For The Whored: Beyond Ch. 33

"Hm."

Shaking her head, she looked at him. "Aren't you cold?"

"The temperature was not my concern." Though his skin was giving him away, he held steady as he investigated her face, watching for anything to worry over. Satisfied, he stood up. "Grogek has made us swim in Dun Morogh lakes, and then made us train wet. A little January lake water in Stormwind won't kill me." He grabbed the towel and started drying himself.

Katie sniffled. "It wasn't cold water that killed Sunwood either."

"Oh, Katie, I'm sorry." Stephen knelt and pulled her into his arms. "My choice of words was poor."

She rubbed her face on his hard chest. Shaking her head, she sighed. "I'm sorry I can't stop crying."

"It hasn't even been a week. You need time to heal. Come on, let's get you home."

As they started walking back, Katie fell into step behind him. The sunlight caught on his back and her eyes went wide. "Stephen..."

"Yeah, sweetheart?"

"What in the world happened to your back?" Reaching out, she ran a delicate finger across a welted scar tissue.

"Oh, that. Well, I pretty much asked for it."

"No one asks to be abused!"

"No, really, I literally said, "beat the hell out of me" and it was done."

"But, why?"

He looked back at her and blushed. "Because I felt like I needed punished?"

"What could be so bad that you'd feel the need for this much damage?" She continued to brush her hand over his back.

Turning, he grabbed her hand. "Because I was in love with another man's wife, and I didn't want to be. I thought... I thought if she hurt me, if she turned me into garbage, I could break the fascination."

"So, she did..."

"She did what I asked."

"Did it work?"

"Not really."

Katie frowned. "So, you still love her."

"No."

"I don't understand."

He sighed and squeezed Katie's hand. "I don't think about her anymore, that much is true. But I told her then, and I'm telling you now. I've always wanted a soft wife, a sweet wife who I could take care of. Not... well, whatever Elunara is."

Katie's eyes went wide, and she blinked up at Stephen. "You were in love with Elunara?"

"Yeees?" He winced.

"Oh."

Pulling her hand up to his lips, he brushed them against her knuckles. "But, I'm telling you it's not like that anymore."

"Because she beat you?"

"Because I found someone else."

"Oh."

The disappointment in her voice made his heart leap out of his chest. If she was disappointed over that... "Sweetheart..."

"Yes?"

"The woman I fell in love with is you."

"Oh." She stared at him as the thought sunk into her head. "Oh!" Her eyes widened and she stepped back a fraction. "But..."

"But, you love Sunwood. I am fine with that. However, I will take care of you as long as you let me." The wind whipped past them, sending shivers through his naked body, but he ignored it, intent on her face and her reactions.

"I... Well, I don't know that I can be your wife."

Shoving down the pain of regret, he smiled at her. "That is always your decision. Besides, I haven't formerly proposed." He winked. Tugging at her hand, he smiled. "Come on, I'm freezing."

"Alright."

They walked together, hand in hand. He took it as a good sign that she didn't try to dislodge her hand from his. She was quiet, but that was fine too. He wanted her to work out what he had said to her. Once inside, he turned his back to her and began to wiggle into his pants. She watched him with curiosity. Spotting his manhood, she blushed and turned away. After he finished dressing, he turned to her.

"Do you wish to go to training with me? You can stay here if you want."

She shook her head. "I'd rather stay with you."

Approaching her, he brushed her hair out of her face. "It's entirely up to you."

Looking around the small space, she frowned. "It's still difficult." Spotting the sword in the floor, she furrowed her brow. "Ryan forgot his sword."

Stephen looked around. "Crap."

"We should take it to him."

"Do you know where he lives?"

Katie shook her head. "It never came up."

"Well, he's a grunt soldier, so probably the soldier's barracks. Let's just take it down to the training yard."

--

Down at the training yard, Mark was tearing into Ryan's hide. "You lost your weapon? Are you stupid? How can you tell me you have no idea where it is? I should throw you out of the service. You're late constantly, you're a piss poor excuse for a soldier, and now you "lost" your sword? Are you out of your mind?"

"Sir, I... it was an accident..."

Stephen marched over to the pair, Ignoring all else. Holding out the still bloody sword, he sneered. "I think you lost this."

Mark eyed the blade. "What. The hell. Happened?" He growled.

"Nothing of any importance." Stephen smiled, before walking away, leaving Ryan to be grilled by Mark.

Up on the platform, Katie watched the exchange and frowned. "Poor Ryan." She murmured.

Susan nodded towards the scene. "What's that about?"

"I really don't want to say..."

Elunara sat down on the platform on the other side of Katie. She brushed the girl's hair back. "How are you today, sweetie?"

"Confused."

"About?"

