A/N: Hello, and welcome to the first of my series of one-shots. A few quick points:
This collection is something I've been wanting to post alongside my main work, A Warrior Rises, and all installations of The Appendices can be taken as canon in Merrin's world, unless I state otherwise.
These works will feature a BUNCH of different people, with pairings of all different kinds! I will also be open to requests and ideas, going forward - there's plenty of love to go around.
Chapter Pairing: Aela x Skjor
And that's all, for now! Enjoy.
Thrill Of The Hunt
It was the third time in a row she'd struck out ahead, and picking up his pace this time had caused him to trip on a rock. Shaking his head, he cursed.
'Wait up, damn it!'
'Keep up,' was her dry response.
'That's easy for you to say now.'
'What's the matter? Tired, after all that running?'
He growled at that, and the sound invaded the quiet clearing they'd entered. 'Quiet' was relative, of course; he could hear all of the little things stirring in the brush around them. Many went still, at the sound of that growl.
But when she turned around to face him, she had that sly grin – the one that always got him – and he couldn't help but bark a laugh.
'You minx.'
Gods, but she was a sight. She was always beautiful, but moonlight made her piercing. It turned her freckled skin to glowing ivory, and her hair to silver and fire. Her eyes arrested him as she stalked back towards him, and in the shimmering green, he could easily see them both; the woman, and the beast.
Only years of knowing her let him recognize that the two words had provoked her. She stopped a hand's breadth away from him, and squarely met his gaze. As always, he could feel the heat rolling off her body, spilling into the air between them, and smell her scent – raw and heady and lush. She tipped her head, eyes narrowing, and he swallowed.
'I'm a lot more than that, and you know it.' Her eyes held his for another beat, and then dropped down to his chest, still damp with cooling sweat. She smirked.
'Maybe I just like watching you chase me.' And then before he could move a muscle, she ducked forward to lick a wide, wet stripe up his chest, to his collarbone, which she nipped none-too-gently.
It was a brisk autumn night – not much longer before they'd have snow. But his blood still surged and ran hot at the feel of her tongue on his skin. Going rigid, he grabbed her, and dug his fingers into both of her arms. His voice came out rough and hard.
'Aela.' It was half praise, half warning. But all she did was arch a brow. The sly smile was back now, in force. His woman knew the lay of the land. She slid both hands up, over his abdomen, over his pecs, slow and deliberate, leaving a trail of gooseflesh in her wake – and then she briskly jerked her arms apart, breaking free of his grip.
'What? Come on, you're holding us up. I told you to keep up, didn't I?'
Just like that, she turned around and started to walk away again, towards where they'd left their clothes. But clothes had left his mind entirely. His eyes raked their way down her naked back, down her ass and her legs. He was breathing hard through his nose, but barely noticed.
It drove him mad when she got like this, which gods knew was often enough. Conniving. Running hot, and yet cool. Pretending like she didn't give a damn, even as she spurred him on. They hadn't caught anything tonight, and he was already restless over it.
As if she could read his mind, she chose then to look back from her place between the trees. And her eyes danced with mirth as she looked him over, before settling low.
'Ah. Not so tired after all, I see.'
That was it – all it took, to snap his control. Years of a soldier's training did nothing for him, when it came to her. They barely even took the edge off.
A sound came from him that he didn't recognize, and his hands spread out wide like claws as his entire body tensed. His beast, so quick to rise, started pushing against his senses, and he let it. His throat was so tight that his next words came out low, and were hard to get out.
'You like when I chase you? Well, you'd better run.'
That was all the warning she was getting. He plunged toward her, and got a feral jolt of satisfaction at her response. She didn't scream – she didn't make a sound. He expected no less. But her nostrils flared while her eyes widened, and her hair flew out in a fan from her shoulders when she whirled around and fled.
Yes.
She flew like an arrow shot from her bow, flitting between the trees with ease. But man and beast were working in tandem, as they chased their prey. There was no prize better in these woods than the one that taunted them now – they wouldn't lose. They could smell the jagged excitement pulsing from her – not fear, but something kin to it.
