Kal, Ikuno, and Gerda rose up out of the mountain trail just a handful of paces from the edge of Aradelle’s forest. Kal stepped away and bent over to catch his breath as soon as the rock holding his and Gerda’s hands together receded. He glared over at Ikuno who was smirking at him; she seemed to be having no trouble at all with this new method of getting around. He honestly wasn’t sure if he was ever going to grow accustomed to traveling through solid rock in such a manner.

As they stepped off the mountain trail Gerda had a new trick to show them; she was standing perpendicular to the ground on the rock wall next to the trail exit, waiting for goodbye hugs and kisses from the two travelers. Her feet remained buried inside the wall and allowed her to glide about on the rock surface. Since she made almost no noise moving this way, Kal guessed this was how she had snuck up behind him on his walk outside her cavern.

Ikuno thanked Gerda for bringing them and cutting hours off their journey and reminded her to go look for her sisters until they came back. Kal remembered to have Gerda ask her sisters if any of them knew of a way for humans to understand a golem’s speech. The rock girl had mentioned two of them were older than herself, Kal was hoping one of them might know of a better method than the translation spell.

With their goodbyes said, Gerda swung down like her ankles were hooked on something. For a moment Kal and Ikuno thought she was going to run face first into the wall, but she smoothly phased into it, much to their relief.

Hours later they came upon Aradelle’s shack with all of their stuff untouched. They had left it days ago, expecting to be back as soon as they planted Eludora. After settling in, Ikuno turned around and gave Kal a searing kiss.

“Something to keep in mind before you make ‘Dell a very happy woman, she’s more than a woman, she’s a part of the land and the food cycle and the environment around this area.”

Kal gave her a funny look, “The ecosystem?”

Ikuno palmed her face, “Of course you would know that word,” she muttered under her breath. “Yes, the ecosystem, so she can’t have the same restrictions starting out that I did.”

“My first daughter is a plant girl. I did some reading up,” he said first in response to her muttering. “To be honest, I didn’t know about those restrictions until you brought them up when we first met ‘Dell.”

Ikuno was lost in thought for a moment, “Hmm; maybe those were placed by me, every other male that has claimed me in the past has had similar expectations.”

“‘Claimed’… I think I liked it better when you said Gerda and I ‘bonded.’”

Ikuno put her hands on either side of his head and gave Kal another toe-curling kiss, “You may have bonded Gerda and are about to bond Aradelle, but don’t ever forget that you claimed me, and I loved every second of it.” Smiling she let him go and stepped back, “‘Dell is waiting for you.”

“You aren’t coming?” he asked.

“Not this time, I’ll join you two sometime tomorrow, this is your and her night,” she held up her hand when Kal started to speak, “No arguments like before, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Kal nodded and stepped out of the little shack.

------

Kal cautiously approached Aradelle’s clearing; he could hear her speaking with someone. To his surprise it was the butterfly girl again, only this time they were having a friendly conversation. As they spoke, Aradelle was going over her petals with a brush held to her hand by a strip of leather that looked suspiciously like the same kind he used on Bonn.

Since there was no argument going on like last time, Kal made his presence known by walking normally through the underbrush the last few paces to the clearing edge. Aradelle and Bea both looked up and saw him, but their reactions were vastly different. Aradelle did her normal bouncing around inside her flower happily, even clapping her hands and momentarily disappearing in a shimmering cloud. In her excitement, she had forgotten she had a brush filled with fine powder from her petals strapped to one of her hands. Bea, on the other hand, was standing like a soldier at attention, her antennae quivering with… fear?... anticipation? Kal couldn’t tell just by looking at her face.

“Kal! I’m so happy you’re okay! Is Ikki coming?” she asked looking behind him and not seeing the large blue woman anywhere in the woods.

“Nope just you and me for the night, Ikuno was insistent so don’t ask me to go back and get her,” he said walking up beside her flower.

Aradelle glided over the side of her basin and wrapped her arms around his chest, “I was worried when Ikuno told me you had been stolen away.”

