The Curse of Pandora's Box

 

 

By

 

Desiree Acuna

 

 

© copyright by Desiree Acuna, June 2010

Cover Art by Alex DeShanks, June 2010

ISBN 978-1-60394-438-0

New Concepts Publishing

Lake Park, GA 31636

www.newconceptspublishing.com

 

 

 

 

 

This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author's imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence.

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Chapter One

 

As Pandora straightened from weeding her little garden patch and arched her back to ease the pain that had begun to throb there, she noticed a child of around seven or eight peering at her from behind the apple tree in the yard across the road from her own cottage. A familiar warmth filled her, but she'd grown so accustomed to it over the years she scarcely even acknowledged it. Flicking her long, dark braid behind her shoulder, she smiled in a friendly way at the young child, wondering if she waved if the child would run screaming to its mother or indulge its curiosity and move a little closer to chat.

Loneliness ate at her almost as much as the 'misery', the curse than had been passed down to her from her poor mother, and the possibility of having even the company of a child for a few moments warred with caution.

The door to the cottage slammed before she could decide whether to acknowledge the child's curiosity or ignore it-which was usually safest. Her new neighbor stalked toward the child hiding behind the tree and cuffed him on the side of his head. "Ye'll bring a plague down on us, ye hard headed young'un! Ain't I told ye not ta be starin' at the witch?"

Indignation flickered through Pandora. "I'm not a witch!" she snapped before she thought better of it, betraying the fact that she'd noticed the child.

"Yer cursed is what yer are!" the woman bellowed at her, leaning down to grab a fallen apple from the yard and pitch it at her. "An' anybody yer touch is cursed, too! Stay away from me and mine!"

Pandora dodged the apple. Tempted to pick it up and hurl it back at the woman, she paused even as she snatched it up. A rousing good fight might help her feelings but it might only stir up the ire of the rest of the villagers, who barely tolerated her as it was.

Actually, they didn't precise tolerate her. She had little doubt that they would've run her out of the village long since if they weren't afraid to approach her. She couldn't afford to provoke more animosity. Individually, they feared coming anywhere near her, but she couldn't afford to take the chance that that would remain true if enough of them became angry to form a mob. Making an obscene gesture at the woman instead, she rubbed the apple on her skirt and lifted it to examine it. "Thank you for the apple, Mistress Renfroe. I could bake a pie if you could spare a few more."

She was sorry she'd tossed the sarcastic comment almost as soon as she had for it immediately occurred to her that she really would've enjoyed an apple pie. The woman spat at her instead of throwing more apples. Catching the child by one ear, she led him back into their cottage.

Pandora stared at the door of the cottage for a few moments and finally transferred her attention to the tree, studying it speculatively. Noticing that three or four apples had fallen over the garden wall into the dusty road, she decided to collect them and have her pie after all! Pulling open the rickety gate to her own yard, she marched across the road and knelt to gather up the apples she'd noticed.

It was the only advantage of being the 'accursed' as far as she could see-not that there should've been any advantage, she supposed-but she considered it one. Everyone was so fearful of coming anywhere near her that she was perfectly safe to help herself to anything that fell unclaimed, or wandered, into the road. All she had to do was start forward to collect it and they ran for their lives and abandoned it to her. It supplemented her livelihood very nicely. She had a pen full of chickens and even an old cow. With the garden where she grew her own herbs and vegetables, she got by just fine.

It was a lonely life, though, since her mother's terrible death. Although she couldn't help but be happy for her mother that her trials had finally ended, regardless of the manner of her release, she was very sorry for herself. She was lonelier than she'd ever been in her life. She'd at least had a few friends before she'd inherited her mother's curse and she'd had her mother, although, truthfully, her mother had been far too consumed by the curse to be a great deal of company for her only daughter.

Four years earlier, though, her mother had finally found the ultimate release. She'd become so maddened by the insatiable itch that could not be assuaged that she'd coaxed the Brenner's bull into coupling with her and the beast had turned on her and trampled her. They'd had to slay the bull, for it had instantly gone on a rampage and tried to mount all of the village women.

She was almost sorry they'd killed the damned thing before it got to her. At least all her troubles would have been over, as they had been for her mother! Instead, the villagers had caught up with the bull and slain it and she'd had to live with the horrible curse she'd inherited on her twentieth birthday, the same age her mother had been when she'd been cursed!

She didn't know whether to curse the fates, the evil gnome who'd cursed her mother, or her mother.

She tried not to think badly of her mother. Her mother had never been terribly clever and, beyond that, she had been born so fair that she'd been indulged far too much. It wasn't truly her fault. If she'd been gifted with more brains and less beauty it never would have happened. She would never have caught the eye of the gnome-or she would've had more sense than to provoke him.

Fate had thrown her mother in the path of the gnome, but it had been her mother's arrogance that had ultimately been her downfall. If she had tried to placate the gnome instead of spurning him out of hand, and laughing at him, he might not have been inspired to place such a terrible curse on her and her line forever!

As he desired her more than he had ever desired another mortal woman, he cursed her to suffer as he did-to be doomed forever to unrequited desires that would consume her and any who touched her.

And he had made certain the villagers all knew that it would bring her plague upon them if they touched her.

The only bright side to the entire, awful mess, was that the villagers took the threat to heart. They wouldn't come near her-which meant they were also not inclined to harm her. She was certain they wanted to, or at least to run her from the village, but they were too afraid of the curse to do more than shun her.

The sound of shod hooves along the hard packed road caught Pandora's attention as she scooped up the last of the apples and tucked it in the pocket she'd made of the front of her skirt. She lifted her head and narrowed her eyes in that direction, trying to pierce the shadows of the forest that had deepened as the sun set below the horizon. In a few moments, she discerned a magnificent horse. Upon the back of the horse rode and even more magnificent knight.

Awe instantly swept over her and a wave of desire so potent she felt faint with it. Her heart seemed to pick up the rhythm of the horse's hooves as it cantered toward her. The ache never far began to throb far worse until she was dizzy and could hardly catch her breath. The nearer he came, the worse it got until she was certain she would have done something drastic if she hadn't been too frozen with awe and indecision to move.

As he emerged at last from the shadows cast by the overhanging limbs of the forest, the waning light of dusk illuminated a face that was harshly male-a warrior's face-and yet she'd never seen a man more well favored by the fates. He was almost like male beauty personified and beautifully formed beyond that, his chest and shoulders impossibly broad, his arms and thighs thick with the muscles of his trade. Her desire became a conflagration. Her breasts felt painfully swollen. Her nipples felt as if she was being tortured with hot pinchers and her woman's place wept, fluttering with such yearning and excitement that it made her belly cramp.

He slowed his horse as he spotted her.

Pandora tensed, struggling with the sudden urge to try to leap up at him when he drew his stallion to a stop directly beside her. "What village is this, fair maid?"

His voice was deep, melodious. It made her sex contract more frantically, made her throat grow dry, scattered her wits. She gaped at him, struggling to find words.

Slowly, his smile faded and a frown appeared between his brows. "Have I frightened the wits from you, little maid? I mean you no harm, I assure you. I've come a long way and I've no interest in much beyond food, a bath to wash away the dirt of my travels, and a bed-to sleep in."

He flushed slightly at the last, dragging his gaze from her bosom. Pandora hadn't even realized his gaze had come to rest on her bosom until she saw his eyes move upward to her face. She'd been far too focused on his hard thighs and her curiosity of what lay between them. "Hempstead Hamlet," she said a little hoarsely. "There's an inn about the center of the village … Sir Knight."

His fine lips curled, sending another wave of dizziness through her. "Have you a name little maid?"

"Pan … Pansy, my lord," Pandora lied, realizing immediately that he might well have heard of her even if he was a stranger. He certainly would if he asked about her at the inn!

"A lovely name for a very lovely maid," he murmured huskily. "'Tis a shame I'm in such a rush to reach the king's tournament. Otherwise I'd be encouraged to linger a bit in the hope of a better acquaintance."

Pandora felt her cheeks redden with delight. "You would?"

Amusement gleamed in his eyes. "Indeed, I would. Dare I hope if I should pass this way again that I might call upon you, little maid?"

Pandora blinked at him, feeling disappointment pierce the heady desire boiling through her. She would've far rather he'd sought a better acquaintance immediately rather than toss her a 'perhaps'. "I … I'd like that," she said a little wistfully.

Nodding at her, he nudged his stallion and headed into the village. Pandora watched for a moment and finally fled to her cottage, fearful that some of the neighbors might see her and give him warning. She couldn't think very clearly, but that one fear stood out. She was shaking by the time she'd closed the door of her cottage behind her. Feeling weak and ill, she dropped the apples that had delighted her only a little earlier and sank to the floor, her mind churning almost as furiously as her body.

Random thoughts flickered through her mind from time to time, but the primary focus of her thoughts was the possibility of assuaging the fire in her blood. In the recesses of her mind, she acknowledged that it wouldn't be possible to completely alleviate it. The curse would prevent that, but the possibility of dulling the ache even a little drummed through her until she could scarcely even think to plot.

He'd said he meant to stay the night and there was only the one inn. It had no private rooms since hers was a poor village and few besides farmers heading to market ever stayed the night, but she hadn't seen anyone pass through in days. He was bound to have the loft alone.

Not that that mattered a great deal except that if there were others she might accidently creep into the wrong bed and raise the alarm. Or someone might hear her and raise the alarm before she could satisfy her craving.

Guilt smote her at the thought. He'd seemed a very honorable knight, pleasant and well mannered. A less noble knight would've dismounted and thrown her to the dirt upon catching her alone on the road. She shouldn't even be considering what she was thinking about doing.

Getting up after a few moments, she gathered clean clothing and a cloth for drying and headed down to the mountain stream where she often bathed. It wasn't that she was fanatical about bathing as the villagers seemed to think, although she had discovered since she'd begun to bathe there that it was far more pleasant to be clean than dirty. Mostly she went, however, because the water was icy cold and it soothed the burning need better than anything else she'd tried.

Servicing herself certainly didn't help! When the curse had first overtaken her, the itch had been so maddening she'd thought she would lose her mind. She'd rubbed her woman's mound on anything that seemed it might help until she'd chafed herself, but the itch had only moved deeper. After studying the post of her bed for weeks on end, she'd finally sawed a length off and rounded it to reach the itch inside and it had felt glorious for a little while, but it only seemed that each time she appeased the ache, it came back worse. It wasn't until she'd finally, in a fit of temper, thrown the post in the fire that she discovered it was far better to ignore the constant throbbing than to try to relieve it. After a while, she'd grown accustomed to it and although it still ached all the time and sometimes worse than others, the cold baths in the river helped to cool the fire.

It was a hard lesson and one she should not be so quick to dismiss, she told herself as she reached the river. The knight would be gone at dawn, taking his man meat with him, and then where would she be if she yielded to the desperate yearning to mount him?

No worse off, a voice in her head told her.

Except she would! The ache came back worse each time she tried to appease it! And what was more, the poor man would be far worse off!

Trying to shake his image from her mind, she stripped when she reached the riverbank and waded into the chilling water. The shock that went through her as she sat down in the water took her breath. For several moments, she struggled to pull air into her lungs and finally managed to gasp in a breath. Grabbing the rag she used to bathe with, she worked it over the upper part of her body quickly. She didn't rub her breasts with it. Cold or not, rubbing her nipples only made them throb worse. Instead, she leaned down and dipped them into the icy water.

It was sheer torture. Slowly the heat began to cool, though. The throbbing ache seemed to subside. Shivering, she climbed out of the water. Her breasts were pleasantly numb and so was her sex-her buttocks and legs if it came to that-but more importantly, the burning had ceased. Relieved, she dried carefully and headed back to her cabin.

She managed to focus on her chores for a while when she returned, tackling her mending while she waited for the stew she'd cooked earlier to heat up. Her mind kept wandering to the handsome knight, however, her imagination conjuring an image of him in the tavern.

He would be eating by now, she decided. He'd said that he wanted food, a bath, and bed, but he would have had to have seen to his fine stallion first.

And it had been a very fine stallion!

It was a shame the beasts most well endowed with dicks were so dangerously big and unpredictable!

She banished the thought. She didn't want to end up like her mother!

Fixing a plate of stew, she sat down with it and a crust of the bread she'd baked earlier in the week.

The knight would very likely settle down in the tavern to drink and wait for his dinner and the bath to be prepared.

He would probably have a nasty temper when he drank, she told herself. It seemed to her that no matter how good natured they appeared to be when sober, they had only to get into their cups to turn into a beast!

When she'd finished her meal, she went out back to scrape the bowl and wash it in the tub she kept by the back door. Settling on the stoop when she'd finished, she stared up at the clear night sky, her mind conjuring an image of the Knight at his bath.

No doubt that bitch, Meg, who served at the tavern would be helping him with his bath!

Closing her eyes, she tried to imagine what his magnificent body would look like when he was naked. She couldn't quite conjure the image she wanted, though. She kept picturing the stallion's dick and she knew very well he wouldn't have anything nearly that large.

She'd been told it was usually the length of their thumb.

She narrowed her eyes, trying to remember his thumbs, but all she could really remember was his handsome face and his hard thighs.

The heat had stolen over again while she sat thinking and it was worse than before. She wiggled restlessly, tried hard to focus on something else, but she began to feel feverish, so hot all over, she felt dizzy.

Leaping up abruptly, she decided to take a walk.

She couldn't outrun the need pulsing in her veins, though, and eventually she found herself standing outside the inn, staring at the darkened windows above it. She could still hear the slurred voices of men inside the inn, though, and eventually she crept close enough to peer inside.

There was no sign of the knight. Her heart surged in her chest. He must be upstairs!

Moving away from the window again, she began to pace the circumference of the building, searching the walls for some way to climb up. There was a tree that grew quite close to the building, but although she followed one thick limb to the very eaves of the building with her gaze, she wasn't at all certain that it would hold her. Beyond that, the trunk of the tree was too thick, she was sure, to offer her any purchase for climbing.

She moved around it anyway, searching. Finding a knot easily the size of her head about three feet from the ground, she judged the distance from the knot to the limb above it and decided to try.

Her skirts, she quickly discovered, were not meant for climbing! She was tempted to simply pull her gown off and discard it. It occurred to her, though, that someone might find it and if they did they might guess that it was hers and what she was up to.

They would raise an alarm and then she wouldn't get the chance to ride her fine stallion!

Bending down, she grasped the back of her skirt and brought it up between her legs, tucking it in at the waist. It formed a sort of trousers, but very loose-legged. Still, it wasn't nearly as awkward. She managed to push herself up high enough to grasp the lowest limb. Pulling with her arms, she dug her bare toes into the bark and pushed herself up until she could plant her toes on the knot. The knot helped her climb to the limb. From there it was a little easier. In a few minutes, she reached the limb she'd been staring at that almost brushed the side of the building.

Her first thought was to straddle the limb and inch along it until she thought she was close enough to grasp the window ledge. As soon as she did, however, she felt pleasure waft through her. Closing her eyes, she rocked back and forth experimentally for a moment, enjoying the pleasure wafting through her. As it always had before, though, the rubbing only drove the itch deeper and she stopped, staring hungrily at the window so close and yet still so far away.

More reckless now that the heat was fully upon her, she began inching along the limb, studying her goal as she crept nearer and nearer and trying to decide the best way to get in once she reached it.

Unfortunately, the limb began to dip with her weight. Pausing in dismay when she realized that she was going to be far too low by the time she got to the end to reach the window sill, she stared at the window unhappily for several moments before she began to search for another possibility.

The limb above her, she realized, might just work. She'd thought it too high-and it was-but if it dipped as this one did …. Inching backward to the trunk once more, she climbed up to the next limb and straddled it. This time, she ignored the tremors that wafted through her the moment she straddled it and immediately began to pull herself along it. She was nearing her goal and her heart had begun to hammer with excitement when she heard an ominous crack. She froze, her heart thundering in her chest, listening, hardly daring to breathe. After a few moments, when the limb didn't break, she cautiously moved a little further. A second nerve wracking crack emanated from the limb, making her freeze again.

Frustration filled her. She couldn't be much more than arm's length from the damned sill! So close, she thought forlornly. Looking down finally, she discovered the limb she was on had dipped until she was just above the limb she'd been on before. Uncurling her legs, she stretched them out and just managed to plant her toes on the limb below. Shifting some of her weight to her toes, she very carefully slipped her hips a little forward and reached out toward the window ledge. Her fingers grazed it but she couldn't quite get a grip.

Breathless by now from fear, desire, and exertion, she paused to take a few breaths of air and tried again, pushing down on the limb below with her toes and shifting her hips a little further. The limb she was straddling broke abruptly, pitching her forward. She scrambled wildly to get a grip on the ledge and caught a hold just as the branch that had been between her legs hit the branch supporting her toes. Without part of her weight supported by the upper branch, the one below dipped as it had before, leaving her dangling by her fingertips from the window ledge. When it popped back up, it nearly knocked her loose. Gritting her teeth, she dug her toes into the rough wood of the walls and struggled, pushing herself up high enough to get one arm on the ledge and then the other.

Fortunately, although the window was closed, it wasn't latched. She managed to push it open a little and then a little more, wiggling inward as she did until she'd pushed the window wide enough to slip her head and shoulders through. The snoring emanating from the bed assured her of several things. The knight was present and he was probably dead drunk and unlikely to hear her-she hoped. Wiggling deeper into the room, she caught herself on her hands before she could land face first on the floor. Huffing for breath, she walked forward on her hands until she could get her legs inside-one leg. She was afraid the window would slam shut if she pulled both legs free. Instead, she managed to heave herself upward on one leg and grasped the window to free her other leg, closing it carefully.

Wet with sweat from her efforts and shaking all over, she paused to allow her eyes to adjust to the deeper gloom of the room.

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Chapter Two

 

There was a substantial lump on the bed nearest the window. As Pandora's eyes adjusted, she realized it was definitely her handsome knight and he was absolutely naked!

The fire leapt inside her instantly. With shaking hands, she began to strip. When she was as naked as he, she crept to the bed and eased onto the mattress, staring at the knight's groin and trying to distinguish his cock from the dim blur of his body. Slowly, her eyes adjusted enough for her to make out the object of her desires.

Her mouth went dry. It was the loveliest piece of flesh she'd seen in forever! Too eager now to get hold of it to think straight, she reached for it and began to stroke it. The man groaned, but she was too far gone the moment she had in her grasp to be cautious any longer. It hardened almost instantly and she moved closer, running her tongue along it. The taste was heavenly! It was so thick and long and growing harder by the moment.

Inspired by his reaction, she shifted closer and covered the tip with her mouth. The hunger surged higher and she began to pull and suck at his cock a little frantically.

A hand came down on the top of her head heavily enough it shoved the cock halfway down her throat. She gagged reflexively, but she gripped his cock more tightly in her hands, fearful he meant to snatch it away, and sucked harder. Fingers tightened in her hair. He groaned and she realized it was a sound of pleasure.

Relieved, she ignored the hand and worked to pleasure him feverishly, feeling her own heat scouring her insides, feeling her belly flutter. It wasn't until she felt his cock jerk in her mouth that she realized she was going to miss the chance to feel it inside her sex if she kept sucking it. It would grow soft again!

Releasing it abruptly, she scrambled to straddle his hips, holding his cock to impale herself on it. He caught her hips but despite the sudden anxiety that filled her, he began trying to drive her down over it instead of pulling her away. It slipped through her juices deliciously and still she discovered it took a great deal of effort to push herself down on it. She began to shudder with release before she'd managed to get it completely inside. Pausing, she squeezed her eyes tightly to hold the ecstasy to herself, to relish it.

He surged upward abruptly, tipping her onto her back. His cock nearly slipped free with the movement and she groaned in despair, but he curled his hips almost immediately, driving into her again. She released a sigh of pleasure as he began to pump into her frenziedly. It created such a delightful ache that in a matter of moments she felt her body surging upward toward another release. She bit her lip when ecstasy surged inside her, mindful of the need to prevent anyone from finding them together, uttering whimpering noises as the rapture shook her with wondrous quakes that spread joy throughout her body.

He tensed abruptly, shuddered, and then she felt the hot tide of his seed pouring inside of her. It set off delicious aftershocks. Gasping hoarsely, he settled heavily against her for a few moments and finally shifted off of her.

Disappointment flickered through her when he'd pulled his cock from her body, but she realized the ache had been appeased-at least for the moment. Vastly relieved, she relaxed, drifting in the glory of absolute satisfaction.

"Pansy, is it?" he said in a rumbling voice still husky with spent passion.

A shiver skated through her. She struggled to think of an explanation for her presence, wishing she'd had the sense to consider it before. "Yes," she responded finally in a small voice, still thinking furiously.

He nuzzled his face against hers. "This was a nice surprise," he murmured, amusement threading his voice.

Inspiration finally flickered through her mind. "I couldn't bear to think of you going off to a tournament without a token."

He seemed startled. "I'd no idea you were such a good hearted girl," he murmured after a long moment, amusement still threading his voice, although suspicion had crept into it, as well.

She shifted slightly toward him, stroking a hand along his chest. "And I did think it might inspire you to come back this way."

"Did you? Sorry, I've no coin to give you. You've climbed into the bed of a landless knight without two pence to rub together. That's why I was on my way to the tournament," he said sardonically.

Pandora felt her face heat. "I wasn't after coin!" she said indignantly before she'd had time to consider it. "That is … uh …. I don't mind waiting."

He considered that for several moments, but his mind was clearly elsewhere for his hands were busy exploring her.

Oddly enough, although it warmed her to feel his touch, Pandora discovered there was no real heat in her loins as she was accustomed to feeling. She felt oddly … satisfied. Before she could actually explore that strange circumstance, he rolled over her once more, pushed her thighs wide and speared his cock into her, thrusting until she felt his hard, thick flesh filling her once more.

The ache was back, worse than before, before he'd driven into more than a handful of times. She came, shatteringly and then the heat built again, climbing higher and faster. She'd come twice more before he again reached his peak and came inside of her.

Disappointment was sour in her throat when he dragged in a deep breath and moved off of her.

She wasn't done! Anger warred with the fever in her mind, but almost the moment he rolled off of her she heard him drop heavily into sleep once more. For a time, she lay staring at the darkened ceiling, listening to his heavy breathing, wrestling the fever and trying to will it away. Why was it back, she wondered? She'd felt appeased after the first time! It wasn't right, damn it!

She told herself she should leave, but she couldn't bring herself to do so when she had the means of appeasing the fire so close! Finally, she decided to see if she could awaken his flesh again. Turning toward him, she began to play with the sleeping beast. It resisted just at first, but her determination finally paid off. His cock stood up, grew taut.

"Insatiable witch," he muttered with a mixture or irritation, renewed interest, and amusement.

Rolling her onto her back, he settled his mouth over hers, kissing her deeply and stirring the heat to a flame in her belly. She broke the kiss, pulling at him a little frantically. Instead of immediately attending her needs, however, he scooted lower and began to pull at her breasts.