He didn't know how long they ran. But he did know the moment that promised his victory. The ground beneath her changed from flat to uphill, and as her muscles pumped to adjust, he sealed the gap that she'd widened. He tackled her to the loamy forest floor with something like a roar of triumph.
'Damn you!' She swore, squirming furiously beneath his half-hold, lithe and strong, and managed to flip around and face him. She was breathing hard, and the words came out in a gust.
'You – cheated – !'
His senses were razor sharp now, and he heard more than saw the foot that came whistling out to connect with his head. He caught it in one hand, using the other to pin her free thigh to the forest floor, and gave a short, wild laugh. He was panting nearly as hard as she was.
'Nice try, kitten.'
He knew that name drove her crazier than anything else, and this time was no different; if she'd been angry before, now she was spitting fire. A shrieking growl tore free from her chest, and he had to lean back to avoid getting his eyes gouged by her fingers curled like claws. But she couldn't get free with no leverage, and he took one second to savor the reaction before turning his attention to the legs in his hands. He bit that pale, perfect skin just above where he gripped her ankle, over and over again, trailing up the calf, not caring to be gentle. The hand pinning her to the ground began kneading harshly at her inner thigh.
And Aela responded. She tried not to give him the satisfaction, but there was no hiding from his roving eyes. She went rigid underneath him, her lower back arched, and she let out one hard, low moan before stifling it with bitten lips. The sound was music to his ears, and only spurred him on.
'I didn't cheat.' His voice was rough, and a little biting.
'And you know it. I caught you because I can. I'll always catch you.'
Aela moaned again, but shook her head fiercely. The smell of her arousal hit him like a wall, momentarily blotting out everything else, and it all but drove him wild. Above him, her clenched fists beat the forest floor.
'You b-bastard.'
'Again with the names, Aela?' It felt like tearing off his own arm, but he leaned forward, further away from the source of her smell. He used his weight to pin down her lower half, erection grinding almost painfully against her hip, and used his newly-freed hands to collect her wrists and pin them to the ground – not that she made it easy. He took a second to get adjusted while she growled and cursed beneath him, and then looked down with feral satisfaction at the breasts laid out bare in front of his face. They were perfect breasts, just the right size and shape, with big dark nipples and a dusting of freckles over unblemished ivory, and they'd owned him from the first time he'd seen them. Her nipples had hardened to two stiff peaks, and he bit off a groan at the sight of them, taking another second to rein himself in. When he finally spoke again, his voice was measured.
'If you insist.'
Finally, he let himself lower his head, and laved her left nipple with his tongue in a long, hard stroke. He followed that with another. And another. But he wanted more. So he sucked the entire thing into his mouth, and revelled in the sound she made.
He worked her, suckling and biting, switching from breast to breast until she was writhing underneath him and letting out a near constant stream of gasps and moans. At some point, she wormed her wrists free of his caging hands, but she didn't use them to strike at him. It wasn't that she'd forgiven him his victory – far from it. She dragged the nails of one hand down his back so hard he hissed at the pleasure-pain, while the other buried itself in his hair and yanked mercilessly. From between gritted teeth, she ground out a few words.
'You...self..satisfied...ass...'
The wolf inside him bristled at this; she was his, and needed to acknowledge when he had her. She was so competitive. He needed to remind her who was on top.
Agreeing with his beast, he doubled down on his ministrations – biting her hard enough to make her yelp, and then sucking her so fiercely into his mouth that she cried out louder than ever, and dug all of her nails into his shoulders. After another long moment, he pulled away with a wet, sucking sound and looked up at her, grey eyes ablaze.
'Enough shit. You can call me whatever you want. It doesn't change the fact that you're mine. Now, I want you to say my name.' He took in a harsh, sharp breath. 'Say the name of the man that has you.'
Aela's cheeks and chest were deeply flushed, but her eyes were defiant as ever as she shook her head, and hit him with that maddening look – almost a smirk, if it weren't so stubborn.
'I won't.'
The beast inside him howled. Looking down at her, he gnashed his teeth. His cock was so hard pinned against her that he thought it would explode. The defiance pushed him on – but he needed her to obey.
'You will. Damned stubborn woman. My name – say it. Look me in the eyes, and say it!'
'No.'
