Sleeping Beast Ch. 09

"Repka, dedka, babka, vnuchka, zhuchka, koshka, myshka," Troi cheerfully chanted the words of the folk-tale. "Everyone plays a part!"

Talgut groaned. Would he never live down that silly comment? Even Nivid had said "repka" to him once in jest, and the beast barely spoke. Talgut had been half in his cups and couldn't even remember what he'd been talking about, but he'd heard the list at least once a day since then, and a hundred variations on the theme of the mouse, the cat, the dog, the girl, and her grandparents working together to move the giant turnip.

Troi's thoughts wandered and she finished the row in silence, standing to stretch her back and finding that Talgut had left without announcing his intentions, or perhaps she'd been too deep in thought to hear him go. Troi assumed he was off to bathe and collect the sheaf of sketching paper which had become his closest companion as his friend's mood worsened. He'd been playing chess with Nivid occasionally, but Nivid's conversational skills weren't up to extended bouts of the teasing banter Talgut had enjoyed with Argus.

She'd heard Nivid grunting a complimentary one-word assessment of Talgut's drawing skills the previous afternoon, though. He was doing better. She bent to collect her basket with a smile.

Everyone plays a part.

-- o --

Troi went to her room to wash and returned to the wolves when she found no one to join her at table. None of them lunched consistently, so the bread and cheese she carried with her was sufficient for a midday meal.

Idly, she tossed bits of the crust to the two dozen wolves confined in the old stable, wishing she could release them from their stone-walled prison. She actually contemplated that insane notion for half a minute. Much of the time she thought she could walk among them without sustaining a single scratch, and in Troi's opinion, there was still nothing short of enchantment which would explain that behavior.

She'd concede that Argus might be correct about Nivid: perhaps the wolves hunted with him due simply to his skill and strength, but to her mind, tossing a few treats wouldn't explain the way they acted around her. Every time they saw her, they were equally as attentive, whether she had treats or not, and they'd been so from her first glimpse of them. It wasn't just the pups, either; she saw the same welcoming look, to one degree or another, on every member of the pack.

Ofsa nipped at Ozu, who snarled confidently in return, having won the battle for Troi's last bite. The female who'd given birth to them flicked an irritable ear in their direction.

"Be sweet," Troi berated them with a laugh, "or Mama will teach a lesson you won't like."

As though approving of the remonstrance, their mama looked up, tongue dripping from one side of a friendly canine smile. Troi smiled back at her, wishing the female had given birth to a litter this year, but Ofsa and Ozu were the youngest. Talgut said the pack stayed small because the females seldom whelped. Troi sighed, hoping for a few plump bundles of fur to laugh at next year.

Despite the snarls and bites with which they chastised one another, Troi found peace in watching the wolves. They had rulers and rules, but they worked together, and every pack member would defend the others. Maybe it wasn't the same as the love between human family members, but Troi was happy when she saw the bond between them.

If the wolves were indeed bewitched, what role did they play in the curse's longevity?

Again, she could explain their affinity for Nivid: mayhap they'd been tasked to watch over him for some reason. But what possible purpose would be served by making them friendly to Troi?

She sighed, wiggled her bottom forward, and pushed herself off the wall, brushing her hands together to rid herself of the sandy feeling left behind by the stones. She was getting nowhere, and as Argus mentioned, the wolves' strange behavior did seem to indicate they weren't harboring a sorcerer or witch. So, if no evil had taken up residence with the pack, and no talisman lurked between the castle walls, where was the witch?

It was the question Troi had been trying diligently to avoid.

She'd warded everything she could think to ward against magical intrusions-- her work-room and kitchen, all the bedchambers in use, the study in the tower, even the guard-room-- and she'd smudged potential evil from at least a hundred objects-- at Talgut's insistence the sneering scarecrow even received a second treatment-- but Troi could go no further without killing the witch.

There was no point in trying to break the curse if the witch still lived. Even if Troi succeeded in attaining her fantastic, highly-doubtful goal, the witch would simply cast another spell if she were left alive to do so.

Troi needed to find the witch... but how did one go about finding a witch who didn't wish to be found?