Kal kissed the top of her head, “It all worked out for the best, Gerda is a friend now. No, more than a friend, we somehow bonded. I figure I should tell you now in hopes of avoiding the same trouble I had with Perra earlier.”

She looked up at him, “How? I only know about all of this from what Ikki told me and by the sounds of it you and I were rushing things quite a bit.”

“Ikuno thinks it’s because I took her virginity.”

Aradelle shrugged and stretched up for a kiss before giving him a quick squeeze and letting him go, “makes as much sense as anything I can think of.”

Kal stared at her for a moment, “I’m so glad you are taking all of this so calmly, Ikuno was pissed at me because you weren’t going to be the second woman I ‘claimed’ and Perra was pissed because I took another girl’s virginity before hers.”

Kal paused for a moment, “It’s strange to think of her that way.”

“What way?” Aradelle asked moving back into the center of her flower.

“She’s been off limits since she moved into my house but in just a little while she will be of age, and I’ve been assured she already has her sights set on me. It’s strange thinking of her as this lusty young woman instead of something more like a little sister.”

Aradelle giggled, “At least she has good taste. I’m going to finish grooming my petals; I’d just started when you got here so it may be a while. Bea was kind enough to bring me this brush to use, why don’t you two chat for a bit until I’m done.”

Kal nodded, and a startled ‘eep’ came from the butterfly girl as he turned to look at her, the predatory attitude of their last encounter nowhere to be seen. Though he felt that things had been resolved before she left last time, her insistence on staying put, regardless of her seeming to be scared of him, was piquing his curiosity. Kal slowly walked around the butterfly girl as though a general inspecting a troop. She had her wings wrapped around her like a robe the same way as when they first met. As he stepped around to her front again, he leaned in until he was almost nose to nose with the butterfly girl. The poor girl sucked in a breath as he got close, her pupils darted around unsure if she was supposed to stare back at him or if that was being rude.

“You have amazing eyes,” Kal said.

Bea exhaled loudly, not having realized she was holding her breath, “Wh… What?”

“Exactly what I said; You have amazing eyes. They really are quite beautiful, especially up close.”

“Um, I’ve never had someone call my eyes beautiful before.”

An indignant “Hey!” came from Aradelle’s flower.

“You said they were pretty, not beautiful,” Bea called out to the alarune.

Aradelle conceded the point but still stuck her tongue out at the butterfly girl before going back to grooming.

“So, what brings you here?” Kal said motioning that she should open her robe.

Her wings slowly unfurled and after a few experimental waves stuck straight out from her back as she said, “Something ‘Dell said last time made me feel bad because it was unfortunately true. I did treat her as little more than a food source, and now I’m going to try to fix that. Many months ago, I saw a man using this brush on his horse, he hooked it on a tree limb when he was done and forgot about it when his group moved on. Its soft enough that I use it on my wings, I thought ‘Dell might like it for her petals as well.”

“Next time you need to bring a jar or pot to collect my nectar in, and you can take care of my petals, this feels wonderful,” said Aradelle facing away from them as she worked.

Smiling, Kal reached out and rubbed the tip of a petal between thumb and forefinger.

“Stop it Kal!” Aradelle said without turning around, “I know it’s you, your hands are rougher than Bea’s.”

Kal chuckled and turned back to the butterfly girl. Stepping off to the side he looked closely at the intricate pattern on the inside of her wings “What’s with the tree bark?” he asked. “I wanted to ask last time but got a lungful of dust before I had the chance.”

Her face went red with embarrassment, “It’s more for my smaller cousins, it helps them hide in the forest.”

He walked back around to her front and held out his hand for hers, gulping she lifted her arm. Kal directed her to hold it out straight while he inspected where the chitinous covering bent and where it met her skin just above her elbow, “Is this a part of you or can you take it off?” he asked, tapping the hard coating. Without waiting for her to answer he knelt down then lifted her foot and placed it on his bent knee, so he could continue his examination.

Kal was getting even more curious about the girl. Her entire body was buzzing with either fear or anticipation, perhaps a mixture of both. She acted like she was too scared to move around him, yet the insides of her thighs were slick with arousal.

