I Stopped Simping and the Heroines Lost Their Minds

Chapter 150 — Back to Rauk Hollow

Arthur kept Whisperwind raised, the string tense under his fingers. He listened to the heavy, rhythmic snapping of branches until the sounds finally faded completely into the eastern woods.

Nobody moved for several seconds. Rhea stared into the spaces between the trunks, her fingers still tight around the shaft of her spear.

From the shadows beneath the rocky overhang, Torr shifted with a pained grimace. "If we’re done staring dramatically into the woods, I’d appreciate not dying under this rock."

Arthur let the tension out of the bowstring with a quiet exhale. "There goes the mood."

"Shut up," Rhea told him, though her shoulders finally dropped. She turned her back on the eastern woods and walked over to help Torr.

The journey west was slow. Torr could manage the easier ground with Derren supporting him, but every steep slope forced Arthur to take his other side.

Torr managed a few stretches without swearing at his ribs before finally looking across Derren at Arthur.

"So who are you, anyway?"

Arthur gave him the shortened version: academy student, visiting friends, supposed to be on his way home.

Torr stared at Rhea’s back. "You really did bring home a stray."

"I’m going to start leaving people in the forest," Rhea muttered.

They were less than a mile from the edge of Rauk Hollow when they heard voices ahead. Kara emerged from the brush a moment later, pushing through the ferns with a thoroughly annoyed expression on her face.

Behind her limped Merek with one arm held stiffly against his chest and several bandaged bites around his calves.

Kara looked exhausted and filthy. "He spent half the morning hiding up a pine tree from corrupted wildcats."

Merek scowled. "There were six of them."

"There were three," Kara corrected flatly.

Derren laughed. Even Torr managed a tired snort.

Walking back into Rauk Hollow felt considerably better than Arthur remembered leaving it. After a night in the forest and most of another day following blood trails, the smell of cooking meat alone nearly made him stop in the road.

Lanterns glowed warmly from the timber porches, children ran between the buildings, and the heavy gates offered actual security.

Lysa was waiting near the central trading yard.

She didn’t wait for a report. She grabbed Rhea in a tight hug, checked her over for injuries, and then immediately started demanding to know what had happened in the woods. Garr stepped off the lodge porch to help Merek and Torr to the healers.

Torr started explaining what they had seen while Garr helped him toward the lodge. Rhea and Kara filled in the missing pieces along the way, leaving Arthur free to slip away once the questions stopped involving him.

When Torr mentioned that Arthur had held his shot when Hati came at them, Lysa’s attention moved across the yard to Arthur.

She looked him over for a moment. "So you can follow instructions."

Arthur met her eyes. "Occasionally."

"Don’t encourage him," Rhea warned her mother.

Arthur left the debriefing to find actual food. The communal lodge had a massive hearth fire going and a cauldron of hot stew, which was exactly what he wanted. He sat at a long wooden table with Derren, eating until his stomach stopped aching, while Kara unapologetically stole bread directly off his plate.

Other hunters were drinking, laughing, and relentlessly teasing Merek about the wildcats. The heavy wooden doors swung open, and Mara walked in.

Mara looked tired after spending most of the day dealing with injured hunters. She grabbed a wooden cup of ale from the counter, spotted Arthur at the long table, and wandered over.

The trip through the forest had left enough scratches, bruises, and dried blood on him to earn a slow inspection before Mara leaned against the table.

"You look worse than last time," she noted.

Arthur took a drink. "You offered an examination last time."

Mara smiled slowly. "Offer’s still open."

Across the table, Rhea closed her eyes and let out a long sigh. She gave her aunt a withering look.

Mara took a sip of her ale, looking perfectly innocent. "Medical reasons."

"Of course," Rhea said flatly.

"I trust the professional," Arthur added.

Rhea glared at him. "You’re worse."

Mara’s eyes moved over the scratches and bruises visible above his collar. "Come by the clinic after you’ve washed the forest off. I’ll make sure none of that needs attention."

Arthur finished eating and disappeared into the washhouse behind the lodge. After sleeping against a root the night before, the hot water nearly convinced him not to leave.

By the time he crossed the quiet yard to Mara’s clinic, most of Rauk Hollow had settled in for the night.

The clinic was warm beneath a few low oil lanterns. Torr and Joren were asleep in the back room, while Mara stood at the examination table putting away the last of her supplies.

She glanced up when Arthur entered. "Better."

Arthur closed the door behind him. "Still offering that examination?"

Mara’s smile returned. "Come here."

She stepped up to him, resting her hands lightly on his chest. She pressed her thumbs along his collarbone, checking one of the darker bruises before letting her hands drift lower across his chest. Her hands were warm and completely steady. She let them linger there, her dark eyes looking up into his.