Effectively distracted by the pull of his mouth on her nipple, Pandora clasped her arms around his head, hugging the delight to her as fiery currents traveled from the nipple he was teasing all the way to her loins, making them flutter with excitement. He moved to the twin after a few moments, tormenting it as he had the first and finally, to her relief, he mounted her.

She came almost immediately. Instead of touching down afterwards, though, the wonderful friction he created sawing in and out of her built the heat toward another explosion. It still took longer to rise and allowed her time to thoroughly appreciate the feel of him inside of her. She was enjoying it so much, she nearly missed the opportunity to climax again. As she felt him caught up in the throes of release, however, it pushed her over the edge and she felt her own convulsions of ecstasy synchronize with his.

Weak in the aftermath, she drifted slowly down to a sense of sublime, peaceful bliss. Her knight grunted as the last spasm hit him and then rolled off of her. Within moments his gusty breaths took on the rhythm of sleep once more.

Sighing in contentment, Pandora smiled, enjoying the first true peace with her body in so long that she'd forgotten what it felt like. As she drifted toward sleep herself, however, her subconscious picked at a puzzle she wasn't entirely aware of-at first.

Slowly but surely, her tired mind sorted her wayward thoughts until they congealed into a discovery that brought her wide awake.

She didn't feel the heat! She was completely and totally relaxed.

He'd cured her! He'd broken the curse, she thought with excitement, sitting up abruptly.

She frowned in the next moment. That couldn't be right, she realized. If it took no more than one good round of fucking to be rid of the curse, wouldn't her mother have gotten rid of it?

She sat considering it for several moments. After a while it occurred to her that she'd felt just as appeased after they'd coupled the first time. Then her knight had decided that he wanted another round and the heat had been back, even worse than it had been before … until she'd wakened him and coupled with him a third time.

The answer was so unbelievable that she dismissed it at first. Search though she might to find that terrible gnawing at her vitals that she'd grown so accustomed to, she couldn't find it.

She'd passed the curse to the knight!

Her heart leapt with joy at the thought! She was free!

She frowned. Poor man!

After considering it, however, it occurred to her that men tended to be horny all the time. He probably wouldn't notice the difference!

He was bound to want to fuck again if he woke up, though, and if he did, then he would pass it back to her!

Inching from the bed on that thought, Pandora tiptoed quickly to her gown and shimmied into it. A floor board creaked as she crept to the window and she froze, holding her breath as she stared at the form on the bed. He didn't move and after a moment she relaxed. She'd tasted ale on his mouth. No doubt between that and three lusty couplings he would not waken before noon the next day!

Heartened by that thought, she hurried to the window and climbed over the sill. She'd broken the branch she'd used to get in! There was still the other, though. Wondering if it would hold so that she could climb back to the trunk and climb down, she wavered, but she really had no choice. She couldn't go through the inn. Someone was bound to spot her and if they did the knight would certainly discover the terrible thing she'd done to him! He might well cleave her head off with his sword!

Shuddering at the thought, she leaned out until she could grasp the branch and pulled on it. When it was closer, she grabbed a hold a little further along the branch, where it was thicker. Taking a couple of breaths to bolster her courage, she settled her other hand on the branch and allowed herself to slip from the windowsill. Three things happened so fast it was difficult, afterwards, to recall the sequence of events. The branch bowed under her weight, the window behind her slammed shut and caught the tail of her skirt as it did, and she shot toward the ground so fast it was all she could do to keep from screaming. Her skirt, firmly wedged between the window and the sill, tore as her weight proved too much for the old fabric. The limb, as limber as it was, reached its maximum bow while she was still several feet from the ground and then broke with an ominous crack. Pandora hit the ground and rolled instinctively. The limb hit her anyway, but it was a glancing blow.

Fear of discovery had her bounding to her feet before she'd had time to assess the damage from the fall. Dogs began to bark. Grasping what was left of her skirt in her hands, Pandora raced back down the road toward her cottage. She was breathless by the time she reached it. She thought she would have been anyway, but she'd been chased by dogs much of the way and had had to run faster to outstrip them. Slamming into her cottage door, she worked the catch frantically and managed to tumble inside before any of the dogs on her heels succeeded in catching skin between their maws. One snagged the ragged edge of her skirt, however, and refused to release it.

Slamming the door, Pandora tugged until she tore the wedge of fabric loose and wilted weakly to the floor. For a time, she was too panicked to think. Her instincts had her listening for sounds of pursuit, but she only heard the scratching of the dogs at the door and after a time, they went away again.

The fates had smiled upon her, she realized abruptly, a smile beginning to curl her lips! She'd broken the curse and she hadn't been caught!

The smile died. The knight had been in his cups, but he'd recognized her. She had the uneasy feeling that he would remember everything when he woke up. Worse, if he felt anything like she had when she'd first fallen under the curse, he would know that something had happened!

She chewed her lip, trying to convince herself that he wouldn't. Although she'd managed to convince herself, before, that men were such lusty beasts it wasn't likely he would notice the difference, she began to have a bad feeling that he would. After all, they had coupled half the night! He would expect to awaken feeling well satisfied-not hungry, not with the … desperation she remembered.

If he said anything at all, the villagers would tell him about the curse! He was liable to hear it before he left anyway! She would've liked to believe that he wouldn't be able to put the two together, but she had a bad feeling he would-and very quickly. He hadn't struck her as a man of low intelligence-entirely the opposite.

She didn't know if it was the fear that he would hunt her down and give the curse back to her or the fear that he'd hunt her down and slay her that galvanized her, but it was definitely fear! Surging to her feet abruptly, she glanced around her cabin a little frantically, trying to decide what to do, where to go. She'd lived in the village her entire life, though! She didn't know how far the next village was.

He had a horse! He could chase her down all too easily, she realized. The woods, then! She knew the woods well! Grabbing a cloth, she began to fill it with the food she had ready to hand, a water skin, a change of clothing, and then made it into a bundle. It was awkward and heavy, but she might have to hide out in the woods for days before he gave up and left! She was good at finding natural growing food, but it was early in the season. She might still starve! Pausing to grab her cloak and twirl it around her shoulders, she eased the door of the cottage open and peered down the dark road. Four pairs of eyes blinked at her from a few cottages down!

The damned dogs! Closing the door again, Pandora tied the strings of her cloak and tiptoed toward the back door. Relieved when she didn't see any of the dogs, she crossed her backyard and let herself out the gate. The woods crept close there and she was beneath the deeper shadows of the trees within moments. Fortunately, she'd gone through the woods to the river so often she not only had a well worn path to follow, she knew it by heart. She managed to make to the river without blundering off the trail and into the woods more than a couple of times.

She paused at the bank to think. She didn't especially want to cross it, but it occurred to her that the dogs would be able to follow her scent-if anyone decided to try that! The decision made, she waded out until she was almost waist deep. Her first impulse was to head away from the village, in the opposite direction she knew the knight would traveling, but it occurred to her that he might think of that. Instead, she followed the river in the opposite direction, creeping slowly past the village when she came to it. The sky was beginning to lighten by the time she'd made her way past the last of the cottages, though, and she began to move faster, finally leaving the water on the opposite bank and plunging into the thick woods.

She was numb from the cold water long before she left the river. Her feet and legs didn't even feel like they belonged to her, but after stumping along for a while, the warmth generated from the walk chased the chill. Exhausted after a little while, she began to search for a place to curl and rest. There were a couple of small caves not far up the hill from the village, but she rather thought those might come instantly to mind to the locals. She was about to give up and simply lie down on a pile of leaves when she spotted a hollow in an enormous tree. Uneasiness flickered through her at the thought that there might be fairies or worse, gnomes, but she girded herself and checked anyway. To her relief, all she found was enough acorns to assure her the squirrels used it to stash food. After checking the interior carefully, she squeezed inside, wrapped her cloak tightly around her and leaned her head against the rough wood, closing her eyes.

* * * *

Drake's cock woke before he did. It wasn't a particularly unusual situation, however, and since he realized as soon as he surfaced toward consciousness that he'd had far too much ale the night before, he decided to ignore it. Despite every effort to do so, the damned thing remained obstinately erect instead of subsiding. In point of fact, the harder he tried to ignore it, the harder it got until it felt as if it was drawing his skin taut all over.

He needed to piss, he decided, realizing after a drunken search that his bladder was full. That explained it! Carefully rolling to his side, he pushed himself upright and flung his legs over the side of the bed. His head reeled and he caught it between both hands to steady it before it fell off his shoulders. When his head stopped swimming, he opened his eyes a crack, allowing his lashes to filter out some of the glaring light and swept the room with his gaze in search of the chamber pot. Spying it in one corner, he hoisted himself upright, got his bearings and staggered a wavering path in the general direction. Without too much difficulty, he managed to reach his goal. Planting one hand on the wall to keep his balance, he grabbed his cock and pointed it toward the pot, waiting a little impatiently for his bladder to act. Uttering a sigh of relief when it finally produced a stream, he leaned his forehead against the wall. The cool surface felt good against his head, reducing the throbbing at his temples somewhat.

When he'd finished, he headed back toward the bed, but even though that required far more concentration that it usually did, he found random thoughts flickering through his mind.

The thoughts produced heat and he felt his cock rising again when it had only just subsided. Irritation flickered through him, but he discovered his thoughts were far too pleasant to be too annoyed.

The lovely maid he'd spotted along the lane as he entered the village had paid him a visit the night before, he realized as an image of her face materialized in his mind. A smile curled his lips. That had been a pleasant surprise! She'd seemed … such a proper lady, too! Who would've thought she would creep into his room and climb in his bed?

Lusty wench, he thought fondly, collapsing on the bed again and trying to compose himself for sleep.

It eluded him. His cock was up and raring again and the thoughts he couldn't banish from his mind were no help at all in ridding him of his erection. Frowning, he resolutely pushed the memories from his mind and focused on sleep.

He gave up after a time, staring through burning eyes at the ceiling and idly stroking his aching genitals. He would've thought, all things considered, that his soldier would be content. Instead, it remained stubbornly at attention as if he hadn't spent half the night plowing!

Realizing finally that there was only one way to appeased the damned thing and make it cease to throb, he allowed his memories of Pansy to flow back into his mind and began to stroke his cock more purposefully. She was by far the most beautiful wench he'd ever had the good fortune to tempt into his bed and with a body that easily eclipsed her lovely face, soft and warm and round in all the right places!

He uttered a choked grunt when his body abruptly convulsed and began to eject his seed, pumping until he could produce no more. Releasing a sigh of relief, he closed his eyes, struggling to capture the sleep that had eluded him before.

It was a lost cause, he realized. He was awake and worse, his damned cock was up again within a matter of minutes, throbbing as hard as before or worse!

Frowning, he sat up and peered out the window. A jolt went through him. It was full daylight! "Gods!" he growled angrily, scrambling out of the bed and looking around for his clothes. He should have been off at dawn! He was going to miss the start of the fucking tournament and if he did, he might well not get in at all!

Cursing steadily despite the fact that it made his aching head pound worse, he dressed as quickly as he could, wincing when he tucked his cock into his thews. "Down boy! Heel! You're not likely to find any warm dark holes to burrow in for a while!"

Deciding if he ignored it it would go away-since it generally did-he grabbed the rest of his gear once he'd donned his braies, chauses, and gambeson and pulled his boots on and headed out of his rented room. Descending the stairs was a trial in endurance. Every step jarred him, making both his temples and his cock throb painfully.

The innkeeper eyed him curiously as he entered the bar. "It's a bit late to break your fast, my lord, but I think we might have a steak left and eggs if yer interested."

Drake paused, considering. He hadn't lied to the wench. He was the next thing to penniless, but he had enough for a tankard of ale and breakfast. The question was, could he afford to waste the time?

He decided he might as well. There was no point in arriving weak with hunger and with a splitting headache. He wasn't likely to acquit himself well under those circumstances. Nodding, he settled his gear near the door and selected a bench. "Be quick about it. I overslept already."

Nodding jerkily, the innkeeper disappeared through a door into the back. When he returned, he crossed the room and set a tankard of ale on the table. "My wife'll have that right out, my lord!"

Drake frowned. "I met a girl last eve," he said slowly. "You might know of her … Pan … uh … Pansy?"

The man looked at him strangely. "Don't know no Pansy-not hereabouts," he said uneasily, backing away.

"That's damned odd," Drake muttered. Lifting his hand he held it above the floor, judging the height. "About yeah high, dark hair, and as lovely a girl as I've seen. I'm thinking she wouldn't be easy to forget."

The man turned as white as a sheet. "You ain't meanin' Pandora, are you?"

Uneasiness flickered through Drake. "I'm sure she said her name was Pansy," he said warily.

The man shook his head. "Ain't nobody named Pansy lives around here, but there's an accursed wench lives on the edge of the village named Pandora."

Drake gaped at the man, feeling his belly roil. "Accursed? You mean a witch?"

The innkeeper retreated to the bar, staring at Drake wide-eyed from the other side. "Nay. She's no witch … although I suppose she might as well be! Accursed she was, an' her ma before her by a gnome! Her whole line's accursed!"

Drake jolted to his feet. "Accursed how?"

The man turned whiter if possible. "Don't know … exactly! The gnome said anybody that touched her would be cursed, too, an' ain't nobody been brave enough to go near her."

"Where does she live?" Drake growled furiously.

The man flinched. Lifting a shaking hand, he pointed down the road. "Last cottage on the edge of town!"

Grabbing his gear, Drake stormed from the inn. After a brief debate about whether to confront her at once or retrieve his stallion, he finally turned to the stables. His horse and his armor were all he owned. He wasn't about to leave them. Bellowing at the stable boy before he even reached the stables, he saddled his horse when the boy came running out leading the stallion, tied his gear behind the saddle and mounted up.

Fury churned in his gut when he reached the edge of town. Any doubt that had lingered that he'd been wrong vanished. The last cottage stood across from the apple tree where he'd encountered her the day before.

Drawing the stallion to a halt, he dismounted and tied the reins at her gate post, then slammed his palm against the gate. It flew open, banging against the fence and bounding back, but he'd stalked up the path to her door by that time. Balling his hand into a fist, he pounded on the panel hard enough to rattle the door on its hinges. When he'd paused to listen a moment and heard no movement inside, he slammed his shoulder against the door. It flew open as the gate had, banging against the wall.

He knew even before he'd scanned the tiny one roomed cottage that the vixen had flown!

"Gods damn it!" he roared furiously, looking the place over again in the hope he might find some hiding place. Fear and frustration twisted inside him when he realized she truly was gone. She'd cursed him, the conniving little bitch, and taken off!

But to where?

?

 

 

 

 

Chapter Three

 

Drake followed Pandora's tracks all the way down to the river where they ended. He glared at the sluggishly flowing water for several moments, the half-formed hope that she'd simply gone down to fetch water dying a painful death.

A mixture of panic and disbelief flickered through him. Why would she do that to him? He was a stranger! He'd damned well not done anything to warrant her animosity!

Deciding after a few moments to settle and wait to see if she would come back, he found a fallen log and sat down, turning his focus inward in search of something that just felt wrong. Aside from his headache, his empty stomach, and his hard dick, however, he couldn't find anything amiss.

What sort of curse had the damned gnome placed on her?

They were evil little bastards, he thought angrily. There was no telling what sort of curse he'd placed on her-or rather her mother, according to the innkeeper. Misery, that was certain, and it was to be passed to the daughters, he supposed, but why to anyone who touched them?

It occurred to him rather forcefully that 'touched' to a male mind generally meant fucking, and he'd done a great deal of that sort of touching the night before! There was no saying that it was a male gnome, of course, but if it had been the horror that came most forcefully to mind was a curse to make any man that touched them wither-or at least their manhood!

He considered that for several moments, but he sure as hell couldn't see that his cock was withering! Reaching down to adjust it for comfort, he felt it for reassurance but it certainly seemed to be all there. If anything, it was hard enough to drive pegs with!

Struggling to redirect his mind, he fell to wondering if any of the villagers might know the story a little better. It would be far easier to figure out just how much trouble he was in if he knew the whole tale!

After glancing up and down the riverbank a few times, he got to his feet and made his way back to the cottage. Untying his stallion, he led the horse back toward the village, searching the cottages along the way until he spied an elderly woman hanging her wash. Securing the reins to the woman's gate post, he strode across her yard and down the side of the cottage.

Hearing his approach, she glanced in his direction, did a double and whirled to dash inside. He cut her off. "Easy old woman! I just want to talk."

She studied him distrustfully. "About what?"

He saw no point in beating around the bush. "I heard a tale about the wench that lives in the cottage down the lane."

The woman paled. "Pandora?"

"That's the one," he said grimly.

She flicked a glance down his length, paused for so long on his erection that Drake felt his face heat and then lifted her gaze again. "Ye've done it now, boy! Ye shoulda asked before ye give her a tumble!"

Drake blinked at her. "Come again?"

The old woman shook her head, seemed to debate briefly, and then moved to a stool and settled on it. "Her mother was the fairest maiden for miles around … had every male above ten following her about like a pack of hassling dogs! Oh she enjoyed it! Had them falling all over themselves to please her and then she up and married this fellow from the next village over! Well, the women around here was relieved, I can tell you! Not but what the men still made like statues and gaped at her anytime she walked by, but her man guarded her!

"Then one day she's out gatherin' herbs. Pandora were about five at the time, I'm guessin' and she was with her when they came upon a gnome. No surprise he was smitten with her, too. I'm thinkin' he put some kinda spell on her man, because one day he just up and disappeared. Never was seen again. And of course, all the men 'round about starts sniffin' after her again.

"But this gnome, he wanted her for hisself an' he fixes it so the men's warded off. Well, Sophie's real miffed about that. She had her eye on the blacksmith, I'm thinkin', 'cause he was fairly well set up. So she tells the gnome she'll have none of him and when he gets angry, she laughs at him.

"She never was too clever. Beautiful, but not very bright. So, the gnome's furious 'cause he's been hangin' after her all this time, wantin' her, usin' his magic to try to coax her. He says she should suffer like he has-unrequited lust, 'cause I'm thinkin', maybe he didn't want to admit that he loved her-or maybe it was only lust and he knew it! Anyways, that's the curse he put on her-said forever and her line, too!"

Drake stared at her blankly, feeling his anger slowly climb again. "Unrequited lust?" he growled disbelievingly.

The woman shrugged. "That's what he said. A plague upon any that touched her, they'd suffer the same!"

Turning on his heel, Drake stalked from the woman's yard, wondering if he could accept the woman's account or if he should investigate a little more. It sounded damned absurd to him!

He discovered when he reached the front gate that the old woman had followed him. She was staring at him pityingly when he glanced at her. "She done gone an' cursed you now," she said. "Ain't never gonna get that swellin' to go down."

Drake gaped at her, feeling his face heat. Uneasiness flickered through him despite the fact that he'd been willing to completely dismiss the entire thing from his mind only moments before. Resisting the urge to adjust his painfully swollen cock, he gathered his reins and mounted his horse, wincing as he settled in the saddle.

He hesitated for a moment and finally turned the stallion and headed east. If he hurried, he thought, he might still make it to the tournament before they closed the lists.

He should've known not to pay any attention to ignorant hicks, he thought irritably. They'd gotten him all stirred up with the tale of a damned curse and that was all there was to it? It was beyond absurd! It was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard!

If there was a curse at all-and he doubted it!-then it wasn't much of a curse! He felt fine. His head was still pounding like a son-of-a-bitch, and his balls had begun to hurt almost as much as his cock, but otherwise ….

Every mile he rode was sheer torment! He ignored the throbbing pain as long as he could stand it and finally drew his horse to a stop and climbed down. When he'd tied the horse to keep it from wandering off, he moved behind a tree and very carefully loosened his chausses and just as carefully pulled his cock out, staring down at it in dismay. He'd never had such a raging erection in his life! His cock was so sensitive it hurt to touch it. Gritting his teeth, he gripped it anyway and began to pump his hand up and down its length. He came within a few moments. It felt like it turned his guts inside out, but his balls ceased to throb so painfully. Dragging in a relieved breath, struggling with dizziness, he leaned his head weakly against the tree, trying to decide whether he needed to jack off again. His cock was still semi-erect, however, and his balls still tight.

At least it wasn't nearly as painful when he jacked-off the second time! Wiping his brow with the back of his hand, he shoved his cock back into his braies and tied them. His cock was hard again before he even managed to mount the fucking horse!

Anxiety flickered through him for the first time since he'd spoken to the old woman. As misery went, he was fairly certain there wasn't a hell of a lot that could be worse! After a few more miles he almost wished his cock would wither!

Anger built as his misery mounted and finally he pulled the horse to a halt again. He wasn't going to make it to the tournament and he would be a dead man if he did! He couldn't fight in this condition!

Turning the horse, he gritted his teeth and kicked the stallion into a gallop. He was going to find that little bitch and choke the life out of her!

* * * *

If she hadn't been exhausted, Pandora didn't think she would've been able to sleep at all. As it was, however, it wasn't just the discomfort of her position or her surroundings that invaded her dreams and woke her only a few hours after she'd found a place to hide. She already felt the fever rising inside her again. She hadn't passed the curse to him. She was still accursed!

She was so upset by the discovery that it was a while before it occurred to her to wonder if there was actually any point in hiding in the woods after all. If she hadn't passed her curse to the knight, would there be any reason for him to look for her?

A coldness washed over her when she finally remembered the rest of the curse-that it would plague any who dared to touch her! In all the time since she had inherited the curse, no one had allowed her near them, but she'd grown so accustomed to thinking of it as her misery it had completely slipped her mind that that was only the case if she remained untouched.

He would have the fever now!

A shiver cascaded through her but, unfortunately, it was only partly from fear. Part of it was the memories of shared passion that the thought had resurrected and those memories so consumed her that it made it difficult to focus on anything else.

She felt as she had when she had first been struck by the malady and had thought that she might appease it. Each time she'd tried it had only returned more forcefully and such was the case now-except that it was far harder to bear when she had been so careful for so long. She'd grown accustomed, learned to shuffle it to the back of her mind. It was always there, a constant ache, but manageable because she'd refused to allow it overshadow her life.

Until the knight had come and she'd seen the chance, at long last, to find relief.

Well, it was no relief now! She felt far worse than she had before she'd gone to him and beyond that she now had to worry that he would hunt her down for passing the curse on to him-which she had even though she still had it!

After a while, when she heard no sounds indicating the knight was searching for her, she decided that she simply had to get out of the hollow and stretch. When she'd carefully extricated herself, she looked around, stretched to ease her aching muscles and crouched down with her pack to find something to eat and, more importantly, to drink. She felt far more thirsty than hungry. Small wonder, she thought wryly, remembering the time she'd spent with the knight.

And naturally, when she'd drank her fill she felt the need to relieve herself. By her reckoning, she thought it must be well onto noon by that time, however, and he'd said that he meant to travel to the King's tournament. Surely, he must be long gone even if he had stopped to look for her?

She wasn't convinced enough to return to her cottage. She rather thought she should hide in the woods at least a few days, but she thought it might be safe to move about a little. Relieving her bladder, she discovered, didn't give her a great deal of relief. Her woman's place was tender from so much unaccustomed coupling and still throbbing in demand for more.

