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34 Gathering the Monster I’d seen that when he’d been taking Bethanie up in his chamber. Forcing her to rend herself on his hardness. And enjoying it. I cringed at the memory. Squinting my eyes closed and reminding myself that it’d never be me. I’ll never be that weak. I’ll never give in to him. He flattened his fingers back and let the slight callouses of his palms rub along my skin as he slid them back down my arms and over my back. Down the sway and to the plumpness of my curved hips and then abruptly gripping around the front of them. Making me gasp and jump. But I held the rings. Knowing this was a test to see if I failed to obey. An excuse to brutalize me further. *** He lifted me by my hips. Pulling me up and out until my feet no longer touched the ground and all my weight was hanging from those loops and braced in his hands. How is he this strong? He angled me upward and then brought me back against his fierce branch. Piercing into me so sharply I shrieked. My fingers clutching the loops and biting into my own palms as I held on. But he’s where he was before. There was some tiny hint of relief beyond the pain of what the man did to me. He wasn’t ripping into my backside. He was taking my womb again. He began to slam into me so violently that I had to turn my face to keep it from being cut on the stones as I swayed forward like a sheet on a line. Hanging there for him to move me as he wanted me. Jerking me down on him and soaking his cock with my instinctive wetness. My body’s reaction to protect me from what I’d known was coming. “Look how slick you are. A wanton just eager to be poked.” He rumbled in that husky voice. One hand continued bringing me against him. The other seemed to wander everywhere. Touching everything and roving over me possessively. He angled forward as he pressed in. Rubbing against the inside of my belly and straining my stomach the same as the monster in the dungeon had stretched the smaller girl. Straining her body to take him. While she cried out. That wouldn’t be me. I won’t. I won’t. I told myself. But I was already sweating from the exertion of what I’d already endured while locked in his stockade. I imagined what we’d looked like. Me on my bruised knees in the dirt. My head and wrists locked in that stockade. Him on his knees behind me. Driving into me with his head thrown back in pleasure. His biting fingers holding me in place for his pleasure. While his thick veined cock slipped in and out of me. Leaving only the head to remain. To make way for his next penetration. Residing inside my body as if he owned it. Owned me. Stripping my body of dignity as he ravished me for his own gratification. Using my body as some place of pleasure for him to lodge himself. And expend his seed. *** As always, it was as if he could read my mind when he spoke next. “Do you already know your mine, you and your sweet hole?” I sobbed but suddenly caught the flicker of silver lights around my head again and realized that my tiny friends had returned to offer me some bit of peace. Instantly it was as if warm water washed over me and the tenseness of the situation. The humility and raw suffering of obeying him were far away. I was numb to what he did. Though I still felt his tight abdomen pounding against my cheeks. Making them jounce with each rough movement. There was no kindness in his touch. No hint of weakness. Is he proving it to me or himself? I was less convinced than I had been before that his cruelty was all that met the eye. I was calmed by the Twinkets buzzing around me. Ready to do whatever they could. Though I had no idea what that was. But I did know one thing…Something is trapped in him. Someone else… Someone he didn’t want me to know was there. Mistake on his part because now I know. And now I’m going to try and find out more. 35 War of Wills I held on to those rings. Arms shaking. Muscles tight. Feeling his hardness blooming and the dark magic clawing it’s way in to steal from me. I flitted my eyes over my shoulder and found him watching my face. Every flicker of pain. Every hint of fury. He was watching each wince with interest. I wanted to turn my face away or bury it downward so he couldn’t see my expressions. And enjoy my suffering. But the pressure of him pushing me like a board toward the wall made it impossible for me to turn my face at all. Probably why he put me like this. So he could enjoy the view. Mathis was horribly cruel. Relentless. Vicious. Brutal. I could think of a million other dreadful words to describe him but only one seemed to really cover them all…Monster. There’s a monster in me too. I reminded myself again. Summoning the strength that had given me that thought. The twinkets toyed with my hair. And whispered soothing things in their tiny voices. Itty bitty hands rubbing my face soothingly. Every little thing they did, helped me calm. I clung to that. Ignoring the panicked girl screaming inside me. Crying out that my body was being destroyed by dark magic and cruelty. She’s only a girl. But what Mathis didn’t know was that there was a growing monster inside me to. And she was fierce. He came. Two brutal slams into me and then holding me hard against me as he drove in and down. Stroking the tip of himself along the front of my pelvis as my body milked him of his fluids. Taking the seed I so badly didn’t want. The little sprouts that would bloom to mind-controlling black eggs. I immediately remembered the bulge along my hip and feared that it would soon emerge as one of those hideous bits. I’m not ready for that. He lowered me and growled as he collapsed along my back. His knees nearly limp as he dropped them along the side of one of mine and the other between. He was limp against me. Reaching up to hold onto those rings as he gathered his own strength. Taking my spirit is draining for him too. Good. *** “You’re the most exquisite fuck.” He whispered. Hanging onto the rings over my hands. “You make my knees weak. So tight…Fresh and sweet. You taste like strawberries and feel like satin wrapped around my staff. I could push into you all day and all night and still never have enough.” “Well, I’ve had quite enough.” I said against the stone. “May I go now.” In truth I wasn’t even sure I could stand on these horrifically unsteady legs. “I don’t understand why you’re not shuddering with pleasure.” He murmured. “You’re trying to hurt me. What don’t you understand?” “But my magic should make it-make you…You’re very odd.” He finished abruptly. “I haven’t quite figured it out yet. But I’m sure Old Veline is involved.” I sensed he was shaking his head. “Witch.” He stepped back from me. I gathered my legs under me and slowly let go of one ring. Putting my hand on the wall to keep from swinging into it. I slowly released the other ring and immediately my legs gave. To my shock when I’d have fallen forward and knocked my head, an arm wrapped my waist and yanked me back. Lifting me off my feet to steady me against him. Mathis. He kept me from falling? I went still. My shoulders lifting as I shrank from his touch. He chuckled softly. “A bit clumsy, are you not?” “No.” I pushed down on my feet to make sure my legs were stronger and jerked from his grip. He let me. Lifting his hands in surrender. “Just trying to save that pretty face.” “Oh, were you? Or the feast you like to abuse?” His brows lowered. “Oh, you don’t like me saying that?” I taunted. Circling naked toward that door that the fey still held their glittering strings across. I knew they’d let me out. They were here for me. “Wait.” He lifted a hand. “Don’t go like that.” “My men may have a hard time not plucking you up to have a bit for themselves. I usually let them have free reign down here. They’ve grown greedy.” He said as if in way of explanation. But it only made my stomach drop in disgust. I’d already seen enough to know that was true. He rolled his hand out in a graceful movement and angled his palm toward me with his long, artists fingers pointed toward the ground. A silky green dress unfolded along his wrist and over that palm to drape from his hand as if dangling from a hanger. I looked at it in confusion. Then up at his face. He was giving me a waiting look. “Well?” “What?” “Come and take it.” “I don’t want any closer to you.” “I’ve had my fill…For now.” He said in a coaxing voice. Tilting his head sideways and levelling his gaze on me in a challenging way. “Are you afraid of me.” “Of course not.” I stomped to him and wrenched the dress form his hand. “Oh, yes you are.” He said softly. “But too spitfire to admit it.” He was giving me a thoughtful look. “I like that about you.” He headed for the door. Turning his back for me to pull the dress over my head. Feeling the smooth folds rolling over my body like a gentle caress. As if it tried to heal all the bruises he’d left on my skin. I reached back and did as many of the tiny latches as I could reach before easing to the opposite side of the chamber, so I was in line with the door. When he opened it, I fully intended to bolt out of it like a streak of lightning. He gave the handle a tug and watched as the door creaked open easily enough. He gave it a confused study. Pushing it closed again and then reopening it. Confirming to me that he’d never seen the Twinkets. He only guessed they were here. He pulled it open again and when he went to close it, I caught it with my hand. “I’m quite done here. Let me out.” He stilled and gave me a sideways look. His brows lifted in interest. “Speaking to me like that makes me want to throw you to the dirt and fill you again.” “Is that supposed to scare me?” “No. It’s fair warning. I like you Spitfire. A lot. I’ve never desired a creature like I do you. I want inside you all day and night. It’s all I think about.” 36 Tiny Concessions “Didn’t seem too heavy on your mind while you were shoving in and out of Bethanie.” “No.” He admitted. “It likely didn’t. Is that the hint of jealousy in your voice?” He queried in a soft voice. His shoulder still far enough between me and the crack of the door that I couldn’t get past him. And he was showing no inclination to move anytime soon. “If it soothes your strange ire, Sweet Thing. I was only giving her what she needed.” “You were hurting her.” “It’s what she yearns for now. She can’t get thoughts of me brutalizing her from her mind. She longs for it. Thinks of it constantly. Wets herself, touches herself thinking of me barking orders at her and bruising her. Inside and out. It’s the nature of this little curse…” “Curse.” I pounced. Still holding the door next to his shoulder. “Exactly what kind of curse is it?” “Ah, ah.” He released the door to wave a warning finger in my face. “Now you’re probing where you don’t belong again. Remember what that earned you last.” He nodded toward the loops. “I’m much more fun when you’re not picking me apart.” He said. “I haven’t seen you be any fun yet.” I said harshly. Shoving the door open and nearly hitting him in the face. But to my dismay, he smoothly stepped aside, behind me and removed himself from the path. “Disappointed?” “So much…” “You’ll have more opportunities.” “One can only hope.” I countered with the same unemotional tone. He growled low in his throat. “Let’s go get your girl.” He led me out the door and into the stinking, stifling, heat of the dungeon. “Triana, I believe.” He directed me to the girl still hanging on the massive metal rack. She was covered in glistening sweat. From her or the ogre? I didn’t know. And just thinking about it was making my stomach turn. “As little as they matter to you, how do you remember all their names?” He looked at Triana hanging there with rusted chains wrapping her wrists and hanging there with her head forward in utter defeat. “They did once. I thought each of them might be the one I was looking for.” “That is what you hope I’ll look like one day, isn’t it?” I glared at him. “Very soon.” He shrugged. Admitting it. Never. My teeth gritted and my palms itched to strike him. His head lowered as if he knew my thoughts. “Careful, Little One. Striking me might end the good bargain we have going. I may never let you leave.” “Are you just waiting for an excuse to do that very thing?” “Not so far. I rather like our agreement just as it is. With you coming to me willingly. No whining or begging or pitiable wailing. Though I do like those things, I appreciate them only in moderation.” He gave me a thoughtful look. “However, I think I’d find it quite enticing to hear you doing such things.” “I won’t.” He frowned. “Which is likely why I find the prospect so exciting.” “Are we quite done with this conversation?” I was glowering at him. Already I could feel the silky green dress clinging to my body from the heat. I’m already sweating. And the air was so stifling it felt impossible to breathe. I looked around at all the women on creaking ropes. Dangling helplessly and wondered how they were still alive. With their dirtied bodies, and swollen black lumps, and filthy hair. They looked like some homeless wraiths I’d seen cowering between the booths at market, years ago. Mathis caught my hand. Making me jump. I tried to jerk away, but he held fast. Giving me a purposeful look. He lifted my hand between us and pushed a large iron key into it. “Well,” He nodded toward her. “Stop staring at me and go get her.” I began edging toward the filthy rack, the abhorrent stench of the creature’s spilled seed still lingering in the area. I nearly cried for the poor girl there. Just as I reached for her, one of the huge gray men rounded the corner. He grunted as he spotted me. Seeing me reaching for her with a key. *** Oh, no. My stomach sunk. Having a quick flash of what I’d look like, chained up there with him having at me. No. I swallowed. Staring at him in horror. His eyes dropped over me and slowly ran down my length. They were huge and bleary blue. Looking like something belonging to a dead fish. He ran a long thin tongue over his lips and greedily reached for me. “Don’t touch me!” I screeched. Shrinking from his reach. “No.” Mathis’ voice cut like a whip. The gray thing twisted in his direction and began making high whining grunts. Gesturing from me to Triana, then looking at Mathis pleadingly. He was clearly objecting to me freeing her. “I know she’s your favorite.” Mathis said patiently. “But it’s time to let her go now. You’ve had enough of your reward.” “It’s her turn.” He gestured to me. The creature gave another outburst of intelligible grunts and rumbles. Mathis’ eyes lit with annoyance and his chin hitched. Indicating that the ogerish man must be arguing with him. “You will do as I say. Have you forgotten who I am?” The creature’s head ducked and his complaints reduced to soft burbles. Mumbling in malcontent. I took it. But with one last lingering look at my pricked nipples jutting beneath the soft fabric and to my rounded hips, he reluctantly turned and slunk away. Clearly disappointed. Mathis arched one haughty black brow and walked over. “Best get her out of here quickly if you’re going to. She is his favorite. The tightest, he says. And he’s quite upset about her oncoming absence.” Staring at him in horror I stood on my tiptoes and quickly turned the key in the big heavy padlock. Twisting until it clicked and snapped open. She whimpered as her body dropped and one foot touched the floor. Her freed arm hung limply at her side. And her head still dangled forward. She was so unmoving that I hesitated. Pondering if I had imagined the whimper or if it had just been the last of her air easing from her. I wondered if she was already dead. It’s possible after what I saw her going through. I could imagine that such brutality could’ve caused some irreparable damage to her insides. But glancing low on her body I saw no blood. I turned and leaned to be level with her face. Reaching to catch her chin I lifted her face and forced her dark, dead eyes to look at me. They were nearly black. Filled with sorrow. After what seemed far too long, she eventually blinked. “Don’t die.” I pleaded with her. “I’m going to get you out of here.” “Quickly.” Mathis barked. “Before I change my mind. I stretched to undue the other lock. Tugging the chain from the rack a bit to get her down. She dropped heavily on both feet. Catching herself on my side and shoulder with a weak yelp. I wrapped an arm around her lower back. Feeling the sweat and dirt caked there. I began walking her and found she was on highly unsteady legs. This close I could see she had one large dark lump on her cheek which had formerly been hidden behind her hair. One of Mathis’ marks. “I’ll get you home.” I helped her up the stairs. Mathis walked purposefully behind us. Generating power. When Triana looked back over her shoulder and saw him so close she gasped and clawed at me as if panicked. “I know.” I reassured. “He’s letting us go. Keep moving.” Triana shook her head but seemed unable to talk. Either too weak or… Something is wrong with her mouth. 37 Matters of Importance We came to the higher level, and she made a rough sound. Tipping her head back to roll huge, terrified eyes sideways at me. Trying to tell me something. “She’s worried she has no clothes.” Mathis interjected as I gazed back at her helplessly. I felt a fool for not guessing that was the issue. Wouldn’t I be worrying about the same thing? Walking out into the night, naked? “A foolish thing to worry about really.” Mathis grumbled from behind us. But there was a brief glimmer of white light and then Triana sighed in relief. I glanced down her limping figure and saw that she now wore a long, plain, cream colored linen gown. He gave her clothes. “Have you empathy now?” I queried. He hadn’t done that for Bethanie. “Not in the least. I just have no need to fight Lithuane in order to let her go.” Lithuane? That must be the ogre’s name. I aimed for the door. “Where the devil do you think you’re going?” Mathis’ harsh voice made me jerk to a stop. “What do you mean?” I looked over my shoulder at him. “You said you’d let her go.” He can’t be reneging now! Not after what I went through. “Indeed.” His jaw ticked. “But not like that.” He pointed to the floor above. “Take her up there. Did you learn nothing from Bethanie?” He expects me to know some ritual to their releases, now? It gave me some hope that he truly did intend to eventually let most of them go. But I was still angry he was going to put her through the indignity of the washing as he had her. “You want me to tuck this one into your bed too?” “Why would I want that?” He caught the banister and began taking the steps two at a time. “I have you.” Bastard! “Then why did you join with Bethanie?” I asked. Having no idea why it bothered me so much. “Because I pitied her. The burn she was feeling would’ve only gotten worse. I gave her what she needed.” Pity? Is he even capable? I doubt that. “You nearly killed her.” “It was what she needed.” He shrugged. “Are you done chastising me?” He didn’t look back as he began heading down the hall toward the Wash Room. With us struggling to keep him in view. “For we both know it is doing no good.” I was aware of that. Still…It bothered me. *** Once we reached cold black and white marble Wash Room, he turned to us so abruptly that we both shrank. I was appalled to realize that I had cowered as quickly as Triana. Am I turning into one of these pitiable creatures, already? After all my vowing I would not. I gave myself courage by chiding myself for my weakness. But visions of him drilling into me while the wood of the stockade clanged around my neck was a horrifying memory. Feeling him piercing into me as though I were no more than an object for him to pleasure himself. Hasn’t he said nearly as much, often enough? I squeezed my eyes shut to escape the awful humiliation of the memory. Before I could think anything more, he caught Triana by her narrow waist. She winced at the contact but did not fight him. He deposited her in the washbin and opened the icy drizzle. At first, she sighed in instant relief. The cool water washing away the stifling heat and stinking sweat covering her body from all that had happened to her in the WitchFall dungeons. Dungeons of torture and torment. Mathis caught her wrist unfeelingly and lifted it up to examine the underside. Where the chains had bitten into her tender flesh. He hovered his hand over it, and I watched the skin overlapping itself and stacking over the wound until there was no longer a visible injury. Though I was sure it still hurt. The exhaustion and pain on her face hadn’t lessened. I studied her. Unashamed to watch her in her nakedness. The way Mathis handled her now was clinical. Cold and impartial as he examined her wounds and healed the visible ones. Like he’s some twisted doctor and I’m his unwilling nurse. Lastly, he looked at her through hooded eyes and dropped his hand to hold it between her thighs. A few inches beneath her bruised lips. She cried out fearfully and clutched his shoulders but when he didn’t reach for her. Only shifted his fingers in a way that created some magic friction which seeped up into her like healing smoke. She gripped the skin of his shoulders and her face eased as whatever deep pain she endured abated from his healing touch. My gaze averted to him in shock. He’s a healer? The idea that someone could heal injured people and instead chose to break them was even more heart wrenching. “In answer to your question,” He said without looking at me. Though I sensed it was me he spoke to. “This body was a healer once not I...It made it all the more gratifying when I took over.” He eyed Triana thoughtfully. “More powerful, you might say...” I was shocked. He’s admitting he stole the body he resides in? The real Magistrate’s body or the one that I see now? I was so confused and had so many questions that I didn’t even know where to begin. I was a healer. I collected herbs and made poultices and mixed some with water to help those with fever or stomach ailments. It was how I made a bit of coin. What would I give for the ability to heal with a touch? And if I could, could I ever bear to hurt someone? It seemed utterly contradictory for a healer to find joy in causing torment. Does that mean that whoever is trapped in that body has to watch all the suffering he is causing helplessly? When he was once just a healer like me? I pitied that man...Or woman. Maybe this whole persona is a disguise to hide a withered old woman. I’d never heard of men that made salves as I did. That helped families heal their sick. Mathis’ pushed her back, so she was flat on her feet and scrubbed her in the water. Picking up a rough bit of cloth to scrape at her. She bit her lip and winced as he hit several dark spots. But it wasn’t long before she was apparently cleaned to his satisfaction. I realized that her hair really was black. Before, I’d only thought it so filthy it appeared that way. She had a tiny pointed, pixie face and wide brown eyes. Her hair was cropped short as though someone had hacked away at it, with a dagger. He caught her skinny waist and lifted her out of the wash bin. Unraveling his hand and revealing a mossy green dress. I helped lift it over her head because it appeared to hurt her to try and lift her arms. I noticed she had faint bruises still on her upper arms where it looked like someone had gripped her on them far too hard. To my shock, as soon as she was dressed, she turned and looked at Mathis. Ducking her head and holding out the skirt as if awaiting approval. She peered at him from beneath lowered lashes. What’s she doing. He gave a slight nod and she bounced cheerfully as though relieved. I stared at her in shock. She reached for Mathis as though to hug him, but he caught her arms as they neared his neck and lowered them. Shaking his head. “Not today, Triana. Today you go home.” Her eyes rounded and her bottom lip quivered. “But I can’t leave you! I-I...” She what? What could possibly make her want to stay here with him? “I can’t be without you!” “You’ll be fine.” Mathis said coldly. But he looked away. And even I could tell that wasn’t true. Will she end up like Bethanie? Back at his door begging he cause her harm? It was painful to witness her cloying desperation. She reached for him several times, but he lightly deflected her touch. Moving it away from him and ducking out of reach. “Go with her, Triana. You’ll be fine.” “But I need you!” “Triana!” He barked. Making her duck her head and put her feet together, like a child in trouble. Totally submissive to whatever his desires are. “Come on.” I caught her arm and turned her. Aiming her out the Wash Room door. But as I moved to follow a vise grip snatching my wrist stopped me. I turned and reluctantly looked over my shoulder. 38 To the Healing Place “I don’t want her to come back. Her home is Kirkin. Take her there and leave her. But you...You come back to me tomorrow night. And I’ll give you another.” Kirkin... Though it was a shorter distance then Beddinton had been, it was rougher terrain. And I’m already exhausted. Then the full weight of his demand registered with me. My brows lowered and I felt my face harden with hatred. His dark lashes lifted as he opened his eyes, hitching his chin in challenge to stare down his nose at me. “Tell me no, Saria. See if you can leave the wraiths and save yourself. See how the nights treat you when you wonder what is happening to those that are left...Knowing you have the power to save them all.” I glared at him. My gaze roving a face which was so handsome, yet so capable of cruelty. “Here. Perhaps this will help you decide.” He swept his hand through the air and water from the bottom of the basin floated up to hover above his open palm in an awkward, swaying bubble which reflected the sight of Udora down in the Dungeons. In that miserable heat. In a cage she could not stand or lie in. In her misery. “Now,” He moved his hand and snapped his fingers and the water poured away from him and into the basin in a sloshing waterfall which didn’t lose a drop on his precious marble floor. As cold and unrelenting as he is. “Tell me you will be back.” “How can you be so cold?” I responded. Wanting nothing more than to tell him to go rot. But knowing that he was right. I will sit alone in my room thinking of them endlessly. It made my chest tight now just thinking about the ones I’m leaving behind this moment. Especially Udora. My sweetest friend. I’d been looking after her since I’d caught village bullies throwing mud at her when we were children. She’d always done everything I asked and followed me like a lost puppy. She knew all my greatest secrets and had been right next to me for all my greatest moments. She was, essentially, my sister. I can’t leave her in that hell hole. “It is my nature.” “Nature or a practiced art?” He shrugged. Tipping his head grudgingly. “Perhaps both.” His face hardened and his head fell forward. “Now tell me, Spitfire...That you’ll come back to me.” “I won’t. You’ll be lucky if I do.” I turned to stalk away from him. The other girl’s arm slung over my shoulders. I heard a thud and looked back. Seeing he had braced himself against the doorway of the House as though he’d just tipped sideways. He was shaking his head and rubbing his face as though confused. And he suddenly swayed against the doorframe as though he’d fall. Serves him right. “What magic did you cast on me, Woman?” He called after me. I didn’t answer. “Why am I getting weaker?” His voice had become hollow and almost lost. I couldn’t resist glancing back again and seeing him studying his hands as if stunned. Weaker? How could he be weaker? He’d nearly destroyed me. *** Triana and I stepped out into the cold. It molded the fine fabric of my dress against my skin. Chilling me. I looked around and wasn’t completely certain I knew which direction to go. Especially in the darkness. I felt a ripple of magic and then there was a hazy yellow glow coming from just behind me. I glanced down to where it came from and found a small lantern burning there. I whipped around to look back at him. Mathis was standing in the doorway. Bracing himself between the two walls, with a hand on each edge, and still swaying dizzily. Serves him right. “Now you fear for me walking in the darkness, do you?” “Perhaps it was for Triana’s safety.” My eyes narrowed. “Or perhaps I’d not have anyone else sneak up to touch what’s mine...” There was the hint of admonition in his voice. That sounded far more likely to me. He’s becoming more possessive of what he considers his property. It disgusted me to think that was how another human could see me. As his property. Some thing, that belongs to him... Triana was pointing to our right. I collected the lantern and felt the first cold gust whip our hair. Making me shudder. And knew it’d be another cold miserable night. It’ll take so long to get to Kirkin... *** We’d made it only a short distance, approaching town, with the wind howling enough it blew dirt across our gazes and I was already tiring. I was tempted to go around town to keep away from anyone that might see us. Two women wandering alone in the dark. If they hadn’t considered me a witch before, they certainly would after that... But it was too far. If we took the time to go around, we’d lose over an hour. And we’re both already far too tired for that. But as we neared the center, where Warlock Wood broke off, I began to see flickers of silver. Glinting like stars around my head and at the edges of my vision. The more, sleepy I became, the more prominent they were. Twinkets. I recalled the word Mathis had used for them. Saying it in such a disdainful tone that I knew he hated them. I had no idea why they appeared or why they were helping me. But I’m certainly grateful. And I could hear their whispering again. Tiny chittering in my ears. So fast and high it was nearly inaudible. Like tiny breaths... “Follow us...” “This way...” “Come Saria. Come quick.” They were all talking at once. I looked at them and saw them making a floating silver trail toward the trees. “What are you looking at?” Triana huffed. Struggling to breathe in the onslaught of the wind. “Twinkets.” “Twinkets!” Triana shot me a shocked gaze. “Only witches of legend could see them. Control them.” I don’t think I control them. “I’ve never heard of them.” I responded flatly. Looking straight ahead as I limped her along the path they illuminated. She carried the lantern in her other dangling hand, since I supported her with both of mine. But the wind swirled dirt across our view so heavily that it made the lantern nearly ineffective. Clouds rolled across the moon making it blacker than black out. The Twinket’s glow was only getting brighter. *** Once we were partway into the woods, I could see the great flat boulders protruding from the Mending Vale. Wisping bits of blonde hair danced around her shoulders and her blue eyes were sorrowful on us. As if feeling our pain. “Veline...” I whispered. Feeling intense relief at the sight of her. “Come to the rocks.” She told me. I turned Triana and we aimed that direction. Veline was on my heels. “We’ll help.” Veline urged me to lift Triana onto one of the flat slats. I guided her up and then caught her ankles and turned her up over the stone. Wind rolled through the trees and turned into the Vale. Sweeping up Triana’s skirts and making her shiver. “You too.” Veline directed. Gesturing to another boulder. I climbed up and crossed my hands over my belly. Staring at the sky as I wondered if I was so dazed from pain and exhaustion that I was imagining all this. What if Veline isn’t here at all? What if this is all in my head and the torture is slowly making me lose my mind? I bit my bottom lip. “Calm, Girl.” Veline said soothingly. Waving a hand over me. As she worked on me, I saw hazy outlines appear over every stone in the Mending Vale. Women which looked to be working on wounded, though there was no one on the other stones. It almost reminded me of a recreation of something which had happened during war time. When these spirits had, had to heal multiple wounded at one time. “How long have you been doing this?” I asked her. “Longer than you’ve been alive.” She gave me a reassuring smile. 