“It.. It’s a part of me,” Bea finally answered.

“So, if I do this,” Kal ran his finger from behind her knee up to where the chitin ended mid-thigh, “it feels the same as this,” Kal reached up to very bottom of her asscheek, only inches away from her sex, and ran his finger down her thigh to the same point collecting some moisture on the way. Glancing up he saw the butterfly girl staring down at him panting. She gasped then let out a slow shuddering breath as he brought the finger shining with her juices to his mouth and sucked it off.

“Now you’ve done it Kal,” said Aradelle from behind him, he partly turned to see her leaning on the edge of her basin resting her head on her arms, the brush dangling from one finger by its leather strip.

“What exactly is that?” he asked.

“Now you’re going to have to finish her off. If you’d stopped earlier, it would have been a good tease but sending her away like this would be cruel. Remember, no dick, that’s mine today.”

Bea whimpered making him turn back and study her face again, he still couldn’t figure out the fear in her expression, but the need in her voice was apparent.

Kal tapped on the brown-black chitin bodice, “Open up.” There were tiny interlocking hooks running down the center along both sides holding it together, her two insect-like arms just below her human ones shifted each side of the bodice slightly to disengage the hooks then moved the halves down and over beside her hips like before.

He swiped two fingers through the wetness on her thighs as he put her foot back on the ground and stood up. Kal positioned himself just off to the side but close enough that her breast was nearly touching him and she could feel his breath on her shoulder and neck. He placed his hand on top of her head, careful not to touch her antennae and hair with the two fingers coated in her juices. He slowly dragged his hand down her face, pushing her head back just a little. As his fingers reached her mouth he slipped the two with her fluids inside; her tongue immediately started cleaning them as they slid in and out of her mouth.

“Remember how that felt when it was my cock in your mouth,” he breathed in her ear, making the butterfly girl moan with desire. Kal undid his belt with one hand then took hers and pushed it down the front of his pants wrapping her small fingers around his swollen prick. Kal slid his fingers out of her mouth while she sucked furiously on them, plainly not wanting to let them go. He tilted her chin back further, exposing her neck, then moved his hand down until it came to rest over her throat.

“You made me this way, but today it’s not for you,” he said, running his tongue along the outside of her ear. “Don’t move your hand,” he said pulling his own hand out of his trousers and running it up one side of her back along her wing until he had a handful of hair tightly in his grip. Kal moved his hand down to one breast while bringing his mouth down to the other. His fingers harshly pinched and pulled on one nipple as he drew the other one into his mouth and ran his tongue lightly over it in almost a tickling manner. The intense contrast of the two feelings drew out a long breathy moan from the butterfly girl followed by a quick sob of desire and need. Kal ignored her rhythmic squeezing on the base of his cock since it didn’t seem to be a conscious decision; looking down he saw her other hand was opening and closing the same way.

Kal moved his mouth up to her neck as his hand left her breast, traveling downward over her belly. When he passed her bellybutton a soft blue hand gently pulled his arm away, getting another quiet whimper from Bea. A moment later his hand was cupping Aradelle’s sex as she completely coated his hand with nectar. Flipping his hand and coating the backside as well for good measure, she pressed her lips to his shoulder before she quietly returned to her flower.

Kal gave Aradelle a brief moment to situate herself before curling two nectar-soaked fingers and running the backs of them along each side of Bea’s clit, at the same time gently grazing his teeth along the side of her neck. Bea’s breath caught in her throat, and her eyes stared up into the sky in an unfamiliar moment of panic and indecision; she had a feeling that something big, something important was about to happen, but she didn’t know what. As Kal rubbed two then three fingers around the entrance to her sex, she closed her eyes and nodded her acceptance.

Kal eased two fingers into the woman as he began to suck on a spot on her neck near her collarbone just hard enough to draw her skin into his mouth. His fingers found the small rough spot inside her, but the angle was wrong for what Kal wanted to do. Lifting the unnaturally light butterfly girl slightly into the air it allowed him to tease the sensitive area with his fingers while massaging her clit with the heel of his hand. The movement made her let go of his cock, but Bea shook with excitement at the fact he was holding her in the air by her pussy.