A low growl tore its way free of him, and he moved without thought; dragging himself further up, he clamped his teeth down onto where her shoulder joined her neck and bit there, once, twice, before sucking the flesh furiously into his mouth and making her choke on a moan. It would bruise, but neither of them cared. His ears were ringing with the want of her, and he couldn't register anything else – until a sharp pain at his own shoulder had him rearing back on a shout. She had bitten him, so hard that she'd nearly broken through the skin. When he looked down at her through his haze, her eyes were as bright and as hard as emeralds, and she snarled.
'I won't! You gods-damned ignorant, insufferable man!' She sucked in a breath, and bared her teeth.
'You think because you know what I like that you've got me right where you want me. Think again! I bow to no-one.'
Lust and love and fury balled so tight inside of him that he thought he would tear. This woman was going to kill him.
He let out a snarl of his own and wrapped one hand around her throat, pinning her head to the forest floor, squeezing a bit harder than he probably should've. The result was a blast of desire from her, so overwhelmingly strong that it made his vision spot. He lowered his face to within an inch of hers – unbeknownst to him, the pure silver of the beast had crept in to ring his pupils, and seeing it made her tremble. His throat was so tight he could barely grind out the words.
'I don't...need you..to bow. But you will..say my name...before I'm done with you.' He needed it.
He rocked back onto one elbow, leaving her gasping as he let her go, and then scrambled up onto his knees. His cock came springing into the space between them, throbbing torturously, and he gasped. She made as if to rise beneath him, and he growled as he put one hand in the middle of her chest and shoved, pinning her down again. The difference in their size allowed him to hold her firmly in place, and turn his attention down below.
If he didn't get some relief, he was going to lose it. Staring at her flushed face and heaving chest beneath his hand, he wrapped the other one around his aching cock and jerked it roughly, once, twice, three times. He let out an explosive oath on a breath he hadn't known he was holding, and gritted his teeth as every muscle in his stomach went taut. Her eyes were riveted to his cock, and seeing it nearly made him come undone. His hand trembled as he let himself go, and he rocked back onto his heels. Finally, he allowed himself to look at her centre.
He could tell just by looking that she was soaking wet, and it was all he could do to keep himself from burying his head between her legs and refusing to surface until she was screaming. Instead, he took a few deep breaths, and nodded.
'I'll remind you who you're dealing with.'
He popped the first two fingers of his right hand into his mouth, and watched as hers dropped open.
'You like getting chased, remember?' He growled. 'Well, I caught you.'
Those fingers slid between her folds, parting her dark red curls, before he drove them right where he wanted them.
She was soaked, and the tight walls of her wet heat clamped around him as her back arched off the ground. He'd been rough, not giving her a chance to adjust, and man and beast alike crowed internally at the loud, graceless 'hunh!' that escaped her. Instantly, he pulled them out most of the way, and then rammed them home again. Her legs went rigid on either side of him, and then they fell open.
He wasn't giving her a second to catch her breath. Gritting his teeth against his own pleasure, he grunted as he worked her hard and fast, thick fingers pumping to the rhythm of instinct, and long years of practice. Aela writhed beneath him, beating the ground with her fists as she panted and moaned. Her brows were drawn in low when he snatched a glance, and her flushed expression was torn. Releasing her lip from between her teeth, she threw her head back on a groan.
'Oh...oh! Ye...Sk—nngg...'
Aha! So close. His head whipped back up to look at her, and he hit her with a feral grin.
'Hmm? What was that, kitten?'
'N-nothing.' She ground the word out between her teeth, eyes flashing anew as she glared at him, and struggled against his hand on her chest as if she were going to rise.
A possessive surge ripped through him at that, and in a flash he was on his knees, using the leverage to keep her pinned. He growled as he pressed her down harder, both taunting and frustrated.
'It didn't sound like nothing.' Seamlessly, without breaking his pace, he brought his thumb up to rest on the bundle of nerves above her entrance, and bore down. She cried out like a wounded animal, and he bared his teeth.
'Say it.' The or else hung plainly between them.
But she shook her head – again, damn her! – and hissed out a jagged breath, sparks still flying from her eyes as they locked with his.
'Make me.'
