The Fox and the Wizard Pt. 01

Beckett sighed. "Fuck."

***

The first thing Alayna became aware of when she regained consciousness was the uncomfortable ache in her shoulders. Like she'd been sleeping in an awkward position. She tried to adjust to ease the tension there, but her arms wouldn't cooperate. Clinking sounds filled her ears that she couldn't quite make sense of. She seemed... stuck, somehow.

She forced her eyes open, but didn't immediately see anything. Wherever she was, it was dim and a bit chilly. It wasn't until her eyes were open that she realized she was standing upright. And that the only reason she was doing so was because she was currently suspended by her arms.

Panic set in immediately. She struggled, realizing the clinking sound came from the chains attached to the manacles snapped tightly around her wrists. In her struggles, she realized there were also heavy manacles wrapped around her ankles. As her vision adjusted to the dim lighting, she could see the chains were suspended from a stone ceiling, her feet secured firmly to a stone floor.

"Judging from the racket, you're finally awake."

Her eyes snapped forward, away from the chains forcing her arms to extend above her head. The darkness shifted and a snapping sound rang out. Candles lining the stone walls flared to life at the same time a fire roared brightly in what she assumed was a hearth behind her.

She flinched away from the light, but only for a moment. Blinking several times to help her eyes adjust, she realized the man standing before her was the same one from the town, the one who'd hidden her from her father's soldiers. Morgan.

No. The one who'd murmured a spell to send her into a deep sleep. Who somehow knew her name when he shouldn't have.

"Why?" She demanded. "Are you working for my father?"

"Am I working for— gods, no. That little pissant is so far below me I never even knew he existed until after I discovered you."

"Then tell me why I'm trussed up like you're about to sacrifice me in some blood magic ritual."

"Because I can't trust you not to run. Not yet, at least."

She gritted her teeth in annoyance. "You won't be able to stop me."

Alayna reached deep inside herself, connecting with the part of her soul that was intricately bound with the magic that flowed through the world. Her spark of rage at being bound ignited that magic, making it fill her body.

"You think you're the first to try to cage me? I'll show you exactly what happened to every fool who came before you."

She didn't know what sort of structure he had her in, but she would bring the entire thing down. Reduce it and his bones to nothing more than dust. Then curse the earth so that nothing would ever grow here again. Let him be an example to anyone foolish enough to place her in chains.

He looked on with mild amusement, which only stoked her anger higher. She let the magic build until it was a wave threatening to crush the dam of her control. Her arm bands heated, warning her she was drawing upon too much. She didn't care.

Alayna released her hold on the magic.

Instead of the all-encompassing, destructive power rushing out of her, it seemed to... turn inward. Turn back on her. Pain the likes of which she'd never felt assaulted her, made her scream, made the chains shriek as she writhed. Her vision went white, then dark as she fought to stay conscious. It felt like an eternity passed before the pain finally began to ebb.

"My apologies, little Fox. You attempted to attack me faster than I anticipated. You see, I know you have a vast power at your disposal, so I took steps to ensure you couldn't use it. The harder you try, the more pain you'll experience. As much as I find your magic intoxicating, I can't have you destroying my home."

It took some effort to pick her up so she could glare at him. "What... steps..." she gasped, her voice ragged from the screams of pain.

"If you'll allow me?" He took a step closer and reached up, for one of her arms. She tried to jerk away, but he gripped her shackled wrist tightly and jerked the sleeve of her dress down, below her elbow. It snagged on something that sent echoes of pain racing down her arm.

Alayna gaped at the thick band of metal encasing her arm just above her elbow. The pain was caused by the tiny spikes embedded in the skin.

"This is a cilice, imbued with my own magic. Whenever you attempt to use your magic, it will turn it back on you."

Alayna felt her stomach sink. He'd already proven he was telling the truth. Her head still rang from the demonstration.

"Why?" She asked again. "Why go to all this trouble, Morgan? What do you hope to gain from this? Are you going to sell me back to him?"

"To whom? Your father? Little fox, you seem to be operating under several misconceptions. First, my name is not Morgan. I apologize for the subterfuge, but I wanted you to have no reason to be on your guard around me. My name is Xanth."