39 Witches I looked over at Triana and saw another spirit working on her. Waving a graceful hand over her body and seeming to make Triana’s body lurch upward and back. Bones cracking and tiny things realigning. It looked incredibly painful. Triana was gasping for air. I reached out to her. Objecting. “I thought he healed her!” Veline shook her head in the negative. “He only healed what could be seen.” She gave me a meaningful look. “Not all the things broken inside.” Those words made my stomach sink. Wondering how many broken bones, and torn muscles Triana had suffered. Or Bethanie for that matter. I have to get Udora out of there... Before she is as broken as these girls. *** “How long has he been damaging women?” “So long…” Veline answered. Her eyes becoming sad. “But I hope you will be the end to all that…” “I don’t understand what I’m supposed to do. He’s so powerful.” I couldn’t imagine any way I could overtake him. I wasn’t physically stronger. I was trying to outwit him but he seemed to be well-matched for me. Always a step ahead. “You’re doing it.” Veline said. “I know you’re confused and impatient, but the magic will come.” “Will it?” I blinked up at the night sky. Stars winking over us. “He thinks I’m a witch. He says I could feed him forever.” Veline gasped. Her hands falling. “Then you are most certainly the one to save us all.” “I’ve never had magic. I can’t do anything.” “Can’t you?” She blinked slowly at me. “How did you get to me?” “He called them Twinkets. I thought they were sent by you.” I frowned. “I wish I could control them.” She looked wistful. “But Twinkets are stubborn, wild creatures. Often following their own agenda. The one that can control them has never come yet.” “They showed me how to get to you.” “Well, if they are letting you see them, then you are important indeed.” I gave her a questioning look but couldn’t find the answers I sought on her pretty, hazy face. There’s so much she’s not telling me. Just tell me how to defeat him! I wanted to scream it. I sighed and rolled off the stone to my unsteady feet. Twisting to look at her. I was very afraid that she wanted my hatred for him to build. Then she was going to arm me and tell me to kill him. I already wanted to, but he was so damn clever that I wasn’t sure I could ever be sneaky enough for him not to know it’s coming. Much of the time, he seems to be reading my mind. How can you sneak up on someone who can hear your thoughts? And I had to ask myself, could I really kill another human? All I’d ever wanted was to heal people with the herbs and mosses I found and put together. With the knowledge passed on by Grandmama. Could I harm rather than fix? As much as I hated Mathis, I found that very unlikely. *** Looking at Veline’s beauty, I knew she had the wisdom to tell me what I needed to know but she was refusing. It made me angry at her. In a way, she’s letting all those girls suffer. “Why won’t you just tell me, how to stop him?” I asked her. She patted the slat. Indicating I should get back up. “Come back up here so I can finish my work.” I reluctantly edged back up on it. Reminding me of Mathis’ dreaded crank table which had opened me for him to ravish me. Giving him free access to my center. But this was no creaking wooden table. It’s just a flat piece of rock. “It’s not as simple as that.” Veline explained. “Some things have to come slowly. Magic, especially that belonging to an individual rather than a group, is like a precious flower. You must give it room to grow then nurture it into full bloom.” I didn’t understand what she was saying. “You have to find it in its own time.” She elaborated. Brushing my sticky hair back from my forehead. “You’re healed.” I heard the other one telling Triana. She rolled hesitantly off the stone and set her feet gingerly on the forest floor. Straightening in shock and then staring at her hands in wonder. She gave me a startled look. Appearing much like a stunned animal searching me for answers. “It-it doesn’t hurt.” She said slowly. Rubbing her tongue through her mouth as if surprised by the feel of it. They’d cut her tongue out. “Are you okay?” I asked her. Rushing over to take her hand. She pointed her toes and took another step. “The pain…It’s…Gone…” Tears ruptured in her eyes sending a great rush of water down her cheeks as she was overcome with gratefulness. She sent Veline and the other sprite a great look of thanks. They both smiled tenderly and slowly waved at her. *** “Take her to the Cleansing Pool.” Veline directed me. Pointing further into the trees. I caught Triana’s hand. Walking with her following behind. She ducked a low branch and then another before we reached the steaming pool. We waded in and I instantly felt sore muscles easing. Bruises loosening the skin they marked. All the tension and anxiety seeming washed away the moment the water touched us. I watched as the glistening pool began to move. Rolling up over Triana and I. Crawling over our chests and shoulders, and then rolling over our heads like a hood. Cleansing our hair and bodies of all the darker things that had taken hold back in the WitchFall dungeons. “I feel…Free.” Triana looked at me in wonder. “Their healing?” I gave her a tender look. “Yes. And your touch…I think. You took my hand and what was left to cause me pain just floated away like on the wings of a butterfly, she said wistfully. I feel free.” I blinked at her. Getting the soul deep sense that she was nothing like Bethanie. She won’t go back to him. Not now. Despite the horrible scene I’d witnessed when I’d first tried to take Triana away from Mathis and she had clung to him. Begging to stay. And be tortured. We rose from that pool to put the dresses Mathis had given us back on. Then we’ll head for Kirkin. But what had seemed an impossible journey while I was so sore and tired, now seemed reasonable. I felt refreshed. As though I’d slept a whole day and night and could now walk forever. We rose from the pool. Our bare, moonlit bodies still steaming from the warmth of the pool. Breasts ripe and swollen and nipples hard as the first tiny gusts hit us. Slim bare legs carrying us out of the water and delicate feminine feet hitting the forest moss. Hand in hand we fumbled for our dresses in the faint light. Looking for all the world like wild forest spirits. I found mine of fine material and pulled it on over me. Aware how it clung to the round swells of my body. Illuminating them beckoningly. Then I helped Triana into hers. Though she could move fine now, I was still tending her as though she were horribly wounded. Just when we went to leave, I heard a sound and realized one of the village boys was stepping from behind a tree. Having spied on me like I spied on Mathis. His hand levelled at me. “I knew you was witches!” *** Oh no. I recognized Uriah. He was the son of one of our village’s biggest witch haters, the village tanner. “Witches!” He shouted over his shoulder. Still pointing at us. Triana huddled against me. Scared witless. Timothy the tanner emerged from the trees. Eyeing us. “What are you two doing out here in the dark?” His gaze lingered on Triana. Roving over her with a black scowl. His brows lowered as eyed her short black hair. “They was bathing naked in the middle of the night, Pa!” Uriah announced. “We-We couldn’t sleep.” I said in a rush. “Were you girls sleeping together then?” Timothy asked in a dark tone. His face turning frightening. “No-no.” I shook my head adamantly. “She’s my friend.” “They bathed naked, Pa.” Uriah reiterated. “Then they walked these woods naked and dressed each other in the moonlight. Witches, Pa!” 40 Timothy the Tanner Timothy nodded slowly at what his boy had said. Timothy, the tanner, looked as evil as I thought he was. With thinning brown hair which hung around his face in greasy strands. And small beady eyes which seemed sunk into his thin face. His jaw led to a pointed chin and his lips were thin. He constantly licked them as if nervous all the time. He was short and thin and always smelled of onions. He was looking from me to Triana then back and forth. He suddenly stalked toward us, and we both tensed. He caught Triana’s arm and dragged her further into the trees, pulling her behind a wide trunk and talking to her in a hushed voice. “What’s happening.” I looked at Uriah. “He’s finding out if she’s a witch!” Uriah said. Sitting on the log. “Pa can tell. He questions them and then he knows if we should go tell Mathis, we has witches.” “Why are you in these woods at night?” I asked him. “Looking for witches.” He asserted confidently. Looking for women creeping in the dark, more like. I thought of Timothy and how badly he wanted to accuse village girls of being witches. He’d been the one to point the finger at my friend, Mary. *** They’re taking too long. Timothy had already been gone with Triana for nearly twenty minutes. How much questioning could he be doing? “Stay here.” I told Uriah. He crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m watching you…You’re not getting away. Pa will find you. He’s real good at spottin’ them witches.” “I won’t run.” I reassured him. However, that was exactly my thought. To get Triana and get the hell out of these woods. “I know your Pa will just find me. It’d be pointless.” I murmured to reassure him. “That’s right.” He nodded. I lifted my skirt and stepped quietly into the direction they’d gone. It was so dark without the moonlight here that I had to feel my way, along some trunks. Timothy must know his way from being out here spying with his son at night. How often are they out here? Looking for witches. I found it very unlikely that was what they were doing. I rounded the large trunk I saw them walk behind and could see another patch of moonlight seeping through the trees just ahead. I could hear a sound that almost reminded me of pulling a cloth from a bucket of water. A sopping sound. As I drew closer it was louder and more rhythmic. I grimaced. Afraid I knew that sound. Mathis had made it in my mouth when he’d inserted his thickened member into my throat. No. I walked a bit quicker and almost stumbled over a large log. Just beyond it was the waft of white moonlight peering in a long the side of a giant tree trunk. Timothy was leaned back against it. His head lurching forward and back in pleasure. “That a girl. Good girl. I won’t tell.” He was murmuring. His shirt was pulled up and his pants were open around his privates. Crouched on her knees before him was Triana. Her breasts were above the bodice of her gown and red from being groped and bit at. Her hands on his thighs as she lightly pushed him back to keep him from going to far in her throat for too long. And stealing her air. I remembered the fear of that feeling. No…I felt a pang of horror at the sight. “More.” Timothy directed. “Take it deeper.” Timothy had both hands atop her head and was guiding her forward and back along his shaft. She was slurping as she was dragged forward. Her eyes closed in misery as she sucked on his swollen part. He pulled her against him, and she gurgled before pulling back and forward more. He moaned happily. His head rolling to the side. He stroked her head as if she were an obedient puppy. “Do it well. I won’t say a word. Good girl…” *** “Stop!” I lost all control. I picked up a rock and hurled it. Making him stiffen and duck his head. “Go away!” He barked. Holding Triana’s head to him when she tried to jerk away at the sound of my voice. “Let her finish, damn you!” He growled. Beginning to push into her mouth while he held her still to receive it. She twisted her face enough to peer at me hopefully. Wanting saved from what he was doing. And this time, I can stop it. “I’m sooo close…” He grunted. Driving harder. Making her breasts hop above her dress and her grip on his thighs become more clawing as she tried to push him back. Choking. I hurled another rock and this one hit him in the side of the head. “Ouch!” He shouted. Clutching where it was already starting to bleed. Triana yanked her face from his other hand and crawled backward. Trying to pull her dress back over herself. As I had in Mathis’ Dining Hall. Timothy looked nearly desperate as he leaned over trying to reach for her. Wanting more of what he’d been getting. “No! No more!” I picked up another rock and hit him in the shoulder. He ducked away. Hiding behind the tree and peering around it. “I’ll tell the Magistrate! He’ll know what you are. A couple whores practicing at witchery!” “We’re not whores!” I cried. Sending another rock pinging off the bark next to his face. “Not even if you try to turn us into ones.” “Saria…” His voice turned coaxing. “I only want one…If one of you finishes what she started, I won’t tell what you two were doing out here in the middle of the night. Not a peep. Come suck me.” There was a pleading hint in his voice. “I need it.” “No. You want it! And you don’t get to have it just because.” I slung another rock. He yelped. “You bitch hound! I’m taking you to the magistrate. I’m going to tell him what you are! You’ll suffer in his dungeons until you confess. Who knows what he’ll do to you down there!” “Better than you!” I’d hopped that log and was armed with another rock when I rounded the tree. He was cowering against it with his arms over his head. Trembling. “Saria! Please, no. I only…I just…Please don’t kill me.” He was so weak. Sitting there simpering. I lifted the rock high, prepared to smash his ugly thin face when a voice cutting the darkness stopped me. “What’s going on here?” It was Mathis’ booming voice rending the darkness. *** I froze. No. “I got him, Pa! I got the Magistrate for these witches!” Uriah announced from behind the folds of Mathis’ imposing black cloak. I already knew what was going to happen. Mathis was going to take me and Triana back to WitchFall. We were caught and I knew he’d take full advantage of the situation. As he always does. I thought about trying to plead with him. But I remembered how Mayor Marx hadn’t believed me when I’d tried to tell him that Mathis was the witch. It was the nature of our culture that men didn’t believe the women. We were considered lowly, irrelevant. Especially commoner ones like me. I lowered my arm and looked at Mathis with a broken expression. “Saria…” He crooned “Come here. To me.” I eyed him fearfully. Reluctantly letting the rock fall and walking to him on deadened feet. Relieved at least, that he hadn’t summoned Triana as well. I stopped just before him. He gave my face a searching look but said nothing more to acknowledge me. Looking over my head he ordered. “Timothy, tell me what has happened.” “These witches.” He pointed to me. “Were out here bathing in the dark. Frolicking with demons while they engaged in filthy acts of intercourse.” 41 Charges Timothy’s charges were utterly ridiculous. I twisted to look over my shoulder at him. Appalled that he’d taken his lies so far. “The only filthy act of intercourse was you forcing your way into Triana’s mouth!” I shrieked furiously. When I turned my head back to Mathis. His hands were instantly along my cheeks, catching my head in a hypnotic grip. “Tell me what happened.” He said in that oddly echoey voice. “We were washing for me to take her home to Kirkin. They were spying on us.” I gestured behind me limply. “They accused us. Then Timothy took Triana. He was making her suck on him.” I nodded downward to make my meaning clear. “So, I pelted him with a rock.” Mathis’ face was unreadable. “I bet you did.” I couldn’t tell if that was disapproval or admiration. It was too dark, and his voice was too flat to give away anything. He doesn’t believe me. He’s going to take us back. “Mathis! I swear it’s true!” I heard the boy and his father gasp behind me because I had not called Mathis by his title. “Calm yourself.” Mathis growled through gritted teeth. “And hush.” “But-” He gave me a harsh look. “Timothy come here, so I can have a look at you.” Timothy hesitantly came over. It annoyed me that when Mathis barked, we all obeyed as if were his minions. He believes everyone in this land is here to serve him. My jaw tightened. Wanting to slap him for not believing me. For caring about Timothy’s stupid wounds. Mathis rounded and lowered before Uriah. Catching him by the shoulders. “I’ll handle this witchery. You go home to your mother and take your bed.” Uriah’s small dark eyes seemed to blacken and he nodded stiltedly before turning and walking hypnotically back toward the village. Mathis straightened and met Timothy as he approached. His black cloak whipping in the darkness with his fast movements. Making him seem a towering figure as he faced Timothy who stared back at him unblinking. Fully prepared to see this lie through. Without a word, Mathis reached out and caught Timothy’s head. Jerking it around nearly backward. Making a loud crunch and causing a long squeaking noise to emanate from his throat before he collapsed limply. His fingertips twitching and his eyes bulging. *** I covered my mouth in horror. Triana huddled against my back. “Don’t make us go back.” I gave Mathis a pleading look. Terrified what he’d do to us after the violence he’d just shown. “I’m not.” He shrugged. “I gave you my word. I let you go.” I shook my befuddled head. “I don’t understand.” “I set you free tonight. Both of you.” He nodded toward Triana. “No one turns you back into slaves once I free you.” He reached over so fast I flinched. Though I refused to back up. He lifted the bottom of my chin. “Especially you. You are mine.” I blinked at him in shock. He’d done this to defend me? Triana was whimpering. Pulling at the back of my dress as if trying to huddle so close against me she might become invisible. Mathis gave her an assessing look over my shoulder. His eyes narrowing in the darkness. “Veline has done her work already, I see?” He turned and began looking around as one might when searching for a ghost in the night. He looked back at me. “Be careful, My Saria, wandering about in the night is a good way for young women to get hurt.” “It’s not as though I have any choice.” “Certainly, you do.” “You could come for the girls the following morning, rather than wandering around in the dark when you can’t see.” I frowned at him. “You’d let me do that.” He scowled. “Of course, I would.” “So, you could have more time with them!” I accused. The idea registering that he’d have more time to torture the girls before I could take them.” “Don’t be idiotic.” He said acidly. “I would ensure no one touched them after you selected them.” “But the ogres…” “Are still at my command.” *** I frowned at him, trying to determine what the catch was. “Why are you being kind?” “Common sense is not kindness.” He grunted. Turning from me. I sensed the conversation was making him uncomfortable and he wanted to get back up to his sanctuary. Rather than being down here where Veline might get him. I speculated. Wondering if he feared her. She’s no mortal he can control anymore. “Mathis.” My soft voice sifted through the trees and brought him to an abrupt stop. “Do you offer me to pick the girls up the following day, so you have another chance to see me?” I uttered my suspicion carefully. I hadn’t said because he’d want another chance at me. I truly didn’t feel like that was what this was about. It’s something else. He peered over his shoulder with those vibrant green eyes which seemed to glint in the blackness. “Perhaps.” After giving me a long look, he waved over his head. “Goodnight, Saria. No more men for tonight, aye?” “Yes, Mathis.” I said a bit softly. Stunned that he’d not only saved us, but then allowed us to continue on our way. I don’t understand him at all. *** Triana slid to her knees before me. Sobbing. “It’s okay.” I assured her. “We’re alright. They’re gone.” “I-I’ve never…” She tipped her head up to gurgle around her tongue. As if it didn’t feel right in her throat. How long was it missing? I winced at the idea. “S-seen him-him like…” “Mathis?” I cut her off. She nodded emphatically. I twisted to see if I could still see his shadow in the moonlight, but he was long gone. When I looked back at her, she poked me in the chest. “Sp-special…” “I am?” “Different.” She croaked through a raw throat. “I am just a new toy.” I asserted. Helping to lift her to her feet. She was shaking her head adamantly. Though I pretended to be ignoring her, it made my stomach tight to think that Mathis was kind to me. Treated me differently then the rest. Like I’m special. I immediately remembered everything he’d done to me while I was restrained in that stockade. If that’s how he treats someone special, I don’t want to be his special thing. I just want Udora back. I thought bitterly. As we walked, I could tell that Triana was both mentally and physically exhausted. I tried to help by telling her about my family. And about Udora. About the great fun we’d have and how she was always my co-conspirator in everything. I gladly told her everything I could think of. As we past the final sign into Kirkin, I began to tell Triana a more somber story. I told her about Bethanie. All that I’d endured to set her free. And then what it’d felt like to see her with Mathis. Suffering yet again. “I w-w-won’t…” “Go back to him?” I challenged her. She shook her head adamantly. “Never.” I believed her. There was some hint of strength in Triana that Bethanie had lacked. And I hoped that with Veline’s purification work that whatever the dark little eggs were, they couldn’t take hold of Triana anymore. I decided after that, that if I was able to free anymore young women I would take them all to Veline before taking them home. And hopefully give them more of a chance… 42 A Chance More of a chance of what? I wondered. Resisting him? I couldn’t imagine being so weak that I’d return to him for his torturing pleasure. But I could admit in some tiny place in the back of my mind that Mathis’ control over me was growing. That my yearning to see him again was evolving. And that something in how I viewed him, was changing. In ways that are entirely unsettling. Just as we went to leave the edge of the woods, Veline appeared in the path. Nearly startling me out of my skin. “Veline?” I asked. Studying the hazy outline of her lovely blonde hair and vivacious blue eyes. Seeing there was a near-panicked urgency written over her. She reached as if to urgently catch me by the shoulder, but instead her hand floated through me. “What happened with Mathis?” Back at WitchFall? It dawned on me that she must’ve just seen the interaction with Timothy the Tanner or caught some part of it. And she doesn’t understand it anymore than I do. But something about the events had caught Veline’s attention even more than anything before had. I gave her an incredulous study. “The usual.” If she was there when we were dealing with Timothy, why wouldn’t she have helped? But the logical part of my brain asked what I thought she could’ve possibly done. Appeared and scared the wits out of him? I didn’t think she could even touch anything. “Have you seen something ontoward?” I asked her. Trying to get a bit more information. I chewed my lip a moment and looked cautiously around. Wondering if Mathis might still be close enough, he could be eavesdropping. I recalled the hateful look that I’d seen on Mathis’ face when he’d suspected Veline’s intervention before. “He’s gone.” Veline assured. I knew she was wanting to know what I’d witnessed in WitchFall with Mathis that might explain why he was doing things to be kind to me. I envisioned the silent screaming face rearing from his back as we’d stood under the icy drizzle in the washbin. “I saw-there was…In his back…” I paused. Trying to gather some way to explain something so nonsensical. “I saw someone else…” Veline’s brow furrowed. “Saw someone?” “Someone screaming…” I said softly. Knowing I sounded like the world’s biggest fool. “A man screaming under his skin.” She may think I’m crazy. I was trying not to look at Triana because I didn’t want to scare her anymore. She’s suffered enough tonight without wondering if I’m fit for a madhouse. But in my peripheral, I caught Triana turning to blink at me in shock. Fear written over her. “He’s there…” Veline breathed. The screaming man? Veline knows him? Or did? “Who?” I leaned forward. Instantly intrigued. “You must understand,” Veline said carefully. “What you see now is the body of another. But the thing residing in him wasn’t always who he was.” “You’re saying the real man is there somewhere under the skin?” “I’m saying he might be…Only might.” Veline chewed her cheek worriedly. Her hands threading through her wispy dress to comfort herself. She swerved her hand into a concealed pocket between the folds of her skirt. She pulled out a tiny, stoppered vial that could have no more than a few drops of pale blue liquid inside. She lowered to set it on the ground. “If you get the chance, pour this on his skin.” I stared at her in shock. How in the world would that ever be possible without me getting gravely punished? “What would it do?” “It might help quell the beast and give you a better look at the man that once was.” Who he once was? “What good would that do?” “They’re both in that body…” Veline breathed. “But if he’s been controlled by the monster this long, what good could it possibly do?” And would the monster know I’d spoken to the man? *** That thought was even more terrifying. My mind raced through all the options that Mathis might consider to give me as a consequence of anything I did, he didn’t like. If the Mathis I knew, found I was playing games with the body he inhabited or trying to give someone secret messages, he might very well kill me. Or worse, drop me into the WitchFall Dungeon and throw away the key. He’d threatened to do that more than once. I was already breathing raggedly as Veline backed up into the shadows of trees. I felt her presence still there and knew she hadn’t completely gone. She’s giving me time to think it over. But all I could do was stare at the vial in horror. I can’t take that. But before I could even fully make a decision, Triana knelt and lifted it. Gripping it at the slenderest part of the neck, as if afraid of fully gripping it. She held it out to me as if she too were afraid of it. But thought it important I take it. Immediately. I stared at her, mouth gaping as my hand slowly closed around the bit of cut glass. Seeing the desperate look in her eyes and realizing she’d stand there for hours offering it to me if I didn’t take it. She glanced pointedly from Veline to me, as if to emphasize the importance of it coming from the wisened old sprite. The tiny lid tinked in the stoppered neck as I took it. Feeling how cold it was as my fingers wrapped fully around it. Triana gave me a slow nod. Telling me I’d done the right thing. “I don’t know if I can…” Use it. It could be very dangerous. Triana gave me a long look that somehow conveyed that she thought I could. We were arguing without words. She must believe in me more than I do. Triana caught my shoulders and helped turn me back onto the path. As though she would be the one guiding us now. She was pushing me forward in the direction of Kirkin. I looked at the girl and her short brown hair and thought of all the painful suffering she’d been through, and I wondered how she was so strong. Her strength gave me strength. If she could endure Mathis’ torture for however long he’d had her and then go on to become the victim of the gray ogre which had favored her, then have the resilience to do what she thought was needed for the tanner in the woods, to protect us, she was truly strong. In a way that I’m not sure I am. *** Veline was so far away now she was almost only a cloud in the blackness. But she’s still watching. Waiting. “Veline?” I asked her. She took a quick step forward. As if she’d been unsure about leaving to begin with. Like she wants to say more. “Even if it brought the real man forward, would the monster know?” It was the question I feared the answer to most. “He may.” She admitted reluctantly. “We don’t fully know how any of it works.” Well, at least it’s not me, solely in the dark. I thought dryly. My stomach tightening at the thought of how dangerous being sneaky with Mathis could become. “What makes you think it will even do any good to talk to the other?” What could the screaming man possibly do to help? He’d seemed every bit the captive I was. Trapped in that skin. “I don’t know for sure that it will…” She said so quietly I barely heard her. “But there’s a chance…” “And it seems you are very special. It is the first time in decades, possibly centuries, that I’ve heard of anyone glimpsing him. You are…” I waited for her to finish. “Different…” Different how? It wasn’t the first time Veline had said such things, but she wasn’t telling me how or what that meant. And being ‘different’ certainly doesn’t mean I won’t end up as one of his wraiths down in those dungeons. That had now solidified as my worst fear. I could be the one in Udora’s cage. Every day felt like it might be leading closer to that exact fate. It was something I hated admitting to myself. Because it may be as inevitable as it is sickening. I could be tied over a table and left there for Mathis to pound into as he saw fit. To feed on in his dark magic way, for an eternity. Sensing that Veline didn’t really know what more to say, I let it go. And this time she left. In truth. 43 Triana Goes Home Having no pocket to hold the vial in, but feeling that it was gravely important I not lose the precious fluid, I dropped it into the bodice of my dress. Knowing that the cinched waist would firmly hold it in place. For now, anyway. As we emerged through the village, Triana pointed toward Kirkin. Patting my shoulder reassuringly. She wants to go alone? “You don’t want me to go with you?” Triana lifted her hands and shook them in a dissuading way. “Very kind.” She touched the top of my chest lightly. “But very tired.” I was tired. Beyond exhausted really. “I can’t let you go alone. What if someone else like Timothy came along?” I worried. Still walking through the empty early morning booths of the village. Walking a bit faster as I realized that the sun would be coming up soon and early risers might be wandering out with their goods. She gave a sad shake of her head to indicate she didn’t feel that’d be very likely. Even worse, I didn’t dare tell her that my other fear was if I left her to walk alone, Mathis might still come gather her. I don’t think he would. He could’ve back there with Timothy. But he hadn’t. But part of me feared that was only because it was in my presence, and I was his favorite plaything. I couldn’t confirm it, but I thought that perhaps he cared more about what I thought of him, in some twisted way, then I thought he should. Or he wants me to think that while we engage in this strange game of his where I’m forced to return to act as his toy. But a deeply wrong move on his part and I could be chased away forever. And never go back to him. It was odd to think that in some sick way we were engaged in whatever dark form of seduction this was. He has to keep me close enough to keep me coming back. But torment me enough to get whatever it is he needs from all this. So, granting me such gifts as freeing the girls and defending us from a tanner that would’ve ravished us in those woods, were his sort of romantic prize in order to keep me close. That thought made my stomach tight. *** The vial was cold against my skin. A stark reminder of its presence. I was walking next to Triana as we drew near my house. It was clear she wanted me to go turn here and get rest. But I was very worried about sending her off alone. She scanned the line of houses along the stone wall. I knew what she was asking so I pointed to the small brown hut where I knew mother and father would be soundly sleeping. With no idea what I’ve been getting into in the late hours. They’d be destroyed if they ever found out. I was ruined for any man who might have ever wanted to be my husband. Engaged in this weird battle with some demonic kin, I was losing more and more of myself. Drawing further from the healer I’d been when it all began. “Go.” Triana put her hand to my shoulder and nodded toward it. “Home.” I gave her an anxious look. She nodded slowly. Reassuring me that she’d be fine. She’s stronger than anyone would ever guess just looking at her. I turned hesitantly to the dirt walk to my home. She nodded. Urging me to go. She believes she’ll be fine. And I just concluded that Mathis won’t hurt her. I sighed and my shoulders slumped from the bone deep weariness. Despite all my good intentions, I was unsure if I’d have even made it to Kirkin. My whole body ached. Muscles deep inside me felt bruised, perhaps torn, and my soul felt like it was waning. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d had a proper meal. I’ve spent so much time locked in my room or worrying about Udora, I’ve barely ate. As I crept to the side of my house where my bedroom window was, I realized I was looking at this all wrong. I can’t just keep going with the motions. I need to take some control over this. That meant I needed to stop seeing the whole situation as if I were some sad victim. I need to look at it like the battle it is. Prepare for it, fight it... So tomorrow I would eat, I would rest, I’d gather strength and prepare for my next dual with the midnight magistrate. *** I did. I woke the next morning. Pushing the ugliness of the night past aside, I went in search of some of father’s fresh baked bread. Stepping outside I found the sun already well above the horizon. Indicating that it was full morning. I slept in. That wasn’t particularly shocking since I’d been up the better part of the night. Stepping outside the front door, I already caught the scent of father’s bread. The sound of voices bartering over goods in the market. The stink of raw meat from the meat stands. And the smell of tomatoes from the vegetable baskets down the road. It was somewhat strange to me that while I had a growing hollowness trying to swallow me inside, these people moved about utterly oblivious to what was happening around them. They’ve no idea the real evil that’s out here. My gaze couldn’t help sliding up toward WitchFall on the high hill. Wandering between the booths of the market, I found the stand where he had his baskets of pretty gold loafs. “Hungry, My Dear?” He smiled at me. “You haven’t come by here in a long while.” Since you all let him lock up Udora. The hint of betrayal flared but I checked it. It’s not father’s fault. He has no idea what lives in that Fortress. He handed me a sweet roll. My favorite. “Breakfast?” He offered with a smile. “Thanks.” I took it. “Your mother is purchasing a chicken from James Cook today. Why don’t you go see about helping her?” I nodded and wandered off through the people. Feeling very bereft without Udora’s laughter next to me. She was more a sister than a friend. She’d know just what to say to me to get me through this. I thought absentmindedly as I wound my way toward James’ meat booth. When I glanced up, I started at the hazy sight of Mathis standing in my path amidst the crowd. His image seemed strange. Like a reflection on swaying water. I froze staring at him. The sweet roll dangling loosely from my palm. He looked very odd. Much younger, less tense and he was staring at me with a sort of desperation. He mouthed my name, but I heard no sound. He lifted a swaying hand and pointed toward the trees bordering the market. My brow furrowed and I gave him a contemptuous look. He thinks to lure me that easily? I scanned the crowd around me and realized what was painfully obvious. I’m the only one that can see him. Like when he appeared in my house. But there was something different in this. Some hint of something else I couldn’t define. I somehow knew this was different. Rare. I could feel a crackle in the air that told me there was magic here. But it doesn’t have the slimy feel of Mathis’ dark magic. But there was some darkness in his green eyes that was pleading for me to go. As if he needs me to do it. Now. Turning with a swish of my brown skirts, I ambled to the trees and stepped just behind one. His hazy form manifested before me. Vibrating from the grass upward in feet, legs, hands, shoulders and finally his face. And he was staring at me ominously. “What is it?” I said acidly. “You can’t defeat him alone.” He said quietly. Turning his head to look pointedly up at WitchFall. 