Falling Hard (Veronica's Secret) (3 page)

Night had fallen, and the caravan that carried Nayla and Aaron home had stopped for the night. Nayla went out in search of someone to keep her company in the dark.

Twenty guards accompanied the two of them on the trip. They took turns on guard for portions of the night.

She found her brother growing increasingly drunk. She wrapped her arm around his shoulders. “Aaron, go to bed. Getting drunk won’t heal your hurt. It will just make your head hurt tomorrow.”

“Mind your own business,” Aaron said with a grunt, and took another swig from the bottle.

Nayla stiffened at the force of his words. “Don’t take your anger out on me. None of this is my fault.”

Aaron refused to acknowledge she spoke to him, so she moved off in the direction of an off
-duty guard she knew well.

Herron stood talking to another guard she barely knew. He was only a year older than her, but he seemed to have a lot of experience with women. She liked that because it meant he would do more fun things with her than some men were willing to do.

“Herron!” Nayla walked right up to the blond-haired, muscular guard and hugged him, flashing him a naughty smile.

“Hey there, pretty girl.” He gestured to the other guard. “This is Jarrod.”

Jarrod was a man of average height in his mid-twenties. He winked at Nayla.

“Nice to meet you, Jarrod. Are you both off duty for a few hours?”

“Well that depends,” said Herron with a sly smile.

“On what?”
Nayla flashed him her most innocent looking smile.

“Why do you want to know?”

“Well ... if you must know … I was going to invite Jarrod to come keep me company in my tent.”

“What about me?” Herron asked, faking exasperation.

“You can come too if you’d like.”

Jarrod grinned from ear to ear. Herron pulled her up against him and whispered into her ear. “You naughty girl.
What ever will your father say?”

“I don’t really care what he’d say.” She turned and walked toward her tent. “Are you two coming or not?”

Once inside her tent, Nayla turned back around to face the two men. “You guys will have to go easy on me. I’m a lady.”

The tent was large enough to stand in. Enormous pillows were sprawled into a corner to provide a soft bed.

Herron stepped up to her. “Since when do you like it easy?” He wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her against him. His other hand hooked her knee and pulled it up around his waist. He let his hand slip slowly up her leg underneath her silky yellow dress until he gripped the soft skin of her bottom. Then he kissed her deep and hard until she grew weak in the knees.

Nayla
pulled herself out of Herron’s tight grip, her breath quickening as her excitement grew, and walked over to Jarrod.

He looked eager to have her hands on him. She hooked one arm around his neck and pulled him into a sloppy kiss. The other hand found its way to the tie that held his pants up. Within moments she had her hand wrapped around his thick cock
.

She stroked it slowly with the tips of her fingers while she kissed him
, tracing one finger around the head. She felt a shiver run through him that made her smile.

She pulled out of the kiss and beckoned Herron over with her finger. He obliged without hesitation while he pulled off his pants.

Nayla knelt down in front of the two men. She had one hand on each of them, stroking them gently, while she let her tongue caress Jarrod’s shaft. He moaned as his thickness grew harder.

She moved her tongue over to Herron. He was longer and thinner than Jarrod. The thought of a little variety spicing things up made her grin. After a few strokes with her tongue she wrapped her mouth around him, and slipped down his shaft as far as she could. She sucked on him slowly while fondling his balls.

“Oh, Nayla … yeah … just like that,” he groaned. His hips rocked slightly back and forth, pushing his length deeper down her throat. He was clearly enjoying it, but she felt bad for Jarrod being left out, so she switched to him.

It wasn’t hard to suck on Jarrod’s entire length. She whipped her tongue against him as she sucked on him faster and faster. His hips pounded harder than Herron’s. His moans grew in intensity.

She pulled away from him. Pulling the silky yellow dress off of her, she stepped over to the giant pillow that served as her bed while she traveled.

She
dropped down and beckoned the two of them over.

Herron moved straight to the base of the pillow between her legs. Jarrod moved more timidly up beside her. He fondled her breasts and they kissed while Herron took his time entangling his tongue in her eager pussy
.

His hands moved up her tanned legs and pulled them apart.
Nayla gasped as his finger found her pulsing clit and massaged it. A moment later she felt his tongue on her and she was lost in the sensations that coursed through her. It was as if her entire body was lit up like a glowing ball of fire.

She gripped her hands into Jarrod’s hair and pulled him hard into a kiss. Then she shoved him away. “I want your cock in my mouth. Give it to me.”