The words were fire, licking a hot trail down his spine, and he shuddered; it was almost as if his change had gripped him. Nothing on Nirn drove him half as crazy as this woman. Oh - oh! He would make her.
He reapplied himself then with something close to frenzy; grunting with every forceful slam of his fingers, and swirling his thumb hard and fast over that stiff little nub. She gasped loud underneath him, and her hands came scrabbling up the arm that held her to the ground, digging her nails into him so sharply that he cursed. The smell of her was maddening, and he lurched forward to dip his head down closer. He couldn't let himself taste her – not yet. Instead, he licked a hot, wet path from the edge of her curls to her navel, and then bit his way back down. This had her bucking beneath him, keening, and then cursing on an inhale sharp as glass.
He could smell it on her, as she neared the edge; could feel it in the way she clenched around him, and the knowledge of it had him leaking, his scent mingling with hers around them. Groaning, he looked up at her face, and finding her already staring at him had his balls going tight. His words came out on such a growl that they were hard to make out.
'This is what you get – for toying with me.'
He hadn't meant to push her over yet, but apparently that did it. Aela gave a strangled cry, the familiar stunned look coming over her face, and her green eyes rolled back into her head as she shook from top to toe beneath him. The rush of it hit him like a solid wall, but he didn't stop, didn't let up. He worked her until she was writhing like a snake, all but wailing from it.
But still, he didn't hear her say it.
He pulled his fingers free, and she collapsed where she laid in the dirt, chest heaving as if she'd run for miles. Neither his beast or his longing would let him be, and he shuddered with a mixture of anger and ecstasy. Rising slowly to his knees, he straddled her waist, and looked down at his handiwork.
She was crumpled and panting beneath him, glistening with sweat – the smell of it added tang to the heady air. Her hair was a wreath of flame around her head, and the eyes that locked onto his were burning just as bright. Slowly, deliberately, he showed her the fingers that were coated with her; bringing them inches away from her face, and shooting her a feral grin. The message was clear – see what I do to you?
Aela held her silence, but her jaw was now firmly set. Just as slowly as he'd lowered it, he raised the hand up to his own face. Making sure her eyes never strayed from his, he slid those fingers into his mouth, and sucked them clean. The taste of her was almost more than he could stand. A small sound escaped her throat as she watched him, and both things acted as fuel to his fire.
He wouldn't stop, until he got what he needed.
'Still nothing?' He forced himself to break away from her gaze, and raked his eyes over her glowing body instead. 'Have it your way, then.'
He cupped both hands under her arms, and with little effort he was pulling her out from beneath him. She squawked as he rose with her in his grip, and again when he drew her tight against him and started walking.
'What are you – ?'
He barked a short, dark laugh. 'That was just the beginning.'
She clung to him with trembling limbs as he moved, and it stroked his ego as well as his cock. His woman liked playing hard to get...but he worked hard enough.
He picked the nearest tree that looked like it would do, and walked her right into it – not too hard, but not gentle, either. Aela let out a guttural moan as the rough bark connected with her back; partly from the bite of pleasure-pain it caused, and partly squeezed from her by the weight of him. She felt a fresh burst of arousal, and the smell of it clouded them both. He bit the tender column of her neck, and when she swore, it was almost a sob.
'Fuck!'
'I plan to, kitten. Don't you worry.' She could feel his smile as he bit her again, and that combined with him twisting her nipple and calling her kitten had her growling and yanking his hair.
'You're such a – '
'Bastard. I know.' He cut her off, and then bit her collarbone, drawing out another gasp.
'But I'm a bastard with a name. And I'm not giving you what you want until you say it.'
He pulled ever so slightly away from her then, but only for a second. Gripping where her thighs met her ass, he hoisted her higher up the trunk, and then pinned her with his pelvis. They were at eye-level this way, and the huntress ignored the throb of her clit where it brushed against his abdomen – or, did her best to. Taking the deepest breath she could, she glared at his wolfish expression.
'And if I say I don't want anything?'
'Then I'll call you a little liar.' He met her glare with one of his own, and drew in close – close enough that she could try to bite him. It wouldn't be the first time, or the last.