"Many things." With a sigh, Katie leaned against Elunara. "Stephen told me what you did to him."

"Ah."

"Why?"

"Because he asked me to." Elunara wrapped an arm around Katie. "I always take requests, even if they're strange. How is your book coming along?"

Katie shook her head. "I haven't touched it since..."

"Start writing again, you'll feel better. You need your board and your journals. Keep up with them and the pain will lessen more quickly."

"Ryan attacked Stephen."

This time, Elunara just blinked. "What?"

Katie put her fist to her forehead. "It's confusing and kind of jumbled. Ryan was making such weird accusations... and Stephen was just trying to help me. But Ryan wouldn't hear it."

"Hoo boy..."

"Why would he do such a thing? I know Ryan is my friend, but he... well, he just went nuts."

"Sweetie... Ryan thinks he's in love with you."

Katie jolted up straight. "What?"

"I know you haven't seen it in the way he looks at you. The way he follows you around. He's your puppy. Jealousy is a mean little monster."

"Oh, dear..."

Susan chuckled. "Ahh to be young and foolish."

"But, what do I do about him?"

"That I can't help you with." Elunara shrugged. "My philosophy when a man shows me attention is to fuck them. But, you're not me."

"Did you... do that with Stephen?"

"Not... exactly. He wanted to, but he didn't want to. It's complicated."

"Everything is complicated." Katie frowned.

--

Over the next three weeks, Katie and Stephen settled into a routine. In the morning, Stephen would go for a swim, before the pair of them headed to the training yard. Katie brought her board and her journals and started to write little by little. In the evenings, they would sit together, and she would quietly write while he watched her. At night they would curl up together in the bed. Some days she would work in the garden, directing and explaining how to do the harder stuff. Having obtained some pots and pans, part of their routine involved going to the market and obtaining food stuffs. Katie had taken a liking to cooking, and used some of Tippy's recipes, but mostly, she experimented for herself. Every day, Elunara would come to the yard long enough to give Katie one of her energy shots, before wandering off to do whatever it was she had scheduled for the day.

One day, Katie felt ill. Laying on the platform at Susan's feet, Katie watched the training yard with a new sort of wariness. "I knew I shouldn't have eaten that shrimp. It seemed a little off smelling last night."

"Then why did you eat it?"

"Because I was practically craving it."

"Silly girl." Susan added a little detail to her painting.

Elunara stood over Katie. "You'll get dirty laying there like that,"

"It's comfortable." Katie muttered. "I'm a little dizzy today. Can I have my shot now?"

Sitting on the platform, Elunara ran her fingers through Katie's hair. Focusing her energy, she grinned. "Girl..."

"Yes, Momma?"

"You're pregnant."

"I'm WHAT?" Katie shrieked.

Stephen hesitated in his swing and got caught on the back blow by his opponent. Turning to Grogek, he looked around in a panic. Grogek jerked his head in assent. Jogging over to Katie and Elunara, Stephen put his hands on the platform. "What's the matter?"

"I... I..."

"Girly here is pregnant."

Stephen snatched her off of the platform and hugged her tightly. "I'm so happy."

"But, I..."

"Grats, daddy." Elunara winked.

"But, we haven't..." Katie was still trying to work her brain.

"Well, of course it's Sunwood's." Stephen buried his face in Katie's hair. "But that doesn't matter to me."

"It doesn't?" Katie pulled her head back and looked up into Stephen's eager face.

"Sweetheart, what's yours is mine. The baby is ours. I'll raise them as my own."

"Oh, Stephen." She whispered.

"Good man." Grogek whacked Stephen on the back as he grinned at Elunara.

--

Late at night, after Katie had dozed off curled into his arms, Stephen dislodged himself quietly and tucked the blankets around her sleeping form. Opening the front door, he leaned against the doorframe and looked out into the Grove. He could just hear the faint sound of the waterfall on the lakes. Digging into his pocket, he found the one thing he thought he'd given up completely. Pulling the tiny fragment of a cigarette out, he lit it with a match and took a long drag on it.

Staring at what was left of an old habit, he tossed it away. He both had what he wanted and didn't have what he wanted. Everything was so near, yet so far away. There was a distance between them, and it was driving him to madness. He wasn't lying, he would raise the child as his own. However, the child wasn't his own until she let him claim it. Officially claim it.

Elunara. The name whispered in the breeze. He laughed at that. No, he didn't even think of Elunara anymore. Wondered why he'd even felt so infatuated with a woman that was nothing like what he wanted. She was hard, sexual, and lethal. Stephen wanted what was in that bed inside. Soft, sweet, and vulnerable. He felt like a cad sometimes, like he was taking advantage of her in some way.