44 An Ally My brows shot up. “Him, who?” “Mathis.” You are Mathis. But at the same time, he wasn’t. He was entirely different. Softer. With kinder eyes. Maybe not… I frowned. Eyeing him warily. “And who are you?” “Jonas.” I was trying to put the pieces together to puzzle this out, but my numbed brain was struggling. “Are you trying to convince me, you aren’t Mathis?” “I’m not.” He said flatly. His voice breathy and hollow. “In a weak moment, I invited in a monster. And he’s walked in my skin ever since.” “In your skin?” “My body...” He said slowly. “You’re saying Mathis is the thing possessing that body up there?” “My body.” He nodded. As if he thinks I’m stupid. “If he’s possessing your body, how are you here?” “Because of you.” I gave him an impatient glare. Lowering my head in warning. He waved his hands before him. “Here. Listen. I don’t think I have much time, but it is gravely important you go back to him.” “Go back!” My voice rose. I hated this plan already. “Keep getting the girls out of there. He doesn’t know how much you’re draining him. Just the fact that he’s weak enough I can step out is a sign of how much damage you’ve already done.” “Damage?” I blinked at him in horror. Damage to what? Me? “He doesn’t know what you are yet.” “I don’t think I know what I am!” What is he implying? “It’s hard to explain.” He looked anxiously over his shoulder. “I-He’s waking up!” *** The hazy silhouette suddenly vanished. Gone as abruptly as he’d appeared in the middle of the crowd of people. Jonas. The body Mathis inhabited. He was the one that Veline had wanted me to try and reach. I envisioned the vial I had safely tucked along the bottom rail of my bed. Hidden from father. The fluid in it was supposed to be able to draw this man out. I felt like the information I was gathering was like reaching for bits of wheat in the wind. Each time I could almost touch them, they leaned further away and all I ended up with was a few seeds in my hand. Impossible to catch. I felt like I was in shock. I saw a ghost. Then another thought fully sunk in. He wants to help me. It seemed a natural assumption that he wanted his body back. And the thing inside him out. I was overwhelmed by that prospect. Certain that I wasn’t powerful enough to make that happen. I’m just a healer. Jonas had said that Mathis was weakening and that was how he was able to manifest for me to see. There’s so many things he knows. I have to talk to him again! *** I returned to the market on leaden feet. Feeling like everything was dulled. Voices around me seemed further away. And I was having a hard time hearing any of them clearly. Even the smells seemed duller as my mind raced. Locked on the bits of information Jonas had given me. He thinks I’m damaging Mathis. That Mathis is getting weaker. The thought of going back to him made my stomach tight. I yearned to beg him for a night of reprieve. I was exhausted and the thought of going back was nightmarish. On the other hand I couldn’t imagine sleeping in my bed and knowing that Udora might be enduring whatever fate, Mathis had in mind for me. I can’t go back to WitchFall. My gaze wandered to the Fortress on the hill. With its peaking towers. Leering at me like the dark face of some monstrous creature. I shuddered and looked away. Feeling the cold sorrow that always filled me when I stepped inside that massive house. Knowing some dreadful fate awaited me. And the terrible pain… I can’t do it. Not tonight. 45 James I went toward the booths. Meandering until I found James’ meat stand. Seeing the chickens hanging upside down from the beam above on the right. Squirrels hanging from the right. The scent of cooking pork emanating from a giant pit just behind the stand. Cooked bird legs laid out on a platter. My mother was there. Haggling with him over the price of some meat. Her long wavy brown hair running down her back. Telling me it was her. Her shoulders were broad, and she was a small squat woman. But she made up for that in gentleness and intelligence. Her voice was raising, and I could see father from the bakery giving me a meaningful look. He nodded toward the stand for me to go help her. I swept my long hair over my shoulder to get it off my sweating neck and headed for the stand. I caught mom’s arm. She turned to me. Flushed and furious. “What’s wrong?” I asked her in a quiet voice. “He didn’t deliver the last chickens I purchased.” She gestured to him in frustration. James was a big man. With large hands and a huge frame and he was scaring at her blackly but upon seeing me his face lightened. “Saria…” He greeted. “James…” I nodded. Knowing he was a handful of years older than me but big enough to throttle both me and mother. “Where are the chickens Mother purchased.” His mouth whitened briefly. “I was explaining to her, that I merely forgot to bring them by but-” “You were not!” She pointed at him. “You were just telling me that I had not paid for them and you were awaiting payment.” I frowned. Mom always paid for goods before she expected them to be delivered. She wouldn’t have missed that. I gave James a thoughtful study. Wondering if he was trying a ploy to get extra pay from him. I gave mom’s arm a reassuring squeeze. She bit her tongue, but I could tell she was nearly shrieking with fury. “James…Would you please send the chickens by and we’d like a squirrel as well.” I reached back to mom and she slapped a coin in my hand. I put it to the top of the booth and slid it over to him. James nodded. “Of course. As I told her, I’ll be by tonight.” I nodded slowly. Turning from the stand and putting my arm around my shorter mother to guide her away before she made more of a scene. “He’s a damnable thief!” She declared in a huff. “Are you certain you paid him, Ma?” “Dead certain.” She stopped to glare at me. “That boy has tried to steal coin from several women of this village.” “He’s crooked!” She declared. Peering around me to eye the man leaning behind the booth to pull a bit of cooked meat up onto the counter and start slicing off bits to put on another platter. “Were he not the only meat provider…” She growled in her throat. “It’s okay, Ma… I’ll deal with it.” Her brown eyes focused on me, and she reached up to softly touch my cheek. “You’re such a good girl, Saria. So beautiful. Some day you’ll make some lucky boy a wonderful wife.” I can’t… I felt tears immediately leap into my eyes as I knew the probability of that was very unlikely. Who’d want me now? Father materialized next to us. With a reassuring hand on mother’s back. “Are you okay, Sweetheart?” She nodded. Still aggravated. “What happened?” He leaned down to peer at her. “He’s a thief.” “She bought chickens, but he said he forgot to bring them by. He said he’ll drop them off tonight with the squirrel.” “He better.” Dad’s jaw ticked. “We don’t have coin to be wasting to thieves.” That’s true. Dad made precious little selling his breads and biscuits. I wish I knew how to hunt. I’d make it so mom never had to talk to James. I’d always thought he was nice enough. He seemed kind and did whatever I asked him to, but I’d heard from other village girls that there was another side to him. But hearing it from Ma was quite different. She didn’t exaggerate things or create drama. If she says it…It’s true. Why would James steal from us? *** That night there was a knock at the door just after dark. Father opened the door and saw James there in his bloodied apron, holding a torch. He unlaced a squirrel from his waist and lifted it to offer to father. “And the chickens.” “I’ll get them. Can Saria help me carry them?” “Certainly.” Father called me to come to the door. I saw James standing there and walked to stand next to dad. He was large framed, tall and had huge thick arms and a narrow waist. A body well-honed from the hard work of butchering beasts. He had a sprinkling of thinning dark hair on his head and small brown eyes beneath slashing brown brows. “Help him get the chickens your mother ordered.” My father asked. I squinted past James and was trying to see if there was a horse or his meat cart out there, but it was too dark to tell. I stepped out and walked with him toward the road. Once near it, he caught my shoulders and turned me. “I must speak to you.” “Yes?” I gave him a questioning look. “You know I’m the only butcher in the village?” “Yes…” My brows drew together. Where’s he going with this? “Things would be a lot easier with your family if I were your husband.” I paused. Taking that in. “Are you proposing we wed?” He gave a single nod. Mathis would be furious. He’d kill Udora. And the entire village would find out I’m not whole. Mathis already took what should’ve belonged to my future spouse. I have nothing to offer now. Not even my innocence. I remembered all the ways Mathis had already taken me. The things he’d done…And knew that was something I could never claim to be again. “I’m afraid that’s not something I can do, James.” He grunted and took a step back. “Well, perhaps fetching those chickens is not something I can do.” He was furious. Nearly shaking with rage. His small brown eyes now seeming nearly black in the dim light of the torch. Because I said no.

31 A Tale of Wolves Reassured that whatever he’d heard was no threat to us, Magus continued talking about the wolf that had lived so long ago. “Once torn from his pack he sought refuge with humanity and found them kinder than his own beasts,” Magus gave me a pointed look. Reminding me that only those who were, could refer to their group as such. “Had been.” “And?” Hawk sighed. Clearly losing patience with the story. “He yearned to be human enough that the Green King, who controls all things nature and sky sensed his suffering. The Green King offered him a bargain.” “I’ve never heard of such a person.” Hawk said. “He exists.” Magus said. “He gives you magic from the land as well as the other creatures like us our extraordinary gifts.” “What was the bargain?” I asked. “He could be human. But he would retain his wolf spirit. And under certain conditions, such as the Mating Moon, he would revert back to the beast at his core.” “And he then became the father of such creatures?” I asked softly. “Not the father, per say. But the origination.” “Meaning?” Hawk this time. “Meaning he did father several children long ago. But they were taken from him. One by the wolves, who thought he was their kind as a pup. And the other by humans who thought the boy was a human. They were the beginning.” “So ever since, Beast Pups have been born.” I breathed. “Indeed.” Magus said. “It’s said that he still exists. Immortal as he is. A creature designed by the hand of the Green King, he is nearly impossible to kill.” “So where is he?” “Buried in a wolf pack. Hidden amongst his kind. Pretending to be one of them.” “Who is he?” I asked. Wondering if I’d heard of him before. “Nobody knows who he was originally, but the Beasts have always called him ‘Fury’. Though his legend has become so secret that I only stumbled upon it in King Detry’s archives. I’ve never heard his tale before.” “He’s hidden what he is completely.” I said in shock. “Wouldn’t you?” Magus paused to toss over his shoulder. “Those of your kind who hate what they are will hate you. Those who aren’t your kind but hate them will hate you. And those of your kind that appreciate what they are won’t appreciate the fact that you’re different, eternal...Old and nearly impossible to kill.” “They’ll fear it.” Hawk said sagely. As if he had some familiarity with creatures like these. *** “Why do you tell us this now?” I asked Magus. “Because we are heading to Gallion’s Land, and I wanted you to understand their history.” “Their?” Why do wolves that are no longer there matter so much to him? I exchanged a curious look with Hawk that said we both thought the mage was making about as much sense as pudding soup. “They are the purest blood to Fury that there is. There was a time he considered them under his personal protection. But from my understanding the Gallions turned on him and banished him from their pack which was what allowed the NightHunters to come in and make war on them. But the rumor is that it wasn’t before the Alpha of the Gallions had scattered his children. Keeping the three youngest to protect himself but sending all the older children to the varying corners of NightGlen.” “So, where are they?” I breathed. “How many were there?” Hawk’s analytical mind was already running the statistics to determine if it was more likely the children were dead or alive. “Enough that at least one, has lived.” Magus murmured. “Ah, we’ve reached the wall. So, I’ll lead you beyond the old house to the far end of Gallions Land.” “Yes, as far from this wall as possible.” Hawk was eyeing the stone corner anxiously. He’d no desire to fight beasts. Which suited me. I don’t either! Though I’d always thought them mindless animals, I was aware how aggressive they could be. But Magus is far from mindless. This knowledge did make me minutely nervous. What if others are as sharp as he is? *** “Hawk?” I whispered. “Yes?” “What do you know of the animals?” I was careful not to use the word ‘beasts’, just in-case Magus’ was listening with his incredible hearing. “Painfully little. But it sounds like we’ll soon be learning a lot if we want to remain hidden in the Wix.” I nodded slow understanding. “You did well, today.” He remarked. “I’m glad you joined with me before we fled.” I swallowed hard at admitting it. Feeling his sharp look, I focused my attention on staring ahead at branches which came into view. Still huddled to Hawk’s chest and ducking when he did. “You’re glad? I never thought I’d hear you say that.” “I think your magic saved my life.” “No.” His brows furrowed, and his tone turned hard. “That was your magic.” I’m still not entirely sure of that. I’d been wondering if I was only able to create the water dragons because I had his power inside me and somehow, he’d conjured himself into one. “Well, either way, it was fueled by your confidence and power. So…Thank you…” “You’re welcome, Mary Mage. But in truth…I’d dearly like to have you. Just once, even without the watchful eyes of everyone in the Guild.” What does that mean? I looked up at him. “I wouldn’t push you, wouldn’t rush. I’d want to take my time learning your body as well as I know my own magic. Until I could finally get enough of you.” “What are you saying Hawk?” He stopped to look me full in the face. “Now that we’re free, Mary. I want to make love to you.” 32 Territories His words were echoing through my mind. He wanted me? Not because someone was making me take him so I could get my magic right? Not to punish me? Not to torment me…But because he wants me? That seemed a hard realization. Thinking on made my brain feel mushy and my heart pound and made confusion pour through me. Everything seemed more complicated when I couldn’t just hate Hawk, thinking that he was constantly trying to punish me. Instead, I chose to focus on the tale Magus had told. About Fury. I’d never heard a version of how Beasts came to be that originated from a true wolf wishing to be human enough that a fey king had granted him his heart’s desire…partially. It seemed inconceivable. But then, I’d seen mages pull trees up from the root. Hawk to be specific. I, more than anyone, knew that one could be limited only by their imagination if they had enough power to fuel their energy. Which, unfortunately, is sporadic for me. Because I can’t focus. Or because I’m the worst mage in mage history. “Hey, Magus, I called softly ahead of me.” “Yes?” He turned around. I knew because I could barely see the silhouette of his head and shoulders. And I heard the rustling of branches and the crunch of twigs. “If you know how Beasts came to be. How did mages emerge?” “It’s said that the great Fey King bred them himself.” Magus said simply. “That’s how it’s written in the histories.” “That sounds dreadfully simple.” I murmured. “Compared to the other story.” “It’s said that the Fey King occasionally saw a human woman which he desired and would take her back to his castle. Once she’d partaken of his great feast, made with his own hands and born from his magic, she’d become his forever. Trapped in his fey castle for all of eternity. His forever.” Magus ducked a low branch and swung around some shrubbery. Pausing and waiting for us to stumblingly catch up. “All children born of those women became the ancestors of the mages that around today.” I blinked in shock. How has no one ever spoken of that? Pure fiction? Hawk sent me a skeptical look which indicated he thought so. “Green King, Fey King…” I nodded. He doesn’t believe any of it’s true. So, was I foolish for hoping it was? *** Soon, Magus slowed and then slapped a wooden structure next to us. “This is it.” “What is it?” I asked. Wondering how Hawk could see at all. I felt completely blind. I kept blinking thinking that if I did it enough, I’d be able to perceive some light. But I didn’t. Hawk unwrapped his arm from around me and splayed his fingers. Tiny sparkling blue lights flickered around him. Like dozens of blue lightening bugs. I looked up to verify the glow wasn’t reaching the treetops. It’s too dim. We’re safe. He knows what he’s doing. I reminded myself. Warfare, hunting and being hunted are not new things for him. And for a second, I let myself guess how many mages he’d hunted down himself. How many families he may’ve participated in destroying? I couldn’t resist asking. He looked at me. Brows shooting up in surprise. “Not very many. I command the Guild. And the armies when under attack. But it’s Warlord himself, whose taken for the hunts.” Magus snorted ahead of us. “What, Magus?” He clearly had something to say. “Another of the King’s vast cruelties. He finds it greatly amusing to make Warlord kill his own kind…” He was tossing brush away from the door. “And any enemy they come across is likely to be of his own kind. Besides, he’ll know if he finds a Gallion or someone of importance, because Warlord will refuse to let them be killed. He’ll go crazy.” “He’d defend them?” “Defend them?” Magus straightened and I could feel his long stare. Though it was too black to see. “He’d kill all of us to save one of them. He only does the things he does because of one of his own kind.” I remembered what Hawk had told me. About trapping Warlord’s sister. And we all went quiet. *** Warlord has a heart. That was something almost impossible to imagine. He’s a protector. He’s killed to protect his family. Been a captive for however long King Detry has had that wisp of smoke trapped in a jar in a room in the servant’s quarters. For however long it’s been since Hawk cast the spell for him, trapping her. I looked at Magus tossing the last bits of weed from in-front of the door. Does he know Hawk caused it all? I gave Hawk a look and he was staring at me as if pleading for me not to say something. I felt his urging despite that he was no longer touching me. It was slightly breezy, and I already missed being hugged tightly against his hard body. It somehow felt far more reassuring then standing here in the dark. Blind and unable to conjure magic I could control. I feel vulnerable. “Hawk?” I said in a quaking voice. I don’t know where he came from, but he materialized to catch me in a hug. Rolling me under one arm as he’d been holding me before. His rain-soaked scent filled my nostrils, and his hard chest and stomach were firm under my hand. Like every inch of his body is. I envisioned that sleek, tanned body tightening and relaxing as he caressed into my body. Stretching me and then withdrawing. I could hear his low voice making guttural sounds of pleasure that made me more aroused. I squeezed my thighs together where we stood to try and stifle the dampness I was beginning to feel there. What am I thinking? But the longer he stood there, so close to me, the worse it got. Finally, Magus kicked a rock aside and jerked the creaking door open. “Here we go!” 33 A Haven We stepped inside. Hawk’s blue lights following us to brighten inside the small structure. The walls were only about ten foot in each direction. With long slender windows on the corners only. But in here it was warm. Even without a fire. There was a quiet stillness here that told me it had been abandoned along while. But at one time, it was used a lot. There was a fully made bed through a side door. Plush furs covered it and the pillow looked down-filled. It looked soft and inviting and I felt endlessly tired. I wanted to stumble over there and collapse face down on it. I was sure I’d be asleep nearly as fast as I hit it. The cabin smelled dusty but there was still a strange hint of flowers. Like someone had taken very good care of it once. *** “What is this place?” It seemed deceptively like a shack on the outside. But inside… “It was supposedly where the Gallions Alpha would meet with allies or his older children when they were permitted to visit. Anyone he didn’t want near his house. Or leading others to his house…He’d meet here instead.” Magus gestured around by turning a slow circle. Hawk’s blue magic fireflies floated in the air like twirling dust flakes. Revealing how simple and clean it was. Tended by a woman once? The alpha’s mate perhaps? It was interesting to me to imagine that once an Alpha of beasts had come here for secret meetings. “What’s the bed for then?” I asked. Suspicion entering my voice. Perhaps Beasts don’t mate for life as purported. “So, his allies or sons or daughters could sleep in comfort as they awaited meeting with him.” Magus said it as if I’d asked a foolish question. Makes sense. And I liked that explanation more than thinking that a man was cheating on someone he was pre-ordained to be with for his entire life span. That would be very sad. It was the one thing about Beasts that I’d always admired. There was never a guarantee when it came to mages or man. *** “We’re free.” Hawk dropped into a plush upholstered chair near the fire. “I can’t believe it.” “Good feeling, isn’t it?” Magus dropped into the one across from Hawk’s. I was so tired, that I didn’t mind slipping to the floor to drop my head on Hawk’s thigh. Looking like a devoted hound no doubt. I supposed I kind of felt like one after knowing how much he’d risked freeing me. He took me with him. I felt like that had changed everything. Nothing was what I thought it was. I thought torturing me was some mere amusement for him. But he’d said that he’d pushed me harder because he’d felt some interest for me. Despite his cruelties, knowing that, made me feel special. “Do you want this seat?” Magus offered. I shook my head dully. “So, what will we do now?” “We’ll stay hidden awhile.” Hawk said. “As long as we safely can.” He gave me a purposeful look. Indicating he’d no intention of putting me in danger. “King Detry doesn’t like being this close to the Asara Wall.” Magus advised. “They’re too fierce. There’s something wrong with that pack.” “What?” I asked. Blinking in curiosity. I’d learned so much from him already. I liked hearing the mythology behind our histories. It was something I’d always pondered on. “The former alpha rounded up the most vicious strays. Picking the most virile males and young, healthy females and only aged ones if they had a necessary skill. Then they built their own semblance of a village in there to create a dominant pack to run the land. Each of the males behind that wall lived because he was inordinately strong. Strong enough to be an alpha of another pack. Taking on the whole lot of them. Or even a pile of the Border Guards is a dangerous game.” “Then are we even safe here?” Hawk asked. “I’m not entirely sure.” Magus admitted. “Tomorrow I plan to go to their Alpha and see if he’ll let me in the pack.” “But you weren’t raised among them.” Hawk worried. “No. But I’m half-mage which is rare and makes me powerful.” Magus leaned back. “I think he’ll want me amongst his assets in the wall.” *** “How will we know if he’s killed you?” “I’ll never come back.” “If he lets me stay, I’ll persuade him to let me out to gather herbs to make healing poultices.” “You don’t know the first damn thing about poultices!” Hawk spat. His face tinted blue from the dancing lights in the cabin, weaving up and down as they hovered in the air to give us enough light to converse. And plan. “No.” Magus admitted. “But your bookworm there does.” He nodded toward me. Hawk glanced down and I met his study. “He’s right.” I said. “I know everything about them. It was in my books.” “And we all know she memorized those.” Magus scoffed. “Just couldn’t do anything else worth a damn.” I lifted my head to give him a scathing look. Though I knew he was right, I hated hearing that. “She just needs more time.” Hawk defended. “She was already flourishing when she used the water. It’s there for when she needs it.” I chewed my lip. “You really think so?” He caressed a hand over my hair, immediately making me sleepier. “Of course, I do.” I dropped my temple back to his leg and enjoyed his touch. Somehow feeling peaceful here. Enjoying the quiet and knowing that I was with two men that I no longer feared. Men that I thought would protect me if needed. Hawk already has. He got me out of that miserable place. “I’ll keep the pack away from you.” Magus said. “And I’ll see if I can rally them.” “Don’t forget our mission.” Hawk said. “We won’t be fully free until we find her for them.” Her? They’re back to this again. I hated that they seemed to be talking about something I didn’t understand. And I was about done tolerating it. “I know.” Magus said. 34 Missions “Who?” I asked. Tired of all this secrecy. “Warlord’s remaining sister. He’s tasked us with finding her and letting him know where she is.” Hawk explained. “And letting him know of anyone else that needs help along the way.” Magus added. “Like I did when I was permitted beyond the walls of King Detry’s castle. “I didn’t know you did.” Magus nodded. Staring at the floor. “Why does he want to know who needs help? So, he can help King Detry attack the weak?” “You’re still thinking of him as the villain.” Hawk said sharply. “He’s not. He got us out of there. And he’s what’s kept every mage in that Guild alive for this long.” *** “What? How?” I lifted my head again. Intrigued by what he met. “Sometimes, I wonder how you can be so smart but miss so much.” Though his tone was nearly tender, the words stung a little. “Warlord is the one that told us to escape.” “To come into these woods, because King Detry wouldn’t give chase here.” Magus added. “He covered our escape with his dark clouds.” “Which will cause him great consequence with the King. He knows it was Warlord helping us.” That’s true I realized. I had seen Warlord on his balcony. And recognized the dark feeling of his magic. So had King Detry. “He warned me that King Detry thought you were weak.” Hawk explained. “He told me I had to do something.” “He told you to come after me?” “No.” Hawk scooted something on the floor with his boot. Looking like a child shuffling uncomfortably. “I was trying to get a big reaction from a big technique, and you wouldn’t let me near you any other way. That wasn’t how I wanted it to be. I was desperate.” “I feel like I shouldn’t be here for this conversation.” Magus was looking from one to the other of us. “Probably not.” Hawk agreed. “Can you continue it tomorrow while I’m off trying not get killed for being a stray by a pack of killer wolves?” “Sure.” Hawk said. “Reassuring.” Magus grunted. “Glad you care.” “I am thankful to you.” Hawk looked up at him. “I know.” “I wouldn’t have left without her.” Those words warmed me to my core. He made it sound like it wasn’t even an option. “I know…” Magus said dismissively. *** “So, you’ll integrate into the pack-if they don’t kill you. And I’ll go look in the far corners of NightGlen to try and find the missing sister.” “And what of me?” I queried nervously. Wondering if I’d be left alone. “You’ll only be left when one of us can be close.” Hawk reassured. But I had a hard time being comforted by that, knowing what King Detry would do to me if he found me. And that the beasts will rip out my throat if they find me. Especially this close to their territory. “Once we find her, it’s done.” Magus interfered in my fearful musings. Thankfully. “Not entirely.” Hawk said. Giving him a sideways look. “I will go back for them. With or without you.” He told Magus. Magus groaned. “We’ll never get them all out!” “Death is better than being there. Wondering when someone might kill you.” “When you will.” I corrected. Half asleep. Hawk frowned at me, and I realized what I’d said had not been nearly as helpful as I’d thought it, in the moment. *** At some point, both men had moved to the floor, and we all fell asleep there. Me with my head on Hawk’s side so he could stroke my hair until I was out. Magus somewhere near my feet, curled up on a fur. We were all beat. And soon fast asleep. I half-expected I’d wake in the middle of the night to beating on the door. King Detry having found us. Instead, I only awoke because morning birds in the trees outside had become too loud for me to possibly sleep through. *** Magus was already gone. Headed for the wolves. And Hawk was sitting across the room with his back to the wall, his ankles crossed and watching me leisurely. I peered through the flood of messy blonde hair draping around my face. “What?” “I’ve never seen you like this. Always wanted to…” His green eyes were dark in the dim room. He wore black pants, and he was currently shirtless. His palms pressed together and resting between his knees thoughtfully. “Like what?” “First thing in the morning. Before you’ve cleaned and readied for the Training Gardens.” “Ugh.” I rubbed my hair back from my face. Blowing through my lip in discontent at what I was sure my appearance looked like. “Ssh.” He laughingly shook his head. “No. There’s not a thing wrong with what I’m seeing.” I cleared my throat. Feeling my cheeks flush. “Where is Magus?” “To join the wolf pack that picks up strays.” “Will they take a mage?” “We’ll see…They’d be dumb not to. He’s an asset.” “But I’m not worried about Magus…” He methodically drew up his knees and moved into a crawl. Crawling across the floor toward me. His arms flexed and his torso was tight with lean muscle but even more intriguing than that was the broad grin on his face and the purposeful look in his eyes. I gave him an astonished look. Brows lifting in question as I leaned backward and began scooting away on my rear and palms. “Hawk?” “I told you…” I was nearly mesmerized by the sensual curving of his lips as he spoke. “Magus is gone. We’re alone and now…You’re mine.” My lips parted as I tried to formulate one of the three thousand questions twirling through my mind. “For no other reason than because I want you…” 35 All Day “You-you w-were so…cruel…” I objected. His gaze fell to the floor. Head hanging in clear shame. “I was, Mary.” He lifted his head and those fierce green eyes landed on me severely. “Never again. There’ll never be a reason for me to be anything but what I want to be.” “And what is that?” “Next to you. Kind to you.” “That’s what you want?” I blinked at him. “It’s all I ever wanted. It was just impossible. If they saw how weak I was with you, they’d have eaten you alive.” “Especially Tanya.” I agreed. Realizing the precarious position he’d been in. The thin line he’d had to walk. Too cruel and they’d have crumbled. Too kind and he’d have been too weak to lead. It renewed my respect for what he’d done. For he’d been the Second in Command for as long as I could recall. He was barely older than me. And I knew how alone and scared I’d felt. It’d never occurred to me that he’d ever experienced those emotions. He’s fierce. Strong. But he was telling me that he’d felt weak. Controlled. Pinned by the decisions of those above him. And he’d killed people. Our people. Mages. *** “Do you worry about wolves?” I asked him. “How so?” “They’re our enemy. They kill us.” Hawk snorted. Sitting back on his heels to give me time. “Don’t believe everything you hear.” I gave him a questioning look. “The wolves have never hunted the mages. Or the humans for that matter. Only when they cross negatively, can things become violent. As it can for each of us, with our own kind.” “But I thought they hunted us?” “That’s what King Detry would have you believe, in order to have you willing to kill them at his bidding.” “So why was Magus worried they might kill him?” “Because he’s an outsider. And the Asara Pack is notorious tight knit. Highly selective in who they let join them.” I nodded understanding. “Enough talking, My Mary. Time for you to let me show you something new.” The husky note in his voice told me what he meant. *** I swallowed. “Shouldn’t we go check on Magus? I mean…Go make sure he’s…okay.” “No, Mary. You should let go of all your fears, all your own doubts and let me have you.” “I can’t.” I chewed my cheek. “You can. I vow to you it’ll be safe now. You are safe in my keeping.” I couldn’t imagine every being safe with Hawk. That wasn’t the life I’d known. He was crawling over me again. His sleek body rising over mine, in a predatory crawl. I reflexively dropped back to the floor. Watching him with wide blue eyes. I still wore nothing but my white nightdress. He reached down and caressed his fingertips up my calf, hooking beneath my knee and guiding my leg up next to his hip. He hooked his fingertips under the hem and slid it up over my belly. His palm flattening and sliding up between my breasts, guiding the fabric. His touch was methodical. He splayed his fingers to brush the rounded tops of my breasts. He slid his knees up to frame my waist. Bearing his weight as he tipped me up and braced a hand under my back to peel off my nightdress. His gaze roved over my bared body. Enjoying the sight and knowing there was no pressure, no rush for him to savor the feel of my flesh in his hands. “What if Magus comes back?” “He won’t. Not until I go out.” “You told him you wanted to be alone?” “With you.” He confirmed. “We have all day, if we wish it.” His hands landed on my cheeks and his thumbs outlined my lips than traced back to frame my jaw. Massaging down the outside of my neck and over my shoulders. Lightly trailing down my outer arms to scoop my elbows. Lifting my arms to raise my hands enough to land on his shoulders. “Touch me.” “Where?” “Anywhere you want.” *** So, I did. Touching him in much the same way he caressed me. Memorizing his features. Feeling the burn of his green eyes on me like a scalding touch. My palms found their way along his chest. Flattening over the hard muscles. Following the ‘v’ of his broad shoulders down to his flat abdomen and to the buckle just below his belly button. I undid it and began tugging at his waistline. Jerking at the laces to unfasten his pants. Pulling them open and reaching beneath to catch the hard flesh straining against the fabric. As my fist closed around him, he hissed through his teeth. “Woman, you could make me come by your mere touch.” His voice was a vibrating growl that sent goosebumps coursing over me. I like the sound of that. I like his voice talking to me like that. Weighted with desire. I looked up at him and found his eyes hooded. Trying to conceal all the things he was feeling. “Don’t hide anything from me anymore, Hawk. If you want me free with you, then let me see what you’re feeling.” His jaw ticked but he gave a slow nod of understanding. “As you wish.” *** He drew a long breath and let his body ease. Dropping his palms to the floor on each side of me and bracing his weight to keep