Page 25 of The Naga Warlord’s Virgin Mate

At least we were nearing Orshala mountain again and the temperatures were improving. At night I still held her close, curling her in my coils for warmth, but she no longer trembled with cold if she wasn’t wrapped up warm enough.

On the journey out to the lake and the building with the relics, I had been deeply worried about how to get Naomi around Orshala and to the Shaman. It hadn’t seemed safe to take the long way round, through the mountain pass, which involved too much climbing to make it when I carried both Naomi and supplies. The tunnels had seemed even worse, as we would be moving too slowly, but the strange cart changed that.

“Careful,” I murmured when I realized she was veering off from our course again to check out the oddly piled rocks to our left. They were too square to be anything but the remains of some ancient building my ancestors had left behind and Naomi had seen it too. Middle ground, I kept telling myself, that is what I had promised my mate. But I still felt fear each time she wanted to investigate something that could possibly hold technology.

She threw a look over her shoulder, her long blonde hair shimmering like gold in the sunlight. My breath caught in my chest, so beautiful, so bright. Looking at that smile made me realize just how dark and gloomy my life had been before she arrived. I couldn’t go back to that kind of darkness, living underground, fighting to keep my position, or squabbling with a rotten Queen. And, I had to admit this, a Clan with convictions that were no longer my own.

I’d fervently believed the Queen was right when she first rose to power, but I’d only been a juvenile then, desperate to find a purpose after both my parents had left me. It was easier to hate them for the things they did, and their differences compared to the Clan had made that a simple step. But I’d already been changed by their teachings, I’d tinkered, I’d built things, and I’d been dissatisfied by any of the knowledge I had available to me, and the decline of it I saw among the Clan.

“It’s just some rocks, maybe there was a house here at one point,” Naomi said, breaking me out of my thoughts. Kiwi was perched on the highest rock, his wings spread to sun them, snout tilted up to the violet ball in the sky. “It’s getting warmer, you like that better too, don’t you?”

I approached slowly, searching the ground to make sure there were no hidden dangers. Pointing an arm at the huge shape of Orshala’s flattened peak not far off, I said, “The fastest way is through the mountain. With that cart, you’ll keep up, won’t you?” She narrowed her blue eyes at me and pursed her lips, which I knew meant I’d said something she found mildly offensive.

“Of course I’ll keep up. Don’t worry. And it’s a wheelchair, Krashe, not a cart.” She laughed, her eyes twinkling on the last words, she wasn’t that upset. I knew she called it a wheelchair, but it didn’t have any wheels so that made no sense. It floated just above the ground in some magical fashion, making me uneasy because it reminded me a little too much of sky-ships.

“Tunnel entrance is right up there,” I deflected, pointing with my tail to a copse of trees not far off. The trees only grew at the foot of the mountain here, where they were sheltered from the winds and the temperatures further north. A tunnel ran from beneath those trees underground into the heart of the mountain, and entering there would save us a lot of time. I just hoped that the cart could fit through the trapdoor-covered hole.

She abandoned the odd pile of rocks to head for the trees, her hovering little cart making no noise as it floated over the brush. I hurried after her, followed by an anxious squeak from Kiwi. The Sleara landed on my shoulder with a few flaps of his wings, his claws digging into the tough leather of my pauldron. Already a favorite perch of his, the leather had seen some serious wear but I couldn’t be mad about it. Better my armor than my shoulder, I figured.

I threw open the trapdoor once I located it and tossed a burning torch into the hole to see if any creatures and made a home down below. “That is pretty deep, but I think this thing can do that. Just to be sure, maybe you should go first.” I grinned at her silly suggestion. Of course I would go first, like I would let her down into a dark tunnel by herself if I wasn’t sure it was safe yet. What kind of mate would that make me?

The climb down was easy for me, the hole wasn’t even a Naga length deep and soon I was jamming our torch into a crevice in the wall. Naomi’s little vehicle, laden with the pack and the precious spine repair boxes was heavier than it looked but it was pretty compact. I was a big Naga and I knew that though made for my shape, it would be hard to fit all my coils onto it.

“Can I toss that pack down first? Just to be safe?” Naomi asked from above, her face in shadows with the sun behind her. My scales rattled at the word. Was this not safe? Was she worried the cart would fall? It could fly, couldn’t it?

She didn’t wait for an answer, furs and the backpack thudded down into the hole at my coils the next moment. The only thing she’d safely kept on the tray beneath her seat was the stack of tightly wrapped boxes for her spine. I watched anxiously as she used the strange symbols on the armrest of her seat to steer the whole thing down. My heart rate shot through the ceiling when her descent was much faster than I expected.