'I know you want it. I can smell it. I can feel it. Here...' He ducked his head down to drag his teeth over her chest, directly over her pounding heart. While he couldn't see, Aela squeezed her eyes shut, and bit her lip.
'And here. Just throbbing away.' He whispered the last, his voice ragged with need, and looked back up at her as he pulled away enough to snake a hand down to her centre. He felt her whole body tense when he touched her again, rude and teasing, and she hissed as her cheeks flamed anew.
'Yeah.' He grinned, feral and wicked. 'That's what I thought. Why don't you ever make it easy on yourself?' Or on me? This last he only thought, when his cock gave another aching twinge.
'And give you the satisfaction?' She tossed her head, gnashed her teeth. 'I don't think so.'
So stubborn... 'Then we'll do it the hard way,' he growled. And bore down mercilessly on her clit.
He knew his woman. He knew she wanted more; knew it from the way she cursed and moaned, bucked her hips and clawed at his shoulders. But he held back. She owned him often enough – this time, he was in charge.
He was trying so hard to make her beg, that he didn't notice one hand leave his back – until she managed to grab his cock with it and try to spear herself on it. He howled at the feeling of her gripping him, tugging him, and when she bit his chest, he nearly came in her hand. It took everything he had to wrench her wrists up over her head and pin her firmly back to the tree before he spent himself. When he met her frustrated gaze with burning eyes, he was breathing like a bull.
'Not so fast. When will it sink in? You get it when I say so.'
She laughed at that, sly and biting – provoking. 'We'll see about that.'
A savage light burned in her eyes as she said it, the light that he'd fallen to years ago. Before he could think of a reply, she started to move. Silky and languid, pure seduction, she pushed and slid against him, wrapping her legs tight around him. She was soaking wet, and burning hot, and the soft slide of her centre against his hip nearly buckled his knees. His breath left him in a rush through gritted teeth, and his head fell back as he swore.
'Gods damn it, woman! Damn you! You're killing me, and you know it!'
She looked at him coolly, with heavy-lidded eyes, and smirked.
'I don't know what you mean.' Another velvet slide of her hips.
'It's not my fault, if you can't handle me.'
A roar of sound swept over him then, as something in man and beast alike both snapped.
Can't handle? Can't - ! Words failed him, even internally, and a snarling roar came ripping from his chest. That was it.
He dropped her wrists, only to grab the backs of her knees where they locked around his sides and rip them apart. Shoving them back, he drove them roughly into the tree and pinned them there, hoisted nearly parallel with her shoulders. She yelped at the sudden force, and he snarled again – it served her right. She was wide open for him now, and he couldn't stand another second's wait. He took the barest pause just to line things up, and then on the next jagged breath he was slamming into her – burying himself to the hilt.
They both shouted as he drove himself home, and the sound rang through the surrounding forest, but neither of them really heard it. A white-hot heat rushed over him, and for a second there was absolutely nothing but the feeling of finally being joined. Then fragments of it came rushing back – the smell, the bite of bark under his fingernails, the sound of her low, shaking moan. The clawing frustration.
He pulled nearly all the way out, only to bury himself again, and drink in the hitching groan she gave. The feeling of her heat wrapped around him – there were no words for it. Countless times he'd been here, and still never gotten used to it. He couldn't help the ragged curse that slipped from him. Or the long moan, when she clenched down on him from all sides, as if to drag him in further.
'Gods damn it!'
'Damn it yourself,' was her panted reply.
The words shocked him with a fresh surge of anger and lust, and he rolled his hips hard, making her gasp. It was time to claim the prize. She'd locked her arms around his neck, trying to pull him in closer, and now he obliged her. Hitching her legs up over his shoulders, he dug his fingers into the globes of her ass and clamped his teeth down over her pulse point, bearing down on her as he settled into a hard, driving rhythm.
Some thought came back to him, as the air filled with guttural sounds and the slap of flesh on flesh. Mostly questions, fleeting and frustrated.
When had the tables turned? How did she always do this to him? Why did he always have to fight, to be on top?
But deep down, he knew why. Some small part of him admitted it – exalted it – even as he ground her into the tree and punished her for it.
It was who she was. His woman didn't lie down and beg, and neither did her beast. Her nature drove her to fight, to claw, to claim, with just as much fury as his did. It was why he loved her so; Aela was her own.