him from touching me until I was done experiencing his body. “What does it feel like when I touch you?” “That I want more.” He thrust into my hand. Pressing his length along my palm and withdrawing it to stroke into my grip again. “Do you like that.” “Mmm.” He growled. Giving me a penetrating look. “I do.” “What do you want, Mary?” “You on your back.” His gaze roved my face in surprise. Clearly tempted by the prospect. “I’ll give you, your way before the day has ended. But not right now. Now I want to be in control. I want to show you how it can be when I’m not forcing you.” 36 Promises Kept I reached down and scooped his sack from over his pants. Stroking him with my fist around him and massaging there to see how he’d react. His body tightened and the cords in his throat jutted. He licked his lips, his mouth drying. “You have to stop, Mary. I’ll most certainly take more of your touch any other time. But I need you to stop now so I can focus on you.” I reluctantly dropped my hands from him. He resumed touching me where he’d left off. The outside of my arms. Caressing along them to rub my forearms. Stroking his thumb along the inside as he reached up to frame my wrists. Guiding my hands up by my head and setting them down on the floor. Flattening his hand above me in a gesture for me to remain as I was. Then his gaze dropped to my ripe, hard-nippled breasts. Enjoying the sight of them before he lowered his head and drew his tongue slowly along the surface of one before closing his lips around it and sucking it into his mouth. “Ahh.” I said in a broken whisper. My hands reflexively going to his hair and winding my fingers in it. I lightly tried to pull him off, overwhelmed by the sensation. But the more I tried to pull him away the harder he clamped onto the bud of flesh. Tugging it and making my insides tighten with something primal. “Hawk!” “Mmm…” He released his nipping and gave a sensual lick around the nub. Making me shiver. Then his hands palmed the bottom of my ribcage and flattened over them. His thumbs stroking a circular trail as he eased up from the bottom of my breasts and scooped them. Making my breath catch. He was turning my body to boiling lava. I reached to touch him, but his hands slid from their ministrations to catch my wrists, lightly pinning them next to my head. He massaged my inner wrists a moment and gave me a meaningful look. Asking me to leave them there. Holding my gaze, he purposefully straightened. Touching me freely in gentle caresses. As if he intended to learn every crevice and curve. I caught my breath. My hands trembling with the urge to cover myself or stop him. The intimacy making me ache in ways I hadn’t known I could. I found myself biting my lip to keep from moving. I was watching him nearly fearfully. Wondering where this would lead. What does he want from me, ultimately? Was he trying to groom me to be his plaything? I won’t do it. “I won’t be your plaything forever, Hawk.” I said nearly bitterly. He paused what he was doing to give me an intense study. “I dearly hope not. For I’d have you as my wife.” *** “What?” I lifted my head in shock. “What did you say to me?” “You heard me.” He said softly. The hint of vulnerability appearing around his eyes as he looked nearly nervous. “Let’s save that conversation for another time. Right now, I’d like to finish what I’m doing.” But he didn’t fool me. Not this time. He’s afraid of what I was going to say in answer to him. Afraid I’ll reject him. And I was struck again by the tiny signs that he was afraid of something. That I’ll get away from him now that we’re free. I watched him tilting his head to follow the paths of his hands over me. Caressing me from neck down. He slowly moved backward to sit on his heels between my ankles. Eyeing me where I was already feeling the hint of moistness seeping out. Desire for him. I watched him reaching out with nimble fingers to rub along my crease with his pointer and middle finger. Each movement piercingly slow as he prolonged the sensations wrenching through me. Ensuring I feel everything… Searching through the soft folds to outline my entrance reverently. I had to tip up my head. No longer able to watch him as I struggled to get enough air. My entire body shuddering with sensitized anticipation. This touch was entirely new. Different than every time before. He was touching me now as if I was something precious to him. Not something he’s entitled to. And all the rush seemed gone from him. No hurry now. He did warn me of that. *** He was watching my face avidly. I could feel the heat flooding through my body as he sunk a finger into me. I felt the ridge of his knuckles the smooth roundness of his fingertip. Pressing against my inner walls in search of something. I knew what he was looking for, the moment he found it. A tiny swell inside that was painfully excited as he touched it. He didn’t miss my writhing, my knees drawn up as I tried to escape the intensity I was experiencing as his rubbing became more fevered. My body shot up into the shape of a roof. My back snapping upward reflexively. A primal reaction to his touching. I found myself pushing down against his knuckles. Wanting more. *** Hawk chuckled softly. When I was finally able to relax my body enough to lay level and peel my eyes open. I saw the satisfied look on his face. But I also noticed the slightly hooded eyes which told me of his arousal. “I ache for you.” He whispered. Reassuring me that he wasn’t the only one. That’s good because I feel like I’m dying. I can’t take much more. I gave him a pleading look. “Soon enough, Mary.” He promised. “Let me take my time. I want to enjoy you. Feel every inch of you.” He’s certainly doing that. I swallowed convulsively. My body feeling so tight I wondered if my muscles would snap. He began stroking his finger in and out, letting the pressure build inside me. Until my inner walls were biting down on his finger. Responding to all his pleasurable caresses. My fingers shook as I tried to resist moving. Trying to leave my hands where they were despite every urge to caress him back. Clutch at him. To express my urgency. My need. I was struggling with my own will. The will to obey him as I always have. As I’ve been trained to. Or my own desire to follow my wants. 37 Reaffirming Realizing that small detail freed me. I no longer have to listen. It’s my choice. I reached up and caught at his back and shoulders. Pulling him down over me. My eyes widening as I told him what it was, I hungered for. “I want you Hawk, over me, on me, in me.” His green eyes widened then lit with fire. “As you wish, My Mary.” He reached down to fully free himself and caught himself in a fist to guide him toward me. Giving me a questioning look with his eyes. I knew what was in his mind. I could suddenly see it on his face. Fear that I would change my mind. Suddenly jump up and leave. I could. I could run away. But it was the last thing I wanted to do right now. *** I had no more time to think. I felt the pleasant stretching of my flesh and knew the familiar intrusion of his body in mine. As my inner mouth consumed his length. Taking him in. Warm and wet. Savoring the feel of him. As he pressed in and withdrew. I was back to feeling the tense sensations of pleasure building. The frozen chill right before the storm of heat that seemed to ravage my inner muscles. Making me tense to the point that my body was jerking with tiny tremors. Then I reached what I’d been stretching toward. I rolled my legs up to hook my heels over the back of his thighs and pull him in toward me. Taking him in deeper and lifting my pelvis to meet his thrusts. Greeting him with my hips. “Ughhh.” He moaned in pleasure at my sudden reciprocation. I held him still. Keeping him in me as I stole my gratification from him. My body clenching rhythmically around him. Making him grunt in response to each tiny grip. My vision was blinded by white-hot light and then by the view of his vibrant green eyes looking down on me. Unreadable as he watched me climax. Seeming to study every nuance of the foolish expressions I was sure I was making. “What are you thinking?” I queried. Unable to resist. “That I’m glad we’re here. That it’s like this. And that you’re allowing me to connect with you when you could’ve said no, and I’d have let you go.” “Would you have?” He nodded solemnly. “And if I said I wanted to, now?” Before you’ve had your fill? “I’d still let you go.” That touched me somehow deeper. Especially after knowing the rage of his frustration when I’d left him yearning last time. The fact that he’d let me now, is somehow special. *** I leaned up and caught the back of his neck. Pulling him down so I could whisper near his ear. “Take me, Hawk. Come for me. Fill me.” He leaned back so his gaze could rove my face. Seeing my certainty turned him into a starved animal. He began bucking into me more fiercely. Making low male sounds of pleasure that made me hotter. I watched him. Watched the tensing of his jaw. The quick flitting of his long dark lashes as he tried to control his body’s raging. He pounded hard enough that the sound of flesh slapping echoed through the small structure. The sound of him having at me. “More.” I ordered. Reaching around to scoop his ass and pull him deeper in. Guiding his ferocious movements. His entire body became heated enough it was steaming. Those wafting currents of light reached around us. Wisping fingers of orange and blue which curled to reach toward me. Easing through me and filling me with his energy, his arousal, his affections. Giving me his emotions once again. I could feel his very spirit. Knew that right now his heart was thrumming, and he was watching me for signs of discomfort. Wondering if I would sneak out one morning and leave. I’d been right in my suspicions. He was full of fear. *** “I don’t want to leave you, Hawk. I want to stay with you…If you’re kind to me.” He nodded and that was the moment that he came. Tossing back his head with an animalistic roar, he surged inside me. Holding his body against mine and piercing deep in me. I felt his rod pulsing as his fluid transferred into my body. An offering of his ecstasy. Panting for breaths, his back was still tight, and his muscles jerked spasmically as he rolled to the side of me. Collapsing onto his back. “You feel like nothing else could…” He whispered in awe. I knew what he meant. I felt it too but didn’t have the knowledge to know how I was expected to answer that. I opted for silence. Staring at the ceiling above as I considered how much things had changed from hours ago when I’d been in the castle. When I was the one afraid of everything. Wondering if I’d even make it another hour. *** “I want nothing more than to have the chance to show you how kind I can be. I’ll give you everything, if you give me half a chance.” I rolled my head to look at him and saw him giving me a sincere look. Willing me to believe him. And strangely I did. “Then tell me everything.” “Anything you want to know.” “Why here?” “Closest place to where Warlord and his little sister grew up. The one we search for now.” “Why does Magus need to join the pack?” “Because they’re the nearest pack to the house and it’s our estimation she was young enough, she’d have followed the scent of others to the nearest pack. So, she may be there.” “What are you going to do if you find her?” “Take her to Warlord.” 38 Secure Our Freedom I nodded sagely. “And what if you can’t find her?” “Our freedom is conditional. Warlord will only keep King Detry’s men from finding us as long as we are searching for her. Finding signs.” “Would he really turn us back over?” “He can be ruthless when needed. I think he’s capable of unbelievable goodness and unbelievable ruthlessness. He’s probably capable of just about anything.” “Then I guess that is what we must do.” “We’re also supposed to report any darkling creatures to him.” “Why?” “For the sake of letting the King of Creatures know where to hunt.” “I’ll help you, Hawk.” “I don’t need your help.” He said softly as he rolled to his side. Resting his cheek on one palm. “I just need you to stay.” He reached out and caressed a thumb over my cheekbone. Giving me a long look. “I will.” I breathed. Still feeling his emotions rippling through me and knowing those were very close to the thoughts he’d been thinking a short time ago. I can’t doubt him when I saw those very thoughts in his mind. “Did you say something about wanting me for your wife?” I blurted. “I did.” *** “I think we should start there.” I gave him a tender smile. “You’d do that?” “I would.” “Then tomorrow we will ask Magus to minister the services.” “I’d very much like that.” “Are you certain this isn’t something I’m forcing you into.” “No, Hawk.” “It seems impossible that you could forgive me for the crimes I committed against you.” “I’m not certain if it is forgiveness or a willingness to let you make amends.” “I’ll take either. I’m willing to spend the rest of my life making it up to you.” “When we are done, when we’ve found this wolf that Warlord hunts. Then you and I will leave his realm.” It was the one condition I required. “Gladly. I’d love nothing more than to be the hell out of his reach.” “I’d like to see what is beyond these lands. And to taste what freedom is like when it can’t be so quickly snatched away.” He nodded. “As you wish, Lover.” I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his. Kissing him for the first time I could recall. Tasting his mouth and savoring the blessed warmth of him. The power of his magic still lingering through me. Colors were brighter. The sounds of birds outside were louder. And somewhere in the distance I could hear the crackle of a small fire and Magus’ chuckle as he listened to our conversation. Magus… *** I thought little of the tale Magus had told at the time. But as that day wore on and I awaited, for the next morning when Magus had agreed to do the rites that would make Hawk and I, one. I considered what he’d said a lot. One wolf that’d begun it all. It was hard to imagine there had ever been a time before wolves and mages. As we wandered to the beautiful spot in the woods near the drizzling creek to await Hawk returning from hunting the she-wolf, I asked Magus more. “Who was that wolf you spoke of.” “They say he was the first.” “You said that but where is he now.” “Legend says he hides among the packs.” “As an Alpha.” “Never an Alpha.” Magus shook his head. “Why not?” “Draw too much attention. There’s many that’d hunt him.” “Because he’s the original?” “Because he’s sired so many guardians.” “What are they?” “Wolves that his partners agreed to mother in order to protect different forests.” “I’ve never heard of such a thing.” Magus gave me a quick look. “Never of Wrath? Rage? Or Turmoil? Or…Chaos?” “No…” I slowly shook my head. Seeing that Magus thought me quite silly for knowing nothing of these guardians. “You will know them one day, I fear.” Magus pushed some branches aside. “I fear we all will.” “How do you know so much.” “I love history. I read constantly back at Detry Castle. I figured if we were to be free, we should know everything about the lands we’d hide amidst. How better to blend in?” “You are a clever one.” He grinned. Giving me a quick wink. “Kind of you to notice.” *** “Where’s Hawk?” I queried. Seeing that the clearing was still empty. “Probably off trembling like a little girl.” “What?” I gave him a stunned look. Magus chuckled. “I jest. He said he wanted to clean up and the river and would be along shortly. Have I mentioned you look quite beautiful?” “I do not.” I glanced down at my dirtied nightdress. Barely crammed beneath a brown dress I’d found which was clearly too large for my small frame. To try to lighten my roughened look, I’d tucked a purple flower behind my ear. “Don’t you think so?” Magus frowned. “Why just look at that dress on you.” I glanced down and gasped. I wore a dress of soft lavender with darker purple flowers embroidered at the neckline and cuff. Frilled slightly at the hems with lovely cream lace. “Magus!” I covered my mouth in shock and took a step back. “Did you…?” “What manner of mage would I be if I wouldn’t help a friend in need?” I was so touched, I felt a slight tear jump into my eyes at his kindness. And though, I’d never have admitted it, there was still the hint of envy at how well others could control their magic. But the dress was far too beautiful for me to focus on such idiocy. I lifted the skirts and gave him an astonished look. He waved his hand and the lone flower by my ear seemed to shudder along the side of my head. Then a tickle in my hair starting there and circling my crown. I reflexively reached up to touch the sensation and found that there was an entire ring of them wound through my hair. As lovely a shade of purple as the dress I now wore. I gave Magus a heartfelt look. “You’re the very best kind of mage!” I threw myself at him to grip him in a tight hug. “And the best of friend!” “Whoa, whoa, whoa…I leave her in your hands for only a few minutes and return to find you wooing her.” “Hardly.” Magus grinned. “I prefer my women far more savage.” Hawk shook his head. “I have heard that.” They both chuckled. I had stopped hugging Magus and all I could do was stare, mesmerized. Hawk wore black breeches and a silky white shirt with a green overcoat that made his eyes somehow even more shocking. His black hair was still wet from washing and was smoothed back from his face to rest along the top of his collar. Looking every inch the fierce mage. And soon to be my husband. Mine. Forever. He took my hand. Pointing to me. “That, that you’re feeling now…” “Yes?” I blushed guiltily at how possessive my thoughts were. “Those weren’t you. They were me.” He smiled. My brows shot up. Realizing he was right. I was still tuned into him and those thoughts which were so far from my usual, were indeed his. A thrill shuddered through me as we turned toward Magus for the rituals. And in less than an hour, I did indeed belong to Hawk. His forever. Now there was only one thing left to do…Find the she-wolf for Warlord and secure our freedom. THE END

“No.” Veline shook her head seriously. “Every one does not. Most across the lands of NightGlen know he does, indeed, exist. And is critical to the survival of man.” “Why haven’t you discovered what Mathis is then?” I leapt to my feet. Catching my skirts in my rage. “Because he’s too dangerous. None of us could get close enough to him to discover his secrets…None until you.” “What do you mean?” I tilted my head sideways to eye her. “There hasn’t been one of your kind in over a century.” “One of my kind?” I knew I sounded a fool with all my dumb questions but still, I couldn’t seem to keep from stupidly repeating her. What in the world is she talking about? “With the ability to steal from him what he’s stolen…” She said cryptically. Nothing she’s saying was making sense. “Are you being vague apurpose?” I queried waspishly. “No, My Dear.” She rocked cheerfully forward and back. “You’re simply too gravely important for me to chase away so hastily.” “Why would I be chased away?” “Because, Sweetheart.” Veline tilted her head slowly. Deep dimples framing her mouth. “the truth is too shocking for you to yet comprehend. But I do want to offer you this taste of comfort.” I blinked at her. Certain I looked as much a village idiot as I was feeling in that moment. “You will crave him, and you will want to return to him. The urge will become too much to resist but know that you’re meant to return to his arms.” “I was nowhere near in his arms.” I spat. Seething with fury. “What he did was torture. It was painful, it was thievery.” “It’s his nature.” She agreed. “He cannot stop. For when he does, he’ll no longer exist atall.” “Good.” “But to stop him we must first learn what he is. Where his magic comes from and what it is in particular, that he needs to fuel it.” “It’s not the-the…” “Joining?” She supplied with a cold laugh. “Not nearly. That is some distraction for what he’s really doing. Though he does need the connection to conduct his theft.” “Why would I ever go back there?” “Because if you don’t more will suffer. More will die.” “And if I do?” “Then you can free them.” “Udora?” “He won’t let her go until she’s all that’s left.” 18 Haunting My Nightmares “Has he hurt her? Like he did me? And all those others?” “Not yet.” Veline sobered. “But he will if you don’t return. He is a twisted creature of his word. Though he may distort those he says…Be careful with that, My Dear.” I took her cautioning to heart. I had already observed him twisting his words to let Bethanie go rather than my friend. “And if I can find out what he is?” Then what do I do? “If he can be stopped, we’ll help you. And we’ll send word to the King of Creatures to come hunting.” She nodded slowly. Adding. “If it is safe.” “If he can be stopped?” “We’ve never been able to yet.” Veline’s mouth tightened. But you’re something different. She came over to me and I straightened as she caught my wrists and pulled my arms up to examine them. “I see none of his roots taking hold on you yet. We have time.” “Roots?” “Look at the other girls when you go back.” When not if. That made my stomach sink. I couldn’t imagine subjecting myself to that manner of suffering and degradation again. Yet every one seems so certain I will. *** “What are you?” I couldn’t help asking. “An Undine.” I frowned at her. “A type of spirit that looks after the forest and the people around it.” I nodded slowly, though I really had no idea what she meant. “If you come here in need of us, I’ll come to you. As long as he is not with you...” I chewed my cheek. “I’d never bring him here. I’d never take him anywhere.” “You can’t say that, Dear. You don’t know what you may do for him after a few months of his games. He has tremendous power to crush a spirit and rend a soul.” “Not mine.” “I dearly hope you’re right.” Veline sounded sad. “But so many have tried to resist him. The key must be to get him talking.” “How do I do that?” “I’m not sure. But I know many have begged, pleaded and tried to ask him questions and he dismisses them.” I recalled the few things he’d already told me. Hints of immortality and the need for some form of sustenance, I didn’t fully understand. “Those methods have never worked.” Veline scrubbed her palm on one cheek thoughtfully. “You’ll have to try something different.” “Like what? Just surrendering to him?” My voice rose on a panicked note. Veline’s hand fell, and her face brightened. “I don’t know...” Her eyes were wide. “I’m not sure anyone’s tried that. They just fight then become resigned. Like dead bodies he takes.” *** I’m not doing that. I’m never doing that. That was my first thought. The idea of pretending he wasn’t forcing me to do everything was utterly abhorrent. He was. Veline was staring at me hopefully. Her eyes sideways as if it pained her to even be suggesting it. She can see the fear on my face. I knew that was what had changed her moment of cheerful triumph to cautious optimism. “Let’s start by cleansing your suffering.” Veline changed the subject from such dark things. I blinked at her dumbly. She pointed toward where the pond was that Mathis preferred. “Go beyond the bubbling broth and circle behind it. There’s a point where the sun touches the water. A cleaning place. Bathe there.” I wondered if I should trust her. I’d seen no evidence so far that she was any better than Mathis himself. But I’ve seen no evidence she’s as bad either. And she did help me hide when he came through. I was thankful for that. I turned from Veline and when I looked over my shoulder to confirm where the cleaning place was, I found the Mending Vale quiet and dark. As though no one had ever been there. Am I losing my mind? I could see how enduring Mathis could make a woman so. Grimacing at the thought, I saw no choice but to go see if there was indeed a body of water beyond the boiling broth. I followed the burbling sounds and the slight puffs of bubbles to reach that dark place. Immediately drowning in the memory of him finding me by the tree and rubbing against me. I could still feel the hardness of his body. Hear the sound of his voice as he was pleasured against the skin of my leg. Feel his grip on me as he came. Something about the memory was somehow erotic despite how much I resented him. The way he’d nearly craved me. Like I was something he needed. Needed to touch. To feel. And from what everyone kept saying (he and Veline) there was a true reason behind all he was doing to the young women of NightGlen. How could someone have harmed so many of us and no one’s noticed? That can’t be. Someone, somewhere has to know. *** I couldn’t have guessed that at that moment Veline was standing back on a boulder in the Mending Vale. High on her toes with a finger held aloft above her. She gave a pretty twitter and red birds fell. Wings outstretched as they glided down as if on a whirlwind. Landing on the boulders around Veline and one touching down on her lifted finger to blink dark eyes at her. “I need you to go to him friend.” The bird shuffled its feet on her finger and a bit of tan parchment unraveled from its leg to stretch down over her bent fingers. Veline whispered to the bird. And as she did, red ink poured over the bit of parchment. “Tell the Warlord that I think we have some hope. A girl has come that is different from the rest. A rare kind. She alone may be able to discover what the creature is. And then we’ll send word for the King of Creatures.” 19 Beckoned “Why do you always send the missives to the Warlord? Do you know what he is?” Another Undine from behind Veline whispered. Peeling free of a bit of grass to stand and face the prettier woman. This one had dirt along her back and strands of grass growing from her feminine figure to mask what she was. “Because, Germaine, despite what everyone thinks of King Detry’s Commander he is the King of Creature’s greatest defender. He protects our lord. And he can only do that if he can assess the dangers of where the King of Creatures goes.” “Does our King know he does so?” “He knows his birds are redirected to Warlord and that Warlord sends him the messages. He doesn’t know why. But he trusts his brother.” “They’re brothers?” Germaine queried with lifted brows. “Our savior and that destroyer?” “Judge not a man when you know not why he does the things he does.” Veline cautioned. Bouncing her finger to send the bird off. *** I followed a tiny narrow trail which looked like it hadn’t been used in a long time. Ducking a heavy dark branch as the forest darkened around me. I was looking around furtively. Wondering if Mathis would materialize before me to harm me again. He's not here. I told myself. Banishing the thoughts. Father must be terrified this morning to find me absent my bed. The sadness wove through my weariness as I pondered how I could possibly explain to him where I was and what I’d been through. I was servicing Mathis to let Udora go but then he wouldn’t. He let Bethanie go and she was too weak to make it to Beddinton without me. Then I was too tired to make it home so I wandered too far and ended up in a vale in the woods where I saw sprites which spoke to me of some great fate then they pointed me to where I should go drown myself in waters which might wash away the touch of the most evil being I’ve ever meant. Nope. Doesn’t sound believable. My father would never believe that tall tale. I wasn’t sure I did. Suddenly the forest brightened, and I glimpsed where the light I’d seen fall over Mathis in the boiling broth had come from. Here. It was like stepping from darkness into the most beautiful daylight. A tiny grove which was so moist that dew drops littered leaves near the canopy. Sunlight filtered in through the branches and danced through those droplets to toss vibrant rainbows over the ground leading to the water before me. Then cast winking stars of sunshine over the surface of the clearest water I’d ever seen. The bottom was coated in round rocks and tiny dancing bits of grass. Looking so cool and inviting that I barely hesitated before ripping my torn, sullied dress over my head and casting it on the grass to the side of the water and rushing in. I leapt into the water. Playing in it and tossing it over my face like a child’s first bath in Summer. I found myself laughing, nearly hysterical as the water washed over me. Bruises and scrapes I’d earned the night before were washed away as the water lapped against me. I saw one dark spot on my arm where a leather strap had bound me to that table. I slowly lowered it and watched as the clear water ate up the dark skin, leaving it white and luminescing. Flawless. As though I’d never been hurt. Never suffered. “Cleansing Place.” I said the words aloud. Realizing their significance. There truly was something different about this sacred water. It washed away my hurts. And the rocks at the bottom were soft like pillows under my feet. The water cooled me but wasn’t chilly. Giving me just enough of what I needed to be soothed. I closed my eyes and purred to myself, taking in the soothing touch of the water. All my weariness and pain seemed to evaporate. I kicked my legs and back floated until I felt the heat of one bright ray of sunshine warming over my skin. Letting it heat me to the core. Suddenly all shame, bitterness, and anger was gone. As though I’d never experienced it. Like none of it was real. I knew I was alone, but I didn’t feel like it here. I felt like a warm presence surrounded me. Willing to keep me safe even if Mathis showed up to get me. Nothing can hurt me here. I knew it. Deep into the core of my being, I was sure it was a fact. But then I heard his voice. “Come here, Sweet Thing. Come to me.” *** I blinked and slid my feet under me. Realizing I was already walking toward the shore, sweeping water from my path to get there faster. Rushing to get to him? Mathis stood at the edge of the water. The light just glinting off the toe of his boot. His façade was gone, and he had the bright green eyes and long waving dark hair. Watching me with that unwavering intensity which only he possessed. He was wearing fitted black breeches which made his legs seem impossibly long and muscled. And a laced white shirt which was open down to his navel. Revealing the sharp cut of his chest and the muscles of his washboard abdomen. Suddenly my fingers and palm ached to touch him. Why? “Come here.” He crouched down before me. Cocking his head beckoningly as he curled a finger invitingly. “You want me, Sweet Thing. Come here and get under me.” I bobbed through the water faster. Knowing my naked breasts were floating along the surface. The nipples already tightened as they begged for his touch. The place between my thighs already damp, for his entrance. No. Stop. I don’t want him. But my body was screaming otherwise. Refusing my bidding. 20 Undone I reached the edge of the cleansing pond and his hard grip caught me around the ribs and wrenched me from the safety of the water. No! Put me back. And in a flash, I was on the ground, in the dirt on my back. His hands were everywhere. Caressing over me expertly. That nearly reverent touch smoothing along my legs as if they were his favorite part. He dropped his mouth over mine in an all-consuming kiss. His tongue invading my mouth in the same way I knew his cock would soon be invading my body. No! I’ve just healed. Just banished your abhorrent touch. Let me go! But despite all the screaming of my mind, my body was a wanton. My hands caressed over him. Pushing at his shirt to bare his browned flesh and trying to pull him down over me. How did anyone ever believe he’s that old Magistrate? Nothing about his stature, movements or build indicated old. But I reminded myself that what I was seeing now wasn’t what passerbyers saw on the road. They see something else. I glimpse the real monster. And the monster wanted inside me. *** He positioned over me. Pushing my legs apart with his knees and lowering over me but this time when he probed my entrance there was a question on his face. Some strange fondness I’d not seen there before. Affection? But my mind was screaming that this was all a deception. Lies! This isn’t the man that I’ve dealt with. “Stop resisting me.” He crooned. Which made no sense, since I wasn’t fighting him until I registered what was really happening. I’m in the pond. I’m asleep or in a state of hypnosis. He’s not really here. He’s invading my mind. My mind is what is resisting him. That brought me some dark satisfaction. He’s not winning. He was putting all these dark images in my mind. Seducing my thoughts with images of my body being pleasured by his hands and mouth. Showing me tenderness and affection. Things he’s not really capable of. I thought bitterly. “Stop fighting me, Spitfire.” “Go away.” I managed to break through the haze to gasp. “That’s not what your busy hands are saying.” He was chuckling as he smirked down at me. His gaze trailing down my body. I followed his eyeline and was shocked to watch my hands gripping his staff and forcing him into my little hole. “No!” I arched up, trying to escape my own grip. “Come on now.” He coaxed. “Aren’t you having just a little fun?” But I wasn’t. *** He helped my hands my lunging his pelvis forward to spear into me. Stretching my body as he filled me. “Now doesn’t that feel good?” It did feel good. Rivers of pleasure wound through me. I caught his hands. Putting them on my breasts and pushing them tight to my skin. Guiding them down my slick flesh as he slid in and out of me. Moaning in pleasure. “You love me inside. Deep...deep inside.” He was nestled into my neck. His palms pushing my shoulders to the ground. I could feel his smooth lips gliding over my throat and nipping at my earlobe. He dragged his face along the side of mine to nudge my nose with his. “Don’t you, Spitfire?” “Yes, more.” I was clawing at his back. Pulling him tighter against me. Trying to shove him more fully into me. Though I knew I was already strained as far as I could go. I can’t take anymore. “Doesn’t it feel nice, Little Spitfire?” He was forcing me to say more things I didn’t want to say in this horrific nightmare. “It feels divine. I love you inside me. I want more. Please, please Mathis...” I’d never say anything so foolish. He was moving more roughly. His grip on my shoulders becoming biting as he held me still to mount me. Taking me with all the force of a dog rutting a female in the street. Grunting with every long stroke of his flesh into mine. I could feel my softness clinging to him. Forced to give him this pleasure he was savoring. *** Trying to separate myself from what was happening, I wondered where he was in truth. I imagined that there was some line strung to the back of his head. I forced my spirit from my body and followed that bit of webbing. Floating along and leaving the sounds of my softly panting flesh and his dominating taking to lead me wherever this would go. I drifted off. Crossing he landscape at light speed. Holding this bit of threat which seemed to turn into a rope the longer I gripped it. A rope that was pulling me toward wherever he was. I imagined him sitting in a black library, grinning while he tortured me. Instead, I was drawn into his brightly lit Wash Room. I found myself standing there. Looking at a wall of candles adorning every shelf until they shined off the white marble surfaces. Making the room glow as if it were filled with moonlight. My gaze fell to my hands and I saw that they were a hazy manifestation of mine. I’m here in spirit. But I could hear the low groaning of his voice behind me. *** I turned and saw him there. Deep in the water of a clawfoot tub. His head tipped back and his perfect jaw tight. The lines of his carved chest cut down into the water. And I caught the methodic movements of his hand below the surface. Heard the guttural pleasured sounds he was making and knew them to be the same that he’d made as he rode into me. He’s touching himself and having at my mind while he does it. This was such an intimate act to watch that I found myself curious. Easing closer to peer under the water and watch the movements of his hand over himself. He’s imagining it’s me. That realization was so primal that I felt myself flush in even this spirit form. I took a shocked step back and his head shot up. His green eyes glowing in the dark like a wild animal’s, shined. And they locked on me. “Come to see what I’m doing, have you?” He said in that deep rumbling voice. Knowing he’d caught me spying. 