Chapter 13: Bonding
Convincing them to disrobe in the open wasn’t hard. Even though Junipor seethed at the disgraceful thought. Refusal would’ve been considered a sign of impurity, and thus would’ve gone poorly. While Junipor felt she had the skill to stand her ground against some of the Rangers, she wasn’t fool enough to take them all on. What did take some convincing, however, was wearing the skimpy robes provided by the warrior monk afterward. The thin silk garb was elegant, almost regal even, but left little to the imagination. It hugged tightly around the waist, and without any undergarments her rear cheeks were partially exposed. A small slit along the rear allowed her tail to come free, and for the human it just left a sore spot where his bottom was on display.
Inside the den, the young Pharine sat quietly in a private room. Her muscles ached after a days worth of travel, and her stomach wouldn’t stop growling. The private room was fairly cramped, and the mattress sat adjacent to a shrine to Phedona. Junipor looked up to the small effigy to the goddess, noticing that this particular statue showed Phedona as pregnant with swelling breasts laden with milk. The symbology of which represented the goddess giving birth to the Pharine species, while highlighting the importance of her very first commandment, which was to spread and multiply.
For some reason, the statue brought back the memory of what happened only moments earlier. Back outside, Junipor’s copper colored skin glistened with sweat as she removed each piece of armor, and carefully handed each piece to a Ranger standing nearby. Taut muscles bulged along her neck, and the curvature of her back displayed a detailed collection of refined strength. Her shoulders were well rounded, and a thin trickle of sweat could be seen traveling along the sharp edges of her trapezoids, down the lining of her spine, and all the way to the arch of her lower back. She could feel the eyes of the human on her, her ears twitched, then perched low to her hair in embarrassment.
Naked, they were all lead into the den, and guided to down a long flight of stairs. The den was a proper burrow, with several floors leading down into the earth. At the bottom, Junipor could smell the spring water before she saw it. Luckily the underwater spring water was warm, and no one burst into flame. There was some hesitation when Domitilla stepped forth. Her ample bosom bounced as the Teifling stepped into the water, but she didn’t erupt in violent agony, as the warrior monk had suggested could happen.
It was at that moment, that Junipor caught sight of the human fully naked, without any mist or haze to shroud his intimate parts. Seeing his masculinity on full display, it formed a knot in her stomach, and made her tail stand straight. Shame quivered at the base of her stomach, and Junipor quickly turned away. It surprised her deeply that humans could bear that sort of masculinity, his size and girth quickly imprinted in her mind. Each time she closed her eyes, she could make out his ridiculously large shaft on the inside of her eyelids, making it impossible to simply forget about it.
Once cleansed, they all adorned the silk robes, and Junipor chewed the inside of her lower lip while putting it on. Her legs were fully exposed, a narrow slip traveling down her stomach, and reaching to the floor. Her hips were displayed, along with some of her cleavage. The skin tight fabric was at least smooth to the skin, although with each breath of air, she could feel her breasts pressing against it.
Now alone, Junipor prayed to the goddess for strength and perseverance. She desperately needed it, trying to forget about that filthy human’s manhood. It made no sense as to why it burned in her memory, causing her guilt to sizzle underneath the robe.
They had all been forced into separate small rooms, left to their own prayers, and Junipor knew eyes were upon them. She could hear the steps of Ranges up above, likely monitoring them from small slits in the floor boards. It must’ve surprised the warrior monk to lead a human, and a blight born for that matter, into his sacred temple and for all of them to wander through the purity of the sacred spring intact. He clearly wasn’t interested in letting them wander any further, not until he spoke to the priestess in full confidence. However long they would be forced to wait, Junipor wasn’t certain.
Her prayers were interrupted as the door opened, and the bulky silhouette of a man was pushed inside. The door was shut quickly behind him, and Caius cursed the Ranger for shoving him so rudely. The sound of the iron locking mechanism could be heard as the two of them found themselves sealed inside the same room.
“What are you doing?” Junipor looked over to him with a sour expression. She did her absolute best to keep her eyes above his waist. The robe was so tightly stretched over his skin, she could make out the sharp lines of his pectoral muscles, and the dimple shape of his nipples poking against the fabric.
Caius didn’t have the body of a warrior, but he certainly wasn’t weak. Years of struggle, traveling, and surviving in harsh environments had moulded him into something not unpleasant to look at. Junipor found herself struggling to look away, and was disgusted by herself for pining for the human’s touch.
“Apparently,” he started with some swagger. “The owner of this establishment believed we were best suited sharing the same room together. I tried to argue against it, but our keepers spat at me! Could you believe that? He actually spat at me!”
Junipor was caught breathless. It was the greatest insult for her kind to actually spit at another person. While he was a human, that alone wasn’t enough to invoke such a response. Even Leborn the Merciless was said to respect his human adversaries, rather than show such blatant signs of disrespect.
“Why?” Junipor asked, deeply unnerved.
“Don’t know,” Caius shrugged, causing the robe to stretch further. Given the temperature in the cramped room, Junipor couldn’t help but feel a little sweaty. Having a male, even a human male, in the same room only heightened the temperature. Their shared body warmth complimented the heat coming from the steam in the room. Iron pipes carried the steam from the hearth fires burning in adjacent chambers. It was an interesting feat of architecture only displayed in places like this, sanctuaries protected by the goddess’s more refined servants.
Junipor swallowed, struggling to keep her eyes level, and looked away toward the shrine. Perhaps it was the bath
, she wondered if there was some special properties in the water that made her swoon like this? Regardless, Junipor reminded herself that this was a fitly human, a strikingly handsome filthy human, but still a filthy human. At least he smelled better, his masculine scent was far more pleasant to be around now that he was properly washed.“How long do you think they’ll keep us in here? And do you mind if I sit down?” Caius looked toward the mattress, being the only place to sit in the room.
While she would rather he stand by the door, Junipor relented by scooting to one end of the bed, letting him occupy the space next to her.
“Thanks,” he smiled and groaned with a sigh of relief upon sitting down.
A new aroma began to spill into the room. At first Junipor assumed it came from the incense candles, and was briefly alarmed as the waft of spicy fragrances graced her nostrils. Before she could deduce what it was, her mind grew lax. A lazy haze washed over her senses, and her eyes strained to see anything clearly. Only two things seemed to glow before her vision, one was the shrine to Phedona, and the other was the man laying down next to her.
It was impossible to turn away from his outstretched body. His brown hair was nicely combed back, and his pale skin had a bit of a tan. The small scar on his lower lip added to his handsomeness, and the small claw mark under his left eye captivated her imagination. Two bright almond eyes looked up at her, slightly dazed, and began combing up and down her copper skin.
The temperature rose, making it unbearable to keep wearing the robes. Too tired to think, Junipor undid the small strings keeping it together, and then watched in fascination as the human did so as well.
Naked, laying next to him, her breasts rose and fell with each panted breath. Fully exposed, her mind drifted into serenity as she felt two strong hands grasp firmly to her waist. The touch of his fingers against her stomach sent delightful shivers down her spine, and Junipor’s lips quivered as the mans arm tenderly wrapped around her.
“What is this?” A spur of awareness flirted with the surface of the euphoria, but was quickly dragged down into the depths of longing within mere seconds.
Caius leaned closer, his lips pressing against her own, and gently felt up her chest. His smell, his burning hot skin, and the feeling of his manhood pressed firmly against her stomach destroyed whatever reluctance that remained, and with no desire to hold back, Junipor spread her legs wide.