She decided she would have to bear it for a while. She didn't feel safe enough to head down to the river-not yet. When it was nearer to dusk, she promised herself, she would go and bathe herself and the cold water would soothe the ache for a little while.

* * * *

Drake was not pleased when he reached Pandora's cottage once more and discovered she hadn't returned. He'd managed to convince himself on the ride back that she would be and that he would be able to confront her for her treachery. After fuming over it for a few minutes, he finally led his stallion around to her back garden, unsaddled him and allowed him to graze at will while he went inside to wait for her.

He paced for a time, but his stomach was rumbling from a lack of food and finally he searched her stores for something to appease that need at least. There was a pot of stew over the embers in the fireplace, he discovered. Stoking the fire, he looked around for anything he might add to it since there was very little left in the pot, and finally tossed in a few of the carrots and potatoes he found. There was no bread that he could see, which annoyed him. She was not much of a homemaker that he could see if she did not keep bread in the house!

And of course there was no ale!

Settling for water, he fixed himself a bowl of stew and sat down to fill his stomach. His headache had pretty much vanished by the time he'd filled his stomach if the other ache hadn't subsided one whit, but he was obliged to admit he at least felt somewhat better. After pacing a while, he dropped onto her cot and lay back, staring at the ceiling and trying to will his cock to lie down. He didn't succeed, but he'd had damned little sleep the night before and he dosed off.

He realized as soon as he woke that it was nearly sundown and the wench still hadn't returned! He might well have dozed, he reasoned, but he would've wakened if she'd come back.

A fresh wave of anger surged through him when he realized that she had no intention of coming back-not any time soon, at any rate!

Well, she would not have gone far! She might well only be waiting until darkness fell to sneak back, but he decided not to count upon it. If he did, he was liable to end up spending the night in her cottage alone and he didn't think he could wait that long to appease the demand of his genitals for relief! They would explode before much longer if he didn't do something!

His decision made, he went out to capture his stallion, saddled him and rode down to the river. Pausing on the bank, he glanced both ways, trying to decide which way she might have gone. He was inclined to think she would've headed away from the village. He would have. On the other hand, she was a village girl and it seemed unlikely she'd ever been far from the village. She would want to stay close to feel safe.

He turned the stallion in the direction of the village and followed it. It meandered through the woods, at times close enough to the village that he could see the thatched roofs, at times far enough away that he might have been miles from the village if he hadn't known better.

It was as he rounded a bend that he spotted her. She was bathing in the river! His heart instantly surged in his chest with triumph and his cock throbbed hard enough he thought he might black out for several moments. Kicking his stallion in the sides, he bounded toward her even as he saw her head whip around. Her eyes widened. Uttering a shriek, she leapt up and dashed into the woods-stark naked! A grin of triumph curled his lips back from his teeth. He'd found the vixen! She wasn't going to elude him now!

* * * *

Pandora knew trying to elude him was useless, but she couldn't convince her legs of the fruitlessness of it! They began churning almost before her mind had fully grasped that the sound she'd heard was the knight coming for her. She'd raced up the riverbank and into the woods before her mind fully assimilated that he was on his horse and there was no way she could outrun a mounted man on foot! She might have had some chance if he'd been on foot as she was. With the horse-none.

She developed a stitch in her side before she'd gone far. Clutching it, she struggled to keep going, searching the terrain in front of her frantically for some place to hide while she still had enough of a lead to do so. There was nothing but a scraggly bush here and there. The trees grew so thickly they choked out the light below them. Quickly discarding that as a possibility, she began scanning the trees themselves, looking for one she might have some chance of scaling. When she finally spotted one a few yards ahead of her, she bounded toward it, leaping up to catch the lowest limb as she reached it.

She managed to climb just high enough to make it easy for him to pluck her from the tree and plant her ass in front of him on the horse. He uttered a pained grunt as she landed in his lap, his face turning a sickly hue. She might have tried to fight her way free of him if he hadn't tightened his arm around her so hard that it forced the breath from her. By the time she'd recovered enough to try to pry his grip lose, he'd recovered sufficiently to send her a murderous glare.

"Don't move," he growled through his teeth.

Pandora subsided instantly, more because she was too weak with fright to do anything else than due to the fact that she'd heard and understood the order, which she hadn't, staring at him wide eyed. The whiteness around his mouth slowly recovered its natural color. Sweat glistened on his brow.

"Do you have any inkling of what you've done to me, wench?"

Pandora blinked at him, trying to decide if it would help to pretend ignorance. "I … uh …."

"Don't bother trying to spin me any tales, gods damn it! I know what you did! Tell me how to get rid of the curse!"

Pandora's jaw went slack. A very little thought, however, produced the certainty that he wouldn't welcome the truth.

He studied her for a long moment and finally grasped her leg nearest him and turned her so that she was facing him, straddling the horse backwards. She gripped his arms as he released her and pushed his gambeson up, snatching the ties of his braies and unveiling his cock. "It has not gone down one time since you climbed into my bed last eve and mounted it," he growled.

Pandora swallowed convulsively several times, feeling her own fever mount at the sight of it. She licked her lips, mesmerized. "I could … uh … give you ease," she said a little hopefully.

"Oh you will," he growled. "And then you will tell me how to rid myself of the damned curse."

Catching her around the hips with one arm, he lifted her, positioned the head of his cock against her opening and began to bear down on her. She was so wet, she felt slick and yet it was pleasurable agony to feel his swollen flesh prying at her own, boring into her until she almost felt as if her flesh could yield no more, until it began to burn with the strain. She thought the pained, pleasured grunts he expelled were evidence enough that it was as tortuous for him, but it sent her heat spiraling upward. He clutched her tightly when he had finally sheathed himself deeply inside her, holding her perfectly still, gasping hoarsely.

"Gods!" he murmured thickly, more to himself than her, she thought. "That is the first I have felt any relief at all."

He held her perfectly still for so long that she felt her impatience overcome her fear of him and began struggling to move. A shiver skated through him and then, abruptly, he began to jog her up and down on his lap, short, deep thrusts that made her come almost at once and then climb another peak. She didn't manage to reach it before he'd found his own release and disappointment fluttered through her, but it was short lived.

As soon as he managed to catch his breath, he guided the horse in a turn and headed back toward the river without uncoupling with her. The bouncing ride took her to the top of the peak she thought she'd missed scaling and pitched her off into rapture.

She didn't truly get the chance to come down. His cock didn't grow soft and he kept her mounted firmly as he headed back along the riverbed. She had a vague idea that he was headed toward her cottage, but she was too fevered from the heat that swirled inside her, too drunk with it, to know for certain or care. She came, over and over again until she finally lost touch with reality completely and sank into oblivion.

She roused toward consciousness when he finally lifted her from his lap and dismounted. She fell into his arms, too weak to catch herself. He shifted her onto one shoulder and carried her inside.

A wave of dizziness washed over her as he tossed her onto her cot. She landed hard enough to rattle her teeth in her head, too stunned to move. Before she'd entirely assimilated what he had in mind, he had grasped both her wrists and tied them above her head to one of the bedposts. She stared at him uneasily as he straightened and planted his back against the post at the foot of her bed, studying her through narrowed, assessing eyes, his expression hard.

"I have thought all day long-when I could think beyond the pain in my fucking groin!-and I cannot for the life of me think what I might have done that would inspire you to cause me this torment," he growled finally.

Pandora gaped at him in dismay. It wasn't posed as a question, but she knew it was. Unfortunately, she had no answer that would appease him. "I didn't mean to do it!" she gasped finally.

His lips tightened. "You stumbled in my window by mistake? Mounted me by accident?"

Pandora felt her face heat. "You don't understand! It's the curse!"

His face grew stonier if possible. "I'm beginning to fucking understand a lot better than I want to!" he snarled. "Tell me how to be rid of it!"

"I don't know how!" she yelled at him, abruptly angry. "Do you think I wouldn't have already if I knew?"

His lips tightened. "You might have thought about that before you shared it! I have to tell you I can't decide whether I most want to fuck you or choke the life out of you!"

Pandora felt her anger wilt as swiftly as it had risen. "I really didn't mean to pass it to you! I just … I couldn't think beyond the need! And I'd forgotten that part of the curse! I really had!"

"But you remembered after you'd climbed in my bed and shared it?"

She bit her lip, but she didn't see any point in telling him that she'd thought she'd truly passed it on to him, removing it from herself in the process. "Not right away. It wasn't until I'd begun to feel a little relief-and you didn't show any signs of being satisfied that it finally occurred to me, and it was too late then."

"I need to think," he muttered after staring at her angrily for several moments in silence. "I can't begin to tell you how difficult that is when I can scarcely get my mind off my cock!"

He got up then and moved away from the bed. Pandora watched him warily. "Are you going to untie me?" she asked a little hopefully after a while.

He slid a narrow look at her. "I don't think so. I'd as soon not have to hunt you down again."

"I wouldn't leave!" she assured him.

He sent her a sour look and strode to the back door, going out.

Pandora stared at the door in dismay, pricking her ears to hear what he might be doing. Finally deciding that he must be attending his horse, she relaxed fractionally. It was impossible to relax completely even if she hadn't been tied to the bed. Despite the fact that they'd coupled since he'd caught her and she'd orgasmed until she'd blacked out, the heat began to flow back into her as it always did, more quickly than it might have otherwise, she thought, because he'd left her naked. It made her more aware. Even the slight air currents that wafted through the room stirred her skin to prickling awareness.

She tried not to think about it. As pathetic as it was, as useless, it was the only defense she had, to turn her mind from it.

The search for something to occupy her thoughts on finally brought their conversation to mind. She'd never even considered the possibility of getting rid of the curse but the very fact that he seemed intent upon finding a way made her wonder if it was possible.

Perhaps if they found the gnome and appealed to him, or bartered with him, he would remove it?

How would they even go about finding the gnome, though?

?

 

 

 

 

Chapter Four

 

The knight's hair was dripping wet when he finally returned and he was naked from the waist up. Pandora craned her neck, straining against her bonds to get a better look as soon as she saw his state, swallowing convulsively when she spotted the evidence of his arousal bulging the front of his braies. Heat instantly flamed in her groin. Aside from flicking her an enigmatic look, however, he ignored her, moving to the hearth and building a small fire.

"That was a painfully interesting new experience," he muttered. "'Tis the first I've ever had my cock try to run into my belly when it was erect."

Pandora winced at the image he conjured, chewed her lower lip a moment, and finally decided it couldn't hurt to try to placate him. "The cold water usually helps to soothe mine," she said tentatively.

"I wouldn't precisely call it soothing," he growled.

"But it did help a little?" she said hopefully.

He straightened, turning to look at her speculatively.

Pandora felt her breasts tingle. "Do you have a name I might call you? Or should I simply continue to call you sir knight?"

"Drake," he growled, striding toward her abruptly and climbing onto the bed. Grasping her legs, he shoved them upward until her knees were bent and wedged himself between her thighs.

Pandora watched his hands as he untied his braies. His cock looked as uncomfortably swollen as it had the last time she'd seen it and she flicked a look up at his face to discover that he was watching her. He fell toward her at that moment, catching his upper body with his palms on the bed. She felt him probing her sex with the head of his cock and then pushing slowly but surely inside of her. Shivers of anticipation began to rack her.

When he reached a point of maximum resistance, where he began to push her slight form up the bed rather than delving more deeply, he pushed himself upright again. Settling on his heels, he stared down at her sex for a moment and finally grasped her hips, lifting them from the bed and pulling her to him until her flesh finally engulfed his. Still watching as if fascinated, he pulled her away until little more than the head of his cock remained inside her and then sheathed himself again.

A shudder went through him. It traveled all the way through Pandora and she closed her eyes, waiting for him to bring her to culmination and the brief relief it afforded. Instead, he jogged her back and forth along his cock several times more, tensed, uttered several choked sounds as his seed was pumped from his body and got up.

Pandora opened her eyes and stared at him in disbelief when he climbed from the bed. She was on fire! He hadn't quenched her fire!

"You didn't …! I wasn't done!"

He shrugged. "We aren't lovers, Pansy," he snarled. "I don't want you. I only have the need you cursed me with!"

Pandora gaped at him. "But … but I didn't! It was the gnome!"

"Well, you must tell him how unfair it is when you see him!"

Pandora went back to gaping at him for several moments, trying to wrap her mind around what he'd said and done. He was punishing her? It wasn't her fault!

She considered that sullenly for several moments before it dawned on her that it was-not that she'd intentionally done him harm! She'd explained that! It wasn't right when he knew now how the curse tortured one! It was a wonder she wasn't mad!

She would be if he refused to even give her a little relief!

"Please?"

He moved to the fireplace and crouched beside it without a word.

"I haven't seen the gnome since I was a child! I wouldn't even begin to know where to look for him."

"What of your mother?"

Sorrow tightened her chest. "She is dead."

"Well, that is no help," he growled.

"You are hateful! You might at least pretend that you feel badly for me that my mother is dead!"

"It is sad. If she were here I could wring her neck," he snarled. "Or better yet, fuck her to death trying to relieve this curse!"

Pandora sniffed. "Well, you are too late for that! The Brenner's bull did that years ago!"

He sent her a startled look that changed to one of revulsion.

Pandora glared at him. "You've no right to judge her! If you didn't have me to stick your cock into you would be looking for another place to put it!"

He considered that and finally shrugged. "It is not the same for women," he said dismissively.

"How would you know?" Pandora snapped. "When were you a woman?"

"They do not have balls!" he roared at her, coming upright and jerking his braies down to display his. "Do you see that? They are the size of fucking acorns! Do you know why? Because I have fucked until there is nothing left, no seed to pump out! I will be coughing up blood next!"

Pandora blinked at him, trying to focus her mind on the conversation when all she could think about was the standing shaft. "Truly?" she finally asked a little doubtfully.

He snarled at her, tucked his genitals away, and crouched again.

"How long does it take to fill them again?" she asked after a few moments, wondering if that was what he was waiting for.

"I don't know," he growled. "I have never fucked until they were dry!"

He was a surly brute! She didn't know why she'd thought he was a gentleman! She didn't want to talk to him anymore, but she was on fire because he hadn't appeased her even a little. "Will you at least untie me and allow me to bathe in the river?"

"No."

"Brute!"

"Bitch!"

Pandora lapsed into silence, realizing it was worse than useless to antagonize him. He already hated her for what she'd done to him. Provoking him was liable to make him decide to strangle her as he'd threatened, regardless of the consequences.

And she doubted there would be much in the way of consequences for him if it came to that! The villagers would be relieved to be rid of her and he could always leave and find a woman elsewhere-or many women!

To her surprise, he moved to the bed after a little while and untied her from the bedpost. Pain shot through her arms as she lowered them. Catching her by one arm, he hauled her from the bed before she could figure out how to manage it herself when her wrists were still bound. He marched her to the outhouse then to attend her needs. When she emerged, he caught her arm once more and walked her down to the river.

She was so grateful she felt like weeping. Settling her flaming genitals and breasts into the frigid water was sheer torture at first, but it numbed her fairly quickly, giving her a modicum of relief.

It didn't last nearly long enough, unfortunately. The numbness was already beginning to wear off by the time they reached the cottage once more and she discovered Drake had no intention of hesitating to ease his own suffering.

He left her standing by the table while he filled a bowl from the stew pot over the fire. When he returned, he studied her speculatively for a moment and finally sat down in the only chair-hers. Grabbing her, he pulled her to him and guided her until she was sitting astride his thighs, facing him.

Pandora tensed, certain she knew what he would do next-hopeful. As she'd hoped, he dragged his cock from his braies and lifted her up, settled her on his shaft and bore down on her until he was fully sheathed. He released a pent up breath. "Better," he muttered. "Lean back."

Dizzy, her heart hammering with anticipation, Pandora merely stared at him without comprehension. He pushed her away from him until she was leaning against the edge of the table and then picked up the bowl of stew.

She blinked at him when he lifted a spoonful and blew on it. He held it out to her in offering.

She didn't want to eat, damn it! She wanted relief! A glob of gravy dripped from the spoon, landed on her upper chest and rolled down her breast, finally coming to a stop on the tip of one nipple. He stared at it a moment. Dropping the spoon into the bowl again, he dragged her close enough to lick the gravy from her breast. She closed her eyes as he sucked the painfully swollen nipple, feeling the muscles in her sex spasm.

He pulled away abruptly. Dipping in to the bowl again, he blew on the spoonful he'd scooped up and pushed it into his mouth. "You should eat some to keep up your strength," he said wryly. "I know I need it."

"I … don't understand."

"Counter pressure," he responded, making no pretense of having misunderstood. "I can't say it helps a hell of a lot, but it does help."

Pandora gaped at him. "So you're just going to …?"

"Whenever the hell I please," he growled. "Stew?"

Pandora didn't think she could swallow to save her life, but as angry and disappointed as she was, she also knew he was right. It was hard to feel any appetite for food when she was so consumed with hunger for sex, but the latter offered no sustenance for the body even when appeased. She took the food he'd offered. After a few bites, she began to actually feel a little better-a little daring. She shifted slightly, hopeful that it might inspire him.

It did. He sent her a deadly glare. "Be still!"

Pandora froze, swallowing with an effort.

When they'd finished eating, he set the bowl aside. Catching her arms, he drew them around his neck, cupped her buttocks and stood up with her. She thought when he climbed onto the cot with her that he only meant to drop her there and leave her. She discovered he had something worse in mind.

He settled her against the mattress, pumped into her a few times until she was on fire, felt her climax almost within reach, and then came as he had before, leaving her fire raging out of control as he withdrew. Pulling free of her bound arms, he got up and banked the fire, latched the doors and returned with another length of leather like the one he'd used to bind her wrists. Grabbing her ankles, he bound them together and then sprawled on the bed beside her.

It was as well he left her bound up, she thought furiously. Otherwise, she might have considered finding something to club him to death!

Her anger didn't sustain her much past the point where he began to snore. She lay staring at the ceiling for a long time, struggling with her curse, and eventually grew too tired to stay awake regardless.

The bindings, she discovered to her dismay only prevented her from straddling him during the night and mounting him. It didn't prevent him from spearing into her when he pleased. He would simply roll her onto her stomach, part her buttocks and drive into her from behind. She lost track of the days, had no notion of whether it was morning, noon, or night except when he took her out to bathe or relief herself. The fever seemed to consume her until she couldn't think of anything else. Eventually, she reached the point where she began to shudder with orgasm as soon as he pushed inside of her, but it was merely her overloaded senses responding not a true climax. It didn't give her any real relief.

"We must try to find the gnome," Drake said one evening as he sat feeding her.

"The gnome?" Pandora asked blankly.

"The one who cast the curse."

She studied over that for a few moments. "I don't know where to look. I was only a child at the time. I don't remember the place."

"Well, we cannot lose from searching," he said dryly. "I am nigh dead from fucking and you aren't faring well, either."

She glared at him. "I would fare better if you were not too selfish to give me even a little relief!"

To her surprise, he looked uncomfortable. "There is no relief," he responded testily. "At least, what there is is so momentary as to be almost more torture than the fever."

"I've felt both," Pandora said stonily. "Some is better than none!"

"And you have had some and I have had some!" he retorted, lifting her up and depositing her on her feet abruptly. "Do you feel a whit better?"

Pandora caught her balance with an effort, struggling abruptly with the urge to burst into tears. He spoke nothing but the truth, to a point, but she couldn't think of how to explain that the little quakes she had felt were far more like almost getting there than actually getting there.

He rose from his chair abruptly and moved about the cottage angrily, gathering up supplies. When it finally dawned on Pandora that that was he was doing, it distracted her from the urge to cry. "We're leaving now?"

"The sooner I am shed of you and the damned curse the better," he growled.

The urge to cry assailed her again but her pride came to her rescue. Sniffing, she looked around for her clothes. She'd pretty much destroyed her second best gown when she'd climbed into the inn that first night, though, and she didn't see the other. "I need clothes."

He ignored her.

"I can't travel like this!"

He turned to survey her. "You'll have the cloak. I don't particularly want to have to waste time stripping you down when I need relief."

Pandora's lips tightened. "Well you never do anything but stick your damned cock in me! I can go without drawers if that's what's bothering you!"

He flushed at the accusation. "If we were making love, I might have some interest in playing!" he snapped.

"Well, we aren't and we won't be, so I don't see any point in baring anything but my cunt!"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Good point!" Striding toward her, he loosened the ties on her wrist.

Pandora winced as the blood rushed into her hands, clenching and unclenching her fingers. Turning away when she discovered he was watching her, she moved to the chest at the foot of her bed and took out her best gown. She hated to wear it on what she knew must be a grueling journey, for it would never be the same, but she might just as well go naked as to wear her second best dress. She hadn't had the chance to mend it.

By the time she'd managed to get in to her dress and do up the ties with her stiff fingers, Drake had gathered what he could up. He left the cottage with the two bundles he'd made and returned with his armor. After glancing around, he stowed it in her clothing chest.

Pandora managed to get her cloak around her shoulders and tied before he grasped her arm and led her out. To her surprise, he lifted her and settled her on the horse's rump.

She was a little disappointed actually. Remembering when he'd found her and dragged her back to her cottage, she shivered with the heat that rose at the memory. At least if she was mounted on his cock as she had been then she would've gotten the release she so desperately wanted-whether he intentionally gave it to her or not the motion of the horse would!

There seemed little point in asking, though. He would only say no, the brute! It was as clear as a bell that he meant to punish her for her perfidy! She truly hadn't done it maliciously, though it wasn't likely she would be able to convince him!

In retrospect, she supposed she deserved it. Whether she'd meant to or not, she'd done him a very ill turn. He hadn't deserved the misery. She thought he'd been a very noble gentleman before she'd ruined his life!

As it was, she supposed he had shown a good deal of restraint. It was true, he'd made her far more miserable than she'd been before, but he hadn't hurt her and he had seen to her comfort and wellbeing-at least in every way except the one she wanted and needed-and she supposed she could see his point. He was suffering because of her lack of restraint. It was only just that she should also suffer.

They didn't take the road as she'd expected. She supposed that was because he hoped the villagers wouldn't realize that they were gone and help themselves to what had been left behind.

She thought it unlikely that they would've anyway. Few of them actually understood the curse and thought that simply being too close was enough to bring the plague down upon them. They wouldn't want to touch anything she might have touched for fear the plague would leap from it to them!

After following the river for a time, Drake guided the horse through the woods to the road and they began to make far better time. Pandora finally nerved herself to ask where they were going when they stopped at noon to rest and eat.

"There is an enchanted forest mayhap a fortnight's ride beyond Kingsley. I've heard all manner of magical beings dwell there. It seems the best place to search for the fucking gnome."

Fucking gnome indeed, Pandora thought wryly! "Do you think if you slay him the curse will be lifted?" she asked doubtfully.

"Not likely."

She frowned. "What do you mean to do then?"

He shrugged. "Mayhap we can use trickery."

She blinked at him. "What sort of trickery?"