“Woohoo!” she laughed, the cart jolting to a halt just above the tunnel floor. It wobbled a little on the uneven terrain and my mate slid along the seat but then she righted herself. I hurried to yank the backpack from beneath it all so she had more stable ground. She was giggling, her face radiant, like she thought this was play.

“Ah come on Krashe, that was fun, and I am fine. Don’t scowl so much,” she laughed, poking a finger into the nearest coil of my tail to get me to look at her. Her hair was haloed around her shoulders in a wild, windswept mess. It had a tendency to do that because it was so fine and light, unlike my own thicker strands of dark red. Everything about my mate was small and fine and soft. Just thinking about the differences between our bodies made my blood heat.

“Oh boy, I know that look,” Naomi said with a throaty laugh that had my cock stir in its pouch. Yes, that look. We were in no rush anyway. There was nothing I could do for the Clan, even when I was right on the border of Bitter Storm’s territory. This tunnel saw no use, but I fully intended to use it now.

I flung the coil that she’d poked into her lap, and then twirled my tail around her middle and lifted her right out of her seat. She laughed when I pulled her closer, her hands landing on my coils, blunt little nails digging into my scales. “Krashe, you crazy man. Right here? In this dank, smelly tunnel?”

I flicked out my tongue to taste the air. Smelly? It smelled a bit like mulch and wet leaves, like the deep taste of the minerals that lined the stone walls further toward the mountain. Mostly though, it smelled like my mate. Sweet, musky, hinting at arousal and warmth. My mate tasted like the sunshine I craved, the sunshine that couldn’t reach me otherwise down here.

Making a show of defiance, I picked up the furs she’d dropped and spread them out along the dirt floor. She wasn’t laughing now, her blue eyes had gone wide in the soft yellow light of our torch. Her fingers dug a little deeper into my tail, her pink tongue darting out to lick at her bottom lip.

“Now,” I said simply, and then I pulled her close and covered her mouth with my own. Kissing her was one of my favorite ways to start our nest play. I loved tasting her, drugging myself with her scent, her essence. Naomi moaned as she flung her arms around my neck, one little fist closing around a thick braid in my hair and pulling. I liked that little bite of pain along my scalp and I liked it even more how free my mate felt when we came together like this, despite all the coils I had looped around her.

Flipping the tip of my tail down along her body, I curled it up between her legs and pressed. I knew she was sensitive there; even if she had admitted that it was less sensitive than before her accident. It still made her feel good, as did her breasts and I was only too happy to reach for those and strum her nipples into tight peaks.

Giving into my own desires was easy with her too, my cock eagerly extruding. I rolled us onto the furs I’d spread out, pressing her against the horizontal surface so I could divest her of all her clothes. I wanted to press my aching cock against her flesh, find the heat between her thighs, and I wanted to taste her scent at the source.

I found her core with the tip of my tail as soon as I’d pulled her strange pants down. She squealed when I pushed it into her wetness and curled it toward that one spot that always made her writhe. I wasn’t going to be satisfied this morning until she’d come apart for me at least half a dozen times.

“Krashe!” she shouted when I flicked the tip in a steady rhythm, watching avidly how her narrow passage swallowed it. I loved how filling her with my cock or my tail made the soft petals above her slit flower, exposing the little pink bud at the top. Unable to resist that lure, I dipped down and curled my tongue around it, tugging along with the motions of my tail.

“Aaah,” she moaned, her head thrashing on the furs. Her hands shot down, coasting along the coil still wrapped around her waist. She pushed them into my hair, pressing against my head, dislodging the leather band that kept my locks contained. “Too much,” she moaned, her hips giving the barest of wiggles. I let up, not wanting to hurt her when she got too sensitive. I slowed the thrusting of my tail and made it a leisurely pace while I carefully watched her face.

When she opened her eyes again, her cheeks were flushed a lovely pink. I made sure she was watching when I rose over her and fisted my cock. I loved it when that made her grin, a callback to our first foray into sex. I loved covering her with my seed, it was forever going to be one of my favorite things to see, her flesh painted with my spend. “Do you want this, Nomy? Say it,” I demanded, my chest swelling with heat, my cock growing harder when the rough words made her eyes light up.

*

Naomi

“Yes!” I said. Of course I wanted that sexy cock of his. I might have been a virgin when we met, but I hadn’t felt like one since the moment he’d stroked that thing over my belly back in his home. That night, he’d claimed me, marked me. And it was so hot when he reminded me of that fact. I guess I really was a hopeless romantic if I thought that was sweet.