Tara

Even as Sheela walked toward the pool, looking upward at the hovering mountain, she couldn’t help but be enamored by the body she remained glued to. Here was Sheela trying to do what, perhaps, nobody had ever done before. She should be excited about it. Excited for her friend.

Yet Jerome called to her. Not with words but with his body. Her body was experiencing a strange excitement, the sort she had never experienced before. It was almost overbearing. Only the knowledge that it would be wrong to… crave someone who was like a son to her kept her from doing something she would regret.

Yet she clung to him. Unable to force herself away. Wanting to rub her sensitive parts against him, to feel what pleasure would be like with him — but dreading it all the same. It was torture to be so close to him. Yet there was no place she’d rather be.

“What’s wrong, Ms. Tara,” Jerome asked. “You’re uncomfortable.”

“I’m fine,” she answered. “Just tired.”

“You need something to take your mind off your stress.”

The way he said it, she felt like he knew exactly what was wrong with her. Which only caused her blush to deepen. Tara didn’t want Jerome to see her blushing like a girl who hadn’t even reached her majority, yet was fawning over a man. It was going to be embarrassing if he ever found out her body was excited for him.

He stood up and pulled her up with him. “Come on. Let’s go see Sheela embarrass herself,” he said with a chuckle.

She giggled, thankful that he took her mind off her bodily excitement. “I thought you told her to try.”

“Emphasis on ‘try’,” he snorted. “She’s never gonna reach the mountain.”

Tara burst out laughing.

Sheela reached the pool and jumped into the air, flying upward. Her strange action caught some attention and Sprouts from the two Great Clans started to take interest. The Itakars walked toward them. Tara couldn’t help but hold onto Jerome’s arm tight. His arm was so muscular; strong and manly.

“You can feel me up as much as you want when there aren’t so many eyes watching, Ms. Tara,” his voice reached her ear like a whisper.

Tara tensed and wanted to move away. Jerome held her in place. Quite intimately, if she might add. She felt her cheeks and ears heat up and hoped young lady Selene wouldn’t notice. The excitement she felt before came rushing in a torrent from the sound of his voice. Especially since he whispered it. She clamped her thighs together as she felt heat pool between them.

Jerome cleared his throat. “Sorry about that,” his voice reached her again. She could almost hear the tension in it. “I don’t know what came over me.”

Tara moaned into his chest, which thankfully muffled the sound. Something hard poked her in the stomach all of a sudden. Tara thought maybe Jerome kept a weapon on his person so she reached for it to push it aside. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but it wasn’t comfortable to be poked either.

She grabbed the offending weapon and Jerome stiffened with a groan. He held her tighter, crushing her belly and fist to his crotch.

Eh? It quickly dawned on her what the ‘weapon’ was.