Her brows furrowed. That was the name of the wizard she'd been sent to meet.

"But... The Sisters told me to find you."

"Your second misconception. The Order of Viena never sent you." He waved a hand and a small mirror appeared in his grip. The image of the sister who'd contacted her floated in its reflection. "There was never any magical sickness, no book to retrieve, no Sisters patiently waiting who might be worried enough to come after you when you don't turn up."

When he spoke, the woman in the mirror also spoke at the same time, in her own voice, with her own facial expressions. Alayna cursed herself. It had never crossed her mind the image could be someone pretending to be a Sister of Viena. The mirror disappeared.

"As for your father, news of your death should have reached him by now. Unfortunately, the soldiers sent to retrieve you weren't careful. They chased you right into the Greenfrost, catching you only as something with seven legs and four eyes ripped you in half." He stepped in close, his scent of leather and sandalwood surrounding her. His finger lightly caressed the curve of her cheek. "He won't hunt you any longer. Even if he did, he would never find you here. You're safe."

She told him what she thought of that by trying to bite his finger. He jerked it away before she could get it between her teeth.

"I made sure word will spread to the Lord you worked for. Those dirty brutes will never get their hands on you again." Something in his eyes darkened and Alayna wondered how he knew about Beckett, about her relationship with some of his soldiers. And why he seemed jealous.

"Exactly how long have you been watching me?"

"Months. Doubtless you have many more questions, but we have a lifetime to answer them, Alayna. Because I'm never letting you go."

She gritted her teeth in anger as he snagged a water skin from a side table and popped the top. He held it to her mouth. "You must be thirsty. Tip your head back and I'll allow you to drink."

Her lips remained resolutely closed. It didn't matter if the skin held the sweetest, most refreshing water in the world. She would never drink from it.

He chuckled, the sound low and dark. "You're right to mistrust me. This isn't water, of course. It's something to make you a little more... agreeable to my attentions."

Oh, she absolutely did not like that sound of that. She trashed in the chains, trying to gain enough leverage to bring her knee up enough to strike him, to knock the skin away from her mouth with an elbow, but the chains held her firm. He reached behind her, gripping a fistful of her hair and yanking hard, forcing her head back.

She fought, but his grip was too strong, her position too compromising. He released the water skin and it floated next to her closed mouth. His now free hand roughly pinched her nose closed. Try as she might, she couldn't shake his grip and was eventually forced to open her mouth in a desperate gasp for air. The skin tipped of its own accord, filling her mouth with a sticky, sweet liquid.

Alayna choked and sputtered, tried to spit it out, but the hand in her hair abruptly released its grip to slap across her mouth, sealing the liquid in.

"Swallow." He commanded in a deep voice. She kept trying to shake free of his grip, lack of oxygen making her head swim. "Swallow and I'll allow you to breathe."

She did not want to lose consciousness around him again, so she was forced to swallow the liquid. He immediately released her mouth and nose. Alayna drew in a ragged, deep breath.

"Good girl. You'll soon learn to follow my commands, whether by your own accord or through force. But you will follow them."

"What did you give me?" She gasped.

"An aphrodisiac potion. I could take you by force, of course, but I much prefer my pets to be dripping in anticipation of my touch, to see pleasure bloom across their beautiful faces." He stroked wild curls away from her face. "You, most of all."

Alayna couldn't help herself. She snorted. She'd been dabbling in aphrodisiacs for a long time, using them on herself, her lovers, and selling them to men and women who required a little extra help in the bedroom. She doubted anything he concocted would have more of an effect on her than those did.

"You doubt me. You'll soon see how wrong you are."

Perhaps it was a powerful potion. But, like all potions, it would wear off. If he thought having his way with her once would make her complacent, he would soon be the one to see how wrong he was. She'd let him use her body to slake his desires and, once the potion left her system, would set about planning her escape. Because she would escape. And she'd kill him while doing so for good measure.

"I've waited so long to see your body. You cloaked your presence so thoroughly I couldn't see your face even with all my scrying, but I knew you would be beautiful. I never, in my wildest dreams, imagined this, however."