His mind flitted back to the incidents that haunted him the most. Her collapsed on the ground, her sinking into the water, and he knew, absolutely knew he'd be devastated to lose her. Maybe he'd just drown himself too. Drowning is what he was doing. Drowning in those blue eyes and blonde hair.

She shifted and moaned. After closing the door quietly, he made his way back in the bed and curled up with her.

"Where'd you go?" She mumbled.

"Had to take a leak." He lied handily. "Go back to sleep, sweetheart."

--

In the morning, Katie's sleep hazed eyes fluttered and twitched. Wiggling, she felt weird. Something wasn't quite right. Every morning had the same routine, every morning, she was curled up with Stephen, his arm wrapped around her waist. Her brain processed that information and she realized what was wrong. Instead of around her waist, his arm was around her shoulders, his hand had somehow managed to lodge inside the front of her dress, his fingers were flexing and twitching, massaging her breast.

Behind her, instead of still and quiet, he was shifting and mumbling. What he was saying was unimportant, what he was doing was the disconcerting part. Pressed up against her back, he was rocking his hips, grinding his hard-on against her butt and back. The heat rose in her face, and she lay there perfectly still.

Stephen was having the perfect dream. Everything was hazy and light. With steady rhythm he rocked his hips, burying himself into those wet folds. He called her name, and she called his. They professed their love, and she accept his proposal. They would be married in the warm month of June, in their garden with everything in bloom.

The dream crashed to reality as he opened his eyes. Instead of a writhing lover, she was still as a brick. He jerked his hand out of her dress and sat up. "Shit. I'm sorry." He raked his fingers through his hair.

"Um, I was kind of enjoying that." Her blush deepened.

He looked down at her. She still hadn't moved. She was laying on her side, her face away from his. "You were, huh?"

"Very much."

He slipped his hand back into her dress. "Like this?" He began to massage her breast again, teasing and pinching gently at the nipple.

She nodded and groaned, pushing her chest into his hand.

He laid back down behind her. "And this?" He pressed up against her, rocking his hips as his erection rubbed against her ass.

"Yes." She whimpered.

He wrapped his other arm up under her and pulled her tight against him, letting his dick rub between the crack of her ass. With that hand, he worked her skirt up, his other hand never leaving her breast. When her skirt was up around her hips, he finally let go of the breast and freed himself from his pants. His exposed dick slid up and down her bare ass cheeks. She gasped and panted. Adjusting himself he put his dick against her wet center, barely pressing the tip into those folds.

"Do you want me?"

She nodded.

He pressed up slightly. "Do you want me?" He repeated.

"Yes." She gasped.

A little more in and he grinned. "Do you want me?"

"Yes! Please!" She begged.

Burying himself into her wet center, he groaned. He returned the hand to her breast and began to tease and taunt her nipples as he worked himself in and out of her wet heat. She wrapped her leg back behind her and he rocked his hips. With the other hand, he held on to her waist, as he filled her tiny body. She gasped and shivered. He continued to rock his hips, unwilling to let this moment go. Pulling free, he turned her over to her back. Climbing over her, he smiled down at her, before slowly lowering his body and brushing his lips over hers.

She was so tight and tiny compared to him, and he had to bend down at an odd angle to capture her mouth. Sliding his dick into her again, he wrapped his arms around her head, losing himself in her mouth. In and out, in and out, he slid as he bucked his hips. She groaned and began to match her hips to his. Her moves were timid and untried, but that just encouraged him.

Running his tongue along her lips, he buried his tongue in her mouth. Tasting and feeling, he moved his tongue along her teeth, before tangling it with hers. Again, she was unfocused and inexperienced in the act, and that brought him a new sort of joy. He felt himself filling her again and he gave in to the twitching and spasming.

Holding himself above her, he grinned. "Good morning."

"Ah... Good morning?" She blushed.

He bent down and brushed his lips across hers. "And, how are you?"

"I... I'm good." Katie licked her tender lips. "That was... unique." She rubbed her lips with her fingers.

"Oh?"

"Sunwood... well, he was just so big with everything. When he stuck his tongue in my mouth, I almost choked. When we made love, he was just so big that I... that it almost hurt. This was... this was so soft and beautiful."

"Hmm."

"Not that it wasn't beautiful with Sunwood!" She held up her hands.

"Sweetheart, I can't compete with him, nor am I going to try. I'm just going to do what I know how to do, and we can learn together. I'm glad I made it beautiful for you." He bent down and pressed his lips to hers again. "In fact..." He ran his hand up her leg. "Maybe I can break a record somewhere."

"Oh, but don't you have practice?"

Stephen gave her a wicked grin. "I think I'll just skip my swim this morning. I have a better way of staying in shape."