“What is Sheela trying to do, Jerome?” Selene asked.

~~~

Jerome slowly released Ms. Tara. and she slowly — like she didn’t want to — let go of his engorged member. Her heartbeat was racing a mile away that he felt concerned. If she was still a mere mortal, he’d definitely be concerned. But he held her still, not letting her dash away. Because he knew that if he let go, shame and embarrassment would make her do something stupid — or maybe not, but it would give away the fact something was up between them both. And he didn’t want any more drama as it were.

He cleared his throat to answer Selene, who had no idea what was going on between them. He couldn’t tell her all that he knew about the hovering mountain, only the myth. And even that would raise suspicions so he decided not to.

“She’s trying to reach the mountain,” he said. A short and simple answer.

Selene looked at him with an expression that said his comment wasn’t enough of an explanation. “... aaand…?”

“It’s impossible… at least for a Sprout,” he answered, not meeting her gaze.

“And you know this, how?”

“Would you like to try, Selene?” Jerome asked, making sure not to sound threatening. He gestured with his arm at the mountain. “You’re free to try.”

“Deflection,” Selene said. “I see—” Ajax clamped a hand over her mouth to prevent her from saying more.

Jerome sighed. “I’m not deflecting, Selene. That’s all I know. If I told you how I know, I would be risking my safety as well as everyone’s here.”

He gave her a pointed look, hoping she understood.

“Sorry,” she muttered, looking away guiltily.

They concentrated on the ignorant Sprout trying to reach the hovering mountain. The Feis were out of their tents now, watching with interest to see if she could reach the barrier. Ms. Tara turned in Jerome’s arms to watch the show too. They’d both calmed down — a little. He was still hard as a result of her gripping his cock, and the press of her body as her lower back pushed against his hardness didn’t help. She wasn’t out of it either. Her arousal tortured her just as his tortured him.

Sheela slowed down after flying to an altitude of at least a thousand feet in the air. No.

“Something’s repelling her,” he said. He could see her struggling to fly higher.

Gasps sounded around as the other sprouts caught on too. Sheela was struggling. Jerome could only think of one thing that would repel a Sprout as strong as Sheela: gravity. The mountain generated its own gravity. And it could be a hundred times greater than what they were used to.

He teleported to her in an instant and a split second later he was back where he was, holding her in his arms. Everyone flinched.

“Jerome?” Ms. Tara called.

“How did you do that?” Ajax asked, surprised.

Jerome laid Sheela down to examine her. She passed out the moment he teleported her. He could sense that she was already healing from the stress she put her body through to push to such altitude. There was a tiny tumor in her brain but with the right amount of vital aura, he healed it.

This would teach her not to overestimate herself.

~~~

Tara

“If you haven’t noticed,” Sheela said as she walked into their tent, “He’s attracted to you.”

Tara stiffened. “You’re supposed to be resting, Sheela,” she said, but she could hear her voice shake. “He’s not attracted to me. And why are you dressed like that?”

Sheela smirked. Tara could almost see her nipples peeking out from the vest she was wearing — which was a little too tiny for her bust. All of her midriff was exposed as well. Walking away from Jerome had brought some measure of relief… and longing. Now she had to deal with her friend who seemed to be rutting. There was so much tanned skin on display that she felt uncomfortable. Sheela was beautiful. She had the kind of beauty that made one jealous.

Tara wanted to ask if Sheela was in her rutting cycle — she’d witnessed how her friend acted around Jerome — but she didn’t want to encourage the Midnight Panther.

“Why aren’t you him? I thought he’d be the one to come back and check up on me.” Sheela pouted but sniffed as she got closer. “Ooh. I can see the feeling is mutual.” She grinned, and Tara felt like disappearing. Maybe the ground could open up and just swallow her up.

Of course! Sheela was a Shifter and she could smell her arousal!

“Stop!”

Sheela laughed. Her awkwardness only encouraged her friend. Tara stomped to her makeshift bedroll and turned her back on Sheela. That didn’t stop her friend though.

“You are not backing out of this, Tara.”

Light! She hates it when Sheela does this! “Yes!” Tara screamed and faced her, uncaring if they were heard arguing. “He excites my body! Happy now!”

“Your body?”

Tara rolled her eyes and slumped on her bedroll facing the roof of the tent. “I don’t know why I feel like I do around him, Sheela. I mean, I practically raised him. I’m like a mother to him. He even said so.”

“So?”

Tara raised an eyebrow at her friend.

“And so? That shouldn’t stop you from being with him if you want. A woman raising a man to adulthood and then becoming his mistress or even his wife isn’t unheard of in Vorthe.”

Sheela stood up and stretched with a cat-like grace. It was beautiful to watch. “You’re stressing over nothing, Tara. How do I look?”

“What…?” Tara was a bit confused at the question. She coughed. “You look like a lady of the night. Jerome is not going to like that. I raised him right.”

Sheela laughed. “Not when he’s thinking with his cock, he won’t!”

“Sheela!” Tara exclaimed. “Your nipples are out. Men don’t want other men ogling their lovers—”

“You mean eye-fucking. They can look but they can’t touch.”

“Urgh!” Tara groaned. “If you want to bond with Jerome, you have to dress appropriately.”

