The LEVELER King ✔

CHAPTER 10

The familiar tickle at the back of Nala's throat told her to start swallowing now lest she be overwhelmed. Indel reached the height of his release finally, shooting his seed into Nala's mouth.

This wasn't the time for it, but it'd become a matter of life and death; Indel couldn't quiet.

Nala waited, the member hardly shrunk this time. The coaxing was faster at least. No sooner had she taken Indel from her mouth that she saw the penis fill and jut out.

"It is unmanageable now!" Nala complained. "The more I give you release, the faster your excitement comes." She met eyes with Indel, genuinely pensive. "Mana, I cannot—I cannot swallow anymore, and we do not have the time. I must dig more."

While before, Indel could move about, now he could hardly relax his muscles enough. Even the rock he clutched was more for lack of body control and not because he favored it.

Nala looked the dirt over.

"We should spill it. We should spill it," she repeated to herself, looking for a good area.

"No," Indel grunted. "No."

Determined to ignore him, Nala set about finding a good enough place. It would be quite a lot but at least it was coming quickly. The old ways of never leaving seed on the ground be damned. They couldn't run anymore.

"No!" The shout might have come about more out of anguish than protest.

"Blast you and your old beliefs," Nala lamented. "We must."

"Too sweet," Indel said, his body twitching. "Animals come. Too close to the cave. You'll doom my kind. We need the caves."

Their eyes met and Nala found no help there. She wasn't familiar enough with mating to know anything beyond what she could surmise on her own. She did know this rule, however. Not that it mattered as the force needed to coax required a mouth if not mating itself. But even Summoners gathered in a clutch and abandoned that part of the forest after the season faded. And wherever they mated, they would not return to that area for multiple seasons. Indel could very well be speaking the truth; spilling his seed might attract predators of sorts.

"No," Indel pleaded again. Rock in his grip, he raised his trembling hand toward the mountain. "We move."

"We cannot move. Not if it must be all three of us."

Nala looked over her shoulder to Dilen's figure not too far from them. The Leveler had witnessed it all—their short coupling. A time or two he'd stiffened in reaction. That didn't matter. Each time Nala told herself it was for her king, it became easier. But damn this Leveler.

"He cannot speak now, Mana. We must leave him. Smith cannot ride sloths well but if he comes with one of his Earther vehicles, he'll overtake us in no time. We must go."

Body tensed as if a sharp pain had shot through him, Indel muttered through tight lips. "Heal."

Nala watched him, her hearts aching in response to his obvious suffering.

"Heal. Warrior stage will heal. Everything returns." Even saying that much was a struggle.

Looking over her shoulder at Dilen, Nala processed the words. Warrior stage.

Nala knelt up as it occurred to her. Much like the day before when the Leveler shifted to a higher stage, he could shift back to the first. "Do you mean all his bits will return when he completes the cycle?"

Nodding fervently, Indel grunted. "Yes. Everything."

Thoughts of her own severed tail filled Nala's head though briefly. Leaving Dilen was no longer something to consider, but neither was that leg with the Earther device.