Nayla propped herself up as Jarrod positioned himself beside her so she could suck on him. At the same time, she felt Herron slipping himself inside of her.

The fullness she felt with him inside her made her gasp. “Oh, that feels amazing!”

She urged Jarrod into her mouth with her tongue dancing along his shaft. The groans she heard coming from his mouth urged her to take him deeper down her throat.

Herron’s
strokes started off slow at first as he pushed himself in the entire length. Then he picked up the pace. He knew she liked it fast and hard.

Nayla
matched the pace of her mouth to the pace of Herron’s hips. As he grew faster, so did she, but she could tell Jarrod wouldn’t last much longer. She put all of the attention she could spare into making him come.

His grunts grew louder, and a moment later he pulled out of her mouth
, and exploded onto her chest with a loud moan.

Nayla
ran her hands over her chest and pinched on her nipples as Herron picked up the pace. She couldn’t help but sigh as he started pounding into her. “Oh … yes … you know how I like it.”

Her orgasm built up until she screamed in pure pleasure. A moment later she heard the grunts that meant Herron wouldn’t be much longer.
His hips slammed hard into her.

With one final grunt
, he came too.

All three of them were gasping for air when they heard grunting coming from outside the tent. Immediately afterward
, guards started shouting out orders.

Herron and Jarrod jumped up, and threw their clothes on.

“Stay here,” said Herron, with a kiss to Nayla’s cheek. “Stay quiet unless you think you’re in trouble.”

The two guards darted out of the tent to face the
groll attack head-on.

Nayla
wanted to lay back and sleep, but instead she slipped her yellow dress back over her head and peeked out of the tent.

Aaron stumbled off to the edge of the camp, not wanting to be around anyone. He saw an opening that wasn’t being guarded so he took his chance to sneak out of the camp.

The area was lightly wooded. The moon and stars shone through the trees
, guiding him to a place he could be alone for a while. After quite a ways, he decided he was safely away from the eyes of scouts. He searched for a place to sit down, and found a grouping of large boulders.

Plopping down, he let his mind drift to Veronica.

He wanted to caress her soft skin, and kiss every inch of her naked body. Aaron closed his eyes and pictured her standing before him. She stood there, barefoot in the soft green grass, and danced for him. Her hips swayed slowly as her hands twisted about, caressing her curves as she danced.

He imagined going to her and teasing her nipple between his lips. His hands would wander over her body until one of them found the soft warm place between her legs.

Her dancing would stop, and she would lay on the ground, inviting him to explore her nakedness even more. Aaron wanted nothing more than to give her infinite pleasure.

He drifted to sleep with her on the ground, smiling up at him with her haunting eyes.

When he woke, it was just before sunrise. The rays of light were just beginning to dart between the trees and dance with the wind onto the swaying blades of grass before him.

His head ached horribly. “You drank too much,” he told himself. He glanced to the spot of grass he had pictured Veronica laying on, and groaned.

Slowly he pulled himself up.

“Why haven’t they come to find me yet?” Aaron thought for sure the guards would have noticed his absence by now, after all, he and
Nayla were the ones they were hired to protect.

He made his way back toward the camp, stumbling over fallen tree limbs and around rocky patches. The area was eerily quiet
, which put Aaron on edge.

Have they left me behind?

Once he stepped into the clearing, Aaron gasped as he looked around at the gruesome scene before him. Half-eaten bodies were strewn everywhere.

He stepped into the camp, hoping and praying that
Nayla’s wasn’t among them.
She’s got to be cowering in a tent somewhere.

Here and there a dead
groll lay skewered by a sword. Their hairy human-like forms resembled bears in the shape of humans. They fed on flesh, and had been traveling in small packs. The pack that attacked the camp was clearly much larger. Two or three men could take on one groll, but his group had twenty men who were trained in killing them.

Aaron searched harder for his sister. His panic rose to new heights when he found
her tent, and she wasn’t in it.

He
saw no sign of her.

A larger pack. That must mean their numbers are growing. Where are they coming from?
Each Kingdom in Elarra maintained its own rule. There were good rulers and there were bad ones.
One of the Kingdoms must be using a sorcerer to summon them here from the Wastelands.

Sorcerer
s were rare. Their power usually led them to the dark rulers. It corrupts them.
This would take a powerful sorcerer—or several of them.

Aaron found no sign of
Nayla. That gave him hope. He looked around, trying to gauge which way she would have run.
We are a day out by horseback from Atarris, the city where Veronica is. The next city is another day ahead of us. She would’ve felt safer returning to Veronica.