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Sheela adjusted her nipples in her skintight leather vest. At least she was a bit self-aware.

“I plan on proving to him that I’m worthy of being a mate. I’m never leaving him — whether he likes it or not. He can have as many wives and consorts as he wants but I’m going to be one of them.”

Sheela left the tent. Tara sighed, deciding she’d had enough adventure for one day. Her heart couldn’t take any more. Her body would explode from the torrent of arousal if she wasn’t careful.

~~~

Jerome watched as Sheela walked up to him swaying her hips from side to side. She wasn’t even concerned that he was in the midst of other male Sprouts.

He’d been helping Ajax finetune his void bridge, so he could use it for longer than he used to. Ajax didn’t even know it was called a void bridge. It was probably from one of Vorthe’s trainees who came here on their many expeditions.

He had used his spatial rune to examine the void bridge as best as he could. Being in the Core Formation Realm limited his use of psychic energy, so there was little he could do beyond increasing the amount of usage by a Sprout. This he had done by reducing waste of essence.

“Just know that the void bridge is like a Sail, you need to involve it in your cycling to master it better,” he said. Ajax nodded absently.

Jerome looked over at Sheela. Her leather vest seemed two sizes smaller. Her breasts were almost spilling out of them and her arms, shoulders, and toned stomach were on display. She also had on skin tight leather shorts that were too short and too tight for her. Her wide hips and thick thighs called to him, drawing his attention.

Every male with him turned to look at her. Before she got to them, they gave one excuse or the other and hightailed it away from him.

Sheela walked up to him. “Hey, handsome.”

He smiled, deciding to play along. “Hey, beautiful.” She beamed up at him.

“Aren’t you tired? You’ve been up for how long now?”

“Two days by Terra Praeta’s standard but I’m fine.”

Sheela stood really close to him. Like, really close that if he directed his gaze down he could see all her goods. “That’s four days in our world.”

“Why are you dressed like that?”

She shrugged and pulled him by the arm toward the tree she had rested in before. “Come on, you need rest.” She made sure to give him a good rub with her tits, his arm between them.

“So,” she said when they were lying in the shade of the tree. “You and Tara. I’m pretty sure something happened between you two for her to act the way she did when she came in. She was very horny!”

Jerome lay there thinking about what to tell her. She was practically glued to him and… grinding against him?

“Sheela?... What are you doing?”

“Don’t mind me. And I can tell you want me too, Jerome.” Her voice was husky and filled with need.

Jerome felt his blood pool south of his body.

“You turned Tara into a horny, blushing, smitten fool. I want to experience that too.”

“Don’t you think you’re moving too fast?”

“Do you know how attractive you are, Jerome?” Sheela practically purred, her grinding becoming more passionate. “Not just in appearance but in your actions. Your actions scream ‘competence’... yes, that’s the word. And you ooze sensuality. It makes you irresistible. It’s a wonder all the females here haven’t pounced on you — not that they haven’t shown interest.” She giggled.

“Still… this is happening faster than I anticipated.”

Sheela snorted, eyeing him with what he could only call ravenous hunger and a hint of mirth. “How cute of you. What will you do next, blush?”

Now, that would be very embarrassing. Jerome glared at her but she ignored him, giggling at his reaction. She slid upward along his body and held him tight on his shoulders. Sheela started kissing him on the neck right where they were, uncaring if others were watching.

He took a deep breath to calm his thoughts. “You need to focus on growing your strength, Sheela.”

“Then push me away, Jerome,” she purred. Which only caused his arousal to shoot up. His dick poked her in the thigh and Sheela purred again, rubbing herself more aggressively against him.

Something was either very wrong with her — but that would mean something was wrong with Ms. Tara too, since she was almost acting the same way; even though she was very restrained — or something was wrong with him. Jerome couldn’t help but feel he was the common denominator.

“Just be patient with me till I fall asleep,” she murmured, grinding even harder against his hip as she gave him love bites. Her breath was hot on his skin which only drove his arousal up.

Jerome was speechless. Shifters were brazen but he didn’t think it was to such levels. Sheela had shown interest in him and he was interested in her too. But he had expected them to take their time. He knew very little about her after all.

“This is happening too fast,” he muttered. He moved his hand to her tight ass, assisting her to pleasure herself — he couldn’t help himself. He was hard also but he didn’t want to come on as desperate. He knew she’d probably agree to a quick romp in the sheets but it felt wrong. Plus, he didn’t know if she could take his size.

Sheela reached for his dick and gasped, rubbing it through his pants. With a groan, Jerome pushed his hips into her hand. “You’re huge, Jerome.”

“Sheela.” He held back a moan.

“Shifters embrace their sexuality,” she said. “Attraction is a big part of that and we don’t like to dally. And I think I’m entering my ‘rutting cycle’.”

Jerome sighed. He’d absorbed such knowledge from the memory stones in Sanctum concerning some of the species in Terra Praeta. Their first ‘rutting cycle’ started after their majority, which was around seventy years by Terra Praetan time. It usually happens when they meet someone they are attracted to. The first rutting cycle lasted for more than a year. Terra Praetan females were fertile throughout their lives. They had no monthly cycles.

Jerome braved a question. “Is this your first?”

“Yes,” was the moaned answer. Sheela sped up her grinding, squeezing his cock as she did. “I’m still a cub by shifter standards but I’ve definitely reached my majority in human terms.”

She came. Hard. jerking wildly against him. Her fingernails lengthened to claws, hardening. She held onto him, snarling as she bucked against him like a feral animal. Her teeth — more like fangs now — found his neck again and she bit him hard again and again. His skin was too tough to break from such an action though.

Jerome held her as she went through the throes of passion. After a long while, she relaxed against him. He listened as her heartbeat calmed and soon, she was dozing off. He carefully peeled her off him before going back to the pool. His hard-on wouldn’t go away if he was next to her. And he needed to think about what was going on. First Ms. Tara and now Sheela.

Sheela, he could understand but Ms. Tara?

