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The last of the palatable Panthara’s tail disappeared into Rain’s mouth and he shivered as the banked up growth washed over his body.

Not even the discomfort of his fractured ribs shifting and healing could overcome the immense satisfaction of feeling the height and mass pile on, like the king of morning stretches.

“Maybe… maybe next time I’ll try to find something a bit less dangerous,” said Opal.

She clutched her arm which was marked with a nasty bruise on the upper part. It made Rain feel deep and powerful things he couldn't describe to see her injured. She was his, his to protect as his, all of her, every captivating inch, from her toes to her long black locks, inside and out. She belonged to him in a way he couldn't verbalise, like a second bestial carnal hunger.

“...Yeah. That Panthara monster was shrewd, shrewder than most tribal monsters I’ve come across. Just because it couldn’t speak Common was not a good reason to underestimate its intelligence. A hard lesson learned.”

Opal grimaced and rubbed at her shoulder, rolling it to get rid of the stiffness. “I’d rather see you fight three Cavebears at once than come across a monster like that again. The look in its eyes was unsettling, it’s like it knew things it shouldn't.”

“That look disappeared pretty quick after its spine shattered under my teeth.”

She snorted. “Sure, but I think most monsters wouldn't be particularly happy about that.”

Rain wiped blood from his nose and climbed to his feet. He was surrounded by a small lake of the stuff, the grass turned from a healthy green to a macabre red.

“Come on, we need to go get that Kobold.”

“Oh, right, he survived didn't he, huh.” There was a breathy hitch in her voice as she said ‘huh’ that puzzled Rain, another moment of her acting or speaking not quite as she normally would, although perhaps it was just a twinge from her injury.

They walked over to the edge of the cliff, Rain clutching his injured ribs and Opal her arm. They peered over the edge to see a Kobold desperately trying to pull his chain from under the rock Rain had pushed off the edge.

“Gods dam you! Why? why is my luck so shitty?!”

The Kobold heaved on the chain, his claws scrabbling at the ground unable to find purchase. He slipped and came down on his tail with a thump and a yelp.

“Am I cursed? Was it because I slept with your girl Theo? Is this karmic retribution? To be trapped under the paw of a thing that crawled out of my worst nightmare and its psycho girlfriend?”

He scrambled to his feet.

“I can’t take it anymore! I don’t deserve this- this! HELL!”

He kicked the rock hard and squawked in pain as the stone failed to move in the slightest leaving his foot to deform against it. A claw snapped and plinked off the stone.

“Arrgghh!! Whhyyyy!??!!”

He jumped around on one foot clutching the other as tears sprang up in the corners of his eyes.

A vine fell down the cliff and he looked up in surprise to see the black furred horror climbing down with the Goblin on his shoulders. The Kobold stifled his pain and dropped his foot, managing to plaster as innocent an expression as possible on his face.

“Oh- h-hey there, uh, nice to see you survived the kitty thing.”

Rain dropped Opal off his shoulder and pushed the Kobold aside. He placed his paws on the rock and with a grunt and a heave he slowly rolled it aside. He picked up the chain and approached the Kobold who cowered and tried to back away but found himself at the end of the chain. He looked up at Rain in fright.

“Your nightmares have nothing on me Kobold. Keep that in mind.”

“Y-yes!” said the Kobold in an unfortunately high pitched squeak. “I-I-I’ll behave!”

Rain snorted and shook his head.

“I saw something down here from up on the cliff that I need, I really really need it. Follow me.”

He led the way through the grassy mossy terrain and gradually the trees became more frequent until it was becoming crowded. Crystal light filtered down between the branches dappling the grass.

They suddenly stepped free from a treeline and a crystal clear pool of water was revealed.

Opal froze mid step, her eyes going round.

“I- but- what- NO! You just bathed and I’m cle- mostly clean!”

Rain tied the Kobold’s chain to a tree.

“Bathing regularly is important, plus I’m covered in Panthara.”

“I’m not! I didn’t eat Panthara!” said Opal slowly backing away.

“You’re covered in half-goblin blood and all kinds of muck.”

“That- that’s just the lighting!”

Rain’s paw whipped out and engulfed her arm. Opal only had time for one look of desperation before Rain launched her up into the air to come screaming down into the lake with a splash. Rain soon followed, producing a much much larger splash that caused waves to wash up against the shore.

He revelled in being in water again, the blood of the Panthara and the last of the Half-goblins washed away by thorough use of his paws leaving him fresh and pleased and glossy furred. He caught Opal as she was surreptitiously trying to make her way to shore and dragged her close.

The Goblin squirmed in his grasp but she could do nothing as he stripped her of her shorts and breast wrap and thoroughly washed her, her hair, her limbs, her back. His rough paw pads ran over her green skin scouring the dirt from her and leaving shiny blemish free skin behind.

She seemed to give up and accept this was happening a lot sooner than last time to Rain’s amusement, her body gradually relaxing as he cleaned her. His paws ran up over her chest and he slowly, teasingly, mauled at her breasts, roughly squeezing them together and rolling them between his digits, kneading them and making her produce cute little gasps. His paws followed the curve of her chest outward and he pinched at her nipples, each stiff little thing pressed between his heavy pads. He pulled on them, milking them in his massive grasp, rolling his pads forward and then easing back, her soft breasts compressing and moulding under his ministrations. The goblin squirmed desperately in his lap, her small hands frantically clutching at his fur, her hips pushing and butting back into his enormous sheathe of their own accord, little helpless noises emerging from her lips.

He paused as her breath came out in a long lush moan. He then moved his paws downward, running over her flared hips and onto her thighs and then between them.

She let out a gaspy moan as his paw pads ran over her crotch, dipping between her thighs to press up against her soft folds and smearing her sensitive lower lips apart. He could feel the Goblin girl’s clit starting to poke from its hood as his massive paw rolled past it, the cute little rigid nub desperately pressing into his pads, throbbing with arousal.

He wondered if he could ever convince the Goblin that bathing was good and important and not just an annoyance. He was sure she liked this part.

His brow furrowed however when his paws ran back up and across her stomach where he felt something, a slight hard bump. What was this? Opal let out a different kind of gasp and shivered in his paws as he pressed his paw down on her abdomen. Thoughts started to coalesce, her recent reticence, the random trembling, no, it couldn't be, they had been together only once, and that only a few days ago, this couldn't be what he was thinking… but then weren't Goblins supposed to be one of the fastest reproducing monsters? He was so shocked that Opal managed to squirm out of his grasp. She glanced at him blushing furiously then darted away. He blinked then hesitantly followed after the goblin.