Free Lord of the Dark by Dawn Thompson Page A

last time?”
    The nymph nodded. “I’m worth a try,” she purred, sidling close.
    “Do not touch my wings!” he warned her. “I’m beginning to believe you are in league with the damnable watchers!” It might not be a bad idea to take his pleasure in the wood nymph. In all the years, he’d only had her once, and she was a skilled lover. If he did, he might just sate himself enough to keep from ravishing Rhiannon, which somehow seemed paramount. He almost laughed. He must be going mad. The sexual stream that flowed through him was always at high tide. It wouldn’t matter who he penetrated or how many. His cock was ever hard and at the ready, thanks be to the gods who had decreed his fate.
    That thought was scarcely out when he realized he was surrounded. Wood nymphs converged upon him from all directions, backing him against a tall oak tree, whose branches tethered him while they fondled and caressed him. That was most excruciating of all, for the branches were rough and unyielding against his tender feathers, and his arousal was acute.
    Vina opened the front of his eel skin and freed his cock. One wood nymph would have been torment enough. He counted six, two wearing spider silk, one draped in silkworms’ gauze, the others naked, or nearly so. Twelve hands were upon him, stroking penis, nipples, wings, and testes, massaging his corded thighs and ridged middle.
    Gideon groaned and steeled himself against the watchers’ missiles. It didn’t matter what the wood nymphs did to him. The damnable harpies of the gods would make an end to pleasure before it began.
    When the trees’ leafy branches formed a canopy overhead, Gideon laughed. “Just what good do you suppose that will do?” he said. “Just yesterday the Ancient Ones tried that. The minute I flew aloft, the watcher hurled his thunderbolt.”
    “We will make it worth the price of thunderbolts,” Vina murmured, inching up the skirt of her garment.
    “I did not make the rules,” Gideon said.
    “And we need not abide by them,” the nymph countered.
    “It matters not that I would not be enduring this if it wasn’t for the curse?” he asked her.
    Vina shrugged. “We are wood nymphs, Lord of the Dark. We take our pleasures where we may, especially when they are a gift of the gods…and so generously endowed.”
    “Then take, and have done!” Gideon snarled. “This is not a social visit.”
    “Yesss,” she hissed. “I will take it, and when I’ve done, thanks to the curse, there will be plenty left over for my sisters.”
    They covered him then, like a living quilt, lifting Vina up within his reach, until she was able to take him inside her. Gideon groaned. It was beyond his control, so many hands exploring him, so many dainty fingers playing with his skin, with his sex and his senses. Tethered as he was by the great oak’s branches, the last thing he needed then was to tear his wings. He had to get back to Rhiannon, and as traitorous as the appendages were, he needed them to fly. Besides, to move a hairsbreadth then would have brought him to climax before she’d had her fill. The only thing deterring it thus far was the pain.
    As if they’d read his mind, the nymphs began stroking his wings as well. It was beyond bearing. Gideon seized Vina’s buttocks and took her deeply. She was a skilled lover, as were all the nymphs. Their prowess was legend, and few could resist it. The climax was swift and riveting, but the others were not to have their turn. The twang of a bowstring and the rush of displaced air stopped the orgy, as an arrow sliced through the foliage and struck the tree, tethering Gideon.
    The thunderous racket of heavy horse’s hooves shook the forest floor as Marius pranced through the trees. He had reloaded his longbow and held it at the ready. At sight of him, the squealing wood nymphs fled deep into the forest.
    “That’s right, run, my beauties!” the centaur shouted after them. “As well you ought! You overstep your