21 A Tiny Escape I found myself standing in Mathis’ Wash Room. My body projected in spirit form. Knowing I couldn’t touch anything or strike him. But somehow he could see me. Had known I was there. How can he see me? “Now, the question is, how did you get here?” He asked thoughtfully. His hands lifting from the water to catch the sides of the tub as he leaned forward to assess me. “I didn’t bring you here.” He tilted his head to eye me. “And I didn’t invite you. So...How’d you get to me?” Feeling very afraid and assessing the intrigued look on his face I gathered my courage. Sensing that I needed to take advantage of this tiny moment of his confusion to react powerfully. So, I said the only thing that came to mind. “Let it be a lesson to you.” I hissed. “I can reach you when you least expect it!” *** His hand shot out of the tub, and he stretched to reach me. Can he even touch me? I took a step back and hunkered as I tried to figure out how to get out of this room. Where I’m cornered. I scrunched my eyes tight as he surged from the water to stand. And just as abruptly as I’d left my body, I was gone from his Wash Room. Leaving him lunging after me. Dragged back to where I lay in the dirt beneath him pounding away into me. His chest flat against my bouncing breasts as thrust. Burying himself further into my warm center. Taking from me what I would not give. The force of his body over mine drove my back and my ass further into the dirt. *** From bad to worse. I thought. Enduring the weight of him as he surged into me. Sliding me up and down as he entered me and withdrew. Even if I could’ve persuaded my body to retreat from him, all I could do was wedge it further into the ground. He’s inescapable. He finished in me. Spilling his seed into my body and holding himself deep in as he took his satisfaction. “Now.” He grinned down at me. “That’s a good girl.” “You’re despicable.” I mustered out. “I’m going to have all of you, by the time I’m done. And I’ll know all your little secrets, Spitfire. There’ll be nothing you can hide from me.” He threatened. And my gut sunk. Sensing how sure he was that he could make that happen. I hate him. But now I know how to get to him. I closed my eyes tightly again and forced myself out from under him. Back into the soothing waters of the Cleansing Place. Floating along the healing surface. My white flesh gleaming wet in the morning sunshine through the trees. Untouchable. He couldn’t get to my body. So, he took my mind. Well, he can have that. Because now I know how to get around him. I felt deep triumph in knowing that he wasn’t all powerful. You can’t completely control me, Monster! *** I turned my body and dropped my feet beneath me. Wading my way toward the shore. Though I had some odd understanding of what’d happened, my human fear still had me scanning the bank looking for Mathis standing there. He's not here. He’s back in his luxurious Wash Room. Contenting himself with thoughts of torturing me. That idea made my eyes narrow, and my jaw tighten. My fierce spirit fighting its way to the surface as I promised myself that someday, somehow, I was going to get revenge. Revenge for all those girls he’d hurt. And for Veline and the other undines that were once his hapless victims. I felt powerful. Remembering how I’d somehow found myself to where he lay vulnerable in his tub, unsuspecting of my presence for several long moments. Enough time to kill him. One day... *** I leaned over to collect my dress and found that it was in perfect condition. As though it’d not been through Hell. I froze. Hand still outstretched as I stared at it. How? “You’re welcome.” Veline’s voice. “We’ll help take care of you. Come back here and we’ll always help...” I couldn’t see her but still, the mere sound of her voice had my shoulders relaxing and me breathing steadily again. I slid into my dress and made my way home. Already I was wondering how Bethanie was faring. It has to feel good being free. God only knows what she went through. But my heart still yearned for a way to get Udora out. I found myself considering again how I could get her out of there. How can I sneak in without him knowing I’m there? That’s what’ll prove the tricky part. It seemed nearly impossible to get anything past Mathis. Yet, I just did. He’d had no idea I was cowering in the woods as he went to his pool. I found my father eagerly awaiting me outside the front door. “Where have you been!” He shouted worriedly. Leaping up to meet me. “I thought for sure Udora had led you out to your death.” I sighed. “I keep telling you, Da. Udora is no witch.” He caught my hands. “You can’t help defending her, Sweetheart. You’re bespelled.” He looked so morose I thought he might cry. Mourning me as if I’m dead already. I suppose a piece of me may be… I certainly felt as though Mathis had taken something from me I couldn’t get back. “I went for a walk and got lost in the dark. Couldn’t find my way home.” “You poor thing.” He caught me against him and gave me a tight hug. Everything in me crumbled at that moment. I tucked into his shoulder and clung to him. Sobbing heavily into his shoulder. “I have to save her, Da.” I whimpered. My poor friend… *** When my father finally let me go, I headed indoors on leaden feet. Feeling bone weary and defeated. Too exhausted to even cry as I processed all that’d happened the night before. Knowing that in the past I’d have run to Udora to talk about it all. But now she’s locked in a black hole suffering. I went to my chamber and immediately climbed from my dress into my nightgown. So thankful to be safely back home. Where I could stop debating how I’d get Udora out for a little while. A short time I can sleep. A tiny voice in my head demanded to know if Udora would be permitted to sleep so easily. That made my throat feel choked and the guilt rise over me in angry waves. I’m coming. One way or another… As I tucked under my blanket, I suddenly recalled Mathis’ dark expression in that tub as he looked at me. And what’d been happening mere moments before that. When his head had been craned back and his body tightening in ripples as he stroked himself. Making deep guttural sounds of pleasure as he handled himself to thoughts of tormenting me. He savors the torture. I couldn’t imagine any creature more evil. That made me think of Veline and all she had told me about discovering what Mathis was. And how sure she’d been that I’d return to him. 22 Haunting the Broken As my body began to relax, I felt movement low in my pelvis near my left hip. I put a hand over it and felt a small lump which seemed to be jerking. No. I lifted my nightdress to examine the area in the slivers of morning light creeping in through the shutters. I saw the tiny dark egg and wisping black veins emerging from it that I’d seen on so many of those women dangling in the WitchFall dungeons. Mathis’ seed. The thought sickened me. Making my whole world seem darker as I realized I was already infected with his evil. I dropped the back of my wrist against my forehead in frustration. Feeling so hopeless that I felt the heat of a tear trailing my cheek. And another soon after that. It wasn’t long before I released the tidal wave and let them pour from my eyes. Finally in a safe sanctuary I was able to grieve who and what I’d lost. Who I was before Mathis began his tormenting. So many names rolled through my mind. Mathis, Bethanie, Veline, Udora…And countless others whose names I didn’t even know. Women dangling from chains or being rutted by ogerish men. *** Such was my thoughts as I cried myself into a stupor. That I immediately dreamt of that huge monster. The stink of his skin over me as he thrust in and out of me. Rattling the rickety wooden table beneath me with each hard pounding. Bits of streaming drool dripping from his mouth to land on me as he rumbled in evil pleasure. His amble belly dragging over the flat plane of mine as he connected most intimately with me. Finding his gratification in my body. I was too weak to fight the giant, ugly creature. My arms dangling limply at my side. My knees on each side of the massive creature’s thick thighs as it rode into me like a wild animal. In and out. Up and down. Then I heard an angry roar as if a male voice commanded it stop. Then it was Mathis over me and what’d felt like pain was now slow pleasure. Easing in and out. His length stroking into me. Rising harder inside me until I was awash with pleasure. “Please, Mathis.” I was suddenly touching him. My palms molding over his slick, smoothly tanned skin. Feeling every inch of his body moving along mine. Heating me until I was tightened with desire. Wanting nothing more than to clench around him and feel the peak of my ecstasy. I saw his green eyes staring down at me. His head tilted as he watched my face intently. Watching the emotions crossing my face with something akin to tenderness. Bonding with me, touching me intimately as his hands barely brushed the mounds and curves of my body. Soon I moaned and my back arched. *** I woke and found I had a finger deeply embedded in myself. I was touching myself. Caressing my inner walls with a fingertip to bring those tendrils of pleasure closer within my reach. It was startling because I hadn’t even known I was. Something only made worse by the fact that the images that had brought me nearly to the brink were of Mathis possessing my body. Owning my flesh and taking me again. But I was no longer fighting him. I was welcoming him. I screeched in frustration and rage and jerked my finger out of my body, cursing him for the power he somehow had over my mind. He could penetrate it and guide my thoughts to angles I didn’t want and would’ve never fathomed on my own. I don’t want, Mathis. “But you do…” His voice interrupted the dark to stroke over me like one of his dreaded hands. “Or you wouldn’t be imagining me over you, within you…At every opportunity.” “Now would you, Saria?” He dragged my name out on a hissing breath. Making it far more intimate than he’d ever said it to my face. He has no right to ever say it! “Get out of my head!” I put my palms to my temples. Determined to block him out. I began violently rocking myself forward and back, trying to banish him. And working my body until I was beyond exhausted and could no longer stay awake. *** When I woke again it was nightfall. Pitch blackness. Yet I find myself rising in my nightdress. Moving like a dead thing on bare, numbed feet. Which immediately began the long trek up the hill to WitchFall Fortress. I knew in the back of my mind that I didn’t want to go there, that I knew what would happen if I did. Yet I moved, one foot before the other. I knew that somehow Mathis was forcing my body into motion in a way that was impossible to overcome. But the knowledge changed nothing. I don’t know how I got through the door. Perhaps it was cracked, and I merely pushed it open. Where were his servants. Shouldn’t someone be guarding the door? I supposed it was easy to get in here because people weren’t typically trying to get in. It was out that they were desperate for. My bare toes found their way over the smooth entrance floor and to some stairs. My hand meeting the rail as if I somehow knew exactly where it’d be and how high. Then my foot lifted. Step after step until I was rising into the darker layers of the second floor. Where candles became dimmer and less torches marked the way to the personal chambers. Where am I going. I swallowed hard. Terrified of where my legs were taking me. Please don’t take me to him. I willed them. With no more power to stop myself then a bird has to will a cat not to eat it. I found myself at the fourth door in the hall. I turned mechanically to face it. Staring at the dark wood. Memorizing knotholes marking it as I fought my body’s urge to lift a hand and touch the handle. No! But I watched the dim light reflecting off my pale skin as my small hand wrapped the handle and shoved the door open. I was frozen by the sight of shimmering bodies in moonlight. 23 A Destroyed Girl Both were in the throes of passion. The woman was riding the man forcefully. Jamming herself down on him so roughly that he grunted at each angry dropping of her weight over him. “Harder!” He growled. Commanding her. Mathis’ voice. “I can’t.” The girl whimpered pitifully. Her brown hair thrown back and waving down her back as her head was tipped back. Contorted in pain. “You came to me!” Mathis growled. “Now finish what you’ve began, Witch. Harder!” And he caught her hips and dragged her down and forward over him. Making their bodies smack together brutally and the bed rock beneath them. Creaking in objection. “Ah. Ah.” She said raggedly in pain each time he slammed her down. Clearly pushing himself too deeply in her. Her frame was small. Seeming too little to accept a man so forcefully. But something about her shape was familiar. “Please, stop. You’re hurting me.” “Then hurt yourself.” He laughed. Moving his hands from her hips purposefully and then crossing them under the pillow beneath his head. “Uh, uh.” She fell forward over him. Her fingers turning into claws to burrow into her chest as she drove herself more brutally onto him. Her hips working over his body and then wiggling him in deeper. “Ouch!” She cried out. Though she didn’t stop. “It’s about to hurt a lot more.” He sounded triumphant. “I’m getting harder.” *** The room suddenly seemed darker. Flat black fingers rising out of Mathis’ chest and rippled abdomen to shadow the meager light as they pierced into the girl riding him. Stealing her energy. And her spirit. I recognized as her objections grew weaker. She’s losing strength. But I couldn’t understand why a woman would keep impaling herself on a man while shrieking in such agony. Why doesn’t she just stop? Then I heard her voice again and this time, I recognized it. Bethanie. The girl I’d taken over to Beddinton and left at her aunt’s door. How could she come back? My jaw dropped in horror, and I couldn’t imagine why she would come back here. What would possess her? Then Mathis’ head snapped in my direction. “What would possess you?” I screamed and backed up. How’d he know I was here? But when I tried to escape the room, I found the door closed behind me. “No!” I turned to scratch at it. “Let me out.” “Why?” He chuckled darkly. “You came to me.” His voice dropped. “You both did.” *** Bethanie was still riding down on Mathis. The backs of her thighs slapping against him with each downward plunge. Her breasts hopping on her chest and her hands fisted in the skin of his chest as she clung to whatever she could reach. Finally, she emitted a shriek that seemed to make the room shiver. I saw Mathis’ dark fingers of energy drawing into her and stealing those bits out of her. As her body jerked over his in some violent climax, those dark fingers suddenly took tiny fragments of light and retracted back into him. Turning the room a dull black. Making it so pitch I could no longer see anything but the faint glow of her skin in such perfect darkness. Why had she come back to all of this suffering? But he was right to ask, why had I? “Bethanie…” I whispered. Backing up until I was against the door. I saw her limp body being shoved aside and knew Mathis was pushing her off him like discarded trash. She was too weak to do anything other than fall over against his touch. I heard his feet sliding to the ground. “Why would you return here? I freed you.” “But you didn’t.” She whispered bitterly. “You removed me from the dungeon, but it had already burrowed deep inside me until my own body has become the prison.” I couldn’t see her, but her words were haunting. “It’s inescapable, Saria. You’ll never be free. Get the Hell out of this dreadful place while you still can!” She pleaded desperately. *** My hand was sliding along the door as I fumbled for the handle. Ready to do just as she bid. My mind was already tormented by the haunting image of a young woman torturing herself on the rod of a man. Impaling herself so brutally, time and again. I knew that my own lack of will had brought me back here. Led me straight to Mathis. His burrowing in my mind has some sway over me now. But I didn’t think I was so bad that I’d willingly cause myself pain to bring him pleasure. And somehow bringing myself pleasure for his enjoyment of my suffering. It seemed beyond twisted. But anything to do with Mathis is twisted. Suddenly Mathis darkly tanned face emerged from the blackness next to me. Hovering just to the side of my face. My body began to shake but I was willing to do anything to not acknowledge his nearness. “Now, now…How intriguing.” He vanished. Before materializing on the other side of me, just as close. “What could you possibly be here for? Hmm? Back for more so soon?” He faded away again. I was breathing heavily, and I could feel sweat beading along my neck in my nervousness. My hand finally found a tiny bit of metal and followed its shape to grip it. But his fist curled around it, instantly keeping me from moving it. “Don’t worry Spitfire. I’ve just the thing for you tonight…” *** “Please, Mathis. Release your hold on the girl.” I begged. Turning my face to look at him finally. Let poor Bethanie go. “Aren’t you bold?” He reared back slightly that I’d dare meet his gaze. Shocked that I’d try to command him. “Charming though you are…” He reached out and fondly caressed my chin. I jerked away. “I’m afraid,” He crooned. “That’s not how it works.” “How does it work?” “Once my seed has taken root, then it can’t be dismissed merely from being separated from me. It’s a tiny egg that continues to grow in the womb of all the bodies of my mates.” His mates. I’m one of those now. I swallowed the sickening feeling that gave me. “It’s those seeds that bind you to me, nothing I need do after that.” 24 Caged I could feel his breath on me as he’d somehow, impossibly, moved even closer to my side. Blocking off the edge of the door that would’ve opened if I could’ve pulled it. Now he’s leaned against it. “They,” He cupped the rounded mound on my pelvis toward my hip. Cradling it almost violently. “do all the work for me. Bring you straight to me…” “I’m not here for you.” I said resignedly. “I’m here for them.” I nodded over his shoulder toward where I could see the outline of Bethanie’s body. Now silent on the bed as if she’d passed out from the exhaustion and pain. It is mostly true. But my words sounded weak even to my own ears. I don’t even know how I got here. Or why he’s all I can think about. Right alongside the lust growing in me was the hatred. I was resenting him more and more. And disgusted by the power he had over me. “Are you?” He glanced over his shoulder and back at me. Beaming so broadly that his white teeth gleamed in the darkness. “And what are you willing to do for them?” He smelled like fresh water and spring grass. But he’s death. *** Still, all I could see was his hard, honed body. Feel his animal magnetism. As if he was designed to beckon me. Or women in general. Like a black flower that will surely poison you when touched. But I was touching it. My hand already lifting to stroke his ridged abdomen and lower, brushing the root of him. He hissed through his teeth and his body was instantly responding to the simple touch. I rounded to yank the door handle, escaping his fondling of the bulge along my hip. Like he was massaging an unborn. But he saw my movement and slapped his palm to the door and kept it from opening. His weight was against my side and half my back, pushing me against the door. My other hand was pinned under my shoulder. “It’s fascinating to me…” He leaned against the wall next to me, dropping his elbow and forearm just above him and leaning his head along his bicep. His green eyes roving my face intently. His breath fanning my face as he finished speaking. “How much you affect me.” Affect him? He doesn’t look affected. He looks completely in control. *** And everything around me was becoming hazy. My entire focus on him as if he were all I could see. It’s his poison in me. I recognized. Fighting the reaction his nearness was having, I looked over my other shoulder to see the profile of Bethanie’s side in the darkness. She was groaning painedly. Her thighs rubbing together as if to try and soothe the burn inside her. A burn that will never feel better. And I was sad for her. She flopped a hand to the coverlet next to her and it instantly lit on fire all along the front of her. Blooming her in the light. I could see that her white skin was riddled with the dark veins and tiny bulbs. Like they’d run rampant in her time away from him. They forced her back. “Go.” She mouthed. Summoning her strength to lean up and whisper. “Get out while you can, Saria.” I slid my hand down toward the door handle, but his hand was over mine in an instant. “Not so fast.” He said in a warning tone. His hand lifted to caress lightly along my forearm, like a lover’s caress. But ready to snap my arm if I persist in escaping. “Come on now.” His fingers curved around my forearm and lifted it next to my face. Reaching up to link his fingers through me. Pressing his body along my back. I could already feel his hardness against my crack. He nestled his face into my hair. His mouth brushing the crook of my neck. “Let’s go down to the Chamber.” He’s already ready to take me. I wondered what it would take to wear him out. He seems nearly indestructible. I wasn’t sure that anything could. Firelight from the flames surrounding Bethanie danced along the wall. “The fire.” I objected. “Your mansion will burn down.” I rather hoped that it would. But not with me. Or Udora. Or the other suffering girls. He lurched off me dispassionately. Dragging that elbow down the door and tossing it behind him dismissively. Making the flame douse in sputtering smoke and Bethanie croak as if pained. *** Did him putting out the fire hurt her? I didn’t understand how it could. Course I had no idea how she’d made the flames explode into life on the bedding, to begin with. “First, come with me.” He rolled smoothly off the door. Cradling my stomach and still clutching my hand as he rotated me from the door to peel it open. And tug me down the hall behind him. Taking me where? I locked my heels and was beginning to struggle against his grip. Fearing that wherever he’d take me now would be worse than the horrible chamber he’d taken me to, before. Where he took so much from me. What could possibly be worse. But already I’d learned I couldn’t possibly expect what was coming next with him. He’s Lord of the unexpected. But he pushed a door open, and I recognized the black and white Wash Room. Where he’d washed Bethanie. Where he was stroking himself when I’d materialized here. It was stunning to see it again in reality. I paused inside and he closed the door. Rounding to face me. Crossing his arms across his chest and putting his back to it. “Take off your clothes, Spitfire.” *** “No.” I whispered. Lacking any conviction. Because when his eyes narrowed, I wanted to. Though I couldn’t tell if it was from fear or desire to. “Don’t defy me, Saria. I can be very cruel.” “I’m well aware of that. That’s why I don’t want you touching me any more than necessary.” “This is necessary. Trust me.” Definitely not! “Impossible!” I said. Making him chuckle. “Well, then,” He lurched off the door and approached me. “think of it as quickening my pleasure. And once that is over. You can go. Again.” An evil smile quirked his lips. “Until you return to me again.” 25 Washed “At your summoning you mean.” I said bitterly. “I am not forcing you.” “Not physically.” “Ah, now, Saria. Let’s not pretend you’re not already moist.” He reached down and touched the crux of my thighs over the fabric of my dress. Making me jump. My eyes rounded as I realized I was already soaking the fabric. He’s right. I didn’t even know it! I swallowed disgust at my own reaction. “Now take off your dress before I rip it off you.” I glared at him impudently but when he took a threatening step forward, I jumped from my gown. Stretching my arms over myself to cover my body. His gaze thinned on me. “What did I tell you about that?” *** “About what?” I knew very well what he was talking about. But I was stalling. I didn’t want to get in his wash bin and have him watch me scrub myself. “Shame.” “I don’t recall.” “You very much do.” His tone hardened. “Don’t play games with me.” He wrenched my arms away from covering me. Then he twisted and lifted me. Tossing me into the giant porcelain basin. He tugged a chain above me, and icy water began to rain on me. I whooshed a breath of air against the stinging fingers of cold water. “Aah!” I turned in the tub, trying to escape the frozen, painful touch. Mathis was staring down with malicious glee. “Learn to savor it, Saria. Pain can only hurt you when you fear it.” I barely heard his words, much less took them in. But they would run through my mind for days to come. *** Mathis stepped into the tub with me. Catching my waist and lifting me onto my feet. Exposing me even further to the biting fingers of water. He looked at me. His face expressionless as the water pelted his skin. The only benefit to his hard stare was that with the water surging at us, it was angled such that his larger frame blocked most of it. Was he shielding me? Surely not. I realized he was showing me his strength. Reminding me how weak I was in comparison. Because I’d reacted to the cold. Whereas he was immovable. I’ll find a way to make you suffer as much. I promised myself. Setting the vow aside with the collection that I’d made for vengeance and penance. The things I told myself to ensure he understood there was consequence to his tormenting. He collected a hard stone from the edge of the tub. “Do you see this. This is me.” He dragged it over his body. Leaving a red rash and tiny cuts. “I’m hard. Built to wound with not a soft spot on me.” He lifted a scrap of cloth and drug it over my body. Pouring the rushing water over the top of my chest and sending rivulets down over my perked nipples and flat belly and the mound of my sex. His eyes trailing their paths. I already knew what he’d say next. “This is you. Built to wash away suffering, pretty and soft.” “Hmm.” I murmured coldly. “What would happen to you if you fell in love?” I truly wanted to know. I couldn’t imagine Mathis being weak. Mathis loving. He gave a half-smile. “That’d never happen. It’s what led me here to begin with. No woman will ever possess my love again.” “And what if one were to love you?” “She’d be the dumbest one alive.” *** “Because you don’t deserve it?” I blurted harshly. “Because I don’t want it.” His tone was so icy cold, I couldn’t doubt his words. “Don’t you?” My eyes narrowed on him. Seeing his slight shift of discomfort and the way his eyes flitted to the edge of the tub. He’s uncomfortable. I’ve knocked him slightly off his footing. I certainly thought that was something to be proud of! “Is that fear I hear in your voice, Mathis?” “Don’t forget who you’re talking to!” He roared. Catching me by the neck and holding me against the wall. “I fear nothing. It’s you tiny creatures that fear me.” “I don’t fear you, Mathis.” I said, clutching his hand to ensure I could breathe around it. Though his grip wasn’t tight, it was very intimidating to know that if he tightened it, he could crush my airway and steal my life. No. I thought. You’re not taking any more from me! “But when I talk about a woman loving you, there’s true fear on your face. What would happen? Tell me.” I coaxed. Gaze still fierce, he slid me down the wall and released his grip. Flexing his hand as though it pained him not to choke the life out of me. “How about you worry about turning and putting your hands on that wall.” he commanded. *** I blinked at him, and he caught my shoulders and spun me. Shoving my back so I was angled to put my palms against the hard, stoney wall. It was rough under my palms. I gritted my teeth and braced myself. Trying to mentally prepared for his brutality. For feeling him inside me. Though I feared in this position, he may want more than the place he’d had before. A part of me that’s never been touched. That made my heart race with fear. Certain I’d be permanently damaged if he did. Instead, I felt the rag scrubbing over my back roughly. Washing every inch with the purposeful aggression he’d cleaned Bethanie. Now I’m that object I’d thought she was, when he touched her this way. He knelt behind me and scrubbed my legs. His touch was anything but kind. It feels like he’s trying to take off the top layer of skin. “Why are you washing me?” I said tenuously. Trying not to think about the fact that his touch was hurting. Though I was grateful he wasn’t using that bruising stone, he’d touched himself with. “I’m washing both of us.” “Why?” “Because we’re both going to be covered in sweat soon enough. And when I touch you, I want to know that the taint of anyone else’s touch isn’t on your skin.” 26 The Trapped Man “You think I’ve another man?” I didn’t want him. Much less any other after all the torment I’d experienced at his hands. “Who knows what you do when you’re not with me?” “Do you worry about it?” I was stunned at this hint of vulnerability. A strange note that may’ve been jealousy seeped into his voice. “I don’t wish to think on it.” “It disturbs you?” “Because you’re mine.” He said matter-of-factly. “It won’t matter. Soon enough your skin will be marred with my seed, and you’ll no longer be as fair as you are now. No longer be so desirable to the village lads. And I’ve plans for you one day. When you submit to me wholly.” “And if I don’t?” “You will.” “But if I didn’t?” “Then I’d likely pursue you forever. You, one woman, could probably charge me all I’d need with your power and the force of your will...If you were capable of that.” He ended quickly as if he’d given away too much. He dropped to his knees behind me and pushed one of mine forward so he could access my most intimate part. But when he dragged the rag over it this time it was slowly. Painfully slowly. I bit my lip to keep from jerking or making a sound. To let him touch me. To get this over with. *** “If I let you do whatever you’re going to do to me, will you let Udora go?” “I’ll let her go.” He agreed. Her. “Not Udora.” I said sadly. “I can’t let Udora go just yet.” “Why not?” “Because you won’t come back so willingly.” “Will you ever let her go?” “Eventually, most likely.” Not reassuring. “But I have been tending her better.” “Udora?” “Who else?” He queried. Standing now to lather his hair. Soap streaming down his smooth body. I turned and pushed myself against the far wall. Wanting as far from him as I could be. “Why?” I asked suspiciously. “To reward you. For pleasing me.” “You are taking better care of Udora, to reward me?” It seemed a sick system. But everything about Mathis is sick. *** “Indeed.” He said in a bored tone. Smoothing his black hair back made his square jaw and stark features seem even more masculine. I’d never seen a face like his real one. It was magnetic. His penetrating green eyes felt like they crawled under my very skin and dug their way into my soul to peer at my innermost thoughts. Like he may know everything I’m thinking. That was a horrifying thought. He looked to me, like some charming prince from a fairytale. Someone that would’ve been kind and charming. Everything he’s not. “What?” He blinked and water clung to black lashes which should’ve been too long for a man. I imagined what I looked like. My red hair washed straight would reach my butt now. My eyes were large and crystal blue. Thickly lashed and alluring, I’d been told. By the village boys he so seemed to resent. I was beyond what should’ve been marriageable age in our village but still callers came. But my father was happy to reject them and keep me home and safe. From the witches. Witches he was so terrified of. Yet he follows all the bidding of the worst one. The only one I’ve ever met. *** “What are you staring at?” He said in what may’ve been curiosity or irritation at having to repeat himself. “A monster.” He snorted. “Aren’t we all.” He turned his back to send the rivulets of soapy water seeping down his back. Cold water. Which stung the flesh. Soap trailed over his back and down his muscled buttocks and over his black furred thighs and down. His body was sculpted looking like a woman would’ve enjoyed giving it soft caresses once. I found myself reflexively reaching forward to touch the slick muscles aside his spine but as I did, a hand formed from beneath his skin and reached out to clutch my hand. Interweaving its fingers with mine. A face pressed against the other side of it. A man’s face. Screaming. It pushed against the skin of his back like straining to escape and the hand clutched mine. I realized I was hearing a humming sound which seemed far away. After a moment I registered it was me screaming. He rounded. Jerking the hand from its grip on me. He towered over me, his face written with rage. As though my shriek had jostled something angry inside him. “Don’t touch me like that!” He snapped. Lip curling in contempt. “Not ever.” *** “W-why?” I blinked up at him in shock. Horrified at what I’d just witnessed. It was like there was someone trapped in his body with him. I hadn’t meant to touch him. I didn’t want to. That hand grabbed me. “Never touch him...” Mathis snarled. His eyes almost black in his rage. Him? Who was it? And why were they stuck in his skin. It seemed like it would’ve made more sense to me were it another of his prisoner women. But that was a man. I had glimpsed the square jaw. High cheekbones and slashing brows of a frantic man. Pressing against his skin as if yearning to be free. I cowered backward. Sliding down the wall. “O-o-kay.” Mathis caught my arm and stepped from the wash bin. Yanking me out. Which freed me from that painful drizzle. He jerked up his pants and stepped into his boots. Leaving himself shirtless as he caught my arm again. He seems to enjoy doing that. Despite his biting grip, I found myself blowing a relieved breath. But that meager sense was soon to be squelched. *** It didn’t take me long to realize where we were going. He’s taking me to the dungeons. Down into that dreadful darkness where only poison and death lay. Where he turns me into a ball of agony at his mercy. I was still bare from being in his wash bin and he hadn’t bothered to grab me any clothes, so I wondered if I was going to have to stumble out of this place naked. “Mathis...Something to wear?” I pleaded as he tugged me down the stairs and I realized that any moment we could come across a servant that would see me naked as the day I’d emerged into this world. “You don’t need it.” “But-” “But nothing!” He roared. Tossing a furious look over his shoulder. “You do what I tell you. Shut your pretty mouth.” 