-- o --

Her sewing room was empty when she went to find her men, as were the kitchen, the guard-room, and both drawing rooms. A peek over the wall told her the wolves were out, so Argus and Talgut wouldn't be outside. She tried the tower, but when she located Nivid, they didn't discuss the witch.

He was sitting in the big doeskin chair, shaped more like a sofa to accommodate his size, and he looked... if he were anyone but Nivid, Troi would have said he looked afraid. But the only time she'd ever known him to be afraid... her mind went back to the night the'd told her the secret they'd been keeping about the Denova curse. Later, when she'd asked him about Argus... the distant shadows which had dulled Nivid's eyes and the uneasy manner slope of his shoulders as he answered her questions... his manner now recalled them to her mind.

"Nivid?"

He was on her like a rabid beast.

When she finally caught her breath, Troi smiled into the kiss. Almost like a rabid beast.

A small, hungry moan escaped her as Nivid's huge hands wended their way beneath her skirts, tearing at the loose trousers she wore beneath. She was on her back in his feather bed by then, and she tried to lift her hips, but with his hands down by her thighs, his upper body held her helplessly pinned. , In any case, he required no assistance.

His need was so great-- Troi wasn't sure she'd ever known him to be quite so hungry for her, not even that first month, when she'd kept herself secluded during her woman's time. He'd been frantic after four days without her, then, too, but....

The thought drifted away in the heat of Nivid's kisses, as the small forays of his tongue flicked at the corners of her mouth, playfully entreating the tip of hers. Troi was wrapped securely in sweetness, her senses focused on the tactile pleasures of Nivid's lips against hers. Taste, scent, feeling, those became the center of Troi's world when Nivid kissed her. All else became muffled and cloudy.

Weeks ago, Nivid had recognized the necessity of pulling his head back and making eye contact before asking her a question, because Troi would never notice a murmured word against her lips or cheek, when his mouth was still so close, and she was still languishing in the power of his kisses. This time was no different from all those others: Troi didn't notice-- and didn't care-- when Nivid's talons tore through the center seam of her trousers, baring her body to him.

His mouth went sideways to sip at her earlobe and the delicate line of her neck as he angled his upper body to one side, bunching her dress above her waist and trapping it between them.

"Troi," he moaned against her collarbone as he lined himself up.

Troi barely had time to absorb the impression of air brushing over body parts which she'd supposed were covered when she felt the blunt head pressing against her center, and the fog of pleasure was whisked away by sudden alarm. She was willing, but not ready. "Nivid!" She shoved at his chest as his hips shifted, his cock pressing into her soft, tight, unprepared entrance. When he didn't heed her first cry, she shrieked, "Nivid!"

He lifted his face from the pillow near her shoulder, and the scent of her panic yanked him out of whatever desperate dreamscape had pushed him so far, so fast, without her. He blinked, his face slackened, and his eyes opened wide. "Troi." Her name landed somewhere between question and plea, and he heaved his mammoth body up and off.

Troi felt the horrified shudder that swept through him and yipped in protest as he tried to roll away. The sound was already rising from her throat when he rolled over her braid, pulling her hair and adding volume to her exclamation.

He misread her emotions and Nivid's roll became a recoil.

Fortunately, Troi had predicted his reaction and clung to him like a baby possum to its mama. When Nivid landed with Troi still pressed against him in all the same spots, he blinked, his dawning horror blunted by the affection in her eyes.

Her belly loosened in relief. He'd be easier to reach without that shield of shame between them.

"Troi?" he said again, his hands automatically rising to her waist.

She kissed him, not a deep passionate kiss that would steal her will, but a series of small nips to reassure him, adding a hum of approval his animal senses would be certain to hear. Some of the tension seeped from his body, and she lifted her head, meeting his eyes with a twinkling of humor. "Pray, grant me a moment's contemplation, kind sir, while I mull over the benefits of your offer."

Confusion held him still long enough for Troi to get her dress unbuttoned, so he at least believed her intentions before trying to stop her. "Troi--"

She sighed. Men were so predictable sometimes.

She pushed his hands off her waist and dropped another kiss on the bridge of his nose. "Nivid, don't be silly. I need this; I need you to help me forget, to cure my mind of these... dreadful expectations." She melted downward, meeting his eyes just as her breasts touched his chest. "Please, Nivid."

