“I smell something on the wind,” said Clawdia suspiciously. “Teach him about job spheres instead.”

“Let them be,” said Ayla. “You just don’t want them bonding, so you can feel good about staying unconnected.”

“No, I—”

“We’ll be fast,” said Emily.

“Hey!” objected Jake. He didn’t know much about sex, but he knew that being fast wasn’t a particular virtue for men.

Emily grabbed his hand and dragged him into the cave. She stripped off her pants as soon as they were hidden from the view of the other two women. She was apparently more shy about her body than Ayla, although Jake couldn’t see why. Her toned muscles and ample curves were perfectly proportioned, her skin was smooth, and her face was severe yet somehow still pleasant to behold. When she undid her tight hair bun, her creamy blonde hair flowed mesmerizingly over her shoulders. He couldn’t decide where to stare; even with her shirt still on, there were a abundance of beauty. His mouth hung open and his dick came to attention, bulging against his pants.

“Good,” she said with satisfaction as she looked at his trousers. “You are now properly motivated to increase our connection.”

Right, increasing the connection. Did she actually like him, or was she just wanting to raise her stats? Was he about to fuck a disinterested min-maxer to statistical glory?

Did he care?

She wanted it to happen, he wanted it to happen, and looking too closely at the motivations could ruin the fun.

“Well, are you going to start?” she asked impatiently.

“L-let me go get the ropes.”

“That’s Ayla’s thing. Being tied up only does a little bit for me, and unless we’re going to go for hours it’s not worth the effort.”

“Oh.” So this would be a more standard sexual experience. That was good too. He unzipped his pants and began pulling them down.

“You can stick that thing in me if you like,” she said. “I want you to enjoy this too. But for me, the most important thing is having pain mixed into the pleasure.”

“Uh… what?”

“It’s the fastest way for me.” She put her hands against the cave wall and stuck her bare ass towards him. “Do you want to increase our connection or not?”

Oh. She wanted him to spank her.

His dick jumped at that. He’d never thought of doing that to a woman before. Well, he’d thought of it, but he’d never expected anyone to agree to it, much less insist on it. He bit his lip, smiled, and struck her ass with his open palm.

She grunted with pleasure. “Thank you, Master,” she breathed.

Was that a smile on her face?

It was strange… they’d touched for only a split second, yet he was able to turn her insistently business-like expression into one of near-happiness.

That was almost as good as sex itself.

Almost.

“Again,” she said.

He obliged. When his hand connected, she gave a slight jump and began to breath more heavily. Their Connection Rating had risen to 13.

“Harder.”

He wound up, pulling his arm back. He wasn’t sure this was a good idea — he hadn’t really held back on the previous two strikes — but she was literally asking for it. He brought his hand down hard, and the harsh sound when it hit surprised even him.

She yelped and tears sprang to her eyes. “Okay, maybe not that hard yet. Not before you’ve given me pleasure.”

The Connection Rating didn’t lie: they were at 17 now. She’d enjoyed that.

But he went for what she was asking for anyways. Her ass was pushed back so much that her pussy was exposed, and at just the pefect height. He moved closer, so they were touching, so he could smell her intoxicating scent, like pinewood and roses. He jammed his dick into… solid flesh.

She grunted in displeasure.

He pushed it around, searching, and found something. But it didn’t seem to fit. Was he too big for her? Was—

“Wrong hole,” she said. “I’m not into that.”

He pulled back, flustered.

And made the mistake of checking their Connection Rating: it had dropped two points, to 15.

“Come here,” she said. “I’ll help you find it.”

He could feel his dick shrinking, get smaller, trying to hide from embarrasment, but he had a job to do. He— “Ow!”

She had reached back to grab him, and pulled a bit too hard.

He slapped her hand away, then spanked her in return, once, twice, three, four, five times in rapid succession. She yelped at the first one, then moaned anew for each of the others. Her chest heaved, her breasts falling up and down with exertion.

“Oh fuck,” she groaned.

Oh no. Had he gone too far?

No. Their Connection Rating was at 24, the fastest it had ever risen, and it was because he’d taken control and given her what she wanted without her having to ask.

His dick hardened again and he felt a rush of excitement. He could do this.

He purposefully pressed his dick against the flesh of her leg, let it harden even further. He leaned towards her, draping his chest on her back, reaching around to grab her breasts, squeeze her still-heaving tits and twist her erect nipples. She began to whimper, and the harder he twisted her nipples the louder, more desperate, and more insistent that whimper became.

“Don’t grab me without my permission,” he whispered into her ear.

“Yes, Master,” she said quietly.

Their Connection Rating was at 33.

He reached down to find her pussy, confident now, and spread it open for his dick.

It was a sensation he was utterly unprepared for, and he became light-headed from the pleasure.

