I Stopped Simping and the Heroines Lost Their Minds

Arthur opened one eye to sunlight already reaching the foot of the bed.

"Fuck."

He’d meant to get up earlier. Outside, somebody was still arguing about a dropped crate, while cart wheels rattled through the trading yard and a hammer struck wood somewhere farther off.

Arthur sat up and rubbed his face. His lower lip was still a little sore from Rhea pulling him back into that second kiss last night.

Arthur grinned.

His stomach growled.

"Yeah, yeah."

He found his shirt, pulled it on, and headed downstairs.

Usually the smell of breakfast pulled Arthur toward the lodge first. This morning, the red cord across the eastern path caught his attention before he got that far.

Two hunters were already rolling a water barrel toward the western side of the settlement. Near the eastern pump, a woman caught her son by the arm just as he reached for the handle.

"Other one," she told him.

The boy started to complain, but she was already steering him toward the western well.

Arthur glanced toward the marked path. Garr hadn’t wasted any time.

Arthur was halfway to the lodge when Rhea came down from the upper terraces with a coil of red cord over one shoulder. She was heading east, so he changed direction and fell in beside her, taking half the bundle.

"Where’s this lot going?" Arthur asked.

"Smaller paths on the eastern side. Garr doesn’t want anyone wandering toward the survey trail by accident."

They crossed the yard together. A handcart loaded with cut timber forced them against the side of the path, and Arthur put a hand around Rhea’s waist as they squeezed past the heavy wheel. His hand stayed there for several more steps before Rhea moved ahead toward the eastern gate, her tail brushing his leg as she went.

Arthur followed with the rest of the cord.

By the time they tied off the last marker, the smell coming from the lodge had Arthur looking back toward it.

"I’m eating before somebody finds another job for me," he said, handing Rhea the loose cord.

Rhea snorted and followed him inside.

The main room was already noisy. Derren was sitting at one of the tables staring miserably at a wooden cup of water, while Torr ate with unnecessary enthusiasm.

Arthur squeezed in across from them. "Morning."

Derren closed his eyes. "If he tries to pour you anything, don’t accept it."

Torr kept chewing.

Rhea took the seat beside him, her thigh resting against his beneath the table. She reached across for the salt while Torr kept talking. Arthur ate, listened when he felt like it, and ignored the rest.

Halden was sitting in a chair near the open doors of Mara’s clinic. Garr and Lysa were standing over him, their voices carrying when the lodge noise dipped.

"...the water came back up after we opened it," Halden was saying.

Garr frowned. "You said it was a slow leak."

"It was," Halden rasped. "When Marl first broke the inner stone, the water surged up. Pushed him back. Then it dropped again later. It rises and falls."

Arthur called across the gap between the tables. "How much warning did you get before it rose?"

Halden looked over at him. "None. Just heard it rushing a few seconds before it hit the gap."

Garr looked at two hunters standing nearby. "Recover their equipment. Ropes and the survey lantern. Nobody goes below the basin today."

Arthur lingered on the porch with no particular destination. Garr’s hunters were already heading east, Lysa was shouting something at the perimeter crew, and Mara had Halden occupied. Nobody called his name.

The sharp snap of a bowstring echoed from the trees behind the storehouses, and Arthur wandered toward the sound.

A half-dozen hunters were testing bows near the practice targets. Arthur leaned against a post to watch, eventually catching the attention of an older wolfkin woman tuning a weathered recurve bow.

The woman glanced at Whisperwind over his shoulder. "That’s what you used on the Blacktusks?"

"Yeah." Arthur shifted the bow forward so she could get a better look.

She asked to see Whisperwind’s draw weight, then pointed toward one of the narrow lanes cut through the dense pine brush.

"Think you can hit through that?"

Arthur followed her finger. There was barely a gap between the thick branches. "How much?"

Her grin widened.

She beat him cleanly on the first shot.