An unbearably hot, tight heat was starting to gather in his groin, and feeling it tinged his wild thoughts with the edge of despair.
It wasn't enough. He knew he'd never own her. That was fine – that was right. But she was still his, and he needed to leave a mark – one she would acknowledge.
'Aela.' He ground out her name, and slowed his rough pace ever so slightly as he pulled back to look at her. She was stunning – a vision in the dappled light, with jewel green eyes alive with passion and her hair a wicked tangle. She met his gaze head-on and held it boldly, even as she panted and let her head fall back against the trunk with a thud.
'What?'
The smell of her was inescapable, making his own head spin. But it was feeling her tremble in his arms that drove him to say the words, panted in time to their thrusts.
'Please,' he groaned. 'Say it, say it! I need you to say my name – it only means anything coming from you. I'm yours. You win.' And on that last word, he closed the gap between their faces and caught her mouth with his.
He poured everything he had into this kiss; passion, desperation, awe and anger. Love. Need.
And she responded. She cried into his mouth, a sound that went straight to his cock, and raked her nails down his back so hard that he knew it would draw blood. The smell of it hitting the air a second later only spurred him on. Thrusting his tongue into her mouth, he gave her ass cheeks a merciless squeeze and plunged into her, as deep as he could go.
She seized around him, going rigid against him, and then he felt her walls flutter and spasm as she came apart a second time. It thrilled him to feel her buck against him, knowing he was the one to make her feel so fucking good, and his own thrusts went wild and erratic as he just barely managed not to lose it. A fresh wave of her scent battered him, and the feeling of her release pooling around him brought him to the edge.
And then she did it. She'd broken away from the kiss, panting and all but sobbing from the pleasure, and had pulled his chest flush against hers, hands clinging to the back of his neck and pulling at his hair. She threw her head back in wild abandon, letting it hit the tree behind them, and howled it to the moons: his name.
'Ah – ah – Skjo-o-or!'
Just like that, he was finished. The roaring wave of his climax hit him like a wall of fire, and man and beast alike let out a yell of triumph, anguish, ecstasy. His long-tortured cock gave one final throb, as it shot out a rope of hot, thick seed. And then another. He shuddered and groaned from the force of it – so much pleasure, it was almost pain – and she shook right along with him. His vision faded to nothing but black, as the pulses wracked his body.
After what felt like a lifetime, they finally went still, save for chests that heaved as they clawed for breath. His ears were ringing again; when his sight came swimming back, the first thing he saw was her green eyes staring at him. Gingerly, he slid her knees from his shoulders – making her groan at the shift as he slid out of her – and hoisted her up by her thighs instead. Feeling like a rag wrung dry, he dropped his sweaty forehead down to hers, and gusted a sigh.
'You said it.' His heart was beating madly in his chest – but it had also fallen at her feet.
In the new relative hush surrounding them, Aela tsked. And then smiled at him, with mouth and eyes alike.
'You are mine, it's true. But I'm also yours. No one knows me better.I love you.'
I'm also yours. I love you. He let the words echo as they sunk in deep, satisfying man and beast in the way that nothing else could, and feeling his heart soar.
They weren't words that the pair exchanged often – but they didn't have to. Even unspoken, they were always there.
His. His woman. His Aela. His mate. A smile of his own broke across his weathered face, and he bumped his nose into hers and rubbed, as he gave her thighs a squeeze. Her claw marks on his back were stinging now, but he didn't care.
'I know you do.' Feeling suddenly lighter than air and unable to help himself, he chuckled.
'Gods only know why.'
She snorted a laugh and swatted at his back, before nipping his lower lip between her teeth and giving a tug that turned into another heated kiss. When they eventually broke apart, that same slyness was playing over her features. She shot him a grin that was a hint feral and rolled her hips once, making him growl, before pushing at him so he'd let her down.
She slithered down the gnarled tree-trunk, bare feet crunching fallen leaves as she landed, and gave a supple, satisfied, feline stretch. Then she took his hand in one of her own, and took a single step forward.
'I know exactly why. There's nothing like having a mate who can always keep up with you.'
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