in a different tavern, yet similar to this one. His desire had been stronger than his self-control because of her tightness. Because of the tremendous size of his erection.

  She felt it now. As she pushed herself inside him, she perceived the fleshy walls of his channel closing in around her rigid shaft, squeezing and tightening. The strong pressure increased the thumping of her heart. Listening to his erratic breathing, she strengthened her grip around his thighs and penetrated him.

  The muscles of his legs vibrated under her palms. He started panting as she drove her hard-on all the way inside him. Encased in his hot, tight sheath, she let the cramped sensation invade her whole body. She was his prisoner, and the abrupt realisation took her breath away.

  She withdrew her erection. The sucking motion mixed with the sound of his moans triggered a satisfaction she wouldn’t have imagined. The whole length of her dick rubbed against his wet flesh as she slowly pushed it in again. Her muscles tensed while he clenched his fingers on the bedcover.

  “Keep going, Ariana. This is so damn good.”

  For an instant, she believed herself a man. Her large, unyielding cock was the instrument of his enjoyment. She wielded the power to make him shudder, whimper, and beg for more. As she watched his features scrunched up with joy, the feeling got so intense that she began moving in and out of him.

  He instantly uttered harsh pants. A tongue of heat lashed through her body, and she lost her grip on his thighs. Fuelled by an urgent need to give him more, she seized his waist. Anticipation made her shiver.

  He let out a long moan when she pumped her long cock into him. His inner walls constricted her. The narrow sheath encaging her, she felt her shaft tremble against the inner walls soaked with want. Her pulse jumped like a tambourine. She tightened her fingers around his waist, and pulled him to her.

  He flipped his legs over her shoulders in a quick motion. The unexpected touch gave her goose bumps, and she felt her dick fill him to the brim. He propped himself up on his elbows to stare at her.

  She had never seen her real eyes so enlarged, alight with excitement, and burning from an inner fever. The sight of his obvious arousal stimulated her, even more than the feel of his body. With his thighs around her neck, he looked down at their joined sexes and she followed his gaze.

  Her embedded length disappeared into his ravenous pussy. She drew it out slowly, enjoying the tightening of her balls, the vision of his moist curls, the meshing of their overexcited flesh.

  “Faster.”

  His sharp command robbed her of the little discipline she had managed until then. Loins and mind ablaze, she set about granting his wish. He fell back on the pillow as soon as she drove her hard-on deep inside him and welcomed each of her quicker thrusts with high-pitched moans.

  Her toes curled, her fingers shuddered. She released his waist to lean forward and flatten her hands on either side of him. Her face above his, she relished the sight of his aroused features while she rammed her cock into his narrow hole. Again and again, until her whole body stiffened.

  Need tore at her guts. Limbs on fire, she suddenly wanted to explode and the demanding feeling overwhelmed her. She uttered raucous grunts. She shivered when he placed his hands on her sides.

  “Hold it, Ariana. Just a little longer.”

  His voice sounded so saturated with pleasure that she didn’t recognise her former lilts. Although she yearned to obey him, she couldn’t hold it. The tightness of his pussy felt too much to bear when her dick seemed to be alive and about to burst. She gritted her teeth and winced.

  “I can’t. It’s too strong.”

  “Look at me.”

  She stared into his aroused gaze. He strengthened his grip on her sides, and began drawing her in and out of him, but more slowly. Sweat dampening her brow, she let him guide her as she realised he was using her inflamed erection to rub a particular spot. Long shivers coursed through him when he quickened his movements. A fierce blast overran her stomach, and she cried out.

  “I can’t. It’s coming.”

  “Stay with me, you can do it.”

  She clenched her muscles in a desperate attempt to keep her impeding release in check and shook her head from side to side. He arched his back. Their pelvises ground against each other as he shifted his belly up and down. When he moaned like a mating cat, her mind shattered.

  Bolts of heat rushed along her loaded shaft. They streaked from within, and shot through her shuddering cock before gushing out. Muscles locked, mind swamped with bliss, she felt her jets of pleasure flood his convulsing pussy and extract a long cry from him.

  Yet her body couldn’t take any more pressure. As she spilled her seed into him, sh
e collapsed on top of him.