He growled, the heavy eyelids lowering as he scented her desire. She wasn't ready yet, but she hadn't lied about her need. He helped strip her clothes away, his chest rumbling in the long, rolling purr he made when he was hard and she made him wait. Once again his erection became a thick, insistent presence beneath her.

Now that she had him, Troi dawdled, making certain she unfastened every-- single-- button... and every-- single-- tie... on every-- single-- item... while she shifted her weight to and fro, her bottom rubbing against him, until the grumble became a constant growl, and he no longer had to worry about her readiness. By the time she finally drew her shift off, her pussy was dripping, his cock and the soft black fur at its root shining with her juices. Every muscle in his body was tense, the cords in his neck standing out with Nivid's effort to maintain control.

Troi let the shift drip away from her fingers and leaned forward just enough to tease him with her nipples as she gazed into his eyes. "Nivid?" she began, a plea in her voice even as she straightened. From the mattress beside him, her hands slid onto her knees, over her pale inner thighs, grazing her curls on the way to her hips. With flat palms, Troi stroked upward into the dip of her waist, and further, rounding her ribcage until she was cupping her own breasts, offering herself to the beast between her legs.

"Nivid," she repeated, her question changed to command. "Fuck me."

She was on her back an instant later with the fat, hard head of his cock once again pressing into her center, which was now welcoming and very wet. He groaned an endearment before burying his nose in the hair behind her ear, drawing in the pure, sunshine scent of Troi's adoration.

She whimpered as he filled her, tenderly, gently, and so slowly that she was nearly screaming in frustration before he seated himself. Despite her teasing, he held back, afraid of what he'd almost done.

She didn't want that. Her earlier words hadn't been half-truths meant to soothe him: she needed him and the sweet oblivion of ecstasy his lovemaking gave to her. She didn't want it washing softly over her, either; she wanted blissful forgetfulness pounded into her with force and emphasis and fingerprint bruises that would last for days, and she didn't want to beg anymore. She bit him. Hard.

When Troi wrapped her arms around his neck, locked her feet behind his spine, and buried her teeth in the thick pad of muscle on the front of his shoulder, refusing to release him, Nivid's growl grew to a roar. She ground her hips against him in hard circles, writhing and snarling against his flesh. Levering himself upright with Troi still wrapped around him, Nivid's roar subsided. The coarse fur of his thighs caressed her bottom as he move her roughly.

When he threw them back down onto the bed, his stiff cock rammed against her cervix, paining them both. She released his shoulder and moaned loudly, "Oh, God, yes! More!"

Nivid ceased fighting the will of his woman and fucked her with the fury he'd been withholding.

He'd almost done something unforgivable, but Troi had leapt with him off the same sweet cliff. He fucked her to one intense orgasm and was nudging her up the hill to her second when Troi's arms grew weary.

Lying on his pillow panting, she grinned up. "Do it some more."

He growled and rolled off the bed, taking Troi and the pillow with him. Holding it up to pad her spine, Nivid pinned her up against one of the bed's massive corner-posts. With his elbows pressing tightly into her waist to hold her high, and his paw-like hands gripping the post behind her, Nivid bent his knees until his cock was almost free of her slick embrace, then stood, releasing her abruptly to meet the hard spike rising from below.

Her cunt closed over him, and Troi made a sound like one of the female wolves produced when a male pinned her to the ground. Nivid did it again and again, and every time his cock hit home, Troi yipped or inhaled on a little squeal, until he was fucking her fiercely and smoothly, pistoning into her as she rose and fell against the post, and her sounds became a long, plaintive howl of need. The warbling, weak scream of her completion made him moan, and Nivid finally allowed himself to meet his body's most essential need.

He let himself go, slamming his aching cock to the hilt in her tight, wet embrace. When he felt Troi's grip shift from his shoulders to his horns, Nivid stepped away from the post. Cupping her sweet round ass firmly, he lifted her over and over again to the head of his cock, only to drop her back onto his erection. He opened his eyes to find her watching him hungrily, as though his pleasure was her wine. Nivid's lips parted, then lifted into a snarl as his arousal sharpened, his dark, heavy testicles beginning to swell and pulse with the delicious pain of oncoming orgasm. He was grunting with every thrust, delaying the explosion to extend his pleasure, when he heard the soft words his own voice had hidden.

