by
“You are only a prisoner when you surrender.”
The second novel in The Iron Warrior series continues the edgy pairing of Gristle and Wynn. The former soldier's young lover has been too shamed to admit he’d been raped when he’d been ambushed and almost killed by two villainous druids. Throughout a series of adventures, the men are kept from a healthy partnership by Wynn’s harboring his secret and by Gristle’s own jealousies and superstitions.
The two lovers find adventures both perilous and humorous in their trip from Derry to the seacoast of Ireland, then on to Wales and finally to Tara, the scene of Wynn’s recent capture.
Into the uneasy relationship steps another warrior…Dub, the Wise Man (Ollamh) of the high king of Ireland, who had befriended and healed Wynn in the earlier book. Weakened by jealousy, the unconquerable Gristle lowers his guard, and he is savagely attacked. Now Wynn must join with his old mentor Dub in trying to save his life. And even if Gristle can be saved, how can the lovers ever be happy under the shroud of suffocating jealousy and buried shame?
- 2 To Be Read lists
- 1 Read list
Publisher: New Dawn Press
Cover Artists:
Genres:
Pairings: M-M
Heat Level: 5
Romantic Content: 5
Ending: Click here to reveal
Character Identities: Gay
Protagonist 1 Age: 36-45
Protagonist 2 Age: 18-25
Protagonist 3 Age: 36-45
Tropes: Age Difference, Alpha Character, Bodyguard/Guardian Angel, Enemies to Lovers, Healing Power of Sex, Hurt / Comfort, Love Can Heal / Redemption, May/December, Most Mindblowing Sex Ever, Rescue
Word Count: 82298
Setting: ancient Ireland-Wales
Languages Available: English
Series Type: Continuous / Same Characters
Gristle knew, even before it happened, that his suddenly aroused cock would alert his prey to his intentions. And then he saw the rising lump in Wynn’s britches, the way it moved and shifted. He saw it even as he saw Wynn’s unflinching gaze take in his own vulnerability.
Evenly matched. There was no better confrontation than an equal chance. He almost smiled.
He saw that Wynn had slowed his breath to the point of not seeming to breathe at all. And he saw in his tawny eyes that the student was taking the measure of his trainer, insolently and yet warily. His cock raged.
Gristle tried to keep the lust and love out of his eyes, but he knew that Wynn would see even the attempt to conceal his strong emotions. At last he gave up. He would have to take the boy completely by surprise, somehow.
His voice rang out lazily. “Do you yield?”
“Nay. Never,” came the reply.
“Are you jealous that I took the pretty mare?”
READ MORE“Take her—and fuck her, too, O trainer. A mare is not a stallion.”
By God, the boy was trying to goad him. And it was almost working. Gristle felt a flush rise from his neck into his face. He set his jaw and his will.
He flung out one last challenge to Wynn. As soon as Wynn began to answer, he would take that instant of vulnerability to strike.
“You should know. You tried and failed. Remember?” Wynn would catch the reference to his once-interest in the cheeky Caylith.
Sure enough, Wynn’s gaze faltered by a flicker of an eyelash, and in that moment Gristle was on top of him, wrestling him to the ground, straddling him and pinning his arms over his head.
Gristle gave him credit for his spirited fight to free himself. There was a time when the boy would have feigned the fight, letting Gristle take him by force. Now, there was no falseness in his struggle for dominance.
“Who is the pony now, and who the rider?” Gristle looked into his eyes, torched kindling that sent sparks into his gut.
“Ye’ll have to break me like a wild beast,” Wynn grated back at him.
“Very well,” his trainer said.
In one swift movement, Wynn was on his stomach in the rocks, bucking and jumping, while Gristle rode his back and his ass, seizing his hips between his own muscled thighs. He hated to tear the boy’s britches, but he still had a tunic he could wear. So with one hand he seized the waist of his bríste and pulled, hard. The britches ripped right at the crack of his marvelous ass.
At the sight of his moving, beckoning asshole, Gristle began to salivate. He spat the juices from his mouth into one hand and smeared Wynn’s crack with slick saliva.
“Hold still, boy, or this might hurt.”