Arthur slid his hands down to her hips, his fingers resting against the curve of her waist.

"Is this still professional?" he asked quietly.

Mara leaned in, her lips inches from his. "Very."

Her tail slipped around the back of Arthur’s calf and pulled him the last inch closer.

Arthur glanced down.

Mara caught it immediately. "You’ve been staring at tails since you got here. Don’t act surprised."

She kissed him. Her mouth opened against his, her tongue sliding over his in a confident, demanding rhythm. Arthur’s hands tightened on her hips, pulling her flush against his body.

Mara’s ears flattened briefly into her hair before lifting again when she broke the kiss just far enough to breathe.

"Much better than checking bruises."

Mara let out a quiet sound of approval. She reached down, caught the hem of his shirt, and pulled it over his head, tossing it onto a nearby chair. Her hands flattened against his chest, her nails dragging lightly down his stomach as she pulled him backward until the back of her knees hit the padded examination cot.

She pulled her own top over her head, dropping it to the floor. Arthur didn’t wait. He caught the leather ties of her pants, pulling them loose, and she stepped out of her clothes.

Arthur pushed her down onto the cot. She lay back, spreading her thighs, entirely confident in her own skin.

Arthur stripped out of his pants, his thick cock springing free.

Mara reached out, wrapped her warm hand around his shaft, and guided him directly to her wet opening.

Arthur pushed his hips forward, sinking the broad head of his cock inside her tight, slick pussy. Mara let out a sharp gasp, her hips jerking upward to take more of him. Arthur drove forward again, burying himself to the hilt in one smooth, heavy thrust.

The clinic filled with the wet sound of skin against skin.

Arthur set a hard, steady pace. Mara wrapped her legs around his waist, her heels digging into the backs of his thighs to keep him exactly where she wanted him.

Her tail curled around the outside of his thigh as well. A harder movement made it tighten around him, and Arthur couldn’t stop the grin that followed.

Mara caught his expression.

"Careful."

"What?"

One dark ear flicked. "Keep smiling and I might bite you."

She didn’t ask him to slow down. She met every deep thrust with a heavy upward buck of her hips, her nails dragging down his back.

"Fuck," Mara breathed, her head tossing back against the cot. "You’re deep."

Arthur leaned over her, catching one of her heavy breasts in his hand and thumbing the hard nipple. He drove his cock deeper, grinding his hips against her. Mara moaned loudly, her hands tangling in his hair to pull him down into a bruising kiss while he fucked her.

Mara broke the kiss and buried her face against the side of Arthur’s neck for a moment. Her nose twitched against his skin.

Arthur glanced down. "What was that?"

"Nothing."

Her tail tightened around his thigh.

"That looked suspicious."

Mara laughed against his neck. "You’ll find out."

Her pussy gripped his shaft with every thrust.

Mara felt his pace stutter. Her inner walls began to clench and spasm violently around his cock, milking him perfectly. She let out a breathless cry, her body going rigid as a heavy climax ripped through her.

The intense pressure of her orgasm pushed Arthur straight over the edge.

He groaned roughly, driving his hips forward and burying himself as deep as he could go. He shot a thick load of cum deep into her pussy, his body shuddering with the release. Mara gasped, her legs squeezing tight around his waist as she took every burst, her own climax shivering through her.

They stayed on the cot until their breathing finally settled.

Mara leaned back on her elbows, looking thoroughly satisfied. "You definitely feel better."

Arthur laughed. "Very effective treatment."

Mara’s tail gave a lazy sweep over the edge of the cot. "You know wolfkin have an excellent sense of smell, right?"

Arthur looked at her. "Why do I suddenly feel like that’s relevant?"

"Because half the settlement is going to know exactly where you’ve been."

Arthur stared at her. "That’s a thing?"

Mara started laughing. "Welcome to Rauk Hollow."

Arthur shook his head, thoroughly amused, and walked out the door.

The trading yard was empty and dark. Most of the settlement had already gone to sleep, the fires banked low for the night. Arthur rolled his shoulders, feeling better than he had in days, and headed toward the guest lodgings Garr had assigned him.

He turned the corner near the communal water barrel and found Rhea filling a waterskin.

She looked up, sniffed once, and stopped.

Her eyes moved toward Mara’s clinic.

Then back to Arthur.

"Seriously?"

Arthur leaned against the post beside her. "What?"

Rhea stared at him for another second before shaking her head. "My aunt."

"She seemed very professional."

Rhea made a disgusted sound and shoved the filled waterskin under one arm. "I didn’t need to know that."

Arthur grinned. "You asked."

"I absolutely did not."

She walked off toward the guest lodgings, muttering something about humans under her breath.

Arthur followed at an easy pace, still smiling.