"Yes, yes, yes," Troi whispered, chanting her benediction as she watched him rise to orgasm. The love which made his pleasure her own overcame Nivid's minimal restraint, and he came, impaling her sweet, clinging cunt. As he spurted a pearly offering against the gate of her womb, Troi rocked her hips and moaned her musical approval.

He collapsed onto the feather mattress, and Troi slipped into the blissful oblivion of sleep, leaving Nivid awake, not quite alone, and furious.

He gave in to self-loathing. He should have told her. Troi had the right-- and the need-- to know about his brother's recent mental visitations. What if this new connection was part of some larger design?

He frowned-- as much as his face allowed. Coward.

He didn't want her to leave. So, instead, he'd done one thing virtually guaranteed to make her hate him.

Argus slipped away from his mind without attempting to disagree, the familiar, illness-induced slumber dragging him down. As awareness faded from that body, Nivid's senses sharpened and the remaining laxity of his orgasm became a thing of the past.

Vesa's voice in his head had already begun to blend with Nivid's own, and they'd been unanimous in declaring him seven kinds of stupid. Rather than confessing something he was unable to control-- which Troi might have found forgivable-- Nivid had acceded to Vesa's invasion, making love to Troi in his presence without her knowledge. The shame Argus felt for his night-time visits were nothing when compared to Nivid's current self-loathing. He'd allowed it to happen simply because he was too craven to confess, and Troi would surely never forgive him for his omission.

-- o --

Troi could almost believe she herself was enthralled, because the moment she rolled from Nivid's bed, sated and smiling and relaxed, her mind returned immediately to the darned wolves.

She was convinced that the wolves were bewitched, but again... why???

What purpose would their strange relationship with Nivid serve?

There was something about it that was bothering her...

Her mind bounced back and forth between the wolves and catching the witch and setting a trap for the witch and the two young wolves and why, why, why???

Why did they not growl and slaver at her presence?

Did she have some unknown power over them?

.

As her family tarried in the drawing room after the evening meal, Troi's mind continued to worry at the same vexatious strand... the wolves... the witch... the wolves.

The night she was taken... Nivid said he'd been hunting with the wolves that night... they'd attacked the men she was with... she'd been awakened by screams and growls and other sounds she'd rather not remember... yet it was a few long moments before Nivid scooped her from the ground... why had the wolves not savaged her that night in the pass?

.

"How many people come this way, through this pass?" Her question fell softly into the soothing quiet of the room.

Shrugs all around.

"Many go north or south to avoid it, if they've heard the rumors."

"Rumors? About Nivid?"

Talgut laughed. "No, not him-- people tell tales of the venomous, man-eating wolves."

.

The wolves that looked on Troi with affection in their eyes.

Why?

.

Troi stared past the burning white light of the whale oil into the dark cavern of the cold hearth."Where did you get the women before me? Ufa?"

Argus shifted, ill at ease with the topic, but he answered. "We tried not to go to the same place too often: Ufa was only one of the towns we visited."

Troi was awkwardly, uncomfortably gifted with an image of Talgut and Argus as wily, cautious thieves.

"Occasionally, we caught one walking at the edge of the taiga."

She winced.

"And some from parties traveling through the pass below." Talgut added mildly.

.

"You oughtn't to go through there with the woman." The old ostler nodding at her as he warned the men transporting Troi to her new owner's home.

"You must have waited months between women passing through."

The men traded looks of dumb confusion.

.

Before long, Talgut put down his drawing, and Nivid and Argus were seduced away from their marble pawns. Troi's mind continued to make precipitous leaps, swinging to and fro in jagged circles and swirls. Her mind skipped sideways and an idle thought invaded. Did Nivid and Argus try to cheat at chess or cards by peeking at each other's strategy in their minds?

Mind. One mind.

Diversions set aside, the men waited for her to speak. They couldn't see her path, nor the map she followed, but through the whirlwind of Troi's topic-changes, all sensed something gathering over the horizon, and their attention was fixed on the still, olive-skinned woman.