Gristle deliberately used the roughest tone he could muster, while Wynn growled and cursed.
“Damn ye for a prick! Let me go!”
God, he had never—not ever—felt so aroused. His cock felt like a three-pound bata, and he aimed it at the pink opening of Wynn’s hole. With one practiced lunge, he penetrated his ass, all the way to his balls. Shit! It was unlike any penetration he had ever executed—rough and sudden, blistering and endless.
He pulled out a little and then thrust again. “Love! Love!” Gristle shouted and cried, smashing his balls into Wynn’s soft sac, so deeply had he driven. Then he was surging and spurting, and still he kept pushing and crying.
At last he lay on Wynn’s back, as he usually ended his fucking, biting and sucking on his neck until he tasted blood. He had never felt so depleted, so little like moving a muscle.
“Wynn, I must have you.”
Wynn turned his head, his cheek pressing into the unforgiving rocks.
“Ye never lost me.”
That was the closest he had ever come to telling Wynn outright how he felt. And the time would come again, soon, he knew.
Slowly he lifted his weight from Wynn’s back. He rose and offered his hand.
“Come. Let us go to the blanket.”
“I am not afraid of the hardness.”
“I know, love, yes, yes, yes. Come with me.”
They walked together back to the slick tarred cloth that was their bed. Let this morning take forever. We will never have another like it.
COLLAPSERainbow Book Reviews on Rainbow Book Reviews wrote:Extraodinary Characters, Tales, Romances
This review covers the first two books in the Iron Warrior duo.
I wish I had the proper words to relate how these two books grabbed me in the gut and hurled me into a Dark Ages period that had simply passed me by. But I can't explain it better than to let you know that this tale of Gristle and Tristus and Wynn (in Warrior Ride Hard) and then Gristle and Wynn (in Warrior Stand Tall) opened my eyes to the settlement of Ireland and surrounding lands during the fifth century when the eventual St. Patrick was haunting the territories.
With cunning descriptions of the way the cultures that came together got through the period (Roman, Celtic, Norse, Saxons, etc.), Ms. O'Quinn sets forth a history that most of us were not taught, especially in the U.S. And with the extraordinary, deeply sexual, romances between the three MCs laid out before us in such stark, and breathtaking, scenes, she captures a side of the cultures that must have been if not acceptable, but at least not persecuted, during the times.
O'Quinn has left us with one of the most unusual and unforgettable characters in any of her books--and she has many--or in anyone else's similar tomes. Gristle, the ethereal, introspective, sinewy, overpowering, wise and lonely abandoned Roman soldier stands apart in godlike fashion and creates a cocoon of heated passion, tormented emotions, and safekeeping for his two younger lovers. He brings us into this sheltered existence by slowly baring his soul to each of them, and to us. And he takes us on sexual journeys that are powerful, somewhat hedonistic, and (in a particularly innovative way when it comes to lubrication) absolutely breathtaking.
It took me half a summer to get through both books, not because they were boring but because after three or so chapters you simply have to catch your breath. That you can come back having never lost your place--nor your affection--is the hallmark of a clever spider of an author who knows how to weave the right kind of web.
"Camille's Reviews" on Goodreads wrote:“Steamy, well-paced, enchanting!”
Shifting seamlessly from the end of the first book, the sequel delves deeper into the riveting lives of the alluring martial warrior, Gristle, and his enchanting lover/student, Wynn, while providing additional engaging glimpses of life in Ireland during the decline of Rome.
Beautifully detailed—with lots of intriguing new adventures that capture the way of men in turbulent times—at its root, this is a story about the patience of genuine love… As with the first book, the adventures and sex scenes are extremely well-paced and original.”
Overall, it was an awesome, sweet, and thrilling read! My only issue is that there was zero action! And i mean action in the clean-cut sense of the word coz trust me there was enough sex in there to last me my whole bookshelf. Its just unbelievable that the heroes are suppose to be warriors yet the most action they got was tossing two stringy druids into a well. Im like... --__-- seriously?! So yeah, that was the only disappointing part though.
Im so in love with Wynn and Griss. <3 book 3?? 😀