Aaron looked around. “Of course
, they killed the horses too,” he said aloud.

He searched until he gathered a pack full of food and water, then he set out on fo
ot back toward Atarris.

It’ll take a few days
by foot. I hope I can catch up to Nayla.

He kept his eyes peeled for any sign of
grolls.
The pack is probably off sleeping off their feast in a cave somewhere.
He hoped the attack meant he would be safer here. They tended to move on pretty quickly after each attack.

He hoped that there wasn’t another pack in the area.

Veronica woke late in the morning with a mild headache and a severely dry mouth. She reached over to pull on the bell that would summon her maid. The sound of the deep bell made her head pound more.

Shoving the soft green blanket off of her, she made her way to the bathroom to wash her face.

When she returned, her maid for the day stood waiting for her just inside the door. “Bree. What’s going on in the castle right now? Anything?”

“Miss Veronica,” she said with a bow. “Your new fiancé will meet with King Doogan just after lunch. The majority of the guests have been leaving throughout the morning. King Tiblis is set to leave tomorrow, once the final details of your marriage are sorted out.”

Veronica rolled her eyes. “How nice of them to plan my marriage without even inviting me.” She walked to her closet with a huff. “I guess I better get ready for lunch. I’d like to have some choice in my future, at least.” She shuffled through her gowns, looking for something that would make her
look mature and sophisticated.

“Bree, can you fetch me the healer
? I have a killer headache.”

Bree’s curly brown hair spilled over her shoulders as she bowed. “Yes, Miss.” Then she scurried out the door.

Veronica slipped off her clothes and made her way into the bathroom to clean up. When she was done she dressed in a simple long-sleeved green dress, with a high neckline, that hung down to her calves.

A knock on the door announced the healer. Marissa. She didn’t possess enough magic to be a
sorceress. Usually those in that situation moved to big cities to study to become healers.

“Marissa, I’m so glad to see you.” Veronica let the older woman in. Her
gray hair hung down to her knees in a tight braid, and her eyes were the color of a winter storm. She always appeared to be wise and unafraid.

“You drank too much wine and you want me to take away your headache, child? Usually you have such a good head on your shoulders. Along comes a boy, and instantly you revert back to a sullen teen.”

The way she said it made Veronica feel as if she were being scolded by her mother.

“I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t need my head clear for the meeting this afternoon. Please, Marissa, just this once,” she begged.

Marissa gave her a dark frown. Her eyebrows pulled together in a scowl. “Just this once. Next time you are on your own.”

“Thank you.”

Marissa held her hands up on top of Veronica’s head and closed her eyes. She felt a warmth soak down from the old woman’s hands into her skin and soothe the ache. It did nothing, however, for the ache of losing Aaron that still burned heavy in her heart.

As the magic drifted into her veins and coursed through her body
, she could feel a connection to Marissa that she had never felt before. It was like a jolt of energy. She could not only hear the old woman’s thoughts, but sense her emotions and desires. Veronica had never been able to intentionally read anyone’s mind. The occurrences had only happened when she was tired or drunk.

Her mind had been distracted, but this exposure to the depths of Marissa’s mind astonished her.

Marissa removed her hands from Veronica with a confused look.

She felt it!
“What was that?” Veronica asked.

Marissa gripped each of her wrists tight. “Have you done that before, child?”

“No. I’ve accidentally heard people’s thoughts before, but never … that … whatever that was.”

Marissa stood still for a long moment, as if gauging whether or not Veronica was lying. Finally she spoke. “Grab your cloak. You’re coming with me.”

Veronica pulled her hands out of the old woman’s grasp. “No, I have to go to the lunch and the meeting afterward. They’re deciding my future and I need to be there.”

Marissa’s hands moved to her hips. “Do you know what happens to children who are born with the gift and they don’t go train their abilities?”

“Yeah. They go crazy. Their gifts take over their minds, but that’s not what this is. I was tested. This is something different.”

“And why haven’t you told me about this?” Marissa’s scolding voice grew louder. “Do you want to go mad?”

“I told you already. I don’t have a gift for magic. This is something different. I didn’t want everyone to think I was a freak.”

Marissa let out a loud huff. “Get your cloak. We need to see my sister in the city right away.”

Veronica sensed the seriousness in her words and stopped protesting. She grabbed her cloak with a sigh.

I guess I will have to settle for whatever the Kings decide about my future.