Arthur inspected the target, then looked back through the tiny opening between the branches. When he returned, he handed her the credits.

"You’ve shot that gap before."

She laughed. "Of course I have."

She stepped in beside him to point out the wind path through the canopy, close enough that her shoulder stayed against his arm while she talked. Arthur’s attention drifted from the branches to the open collar of her leather vest.

She caught him looking and tapped the bow against his forearm.

"You’re supposed to be watching this."

Arthur looked back at the string. "I was distracted."

"I noticed."

She went back to explaining the bow.

A few steps away, Rhea asked the leatherworker, "Kara’s bracer ready?"

Arthur glanced over. She took the repaired piece, strapped it to her belt, and looked back at him. Arthur gave the older archer a parting nod and walked over to join Rhea, falling into step beside her as she headed back toward the market.

They bought food from a stall. Arthur stole a piece of dried fruit from her hand, and Rhea retaliated by taking half his meat skewer. They sat on a low wall near the terraces and watched two hunters argue over a damaged cart wheel.

Near the edge of the market, the eastern trail came into view.

Rhea stopped chewing and looked between the trees.

Arthur slowed beside her without asking anything. After a few seconds, she started walking again, and he fell back into step.

They cut between two storehouses to get around a wagon blocking the main path. The gap narrowed beside a stack of timber, and Arthur’s hand settled at Rhea’s waist as they squeezed through.

She let it stay there until the road disappeared behind them.

Then Rhea caught the front of his jacket and kissed him.

Her teeth found his lower lip almost immediately, and Arthur pulled her closer while she kept driving him backward until his shoulder met the stacked boards.

Footsteps sounded near the entrance to the passage.

Rhea broke away and waited until two villagers passed before stepping back onto the road. Arthur came out behind her a moment later.

Lysa called from beside one of the supply wagons before they reached the racks.

"Vance, give me a hand with this."

She tapped the heavy crate beside her with the edge of her slate.

Arthur hauled the crate down while Lysa bent over the lower part of her manifest, and his gaze dropped with her.

She caught him when she straightened.

Lysa didn’t comment. She pointed out where she wanted the crate and continued talking to Rhea as she moved toward the next wagon, her tail brushing Arthur’s wrist on the way past.

Arthur’s attention followed her until Rhea headed for the equipment racks. He went after her.

They were crossing the yard later when Mara called from the clinic doorway.

"Arthur, come here a second."

He changed direction while Rhea kept walking.

Mara wiped the medicinal paste from her hands on a cloth before he reached her, caught the front of his shirt, and kissed him once.

"You eat yet?" she asked.

Arthur gestured toward the fruit he was holding. Mara stole a piece directly out of his hand, flashed him a smile, and went straight back inside the clinic.

Arthur caught up with Rhea near the end of the yard. She glanced at him, clearly amused by what she’d seen, and kept walking.

The wind picked up late in the afternoon, driving people off the porches. Kara and two off-duty hunters moved their card game inside to a table near the lodge hearth.

Arthur sat down and joined the game. Rhea pulled up a chair nearby, and Derren eventually emerged from the kitchens looking marginally more alive to take a seat.

Kara stared at a miserable hand for several seconds, pushed another coin into the middle anyway, and lost it.

"Emily does that," Arthur said while gathering the deck.

Rhea glanced up from her cards. "Your girlfriend?"

"Yeah. Once she decides someone’s bluffing, she’d rather lose money than admit she guessed wrong."

Kara muttered that she’d been right anyway while the hunter across from her swept the coins into his pile.

Arthur dealt the next hand.

The first plates came out while Kara was still dealing, and everyone shoved cards and coins aside to make room.

The older archer from the range pulled another chair up near Arthur. Farther down the table, Torr tried sliding a cup toward Derren.

Derren pushed it straight back.

"No."

Torr shrugged and drank it himself.

Rhea came back with another drink and squeezed into the space beside Arthur, her thigh settling against his beneath the table. Arthur kept playing with one hand while the other rested against her leg.