~~~

Lang

“I wish to invite the Royal disciple to witness my advancement, Princess,” he said, rising from his meditative pose. They had pitched their tents inside the void world to give them some privacy.

“That’s dangerous, Lang. What if he gets… scared and attacks you.”

Lang gave her a pointed look.

The Princess shrugged. “People can do stupid things when they are scared and confused.”

“I don’t think I can ever imagine Jerome as ‘scared’ and ‘confused’,” he replied. The image he conjured only brought mirth to his heart. He chuckled. “There is a reason why this is necessary, Princess. I owe him a life debt. This can’t redeem that debt but it’ll go a long way to soften his heart toward the clan, toward me.” He hated admitting that.

“It wouldn’t matter when you become a Spirit Realm artist. He’d have no other choice to bow to your strength—”

Lang slapped his chest. “Zatirah knows my heart, Princess! And it is the heart of a warrior — a loyal warrior; the heart of a champion who accepts humility when he is humble, the heart of a man who wouldn’t go against his words!”

Princess Lin sighed. “You know, sometimes I wish you were a little like me; flexible and not so…” she gestured with her arms. “Urgh!”

Lang smiled. “If I was flexible, you wouldn’t trust me. The Matriarch wouldn’t trust you with me.”

He walked up to the tent flap, called one of his teammates, and had him run an errand.

“He will be here soon. Please Princess, show some courtesy,” he pleaded.

Princess Lin glared at him but nodded curtly. She sat properly in her chair, crossing her legs. At that moment she looked so much like her mother, he couldn’t help but smile.

Moments passed in silence as they waited. Soon, Jerome arrived.

“I’m here,” he said, opening the tent flap and entering.

“You are welcome, Jerome,” Lang said from his meditative position on a floor pillow. “I called for you to extend a gesture of respect and appreciation.”

His guest slowly sat opposite him on another pillow, the action almost methodical and… sensual. Lang did a double-take at his guest. He watched the young Sprout closely after that.