  Her heart pounded as though struck with a wooden mallet. Her belly fluttered under the claim of a lingering contentment. He flopped his legs onto the pallet and wrapped his arms around her although short spasms still contracted his pussy. His voice laden with satisfaction, he spoke in her ear.

  “That was fantastic, to say the least. I’m glad we did it because now I know exactly what it is I do to you.”

  She did too. Even in her wildest fantasies, she’d never imagined turning into a man someday, even less experiencing the power of such an intimate act. The violent need for domination she’d felt when thrusting her cock into him couldn’t be put into words, but had to be undergone for real.

  While she reflected on this extraordinary experiment, he stroked her back and kept his mouth close to her face.

  “And I also understand why you crave my cock so much.”

  She chortled. They’d ride straight toward a devouring darkness in the morning, yet he still found it in him to tease and humour her. Without lifting her head up, she raised her voice.

  “As if you didn’t.”

  Before he could add anything about her hankering after his big, hard as stone member, she pinched his arm.

  “Ouch! Are you trying to hurt me, woman? It appears to me this body swap has lasted long enough.”

  “Very true. Yet there’s not much we can do about that.”

  He must have heard downheartedness in her tone because he caressed the small of her back and then tightened his embrace.

  “I’m not so sure about that.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Even before he shared his thoughts, hope sprang up in her like a fresh spring breeze after a storm. The abrupt feeling made her skin pucker as she lay motionless and waited for him to elaborate.

  “Short of stumbling across your shaman in this unlikely place, I agree there’s nothing we can do. But do you remember how it happened?”

  “Yes. We woke up like this in your tent.”

  “And what had we done before falling asleep?”

  They had made love. He’d taken her up against the tree, then she’d straddled and ridden him under the tent.

  “We mated. So what?”

  “Your shaman exchanged our bodies, but in order for the spell to work, I’d wager he connected it to us. Maybe our hearts, or our blood. Let’s pretend we triggered the spell when we made love that night.”

  Pulse on alert, she straightened up as he loosened his embrace. She sat on the bedcovers and stared at the serious expression on his face while she let out the words he hadn’t yet pronounced.

  “There might be a slight chance we cancelled it out tonight.”

  “My thoughts exactly.”

  “As much as I love your idea, it sounds a little far-fetched. Because, look, I’m still you, and you’re still me.”

  She swung her hands toward their bare bodies in an encompassing gesture. His nipples shone pink in the firelight, his round hips rested on the pallet, and her penis settled between her thighs.

  “I know, Ariana, but don’t forget we slept on it last time. If nothing else, I vividly recall falling asleep as a man.”

  Although she hadn’t paid much attention at the time because the ridiculous idea of turning into a man never crossed her mind, she was under the same impression. She remembered putting her shirt on after their torrid mating because the cold night pressed against the flaps of the tent.

  As she’d pulled the fabric down, she had brushed her hands against her full, round, feminine breasts just before snuggling against his hard body. Yes, she had without a doubt been a woman then.

  “You’re right. So if we sleep on it...”

  “There’s a good chance we’ll wake up back to our former selves. Besides, this spell can’t last forever.”

  “May the Creators hear you.”

  Hope swelled her heart for good. Although she enjoyed feeling strong, almost invincible, she missed her body. Something else as well, if she wanted to be completely honest with herself.

  She missed looking at him, at his cold, hard features while anger stirred within him, at the amused twinkles in his eyes whenever she blushed, stumbled, or asked an inappropriate question.

  Inhabiting the Lord of the Clans’ body felt similar to losing him because she couldn’t see him any longer. Despite the fact that she had enjoyed driving her erection into him, she wanted her pussy back. She needed him to make her gasp while he filled her to the brim with his huge cock.

  Grasping at this new, wild hope, she blew out the candle on the night stand and lay down on his outstretched arm. He might look like a woman, but he still acted like a protecting warrior.

  He pulled the covers over them before bringing her closer to him and placing a tender kiss on her brow. Once nestled in the crook of his shoulder, she spoke in a soft voice.

  “I guess I’ll see you in the morning, my lord.”

  “With pleasure, my lady.”

  She sensed his grin. Clinging to the idea that she’d be Ariana in the morning, she closed her eyes and let sleep take her.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  She didn’t wake up screaming.