"You will entice him and once you have fucked him and given the bastard a taste of his own medicine, then mayhap he'll decide to remove it!"

Pandora gaped at him unhappily. "But … I don't know that I want to fuck him!" she objected.

"He will have a dick," he said sourly.

"Well that is a hateful thing to say!" she said indignantly. "I didn't fuck you only because you had one!"

He fixed her with a hard look. "Why did you?"

She stared at him, swallowing against the painful knot that rose in her throat, and finally looked away. He wouldn't believe her even if she told him that she had been instantly smitten with him, admired him, not simply desired him. He wouldn't welcome it even if he did.

It was all too true that the curse had been the most powerful driving force, but in spite of it, she had been able to contain herself with the men of the village! Not that she hadn't wanted to scratch her itch! But she could've pounced on most any one of them when they were in their cups and too drunk to defend themselves!

Of course one of the reasons she hadn't was because she'd feared the consequences, been afraid it might upset the delicate balance and send the villagers into a frenzy, but it had also been because she hadn't truly desired any of them.

Despite the fact that Drake had demanded that she make herself available upon need, he managed to restrain himself far better than Pandora actually liked, ignoring her much of the day and succumbing only when they bedded down at night. She hadn't actually realized how hard a battle he was fighting until they were nearing their destination-the enchanted forest.

However, when they'd stopped for their noon rest period and gathered everything to move again, he dragged her up astride his lap instead of behind him as he had before. A suffocating sense of anticipation instantly gripped her as he carefully positioned her and drove deeply inside. Taking her arms, he looped her bound wrists around his neck, staring into her eyes for a long moment before he kicked the stallion and set him to a brisk trot.

Pandora burrowed her face along his neck, clinging tightly, trying to contain the gasps forced from her each time the motion of the horse jounced her up and then down on his hard shaft. The minor tremors she'd been experiencing for days hit her within a few moments and disappointment with it, but unlike the days before, he didn't immediately remove her. He allowed her to continue bobbing up and down on his shaft until a second, far more deeply satisfying climax caught her and shuddered through her-and then another.

She seemed to come a little harder each time until she began to feel almost as much dread as anticipation. She could no more prevent it than she could elude the constant stroke of his cock in and out of her, though. She came until she passed from consciousness and then awoke to feel herself climbing toward release again.

She began to think it was almost more torture than preventing her from coming had been. She was so weak and disoriented from climaxing over and over that she hardly knew where she was when Drake finally drew the stallion to a halt.

The first she realized that they'd entered the enchanted forest and encountered anyone was when she heard a deep male voice.

"What have you there?"

"My woman," Drake growled, "as you see."

Pandora lifted her head dizzily as she felt Drake flip the skirt of her gown back to display the way she was mounted on his cock, staring at him blankly for a moment before she turned her head to look for the owner of the voice. A jolt went through her when she saw it was a beautiful white unicorn.

He was staring at Drake's lap as if mesmerized. "Do you always travel with her mounted on your cock?" the unicorn finally asked curiously.

"She was cursed by a gnome. She cannot be satisfied and, unfortunately, neither can I now that she has passed the curse on to me."

"Cursed, you say?" the unicorn asked with interest. "Is that why you're here? In the hope of removing this curse?"

"Yes. We're looking for the gnome. I don't suppose you could tell us the way to find him?"

The unicorn seemed to consider. "What is his name?"

Drake grasped her chin and forced her to look at him. "What was the name of gnome?"

Pandora stared at him blankly, trying to fix her mind on the question. For a moment, fear gripped her. She was afraid she couldn't recall it. Finally, it popped into her mind. "Mother called him Longbeard."

"Hmmm," the unicorn responded. "I don't recall that I've met one that bears that name. Mayhap it was only a name your mother made up because he had a long beard?"

Pandora stared at the unicorn in dismay. "I don't know. I was just a child. He did have a very long beard."

"Poor child," the unicorn murmured sympathetically. "It must be terrible to be so afflicted. Why were you cursed?"

"He cursed my mother because she didn't want him," Pandora said, struggling with the urge to cry since the unicorn seemed sympathetic. "I didn't do anything. He cursed me when he placed the curse on her."

The unicorn tsked. "How very unfair! But gnomes are bad tempered little bastards! Thoughtless! It was one thing to punish your mother, entirely another to punish you!"

"Can you help?" Pandora asked hopefully.

The unicorn seemed to consider it. "Well, I can't tell you the way to find the gnome, but I'm a magical being myself, as you might know. It may well be that I can remove the curse myself."

Absolute joy swept through Pandora. "You can? How?"

"Well, I would have to fuck you, naturally, but it's a small price, surely, to be rid of the curse?"

?

 

 

 

 

Chapter Five

 

Pandora gaped at the unicorn. After a moment, she glanced at Drake to see how he'd taken the suggestion. Unfortunately, his expression was completely unreadable, but he'd already told her he expected her to fuck the gnome! She glanced at the unicorn uneasily. "But … you're a stallion! I'm a woman."

"A very beautiful woman," the unicorn agreed in a husky voice. "And unicorns have always found mortal females particularly desirable. I could always change into the form of a man if that will make you easier in your mind? Not as much magic, unfortunately, but still …. I'm certain if I fuck you I can remove the curse with my magic."

"Well, I have the curse, too!" Drake growled angrily. "And I don't want to fuck you!"

The unicorn looked at him. "Well! I'm of no mind to fuck you either! If it works, we'll find a mare to remove your curse."

Pandora couldn't help but notice he'd said 'if'. "But … what if it doesn't work? What if you're cursed like Drake was when I fucked him?"

The unicorn chuckled. "Silly little mortal! I'm magical. The gnome's magic won't affect me. I'm convinced it will work, but even if it doesn't, you'll be no worse off, will you?"

He had a point and Pandora still wasn't at all sure she wanted to try it. He had a cock like the stallion they were riding!

Of course, he had said that he could change into the form of a man.

Before she'd quite made up her mind, Drake pulled her arms from around his neck and deposited her on the ground. Her knees nearly gave way for she was weak from riding for days and beyond that weak from riding Drake's cock and having so many orgasms. Dismay filled her as she glanced up at him.

It wasn't that she wasn't eager to get rid of the curse herself, but it stung that Drake cared no more about her than to offer to share her without a qualm. Swallowing her hurt, she looked away from him.

The unicorn truly was magnificent. She felt his magic washing over her as she nerved herself to approach him. "Climb up on my back, little one. I will take you to my favorite glen."

She didn't glance at Drake that time. Instead, she moved closer. Grasping his mane when he knelt to help her climb up, she swung a leg across his back and balanced herself.

After glancing back at her to see that she was settled, the unicorn turned and crossed the field where he'd been grazing. Pandora could hear Drake following on his horse, but she doubted very much it had to do with any anxiety about her welfare. He was probably only intent on making certain she didn't manage to escape.

She knew when they'd reached the glen the unicorn had spoken of even before he slowed and finally stopped, kneeling to allow her to slip off his back. It was a place of magic. She could feel it in the very air, and it was breathtakingly beautiful. When she turned from staring in wonder at the flowers and trees, she discovered the unicorn had vanished. In its place stood a man clothed in nothing but long, white blond hair.

He was almost as breathtakingly beautiful as the glen. Smiling, he approached her and drew her down onto the carpet of flowers beneath their feet.

She looked up at him a little nervously when she'd settled on her back and made an unnerving discovery. His cock was as huge as it had been when he'd been in the form of the stallion. "It's huge!" she gasped.

He smiled. "I will only give you a little, little mortal," he murmured huskily, covering her abruptly and sealing his mouth to hers.

Heat surged through her instantly when she felt his mouth on hers. Delight poured through her as he explored her mouth. She was so drunk with desire and feverish by the time he broke the kiss, that she was hardly aware of her surroundings anymore. She surfaced briefly when he tugged at the ties of her gown, loosening it and the drawing it off over her head.

"A beautiful woman should be properly worshipped," he murmured, caressing her with his long, slender fingers, teasing her with the play of his mouth over her skin.

Her breasts were so exquisitely sensitive that she fell briefly into darkness when he caught one nipple and suckled it. She was on fire and mindless long before he'd thoroughly acquainted himself and moved to her other nipple. She began to beg him to enter her, having completely forgotten the size of his cock in her mindless need for relief.

He brought her back to reality when he shoved it into the mouth of her sex. She could feel her skin burn with the strain. Before it reached a point of true pain, however, she felt a tingling warmth replace the pain. He inched deeper. With progress pain sprouted anew and then vanished again, replaced by the same delightful tingling sensation until he was so deep inside her she couldn't seem to catch her breath.

He lifted away to stare down at her. "Pity you can't take more, my lovely. Do you feel the magic?"

Pandora swallowed with an effort and finally nodded when she couldn't find her voice.

His eyes gleamed with triumph. "I feel the magic, too, my lovely, lovely, little woman. I believe I am enthralled."

Before she could assimilate anything he'd said, he began to move in and out of her rhythmically. She reached a pinnacle and shattered, gasping with delight at the waves of pleasure that caught her up. He began to move more feverishly, driving her upward to another peak and pushing her off into the rapture of absolute bliss a second time, and then a third. She was relieved when she finally felt him stiffen as he was caught up in his own climax … until she discovered he wasn't, apparently, finished as far as he was concerned. He merely slowed his pace for several moments until he'd peaked and then began again.

Pandora looked up at him in surprise and confusion. He leaned close, covering her mouth with his own and kissing her until she was swept away by a new tide of desire, but it seemed that each time she reached a crisis, she felt more and more drained until she began to think that the very next climax would carry her into oblivion.

* * * *

Drake struggled with an unaccountable rise of anger as he watched the unicorn carry Pandora off. In part, he recognized a sense of possessiveness, but he not only wasn't certain what the other emotions were that were churning in his belly, he didn't want to identify them.

After a brief internal debate, he followed them, telling himself that he simply couldn't afford to take a chance on losing Pandora, not before they'd succeeded in removing the curse.

He knew that that was true, and yet he also knew that that wasn't the reason he was determined to keep Pandora within sight.

He didn't trust the unicorn, he decided. It seemed to him that the unicorn had been far too easy to persuade to offer help. In point of fact, it hadn't taken any persuasion at all. He'd seemed … eager to accept their explanation for their presence where they shouldn't have been at all and even more eager to offer to help.

It if had been any mortal or any magical other than a unicorn, he would've suspected deception.

He did suspect deception. He just wasn't certain what the unicorn might be up to.

It sent a jolt through him when he arrived at the glen the unicorn had chosen to discover the unicorn had taken on the form of a man as he'd promised. Actually, that wasn't the part that jolted him, although he certainly wasn't pleased to discover the damned unicorn had taken on a glamour Pandora clearly found very much to her liking! What disturbed him was the discovery that the unicorn seemed intent upon seducing her-making love to her!

What the fuck was that all about? That hadn't been part of the plan that he knew of! He was supposed to fuck her and remove the damned curse!

After watching them angrily for several moments, he finally grew so uncomfortable on the back of the horse that he decided to dismount and wait. Leaving the reins trailing, he allowed the stallion to graze, and strode past Pandora and the unicorn to plop down in the shade of a tree and oversee the situation.

It seemed to take an inordinate amount of time. Of course, he had no notion how long it might take to remove such a spell, even with a being as magical as a unicorn, but it certainly seemed to him to be taking a long damned time. And Pandora clearly appreciated his efforts, gasping and moaning like she was dying!

Resentment flickered through him. She enjoyed it more when he was fucking her! He knew damned well she was inclined to cry out with far more enthusiasm! And more often, if came to that.

He wasn't particularly happy when he'd counted four climaxes … that he was certain of, or at least fairly certain.

Mayhap she was faking it to please the unicorn? He couldn't be that gods damned good!

It unnerved him when Pandora finally uttered a series of screams and seemed to lose consciousness. Pushing himself to his feet, he stalked over to the pair and stared down at her uneasily. "You've bludgeoned her to death with that damned club of yours, unicorn!" he snarled.

Unicorn glared up at him. "She has fainted from rapture," he said tightly, but he withdrew from her and rolled onto the ground beside her. "As you see."

"I see she's unconscious!" Drake snapped, dropping to his knees and checking the pulse in her throat. As relieved as he was to discover it felt steady and strong, he was still angry. "You have fucked her a gods damned hour! You didn't say anything about it taking that gods damned long to remove the curse!"

Unicorn shrugged. "There is never any telling with these things. She will sleep for a bit and when she awakens the curse will be gone," he said confidently.

Drake frowned when unicorn rose, glanced around and struck off across the glen. "Where are you going?"

"To the spring to get a drink of water. I've worked up a thirst."

Drake stared after him suspiciously for several moments and finally leaned down to scoop Pandora up. She was going to be sunburned if she slept for long, he reasoned. He should at least move her to the shade. If unicorn had had a chivalrous bone in his body, he would've done it himself!

When he carried her to the shade of the tree where he'd sat to watch, he studied the ground until he found a spot that looked relatively comfortable and settled her again. It gave him a pang to see how vulnerable she looked, how fragile. It occurred to him that she was slimmer than she had been when he'd first seen her. There were dark circles beneath her eyes, as well.

He sighed. No doubt he looked like he'd been through hell himself.

He settled beside her for a few minutes, but his own discomfort had grown by leaps and bounds as he watched her with the unicorn and he found it hard to get his mind off her nude form, limp or not. Getting up again after a few moments, he followed the unicorn and found him bathing in the spring.

Shrugging, he stripped and dove in himself. The chill drove the air from his lungs and he surfaced, gasping for breath, struggling with a sense of panic when it proved difficult to draw air into his paralyzed lungs. Shaky when he finally caught his breath, he headed back to the bank and sat down in the edge of the water, scooping up handfuls of the crystal clear water to drink.

It was impossible to ignore the fact that the unicorn had a raging hard-on when he finally emerged. The damned thing was freakish!

Unicorn dropped to the bank, staring frowningly at the water. "It occurs to me that I may have underestimated the gnome," he muttered.

Uneasiness flickered through Drake. "How so?"

"I'm not certain."

"Well, why do you think you might have?" Drake growled with determined patience.

The unicorn sent him a sardonic look. "I don't know," he said dryly. "It's just a feeling."

Before he could question the unicorn further, he heard Pandora call out. Surging to his feet, he waited until she'd spotted him and waved her over. "There's a cold spring here."

Unicorn came to his feet, as well, watching her as she hurried toward them. "She is a lovely mortal," he murmured.

Drake slid him a narrow eyed look. "And mine," he growled.

Unicorn studied him speculatively. "Is she? That isn't the impression I got."

"It was my cock in her when we got here, wasn't it?"

Unicorn shrugged. "And mine only a few moments ago."

"What the fuck do you mean by that?"

Instead of responding to Drake, unicorn smiled at Pandora as she neared them. "How are you feeling, my lovely?"

Pandora could feel her face heat up with pleasure at the way he'd addressed her. "Exhausted," she admitted.

"But in a good way, yes?"

Pandora smiled at him, flicked a glance at Drake, and decided not to answer that. She cleared her throat. "This looks inviting."

"To drink," Drake said. "It's colder than the river. I wouldn't advise diving in."

Nodding, Pandora moved carefully down the bank and squatted, scooping up water. She shivered. "It is cold! It feels wonderful on my parched throat, though."

"I can certainly understand that," Unicorn responded. "You have a lovely singing voice, by the way."

Pandora shot him a shocked glance, blushing to the roots of her hair, but she couldn't help but smile when she saw the amusement dancing in his eyes.

"Especially since she was singing for me long before that," Drake growled challengingly.

"Is that what that was?" Unicorn responded curiously. "I had wondered. It was certainly intriguing, though I have to say it didn't precisely sound like singing … then. It drew me from the glen."

"What the fuck do you mean by that?" Drake growled. "It was the same … except far louder."

"I don't think so," Unicorn disputed. "It didn't sound nearly as … joyous to me."

Pandora glanced from one to the other uneasily but although she could see that an argument was brewing she couldn't think of anything to say that might distract them. "I believe I will bathe."

The water took her breath when she stepped in, creating a rash of Goosebumps all over her. Gasping for breath, she moved a little deeper and finally crouched down so that the water was lapping her breasts. As cold as it was, it was still soothing to her poor abused genitals-not that either of them had been rough, but she wasn't at all used to coupling and certainly not with the frequency and vigor she'd experienced since she'd met Drake.

She thought that explained the pulsing pressure, anyway.

She hoped it did, because it actually felt a good deal more like the curse, an insatiable hunger demanding to be appeased again.

It couldn't be that, though, she assured herself. The unicorn had broken it.

She discovered when she finally decided she'd had enough of the cold bath that both Drake and the unicorn were watching her intently, wearing almost identical expressions of hunger and sporting erections. Both dismay and anticipation filled her at once.

Both of them surged forward when she climbed the bank, stopping when they collided and turning to glare at one another.

"I believe I will have to try another session to break the curse," unicorn said tightly.

Surprised disbelief flickered across Drake's face. "Another?"

"Yes," unicorn said pensively. "It appears I underestimated the gnome."

"And you think you can break the curse by fucking her again?"

"I believe so, yes," the unicorn growled. "I'm willing to give it a try, at any rate. I always keep my promises."

"Well you have fucked her for nigh an hour! I need relief, gods damn it!"

"It'll have to wait-in fact, I wouldn't recommend it at all until we find a mare for you. You might end up giving it back to her."

"Like hell!" Drake growled. "She still has the curse! I'll fuck her now and then, if you manage to remove it, I'll wait."

"I really should fuck Drake first," Pandora interrupted. "It makes his balls hurt and it's my fault after all."

Drake looked at her uncomfortably and turned to glare at the unicorn. "See! She wants me!"

"She said nothing of the kind!" unicorn growled. "She offered to give you pity sex and save herself for me!"

Drake punched him in the nose. Unicorn stumbled backwards several steps, checked his nose for blood, and transformed himself back into his natural form. Lowering his head, he pointed his horn at Drake and charged him. Pandora screamed, clapping her hands over her face and peering at the two of them through her fingers. Drake caught the unicorn's horn as he reached him, swung to one side and punched the unicorn in the jaw.

"Fight me like a man, you son-of-a-bitch!"

Unicorn transformed into a man once more and punched Drake in the belly twice in quick succession. When Drake doubled over, unicorn grabbed a handful of his hair, jerked his head up and punched him in the face.

"Stop!" Pandora screamed.

Neither man paid her the least bit of attention and finally she raced past them and fled. She'd covered perhaps half the distance when she heard the pounding of hoof beats behind her. Throwing a glance over her shoulder, she saw the unicorn bearing down on her. Sucking in a sharp breath, she ran faster.

It was a man's arm that shot around her and a man who tumbled onto the carpet of flowers with her, mowing down a swath of blossoms as the two of them rolled. She was so dizzy and breathless by the time they came to a halt that it took several moments to focus her eyes. When she finally managed it, she found unicorn grinning down at her. "I've always enjoyed a rousing chase before making love," he murmured huskily, dipping down to claim her lips.

As disconcerted as she was, Pandora had no defense against the curse. The moment his mouth covered hers, she felt the heat rise inside of her. He'd kissed his way down to her breasts and was tugging at them hungrily when something jolted him hard enough Pandora was jarred from her fever sufficiently to open her eyes. They widened when she discovered Drake was standing over the two of them, glaring furiously at them.

Unicorn broke off suckling her breasts long enough to glare at him. "Wait your turn!" he growled.

"I don't think so!" Drake snarled back at him, drawing back his leg to kick unicorn in the ribs again.

Unicorn caught his foot and gave him a shove that pitched him onto his back. Before Drake had even crashed to the ground, he rolled over, taking Pandora with him so that she was lying on top. He reached down, caught her thighs and settled them on either side of his hips. Pandora groaned as the movement parted the lips of her sex and she found herself riding the hard length of unicorn's cock. Before she could manage to position herself to envelop the head, however, Drake's arm snaked around her waist. He dragged her across his lap and impaled her on his cock, tightening his arms around her as he seated himself firmly inside her.

She gasped, dizzy with the quakes wafting through her. Spearing his fingers through her hair, Drake fitted his mouth to hers and lay back, dragging her down with him.

She felt unicorn prying at Drakes arms, trying to pull her free. After a moment, however, he seemed to give up and she focused on the cadence Drake had set for her, rocking back and forth so that his cock slipped along her channel.

She was caught up in the throes of her first climax when she felt something probe her ass. In the next moment, she felt unicorn's weight settle over her back and a slight burn as he pushed deeper. She paused, trying to catch her breath, her mind reeling with the sensations careening through her. When he'd delved so deeply inside of her she thought she would faint, he began to withdraw and then thrust again and she felt the movement of both cocks gliding back and forth, stirring flames that built higher and higher until the pleasure burst explosively through her, dragging a sharp cry from her. It seemed to ignite both men. They began to thrust into her more feverishly. She gave up the effort to match their cadence and simply held herself still while they drove into her, pushing her toward another peak so rapidly that when she climaxed it seemed to send her flying off into oblivion.

Awareness was slow to return, but when it did, she discovered that she was sandwiched between Drake and unicorn.

"Get off," Drake growled, shoving at unicorn's shoulder.

He lifted his head, stared at Drake a moment and finally pulled free of Pandora and rolled off, grunting as he hit the ground. Drake grasped Pandora's chin, lifting her head high enough to study her face. "You alright?"

It was a hell of a time to ask! She discovered she couldn't summon any real anger, however. "I think so," she said weakly.

Drake struggled and finally managed to roll over with her. He glared at unicorn. "You couldn't wait, gods damn it?"

"I thought I might have more luck breaking the curse with the nether hole," unicorn retorted coldly.

"I see how fucking well that worked!"

"Well, it was certainly worth a try! I think, mayhap, next time will do the trick."

"I think we'll go in search of the gnome," Drake snapped.

?

 

 

 

 

Chapter Six

 

"You should wait until morning," Unicorn advised him. "It is nigh dusk now and it isn't at all safe for mortals to wander the enchanted forest at night. You will be safe in my glen and it's the perfect place to camp. There is plenty of food for the dumb beast over there and plenty of cold water for all."

Drake wasn't inclined to linger. In fact, he thought the sooner he parted company with the unicorn the better he would like it. He had only to look at Pandora, however, to see that she was exhausted. After wrestling with his divergent urges for a few moments, he finally agreed. "We'll make camp then and move on at dawn," he said reluctantly. Getting to his feet, he strode to his stallion and removed their packs and then unsaddled the stallion.

Unicorn, he discovered when he turned around with the saddle, had scooped Pandora up into his arms and was striding toward the spring. He glared at unicorn. "I thought I'd make camp over there under the tree."

"Good thought," Unicorn said cheerfully. "I'll take our lovely lady down to the spring to bathe and refresh herself."

"My lady!" Drake called after him.

Unicorn pretended he hadn't heard and after a few moments Drake went back to making camp. He was on the point of going to see what was keeping them when he spied the two of them crossing the glen toward him. Unicorn's cock was leading the way but there was little comfort in that. Clearly the stupid bastard had been cursed the same as he had. He might have gloried in the bastard's predicament save for the fact that the unicorn was as hot for Pandora now as he was himself and damned possessive considering she belonged to him!