“Keep going,” Emily said.

Right. He pushed it farther in, as far as he could, until the tip hit something firm. He pulled back again, slowly, savoring every new sensation as the lips of her pussy hugged his shaft, as if they were begging him not to leave.

He obliged, shoving his member back in. Emily pounded the cave wall with a fist and pushed back with her ass, making his dick jam into the firm surface at the far side of her vagina. Couldn’t have that. He grabbed her arms and pulled them behind her back, holding them there as he pushed her into the cave wall, chest and face smooshed against the hard stone.

Every step brought new pleasure.

When she was stationary, unable to interfere, he resumed, going in and out, amazed at how good it could feel, but even more amazed at the sounds that Emily was making. This stoic, serious woman was panting, grunting, shuddering with pleasure.

“Spank me again, Master,” she said between gasps. “Spank me as hard as you can.”

He pulled out, still holding her arms against her back with his left hand, then slammed his free palm against her ass so hard that it echoed.

She let out a strangled whine. “Keep going.”

He spanked her again, and again, as hard as he could, ten times in rapid succession, and each time her she trembled more desperately and mewled more pitifully. He stopped simply to look on in amazement as her body quaked, wracked by convulsions, and she let out an incoherent wail. He let go of her arms and she dropped to the ground and curled up, rocking back and forth.

Had he broken her?

Eventually she let go of her legs and relaxed, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

He checked her Connection Rating.

49.

It wasn’t as high as the 79 he shared with Ayla, but he was disturbed at how quickly it had risen while she was in agony. Then again, she had said that she liked pain, and why would she lie about something like that?

He knelt down to where she lay with her eyes closed and kissed her.

Or tried to.

She turned her cheek to him. “We should get back outside. Our Connection is sufficiently raised, and I need to teach you about job spheres.”

Right.

While she’d been screaming in pleasure from his touch he’d forgotten about what she’d really come here for: stats. He’d gotten so into it that he’d imagined the Connection Rating was the same thing as love.

He felt a little bit dirty, and very much used.

Then again, he was going to be using her as an instrument in battle, and his rock-hard dick reminded him that there were a lot worse ways their relationship could have gone.

She was already putting on her pants. “Come on, hurry up,” she said insistently. The serious woman was back, seemingly unfazed by the wild ecstatic woman that had briefly shown up.

Their Connection Rating was already back down to 45, and as he watched the number it went down to 44. “Why’s the Connection Rating dropping?”

“It always does that,” she said. “Don’t look so hurt. It’ll stabilize, and then it’ll go up a little bit the next time we have sex. We did very well for a first encounter. Excellent work.”

Work.

Once again, he reminded himself, things could be a lot worse.

He put on his pants and they exited the cave. He had to squint in the bright light while his eyes adjusted, but soon he could see the other two women. Ayla was meditating, her shoulders bouncing as if to a tune only she could hear, while Clawdia squinted at the woods around them.

“Hey Clawdia, still smell something?” asked Emily.

The cat-girl grimaced. “The stench of your sex has obliterated everything.”

“Told you it was jealousy,” said Ayla. She pranced up to Jake and grabbed him, pulling him in close and kissing him deeply. Relief flooded him, relief from the tension of his strange intimate yet impersonal encounter with Emily. He hadn’t even realized the tension had reached his muscles until he relaxed.

Holding Ayla felt like coming home.

He pulled back for a moment, staring into her eyes. They glimmered with joy.

“I missed you,” she said.

“It was only a few minutes.”

She ignored that and instead kissed him again with renewed passion.

He shuddered involuntarily with pleasure.

“I like being able to see into your mind,” she said. “I can know exactly what turns you on, even before your body reacts.”

Right, she could read his mind when they were close. Could she see what he’d done with Emily? What had happened with Emily was pleasurable, and tactically sound, but it had all the emotional weight of a mini-game. If Ayla saw the intensity with which he’d played that minigame, what would she think? Would that cheapen what—

“You think too much,” she whispered, stroking his chest “Your world is strange about things like that. Here, women are used to sharing, and the strength of connection we have is rare. Most Masters never experience it.”

A connection that was rare. Maybe Ayla was happy because Emily’s stand-offish behavior meant she wasn’t a threat.

Ayla stopped stroking for a half second, before continuing on and giggling nervously. “Of course not.”

Was that a lie? He hadn’t even considered that Ayla could lie. She seemed so perfect, so innocent. And she was, even with the lie. Had she known Emily would be like that? Was that why she’d gone ahead and pushed him into—

“Please don’t,” she begged. “Let’s speak of—”

Clawdia cut in. “Grab job spheres!”

“Stop being jealous!” yelled Ayla. “We can train later!”

“This isn’t training!” she yelled back. “Grab your job spheres or die!”