  A pale light filtered through the windows as the night ended without her suffering another gut-clenching nightmare. Instantly recalling his last words before they'd fallen asleep, she lifted the covers. Her muscled chest rose with each breath, and her flat stomach didn’t conceal the penis resting against her thigh.

  The change hadn’t happened. The Darkening loomed over her horizon and she was still the Lord of the Clans.

  He stirred beside her while she attempted to hide her bitter disappointment. She glanced sideways toward him when he opened his eyes and stared at her before uttering a deep, guttural noise.

  “Huh.”

  She perceived his emotions in this single sound—crushed hopes and profound frustration for her as well as for him. Although still imprisoned in a woman’s body, he instantly got a grip on himself.

  He threw back the covers, got up, and set about getting dressed. His precise, deliberate movements helped her to swallow the sour taste lingering on her tongue, and also get out of the warm pallet. He was fully clothed by the time she passed her shirt over her head, but his eyes didn’t betray his thoughts.

  “I’ll get the horses ready while you finish up here. I hope you’re hungry because we’ll have a nourishing breakfast before we go.”

  “Why?”

  He strapped his double sling across his back before walking toward the door. His hand on the handle, he turned to her and shrugged.

  “Who knows when our next meal will be.”

  He didn’t need to say more. They'd travelled north to reach the foot of the Shrouded Mountains. They were obviously getting close to the darkness, and he wanted to be prepared for any eventuality. Even though her recollections of the map provided by the leader of the resistance had somehow fled from her mind, she felt certain Cameron knew their exact location.

  And he worried.

  He left the room with most of their belongings while she quickly put her pants on. Unlike the morning she’d woken up as a man, she positioned her nuts in the right place so the fabric wouldn’t chafe them. Out of the uncanny things her shaman’s spell made her do, this one was a real treat.

  She buckled her boots, strapped on her sword and picked up their coats before going downstairs to meet him.

  The main room appeared empty, and at this early hour candles still lit the place. Most patrons must have tarried in bed because only two men sat in a corner drinking steaming beverages. She ignored them as she walked toward a table by the window and pulled up a chair.

  Something felt wrong, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Not the other two patrons, craggy as they looked. Not the good smells coming from the kitchen behind the counter. Not even the relative silence. So what?

  Cameron came in from the front door of the tavern as she pondered the issue. When the two men didn’t even
glance at him but kept on talking in whispers, she knew something was definitely wrong. They wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to gawk at a pretty girl unless they were deeply troubled.

  She looked around again, but nothing seemed amiss. Cameron joined her at the table and sat down. Just as she was about to share her uneasiness with him, the innkeeper entered the room carrying plates and hot tea on a tray.

  She held her tongue while he put the contents of his platter down on the table. As soon as he left them to go back to the kitchen, she reached across to grab Cameron’s hand.

  “I have a bad feeling. Something is wrong here, but for the love of the Creators, I’m not sure what.”

  “I am.”

  He cocked his head toward the window. A vague light filtered through heavy, opaque clouds. The high mountains still lay in shadows because the sun hadn’t yet fully risen. On both sides of the street, a few trees stood straight as no wind ruffled their young leaves.

  The sternness of the landscape made her uncomfortable, yet she’d never been bothered by a grim day before. Try as she might, she couldn’t figure out the nature of the apprehension knotting her throat.

  “What’s to see? It’s too early to tell, but I guess we’ll probably spend the whole day under the rain again.”

  “We overslept. It’s mid-morning already, not dawn.”

  Her eyes widened while she kept on staring outside. “That’s impossible. Even on a rainy day, it should be much clearer.”

  “These aren’t clouds. The sun is up, but it’s concealed.”

  Pins and needles pricked her toes. Her belly tightened as the real meaning of his words sank in. Wrenching her gaze away from the sudden, frightening view, she had to lick her dry lips to speak.

  “The Darkening?”

  “I’d say so. It must have passed the barrier of the mountains during the night and has now invaded the sky.”

  “Dear Gods, are we too late?”

  “There’s only one way to know that.”

  The appealing smell of scrambled eggs wafted from the plate in front of her and tickled her nose, but as much as she usually enjoyed this familiar odour, her lurching stomach wouldn’t take it today.