His took her face between his hands, angling her head so that the light caught different parts of it as he studied her closely. "When I first saw you in that shop, the only thing I could see was your lips. So red, so plump. It nearly struck me dumb to think of how pretty they would look wrapped around my cock."

As if he couldn't help himself, he kissed her. Alayna didn't move. His lips were gentle but firm against hers, teasing them open with his tongue. They parted for him without a fight. And when he attempted to deepen that kiss, she savagely bit his lip.

Xanth cried out as her teeth drew blood, ripping into the tender skin. He pushed away from her, blood trailing down the front of his mouth. She could feel its wetness staining her lips.

He swiped a sleeve across his mouth. "My mistake. I was too impatient. A small adjustment of the cilice should work." He placed his fingertips on the metal band biting into her arm and murmured low words. She felt magic tingle against her skin.

"There." Xanth reached up to wipe the blood from her lips.

She responded by immediately trying to bite his fingers again. The cilice tightened of its own accord, sending wave after wave of pain radiating through every nerve ending she possessed. Her entire body went taut in the chains, her screams echoing against the stone.

Xanth was there, tenderly stroking the hair away from her face. "Shh, little fox, it'll pass. I hate seeing you in pain, but you're so wild this is the only way to tame you. One day I'll control you without the threat of pain, but I have a feeling it's going to take a very long while to accept it."

The pain did fade, but not without leaving her with a pounding headache. She felt exhausted, like she'd just run for days without stopping.

"Any attempt at violence against me will trigger the cilice. Even before you perform the action, the cilice will punish you for it."

She didn't doubt it. Alayna hung limp from the chains, echoes of pain still throbbing inside her.

"With that out of the way, the night should prove much more pleasurable for both of us. Where were we?" He gripped her face once more and resumed that heated kiss, his tongue plundering her mouth freely. She didn't dare attempt to bite him again. Xanth groaned against her lips. With their bodies pressed together, she could feel something stirring against her stomach.

When he finally pulled away, he was breathless, his blue eyes dark. He kissed the sides of her mouth, her chin. "Your lips look even better swollen from my kiss. How sweetly they'll wrap around my cock while I'm forcing it down your throat."

His kisses strayed lower, to her neck. He used one hand to tilt her head back to give himself better access. Her neck had always been a sensitive area, but it seemed... heightened now. Likely the potion kicking in. Alayna gritted her teeth and did her best to ignore it.

"When I finally pulled your hood down and saw your face, it nearly brought me to my knees," he murmured against her skin, leaving no inch untouched by his lips. "You were made for pleasuring kings, not disgraced lords and their ragtag group of soldiers."

He stepped back, but not far. His eyes roamed her body, openly hungry.

"I'm going to take you in every way imaginable. In ways you've never dreamed of." His hands went to the neckline of her dress and ripped. Cool air caressed the heated skin between her breasts as they spilled out of the tight confines of the dress. Xanth audibly groaned. "So fucking beautiful." He ripped the material away from her arms, until her entire upper body was bare, the ruined dress clinging to her generous hips.

He didn't touch her right away. Instead, he stared at her breasts at though he were starving, his hand palming the front of his breeches where a sizable erection had started to grow. Her nipples were peaked, drawn so tight they ached. The room wasn't that chilly, so Alayna could only assume it was from the effects of the potion. The potion that was beginning to make her feel feverish, to make the V at the apex of her thighs tingle.

With a growl, he set upon her breasts. Hands spanning her rib cage, his lips and teeth attacking one nipple. Alayna nearly gasped at the sensation, but managed to keep her lips pinned tightly together.

As if he could sense the gasp she bit back, he placed two fingers on her other nipple and pinched it hard. At the same time, he pinched the other between his teeth and flicked his tongue rapidly against the tip. The sensation of having both nipples abused sent a line of pleasure right between her thighs. She did gasp this time, unable to hold it back.

A low growl of approval vibrated against her sensitive skin.

"S-stop," she gasped, hating how breathless her voice sounded.

"You don't want me to stop," he rumbled, switching his attention to her other breast.

But she did want him to stop. She wanted him to stop making her body respond to him in this way. Wanted the potion to stop making every inch of her skin extremely sensitive. This had to be because she had no time to pleasure herself on the road, because she hadn't found release since Beckett bent her over the wooden table. There was no way his aphrodisiac potion could be this powerful.