The double stimulation, made worse as Kal added another finger that made her stretch deliciously, was far too much for the butterfly girl’s over-sensitized body to take. In what seemed like only a few seconds her first orgasm rocked into her, finally moving on her own she wrapped her arms around his head, holding him tightly to her neck as he sucked harder. Bea screamed her release at the top of her lungs, loud enough to hurt Kal’s ears but that didn’t stop him from continuing his assault on her g-spot and clit, taking it as encouragement to go faster and increase the stimulation. Her second orgasm came just moments later, punctuated by another ear-piercing shriek and her pressing his mouth into her neck so hard he was sure he left teeth marks even though he never actually bit down. Bea’s third orgasm came less than a minute later, by now her screams of pleasure were causing stabbing pains in his one ear.

“Stop, stop, stop, stop,” begged Bea as tears ran down her face and her body shook with sobs.

Kal set her down and wrapped his arms around her, nearly forgetting that the woman had a large set of wings attached to her back, putting one arm across her shoulders and the other around her hip, “Why are you crying? Are you okay? Did I hur…”

“I’m fine, just shut up and hold me for a minute,” said the shaking butterfly girl.

Kal looked over at Aradelle for some guidance only to find the alarune laying partly on one of her petals with a dopey smile and her hands between her legs masturbating furiously. She saw him looking at her and mouthed, ‘that was insane!’ before curling up into a ball with a quiet grunt as she climaxed.

Kal was beginning to feel left out. First Gerda this morning and now these two, all while he was still waiting for some alone time with ‘Dell.

His eyes widened as he looked down feeling the same swirling magic between him and Bea as he did just before Gerda bonded with him. Instead of accepting it the way he did with the golem he let the moment pass and the magic dissipated. After Gerda, and now Bea, he was beginning to think that this whole ‘bonding’ and ‘claiming’ thing didn’t quite work the way Ikuno thought it did.

Loud thumping coming from the direction of the shack signaled the approach of the oni he had just been thinking about.

Bea looked up at him with wide eyes and tried to break free of his grasp before Ikuno arrived, but Kal just held her tight and said, “Stop it, you’ll be fine.” The butterfly girl relaxed, but not quite to the same extent as before.

Ikuno crashed into the clearing with a worried expression on her face, immediately calling out, “Is everyone okay! I heard screams all the way back to the road!”

Aradelle was the first to answer, bouncing up from her petal and gliding towards the oni, “Oh my goodness you missed it Ikki! It was amazing! I think I know why you like the whole ‘no moving’ thing once in a while! I don’t know how many times I came before Bea did and then when she did it was so exciting! You were sooo right it is fun just to watch! I mean I’ve watched you get off plenty of times before, but I was always involved somehow. It was so wild to just sit back and take everything in. If what he did to Bea was anything like when he claimed you, I can’t blame you one bit he was just so… powerful and in control, I was completely soaked just watching him!”

Aradelle’s eyes suddenly went wide. In her excitement, she had forgotten that the two people she was talking about were standing only a few steps from her flower. She slowly turned to look back at Kal and Bea. With a squeak of embarrassment, she covered her face with her hands, and her vines pulled her back to the middle of her flower before dropping down into the chamber below. Seconds later her petals folded up followed by the woody protective leaves. As Kal and Ikuno stared in wonder at each other, two of the leaves and petals opened up enough for a nectar soaked grooming brush to be ejected followed by a squeaky “Thanks, Bea!” before they closed up again.

Aradelle’s excitement had let Ikuno know that no one was dead or dying, but the alarune’s uncharacteristic outburst had stopped her in her tracks. The oni looked back and forth between Kal and the alarune’s closed flower, “What the hell just happened?” she asked Kal.

Kal sighed, “Quick version is: Bea was here with Aradelle when I arrived, Aradelle was grooming her petals and suggested Bea and I have a chat, some playful teasing turned into something a lot more exciting, and finally ‘Dell went off the deep end in her excitement to tell you all about it. Sound about right?” he said looking down at Bea who just nodded into his chest. “One last thing, and I think this is kind of important, Bea and I almost bonded.”