At least until he could get rid of the damned curse, he amended!

Pandora paused to collect her gown and drew it on, doing up the laces.

He was right sorry to see her covered up, but he thought it was just as well. Not that that was likely to help a great deal when his cock sprang up almost before he finished spilling his seed, but he supposed it might help a little. She shook her head when he offered her a bowl of the stew he'd cooked. Instead, she sat down wearily on her bedroll, drew the cover around her and lay down.

He frowned. "You need to eat to keep up your strength."

"I'm too tired."

"It'll make you less tired."

She sighed. "Maybe later."

Unicorn glanced from one to the other and finally stalked around the fire. Crouching beside her, he caught her hand and drew her upright. "He's right, my lovely. You must eat."

She sent him an irritated look, but she took the bowl Drake held out for her. Angry that unicorn had coaxed her to eat when she'd refused him, Drake focused on his own food.

"I've been giving this problem some thought," unicorn murmured pensively. "I believe the problem is that you've gotten the curse all wrong."

Drake stared at him. "What do mean wrong?"

"Well, it simply doesn't make sense. He can't have cursed her to have unrequited lust. I lust for her. She lusts for me. It's requited. The curse must be something else."

Pandora stared at him. "But … it's the lust that's the problem!"

Unicorn considered that. "If you say so. The thing is, we need to know what the curse actually was to break it. I think he must have cursed her to unrequited love and insatiable lust. That makes a great deal more sense, particularly when I've had raging lust since I fucked her and you have had insatiable lust and she has had it."

Drake studied him for a moment. "So you admit it!" he said triumphantly. "Instead of breaking the damned curse, you've been caught up in it, as well."

Unicorn frowned. "Possibly."

"There's nothing 'possibly' about it!"

"If you say so. It might only be a natural desire for her since I find her so very appealing, you know."

Pandora blinked at him, feeling warmth blossom in her cheeks. "You do?"

"He wants to fuck you!" Drake growled. "He's only trying to dress it up with pretty words."

Pandora sent him a resentful glare. "Well! At least he's willing to!"

"What the hell do you mean by that?"

"You only snarl at me and look at me like you want to choke me!"

Dismay flickered through him. "Maybe once or twice, but gods damn it! You cursed me! I was minding my own business and now I'm stuck with this!" he snarled, gesturing toward his swollen cock. "You think I have no right to be angry?"

Pandora released a huffing breath. "No. You're right. I know you hate me."

"I don't hate you, gods damn it! I never said that!"

"I certainly don't," unicorn interrupted. "And I don't blame you for it. It's my own fault, after all … and certainly not yours when you inherited the curse anyway."

Pandora looked at him gratefully. "I feel so awful that you have the curse now, too! It was so very kind of you to offer to help and now …."

He shifted closer, slipping an arm around her and brushing a kiss along her temple. "It's alright, love. We'll find a way to break the curse …. In any case, I'm not convinced you passed it to me. I'm magical, you know. I'm thinking it's only that I find you irresistible."

Pandora smiled up at him.

Drake snorted in disgust. "Pardon me while I go puke," he snarled, surging to his feet and stalking off.

"He is a surly brute," unicorn said pensively.

Pandora sighed. "He had a very nice disposition before," she said sadly. "It's just that he hates me for ruining his life."

"You haven't ruined anyone's life!" unicorn said bracingly. "Mayhap a little inconvenience, but we'll break the curse and then he can go about his business."

Pandora felt the urge to cry at that, but she swallowed the impulse. "You really think it's just that we got the curse wrong?" she asked doubtfully.

Unicorn frowned. "I said it was possible. I'm surprised my magic didn't immediately break it, but I'm confident that I can and completely willing to persevere as long as it takes."

"You're so sweet! So noble!"

"Selfish, greedy, deceitful bastard," Drake muttered as he returned and dropped his bedroll near the fire.

* * * *

Drake slept fitfully, but he'd almost grown accustomed to a broken night's sleep since he'd been cursed. It didn't matter how dedicatedly he focused on appeasing his needs before he went to sleep, inevitably his cock swelled again and before many hours passed the throbbing was like an aching tooth. It penetrated the deepest sleep and drew him toward consciousness.

For once, he was glad for it, however. When he sat up cautiously and looked around he saw that both Pandora and the unicorn were still deeply asleep. Congratulating himself on the fact that he'd had the forethought to repack their supplies before he'd sought his bedroll, he rose stealthily and left the campsite to saddle his stallion. Instead of leading it back, he left it where he'd picketed it the night before and returned for his bedroll and their supply packs. Having secured everything, he untied his stallion and led him to the trail he'd followed into the enchanted forest the day before, continuing for perhaps a quarter of a mile before he stopped and tied the horse again.

Fury suffused him when he'd quietly returned to collect Pandora. In the gray light of early dawn, he saw unicorn's white ass bobbing between her spread thighs. Halting abruptly, he glared at the bastard, wondering if he could knock him out without risking injury to Pandora. Finally deciding he couldn't, he crouched by the fire and began poking the embers. Pandora crested three times while he sat glaring balefully at the tiny flames he'd nursed to life and still the unicorn continued to pump into her frantically-as if he was nearing his own crisis.

When several more minutes passed and the bastard was still going, he lifted the stick he'd been stirring the fire with and studied it speculatively. "If you don't get done, you slow son-of-a-bitch, I'm going to ram this poker up your ass," he growled finally.

Unicorn gave no indication that he'd heard him, but he drove into her abruptly, arched his back and uttered a growl of triumph. Surging to his feet, Drake stalked over to the two of them, planted his boot on unicorn's hip and rolled him off.

Pandora was so limp when he settled between her thighs he thought at first she'd fainted. Her eyes flew open when he rammed into her, however. She stared up at him blankly for several moments, almost without recognition, and then squeezed her eyes closed and began to counter his thrusts. He hesitated when he came. Unicorn had fucked her for a good thirty minutes. It seemed inconsiderate to fuck her for another thirty, but he had needs of his own, by the gods!

Instead of rolling off of her, therefore, he began thrusting as soon his cock hardened again, driving into her until he felt the rise toward completion again and then pumping faster until the contractions hit him. He didn't know if it was more tortuous to come when he hadn't in forty forevers or when there was scarcely a drop of come to be wrung from his balls, but the dry heaves was almost as much agony as it was ecstasy. He'd long since forgotten how it felt when he'd done without a wench to appease his needs until his balls were so full they felt like they'd explode.

With an effort, he rolled of her when the convulsions finally stopped, gasping for breath.

"Where are the supplies?" unicorn asked, suspicion threading his voice.

Drake didn't even bother to look at the bastard. "I packed up while you were fucking Pandora so we might have some chance of actually making a little progress today."

He could tell by his expression that unicorn didn't believe that for a moment, but he didn't give a fuck!

"Could I … bathe before we leave?" Pandora asked hesitantly.

"I don't see much point in it," Drake said irritably. "You'll be dripping come long before we stop at another watering hole … with yon stallion contributing. I haven't been able to gather spit in days, let alone come." He studied her expression for a moment. "Make it quick."

The sun was just cresting the horizon when they headed down the trail to the place where Drake had tied his stallion.

Unicorn eyed Drake when he mounted and reached down to grasp Pandora's hand and lift her up in front of him. "She can ride my back. I intended to shift to my natural form anyway."

Pandora glanced at the unicorn, but Drake ignored the offer, dragging her up on the stallion with him. He hadn't actually intended to take advantage of the opportunity as he had the day before and mount Pandora on his cock, but he was still angry that he hadn't managed to slip off without the damned unicorn and angrier that he'd returned to find him fucking her. Instead of seating her with her back to him, therefore, he very deliberately turned her to face him, lifted her skirt and loosened his braies, spearing his cock into her.

It was agony and ecstasy at the same time to feel her flesh squeezing his so tightly as he worked his cock inside of her. "Hold on," he said through clenched teeth as he kicked the stallion in the sides.

It took an effort to focus on guiding the stallion. Fortunately, the trail was wide enough and clear enough the stallion was inclined to follow it without any particular direction. He was also fresh and inclined to want to run, unfortunately. It took all Drake could do to keep a firm grip on the reins to hold the stallion to a canter when the movement of the horse had Pandora jouncing up and down his shaft at a pace that made him come within a matter of minutes, knocking the breath from him. He hardly had the opportunity to regain it when he was determined to keep moving and just as determined that he wasn't going to hand Pandora over to the unicorn.

It was problem made more difficult by the fact that Pandora grew weaker and weaker each time she came and leaned more and more heavily on the arm he was using to steady her. Finally, he had to stop and bind her wrists to keep her bound to him.

"I don't see that that's at all necessary," unicorn objected angrily.

"She's too tired to hang on without help," Drake ground out.

"Well, take your damned cock out of her!" unicorn snapped.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Drake snarled.

"As a matter of fact, I would! You've a hell of a nerved calling me selfish and greedy when you've been fucking her for the last five miles!"

"Well, you'll have to wait till we break at noon," Drake growled. "I'm not stopping until then." Unless he was coughing up blood!

"She will have fainted long before that."

"She needs the rest anyway."

"How the hell is she supposed to rest bobbing up and down on your fucking cock?"

"If she faints, she'll be resting, won't she?" Drake gritted out.

Unicorn fell silent for a few minutes. "Where in the hell are we going anyway?"

"I don't know."

"Well I don't see the point in this then!"

"The point is we're looking for the damned gnome! He must be here somewhere."

"Yes, but we could wander for years and not find him! We don't even know his real name, by the gods!"

Drake groaned, partly because his body was once again convulsing in an effort to pump seed he couldn't produce and partly at the prospect of enduring the torture for years. Whether he got the chance to fuck or not, he was in pure misery. He hardly knew which was worse.

"You must have some idea where the gnomes live!" he said a little breathlessly.

"We unicorns don't traffic with the likes of them," Unicorn informed him stiffly, "and for good reason! You see what that bastard has done to the three of us! It has only been a day and already my cock is sore and my balls still feel like they'll explode if I don't fuck again!"

"Just wait. It'll get worse," Drake promised, not without a great deal of satisfaction. "It's your own fault. If you hadn't been so damned eager to get your hands on Pandora and so arrogant in thinking you had only to dip your magic cock to break the spell, you wouldn't be in this predicament."

"As to that, I'm not convinced I've been bespelled!" unicorn said testily. "I do desire her. Mayhap it is only that?"

"Right."

"You know nothing about the appetites of the unicorn in general or me in particular, mortal! Don't presume you know more than I!"

Drake didn't particularly want to argue with the damned unicorn. If he wanted to lie and swear he wasn't afflicted with the curse, so be it! He was damned if he could see what the bastard was determined to stay with them, though, if he'd escaped the curse as he claimed.

He could agree Pandora was lovely and desirable. He'd wanted her himself pretty badly before he'd discovered one coupling would tie him to her cunt in torment forevermore! If he hadn't, he wouldn't have succumbed in the first place.

He had enough mind about him before, however, to have the sense to focus on his other needs-like eating! He could certainly have devoted a good deal of time to getting to know Pandora better if he'd managed to make it to the tournament and won a few prizes!

Now he was as broke as be damned and too afflicted by the gods damned curse to think about anything but breaking it. He wasn't sure his cock would ever be the same. He'd used it more in the past week than he'd used it in his entire life before! The uneasiness had begun to plague him, in fact, that by the time he was done he might as well be castrated for all the good his cock or his balls were going to be to him.

He was distracted from his dark thoughts by a sound above them that made the hairs on the back of his neck prickle.

"Uh oh," unicorn whispered.

Drake shot the unicorn a sharp look, but unicorn was looking skyward. Feeling coldness wash over him, Drake lifted his own head and scanned what he could see of the sky between the branches of the trees.

A dark shape was wheeling overhead, a good bit higher than the tops of the trees, and it still looked far too big to be a bird.

"Goldenwing," unicorn said in a sharp whisper. "He's caught her scent if I'm not mistaken."

Drake didn't particularly want to find out who Goldenwing was, especially when he had a fair notion. Kicking the stallion, he loosened his hold on the reins and allowed the horse his head. It was a mistake. Pandora, as unicorn had predicted, had swooned. The moment the stallion began to gallop, pounding her furiously up and down his cock, she came around, uttering a long, drawn out groan. Drake might have considered using his mouth to silence her but her jolting on his cock had damned near sent him into a swoon himself.

Through a haze of pain and out of control desire, he saw a clearing appear before them. Before he could drag back on the reins and slow the stallion, something huge landed in the clearing in front of them.

A golden dragon.

The stallion skidded to a scrambling halt so fast it pitched both Drake and Pandora from the saddle. Fortunately for his future plans for children, it also disengaged them. He twisted, managing to land on his shoulder and side. It still stunned him. When he managed to lift his head to see just how bad their situation was, he saw the damned stallion beating a retreat in the other direction.

"I smell mortal cunt," Goldenwing said in a deep, resonating voice that made Drake's hair stand on end.

Pandora let out a squeak of fright and tightened her grip around Drake's neck, cutting off his air. Dizzy and disoriented, he leapt up with her, staggering slightly as he tried to regain his balance and look around for a place to take cover.

"What brings you here, Goldenwing? I haven't seen you in an age," unicorn said in a voice filled with false cheer.

"That," Goldenwing said in a rumbling voice. "That's a lovely morsel and she smells good enough to eat. Will you share, Sir Knight? Or shall I crush you and take her?"

Drake felt for his sword and realized it was still in its scabbard-on his saddle-on the gods damned stallion that was running like the wind in the other direction. He tried to peer at Pandora's face, but she'd burrowed against his neck.

"She's ours!" unicorn growled possessively.

"Well, if the two of you are already sharing, I don't see why I can't have a bit!" Goldenwing said testily.

"She's cursed," Drake said tightly, finding his voice at last. "You don't want to do that!"

Goldenwing mulled that over. "If she's cursed, why are the two of you sharing her?"

"It's a long story," unicorn replied. "She'd already fucked the man and passed the curse to him. I was trying to rescue her and now I've been cursed, too. Drake's right. She is lovely, but the curse is passed to whoever touches her. I'd hate to see you suffering as we are."

Goldenwing looked them both other suspiciously. "Suffering how?"

"Insatiable lust," unicorn responded.

Goldenwing stared at him blankly for several moments and began laughing. "That is absurd! Why would she be cursed with that? Who would curse her with that?"

"Well, it wasn't actually her. Her mother had a nasty run-in with a gnome she called long beard. When she wouldn't have anything to do with him, he cursed her to unrequited love and insatiable lust-her and blood forever. Pandora merely inherited the curse."

"It affect you, unicorn?"

"Well, as to that, I'm not convinced, but there's no getting around the fact that I haven't been able to get my cock to stay down since!"

"Since when?"

"Yesterday."

Goldenwing digested that. "If you had said a week, or a month, I might concede the possibility. She's quite lovely, though. Mayhap you only desire her a great deal and that is why your cock is at her command?"

"Precisely what I thought, but I have to say this is very strange, Goldenwing. I'd hate to see you brought down by the same malady."

Goldenwing snorted. "Not likely, unicorn! I have far more magic than you do! Hand her over. I'll have a go at breaking this gnome's curse."

Unicorn glanced at Drake. "You might as well. I've tried to talk him out of it. He'll just break you in half and take her."

"Don't!" Pandora gasped. "Please don't give me to the dragon! I don't want to be eaten!"

Goldenwing tsked. "You wouldn't mind the nibbling I have in mind, I assure you, little dove. In fact, I'm confident that if you'll allow me I can cure you of that nasty old curse that's been plaguing you."

Pandora turned to stare at him wide eyed. "How?" she asked in a quavering voice.

He waved his cock at her. "With magic my wand."

Pandora stared at the behemoth in horror and then abruptly fainted.

Goldenwing frowned. "I'll be damned! That's the first time I've gotten that reaction."

"Then I have to suppose you aren't in the habit of waving the damned thing at mortal women!" unicorn snapped. "It's a long as she is, you lunatic!"

Goldenwing glared at him sullenly. "I could tuck it in a bit."

"You'll have to take the form of a man if you expect to get anywhere near her!" unicorn said testily. "You've frightened her now."

"Well hell! I've hardly got anything when I do that!"

"Yes, well it'll be closer to something she could handle! You'll feel it the same. I don't know why you want to argue about it!"

"She won't be nearly as impressed," Goldenwing said sullenly, but he closed his eyes. In a few moments, the dragon form disappeared and he appeared as a man.

"By the gods!" Drake growled angrily. "You are still a damned giant! And what's more, my damned stallion isn't hung with anything like that! You'll break her and then where will we be? I don't think she'll thank you for getting rid of the damned curse if you split her in two in the process!"

Goldenwing released a huff of irritation. "Fine!" He squeezed his eyes, concentrating and then looked down at his efforts. It looked pathetic to him! He was almost ashamed to let her look at it!

Drake and unicorn exchanged a doubtful look.

"She can handle it," unicorn said a little uneasily.

Drake wasn't convinced, but he knew as well as unicorn did that there wasn't a hell of a lot they could do. If the damned horse hadn't run off his sword, he would've been willing to cut the bastard's heart out to protect her-or try. But he doubted he could succeed in anything beyond getting himself killed with his bare hands.

Particularly when he was so weakened from fucking!

Sighing defeat, he disentangled Pandora's arms from around his neck.

Goldenwing surged toward him eagerly, grasping Pandora's limp form and looking around for a comfortable place to couple with her.

"There's a thick growth of moss near the pool ahead," unicorn said helpfully.

Drake glared at him.

Unicorn shrugged. "Well, she might as well be comfortable!"

"You two wait here," Goldenwing said, turning and striding off.

"I don't think so," Drake said grimly. "I want her back when you're done."

"We want her back!" unicorn corrected him.

"When the hell did it get to 'we' is what I'd like to know!" Drake snapped.

"Will you two stop bickering?" Goldenwing snarled. "You will draw someone else and then we will have to split her four ways! If I had not heard you I wouldn't have found her nearly as easily."

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Chapter Seven

 

Goldenwing was delighted with his little treasure. It had been ages since he'd had the chance at a mortal female and they were so delightfully soft! Even their scent was like the sweetest fermented nectar-intoxicating!

Settling her gently on the carpet of moss, he studied her garb for a moment. Deciding he'd figured out how to remove it, he began tugging at the lacing. Either the ties had knotted, however, or his fingers were too clumsy with eagerness. The longer he spent trying to loosen them so that he could examine his prize more thoroughly, the tighter they seemed to bind her. Finally, he simply snapped the ties in impatience and peeled her gown off. To his delight, she was already naked beneath and he didn't have to worry with undergarments at all.

Dragging in a deep breath laden with her scent, he simply studied her for several moments with purest pleasure, determined to savor his plaything before settling to serious fucking. That never lasted nearly long enough anyway and he was fairly certain he was eager enough that he couldn't count on being able to hold his seed very long at all.

Of course, he could always fuck her again, but the trouble with mortals was that they were so damned fragile! It only took a very little love play and they were all worn out and only wanted to sleep!

Unable to resist touching once he'd studied her for a few moments, he stroked a hand over her from shoulder to thigh, delighted at the feel of her smooth skin. She was very soft. It took very little to convince himself that she was the softest he'd ever touched.

He tired of stroking her almost as quickly as he'd tired of merely studying her and settled a little closer to taste. It was very nearly his undoing. By the time he'd licked her from her belly to her soft throat, his cock was throbbing so hard he began to think the damned thing might go off before he'd managed to stuff it in her.

That thought prompted him to examine her woman's place and he grasped her thighs and pulled them apart to study it. "Lovely! What a nice little hole you have there, my dove! It may be a bit of a struggle to fit, but I'm confident I can manage!"

He frowned when she didn't respond. She'd been limp, he recalled abruptly, since he'd taken her from the knight. Actually, before that. Frowning, he studied the rise and fall of her chest and then her face.

Amusement flickered through him. She was playing possum! Clever little thing! Well, and a delightful little game for him! He could play while she feigned sleep-or a faint-and see just how long it would take to 'flush' her.

He considered what he wanted to play with first and finally leaned a closer to sniff her cunt. Irritation flickered through him when he smelled the man there, but he hadn't left much of a mark! Poor bastard! Scarcely a drop of semen!

Shrugging, he abandoned that for the moment. A little dredging with his finger, he decided, and he could get rid the man's scent! Then he could enjoy her tight little cunt! Scanning her, his gaze settled on her pert breasts with their rosy tips already as hard as little pebbles and waiting for his tongue! Shifting, he covered the closest with his mouth, shoving his index finger into her hole as he curled his tongue around her nipple and sucked. She tensed all over, but she didn't let on that she was completely aware of him.

Grinning inwardly, he focused on her nipple, thrusting his finger in and out of her all the while and in a very few moments he'd completely forgotten his game. In point of fact, he discovered he was having a very difficult time dividing his attention between the nipple and the cunt. The warm, wet feel of her woman's flesh closing around his finger increased the urge to replace the finger with his cock until he was barely aware of just how hungrily he was suckling the bud in his mouth. It wasn't until it finally penetrated the heated fog of his mind that she was making strange little noises that he recalled the 'game'. Lifting his head, he studied her face and discovered she was peering at him from beneath her lashes.

Shrugging inwardly, he changed breasts, pulling as hungrily on the second as he had the first and all the while he pumped his finger in and out until, abruptly, she shuddered all over and he felt a flood of moisture fill her channel. Satisfaction swept through him. His throat closed with a thirst for her and he released the nipple he'd been teasing abruptly and shifted his attention to her cunt.

She uttered a sharp gasp and tried to sit up when he burrowed his face into her cleft, but he merely lifted her legs higher, tipping her onto her back once more. She clamped her thighs tightly around his head, but he ignored that. She couldn't close them and prevent him from reaching the nectar he wanted. Burrowing his tongue deeply, he lapped at her and sucked her juices until he was nearly mindless with pleasure.

It wasn't until she arched her back and began to scream that he became aware enough of his surroundings feel any concern. Lifting his head, she studied her uneasily for a moment and finally decided she'd been singing his praises if the slack look on her face was any indication.

Enough play! Clearly, he'd convinced her it wasn't a bad thing at all to all him to fuck her!

Prying her legs loose from his head, he moved over her, positioning himself and aligning the head of his cock with her little nether mouth. He was so drunk with desire, it took him several moments to realize that the harder he pushed the further she moved away.

Perplexed, he straightened and studied the hole again. He was in the right place alright!

He needed more leverage! Grasping her arms, he dragged her upright and then sat back, settling her on his thighs and arranging her legs for comfort. Fortunately, it occurred to him that he might need to stretch it a little … just to get things going! With that thought, he dug his fingers into her cleft, spread it as wide as he could and sat her on top of his cock. The head slipped inward a hair, just enough to encourage him. Shifting his grip to her hips, he pushed down, trying to lever her over his cock, and managed to burrow a little deeper. Triumph flickered through him briefly before he realized that he wasn't making headway.

