Chapter Three
They traveled like this for two days, as Linther ran towards the clan of Lunehill. He said it would be roughly three, perhaps four days, though spending several hours or more clutching at his back proceeded to bore Raine and give her ample time to think. She certainly needed the time, because the deeper they traveled into the Lunar Wastes, the more foreboding the landscape became.
Truthfully, she just wanted to run an inn again. Maybe the Lunehill werewolves required an inn? Good luck then getting the border traders to travel into the wastelands.
Linther still acted cautious of her vial, but he accepted her dark secret as another means to fight the Shadows.
They stopped by a small lake for food, after finding a whole grove of ice berries growing by the banks. Raine handed him her weapons when he requested, before picking away at the berries, allowing their sweet blue juices to dribble down her throat. Linther sniffed at the crossbow, nostrils twitching as he scented the magic. “It may well be that we won't have time to sit around and scoff at every new method that comes along. Besides, Shadows don't seem to have feelings. They just exist. Kill. And populate.” He then inspected the sabre, hissing when he ran it over his finger, and it fizzled the flesh there.
“Don't kill yourself, will you?” Raine said to him, as he held up the sabre. His affronted expression amused her and made her heart twitch slightly at the same time. “Moon knows there's enough death out here without you adding to the numbers.”
“That's seriously potent!” Linther flinched from just touching the metal itself. “It doesn't even have to cut me. I can feel the danger in this magic. Hmm.” He appraised her. “You know, aside from the strong barriers, and the cool fires, are you basically a useless witch when you don't have Shadow blood?”
“Not useless,” Raine replied. She flicked her red hair in slight protest. “I know all your basic protections. I just don't exactly have great tomes of knowledge casually lying around. Just what my mother taught me.”
“Well. You should be in for a fun time with Garcia,” Linther replied, grinning, the look making Raine's blood pulse in excitement. “She can shoot lightning out her hands.”
Raine considered the amount of energy a spell like that might require, and shuddered. Strong enchantments caused her head to practically explode. Forked lightning? Manipulating static electricity into a lethal form? She'd be dead a few times over. Or a gibbering ball of insanity.
Know your limits, her mother used to say. Yes. Just like how she decided to bypass them to fully enchant the sabre.
“I'm not sure if I want to do that. Sounds like too many things might go wrong. Like what if I accidentally fry you?”
“If you can aim at a target with a crossbow, I assume you can aim with a little bit of lightning.”
“Little bit, he says,” she muttered, chewing through more of the ice berries. He laughed and strode up to her, also sorting through some of the berries for himself.
“Let's head off shortly. I'm getting a bad vibe about the place, though I can't put my finger upon it.”
“This is the Lunar Wastes. Almost everything about it gives out bad vibes,” Raine pointed out. Linther rolled his eyes in response.
Actually, Raine found the wastelands beautiful to some extent, though she wondered what once lay behind the grounds, and what the ruined buildings dotted over the landscape once looked like, instead of the derelict, haunted structures they resembled today. Maybe it used to be a living land of cities paved with marble tiles and golden fountains. Maybe they had stairs that reached the moon, and more werewolves, instead of the fragmented clans that existed today.
The few days of rest, only using her magic to light fires, helped Raine to recover mentally and physically from her magical error.
The longer she traveled with Linther, the more attracted she felt to him. It was hard to not be attracted, really, with his impressive and virile male form. She found him easy to talk to, and during one day, when they stopped, rested and washed at a small house in the middle of nowhere, ran by a tough old witch, they decided to take advantage of the opportunity of a warm place to stay for some of the night – all for another one of Raine's enchanted teeth.
“That old crone, seriously,” Linther grumbled, as he slurped at a good drink of water, sniffing at his fresh skin from having bathed. “Wouldn't accept fifty gold coins. Happy for one tooth.”
“What use is she going to have for coin in the middle of nowhere?” Raine argued. “Unless she has such a massive stack hidden from us that fifty coins to her meant nothing.”
Linther growled appreciatively at her form as she took off some of the fur robes, before he sighed and laid back on the bed. “Curse this attraction. All I'm supposed to do is escort you. Plus, I've technically kidnapped you. So I doubt you'll be seeking any kind of affection from me right now.”
Raine smiled at him. “Don't be so sure about that. I might just welcome some uh, 'affection.'” To escape. To forget what she had left behind.
She didn't know if she loved Linther, but she did see herself needing security rabid at the sight of a new female. If she needed someone to pair with, Linther certainly wouldn't be the worse choice around.
He lifted one eyebrow, before sitting up. “Oh?”
Raine examined him a moment. Then, she began taking off the rest of her clothes, in the tiny room with the flickering candles, mindful she might need to be careful not to make too much noise. In case the old witch downstairs happened to be listening. Linther's pale, thin lips stretched in a lustful smile, and his eyes dilated as he watched Raine strip off.
“To think that this was hiding underneath all those clothes...” He held one hand out to her, beckoning her close, and she closed the distance, now fully naked, to sit on his lap and spread her legs out over him. He grinned, his handsome, oval face sinking into her heart, and he cupped her rear as she began peeling off his fur pants, revealing his throbbing erection beneath.
Delighted to see that he desired her, she rubbed herself against him, before going for the kiss, seeing how his lips tasted against hers. His breath melted against her lips, and the scent of him drew her to him like a magnet, taking deep inhales as she moved away from his lips and sniffed at his neck. He brought her face back up to his again for lip to lip contact, reveling in the feel of their breaths intermingling, their bodies pressing together.
He tasted good, honestly, and this was exactly what Raine needed – a distraction, with someone containing a good heart. The warmth of someone who already knew one of the most terrible secrets she possessed, and who looked at her with that soft, smoldering gaze, sometimes tinged by a predatory, primal instinct.
The primal instinct took over now as they continued to kiss, and with a grunt, he spun them around so that Raine flopped out on the bed beneath him with a gasp, body trembling in desire.
She groaned as he pushed his erection into her, feeling her toes curl into the sheets, and arched so that the back of her head writhed against the pillows. He sucked at her breasts as they lifted to his face, before insisting on his hard, pounding motion into her body. She was already slippery, already prepared for him, and she suppressed a series of moans as he dug deep into her, stirring the familiar tension inside.
It didn't take long for her to come at all, and she felt the warm heat of his orgasm flow through her as well. Honestly, she wouldn't mind more of that. A lot more. Everything about him served to delight her in that moment, even before her climax.
At least he was prepared to attempt a round two, shortly after they had rested side by side, grinning like idiots.