Bea looked up at him, “What?!”

“What?!” asked Ikuno.

“What?!” came a high-pitched voice from inside the pod. One of the petals opened up just a bit to let Aradelle’s voice out, “Like hell! That was no ‘bonding’ that was ‘claiming,’ by the time you got done with her she was completely and totally your woman and loved every second of it!”

A look passed between Ikuno and Kal with how closely Aradelle’s comments mimicked Ikuno’s own from earlier.

Bea was looking up at him still, “you said ‘almost bonded’ did you not want me?”

Kal looked down, “It wasn’t that, I didn’t want to accept before you knew what you were getting into.”

“Thanks, I think,” she said putting her head against his chest again.

Ikuno had stepped up beside them but dropped to one knee before she spoke “Bea, I have a few questions for you.”

The butterfly girl sighed and started to pull away from Kal, only to have Ikuno’s large blue hand push her back into him.

“If that’s where you’re the most comfortable then stay there, but I need some honest answers,” said the oni.

Bea nodded.

“What do you find most attractive about Kal?”

“His strength, he shook off my dust put me on my knees and made me suck him then punched through a tree… then there was earlier,” the butterfly girl shivered at the pleasant memory, “’Dell was right, the way he took control of me, I’ve never felt so ‘owned’ before. It was exciting and terrifying all at once.”

Ikuno smiled, “I can understand that well enough, what do you think would make you want to have a bond with him?”

“I’ve had many men over the years but always avoided humans during mating season since none of them felt ‘good enough,’ mostly merchants or farmers, good for a bit of fun but none that I saw as a mate. I came back to ask Kal if he would sire children with me like he did for ‘Dell.”

“There it is again; I can feel the bond trying to form,” Kal told them. “Are you sure you want this?” he asked Bea, “It’s possible I may be your only option as a mate for a long time, then again it seems like we are still trying to figure this whole thing out.” A woody creak behind him let him know the alarune had come out of hiding. “What do you two think?” he asked Aradelle and Ikuno.

Before they could answer the binding magic vanished, instantly disappearing unlike before when it slowly dissipated. Bea pushed herself out of his embrace, raising her chin in defiance as her bodice clicked back together.

“I’ll not allow myself to be passively ‘bound’ to any man, if you want me, catch me, claim me, prove you are worthy to sire my children,” she scoffed before taking a couple running steps in the opposite direction and launching herself into the air.

Kal stood there for a moment dumbfounded before looking over at Ikuno.

The oni shrugged but was trying to hold back a smile, “Looks like you misread her in a big way, that was a hell of a challenge. You know how I feel, the more, the merrier.”

To be honest, he already expected an answer like that from her, Kal turned to look at Aradelle who was stretched out on one of her petals.

“Guess I can’t claim dibs on your dick after she said something like that, the bitch.” Despite her words, he could tell she was enjoying this turn of events. “If you want her, go get her. I’m okay with being fourth. If you could bring her back here and do it, it would be amazing; I wanna watch again.”

Bea had flown over the treetops then turned and began flitting back and forth to stay aloft as she waited to see what Kal’s reaction would be. The trees she was flying above made a natural lane that led to a small hill. If he decided to give chase, she planned on eventually leading him that hill where he might actually get a chance to catch her.

Kal had put a lot of effort over winter learning to use his runes to his best advantage. Ikuno’s words on how magic should augment his natural abilities instead of replacing them had struck a chord in the young runesmith, especially after the first time he used his strength rune to launch himself into the air and came crashing down in the middle of a tree. Since then he had worked hard to hone those abilities, even more so since he created the haste rune. He quickly learned using that kind of speed effectively took planning, grabbing a tree limb or vaulting off a fence at those speeds required reaction times he had not developed yet, as well as improvisation, for when the planning went wrong. While he hadn’t honed his skills to a razor's edge in the few months, he’d worked on them; by his estimation, he had become quite good.