“It is customary to serve tea to guests where I’m from,” he said with a wave of his hand. A small ancient-looking ‘chabudai’ appeared between them already set with a tea set. “I’m impressed. On seeing this for the first time, one would flinch and prepare to attack.”

His guest shrugged saying nothing. Lang smiled, pouring them both tea. They drank. His guest watched his every move like a hawk while he closed his eyes to appreciate the tea.

“It’s delicious,” Jerome said. “With a hint of mint.”

His voice was deeper than he remembered. Something important was happening with Jerome and it was not the kind of change he’d seen before. He’d heard rumors of such changes, but only that they happened during Mhen Agrh’ur.

“You’re staring,” Jerome said, breaking him out of his thoughts. “Both of you.”

Princess Lin shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Her face was flushed and her eyes were tracking Jerome’s every move. Lang knew that expression.

“If you don’t mind, Princess. Please give us some privacy,” Lang said.

“Wha—”

Lang glared at her. If she wasn’t seeing what Jerome was doing to her, she was better off not being close to him. She huffed and left the tent in annoyance.

He looked back at his guest who was in thought. After a while, he coughed to get Jerome’s attention.

“Sorry about that,” Jerome said.

“I’ll tell you like you told me, Jerome,” Lang said, looking him in the eye. “You’re different.”

“I know,” came Jerome’s answer.

“You know?!” Lang was surprised at that. He wanted to ask some more questions but Jerome spoke first.

“I would prefer it if you don’t speak about this to anyone. And I don’t believe this was the reason you asked to see me.”

Lang relaxed in thought. This was good. Not great for a bargain but good as a favor. “I would speak nothing of it. And yes, that wasn’t why I wanted to speak with you.”

He refilled their cups.

“Have you ever witnessed the birth of a Spirit Realm artist, Jerome?”

If Jerome was surprised at the question, he did a very good job at masking it.

“So you would like me to witness yours,” his guest said, picking up his tea cup.

It wasn’t the question it should have sounded like. Lang recognized the subtle play of power between them as they both tried to appear as the one with authority.

“I would like you to attend mine,” he said with a nod. “The Alignment would be the best time for it.”

Jerome paused, teacup halfway to his mouth. Both their gazes remained fixed on one another and Lang could have sworn everything around him thrummed with life and stilled in the same instance. He forced himself not to look away but smiled instead.

Jerome looked away and drank. Victory… small though it may be.

“That’s actually very smart,” Jerome said. “The immense energy of the Alignment to draw from and a prepared soul… you might as well become the most powerful Spirit Realm artist Vorthe has ever known. I do sense the wisdom of the Matriarch in this.”

It was Lang’s turn to still. There was no commanding presence to his pause though. And Jerome went about drinking his tea.

Lang observed his guest for any sign of malice. He found none. But their discussion wasn’t going the way he expected. Jerome’s words pointed at him knowing more than a mere Sprout about the Spirit Realm.

“That’s very astute of you. I want to say that maybe you could learn a thing or two about the Spirit Realm when you witness my advancement but it seems you may know a lot more than I do.”

“Not at all. Congratulations by the way,” Jerome said with a smile.

How clever.

“Thank you,” Lang said with a smile of his own, masking his disappointment. That would have been a very good way to find out how much Jerome knew. “And thank you for accepting my invitation. I still owe you, Jerome. I will always remember that. Until such time that I can pay back my debt to you.”

Jerome frowned. “Well, I guess I owe you too. I would deal with my situation. And don’t worry about me getting involved with the women. I will restrain myself.”

“Very well.” Lang stood and his guest followed suit. He escorted Jerome outside before going back to meditate. His mind wanted to worry about what Jerome’s ‘appeal’ might mean and the effects it would have on his teammates.

Lang forced the worry away. If anything, Jerome had given his word. And words were a man’s currency of trust. He would trust the young Sprout. If he broke that trust, he’d deal with him. And this time, he wouldn’t underestimate him. But he wondered.

How in Zatirah’s name am I going to be able to defeat such a monster?