27 Another Girl to Save My fear of what would happen to me down there was building. What if he didn’t let me go this time? What if he kept me here forever and no one ever knew where I was? Not that anyone would’ve come and got me anyway. It seemed that once Mathis claimed you were a witch you became his forever anyway. No one looks for you. No one yearns for you. No one mourns you. And God knows how long he keeps them to torture them. As we neared the doors to the dungeons, two of his huge lumbering ogres appeared. They were clothed loosely in what looked like servant’s clothes. But they barely spanned the length of the creatures’ hulking shoulders. The pants were torn around their calves and their eyes roved over me hungrily. No one can believe they’re human. Not even close. But when they’d come to the Dining Hall, Mayor Marx hadn’t batted an eyelash when he saw them. Was he seeing something different then I did? Like how Mathis manages to disguise himself to every eye but mine. But, I reminded myself, there had been a time when I too had been deceived by Mathis’ exterior. Until I’d caught a fleeting glance of the monster beneath... *** We entered the dungeons. The large monsters trudging on our heels as Mathis dragged me down into the acrid heat of the lowest chambers. The stench seemed more foul than the last time. Human excrement, evil and filth. A smell that would never be washed away. When we stepped to the stone of the lowest level, I found myself crossing my arms over my chest to cover myself and standing on my toes to avoid fully stepping in whatever waste might be on the floor. “Pick one.” Mathis ordered. “One.” I looked over my shoulder at him. He gave my lower back a light shove. “One.” He lifted his finger purposefully. He means a woman to free. This was his version of a twisted shopping excursion. I tiptoed over to Udora’s cage and turned to look at him. Hitching my chin impudently. He shook his head slowly. His eyes, once again green, flared in warning. Telling me to move on. *** I chewed my lip and gave Udora a pained look. I could see she was a bit cleaner and had a pillow. She was huddled on the far side of the cage. Looking at me sadly as she held her arms around herself as if she was the only one able to offer herself any comfort. “Has he touched you?” I asked her. “Not yet.” Udora sobbed. Dropping her face to her hands. “But he touches us all eventually. Even you...” “Not you.” I told her. He wants me for now. I’ll find a way to get you out. I tried to convey the message in the long look I gave her. I lowered to stick my hand in the cage which only reached as high as my waist. She lurched forward to grip it. “Don’t leave me again!” She begged. “I’m going to get you out.” Before I could say anything more, I was being hoisted up by Mathis’ grip on my upper arm. “To the chamber.” He ordered. I gave her a reassuring look over my shoulder as I let him usher me forward on leaden feet. *** I’m enduring this for you. I hoped she knew. She couldn’t possibly think that it was something I was enjoying. I heard the rattle of chains behind me and saw that one of the ogres had chained a woman to a metal rack on the wall. He caught her hips and pulled her body toward him. Then hunkered low enough to jut inside her. Stuffing his erect member into her small body. She shrieked and then whined hopelessly. “Her!” I pointed. “I want to take her with me.” “Fine.” Mathis shrugged. Not looking back. “You can have what’s left when he’s done...And when I am.” He gave me a pointed look. I heard that metal rack thud brutally with every hard, animalistic pounding the ogre gave the poor girl. Her large breasts rose up like pendulums then fell as he drew his huge width back out of her straining body, before entering her again. Her flat stomach stretching to fit him while he was inside. Creating a bulge behind her pelvis where he filled her. It has to be excruciating. I wanted nothing more than to light him on fire and walk over and unchain her and get her out of here forever. She looked barely older than me. Perhaps ten and nine. Old enough she may have children at home. *** “How can you let this happen to them?” I asked Mathis. Tears welling in my eyes as I heard the ogre grunting rhythmically. “Uh. Uh. Uh.” And the bars thumping while chains rattled. And the sobbing of girls nearby as they witnessed the torture. Of the huge monster rutting the poor woman. “It means very little to me. And in truth, it likely does to her either. She’s barely in there anymore.” “She was wailing!” “Only with loathing. They can’t feel the pain after a time.” “Is that what you tell yourself?” I said viciously as he closed the door behind us. Blocking my view of what was happening to her. “It’s plain fact.” He corrected. Looking at me coldly. At least his eyes are no longer black. That fed my defiance. Gave me courage to push him a little. “Oh, is it?” “You should be less concerned about Triana and more concerned with what’s going to happen to My Spitfire.” He gestured past me. I turned slowly. Afraid to look. *** I recognized that we were in The Chamber. His secret room. Like before, silvery moonlight seeped in from a wide hole above. It must be open somewhere in the roof of the Fortress. I’d never seen a spot in the ramparts that looked like it could have a gaping mouth leading to the dungeons. But hard to see from so far below. Shimmering bits of dust floated in the room, catching the light and turning it into sharp bits of brightness as they twisted in the darkness. The dirt floor was empty. Barren save for one black corner where I could just faintly see the outline of a tool of torture. Something I recognized... A stockade. 28 The Stockade “Go to it.” He said in a coaxing voice. Immediately, my instincts were screaming. I can’t do this! I knew what happened to people in the stocks. They were left out in public. Forced to be bent at the waist or on their knees. Their neck and wrists pinned between the notched wood and locked closed. And sometimes cruel people threw rotten food at them and persecuted them for whatever crime had led them to be there. Or for simple entertainment. It looked painful on one’s body to be in that position for so long. Terrifying to be locked in. And horrifying to have the indignity of being made into a public mockery. The last thing I wanted was to be in that thing. “Do you know what it’s for?” Mathis asked me darkly. “Public shaming.” My voice sounded choked even to my own ears. “You, who are so afraid of feeling shame.” He chuckled. “What an exciting experience, aye?” Exciting was the furthest thing from my mind. Terrifying. He was starting to circle me like a hungry vulture. His chest and feet bare, he stepped on small rocks heedlessly. His head whipping to keep me in view, like an angry predator. He’s still angry I saw the thing in his back. I wished I hadn’t seen it. I couldn’t seem to get the image out of my head. The creature which had screamed for my help. The trapped man. *** Despite his instruction, I still hadn’t taken one step toward the stockade. As awful as it would’ve been in public, somehow being here alone with Mathis made the prospect immensely more nightmarish. “You’re trying to scare me.” “Yes. I want you scared.” He admitted. “But I also find the idea immensely erotic. The idea of having you while you’re trapped in the stockade. Mmm.” He growled. Moving his pelvis in a way that told me he was becoming uncomfortable. My eyes skid to the door. “Remember, the only thing keeping you here, is your own choice. You can leave at any time.” But it wasn’t reassurance. Instead, it was a painful reminder that I did indeed have to be here. He was right, I potentially could leave if I wished. But not without leaving the girl I’d just told myself I’d free. That’s why he let me pick her out. So, I would be bound by my own conscience to let him have me. “You’re very cruel.” His mind games were beyond mean. He chuckled coldly. Bobbing his head in acknowledgement. “Yes, indeed I am.” “How did you become like this.” He froze. Giving me a startled look. “Like what?” “A monster.” He laughed again, rubbing his face. “What an apt word for it…Well, My Dear, every monster has to eat.” He was giving me such a pointed look, it was clear I was the meal. “Go to it.” I walked on numbed feet. Finding my way to the wooden construction. I told myself that I would just free my mind and leave this humiliation while he took me. I chewed my lip, even more afraid that he might not. What if he just hooked me in and left me. His plaything down here in the dark… *** No one would ever come looking for me. No one knows I’m here. It wasn’t the first time the thought had occurred to me. My hands worked, trying to dispel the sweatiness of my palms. I slowly rounded the stockade until I stood behind it. Staring down at it fearfully. So afraid I could hardly breathe. My whole body was trembling. I felt like I should be talking. I wanted to ask him what he was going to do to me. But I was even more unsettled that he might tell me. And it’d be horrible. Mathis rounded behind me and his hand landed atop my bare shoulder. Making me nearly leap from my skin. He pushed me down. His fingers curling to lightly caress my flesh. Reminding me how vulnerable I was. Already nude. I resisted slightly. “Leave then.” He whispered near my ear. Nearly in challenge. “I’m sure she’ll be just fine. She is Jack’s favorite.” “Jack?” Mathis was silent and I realized he meant the ogerish mean that had been pounding her in the dungeon. I swallowed. My mouth suddenly dry. No way I can leave without her. I have to save her from that horrible fate. No matter what the cost. Especially if she’s that terrible thing’s favorite. *** “Down.” Mathis pushed me downward. The pressure increasing until I lowered to my knees. Then he pushed my shoulder forward, causing me to lower onto the ground on all fours. He stroked down my back. Caressing with just his fingertips. “And you’re my favorite…” My whole body tensed. I didn’t want to be his favorite. I wanted him to forget about me. And to free all those girls. “Crawl to it.” He directed. Stamping down my mortification, I crawled naked toward the stockade. Feeling my breasts dangling and his eyes on my soft lips from behind as I moved. He was watching every twist of my body. Like a hungry predator. “Do you know how powerful you are?” He rounded me to open the stock. Unlatching the front of it to lift the top half. Opening it for me. “I don’t feel powerful.” The truth was I felt anything but. Being naked in a crawl, wondering when he’d enter me and if once, he had me in the stockade, he’d leave me. “In what way could I be powerful?” “You, with this beautiful body,” He stroked me again. His hands framing the outside of my shoulders and following my curves down to the narrowness of my waist. “Have the power to free so many women. To release the girls, you care so much for. By offering to me what you guard so zealously.” My flesh. *** He was right in that I could free them, but I was sacrificing myself on this ugly wooden alter to do so. And the self-centered part of me was screaming it wasn’t worth it. That I should run. “Put yourself in it.” He commanded. I leaned up onto my knees and lowered my head and wrists into position along the wood. “Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?” He leaned to whisper near the back of my ear. But it was. “I’ve changed my mind!” I cried. “I don’t want to be here. I want to go.” He laughed and slapped the heavy block of wood. It came down over my wrists and neck with a thud that rattled my whole body. He set the latches on the front side. Latches I can’t reach. I was now wholly trapped whether I wanted to go or not, I was at his mercy. His for the taking. 29 Voices in the Darkness Mathis clearly had no intention of letting me go. He was still behind me. Straining to reach over me as he finished pushing down the locks that secured me into the giant block of wood. I reflexively pulled at it like a caged animal, but it had no give. The width of my head was far too large to let me pull backward. And it only brought me closer against Mathis’ chins. He growled in pleasure. Taking the time to circle around the front of the stockade, tugging my red hair from within the hole until it all poured down the side of my face. He caressed my cheek. “So, beautiful…” “Open.” I looked up at him. Unable to lift my head far enough to look at him. And resisting the urge to beg him to let me go. I knew he was talking about my mouth. But I didn’t want to open it. He lightly pinched my bottom lip and my chin. “Open those pretty lips for me, Spitfire. I want in that mouth.” I whimpered in objection. I jerked at the stockade, but it only resulted in causing rough splinters to scratch my wrists. I lowered to sit on my heels hoping that I could balance enough to get away from this stockade. But all the pulling in the world wouldn’t free me. “Are we quite finished with that little effort?” He said in that cold rumbling voice. As he lowered to his haunches to look at me. His voice seeming to echo in this huge chamber. “You’ve nowhere to go, no one to run to. Screaming will only arouse me. So really you have no choice…” “Unless you want to beg me.” There was very nearly hope in his voice. And I could see light brightening in his green eyes at the prospect. No. I won’t beg. Because he wants me to, so badly. *** Breathing raggedly, I surrendered. Realizing that the more I fought, the more excited he became. I dutifully closed my eyes and opened my mouth wide. Having a fair idea what would happen. He took his time unlacing his breeches, despite that I knew they were still loose from the washing. I refused to open my eyes but could hear the rustling that indicated he was plucking at them purposefully. I could feel his gaze on me and knew he was trying to intimidate me. I didn’t blink, didn’t twitch. Just waited. For what seems an eternity. Then I felt the soft skin wrapping his iron hardness brush along my bottom lip. And soon across the surface of my tongue and finally to the opening of my throat. Making my mouth automatically lower around his flesh. Easing lightly around him until my lips had completely closed around his width. Such a strange thing to have that intimate bit of skin in my mouth. Making him both powerful and weak while there. I could bite him. But what would be the consequence? He might leave me down here in this stockade forever. Something he might do anyway. He might beat me senseless. He might give me to his ogres. Whatever he might do, I was certain that it would be a long-time suffering for a momentary triumph. I was smarter than that. He moved backward, drawing his length back from me. Making my mouth make a suctioning sound, as the head of him stopped just beyond my lips. Then he stroked back in. He balanced his hands on the corners of the stockade to use it as leverage to stroke back into me, then out. Once, he went too far and I gagged. Coughing around his length. My hands flexed but couldn’t get anywhere near my mouth to save myself. Momentary panic made my heart race and sweat bead on my forehead. I made a few yelping noises as I wondered if I would suffocate. To my surprise, he immediately withdrew. “And again.” He slipped back in. Working himself into my mouth until I felt him swelling until he no longer fit in my mouth. I closed my lips and looked up at him. Wiping my face of any expression to see if he’d force me to take more or relent. My tiny fight. *** He chuckled low in his throat and worked his fingers through my hair. Watching the silky red strands seep through it. Seeming all the more darker for the blackness of the chamber. Then he took the few steps around the stockade. Stopping near my side to cup a breast. Massaging its weight in his palm. “One day I will use that flesh too to bring me pleasure.” His meaning wasn’t lost on me. He meant that he’d use my breasts to stroke his cock. I grimaced but said nothing. He took another step behind me. I heard tiny rocks crunching under his booted step and knew he was turning to look at me. He leaned over and caught my waist, bringing it back and up to put me on my knees. Making the stockade rattle as my position changed. It felt more precarious. I swayed slightly. The entirety of my weight balanced on my knees and the bottom of my wrists and neck was uncomfortable. Making my stomach feel strained as it fought to keep me up. He took a step back to assess his view of my most intimate places. Taking stock of all the things he wanted to do to me before partaking of his prize. *** And giving me time to figure out how to shift to keep from falling. Which would’ve been very painful, bruising me against the stockade. I slid my knees apart to keep my weight displaced evenly. Lowering behind me with slow precision. Dropping to one knee then the next. His hands following the curve of my back from down my shoulder blades to land on my hips. He gave one cheek a firm swat that had me lunging forward. Feeling the heat of where he’d touched already blushing my skin. “Careful now, Darling. Lest you hurt yourself.” But there was humor in his voice. He took off one boot and set it next to me on the right. Soon his other boot followed on the left. He took his time sliding his pants down incredibly slowly. I couldn’t see anything. Only hear his movements. And I knew he was taking his time apurpose, to make my apprehension rise. It's working. I found myself tapping my fingers along my thumb in an effort to calm myself. “Come away with us.” A tiny voice said so fast that I barely heard it. I looked up and noticed a tiny flickering gray light in the dimness, across the room. I went very still in shock. Listening for that high pitched, tinny voice again. It was nearly metallic and so rapid that it was almost inaudible. “Come away with us.” 30 His Way “Where?” I whispered slowly. “What’s that?” Mathis asked. “I didn’t say anything!” I turned trying to talk to him but found I couldn’t bend to see him. It only made my hips swing to the side. But Mathis held them in place so they couldn’t go far. Catching them so firmly that his fingers nearly bit into the front of my pelvis as he lifted me off my knees and slammed me back down on my knees before him. I felt him straightening behind me and felt the hardness of his length rubbing along my crack. “Mmm…” He purred appreciatively. “You look so beautiful like this.” Vulnerable. Unable to fight him. His ideal prey. I thought bitterly. Feeling helpless and frustrated. As he no doubt intended me to. *** “Like what. Trapped in your stockade?” “On your knees, vulnerable…Mine to take.” He whispered. I was trying to focus on spotting the tiny gray light again but was having a hard time finding it. Then I felt the blunted tip of Mathis prodding my entrance. His slick body keeping mine from providing any resistance. His hand stroking down the curve of my back was causing me to damp around him despite that I was angry, furious, that this was all happening. His length was entering me, and my knees automatically shifted apart to allow him entrance within my body, to keep from him hurting me. He was so long that it seemed like he was piercing into me forever. My back arched upward as my body unconsciously tried to escape his penetration. “Ugh.” He sank all the way in despite my efforts. His sack putting pressure against the soft lips surrounding the mouth of my opening. There was a pinching pressure against my insides. And like before I could feel him swelling further inside me. As if he got wider and wider, spreading me apart. Stretching my delicate body to a nearly impossible point. He was consuming me. Filling me to brimming in any way possible. He'd stopped moving, just sitting there and letting himself swell inside me. Feeling the tightening of my walls around him. The reflexive clenching as my body fought the growth. “Oh, you, My Dear are a creature made for lust. Your body is firm and tight and carved from the finest things to suck on a man’s cock. Every inch of you gives me pleasure.” He was finally dragging himself out of me, inch by painstaking inch. The great weight of him easing and my walls folding closed again as he freed my body. Then he paused at my entrance waiting a long time. I clenched my fists and closed my eyes knowing what he’d do. And he did. He entered me almost violently this time. Making me throw up my head and shout at the great intrusion of him imbedding in me. He withdrew just as roughly working my body until I’d inadvertently soaked his length. My body still reacting to the mating ritual we were undertaking despite my discontented thoughts. My body was lathing him in moisture. Ripening me for the taking. He withdrew slowly and pounded in a gain. Making me gasp. A guttural squeak erupting from my throat no matter my efforts to choak it down. “That a girl.” He crooned. “Cry for me.” *** Him saying that, gave me more conviction to not be weak. Not be his crying victim. I was letting him take me. But I wouldn’t bite at his taunting. “It’s erotic to see such a prideful, vicious, spitfire, restrained in such a way…” He groaned as he. Hammered me harder. Holding me in place as he slapped against me. His sack swinging against my lower lips and his hips digging into my ass cheeks. Making them jounce in pace with his rough rhythm. “You’re a fine fit around me. The sweetest mouth sucking and stroking me inside you.” His deep rumbling sounds of pleasure were coming from lower in his throat and I sensed his head was thrown back as he enjoyed the feel of entering my body. Taking me viciously. Like his personal slave. A toy that can’t fight him. “You’re the lowest slime.” “That I may be.” His head fell forward, and he chuckled. “Yet you let me inside you. Again…and again.” He crawled over my back. Not losing his pace as his arms bordered the sides of my breasts, changing the angle to downward as he thrummed into me. “So, Spitfire. What lies beneath slime?” I hated hearing him say that. He wants me to feel like something lower than anything I could call him. That was why he positioned me so submissive. So, I couldn’t fight him. He could take me. Any way he wants. “Why are you doing this?” I expostulated through gritted teeth. My voice breaking with each time he stroked into me and bumped my body forward. Making the stockade rattle and bruising the bottom of my wrists. Stoking my anger. “Because.” He sunk his teeth lightly into my shoulder. Making my nipples crest. Suddenly his rough palm was over one. Pinching my nipple and hanging onto it as he worked into me. The weight of it bouncing while he held the peak in place. I bit my lip to keep from moaning. Either in pain or pleasure. I wasn’t sure. But I felt overwhelmed by sensation. Stretching. Submissive. Vulnerable. Utterly his. And as much as I hated him. The sense that he was making me feel purely feminine. Weak where he was strong. Wet where he was hard. Welcoming even when I was not. He was teaching my body to respond to the feel of him. Despite all my furious thoughts. It was as though he was creeping into my mind and squelching every part of bitter rage and making me focus on the things he was doing. Turning pain to pleasure and rage to desire. Making me feel good, even though I knew he was hurting me. Deep inside. Beating my core. Pushing me forward until my shoulders hit the stockade in his rhythmic motions. I realized then that despite all his joining games, it wasn’t about the physicality. It’s about breaking down my will. He’s toying in my mind. Stealing my strength. 31 Glimpses of Salvation “You’re mine, Saria.” He whispered. As if hearing my thoughts. He angled up to grip the top of the stockade. Using it to pull himself forward and pressing the back of my body down until I thought he’d snap my spine or pierce from my stomach. But my body was somehow constructed in a way that it could survive his brutality. He knew what he could do to me, that would make me feel destroyed without having outward effects. He’ll harm me just to the point of killing me. “We’re here.” The little voices rose. “With you. Focus on us.” I tried to do what they said but the sense of hands on me and the strength of someone invading my body made it a struggle. “Focus...” They whispered in tiny voices that sounded like far off bells ringing in my ears so loud I wondered if he could hear it. *** But soon the option was gone. I had to as the little fey had bid me. Because then the blinding pain came. As he got close to his climax, there came the black burning. The stinging of him peeling away my skin and ripping through my muscles to steal fragments of my soul. His energy robbing mine. “You’re so powerful.” He remarked. “You alone could feed me for an eternity. When you submit, you’ll be my greatest triumph.” How am I powerful? What does he mean feed him? And the last thought came to me with surprising strength. I’ll never submit to you, Mathis. “You mean when I break.” I said through gritted teeth. Ignoring the jerking of my body against the stockade as he took me viciously. Taking from me like a thief in the night. I thought of what Veline had said, that I might be the only one to overcome him. To bring him to his knees for all the world to see. But I didn’t yet understand how. “You’ll be mine.” He agreed with my cold, angry statement. He pounded into me. Making the wood thud. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk. Piercing pain. Like the ridges of his shape inside me had grown spikes and was holding inside. Dark magic wrenching away the layers of my spirit. Able to take no more, I dropped my head back and shrieked. Shrieked from pain, rage and helplessness. My anger seeming more powerful now then any emotion I’d ever felt. How could Bethanie have come back for more of this? *** “Yes, My Pet. Scream. Scream to whatever spirits serve you.” But I bit my tongue. Refusing to give him more gratification. He was already making pleasured sounds, savoring the way I felt wrapped around him. “Bring them here to me…And I’ll feed on them too.” He beckoned. Unthreatened by any outside force. Knowing we were utterly isolated in his fortress of torment and torture. But not forever. I told myself. Willing to bear the pain until I found a way to rain recompense down on his dark head. I had the keen sense that whatever these tiny flickering beings were, they were beyond even his magical reach. They didn’t seem scared of him. They seem scared for me. Just when I thought I could take no more and I’d die from the searing pain, I saw the silvery lights twining around the chamber. Glinting like tiny sparkles in the moonlight seeping from high above to cast over the lonely dirt floor. “We’re here.” A shrill voice. “Use our strength.” Another to the other side of me urged. “We’ll give it to you…” And they did. I felt a swell like a cold wind had come pouring in and blown my hair back around the stockade. Silver lights reflecting in my bright eyes. My body felt charged. Hardened with strange power and I was no longer afraid. The pain of his rough possession seemed far away. I gritted my teeth and stared at the wall. Remembering what Veline had told me and steeling myself to be stronger than I’d ever been. I suddenly felt absent of emotion. All pain was gone, and I was a beast of my own. *** I could feel Mathis’ confusion when there were no more screams. No more sounds of pain. “Give me what you will, Mathis.” I challenged him. He paused. Still inserted inside me. “What did you say?” “Do what you will. I am not afraid of you.” “You should be.” “But I’m not.” “Then what are you feeling right now.” I closed my eyes and hardened my jaw against the words. “You feel so good. Keep going.” He slowly began again. Hesitating and gliding more smoothly as he eased the torment to study my reactions. I’ve confused him. Knocked him off balance. Good. That’s a start. “Give me more, Mathis. Show me who you really are...” “You think you’ve seen who I really am, at all?” There was a strange note in his harsh voice. “Then show me.” I wanted him to finish. Wanted what he was doing to me to be over. But even more than that, I was interested in where this conversation would go. *** “What game are you playing?” He asked suspiciously. “No game. I’m just enjoying you.” I felt him growing smoother inside, more bearable. And after a long moment he withdrew out of me. His tip slipping out and he walked around before me to look down at me. “What?” I quirked a brow as I looked up at him. “What’s wrong, Mathis?” I asked in a honeyed tone. “This isn’t you.” He lowered to squat before me and caught my cheeks. Staring into my eyes. And at the floating silver flakes there. “Twinkets.” His jaw hardened. “How’d they get to you. They can’t reach things in this realm. Someone is helping you. Who is it?” I blinked at him. “I don’t know what you mean.” He unhooked the stockade and flipped it open. “You’re quite ruining this for me, you know that?” I stood up. Climbing to my feet on shaking legs and ignoring the twinging of pain inside me. I looked up at him towering over me. My expression was defiant. Knowing I stood there naked. Ample thighs, soft body and thrusting breasts with my long waves of red hair draped over them. But I felt nothing but strength. Power. “Am I?” I queried. “I’ll find out what you’re doing.” 