He stopped to catch his breath and consider the situation, feeling around between them to try to decide how far he'd gotten and how much he had left. Not much, he realized with a mixture of frustration and near mindless desperation. He tried tugging at her cleft again to widen the space, but he couldn't tell that that made a lot of difference.

It finally occurred to him that he might've gotten just a little too carried away when he was lapping at her cream. He might've gotten it all. And not a drop left to ease his way!

Well this was a hell of a thing, he thought irritably.

He needed more to lubricate the path! Focusing on her breasts again when he discovered they were handily available, he teased and suckled first one and then other until he felt her muscles spasm around his cock. It damned near set him off but thankfully it also helped her produce the moisture he needed. Still pulling at one nipple, he shifted his hands to her hips and shoved for all he was worth. She sucked in a harsh breath as her flesh yielded abruptly to his determination and he sheathed his cock fully. It was such tight a fit, his eyes rolled back in his head with pure ecstasy despite the fact that he thought for several moments she was going to squeeze his cock back into his balls.

He couldn't move for several moments, couldn't consider it when his balls were spasming and trying to eject his seed. He damned well hadn't worked so hard to get inside only to come immediately! After dragging in a few steadying breaths, he managed to fight back the urge and very carefully lifted her. Pleasure radiated through his cock, turning his brain to ash, but although his balls threatened again, he managed to push her down and burrow deeply once more. He began counting in his head to distract himself, one up, two down, three up, four down …. He managed to get to six before his balls turned inside out and his cock erupted like volcano.

He was as near mindless as he'd ever been in his life by that time but fixated on preventing their audience from discovering he'd come and interfering, or trying to, with another attempt. He'd scarcely had time to enjoy it, gods damn it! He'd never had nearly as much trouble holding his damned seed!

With an effort of will, he managed to keep her moving. To his surprise and relief, his cock didn't even deflate! Almost giddy with triumph, he focused on enjoying the feel of her hot flesh gliding up and down his shaft, moving more smoothly once he'd come and produced bountiful lubrication. Discovering after a few moments that she'd gone limp again, he pulled her closer so that she could rest her head against his shoulder, but that only made it more difficult to jog her on his cock.

Twisting to one side, he settled her against the ground and followed her, rolling into the cradle of her thighs and picking up his rhythm almost at once. He managed to pump into her that time long enough to break a sweat, to feel the glorious anticipation just before his climax hit him, knocking the breath out of him.

By the time his body finally ceased convulsing with pleasure, it seemed he'd lost every ounce strength. He tried holding as much of his weight off of her as he could with his knees and elbows, but her choked, panting breaths seemed to indicate lung restriction. Sucking in a couple of deep, reviving breaths, he rolled, carrying her with him.

Relieved he'd managed to keep from crushing her, he hugged her tightly to himself. "Mine," he murmured in a rumbling growl. "Mine, mine, mine. What a delight you are my little love!"

"Like hell!" Drake growled.

Goldenwing managed to lift one eyelid. He studied the unicorn's enraged face and then the man's, struggling to decide whether he felt up to slaying them. He decided he didn't. Mayhap he should just shift into his dragon form and fly off with his prize?

His cock was still inside her, though, and he was loathe to drag it out.

Pandora lifted her head and stared down at him a little drunkenly. "Did it work?"

"Of course it did, my love!" Goldenwing assured her. "And you're none the worse for it, as you see. I knew you were worried when you tried to play 'possom."

"Of course it didn't!" Drake snarled. "Don't you see the fool's smitten?"

Goldenwing blinked at him, struggling to figure out what he was talking about. "I'm not smitten!" He looked at Pandora. "Not that you aren't a delight, my love. But I'm a dragon, you know. We can't be smitten with mortals," he explained apologetically.

"Well good!" Drake snapped. "Then you won't mind handing her over so that we can be going."

Goldenwing frowned. "Where are you off to?"

"To find the damned gnome that cursed her!" Unicorn reminded him testily.

Goldenwing considered that. "Well, she isn't cursed. I'm not certain she ever was, but she certainly isn't now that I've fucked her." He stroked Pandora's cheek. "You have an enchanting cunt, my love."

Pandora reddened and pushed herself upright, trying to extricate herself.

Goldenwing caught her hips. "Don't get up on my account. I'll be delighted to have you stay awhile."

She gaped at him and then turned to look at Drake.

He was studying her speculatively. "Do you feel any different?"

"Of course she does! It isn't every day a mere mortal gets the chance to fuck a dragon!" Goldenwing snapped irritably.

Frowning, Pandora wiggled experimentally. Heat instantly erupted inside her and she looked at Drake with dismay. "I don't think it's gone."

"Well this beats all, dragon!" unicorn snapped. "You were supposed to break the damned curse. She's right! I don't feel any differently at all … except that I feel like throttling you and if you don't get off and let me have my turn I shall!"

"When the hell did it get to be your turn?" Drake demanded. "She's mine! I should be next!"

"How the hell do you figure she's yours?" Goldenwing demanded. "Did you hear the way she crooned for me? I'll warrant you never pleasured her like that!"

Pandora covered her face with her hands and burst into tears. "None of you really wants me! It's just the curse!"

Goldenwing gathered her close, stroking her back soothingly. "There, there, don't cry, my love. I'll kill them for you if you want me to."

Pandora dropped her hands and gaped at him. "Of course I don't!" Her chin wobbled. "I just want to be normal again and to go home!"

"Shhh!" Goldenwing murmured. "You are normal, sweety! Well, far better than that. You're beautiful and you have the most enchanting cunt I've ever encountered!"

Pandora sniffed. "It isn't enchanted! It's cursed!"

"Yes, and now you're cursed, too!" unicorn said forthrightly. "And none of us will have any peace until we find that damned gnome!"

"I should give this some thought," Goldenwing murmured pensively, slowly lifting Pandora and settling her again.

"You can't think and not fuck Pandora?" Drake demanded angrily.

"I could, but it wouldn't be nearly pleasurable," Goldenwing retorted. "Just one more time and then I'll let someone else have a turn while I think."

"I'm tired," Pandora said plaintively.

Goldenwing paused, kissing her, exploring her mouth thoroughly with his tongue. "Of course you are, delight of my life! Just rest. I'm going to handle everything else."

Sighing in defeat, Pandora draped her arms around his neck and dropped her head to his shoulder, knowing it didn't really matter how tired she was. She was accursed and her body was already on fire. It would consume her and then kindle again.

Fortunately, Goldenwing seemed as eager as he had been the first time and she only came once before he reached culmination. Unicorn snatched her from Goldenwing's arms the moment he weakened in the aftermath. Settling her on the moss, he dove at her, shaking in his desperation to drive his cock home.

Drake watched them hungrily for several moments, struggling with his urges and finally gave up. "If you'll roll over, I'll mount her from the back and then we can all find our ease and let her rest a bit."

Unicorn paused and glanced at him frowningly and then looked at Pandora. "Poor little darling!" he murmured. "He's right. Better to have us both and rest a bit!" Pandora groaned as he pulled out of her. Rolling her onto her belly, he slipped a hand beneath her hips and lifted her to her knees. "I'll take the nether hole. It's deeper."

Pandora was gasping for breath by the time he'd burrowed root deep inside her. He paused, shuddering and finally, carefully, carried her over to her side and then rolled to his back. Drake had been watching them with a mixture of doubt and hunger. The moment unicorn hooked his legs inside Pandora's and spread them, however, he dropped to his knees. Leaning over her he guided his cock inside. It took him a few moments to catch the rhythm unicorn set by sliding her up and down his shaft but the moment he did he began to pump into her feverishly.

To his relief he discovered his body had had time to produce enough semen that it didn't feel as if it was tearing his guts out when he came.

Pandora relaxed limply on top of unicorn when the three of them had reached their crisis and found rapture.

"Mayhap one more time," Goldenwing said, studying her feverishly.

Pandora pried one eyelid up and stared at him in dismay.

He huffed an irritated breath. "Later, of course," he muttered. "When you've rested a bit, my love."

Unicorn studied Pandora when he'd finally settled her on the moss and gotten up. The urge to immediately climb right back inside of her was nearly irresistible. "I believe I'll go down to the pool and bathe while she rests."

Drake had been stroking his throbbing cock thoughtfully, but at the suggestion he decided it might be a good idea, particularly if it was fed by a cold spring. "Me, too."

Unicorn glanced at dragon. "You coming, Goldenwing?"

Goldenwing had been studying Pandora with a hooded, covetous gaze, but the suggestion caught his attention. There was no getting around the fact that his balls were on fire to have her again, but the poor little mite looked exhausted-actually unconscious, he amended. "I suppose," he said irritably.

The water, Drake discovered, was indeed cold. After settling gingerly, he drew his knees up and rested his head in his hands. "This is the damnedest mess I've ever had the misfortune to become embroiled in!" he muttered to no one in particular.

"It's not so bad as that!" dragon objected. "You are morose for someone who has had many opportunities to enjoy Pandora's … uh … company."

Drake sent him a resentful glare. "When you've enjoyed it as much as I have, let us see if you are chipper!" He gestured toward his cock. "This thing has not been down in nigh two weeks."

Dragon's brows rose. He glanced at unicorn. "What say you, Perseus?"

Drake shot the unicorn a startled look. Unicorn shrugged, but it was hard to say whether it was due to the questioning look or dragon's question. "I begin to think he may have a point. I was certain at first that it was no more than an intense attraction to Pandora, but I cannot help but notice that the cock leads me around these days … and it isn't particularly comfortable, let me tell you!"

"Hmmm, well, dragons have far more powerful magic than unicorns. You should have known better than to attempt to break the curse yourself. You should've brought her straight to me."

Unicorn shared a look with Drake.

"You're saying you don't think you've been cursed?"

Dragon sent him an indulgent look. "Of course not! Not but what I find her delightful and enchanting and I'm deeply devoted to her cunt already, but …. Powerful magic! I'm immune to such things."

"You didn't break the curse on Pandora," Perseus said pointedly.

Dragon shrugged. "That is curious, but I'm not one to give up! I'm sure that I can break it the next time around … or perhaps the next."

"That is what unicorn has been saying," Drake pointed out dryly. "And he has only been afflicted for two days."

Dragon looked down to study his cock. "How is it that this thing works, by the way?"

"The cock does not go down," Drake said tightly. "Well, briefly, but it swells again almost at once. There is no relieving it. You may be certain I've tried!"

Dragon frowned. "Well! That's a hell of a damned thing to do to a man!"

"Actually, the gnome placed the curse on Pandora's mother, to be precise, and she seems to have had a very bad time with it, as well," unicorn pointed out.

"Well," dragon said dismissively, "she's had no trouble finding plenty of brawny males to scratch her itch, has she?"

"The problem," unicorn said tightly, "is that her itch comes right back-just as it does for those who touch her."

Drake shifted uncomfortably. "The problem is, she did-until I came along. The villagers all knew about the curse and they wouldn't come near her."

"Ah ha!" dragon said triumphantly. "Then it's all your fault poor unicorn is accursed now!"

Drake glared at him indignantly. "How the fuck do you figure that? It was his idea to fuck her and get rid of the curse!"

"Well, and he wouldn't have had the chance, would he, if you hadn't fucked her and been accursed!"

"She climbed in my window and into my bed!" Drake said indignantly.

"So-you're saying it's her fault?"

Drake studied him for a long moment and finally sighed. "No. If anyone's to blame it would be her mother, I suppose-or the gnome."

Dragon thought that over for a little while. "It occurs to me that we may just have to find the gnome to rid ourselves of the curse."

Drake and unicorn exchanged a look at the 'we'. "I'd like to find the bastard," Drake growled. "I'd like to give him a taste of his own medicine and see how he likes it!"

Dragon stared at him hard for several moments. "Brilliant!" he exclaimed after a moment. "That's positively brilliant! You are amazingly wise for a mortal man!"

"I am?" Drake asked doubtfully.

Dragon grinned. "Indeed! This is perfect! Now all we have to do is find the nasty little bastard!"

"I'm sorry," unicorn put in, "but I don't follow."

"Well! It's as clear as day, Perseus! You and I both know how gnomes are. There wouldn't be a bit of use in trying to reason with him. I suppose we could simply kill him, but there's no telling if that would remove the curse or not. No! This is much better. We'll trick the little bastard-give him a taste of his own medicine! He won't be able to remove the curse on himself without completely removing it."

Drake stared at the dragon, feeling a surge of hopefulness for the first time since he'd become embroiled in Pandora's curse. After a moment, he glanced at unicorn questioningly to see if he agreed with dragon's assessment. He looked thoughtful, but then he smiled abruptly. "The very thing!" He frowned. "We'll have to find him first … and of course we'll have to convince Pandora."

Dragon waved a hand dismissively. "She's a clever girl-and brave! Just look how long she managed to play dead when she thought I meant to eat her!"

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Chapter Eight

 

Pandora, they discovered, was still sleeping when they returned to the spot where they'd left her. All three of them stood staring down at her hungrily for several moments. Finally, dragon broke the spell. "It occurs to me forcefully that this is just what we need."

Unicorn licked his lips, still glassy eyed. "I certainly have need."

Dragon punched him on the shoulder. "Pay attention!"

Drake swallowed convulsively several times and finally managed to drag his gaze from her. "I'm not sure I follow."

Dragon gestured toward Pandora's naked form, sprawled in wanton display. "The trap?" he prompted. "He won't be able to resist that!"

Drake returned his attention to her, trying to focus his mind on dragon's suggestion and evaluate it. All he could actually think about, however, was joining her on the ground and burrowing root deep into her. "You don't think he'll be suspicious if he finds her like that?"

"What was the first thing that popped into your mind when you saw her?" dragon demanded testily.

"Fucking her," unicorn said promptly.

"Exactly!"

Drake frowned, trying to focus. "What if someone else stumbles upon her?"

"We'll have to see to it that they don't!" A thought occurred to him. "There's nothing in the curse about her drawing males to her, is there?"

"Not that I know of," Drake responded, "but we were all drawn to her, weren't we? And unicorn said I couldn't have gotten the wording right."

"Why is that?" dragon asked.

"He said that she was doomed to unrequited lust and her blood forever. That certainly can't be the case when I have lusted for her! And she clearly lusts for me! It's reciprocated, you see."

"Hmm," dragon murmured. "What drew you to her?"

"I could hear her moans of passion and caught her scent. It aroused me and I went in search of her."

Dragon frowned. "That's what drew me, as well," he said uneasily. "Mayhap it is only that we were curious, though? I cannot recall that I felt any pull that I would consider magical."

He considered that and finally dismissed it. "We'll simply have to guard her. It is bad enough already that there are three of us to share her. We don't want anyone else sniffing around her!"

Drake sent him a resentful look, but as much as he hated sharing her at all, he knew she wasn't actually 'his' to decide whether to share or not. In any case, he was in no shape to defend his territory and both he and Pandora were in need of help. "There's still the problem of finding the gnome to start with."

"I don't anticipate it being a tremendous problem," dragon said dismissively. "I have a very good nose and excellent sight. I will simply fly over the forest and look for their village."

They discovered it was more of a problem than they'd anticipated once Pandora finally woke and they explained the plan. She stared at them uncomfortably, obviously struggling with something. "I'm … not at all certain I'd recognize him," she confessed unhappily.

They stared at her blankly.

"I was only a child at the time and I only saw him once." She chewed her lip. "What if he recognizes me?"

Dragon waved that away. "Why should he? If you were only a child, then you've certainly changed a great deal. In any case, he was focused on your mother. The chances are he never looked at you at all."

"You could do the mind-thing, Goldenwing," unicorn suggested.

Dragon cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Mayhap … if it's necessary."

"If it's …? Well how in the hell are we going to trap the bastard if we don't even know what he looks like?"

Dragon glared at him. "I'll take her up with me. She can tell me if she sees him."

Pandora stared at him in horror. "Fly you mean?"

He patted her cheek. "I wouldn't let you fall, my love!"

"Yes, if you splattered, then where would we be?" unicorn said dryly.

Dragon glared at him again. "I'll think about it." He got up decisively. "In the meanwhile, we need sustenance! I've worked up a very good appetite and we certainly want our little Pandora to keep up her strength! Who's first tonight, by the way?"

Pandora blinked at him and then turned to look at the others uneasily.

"I suppose we could draw straws," Drake said tightly.

"Mayhap Pandora would like to chose?" unicorn suggested.

Pandora smiled a little uncomfortably. "I'd really rather not."

"Straws it is then," Goldenwing said decisively. "You two gather the makings of a fire and I'll see what I can find to eat."

Drake didn't particularly care for his highhandedness but realized there wasn't much point in arguing when his damned stallion had run off with all of their supplies. "If you see my horse when you're out hunting, see if you can scare the bastard back in this direction."

* * * *

Despite the nap she'd taken, Pandora was still tired when she woke. It seemed to have taken the edge off of her exhaustion but very little more and the weariness made it difficult to summon a lot of enthusiasm for food … especially when she knew she was desert.

Her first inkling that Goldenwing had won the draw to be first in line was when he crouched behind her, dragged her back against his chest and offered to feed her some of his food. Immediately on edge since she could feel his cock digging into her buttocks and back, Pandora lost all interest in food, glancing uncomfortably at Drake. He was staring frowningly at his own food, however, and seemed oblivious. Since unicorn had left to search for something more to his liking almost as soon as they settled to eat and Drake seemed deep in thought, she relaxed fractionally.

"I've had plenty … really!"

He nuzzled her neck. "Only a little more."

She didn't really want more. Despite the fact that she found dragon very unsettling and coupling with him at been almost as much torture as pleasure, her body had already begun to heat and that killed what little appetite she'd had left. "I'll get fat," she murmured in an attempt at humor, but she took a bite anyway.

Dragon settled a hand on her belly. "You might at that, my love," he murmured huskily.

Pandora twisted her head to give him a startled, questioning look.

His eyes slid half-closed. He moved his mouth to her ear. "We dragons have potent seed, little dove."

Pandora shivered as his heated breath caressed her ear, flicking a glance toward Drake. She discovered he wasn't nearly as preoccupied as she'd thought. He was staring at her belly. The muscles contracted as if he'd caressed her there.

He got up abruptly. "I think I'll go check Nightmare," he growled and stalked away from the campfire to check on the stallion Goldenwing had obligingly spooked and sent barreling back in their direction.

Goldenwing tossed the remains of his meal over his shoulder and reached for the bodice of her dress-no longer bound since he'd broken the ties!-tugging at the knots she'd tied in the fabric to keep the bodice together. "I'll get it!" Pandora said quickly when she saw he was growing impatient with trying to loosen the knots she'd made.

He subsided, stroking his hands down her belly to cup her mound through the fabric and nuzzling his face against her neck. Her hands shook so badly she began to think she would have to tear the damned bodice herself, but she finally managed to loosen the knots. Goldenwing promptly cupped a breast in each hand, squeezing them. "These are exquisite," he murmured.

His hands felt exquisite. She was torn between anticipation as he massaged her breasts and plucked at her nipples and uneasiness, remembering all too well that she'd begun to think he would split in two when he had wedged his thick member inside of her. Reminding herself that he hadn't didn't banish her anxiety, unfortunately.

Receiving unicorn had been a trial. Even Drake was hung like a stallion, if it came to that, but of the three his cock was a far easier fit-at least once she'd gotten used to it, and she'd certainly had plenty of time for that before they'd encountered unicorn! It was a blessing, she thought wryly, that she'd met Drake first. If she hadn't, she didn't think she could've taken unicorn and she was as sure as she wanted to be that dragon's attempt would have been the death of her.

And she was still uneasy enough about having to face dragon's monolith again that fire and ice warred within her.

He ceased to massage her breasts and reached for her skirt just about the time she began to relax a little, to be caught up in the heat he was generating in her belly. She tensed again as he tugged her dress off and tossed it aside. Turning with her, he settled her back against the moss covered ground and stroked a broad hand over her. She stared at him warily.

"A beautiful woman should be savored," he murmured huskily.

Pandora felt warmth flutter in her chest. "You think I'm beautiful?"

He flicked a look at her face. "You cannot doubt that."

Why couldn't she? Because he desired her? There wasn't much in that to support such a claim. He might simply have been needy the first time, in which case most any female would do, and now that he had, he was as caught up in the curse as the rest of them were.

Drake didn't even like her. She was fairly certain he hated her despite the fact that he'd said he didn't.

And unicorn … He was a seducer like dragon. He played at making love when she doubted it was anything more than fucking-which was what Drake considered it-raw passion and a handy receptacle.

That was all she was to any of them and she would be a fool to think otherwise.

"You're wrong," dragon murmured, startling her from her dark thoughts, "but mayhap I can convince you?"

"How would you do that?"

His lips curled. "I'll think about it, my love," he said huskily, leaning down to capture the tip of one breast.

She forgot everything when she felt the pull of his mouth at her breast. Her belly erupted into fire and threatened to consume her entire body. He teased it until she was mindless, too fevered to remain still, gasping for breath and uttering little sounds of distress and pleasure. When she'd reached the point where she didn't think she could bear it anymore, he released that nipple and captured the other.

Quakes rippled along her channel, making her belly cramp from the need to have something thick and hard inside it. She thought when he released her nipple and moved between her thighs that that was what he meant to give her. Instead, he parted the lips of her sex with his thumbs and captured her clit as he had her nipples.

It was far more tortuous. She tried to escape, certain she couldn't stand it, but he held her effortlessly, sucking and tugging at the little nub of flesh until she convulsed so hard in climax that it dragged shrill cries from her throat. She was shaking all over when he finally stopped. Instead of moving over her, however, he tilted her hips up and drove his tongue inside of her. She bucked, tried to dislodge him, but he was as determined as she was and far stronger. He lapped at her with his tongue until she came again and finally rose, moving over her and planting a hand on either side of her.

She nearly passed out when he nipped at one nipple with the edge of his teeth and then sucked it into his mouth. "No!" she gasped weakly, trying to evade his mouth.

"Yes," he murmured, releasing it and moving to the other breast.

She opened her eyes when she felt him press the head of his cock against the mouth of her sex. His eyes were aflame with his needs and it made her insides quake. He settled lower, curling his arms around her shoulders as he pressed insistently until her flesh began to part for him, to engulf his flesh.

A flicker of panic washed through her when she felt the flesh strain until it began to burn. He eased off, but before she could feel any relief, she discovered he'd only stopped to shift his hold. Moving one arm from her shoulders to her hips, he pushed again, this time driving steadily and determinedly until she could feel the head of his cock against her womb. He paused again, until she'd ceased to pant from the burning intrusion, until her flesh had adjusted to his girth.

She'd almost begun to think he wouldn't move again, that he was satisfied with having managed to wedge the entire thing inside of her, when he sucked in a harsh breath and slowly withdrew. Her channel fluttered frantically when he drove into her again, burning with the strain and yet rippling with pleasure, as well. After gliding in and out several times slowly, he picked up the pace, grinding against her each time as if trying to burrow deeper. She'd scarcely managed to adjust to that pace when he began to move faster, driving into her in short, forceful thrusts. Without warning, she came, gasping as she felt her muscles trying to tighten around his thick cock. He shuddered, began to saw in and out of her so feverishly that the quakes never stopped, began seem like one endless climax.