After his lesson in humility earlier, Kal choked back the desire for some youthful boasting. However, this would be the first time he put these particular skills to a test, and he was looking forward to showing them off for Ikuno and Aradelle. He did allow himself a fiendish smile as Strength, Stamina, and Haste runes shined and spun up; he looked at each of the women in turn and said, “Be back in a few,” before sprinting off towards the edge of the clearing.

“Oh, this ought to be good,” said Ikuno and started making her way after Kal.

“I want to see too,” mumbled Aradelle. Smiling she covered one eye with her hand and closed the other, a moment later a small bulge could be seen running down her leg, through the vine and into her body where it was transferred to another vine that stretched off underground in Kal’s direction.

She arrived just as Kal finished studying the terrain and took off after the butterfly, in the same moment one of Aradelle’s vines burrowed up out of the ground with a strangely familiar iridescent blue orb in the middle of it that quickly turned to see what Kal was doing.

“I didn’t know you could do that,” said Ikuno looking startled.

Aradelle’s voice came from back in the center of the clearing, “I’ve never needed to do this when you were around!”

Ikuno shook her head and looked out towards Kal and Bea.

Bea wondered if she had made a mistake when she saw Kal’s arm light up and he was suddenly standing at the edge of the clearing. When she saw him run in her direction again, her eyes widened in panic as she turned and pumped her wings, trying to get away.

Kal ran straight at the trunk of a tree just in front of the butterfly. With his route upward already picked out, he pushed off the ground, the strength rune lifting him up to the lower boughs. His feet and hands touched branches that sped by him, adjusting his course to a larger branch about two-thirds of the way up. He wrapped his hand around his target and flipped around, so his boots came to rest in the crook of the branch he’d grabbed. Picking his next destination across the way, he jumped towards the fleeing butterfly girl.

Bea put her head down into a quick dive as Kal went sailing just in front of her. As she was about to pull up, he came flying back at her, forcing her to reverse direction, losing speed and altitude as she flew back the way she came. She angled her wings downward in an attempt to pick up enough speed to stay in the air but had to pull up hard as the green from his cloak flashed in front of her again.

Kal’s feet touched down on another tree trunk. Grabbing a large branch just below him he flung himself at the ground, his boots only touching the trunk a couple of times as he ran down the trunk before streaking across the forest floor. Skidding to a halt beneath the foundering butterfly girl he crouched and leaped skyward.

Struggling to stay aloft from losing so much speed Bea looked about trying to find him. She shrieked as a hand on her ankle yanked her downward, an arm with glowing runes wrapped around her neck as Kal whispered in her ear, “You’re mine.”

This insane human was going to kill them both if they fell from this height! Her wings pounded the air, but it was no use, he was far too heavy to keep them both airborne. The natural drag from her wings positioned Bea on top of the suicidal human as they plummeted to the ground.

Kal focused on the strength and haste runes pouring magic into their outer rings, making them shine nearly white. He then pushed the protection from the strength rune into Bea and waited for the impact.

They hit the ground with a loud thump, scattering leaf litter in all directions and knocking the wind out of them but leaving them both unharmed. Bea tried to sit up but found that she was being stopped by arms wrapped around her hips and shoulders.

“You are insane! You could have killed us doing that!” she yelled in his face.

“Hush,” said Kal smiling, his hand came to the back of her head and pushed her lips into his. As his tongue pressed into her mouth, Bea realized that she wasn’t hurting anywhere from the crash. Kal didn’t seem to be in any distress either judging by the way his hands were roaming around her body. What kind of a monster was this man to take that kind of drop without injury and manage to protect her from being hurt as well? This latest display of power sent shockwaves straight to Bea’s pussy, and she began kissing him back with abandon. With her lips still on his she lifted herself up, and her bodice came apart with a click before dropping back down and rubbing her sex against the bulge in Kal’s pants.

Kal had somehow not noticed this was their first kiss and it had been a bit of a shock to have her thin and nimble tongue start darting about in his mouth. He had been in a lust haze when he first saw it, and those memories from before he regained control were still foggy, and when he face fucked her afterwards he had hardly been in a mood to care if she used her tongue or not.