32 Turning the Tables “What if you’re making this far too complicated?” I sauntered to him on bare toes. Letting my hips swing and my arms drape around me in a seductive flow. Something I’d never done before. One foot in front of the other and letting my hip drop then sway to the other side. Letting my breasts hop with each movement and turning my head slightly to keep my hair swaying around my body. His eyes were drawn to the movements like a magnet. Roving over me from head to toe, savoring every curve and hollow as if he couldn’t get enough of looking at them. It’s working. I knew that whatever odd thing had possessed me, was doing the trick because I saw something I never had before. The hint of something. Behind all that lust was something else. The hint of fear... I gloried in that. Letting my fevered body take control and keep my thoughts from trying to argue what was clearly happening. The behavior the tiny fey had incited in me. I draped myself against his bare chest. Letting my breasts and budded nipples press to his hot flesh. I could see the swirling mists of black magic wafting around him. Wisping in different directions as if unsure where to go now that they could not so readily enter me with his climax. I slung one arm over the back of his neck and slid the other palm over the flat plane of his chest and down his hard abdomen and rolled it over the jutting bone of his hip to grip him there and pull his pelvis roughly toward me. Making our flesh slap at the sudden contact. I slowly rose onto my toes to meet his lips. Brushing mine across his lush, soft ones. Dragging them up and down. His parted instinctively and he pressed further against me. I took the invitation to deepen the kiss. Pushing my lips harder to his. He caught his breath and lowered. Catching me closer to him and delving his tongue into my mouth like a starved man. Trying to taste all my secrets. He abruptly broke the kiss. Chest heaving. His green eyes widened, and dark brows shot up nearly to that curling hair. “What are you about, Woman?” He was stunned. Shocked to the core that I had been so bold and had been in the process of seducing him. So was I. But I wasn’t about to let him know it. “Take me, Mathis...” I slid the bottom of one foot up the back of his leg. Letting my opening brush against his hard tip. I pulled his head down to me. “Make me yours...” I felt him shaking against me. I saw the strange outline of hands emerging from his biceps and reaching toward me. Straining against his very skin as if reaching for help. From me. *** What exactly is he? And who’s trapped inside? “What are you doing to me, Saria?” He said more softly. Looking utterly lost. His expression reflecting the vulnerability of a confused child. His gaze roving my face as if searching for something he, himself, couldn’t understand. “You won’t do this!” His voice broke and his shoulders squared, and his expression turned vicious, and I knew I’d lost the upper hand. Lost the moment. Whoever I’d glimpsed was firmly stuffed back inside his dark heart. But now I know he has one. “You’re going to regret ever playing that game with me!” He sneered furiously. “Blika, Zuriah, Turian!” He called over his shoulder. That made my gut sink as I knew of only one other thing in the dungeons that could call when summoned. I immediately envisioned the poor woman as she had been against that wall. The changes holding her as the giant took her. His horrendous member pressing inside her in a way that strained her stomach as he had her. He’s going to let those monsters have me. *** I bit back a scream and began looking furtively around. “That’s right.” A slow smirk rolled across his face and his green eyes turned hollow. For a moment I thought I glimpsed the shadow of a skull with giant black sockets seeming entirely too big for his face. I hissed through my teeth. “I can feel your fear.” He held out his arms and drew a long breath as if to take it in. Then I recalled a tiny detail about the odd conversation we’d had up in his Wash Room. “Would you truly let them have me? I thought you wanted no other man to enter me?” I hooded my gaze and peered up at him from beneath them. “Who said anything about letting them have you?” He gave me a haughty look as if I were the most foolish creature. Then what was he planning? *** There was a great thud at the door. But it didn’t budge. The lever rattled but the door wouldn’t access. I watched it in fear and astonishment. My gaze seemed to readjust, blur, then zoom in on the edges of light framing the giant door. Catching sight of what I couldn’t see before. Then I caught the merest glimmer of tiny glittering ropes strung between the little fey creatures as they clung to the wall on each side of the door. Creating the merest barrier which seemed to stop the huge, heavy door from trying to be opened. Why hadn’t they done that when Mathis tried to bring me in here? But my mind was drawn from that as I realized I was on limited time before the big beasts got in. He was staring at the door, brow lowered in annoyance. “Get it open!” He shouted. I closed the distance between us to draw a finger slowly along his jawline. Making his head whip back to me. “Why would you want them in here then? I thought this was ‘atween you and I...” He blinked rapidly. Looking from me to the door that wouldn’t open. “I want them to hold you down for me.” 33 Never Invited Before The idea of them gripping me for him to have at me was horrifying. I swallowed the lump of fear that conjured. I knelt before him. Catching his forearms and drawing him down with me. I laid on my back and slowly opened my legs for him to kneel between them. His eyes narrowed on me. “Come, Mathis.” I opened my arms to him. “Have me.” Even to my own ears, my voice had become far away and haunting. Beckoning in a way that didn’t sound like me at all. The darkness seemed to rip from his eyes like a curtain lifting. Jerking and then rising until they were fully green again. He obediently crawled over me. Then hesitated. He shook his head once. Then twice. Like a wounded animal. As if trying to come back to sanity. Trying to regain that seething rage he taps into when he ravishes me so viciously. *** He retreated back down between my legs. “No!” He snarled. He put his palms to his temples and roared in frustration. He abruptly caught my hips and jerked me over onto my knees. Lifting me and guiding me toward one stone wall. “Hang onto those loops!” He barked. I did as he bid, willing to comply in the hopes he wouldn’t have the ogres hold me down while he ripped at my body. My hands shook as I reached up to catch the narrow metal rings. His fist rolled into my hair angrily. Jerking my head back. “Hang on wench. Now you’ve pissed me off.” He pushed on my lower back. Making me bend forward until my cheek was against the wall. My face pressed to cool stone. I was suddenly very afraid that in his anger, he intended to take me in a way he had not yet. I felt my ass instinctively tighten, afraid of where he might enter me. Already fearing the searing burn that might come if he stuffed himself inside my backside. He seems furious enough to. He chuckled, pleased as he looked down. He pushed his hardened cock against my crack. Rolling it up and down. Then he pushed the head between them. Stirring it around the puckered opening. I flinched and lurched forward but he chased me until I was pinned to the stone. He pressed the tip just beyond the entrance. He whooshed a long breath of air as I began to stretch to make way for him. Already it was stinging. “Mmm.” He purred next to my exposed ear. “It just wants to suck me right in…Should I let it?” I shook my head desperately. Feeling the hint of tears hovering just behind my eyes. Tears I had stamped down for so long. “Please!” I bit out before I could catch myself. Knowing the word would only bring him pleasure to hear. “Ohhh...” He crooned. “Are you going to wail for me? Beg me, Wench?” He lurched forward and prodded at my back entrance. Making me tense. I bit my lip so hard it bled to keep from screeching in terror. He laughed coldly and I was dead certain in that moment that his intent was to hurt me. Bringing out that hint of humanity, had infuriated the monster. *** “You’re trying to scare me!” I called him out. “Always.” He chuckled. “Good of you to notice. Now offer me that ass, and I may consider being kind to it.” I shook my head as much as his tight fist in my hair would allow. “No? No?” His voice rose and with his other hand he caught my chin and turned my face so he could see me. Putting my other cheek against the stone instead. “Do you want to save that girl. He’s probably still stabbing at her now. Growing more zealous as he gets closer. Ready to pour himself into her. And then possibly one of the others will have a turn at her. Is that what you want?” “No…” I whined. “I want to save her.” But a part of me was dying as I admitted that I knew I had to obey whatever sordid fantasy he conjured to fulfill my part. “Then give me what I want!” He growled. I stalled as long as I could then eased my hips back toward him. Curving my back and pressing my breasts to the sharp stones. Putting my palms against it to keep the points from biting into me. “More.” He ordered. I shuffled my hips backward to him and felt the weight of his rod lying down my crack again. He began rubbing himself along the crease. Up and down. Thickening as he did. Rumbling in his throat in pleasure. “You have the sweetest body. Soft, tight. Made for me.” Then he reached back around and caught my hands. Turning them until I flattened my hands. Feeling his chest along my back and the head of his rod angled more towards my tiny hole. I was breathing in tiny, ragged huffs. Praying for some salvation I knew wouldn’t come. He dragged my flattened hands over the stones. Molding the shape of them and guiding them up. Then lightly pinching the edges to lift them off and wrap them within the rings. Folding my fingers over the bottom portion of the loop. “I told you, to hold on.” I nodded. Wanting to whimper. To beg. Anything that might make him relent. But the stronger parts of me knew that’d be a waste of time. He’s going to do to me whatever he wishes. And whining will only excite him. Drive him harder.

16 A Missive Warlord held it gingerly and looked back at the bird. Giving a series of pretty twittering whistles at it. The bird responded in kind and cheerfully took off. Black tipped red wings fluttering as it vanished as quickly as it’d come. “What’s that about?” I stared after the bird, fascinated. “Messages.” “From who?” “One of my sources.” Sources? I’d always heard he talked to no one. How’d he groom sources? And who were they? Who’d want to aid such a cold man? “Magus.” He explained absentmindedly. “One of the mages?” “He used to be.” “But he’s not now?” “I just helped him escape under the condition he would send me such word.” Warlord’s tone hardened slightly, and I could tell he wasn’t liking where this discussion was going. That’s how he honed sources. Freeing them. It gave me a tiny glint of hope. Maybe he might free me one day. “I won’t let you go.” He said without looking up from the missive. Ouch. That news felt almost crushing. I eyed his profile. His face was scrunched in irritation. Probably with me and the message. If I wanted him to keep telling me things, I needed to stick to gleaning one topic at a time. Every time I tried beyond that, he lost patience with me and shut down. If I want to escape him, I must get to know him. And now I was reassured that Magus was able to escape the Castle. It means there is a way. *** “What does it say?” Despite that I’d just concluded I should drop the subject I was too curious to resist probing further. Warlord dropped it to the floor. Opening his hand, a bit widely made it ignite in black fire and fizzle out until there was nothing but ash that landed on the wood and rug where he’d been standing. He was striding back in my direction with annoyance written over his face. Oh, no. What’d I do? I cowered into the bedding. Trying to avoid being beaten. He gave me a black look. Turning his hand quickly, worked a key down the chain which encircled his wrist three times. He adjusted the key in his hand until he held it between his fingertips. Sticking it in the lock on the shackle freed me. I dropped my arm down into my lap and blew a sigh of relief. Trying to massage feeling back into my bicep. “I didn’t intend to leave you shackled all night.” He said apologetically. Turning from the bed to look thoughtfully at the wall. *** Then what had he intended to keep me here throughout the night? I frowned at him. Wondering if the next night would be even rougher. Would he make me sleep on the floor? Or under the bed in a box? Or some awful fate? Warlord turned his head slowly to glare at me over his shoulder. “Do I strike you as much of a monster as all that?” He was reading my thoughts again. I winced. He scoffed in annoyance. Desperate to change the subject I asked again. “Will you tell me what it said?” I scooted up the bed. Massaging my wrist where the shackle had ground into my skin. “It said there’s a roaming FlyLight.” “What’s that?” “A creature that feeds on the spirits of children. And if a parent catches them, they turn into something that can mesmerize the parent.” “Like a light?” I asked. Imagining someone staring dumbly at a glowing beacon. “No.” Warlord said dryly. Eyes going hooded. “Like a beautiful woman.” “Oh.” I nodded in understanding. Finally. He must think I’m dumber than a rock. “I don’t think you’re dumb.” He said tonelessly. “Just naïve.” I grimaced. Assuming that was a bad thing. *** “Why do you want to know if there is a FlyLight out hunting.” “I want to know about all dark creatures hunting the people of MainGlen.” He said boredly. “Why?” “To stop them.” Doing something so savory seemed very out of character for the man I knew. “Do you know me?” His head whipped and his look was accusing. “Please stop reading my thoughts.” I whined. Ducking my head. “I can’t.” He grumbled. Why not? “It’s like screaming betwixt my ears.” He gestured limply toward his head. “I know of you…” I corrected. “You know what bleak rumors are out there. No one speaking them really knows of me.” “Why not?” “Because I’ve not the time to foster real relationships.” “Why not?” I queried. Wondering how long he’d indulge my prodding. “I’ve bigger things to worry about. Like the FlyLight…” I sensed there was something else he worried about. But he was disinclined to tell me, so I asked my next question. Wanting to keep the quizzing going as long as he’d allow it. “How will you stop it?” “I can’t.” He said flatly. “I’m trapped here unless King Detry leaves.” What? Why? “So…How?” “My brother.” He walked to the wall and pulled out a gray wooden box. Retrieving some parchment and a black ash stick. He scribbled gently on the parchment and went back to the window. Twittering there made the red bird return to land on the sill. Shifting restlessly and lifting its feet as if waiting for him to hand over his note. He rolled it tight and handed it to the bird who quickly took off. Without turning from the window, he explained. “Aviari deals with many such things.” “Aviari?” “He’s my brother. They also call him the King of Creatures or the Prince of Perils because he deals with such things.” “I didn’t know such things existed…” I whispered. “Did you think we were the only inhuman creatures?” He scoffed. Staring at me askance. Yes, I had. “Of course not.” I said confidently. He shook his head. 17 A Mission Warlord began stirring through things. Tugging out a small black bag and stuffing a few vials in it and a few clothes. “What are you doing?” “Preparing to go on a mission.” “So soon?” You’re leaving me? I was half afraid of being alone. Worried someone else might come up here and do to me what Warlord had this morning. He paused to look at me. “No one will get to you.” “How do you know?” My voice quaked. “I wouldn’t let them. You’re mine.” There was such confidence in his voice that I found it somehow reassuring. Even though it means he’s coming back. And he sees me as no more than a possession. He gave me another quick look but said nothing. *** He slung the back over his shoulder. But he paused when he heard my question. “If you can’t leave, why doesn’t your brother come for you?” “He doesn’t know where I am.” “How could he not?” He gave me a look over his shoulder. “Because Warlord is not my name.” Killian is. I remembered. His brother doesn’t know he’s King Detry’s ‘Warlord’. It seemed inconceivable to me. It meant that Warlord wasn’t telling his brother where he was for a reason. Why? Warlord was still frowning at me over his shoulder. “Is there a single moment your head is not spilling over with questions.” “No…” I said honestly. “Not really…” I thought I heard him chuckle as he left. “No, Jade. I won’t let you starve. Yes, Jade, I will come back.” I closed my mouth and watched him go. I hate that he can hear my thoughts. *** If his quiet presence had been awful his quiet absence was far worse. I thought of the red bird delivering messages. I thought of his brother, Aviari. I thought of why he’d hide his location from his own kin. I wondered how someone so powerful could be trapped here. And I thought of him inside me. How he’d felt. And what he’d done. I knew that it was unlikely I’d be able to find a quality mate now. Since I was tattered. That made me deflate some. But I don’t even know if I’m ever going to get out of here. What if I stay Warlord’s property forever? He’s let others go. A tiny voice reminded me. Giving me a glimmer of hope. *** I tried every door. Examined every window for an escape. I even found my way out on the balcony. I crawled out and peered over the railing, but it was way too high to jump down. And there was no vines or loose stones that would offer me a safe route down. And there’s mages down there training all day and part of the night. I was sure that they’d route me straight back to their commander. It was the dead of night when I heard deep thudding outside the door. It swung open before anyone touched it and the room seemed much darker. Telling me that Warlord and his smokey presence had entered the chamber. He closed the door and lit a candle on his small table. Revealing that his face and chest were splattered in dark blotches. Someone’s blood. I swallowed. Wondering what wolves, he’d killed tonight. “How can you keep killing your own kind?” I demanded outraged. Where’s his pack loyalty. He whirled to face me, and his power boomed in the room like thunder. Knocking things over and blowing the blankets on the bed up to the wall. Making my hair fly straight back. “Do you think I would, if I didn’t have to?” He roared. “You’re so powerful, how could anyone make you?” I countered just as loudly. His eyes narrowed and I sensed his fury. Realizing that I should not have pissed him off. I gritted my teeth. “I’m sorry.” “No.” He turned back to the table and began removing things from the bag. “Not in the least. But you will be.” “No.” I backed up. Lifting my hands to ward him off. I leapt the bathing bin and hid in the corner. Keeping the bin behind me and him. “Really?” He quirked a black brow in the firelight. Making him look terrifyingly ominous. “Do you think I couldn’t send that bin flying out the window if I wished?” “Please, don’t.” My voice cracked. “Don’t beg me now. Your impulsive defiance is going to cost you more skin than you have one of these times.” He strode purposely across the room. I winced. Tightening into a small ball and covering my head. Squinting my eyes closed as I braced myself. *** To my surprise, he stopped short of me. Dropped his clothes on the floor and stepped into the bin. “Get in here.” He demanded. “But I don’t-” His loud groan cut me off. Then he expostulated. “Are we going to do this again? Start from scratch? I swear I’ll pour straight icy river over you until your begging me to obey.” I winced and shook my head adamantly. Standing numbly. “Take your clothes off.” He said absentmindedly. Turning sideways as he made a quick movement in the dark which summoned water above him. Dumping steaming water on his skin. I hesitantly dropped the clothes I’d scrounged up in his absence. An oversized shirt and pants that were far too big. “Take them off!” He barked. I obediently stripped them and stepped into the bin behind him. Lurking as far back as I could. “Wash my skin.” He rounded to face me. Catching a bit of soap off a stand near the bin he scrubbed it into his hair. Then pulled out my hand and slapped the bar into my palm. “Do it. I’ve no patience for your stalling tonight.” Why’s he so agitated? I wondered. Sensing it was more than just me causing it tonight. He tipped his head back and shook it. Sending the foamy bubbles cascading down his back and long strands sweeping down his flat chest. I reached up with the bar. My hands shaking as I put it to his skin. Half expecting him to jump or get ahold of me, as agitated as he was. Instead, he was working his fingers through his hair to get out the rest of the soap. I quickly rubbed his body with the bar. Scrubbing at stiffer spots with my thumb until they broke apart. When he dropped his head to look at me, I saw how many dark spots actually marred his face. How many did he kill? 18 More Than You can Imagine “More than you can imagine. Get it off me.” He urged. He wants to wash away the killing? I wondered. He was acting as though the blood made him feel deeply dirty. Not just flesh deep. I finished his chest and lifted my hands. Using the corner of the bar to lather at a few spots. And scratching at the others with my fingernails, as gently as I could. I glanced at his eyes. Barely noticing that he was staring at me as if seeing into my soul. His gaze roving my face as if looking for something. His penetrating study made me feel exposed. Even more than I already am. As intimate as if he’s inside me again. “What?” I asked. “You’ve the most erotic thoughts.” I gasped. “You were staring at me before that!” I sputtered. “You’re right. I was.” He coldly admitted. “Why?” “A pretty face after such an ugly day is a remarkably beautiful thing.” “An ugly day?” “Killing is never pretty.” He turned away from me. Back to the icy cold man I was getting used to. He doesn’t like me. He stiffened. I wondered if he’d argue with me, but he didn’t. Making me feel even more ashamed of what we’d done. I’m a slave. A mere annoyance until I’m a convenience. I wanted to hop out of the bin and get as far from him as I could. *** “If you hate killing so much, why do you do it?” “Because I’ve no choice.” “Why not?” “Ugh.” His shoulders dropped and his head fell back. “I’ve never known a woman with so many questions.” “Perhaps if you answered them, I’d not have so many!” I expostulated. “Perhaps if I stopped answering the ones I do, you’d give up the effort!” He countered. Chin dropping as his blue eyes landed on me again. I glared at him. Abruptly, he caught my dark hair and the other hand swung around my lower back to wrap me and drag him back against me. There was a smiling dancing over his lips. “Who’d have ever thought you’d have so much spirit?” “What’s that supposed to mean?” “Most captives do not.” *** “Have you had so many then?” He gave a half smile that was no answer at all. I jerked from his grip and backed up. Stumbling over the edge of the bin. Only his grip catching my forearm saved me from falling on my rear to the hard floor and causing a ruckus below. Holding me at an angle above the floor. I slowly gathered my feet beneath me and peeled his fingers off me. He gave me a look that said, me jerking away from him was a mere annoyance. He stepped smoothly from the bin and caught my hand and drug me over to the window. But to my surprise he reached just beneath it and twisted a latch and what I’d thought was a wall peeled open and revealed a glistening white balcony. He dragged me out only a few steps to stare down on the greenest lawns I’d ever seen. There was a man barking orders. I’d heard those kind of orders before but not in this voice. This man seemed unsure. Looking at the other mages for direction. When I’d heard this before it was a vicious voice. And when I’d heard softly murmured questions, he returned with a harsh voice. “That isn’t the same man that usually is out here.” “No, indeed it’s not. He’s gone. His name was Hawk.” I gave him a questioning look. “This is just one of the more senior mages trying to take his place until the King picks a new Second in Command.” “Why not you?” “Because I’d pick one, I can easily sway. The King will not.” *** “Why is he so cruel to them?” “Because I tell him to be.” He flicked his fingers and a gray dress dropped from around my neck to swing over my body and wrap beneath my arms and hips. I glanced over at him in surprise, and he was suddenly in a flowing white tunic and fitted black breeches. My gaze slid down. But his feet are still as bare as the day he was born. And it struck me how natural he seemed like that. Like he’s a creature more suited to being free in the woods. Not trapped in a miserable castle. But with his long, waving black hair and serious features he looked like the powerful being he was. And I couldn’t help wondering what could possibly hold him here, if he didn’t want to be. “Why do you so enjoy the suffering of others?” He scoffed. “Not as much as you may think.” Still gripping my arm, he whirled me over and around in a semi-circle to face him. He put a finger to his lips and pointed up. I followed the direction he indicated and saw far above, King Detry stood out on a narrower balcony far higher above. Looking down on those being trained so fiercely in the gardens. Warlord yanked me back toward him with a single tug which was strong enough to send me tumbling into his arms. I peered up at him. “I tell him to push them because any the King sees as weak, he’ll have us put down.” “What are they?” “My mages.” “If they’re yours why does the King make you kill them?” “They’re no more mine than you are. Just slaves kept in the castle. But their lives are as much at a whim to him as yours is to mine.” “You’d kill me so easily?” His eyes narrowed and he gave me a chiding look. “That’s not what I said.” “Didn’t you?” “I’m very clear in what I say.” His tone turned chiding. “Or did you miss that?” Seeing I’d not try to say something more he continued. “The mages are mine to command but his to kill. He could have me killed in an hour if he wished.” “No.” I shook my head. “You’re too powerful. You’d never let him.” “You’re mistaken.” He said under his breath in a tone that brooked no question. “I’d absolutely let him.” “Why?” “Because of what he has over me.” 19 Enlightenment I couldn’t imagine anything King Detry could possess that’d make Warlord cave to his whims. I stared into his blue eyes and saw only resignation and pain. Who’d have thought he was capable of pain. “Why’d you save me?” I blurted. Reaching up to catch a handful of wet dark hair. Surprised at his thickness as I pushed it back behind his ear to better see him. Despite that he was now clothed, that dense mane still hung in heavy straight strands, dampening his shirt. A flick of his hand could dry it instantly. What am I doing touching him? The look on his face was nearly as startled as I was sure mine was. Why’d I move his hair? It was such an achingly intimate gesture. To try and read him. I could admit I’d been having a hard time with that since I’d gotten here. Nothing I’d seen so far matched the character that he projected. That everyone said he was before I met him. “Because I could.” He said simply. *** “But why?” I gave him a penetrating look as I forced my tone strong enough to demand an answer. “I felt your fear, your haplessness, sensed who you were. And I didn’t want to see you die out there, the way all your kin had.” “You could feel me?” I reared back slightly. His lips whitened as if he sensed my next question. “Then why do you not sense the heart of the others you murdered that day?” I was baffled. “I did.” I was astounded at that revelation. I couldn’t imagine feeling who someone really was and taking their life anyway. I couldn’t decide if it made him more cruel or stronger for being capable of doing such a thing. I was horrified. Looking at his face, I thought I suddenly understood the anguish I read there. Anguish for knowing so many souls before he took their lives. Pain he could never compensate for what he destroyed. But somehow... Feeling he has no other choice. What the devil does the King have on him? I was dying of curiosity and couldn’t resist asking the question. “How does he control you?” His face hardened. Jaw lifting as those blue eyes turned cold. Staring down his nose at me. *** “Is the blood off me?” He queried tonelessly. Turning smoothly so I could inspect him. I frowned. Eyeing him suspiciously. His demeanor had changed so fast. Making him look dark and dangerous. And he was glowering at me as though I were his enemy. Sensing danger, I took a step back. Trying to put space between us. “It appears so.” “Good. I must go.” He said briskly. Striding past me, so coldly that he bumped me with his shoulder. “Why do you do that?” I called after him. “What?” He turned near the table. Dropping a palm to it and cocking a hip as though he were bored. Being deliberately cruel in his dismissal. “Go from being warm and almost open to shutting down and being nasty!” He snorted. Eyes falling to the table. “You think this is me being nasty?” The faint amusement in his voice made my ire mount. “You can’t do that! Can’t play games like that.” “Like what?” “Be close, touching me, inside my body and then suddenly treat me like I’m some worm beneath your boot.” “Wish that you were.” He gave me his back. Catching his cloak from the back of the chair and tossing it over his shoulder. “Why!” “It’d be far easier to put you out of your misery.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Better than being stuck here with you.” “I’d assume so. A worm I could crush under my boot and end her suffering. You’re not so simple.” “You want me from under your boot then let me go.” His head whipped. “That’s not happening, Jade. So, drop it.” The tone of his voice was so fierce that I felt myself immediately cower. An animalistic whine escaping my throat at the sight of a more dominant animal declaring his place in the hierarchy. I instantly hated that I acted that way. *** “Stop.” He strode back to me and tipped sideways to lift me off my feet. I yelped and automatically folded an arm around his neck. “What are you doing?” “Seeking something to make me feel better.” “I don’t want to! You were just so cruel.” I objected. He walked to the side of the bed and deposited me like a sack of potatoes on the bed. I scurried to the far side, glaring impudently up at him. Twice as fierce to hide how weak I’d been when my she-wolf had reacted to his threatening voice. “I didn’t ask what you wanted.” He tossed the bedding back and crawled beneath it. Peeling it from under me to toss over me to. Then he roughly snatched the elbow I braced my weight on and tossed me over. Forcing me to flip onto my other side, facing away from him. “Stop!” I cried. “Shut up, She-Wolf.” He growled. Catching one hand about my waist and dragging me back toward him. Pulling me into the crook of his body, his legs drawn up behind mine. His hard body molded along my back. What’s he doing? He wasn’t tearing my clothes off me or forcing himself on me. Just laying behind me. He made a sound almost like a purr as he nestled his face into the crook of my neck, burying it in my wet hair. I drew a quick breath and held it. But he was still. And soon his breathing softening eased my tension. He’s asleep? I was utterly confused. He said he was looking for comfort. He’s finding that by falling asleep holding me? None of this is making any sense! But I was totally still. Afraid of disrupting him and inciting the attack I’d so feared. He slept for a long while. The sun was beginning to descend and the air darkening by the time he woke. I thought if I remained completely still, he might think I was asleep and leave me as I was. 20 A Chance Warlord laced his fine cloak with the velvet lining around his neck and headed for the chamber door. Pausing just before it to turn and give me a look. “I have to go. I must rejoin the King’s guests for dinner.” His shoulders slumped as though this were something he dreaded. And why is he bothering to explain to me where he’s going and why? It seemed a bit odd. Then he turned and yanked the door closed behind him, but the corner of his cloak caught slightly, and the door creaked back open slowly. I held my breath and didn’t move. Hope surging through me. When he didn’t return and close it, I about died of shock. A way out. I grabbed my torn old dress, the nearest thing I had and threw it on, tying the laces up the front tight enough to hide where it was torn. I crept to the door and eased it open to peer down the stairs immediately outside of it. Catching sight of his black cloak whipping around one of the corners below. I followed on hesitant feet. Afraid to miss this opportunity. My bare toes stretched for the first step, somehow fearing that if I left the sanctuary of his chamber, a worse fate could befall me in this castle. Could there be something worse? Even I knew that ending up in King Detry’s bed could prove far worse than being in Warlords. Could. But freedom was on the line. I have to chance it. *** I dragged a hand along the wall since it was so dark. Thinking that if I tripped on a step, I might be able to catch myself before falling too far. I swallowed hard. Staying far enough back that I hoped Warlord wouldn’t sense me behind him. I still feared that when I reached the bottom, I might find him waiting there. Leaning against the wall with that amused half-smile on his face. Ready to rain down torment on me for defying him. What if this is a test, I’m preparing to fail. I paused on the steps and looked back up toward the open door. Wondering if I might make it back without anyone noticing. He has to know I’m out. He always knows everything I do. I chewed my bottom lip and looked back down. So close... I could already see where the stairs leveled out to the stone floor that would lead to the corridors in the second level. To a possible escape. I couldn’t resist. On shaking legs, I made my way down. Peering around the curling wall to observe the empty corridor. I took my time looking under every dancing torch to verify Warlord wasn’t lying in wait for me like the dark predator he was. Nothing. So, I crept out on tentative feet. Padding down the hallway. As I drew near the staircase, I sunk against the opposite wall to stay in the blackness. Below, I could hear the clink of glasses and cheerful laughter. The marble floor below was swirled in white and gold. Making it seem infinitely huge. There were laughing figures below. I ducked over to the wall and peered down over the railing like a mouse watching for cats. I saw Warlord below in a crowd of young men praising his prowess and there were a few clinging women rubbing his shoulders and one touched a curling lock of hair admiringly. Why are they all touching him. He was all bright grins. Lifting his wine glass in cheers. I noticed his hands were darkly gloved and he was making no effort to touch anyone. Does he truly feel what others are going through? I remembered him telling me that and the tortured expression on his face. Do the gloves help? *** The Dinner bell chimed, and everyone moved into one room to the left of the stairs and as my eyes traced their movements, I glimpsed the barren servant’s stairs against one abandoned wall. Far from view of the guests. I was so curious about this strange side of Warlord that I found myself clambering down those steps to peer around the wall into the Dining Hall. Knowing that at any moment I could be caught by real servants. But I could pretend to be a serving girl if needed. I envisioned myself pulling off such a ruse perfectly until the moment I had to serve Warlord something and his gaze landed on me. Would he beat me? Drag me off to the tower? Or let me play the little game long enough to amuse him. It was hard to tell with him, but my guess was the latter option. He tends to always do what seems the least likely for a man in his shoes. *** As I leaned around the wall, I saw him taking a seat at a table which seemed to go on forever. A banquet table. And the meal set out had my mouth to watering. Quail eggs and steamed beans and carrots. Sweet potatoes glazed in brown sugar. A huge boar with an apple in its mouth and berries spilling from its jaw which ladies plucked and delicately nibbled. I leaned forward. My stomach growling as I realized how hungry I was. But my attention was diverted, when a small, gorgeous blonde reached over and caressed along Warlord’s arm. “I’m so glad you could make it Killian. You know how dreadful I find these little soirees when you’re not here.” “I’m afraid I don’t do much to liven them up.” He rumbled in return. Giving her a sparing glance before lifting his silverware to his plate. “You always do.” She crooned. Giving him a long look and clenching his forearm. He shook her off and gave her a warning glance. What’s that about? He doesn’t like her touch? She seemed pretty enough. “As I’ve told you before, Alicia, I’ve no interest in continuing our arrangement any longer.” “Well, the King says otherwise.” She batted her lashes. “You know what an important ally I am.” He set his silverware down a bit forcefully and gave her a hard look. His jaw ticking. He lurched up from his seat and I scampered back to the top of the stairs, sensing he would head this way. 21 You’re Still Here “Killian!” The woman called after him. Appalled he was leaving the dinner table just as the meal was beginning. Abandoning her to sit alone. Surely the man to her other side will have no qualms about alleviating that disappointment. I saw her pretty face in my mind’s eye and recalled Killian-Warlord stating he didn’t want to continue their relationship. They’d had one prior? Why did that sicken me so badly? I was yanked from my thoughts as his boots