She was barely conscious when she felt his cock jerk, felt liquid fire pour through her as he came. He drove deep, straining against her as his body yielded his seed, seemed to hold his breath. Gasping in a sharp breath after a moment, he began to move slowly again.

Pandora groaned, realizing he had no intention of stopping only because he'd come. She hadn't felt any appreciable lessening of the strain of her muscles to contain his girth, but she certainly felt an increase when he grew hard again. She clung to a forlorn hope that he couldn't push her body into another climax, but it was short lived. Almost the moment he picked up the pace and began pounding into her as he had before, her body seized in climax and, as it had before, continued to convulse until he finally drove deeply and emptied his seed into her a second time.

She went limp when her body finally ceased to spasm, too weak to move, almost too weak to breathe.

He stirred, shifting to nuzzle his face against hers. "I'd like nothing more than to keep doing this all night," he murmured.

Pandora groaned weakly, hopeful that he didn't intend to. Her hips were beginning to feel as if they might become unhinged and she was pretty sure her heart couldn't take another climax like the last two.

He chuckled. "Very likely Perseus or Drake would bash my head in with a rock."

He shifted his weight to his arms and levered his upper body upwards to stare down at her. She'd thought he meant to get up. Instead, he cupped her head between his palms, and lowered his head to rest his forehead against hers. A wave of dizziness washed over her. She felt a tickle in her head and then … nothingness.

"Well?" unicorn prompted when Goldenwing finally, reluctantly, pulled out of Pandora and settled beside her.

Goldenwing sighed. "I have the memory." He studied Pandora, smoothing her hair from her face. "She'll sleep for a bit."

"I don't doubt it. You nearly fucked her unconscious," unicorn said irritably.

Goldenwing grinned abruptly. "Can I help it if I'm just that good?"

Unicorn rolled his eyes. When Goldenwing rose and strode away, he studied Pandora speculatively for several moments. Shrugging inwardly, he moved closer. He didn't see any reason why he couldn't enjoy feeling her in his arms while she slept. He was content with that for a short while, but he'd waited far longer for Goldenwing to finish than he'd anticipated having to wait and his cock was throbbing like hell. Deciding finally that he couldn't think of a single reason why she'd object, he rolled onto his back with her, used his legs to push hers apart and reached down to guide his cock into her sex. Gritting his teeth at the pleasure-pain of feeling her tight flesh around his aching member, he pushed her down until he could sheathe no more of his flesh inside her and settled back. In some ways it was sheer torture to lie still when he desperately wanted to pump into her. On the other hand, the vice-like grip of her flesh seemed to soothe the throbbing ache of his own at least a little.

He thought he might almost sleep. It was the closest he'd come to feeling any relief at all in a while, at any rate.

* * * *

Drake was sitting in the edge of the pool when Goldenwing reached it. He halted in surprise. "Soaking the balls again, I see."

Drake sent him a sullen look. "It fucking took you long enough."

Goldenwing shrugged. "Rushing only ends the pleasure faster."

"Leaving more time for someone else!"

"Well-I mind melded with her. She's sleeping. I'm afraid you and Perseus will both have to wait awhile. I'm off to see if I can find a gnome."

Drake frowned. "This late?"

"Aye. They'll be sleeping-most of them-and those on watch will have a hard time seeing me. I don't want to alert them to the fact that I'm hunting." With that, he shifted into his dragon form, spread his wings, bent his knees, and launched himself into the air.

* * * *

Pandora wasn't certain what drew her toward consciousness, but she discovered when she opened her eyes that Drake was lying beside her, studying her. She didn't have to search hard to figure out what he had in mind.

She'd wakened earlier to the discovery that she had a dick solidly wedged inside her. For a few moments, she'd thought it was dragon, not surprising when he'd still had his cock in her when she fell asleep. The fit wasn't quite as painfully tight, however-far from comfortable, but there was no sense that one wrong move might be disastrous.

She must have been dead to the world that he'd managed to wedge that thing inside her without waking her!

Clearly, he'd only been waiting, and not very patiently, for her to wake up. The moment he discovered she'd regained consciousness he rolled her onto her back for better leverage and began trying to drive her womb up into her chest. Pain and pleasure collided, but she knew from experience that pain wouldn't prevent the rise of heat and it didn't. She came. He shuddered as her muscles clamped more tightly around him and spilled his seed, paused and resumed his pounding rhythm of before. When she came again, he covered her mouth with his, absorbing her cries, and kept going until he'd managed to come twice more and was shaking all over. If he hadn't run out of steam, she didn't think he would've stopped then.

Relieved when he did, she curled onto her side and drifted off again even before he'd gathered her against his length and curled his arms around her.

It was disorienting, she discovered, to see a different face each time she opened her eyes.

She felt like groaning when Drake scooted closer, slipping his arms around her to pull her to him. She refrained, knowing he was just as driven as both unicorn and dragon were-as she was-except that they only had her to appease the burning need that could never be quenched and she had all of them.

She was lucky, she thought, but it flickered through her mind to wonder if she would feel as tormented, needing and having to do without, as they did. She honestly couldn't remember how she'd felt before-certainly not exhausted!

Tense, jumpy … sometimes burning with need, but rarely exhausted.

Drake surprised her. Instead of immediately spearing in to her in search of release, he covered her mouth and kissed her deeply. Heat cascaded through her and with it a warming pleasure that was only part desire. He explored her with his hands as he familiarized himself with her mouth, bringing her skin to aching awareness.

He broke the kiss impatiently a few moments later, but even then and despite his shaking need, he continued to caress her with his lips, his hands, and his fingers. She was enthralled, spellbound by his touch.

She'd forgotten how good it felt to have him touch her and caress her as if she was the focus of his desires, not merely his desires, she thought when she could think at all. The fever consumed her within minutes, however, and she grew more impatient of his caresses than appreciative. The need was burning her and the fire only grew higher and more unbearable the more he kissed and touched her.

She began to tug at him a little frantically, urging him to give her surcease. He seemed almost as mindless as she was, slow to respond, but he finally yielded to her insistence and speared into her, sawing shallowly until he'd coated his cock with her moisture and he could sheathe himself completely.

Pandora was so desperate by the time Drake had fully claimed her she was already skating the rim and ready to pitch into glory. A flicker of disappointment went through her that she hadn't gotten the chance to enjoy the feel of him inside her longer, but it was swept away by the tidal wave of her orgasm and the pleasurable thrill she felt when he followed her.

The last of the aftershocks petered out slowly, leaving her adrift with a sense of floating. Drake anchored her by dragging her against his length and curling around her. It felt almost more glorious to feel his arms around her even than it had to feel him inside her because the certainty settled in her that this part was for her alone.

Maybe, she thought dreamily, he wasn't as angry with her as he had been? Maybe he didn't really hate her after all?

* * * *

"I've found the village," dragon said with satisfaction, almost the moment he landed. Folding his wings, he shifted from dragon to man as he strode toward the campfire where everyone had gathered to break their fast.

"Did you see the gnome?" Pandora asked anxiously.

"Did you doubt me, my love? I told you that I would find the bastard and free you from the curse!"

Warmth filled her even though she knew Goldenwing didn't truly mean it when he called her 'my love'. It was only a part of his flamboyant, flirtatious way. "I didn't-not really. I was just worried."

"She's a majority of one," Drake muttered. "I hadn't expected it to take so long."

Dragon sent him an irritated look, but finally shrugged. "Where's unicorn?"

"Grazing."

Goldenwing looked around and summoned Perseus. Changing forms as dragon had, he crouched beside the fire, as indifferent to his nakedness as Goldenwing was.

Pandora wished she could be as immune. Unfortunately, it seemed to her that she became more aware of them as time went on, noticed more about them, became increasingly aware of just how powerfully attractive they were. She wasn't certain if it was because she'd been unnerved and shy in the beginning and felt more comfortable because she'd gotten to know them, or if she just felt like she knew them better because they coupled with her whenever they got the chance, but familiarity certainly hadn't led to contempt. She had a very hard time focusing on anything above the waist a good bit of the time.

She never would've thought that she would come to think of a cock, any cock, as a lovely thing, but she had three of the fairest ever available and she had to struggle with the hunger that lit her up whenever she saw them.

Goldenwing's cock bobbed abruptly, bringing her to the realization that she was staring at it. She flicked a quick look at his face and blushed when she saw he was grinning. He winked at her. He glanced at unicorn. "I found the village … actually, I located the village a few days ago."

Drake sent him an irritated look. "Why didn't you say so?"

"I wanted to watch the gnome until I knew if he had any habits we might take advantage of. He does. There's a lake near the village that he goes to every morning to bathe-almost like clockwork-same time every day. I'm thinking that'll be the perfect place to set the trap."

Pandora frowned. "What sort of trap?"

The three men exchanged a look. None of them had particularly wanted to tell her the part where she played bait, but there was no avoiding it. "You."

Pandora swallowed convulsively several times, glancing from one man to the other. "Me?"

"It has to be you," Goldenwing said grimly. He explained that they'd come to the conclusion that the best way to go about getting the gnome to remove the curse was to see to it that he was cursed. To do that, they had to trick him and she would have to pass it to him.

Pandora digested that for several moments before it dawned on her what he was suggesting. Not suggesting, saying outright. She was going to have to entice the gnome to fuck her in order to pass the curse to him. Nausea washed through her, but a very little thought convinced her that they were right.

"I'd far rather beat him unconscious and force him to remove the curse," Drake said angrily, "but we don't know that that would work. And if we try that first, then there's no chance of trying to turn the tables on him and convincing him any other way."

"Actually, I wouldn't mind killing him outright," dragon said conversationally, "but there again, we have a problem. If killing him doesn't break the spell, we've got a serious problem."

"It's alright," Pandora said. "I understand and I think you're right. I think it's the most likely way to get him to break the spell. It'll torment him as badly as it has all of us and he won't be able to stand it. And you're right about the other, too. We should try this first and then … something else if it doesn't work."

As relieved as they were that Pandora had readily agreed, none of them were happy about it. Dragon had had plenty of time, however, to experience the misery of the curse himself and it wasn't something he wanted to live with any more than the others did.

"Alright," he said, "this is the plan. Unicorn and I are magical-we belong here. You and Drake don't and they would catch your scent long before we arrived if we traveled by land. Unicorn will take the land route and meet us near the lake. I'll carry the two of you."

Horror instantly washed through Pandora. She glanced at Drake and saw that he wasn't particularly thrilled at the idea either. "There isn't another way?"

"Not one that will insure a surprise." Goldenwing moved closer, pulling her onto his lap. "I will take the greatest care of you, my love. Never doubt that!"

She believed him, and yet she was still scared to death at the idea of taking to the sky with dragon. He could fly. She couldn't!

 

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Chapter Nine

 

Pandora was so shaken by the time dragon lit that she was nearly witless. He'd carried her in his arms, cradled against his armor hard chest. She hadn't had to ride his back as Drake had, depending upon nothing more than reins to prevent himself from falling, but it hadn't comforted her a lot when Goldenwing had launched them all skyward. Her stomach had seemed to drop as they rose and it hadn't caught up to her yet. When he set her carefully on her feet, her knees gave way. She would've sprawled in the dirt except he didn't release her.

Changing forms, he held her tightly, stroking her back soothingly until she finally stopped shaking. He leaned away from her then, nudging her chin up so that she had to look at him. "Are you alright now, my love?"

Pandora nodded jerkily.

"Good girl!" he murmured, bending down to kiss her-not merely a peck as she'd expected, but deeply.

She was so dizzy and hot by the time he broke the kiss that she was disoriented from that. He set to work untying the front of her gown. "We haven't much time," he warned her. "Off with this and then you must bathe."

Pandora sent him a startled look.

"That's the scenario. You bathed and then lay down to dry off and fell asleep. Remember that! You're lost."

Pandora nodded jerkily. "I decided to take a bath and then fell asleep."

"Be sure to wash that pretty little cunt well, my love. We don't want to alert him by leaving our scents there for him to find."

Pandora felt her face turning red. Flicking a quick look at Drake, she moved to the edge of the lake and waded in, scrubbing herself a little frantically. Goldenwing flicked a glance at the sky. Jerking his head at Drake to remind him to find a position to watch, he summoned Pandora from the water.

"We'll be close by if you need us," he murmured soothingly. "Otherwise, we'll watch for the gnome to arrive and make certain none follow him and interrupt our little trap."

"You don't have to do this," Drake said grimly. "We can find another way."

Pandora stared at him for a long moment and then looked at Goldenwing questioningly. He shrugged. "I'll not complain and I doubt Perseus will. If you don't want to do this, you have only to say so and we'll go."

She didn't. It made her feel ill even thinking about letting the gnome touch her, but she was afraid that there wasn't another way. If she wanted her life back, and she did, she was going to have to do this. She wanted it for them almost more than she did herself-especially Drake. She didn't think either Goldenwing or Perseus had suffered as he had, but she still hated that it was her fault that they suffered at all.

Beyond that, she would never know if any of them cared anything at all about her as long as they had the curse.

"I can do this," she assured both of them, hoping she could.

Drake studied her a moment longer and finally gathered her to him for a brief kiss. "Just keep your eyes closed," he murmured near her ear.

She nodded jerkily and tried to smile to let him know that she was good. He flicked a glance at dragon and left.

Catching her hand, dragon led her to a plush patch of moss and told her to lie down. Chuckling indulgently when she did, he crouched down and arranged her more comfortably-or at least more seductively. She didn't think it was any more comfortable than lying stiff as a board.

He skated a hand down her length. "Relax, my love. We'll be close by. You can do this. I know you can."

She thought he'd gone until she felt his nearness. He plucked at one nipple with his lips. She opened her eyes. He wagged his finger at her. "Remember, you're asleep."

His teasing helped her to relax. Careful to keep the position he'd indicated, she shifted just enough to be comfortable enough to relax fully and focused on it as she heard him move away. Slowly but surely, she did relax, almost to the point of drowsing. She'd barely reached that state, however, when she heard someone in woods. For a moment, she wondered if dragon or Drake were coming back. She realized fairly quickly that they wouldn't risk that, not when Goldenwing had told them it wouldn't be long before the gnome appeared.

It had to the gnome.

It took all Pandora could do to remain perfectly still as she listened to the crackle of leaves and branches that told her he was moving steadily closer, to regulate her breathing so that she appeared to be sleeping. It was almost worse when the sound stopped and she knew that whoever it was had stopped almost directly over her and now stood watching her. She'd begun to think it either wasn't the gnome after all or he wasn't interested when she heard movement again. This time, however, the rustle she heard was the sound of clothing being removed.

Her heart leapt jerkily at that realization. She couldn't stand it! Lifting her eyelids a fraction, she peered at the man standing over her. Despite her doubt that she would, she recognized him instantly. He had the long beard she remembered, but although he'd seemed old to her when she was a child, she saw his face didn't actually look old at all-and not horrible. He wasn't a well favored man, but he wasn't frightfully ugly either.

She knew it was him and for a moment triumph sang in her veins.

Then her gaze followed the movements of his hands as he shucked his breeches. His cock was bigger than dragon's and it was only semi-erect! Panic flooded her. Her eyelids seemed to fly open of their own accord.

He waved his hand over her even as she tensed to leap to her feet. It was as if a giant, invisible hand settled on her chest, pressing her back against the ground. She sucked in a breath to scream only to discover she couldn't make a sound.

A look of satisfaction flickered across the gnome's features. He finished undressing in a leisurely fashion and crouched down, tilting his head to study her. Straightening again after a moment, he moved around her and leaned down to catch her wrists, lifting her arms above her head and pressing them to the ground before he released her. The moment she felt his grip leave her, she tried to bring her arms down again, but it was as if her arms were welded to the ground, not merely her wrists or her hands.

Fear clawed its way through her as he moved around her, studying her as he had before, and finally crouched at her feet. Grasping her ankles as he had her wrists, he bent her knees and pushed her feet up until she could feel her heels against her buttocks, then he slipped her feet apart until she felt the tendons along her inner thighs begin to burn with the strain. When he released her ankles, she discovered her feet were as firmly planted as if they'd sprung roots. He leaned back to study the effect and then reached for her knees, pushing them outward toward her sides until she felt the lips of her sex part with the strain, felt air rake along her cleft.

A shiver raked through her. Goosebumps leapt to life all over her body, increasing her sensitivity as the blood rushed through her veins so that the slightest breath of air was like a touch. She struggled to press her knees together when he released them, but discovered she couldn't move them anymore than she'd been able to move her hands or feet. She couldn't move at all! She could only watch in horror as he moved around her, adjusting her position to suit himself. In a few moments he returned to study the angle of her legs and the display of her sex. Evidently not satisfied, he crouched down and used his hands to curl the outer lips of her sex back, stretching them so wide she felt the mouth of her sex open, could feel currents of air brushing over the exquisitely sensitive inner skin of her sex. A whimper of terror clawed at her chest, but it was as trapped as she was, as bound by whatever spell he'd cast over her.

As if he'd glued the outer lips of her sex open, the flesh remained spread wide when he removed his hands. He reached for her exposed clit, pulling at it until blood rushed into it, until the blood that had rushed there pooled and began to throb, and then to pulse uncomfortably, growing more uncomfortable with each pounding heartbeat. He curled his finger around the base then, tightening it as if he'd placed a tight cord around it to trap the blood there. If felt as if her clit had swollen to twice its normal size. Her discomfort increased immediately, began to skate the edge of pain.

Stroking his finger down the sensitive flesh between her clit and the mouth of her sex, he delved a finger inside, pushing deeply. She closed her eyes at the feel of his thick finger inside of her. "Nice," he murmured. "This will be a very nice, very tight fit-for me. It may be a little uncomfortable for you."

He sounded as amused at the thought as aroused. When he finally pulled his finger out of her and settled to studying her again, she decided that he must be satisfied at last, but after staring at her critically for several moments, he straightened again and moved around to her side, stepping across her so that he had one foot on either side of her waist. "You should offer these to me," he murmured, staring at her breasts. Crouching over her, he reached for her arms and brought them down and folded them, pushing them beneath her back until it arched upward, thrusting her breasts out.

Her heart was beating so frantically by that time, it jarred her breasts, making them tremble. It seemed to fascinate him. He stared at her breasts for several moments and reached to tweak her nipples, pulling at them almost painfully until they stood tightly erect. Not satisfied with that, he began milking her breasts with his hands, as if trying to draw the blood to the tips, squeezing them from base to tip. He succeeded. The longer he squeezed her breasts, the harder the blood pounded in her nipples until they began to throb like an aching tooth-as her clit was throbbing with discomfort that bordered on pain. Almost as if he knew when she'd reached maximum discomfort, he closed his hands around the base of her breasts, squeezing them tightly as he had the base of her clit. When he released them it was if he'd placed an invisible vice around them. The blood pooled in the tips of her breasts began to pulse harder.

He lifted his gaze and studied her face for the first time. For a moment, Pandora thought he must recognize her. She discovered his intent stare had nothing to do with recognition, however, but rather with his internal debate about what he wanted to do next.

Straightening again, he moved around to her head and crouched down. Grasping her skull with both hands, he tipped her head back at an impossible angle and then pushed her jaw down to open her mouth.

She knew what was coming and it still sent a jolt through her when he pushed his cock into her mouth. As wide as he'd opened her mouth, though, his cock was enormous and he managed to shove little more than the head inside.

It flickered through her mind to bite him, but she discovered she couldn't.

"Suck."

As if every part of her body was his to command, her tongue curled around his flesh and she began sucking at the head of his cock as feverishly as if it was something she'd wanted to do. He watched her for several moments through narrowed eyes and then leaned over her, placing a hand on either side of her chest and very deliberately bit down on one of her nipples hard enough she nearly blacked out. She wished she had. She would've screamed if she could have. It only seemed to hurt worse that she couldn't, that her pain was trapped inside of her.

As soon as the pain seemed to lessen, he released that nipple and moved to the other, pinching the first between his fingers to draw the blood to it again as he bit down on the second nipple. She descended to the edge of darkness again, struggled to reach for it and failed.

"Suck harder," he growled, moving back to the first nipple. This time when he bit down on it, however, he raked his teeth from base to tip, pinching the very tip and sending a knife like pain through her. He moved back and forth from one to the other until Pandora was completely mindless, barely conscious, and yet so keenly aware of the sensations it was almost as if he'd somehow magnified them. Blackness swirled around her mind, promising release and withholding it. It was almost as if he deprived her of an escape into unconsciousness just as he'd deprived her of any movement save what he'd commanded.

His cock jerked in her mouth as he ceased to merely clamp his teeth into her nipples and began to gnaw and pull and suck at her them with fervor. Abruptly, his seed spilled into her mouth, filled it. She struggled to reject it, but she realized very quickly that it was either swallow or drown. As she gulped at his seed and sucked, cringing inwardly both from that and the fire pouring through her from his tormenting mouth and teeth, in complete defiance of reason or sanity, shockwaves rippled along her channel and she came, so hard it almost pitched her into the oblivion she'd been seeking.

Almost. There was no escape-and no end. He tortured her nipples until her channel seemed to quake constantly, not quite a climax but close enough to be torture in itself. She was so beleaguered, she was hardly aware of when he finally stopped until he pulled his cock from her mouth. Panting for breath, shuddering, she was too focused on luxuriating in the cessation of pain to realize he'd moved away, to consider what he might do next, until a split second before he bit down on her clit as he had her nipples. She didn't have time to even brace herself. She flinched instinctively, but it was the most she manage. She couldn't evade him, not even with her mind.

She rode the edge of darkness as he gnawed and suckled her clit but despite her fervent hopes, an escape into oblivion continued to elude her. She dragged in a shaky breath of relief when he finally lifted his head, but it was only momentary. He slipped his hands under her buttocks, lifting them from the ground and tipping her hips forward. She felt the rounded head of his cock pressing against the mouth of her sex, felt the skin stretching to engulf him. Her heart leapt into her throat. She struggled to convince herself that it was purely imagination that his cock was bigger than dragon's. He was far smaller than dragon. His cock only looked huge next to the rest of him.

It was a wasted effort. Almost as soon as he began pushing, she knew she'd lied to herself. A whimper rose from her chest and was trapped in her throat as she felt her flesh begin to burn with the strain and then catch fire as he continued drive his cock into her relentlessly and her body, frozen in place, couldn't even absorb the shock by moving away so much as a hair. He kept pushing until she was certain she was going to split in two, until she could barely breathe and her mind swam with the effort to drag in panting breaths of air. She didn't know whether to allow herself a modicum of relief when he succeeded in impaling her on the thing without tearing her open or not. She decided not when he pulled out almost immediately and thrust again, setting a frenzied rhythm almost at once that intensified the burning sensation since her flesh either hadn't had time to acclimate to his girth or couldn't, driving into her so forcefully that it jarred her all over.