"You have no idea how much I tortured my other pets while my head was filled with thoughts of you." He dropped down to his knees is front of her, kissing down her torso, to her smooth stomach. "I fucked them so hard I made them cry. I do try to exercise a little restraint with them. They aren't as durable as you. But I fucked them in every way imaginable, wishing it was you pinned beneath me, you cumming so sweetly around my cock."

Alayna squirmed in the chains as his mouth drifted lower, just above her pelvis. She couldn't, could not, let him go any lower.

"Don't!"

He paused, looking up at her from his position on the floor. Studying her face, the way her cheeks heated. "Why shouldn't I taste you, Fox? Are you afraid of what I might find? I already know you're aroused. I can smell it. You smell so fucking sweet."

He ripped the dress completely from her hips, letting it fall into a useless pile of scraps on the floor. A pained sound escaped his lips as he gazed at her bare pussy.

"You can't," she said desperately. Yes, she was wet and she knew there was no hiding that. But once he tasted her—

"You think I don't know about your special gift? It's one of the many reasons your kind is so sought after." He gripped her hips, as though admiring the roundness of them. "You're worried I'll grow addicted to your taste, like every unworthy lover you've ever had before me? My darling, I'm already addicted."

How could he know? Alayna herself didn't even know the full extent of what she was.

"I see no problem with keeping my tongue buried inside you for days. Gods, every part of you is exquisite." He placed his hands on her thighs and and ran them up, up, until his fingertips brushed against her outer folds. Alayna had to bite down on her lower lip to keep from crying out, the sensation was so intense. He used his thumbs to part her, the air on her exposed clit making her hips jerk. A sigh of pure, masculine satisfaction sang through him. "So pretty and pink. So plump. So very fucking wet."

He didn't touch her throbbing clit and she was silently thankful for that. Her body was in such a state of need that she wasn't sure if she could hold out. But when she felt the tip of one of his long, thick fingers prodding at her entrance, she stiffened.

"Relax. I'm not going to hurt you unless you make me. Fucking hell, you're so tight." His finger prodded her again, the moisture of her arousal helping it slide past her entrance. He grunted. "I'll have to make sure you're well-prepared each time, otherwise I could seriously injure you, even with your special abilities.

"My what? What are you talking about?" She was desperate to think of anything other than the thick finger slowly working its way inside her body.

"I'll explain later. I never imagined you'd be this tight around one finger." His brows drew together in concentration as he continued urging her body to accept his finger. He wasn't forceful, but he still pushed firmly inside her slick folds. Alayna's own brows knitted together as she tried to ignore the stirring of pleasure it caused. After what felt like an eternity, he managed to feed her body his finger to the last knuckle.

"There we go, you good girl. So accommodating. It's going to be hell fitting my entire cock inside you." He kissed the inside of her thigh, as if to praise her for a job well done.

She did a pretty good job of ignoring that finger, at least until he started to move it. Slowly sliding it out, just as he'd slowly worked it in. The second, slow thrust of his finger went a little more smoothly, but she could feel her body was still tight around it.

"You're getting wetter. Would you like to see?"

No, no she would not. Alayna didn't bother to grace him with an answer. Instead, she continued to stare straight ahead, thinking of anything except his finger inside her. Even without an answer, the air in front of her shimmered. It turned reflective, a giant mirror that displayed her chained form, with Xanth on his knees in front of her. She was surprised and a little dismayed to see her usually pink nipples were now bright red from his earlier abuse, the peaks so tight she swore they could cut diamonds.

Then the image shifted, taking away her full reflection. It shattered and cast itself in different directions, enhancing certain angles. In one, she could see her body on display. In another, she could see the intense look of concentration on Xanth's handsome face. In a third, she could see herself from below, could see him slowly and steadily pushing his finger in and out of her body. But in the fourth... dear gods, it was like she was seeing exactly what he saw. An enhanced image of her glistening pussy, his finger speared deep inside her. So close she could see her arousal glinting off his knuckles. And she could see the second finger he placed at her entrance. Could see the way it met with resistance as he tried it feed both inside her.