Her tail brushed his ankle once, then came back again.

Arthur caught it near the base.

Rhea’s fingers closed around his wrist beneath the table, though her attention stayed on her cards. When his thumb moved through the thick fur, she kicked his shin.

Arthur did it again anyway.

Rhea stared at her hand for another moment before laying the cards face-down. She met Arthur’s eyes, glanced toward the door, and kept hold of his wrist just long enough to make the message obvious.

Arthur pushed his cards across to Derren and finished his drink.

Rhea was halfway across the yard by the time Arthur came outside. He caught up near the well and walked beside her toward the cabins.

Her tail brushed his hand somewhere along the way. Arthur caught it, and Rhea let him keep hold for a while before pulling free near her door.

She went inside without bothering to close it behind her.

Arthur followed.

Arthur barely registered the hunting spear beside the door before Rhea caught the front of his jacket and drove him back against the timber wall.

She kissed him hard with one hand buried in his hair, crowding him against the wall while Arthur rested his hands on her hips and let her have the advantage.

Rhea bit his lower lip.

Arthur laughed against her mouth.

She bit harder.

Arthur laughed into her mouth. He hooked his arm around her waist and spun her around. Rhea kicked out to catch her balance, her boot knocking a stool sideways, but he absorbed the shift and kept walking her backward until the bed caught behind her knees.

Her tail curled around his leg in the struggle, and Arthur caught it near the base.

Rhea gasped.

Her ears flattened and her body locked up for one startled second.

Arthur paused.

Then he understood.

The smile spreading across his face gave him away.

Rhea saw it and immediately grabbed his shoulders, dragging him down onto the mattress with her.

The rest of their clothes came off somewhere between Rhea trying to roll him and Arthur pinning her back down. The second his pants were out of the way, Rhea locked her bare thighs around his waist. She arched into him, sinking his hard cock deep into her soaking wet pussy in one heavy thrust.

Arthur let out a harsh breath as her inner walls clamped tight around his shaft. He drove into her, but Rhea bucked hard against him, pushing back against every thrust. When he forced her thighs wider, she sank her teeth into his shoulder, biting hard enough to leave deep indents in his skin.

Arthur shifted his weight to hold her down. Rhea immediately hooked an ankle behind his knee and twisted, throwing him off balance and flipping them over.

Arthur hit the mattress. Rhea straddled him instantly with her hands planted flat on his chest, her dark hair falling over her flushed face. She rode him hard, grinding her wet pussy down onto his cock. Arthur let his hands settle on her hips, watching her work, highly entertained by the victorious glint in her eyes.

Then he slid a hand down her thigh and dug his thumb into the thick muscle at the base of her tail.

Rhea’s hips stuttered to a halt. Her back arched as a sharp gasp escaped her throat, her eyes going wide. Arthur grinned, loving the sudden vulnerability. Before she could recover, he clamped his hands over her hips, surged upward, and rolled her flat onto her back again.

He drove his cock deep inside her, pinning her to the mattress. Rhea’s tail wrapped tight around his thigh. She clawed at his back, bucking wildly beneath him as the hot, wet friction pushed them both higher.

Her soaking pussy clamped down hard around his shaft. Rhea climaxed with a high, breathless cry, her teeth burying into his collarbone as her walls milked his cock through a series of tight spasms. Arthur groaned roughly, completely losing his grip. He drove deep and emptied a heavy load of cum inside her.

By the time they finally slowed, Rhea had left marks across his shoulders and the bed looked considerably less organized than it had when they entered.

Arthur rolled onto his back beside her and stayed there until his breathing settled.

Eventually he shifted toward the edge of the mattress, only for Rhea’s tail to tighten around his ankle before he got very far.

Arthur glanced over. Her eyes were still closed.

He considered the door for a second, then settled back onto the bed.

The grip around his ankle loosened almost immediately, but her tail remained draped across his leg.