She came in spite of the fact that she felt far more pain than pleasure and even the convulsions were torture, for her muscles quaked without cease once they'd started convulsing as long as he continued to pound into her. It seemed to go on forever before she felt his hot seed bathing her channel. She thought she blacked out when he finally stopped, allowing her body to stop spasming. She lost awareness for many moments, regardless.

He brought her around again milking her breasts as he had before. Her entire body was still throbbing and aching … and still as sensitive as it had been when he'd started, she discovered to her dismay as soon as he leaned down and caught one of her nipples between his teeth again. After pulling at them for several moments, he straightened, pushing his cock into mouth as he had before. "Suck."

She closed her eyes, struggled to close her mind to what he was doing and making her do as he fell to tormenting her breasts as once more, except that it was almost as if he was more savage as he gnawed and pulled at her sensitive nipples. She heard her jaws pop as he drove deeper into her mouth. His seed spilled into her throat. She sucked and swallowed more frantically in an effort to keep from strangling. He stilled waiting until she'd sucked him dry and his cock went flaccid before he pulled away.

She struggled to brace herself, knowing what was coming next when she sensed that he'd moved away. It didn't do any good. The moment he clamped onto her clit it sent a hard jolt knifing through her. He tormented her until her body surged upward and quivered on the verge of release and then pulled away abruptly. She felt him probing her sex with his cock again, felt the burning as he drove into her to the hilt. He paused, dropping down to torture her breasts again and then began pounding into her almost more furiously than he had the first time.

She lost track of time as he moved around her, spreading the pain until it seemed to come at her from every direction, forcing his cock into her mouth and making her suck until he'd emptied his seed into her and then moving around her to impale her. It almost seemed as if days had passed, but when she managed to open her eyes a slit, she saw that the sun had barely passed its zenith. Perhaps an hour had passed, maybe two. She wondered how long he would hold her or if he'd ever let her go now that he had her at his mercy-of which he apparently had none.

Despite her distress, maybe because of it, she finally realized that he seemed to grow more fevered the longer he fucked her and tormented her. Instead of reaching true satisfaction, he seemed to become hungrier and more desperate. It flickered through her mind that he'd been trapped by his own curse as they'd hoped, but it was hard to feel any satisfaction in it when she was a prisoner of her body and her body was his to torment as he pleased.

And he seemed to derive a great deal of pleasure in inflicting pain. It wasn't just that he was mindless with his passion, she realized. His efforts to insure she was as sensitive as he could manage before he tore at her convinced her that he needed to know he was hurting her to become aroused. It shamed her that her body almost seemed to respond with more enthusiasm than it did to pleasure, erupting in orgasm over and over.

* * * *

Goldenwing glared at the ground in front of him, trying to decide if the gnome had had time to spring the trap. He discovered that his anxiety about leaving Pandora to bait the trap had warped his sense of time, though.

Glancing up through the trees, he scratched around for a stick and laid in the patch of light the sun cast on the ground, deciding that it would work well enough as a time piece. At least he'd have some idea of how long it had been since he'd seen the gnome heading toward the lake as was his habit.

Images rose in his mind. He imagined that the gnome must have reached the lake by now and discovered Pandora, sleeping. He pictured a momentary shock and then interest, the approach. He found it hard to believe the gnome would be able to resist moving closer and touching her.

She was supposed to feign sleep until he was thoroughly aroused and then pretend to be aroused herself.

That had been his suggestion anyway. He discovered he couldn't actually form a mental image of the gnome dropping to the ground to join her, but then he realized he didn't particularly want to. He didn't know why it bothered him. He'd actually enjoyed watching when Drake and Perseus had made love to her.

It occurred to him after a moment that that was what bothered him. Drake might still be angry with her, but it was clear more than his lust was engaged. And unicorn, for all that unicorns were known to be as fickle as dragons, felt far more than he was willing to admit. Even he was fond of her in his own way.

The gnome wouldn't be. He would be pursuing lust and nothing more.

Emerging from his thoughts, he listened intently. Try though he might, however, he couldn't heard any sounds wafting from the direction of the lake that indicated passion. Had he not taken the bait?

He frowned, dismissing it after a moment. He was a man and Pandora was a beautiful woman. He might not find her as beautiful and desirable as they did, but he wouldn't be able to resist.

He couldn't tell that the sun had moved at all when he glanced at the stick again. After a moment, despite his own orders that everyone should remain quiet, he got up and began to pace restlessly, allowing his mind to conjure images of his lovemaking with Pandora, slowly and carefully imagining each touch until he thought he'd paced the timing to match whatever the gnome might think to do.

Relieved a little when he discovered a shadow was inching toward the stick, he sat down again. The gnome would rest, he decided, but if they were right, he would be caught in his own web. He wouldn't rest long before he was compelled to start again.

He didn't particularly like the idea that the gnome might stay and fuck her for hours trying to assuage his need, but they had to wait until he'd had time to decide he was done and left her. They could collect Pandora then and return to the unicorn's favorite glen and wait. The gnome would track them, looking for Pandora, and realize what he'd done.

Then he would remove the curse because by then he would be suffering as much as they were. However stubborn the bastard might be, he wouldn't be willing to suffer himself just to make them suffer!

Despite his resolve and his attempts at reason, his patience had begun to fray by the time he heard a faint thrashing in the woods. He whirled toward the sound, staring intently until Drake appeared. Shortly behind him was Perseus.

"He should've headed back to the village by now," Drake said in a low, angry growl.

Goldenwing frowned. "I was thinking the same."

"Me, also."

"I think we should go and see what's happening," Drake said tightly.

"We need to move quietly," Goldenwing agreed. "I don't want to spoil the trap after all the effort of setting it."

The scene they came upon was so appalling it froze all three of them in their tracks for several moments. Abruptly, uttering a low growl of rage, Drake surged forward. Goldenwing caught him reflexively. Even as he struggled to throw dragon's grip off, unicorn surged forward and butted Drake with his horn. Drake's eyes rolled back in his head. If dragon hadn't had a grip on him, he would've landed on the ground like a falling tree.

Goldenwing glared at Perseus. What the hell?

The bastard's woven a spell around her, unicorn spoke with his mind as Goldenwing had. Think! We don't even know what spell he's used and if we charge out there and kill the bastard we might not be able to remove it!

Goldenwing turned to study Pandora again, feeling a wave of sick fury wash over him. What do we do then?

Unicorn glanced at him sharply. As many years as he'd known dragon he'd never known him to suffer a moment's doubt or hesitation. It unnerved him that dragon didn't seem to know what to do. We wait. We can't afford anything else unless we can figure out what he's done and how to remove it ourselves. He's bound to tire and when he does he'll decide he's done and release her. He hoped.

Goldenwing lowered Drake to the ground. Let's hope he doesn't come around before then, he said grimly.

He won't. I won't release him from the sleeping spell until it's safe-or at least until Pandora's safe. I'm not at all sure we will be when he discovers what I've done, he said with grim humor.

* * * *

Pandora had long since given up hope that she would escape alive when a flicker of movement caught her eye. She couldn't turn her head, but she didn't need to. The unicorn that charged from the woods galloped straight toward them. The gnome was in such a frenzy by that time he apparently didn't realize the pounding he heard was the sound of hooves on the hard ground until it was too late. He whirled just as the unicorn reached him and gored him with his horn.

The gnome wavered as the unicorn pulled his horn from the gnome's side and then collapsed. The moment he did, Pandora felt herself floating free of the magical bonds he'd bound her with. Relief flickered through her mind and then the absolute peace of darkness.

Goldenwing dropped to his knees beside her, carefully examining her, feeling his rage mount all over again when he saw the angry red marks the gnome had left all over her. He turned and glared at the unconscious gnome. "Is he dead?"

"Nay," unicorn said tightly. "Just unconscious."

"I'll finish him!"

Unicorn stopped him. "After what she's been through? You want it to be for nothing?"

Dragon hesitated. "Sick bastard! We don't even know that he'll remove it. He seems to enjoy pain."

"Inflicting it. I doubt he enjoys receiving it," unicorn said tightly. "I'd rather not take the chance and kill him now. Pandora wants to be free of the curse. If he won't remove the curse, then we'll kill him and hope for the best. For now, we need to stick to the plan."

Goldenwing tamped the urge to break the bastard in half with an effort.

Perseus seemed to take the look he flicked at him as condemnation. "I couldn't stand to watch it anymore! It didn't look like he had any intentions of stopping while she still breathed," he said defensively.

"If you think I'm going to complain that you put a stop to it, you're wrong. I'm just glad it broke the spell and sorry as hell we didn't try it sooner." Turning to Pandora again, he studied her for a moment and leaned over her. Settling a hand on either side of her head, he lowered his forehead to touch hers and probed her mind for her memories. It made his stomach churn as he relived them with her, but he held on until he'd replaced them with darkness.

Unicorn was watching him intently when he emerged. He shrugged. "She doesn't need to remember any of that." Scooping her up, he held her against his chest and shifted into his dragon form. "Get Drake and bring him back. I'm taking her to the glen."

?

 

 

 

 

Chapter Ten

 

"It's so strange that I can't remember what happened," Pandora murmured, staring into the flames of their campfire. Despite her focus, she noticed that all three men exchanged a long look. It sent uneasiness fluttering through her. "Was it bad?"

The men exchanged another look. Goldenwing tightened his arms around her. "We were standing guard to make certain you weren't interrupted, remember?"

Pandora frowned. "I remember that was the plan. It's really weird that I don't remember anything after I realized the gnome had come and recognized him, though. I don't even remember when the three of you came for me. I must have … fainted or something, I guess."

"That was probably it," dragon said soothingly. "I do remember that you fainted as soon as you realized I meant to fly you back to the glen."

Pandora shivered, but to his relief, she allowed the subject to drop. "It's been three days. Don't you think he should've come by now?"

Unicorn shrugged. "I made certain to leave a good trail, but it was a long way to travel on two feet. It probably took him a while to figure out he was bespelled. I'm sure he tried to convince himself, just as I did, that his magic would have protected him and that it was merely a natural lust since he found you so desirable."

Pandora didn't address the one thing that was uppermost in her mind until everyone had settled for the night. She knew from the tension she felt in Drake, who'd curled around her, that he wasn't asleep.

"You don't … feel any need?" she asked hesitantly.

He didn't answer at first. "It's still there."

She lifted a hand and placed it on his chest. "No one's touched me since we got back. I thought mayhap …?"

"You need your rest," Drake said hoarsely.

She shifted closer. "I need … you. Please?"

Drake struggled for a moment and lost the battle. He'd been too afraid that she would remember what had happened and wouldn't want to be touched to try it, and felt too guilty and unworthy if it came to that. He could no more resist her plea than he could stop breathing, though. He did have need. It had tormented him almost as much as what had happened to Pandora, but the thing he wanted and needed most was reassurance that she still wanted him.

Struggling against the fire raging in his loins demanding to be immediately quenched, he focused on trying to soothe whatever fears might linger in the back of her mind and arouse her. Relief flooded him when she responded without restraint, with eagerness that belied any possibility that the gnome had wounded her mind with his sick desires.

And for the first time in a very long time, when he came inside of her, he felt more than just relieved. He felt peace.

It lasted right up until unicorn nudged him with his foot. "My turn."

* * * *

Goldenwing curled his lips in distaste. "Do you smell that?"

Drake and Pandora, neither of them particularly alert yet since they'd just risen, both looked at him blankly.

"It's an awful stench," unicorn agreed. "Smells like … gnome."

Pandora abruptly felt a chilling wave wash over her. The blood drained from her head as she whipped around to search the glen and discovered the gnome was standing at the edge of the woods. He stared directly at her and even from a distance she could see the fever in his eyes, the raw hunger. Swallowing with an effort, she reached out blindly for support. Drake gathered her into his arms protectively.

Fury flickered across the gnome's face, but after a few moments, he approached them.

"We've no food to share," dragon said coldly.

The gnome licked his lips, barely taking his eyes off of Pandora. "It's not food I'm after."

"We've nothing to share," unicorn said tightly.

The gnome dragged in a deep breath. "Been sharing that cunt. I can smell all three of you."

Drake's arms tightened around Pandora. "I should cut your throat for that," he growled.

It seemed to penetrate the gnome's absorption that he wasn't particularly welcome. He dragged his gaze from Pandora and flicked a glance at the men's faces. "I've a bit of gold I'd be willing to trade for a little time with the … lady."

"The problem is," dragon drawled, "she's our lady and we aren't inclined to share."

"Not even for gold?" the gnome demanded furiously. "What do you want then?"

Dragon's lips curled. "I want to know what it feels like."

The gnome stared at him blankly. "What?"

"How did it go?" unicorn said thoughtfully. "You'll suffer all your days with unrequited lust as I have and your blood forever more-and any who dare to touch you will be cursed as you are? Was it something like that?"

The gnome stared at him in confusion for several moments. Pandora could see the very moment it connected in his mind. He looked at her sharply, stared at her hard as if trying to place her, and then his eyes widened for a moment before they darkened with rage. "You're Sophie's child!"

Despite her revulsion and fear, Pandora smiled at him. "I am."

"You tricked me!" he roared.

Pandora blinked at him. "I was just minding my own business. You didn't give me the chance to tell you."

"It was a trick! A low down trick! I know what you're after! You want me to break the spell. Well, it won't work!"

Dragon shrugged. "Actually, it never worked on either me or unicorn. We're magical ourselves, you know. And I think Drake is growing accustomed. It's a little trying at times, but Pandora is a generous woman."

He focused on Pandora again, rubbing the erection tenting the front of his trousers. "If she's so generous, she should let me have a little to ease the need."

"As I said-we don't share," dragon said coldly.

He glared them furiously for several moments and finally turned and stalked off.

"Cold water will ease the swelling a little," Drake called out.

Pandora frowned when the gnome disappeared. "He didn't remove the curse."

"We'll give him a week. If he doesn't come around I'm sure we can think of a way to persuade him," dragon said.

"I almost hope he puts us to the effort," Drake said grimly.

Pandora was far more shaken than she wanted to let them know. She didn't know why it was that she only had to look at the gnome to feel her flesh crawl and sheer terror wash through her, but she did. To her relief, the men made certain one or more of them was with her at all times as a week crawled by and then two.

She spotted the gnome lurking in the forest several days after the discussion and realized he was waiting for a chance to get her alone. Fortunately, the men knew it, too, and they made certain he didn't get the opportunity.

He approached their camp again after the second week. Pandora might almost have felt sorry for him if she hadn't felt so much revulsion. He looked as if he hadn't eaten or slept for days. "I need …." He stopped, licking his lips. "I've got a lot of gold. I'll give you all of it if you'll give me the woman."

"No," Drake said implacably.

Fury contorted the gnome's features. "I'll put a curse on all of you! I'll make your cocks fall off and her cunt grow up! Or better yet, I'll make her cunt grow up and leave you to suffer like I have been!"

"You won't," dragon said coolly. "I've placed a protection spell over all of us. Even you can't break it."

"You can't watch her forever!"

"There's where you're wrong," dragon said coldly. "I'll outlive you, gnome, and if you don't take yourself off, I'll outlive you a by a lot longer."

The gnome began to shake with his fury. Bellowing curses at them, he finally turned and stalked back into the woods.

Dragon watched him until he disappeared and then turned to study Pandora for a long moment before he focused on Drake. "I think it's time you took her home."

Pandora's heart clenched painfully in her chest. "You're … sending me away?"

"You'll be safe. My magic's strong."

She wasn't particularly worried about being safe. She knew she would be if he'd placed a protection spell over her. "But … what if he doesn't break the spell? You'll … need me, won't you?"

Something flickered in his eyes. "We'll break the spell, my love. Be certain of that." He smiled faintly. "And I'll always know where you are."

Pandora swallowed with an effort, trying to convince herself that that was a promise that he'd come to her, that he wasn't just sending her away. Struggling to keep from crying, she glanced at unicorn a little hopefully. "I don't … really need to get home right away."

"He's right, little dove. This is no place for you."

Pandora dragged in a pained breath and managed a nod. She felt like her heart was breaking, though, as she set about gathering their belongings. Drake was going to leave her, too. She knew that.

She should just be relieved, she told herself. They were both right. She was worn down and not just from trying to ease their needs. Camping was miserable. There was no comfort to be had at all and no sense in her staying when she'd done what she could to help to free them. They didn't need her for whatever else they might have in mind and she realized they didn't want her around for that.

She'd never been more miserable in her life, though, than on the trip back to Hempstead Hamlet. Drake let her 'ride' him as she had before at least part of the way, and she enjoyed it thoroughly-more, she thought, than she had the first time, but that only appeased the fever. It did nothing for her true needs-the need to feel that they cared about her, at least a little.

He didn't linger when they reached her cottage. He gathered his gear that he'd left and bundled a little food for the trip, kissed her briefly, and then rode out again.

She gave in to her emotions then, weeping until she was so exhausted she fell asleep. She didn't feel any better when she woke. Struggling with her melancholy, she tried to return to her routine. She'd been gone so long her garden was in terrible shape and she focused on that first. Most of her livestock had mysteriously disappeared, but she simply wandered the village until she spotted them, collected them, and returned home again.

The villagers were indignant, of course, but they weren't about to touch her!

She'd been moping around her cottage for almost a week before it dawned on her that she didn't feel any of the fever she'd had in her blood so long it had seemed a permanent part of her. It was like the dull pain that one grows so accustomed to that they don't even notice when it stops.

She cried her eyes out when she realized they'd broken the curse, not for joy, but because she knew then that it was really and truly over. There was no reason at all for any of them to ever see her again.

Drake was probably halfway across the kingdom by now and determined to keep as much distance between them as possible!

She tried to drown her sorrows in work, working so assiduously on her neglected chores that she had everything caught up in little more than a week and too much time on her hands. Unable to bear being cooped up in her cottage by herself for very long, she began to take long walks in the woods, telling herself she was looking for herbs or berries, although she never gathered any. Sometimes, she would lie in the meadow across the river from her cottage for hours, staring up at the sky and imagining that one day she would see dragon circling overhead, or unicorn would drift from the woods, or she'd hear hoof beats along the road in front her cottage and discover it wasn't some farmer headed to market, but her handsome knight.

And then one day as she lay in the meadow, she did see him circling high overhead. Her heart skipped several beats. She struggling to convince herself that she was imagining things, but he dipped lower and lower and finally settled only a few yards from where she'd sat up. Leaping to her feet, she raced to him and flung herself against his armor hard chest. "Goldenwing!" she gasped, trying to reach her arms around him to hug him tightly.

He shifted into his man form, clasping her so tightly he nearly squeezed the breath out of her. "Did you miss me, my love?"

Pandora leaned her head back to look up at him. "Terribly!"

A smile curled his lips. He pulled her down with him on the grass. "Show me," he murmured huskily.

She rubbed her face against his hard chest and then sat up abruptly and untied her gown with shaking hands. When she was as naked as he, she reached for him and he carried her down on the grass, making love to her as he always had before, with a slow, tortuous attention to every sensitive spot on her body until she was singing his praises to the sky.

She'd half feared that, without the curse, with the fever gone, she wouldn't feel desire as strongly as before. She discovered she was wrong. She felt it more keenly if possible, enjoyed his touch as she hadn't been able to when her mind was so clouded, but the wonderful part was that when he'd taken her through one glorious release after another, a sublime sense of satisfaction filled the place in her heart that had felt dead and empty without him.

"You're more beautiful than I remember," Goldenwing murmured, nuzzling her face.

"You're more beautiful than I remembered, too," Pandora whispered back, enjoying the feel of him against her, smiling when he chuckled and she could feel it in her own chest.

He rolled her to her back, settling on an elbow to study her as he coasted a hand along her length. He paused when he reached her belly, curling his fingers into the soft mound. "He is well?"

Pandora felt her face heat. "I think so. It's a he?"

Goldenwing smiled. "I think I'll let that be a surprise."

Pandora sighed blissfully, feeling a different sort of peace settle over her. She hadn't been certain which of the three had fathered the babe growing in her womb. She hadn't even been certain which she'd wanted to be the father, but she knew the moment Goldenwing claimed it that she was delighted.

He nuzzled her face. "I'm glad you're delighted, my love, but to be perfectly correct, he's ours."

Pandora looked at him in confusion. "I don't understand."

"Well-magic, my love. I thought it a bit much to expect you to handle three your first time."

It flickered through her mind that he was saying the baby belonged to all three of them, but that couldn't be right!

"Ah, but it is! We all wanted to give you a token of our love, you see. I considered it and, wise dragon that I am, I realized this was the best solution. No doubt, it'll be a funny looking child-part dragon, part unicorn, and part strange looking knight, but we all adore you and clearly you adore us, so …."

Pandora chuckled at his teasing.

"I'm completely serious!" he said sternly. "You'll see when it gets here."

Pandora stared at him. "You're reading my mind!"

"Was I?" He frowned and finally sighed a little irritably. "It's a side effect of the joining, my love-the mind melding."

Pandora blinked at him. "We joined?"

A slow grin curled his lips. "In every conceivable way, my love."

Pandora swallowed against a knot of emotion that rose in her throat, wanting to tell him how she felt, afraid that if she did he would leave and never come back. His eyes gleamed. He lifted a hand and stroked her cheek. "You never have to worry about that, my love."

She sighed, settling her cheek on his chest. "I love you."

"I know."

She chuckled.

"What? It was inevitable, you know."

She bit his chest playfully.

"Ow!"

"That didn't hurt!"

"How would you know," he asked, laughter threading his voice, "it was me that got bitten!"

She soothed it with the stroke of her tongue and then sucked lightly on it.

"A little lower."

She lifted her head to look at him and he waggled his brows at her. When she looked down, he bobbed his cock at her. She knew he was more than half teasing but the suggestion made her throat close with sudden need. She scooted downward to catch it in her hand and then brought it to her mouth, sucking it experimentally. He tensed. His hips lifted.

Settling more comfortably, feeling her own desire rise, she stroked and sucked his cock with more and more enthusiasm. He caught her legs abruptly, twisting her around and burrowing his face against her cleft. She discovered it was hard to focus on what she was supposed to be doing and what he was doing, but it drove her wild to feel his tongue dancing over her clit and feel his cock in her mouth. When she felt his cock jerk and realized she'd brought him off with her mouth, it sent such a rush through her that she came, sucking feverishly on his cock as his seed filled her mouth.

When they rolled away from one another at last, they lay panting for a few minutes and then Goldenwing grasped her and dragged her on top of him. "Lesson one, my love. And you did very well. We'll have to do it this way when your little tummy swells like a ripe melon."

Pandora smiled at him. "I don't know that I want to give up having that fine cock plowing my pussy."

"You'll have to for a bit. There isn't room in there for my cock and the little one." He paused. "They both think it's theirs, by the way."

Uneasiness fluttered through her. "They do?"

He stroked her hair. "When you see them, you can tell them both that it is with a clear conscience."

Joy flooded her. "They're coming to see me, too?"

"In a bit. We decided we needed to build a place for you in the enchanted forest to keep you safe and to keep you close, and naturally we're all anxious to get you settled before the little one arrives, but for now, I've got you all to myself."

 

 

The End