Kal pulled back and saw that Bea was flushed and panting, “Those two asked for a show. Ready to give them one?” he asked smiling.

Bea groaned, “Only if you promise this is going inside me,” she said grinding her sex into his crotch.

Kal put a finger to her lips, “It’s going in there,” he ran his finger all the way down her body, she lifted up a bit to give him access, “In there,” he said dipping his finger into her wet and slippery sex then continued back to her rear entrance. Bea gasped as his finger slid around her back door then cautiously poked inside, “And in here,” said Kal working just the tip in and out.

Bea rocked back a bit to get him a bit deeper, “You’ll be my first man back there,” she said breathing heavy.

“But not your first experience, I’m betting.”

She shook her head, “More please,” she panted. Kal slid another finger into her dripping sex and pushed it into her bottom next to the first. “Just toys,” she said, “Lust crazy men have bad aim, having something in there only leaves one target.”

Kal reluctantly pulled his fingers out of her ass and sat up, earning a disappointed groan from the butterfly girl. With a little help from his strength rune, he stood up while lifting her up and holding her in the air. With an indignant shriek from Bea, Kal then threw her over his shoulder and gave her a swat on her upturned butt, getting buffeted in the back of the head by one of her wings in return. He tried a new tactic and instead sank two fingers into her pussy and sawed them in and out as he walked back to the clearing. The butterfly’s wings vibrated, and she was nearly purring with pleasure the whole trip.

---

Ikuno had watched with no small amount of admiration for the man. His movements were nothing new to her, but the fact that he had practiced enough to execute them as well as he did was certainly impressive and admittedly watching him run down the trunk of the last tree to get directly beneath the butterfly girl before she recovered was a remarkable feat. At first, she was worried when they came tumbling to the ground, however, she had trained with Kal enough to know that he wouldn’t do something that looked suicidal without a plan. Sure enough, Bea popped up a second later and yelled at him, seemingly perfectly fine; her worries evaporated when he lifted the butterfly girl and stood up.

Aradelle was point blank astonished. Having never been out of her grove she knew nothing of the shadow martial arts that Ikuno had been reminded of. For her, seeing Kal move in such a manner was stunning. Being less familiar with Kal’s runes than Ikuno she was also a lot more worried when they hit the ground, not being truly satisfied he was okay until he stood up, which seemed to take forever.

Ikuno smiled and walked back towards Aradelle when she saw Kal start coming back with Bea over his shoulder. As she arrived, the alarune was lowering her hand; her iridescent blue eye back in its proper place.

“Neat trick, weird but neat,” said Ikuno as they waited for Kal and Bea to arrive.

“It helps me keep an eye on things out beyond my clearing.”

Ikuno snorted and covered her mouth trying not to laugh.

“That wasn’t what I meant Ikki! Wait… no… I did mean that. Just not the way I… You know what I meant!” Aradelle huffed crossing her arms.

“Meant what?” asked Kal as he walked up still carrying Bea. The butterfly girl’s legs were shaking as his fingers continued to slide in and out of her sex.

“Aradelle was just showing me how she watched you catch Bea and keeps an eye on things around the clearing,” said Ikuno suppressing a laugh.

“Ikki!” cried an indignant Aradelle.

Kal raised an eyebrow at the alarune; he was pretty sure there was something he had missed, “How? I wouldn’t think you would be able to see much from here.”

“I’ll tell you about it later, wasn’t there something you two were doing?” Aradelle said looking over at Kal and Bea. She and Ikuno seemed to be paying particular attention to Kal’s still moving fingers.

Bea was a quivering mess and wondering if they were ever going to shut the hell up. Kal’s fingers hadn’t stopped the entire time, and she was biting her knuckle to keep from moaning constantly. As he set her down, she immediately sank to her knees in front of him.

Kal looked down at her and began undoing his belt, “Last chance to run away, once I get these off you’re mine,” he said.

She answered him by looking into his eyes and smiling, then opening her mouth.

“Good girl.”