thudded from the banquet hall and he took a hard left from the doorway. Ducking down a short, dark hallway. A servant’s hall. What is he doing back here? Curiosity thrummed through me, and I was nearly biting through my lip. I have to follow him. Where does he go when he’s upset? Who does he go to? I had so many unanswered questions. My curiosity overwhelmed me, and I found myself padding behind him. Watching the strange black fingers of smoke vanish into the gray darkness of one room near the servant’s quarters. I walked tentatively closer despite that every instinct in me was screaming to turn around and go. Hide until they’re all gone. Get out of here! What am I doing? *** This strange man which always seemed so sullen, had for a moment shown some fake bit of cheerfulness which had been heady to say. His rare smiles were breathtaking and seem to reveal some bit of someone that hid deep below the surface. Someone I couldn’t help wondering about. Had he always been this monster? He had implied that he had good reason to be. And though his hand was the one bloodied, it was commanded by the King. Why? I clutched the doorframe with trembling hands and peered around it to see him standing within. His hat was resting atop his head. That fluffy white feather bouncing slightly when he shifted to the side. He was painfully quiet, and his stature and presence emanated pain. Unbearable sorrow. I found myself drawn to see what it was that was causing this flat, unemotional creature such depths of agony. I stepped on my heel to ensure I was silent. Working slightly sideways in the darkest parts of the room to see what it was he was watching so carefully. I glimpsed the oddest thing... *** There was a strange, overturned vase. Trimmed in flowers around it as though someone treated the odd object with reverence. Warlord. Clearly. The room seemed hazy gray and infinitely dark and so cold that it seemed unlikely anyone ever lit a fire to warm here. There was a forbidden feel to this room. Like no one dared enter it. Everything was coated in a filmy sheet of dust which even seemed to float in the room. Making it feel stifling to breathe. The walls were gray stone which had become so dirtied that many corners were black. Some chipped. This is an abandoned place. The only light came from just beyond Warlord. Shining yellow along his chest and shoulders. I took another careful step forward to see what glowed in this awful room. Inside the center of the clear glass, was a small flame illuminating the bit of dancing gray fluff inside. It seemed to float and retract like someone had trapped a bit of steam floating from a camp fire. What was it? “I’m surprised you’re still here.” His rumbling voice said. *** I flinched. Looking around and hoping he was talking to someone else. The thing in the vase? “No. You.” He clarified without looking away. “Come closer and see. Everything you’ve yearned to know about. This tiny piece of my history.” He thinks I’m the woman from the banquet. I realized in panic. He must’ve heard me walking in behind him and assumed. I looked around anxiously. If I answered him, he would realize I wasn’t his pretty little lady but if I didn’t, he was inevitably going to turn around. He sighed. “I know who you are, Jade. Come closer.” How the hell! “Come on now, Jade.” He chided softly. “Haven’t I told you enough for you to know?” Know what? I was frozen. Looking from him to the doorway and gauging the distance. Maybe I can still get away. If I can make it to the doorway of the banquet, he can’t get ahold of me. I could get away. He drew a disappointed breath and lifted a hand. Curling the fingers over his shoulder slightly had the door creaking shut. I fled across the room and caught the handle just as it clicked closed and the lock turned. I grasped for the key still in the lock, but it flew out just as my fingers would’ve curled around it. It and the ribbon attached to it skimming through my palm as it crossed the room to land solidly in his opened palm. Peeled back over his shoulder. His fingers closed around it, and I felt as if it had sealed my fate with it. I utterly deflated. Feeling the first tear of hopelessness skid down my cheek. “As I said, come here, Jade.” He urged softly. *** “Just let me go!” I stomped in frustration. “I can’t. You’d be dead in two minutes, trying to leave this place.” “You wouldn’t anyway!” I argued. “Don’t pretend like you would.” “You’re right. I probably wouldn’t...” He said nothing more. His commanding air seemed utterly absent right now. It was more like he’d been pleading for me to come over to him than demanding, I realized. I took a few halting steps forward until I’d circled wide and could see the side of him. Eyeing his dark profile. Long curling lashes framed lowered lids. His black curling hair was visible under the broad brim of his strange buccaneer’s hat. His large lips were still, tight against his face. Hard, slashing cheekbones broke the smoothness of his cheeks. His jaw was so tight that I could see the flexing muscles near the hinge. His hands were on the edge of the small square table holding the vase. The knuckles white. He seemed mesmerized by the tiny fragment of steam. The tiny fragment and the bit of yellow light eerily reflected in his blue eyes. Strangely, I had only one thought pounding through me. He needs me. I hated that I knew it to the very core of my being. And somehow, I couldn’t stop myself from going to him. I walked over and his arm unfolded to wrap my shoulders as he tucked me next to him. “What is it?” I asked. “My sister.” - 22 His History “What?” I twisted to look up at him. Too shocked to realize that we were a hairsbreadth apart. He gave me a wan smile and a soft look before returning his gaze to the vase. “Her name is Baila Lae.” “Sister by blood?” “Yes.” He chuckled. “We grew up together and were very close. All of us.” “All of us?” “Yes.” He smiled sadly. “I had a family once, Jade. Does that shock you?” It does. “I can’t imagine you being part of a happy family.” “Why not?” He tilted his head in curiosity. “Because you’re a killer. So severe and quiet. And your rage feels like it always simmering just below the surface.” “Hmm.” He grunted. “You’re not entirely wrong.” We were both quiet a moment. “She is my rage.” He gestured weakly toward the tiny billow of gray beneath the glass. “Why do you not take her and go.” “I don’t know the entirety of the spell that binds her.” “How could you not?” I asked breathlessly. “Because it was Hawk that conducted the spell. At the King’s behest.” “Why would you let him do that?” “I didn’t know he was. He was only a tiny boy then but already incredibly skilled.” “Why can’t you ask him? It seems as though you’ve mentored him.” “I have. I’ve tried to get it out of him. But he truly doesn’t know the depths of it.” I gave him a questioning look. “It was a spell he did from a book of Seals that King Detry possesses. Hawk didn’t even know what all it entailed.” Warlord sighed. “And he certainly didn’t know the girl was my sister.” “That is why he obeys you so thoroughly.” Warlord blew a thoughtful breath. “Both from remorse and fear of what would happen the day I decided to seek vengeance.” “You would destroy him.” I supplied. “I could. If I wished.” “But?” “I don’t. He was only a boy. As much a victim as Baila. And she’d never have condoned me harming him in retaliation.” Warlord smiled fondly at the glass as though he were exchanging a secretive look with his sister even now. Though there was clearly no expression or even a face on the tiny shell of a creature trapped in the fragments of light and contained in the glass. “What would she think of you keeping me?” He didn’t move from the glass but turned his head to me. “She wouldn’t understand.” He admitted. *** “Why?” I queried. “Because she wouldn’t want me to hold any woman captive. She’d be ranting in my ear. But when she knew what the consequence would’ve been, had I let the King find you, she’d have agreed I did the only thing I could’ve.” “What would he have done to me if you hadn’t claimed me.” “He’d have had you cleaned up and he’d have wanted you for himself. But as it stands…There are options.” I frowned. “What options?” “You can still walk out of here one day.” “But he knows who I am.” “Yes…” Warlord’s voice dropped. “A mud coated girl. But you don’t look much like that tonight. Do you?” I stared down at myself and realized what he was implying. King Detry has no idea what I look like cleaned up. I could walk out the front door if Warlord let me. I looked up at him. “No.” He stated. “I’m not nearly done with you yet.” *** “If you try to take me back up those stairs, I’ll raise the roof.” I planned to scream my head off. To shout for help. To summon everyone in this bloody castle if I had to. “If you do, I won’t be so kind as before.” His head lowered. The hat tipping over his face and casting it in darkness. Making him look even more ominous than before. “I will make you pay.” “You can’t do anything to me, you haven’t already.” “I’ve let you keep your dignity. I didn’t have to.” He walked toward me and reached for my arm. “Don’t touch me!” I yelled. Skittering from his reach. “I’m going to.” He growled. “It’s unwise to make me angry, Jade.” He moved toward me again more slowly. I shrieked and stepped back. A man threw open the door behind me. “My Lord?” He asked. Warlord’s eyes narrowed on me. “Mistake me not, you’ll pay for your defiance. But I’ll concede this round. What will make you go with me.” I paused. Wanting to shout at him that nothing would. But seeing on his determined face that he was going to force me back up into that tower. One way or another. But for a moment, this brief moment, I had the power. *** “Answers.” I said quietly. “You’ll have them. Go to the tower.” He pointed over my shoulder. “Everything is fine here, Jimmy. She’s on her way back where she belongs.” “Who is she, My Lord?” The man asked suspiciously. For a moment I tossed around what might happen if I begged the man to save me. Would he get me out of here? Or take me straight to King Detry? I deflated as I realized that the latter was the most likely. I obediently, shamefacedly walked toward the servant’s stairs. Realizing I’d have to return upward from which I’d come in order to avoid anyone having the ability to recognize me as Warlord’s Ward. If they don’t know who I am, they may not stop me later. “Who are your brothers and sisters?” I asked under my breath. Head lowered as I took step after step. “My two youngest brothers were slaughtered by the NightHunter pack. The next youngest is a beautiful girl. Vanna Rae. She went missing when the boys were killed. I don’t even know if she’s still alive, truth be told. But I’m trying to find out…” His voice grew more mournful the longer he spoke. “Then there was Baila.” He gestured to the glass. “Then Aviari, my golden brother who has ascended to great power.” “And you?” “I’m the eldest. I was fated to be the leader of the Gallions before they were shattered.” “That was the NightHunters intent? To destroy your pack?” “I assume so. They killed my mother and father and all the boys they could find. And maybe little Vanna Rae.” “Your voice holds such fondness when you speak her name.” “She and I were very close.” I heard his voice grow far away and knew that his gaze had fallen morosely to the steps beneath him as he dreaded speaking of such things. Hates talking about himself at all. “I won’t give up until I know what happened to her. And if they killed her, I will hunt them down one by one.” “How will you do that from here?” I looked over my shoulder. His bright blue gaze lifted and levelled on me. “I won’t always be here…” 23 His Rage “You’re planning to escape?” I said in a hushed voice. “As soon as I know how to break Baila Lae from the spell she’s under. And if the spell will allow me to move her from this castle, I will leave.” “What will you do then.” “Wreak wrath on all that wronged my family.” He said darkly. Making a chill course down my spine. He means that. And I couldn’t imagine that his vengeance would be a pretty thing. All that rage he harbored had a specific target he intended to execute it on. “How will you find out all that?” “I’ll figure out a way to get the King’s Book of Seals.” “He’ll never let you up on that level, you’re too dangerous.” Even I, with my meager understanding of this place knew that. “I know.” He growled. Sounding even more frustrated for my speaking it aloud. *** We reached his chamber, and he kicked the door closed. Tossed his cloak over the chair and began descending on me like a turbulent thundercloud. I backed up. Aiming for the tub in the hope of avoiding the bed or the chair he’d used beneath me before. It suddenly seemed like all the answers I’d been seeking where nowhere near worth the cost. “Warlord, please.” I pleaded. Putting up my hands to ward him off as I felt the wash tub pressing the back of my knees. “Too late for that.” He caught my wrist and wrenched me up against him. His arm circling around to pin my elbows to my sides. He stared down at me with icy blue eyes and I thought I’d never seen him look so cold. “You’re going to hurt me, aren’t you?” I asked. Hating the fear that entered my voice. He spun me around, my feet not touching the floor as he began kissing me viciously enough that his teeth nicked my lip. I yelped and began to struggle against him. The crush was kissing. He pulled back to snarl. “You should’ve never asked about my family.” “I know.” I murmured painedly. Very afraid of the rage I’d elicited with making him think of such things. And how he tends to expend it on me. *** He walked me back to the bed and once standing next to it he reached up at the top of my shoulders and shredded my dress. Ripping it down the front to expose my body. Making me jerk forward and back hard enough that my breasts popped free of the binding. Rising and falling with my panting breaths. The brown tips puckering against the sudden breeze roving over them. And the intensity of how he’s looking at me. After giving them a cursory review, one then the other, he roughly pulled the fabric off my arms, so it hung limply at my hip. He took a long step closer, so we were nearly chest to chest and caught the top of my skirts. He fisted them at my waistline. Giving me a cruel look, he ripped them down the front and they wisped down to the floor in a hiss of fabric. “Warlord.” My voice cracked as I lifted my arms to cover myself. He growled in his throat displeased both for my movements and the word I’d used. “My name is Killian! Killian Gallion.” He said through gritted teeth. “It was an honorable name once. Not something to be feared. Now.” His blue eyes flared yellow, he gripped my forearms and tossed them away from my body. Baring me to his view. Then he caught the back of my neck under my hair. Driving his face into the side of my throat and dragging it up along my ear to take in my scent where it was strong. His other hand gripped my hip almost bitingly and jerked me against him. Bringing my pelvis forward to meet his hardened length. Already straining his pants. Oh, no. I understood now, the anger that calling him Warlord elicited. I didn’t know. Sensing I was in danger, my desire for self-preservation surfaced. “What do you want me to do?” “Make me feel better.” He snarled. Shoving me backward over the bed. *** I spun around and scurried up toward the headboard. “Stop looking at me like you fear me!” He roared. “I haven’t hurt you!” But you’re going to. His wrath was written over his face. His hair was tousled. Blue eyes now feral yellow. His beast is raging. I drew my knees up in an instinctive need to protect myself. He stepped out of his clothes in seconds. Baring that browned, muscled body that looked like it had been carved from some sort of rock. Black waving hair brushing his shoulders as he refused to look away from me. He crawled up the bed and over me. Reaching around my drawn legs, to catch both my hips at the boniest part. Dragging me down and forward so my back slipped from the heavy oak headboard and onto the pillows until I was on my back. My legs up. He brought his knees up to hug around my hips. He scooped my ass and lifted it to guide himself into my entrance. “Killian!” I cried as he was instantly within me. Putting pressure against the inside of my walls as he slipped deeper until I felt him stop at a point deep under my belly. “That’s better.” He growled. But he didn’t sound pleased. He dropped over me. Pinning my knees up to my chest as he drove into me. The back of my thighs thudding with every hard impact of his abdomen against them. He was grunting in raw force as he pounded my body. My ass cheeks, vibrated with each hit. His grunts softened until they were pleasured breaths. He lifted himself enough to put his hands to the back of my legs just under my knees. Holding them against me as he worked his body into mine. Taking his pleasure from my flesh. I yelped and found myself looking away from the burning intensity on his face. He was right. He hadn’t hurt me before. He’d told me what was happening. Prepared me for what was to come. This is just plain taking. I found myself both angry and hurt. Wishing I’d never gone downstairs to escape and seen what was happening. Wishing I hadn’t let him lure me to that room and confide things in me that now made him want to hurt me for knowing them. 24 Earned Hatred Eventually he was slowing, his neck straining and sweat slipping from his forehead onto my body and I felt him getting even harder deep inside me. I felt my body tensing in what might’ve been it preparing to seek its own pleasure. No! I bit that down and refused to give him the gratification. He’ll get nothing from me in this. And in that moment, I hated him. And the words slipped from my lips. “I hate you.” But somehow the words didn’t fully convey the onslaught of emotions I was feeling. “Good.” He said under his breath. Pushing hard into me as he spilled hot seed near my womb. Filling my crevice with his pleasure. “You should.” Seeming to care as much as if he’d just pulled an apple from a tree. My legs lowered back to the bed, trembling. Stiff from the abuse they’d taken at his pounding. Then he rose, drawing himself out of me and turning to pull on his clothes. Clearly not caring what he’d just done to me. Or how it’s made me feel. Or maybe that’s exactly what he wanted… He pulled on his clothes. His next words seemed to confirm that suspicion. “It’s the way it should be.” He exited the room. Slamming the door behind him with a finality that made me think my life had begun and would end in this very chamber. *** I’d never resented anyone as much as I did him in that moment. How could he do that to me. Before he’d had some semblance of kindness. All of which was gone now. There was clanging outside the door that told me knights were in the tower. They never come up here. Why? Warlord threw open the door and took off his flowing shirt and fitted breeches. Trading them in for dirty, dull clothes. Two knights waited for him at the door. Looking very serious. “What’s going on?” “I have to serve a consequence for my actions.” “What did you do?” I asked as he leaned over me to toss his hat on the bed post. “I helped them escape.” I recalled what he’d said earlier. “Magus?” “And the others.” He said. “The King had suspended my penance for the ball that he wanted me present and healthy for. Now his guests have gone and we’re back to normal operations. Which means it’s time for me to pay my consequence.” “What are they going to do?” I looked over his shoulder to see the two helmeted men, motionless. He blinked slowly as he looked at me. Looking at me nearly as if he might not see me again. And that made me scared. As awful as he’d just been, I knew that without his protection everyone could be far worse. *** He pushed off the bed and whispered under his breath. “Barricade the door behind me. Open it for no one.” “It unlocks from the outside.” I objected. “I’m taking the key. But they may take it from me.” He gave me a long look that warned me how dangerous that could prove for me. “Let no one in.” “Nothing light enough I can move will keep them out.” “It will with the spell I put on the door, on the way out.” He promised. I reached up and caught his wrist. Wanting to plead for him not to go. To beg the knights to go away and leave him there to look after me. What if they killed him? Will I starve here? Will they come get me and have their time with me? It was a terrifying thought, that as a captive I had no recourse. Nowhere I can run. No one who would help me. *** “I’ll come back.” Warlord promised. “Can I trust you?” “No.” “But I will return for you. One way or the other.” What does that mean? I clung to him as he jerked away. Turning and pulling until his rough tunic sleeve slipped through my fingers. “Warlord!” I pleaded. He whipped his head to look at me, clear displeasure on his face. “Killian…” I whispered. ‘I’ll come back.’ He mouthed. Then he was gone. Far too quickly. I launched from the bed. Tossing aside the coverlet to test the door as soon as I heard it click closed. But tugging on it yielded nothing. So, I immediately went to work doing as Warlord had told me. Pushing the table over and then the chairs. Trying to stack as much weight on it as I could. Then I ran back to the bed and huddled under the covers, watching the door and praying that he’d come back. *** As he left a dress materialized over the table. A plain gray one, which looked loose and comfortable. One to replace the one he tore off me. I scuttled into the dress. He was gone all night and returned midday the following. I was still huddled on the bed. My knees drawn to my chest and staring at that door rocking. Terrified of who would come knocking. I hadn’t moved all night, nor when the sun rose. My stomach growled with hunger, but I was too afraid to move. Fearing that if someone heard a floorboard creak in here, they might remember my existence. And come for me. I heard one solid thud on the door. “It’s me, Jade. Move everything.” I recognized his voice. But there was something wrong with it. He sounds hoarse, exhausted. I quickly unstacked everything. And dragged the table away in rough jerks. “It’s clear.” Warlord turned the key in the lock and swung the door open. His shoulder was propped against the doorframe. And he was holding that bicep with his other hand. Huddled over like he was in pain. I caught him and helped guide him in. What’s wrong with him? What’d they do? “Close the door.” He ordered. I automatically moved around him to comply but as I gripped the door I stared at the stairs. Tempted. I could get away. I could go now… I looked back at him. Peeling his tunic off and tossing it on the floor revealed he was cut all over his torso in jagged lines and blots of blood covered him in dark patches. He’s hurt. I looked back at the stairs. He couldn’t chase me. Can’t stop me. I chewed my lip. 25 A Choice “You could.” He rumbled in that haunting, echoing voice. I turned and looked back at him. He’d slumped leisurely into one of the wooden chairs. Was leaning his forearms against the table. Shoulders hunkered over it and eyes drooping in a way that told me he was just barely keeping them open. “There’s nothing I could do about it right now.” I felt my breathing become quicker. Knowing it was probably my last chance. The stairs were empty. A straight shot. He knows I want to. And now I knew where the front door was. I could already see it in my mind’s eye. Directly across from the servant’s stairs. I could run straight out. I was holding my breath as I decided. Feeling my body shaking with the urge to leap forward and take the steps at a run. See how far I could get before an alert was even sounded. “But consider two things.” He said as he shifted and grunted in pain. “One: If they do catch you, I’m clearly too weak to protect you. And two: I was tortured because I helped them escape. Are you wholly certain that staying with me is as bad as you think?” *** He hadn’t asked me to give him credit for anything good before. In-fact he’s done everything to make me hate him. But his words were intelligent. He’s not wrong. If he helped the “If you helped them escape. Would you help me?” I asked in a voice so quiet, I doubted he even heard me. His long pause seemed to reflect he hadn’t. But he always knows what I’m about. “I’ve thought about it.” He said flatly. Leaning over gingerly to try and pull his boots off. The way he was moving made it clear he was in excruciating agony. He’s thought about freeing me? That shocked me. I stared at him, stunned. He finished pulling off his last boot and looked at me. “You thought otherwise?” “Every time I’ve mentioned being anywhere other than here, you became furious.” “Of course, I did.” He put his elbow back on the table as though he needed to take a moment before trying to move any further. What the hell did the King do to him? If he’d hurt him this bad, why hadn’t he killed him? “What does that mean?” I said with lifted brows. “That I don’t particularly enjoy the thought of this place without you.” “I thought I was nothing to you.” He grunted and gave a cold chuckle but said nothing. As if more mocking himself than me. What does that mean? It was beginning to feel like he was making very little sense today. He straightened and winced. Clutching his side. “Why didn’t he just kill you?” I snapped angrily. Annoyed that I felt such pain at the sight of seeing him in agony. I should feel nothing for him. “Fair question. Probably because he needs me.” I waited for more. “It’s hard to find another slave as powerful as me, I suppose.” He always refers to himself as the king’s slave. Not his Warlord. That’s what the people think. Not how he sees himself. He stood and walked to the window. Hobbling heavily on one side. He opened the shutters and leaned out the window to stare out, as if checking for something. “What are you looking for?” *** “Seeing if they truly got away.” He supplied. He looked over his shoulder at me thoughtfully. “Come here.” He left the window and headed to the East side of the castle where he moved aside a tapestry and unlocked the door leading out to the balcony. I knew it was there because I could just see the one side of it from the window near his potions table. The one he’d folded me over. I followed him out and we walked around to the north side of the balcony where he pointed to the high trees at one edge of the Training Gardens. “Do you see them?” “What?” I squinted against the sun and finally had to shield my eyes to clearly view the trees. It took me a moment to realize that what I’d perceived as red leaves were actually birds. More like the one that’d brought him the message one day. “You received the message from Magus already?” I queried. “Yes. But that was just after I helped them escape and before the King’s Party arrived. The liege has had time since then to rally hunting parties to find them. I want to make sure they’re still safe. Watch.” He gave a twittering whistle as he had before. The birds took to the sky. Swirling upward like a red tornado before one broke loose to fly toward us at an uncommon speed. I’ve never seen a bird so fast. “It’s quick.” “Yes.” He murmured as he lifted his hand to greet the bird. It landed happily on the side of his palm. Singing back to him and upturning its head as if to look at him lovingly. “It likes you.” I lifted a hand. Tempted to touch it but wondering if I would scare it away. Without meaning to, I’d drawn closer to Warlord. Draping a hand over the back of his shoulder to lean across his chest and just brush the bird’s back with light fingertips. *** Warlord didn’t stop me, so I assumed it wouldn’t abandon his hand in terror. Instead, he was watching my face curiously. “He’s very pretty.” I remarked. Sensing he was waiting to see what I thought of the creature. It allowed me to stroke it a few times before ruffling its feathers and giving a shake that told me I should probably get my hands off it. “My brother and I found that we could summon them when we were very young. And sometimes lead them, to an extent.” “Is that how you get them to carry messages?” “We have help in that.” He said dismissively. “Who?” “You ask so many questions.” He snapped. I frowned and took a step back, instinctively retreating from his abrupt hostility. But his hand landed over mine as if to hold me there. “Fey.” He answered in way of an apology. “They gift the Sentinels to carry a message to anyone who seems in dire enough need, the fey deem help necessary.” 26 A Tortured Body “Who is the help?” “As I told you before, my brother. The King of Creatures.” There was pride in his voice. I remembered he’d told me that before. But I’d eventually concluded that when he said ‘brother’ he’d more meant another mage. I’d heard him talk of the King of Creatures before. And I knew a little about the myths of the man from hearing about it here. He supposedly resided in an all-white stone castle surrounded by a ring of fire. Supposedly he was a vicious being capable of fighting most any beast. A giant among men. “He is a brother of blood or of magic?” I asked. Warlord looked from the bird to me and smiled. “He is my true brother. We grew up together on the outskirts of WixWood. My whole family. My two sisters and all my brothers.” I wanted to hear more but remembered how aggressive he’d become with me, last time I’d probed into his family, so I decided against it. I still ached from that last punishing taking. “You miss them.” It escaped my lips before I could retract it. “Of course. Don’t you miss those you’ve loved?” He looked at me. “You killed them all.” My tone hardened as I collected some bit of bitterness to escape a moment of near bonding. Reminding myself that he was my enemy. Warlord whispered into the side of the bird, who cocked his head as though listening intently. Then he jounced his hand. Sending it airborne. The bird took off, red wings pelting the air. Flying with purpose. To his brother? “That I did.” He sighed. Finally acknowledging what I’d said. “Like I’ve killed countless before and will many more. It is good to remind yourself of that simple fact.” I hated how he said things like he knew precisely what I was doing or thinking. It was almost eerie. *** “You make it sound so deplorable, yet you keep doing it! Why?” I cried. Tears bursting in my eyes. An unholy river of them that had been stamped down the whole time I’d been here. A prisoner in this castle. “I’ve told you.” He growled. Turning on me fully and catching my upper arms. “It is not as though I have a choice in it.” “There is always a choice!” I ripped free of his grip and gave him my back. Stalking back into the chamber. “Do you think this has all been something of my making?” He gestured around him in frustration. Splaying his arms made several deep cuts along his chest peel open and began seeping blood down his abdomen. I watched their trickling path in horror. Covering my mouth as I realized I could see bits of tissue deep beneath his skin when they opened. They’re deep. Deep enough for infection to set in. “Yes, that.” He dropped his arms. Jaw ticking. “Did I do this to myself to. Was that also my choice? Because it seemed as much my choice as anything else around here.” I chewed my cheek and walked hesitantly toward him. He watched me with that predatory gaze but as I reached for one bleeding wound, he didn’t retreat from me. He has to be wondering if I’ll jab one. He knows how angry I am. His head was lifted proudly, and his shoulders heaved with emotion. Something I’d rarely seen Warlord show. Yet he’s spilling over with it. *** I trailed a finger over one gaping wound. Making him hiss through his teeth and the muscle under his skin jump at the pain. Still, he didn’t move away. “Why would you let them do this? Your powerful enough to stop them.” “Jade.” He drew a long breath. “You keep asking the same question in different ways.” “Perhaps I’m not getting the answer I’m truly looking for.” “And what is that?” His black brows lifted in curiosity. “What would free you?” “Finding a way to turn my sister back. To take her with me and go.” I gave him a searching look. “And a way to take you with me.” He added so softly it was barely audible. *** King Detry stood on his balcony watching the mages try to train without Hawk in the Training Gardens. “They’re doing quite poorly.” “They’ve not yet established a new Second in Command to train them.” “Assign that to Warlord.” Detry turned from the railing and looked at the advisor waiting patiently behind him. “It’ll be a time before he recovers.” The advisor followed Detry into his personal chambers where the king slumped down into one of his plush gilded seats. “Then I suggest he assign one promptly.” The King said dispassionately. “You truly do not like him, do you?” “Not in the least. I hate his kind. Anything of magic or changing should be abolished from this land. Especially him. He’s a rogue pawn that could prove highly dangerous if not kept under careful control.” “If you hate the mages, then why do you keep a Guild of them?” “To fight fire with fire.” Detry rested his cheek on a fist. The advisor assessed the King. Knowing that the liege was a formidable man. He was large and as broad shouldered as a bear. He had cold, calculating gray eyes and hair that was nearly snowy white despite his youth. A form of blonde. Women who didn’t know him, found the King quite magnetic. Women who did, steered from him. *** There was a light knock on the King’s chamber door which had both of them sending it a quizzical look. “Are you expecting someone?” The advisor asked. “No.” The King rose. A gold cape sweeping behind him as he strode to the door. Utterly unafraid as he ripped it open to confront the intruder. But a diminutive, little raven-haired beauty stood there staring up at him. “Exactly who are you?” The King said in a harsh tone. Despite that his gaze swept over the girl appreciatively. She was fair enough to peak his interest. More than fair, truthfully. “Tanya, My Liege.” She lowered her head in deference. “You’re a mage.” “I am.” Her chin hitched up and she met his look levelly. Making the advisor behind him shift uncomfortably. He knew what typically happened to women who dared look their King in the eye. “And what the devil do you want?” King Detry demanded impatiently. “To be the new Second in Command of the Mage’s Guild.” 27 Hating Mages “And what on Earth makes you think I’d consider that?” The King demanded. “I’m good. Real good.” Tanya said. “At what?” The king slid a purposeful look down her length again. Noticing the long length of leg despite her small stature and breasts which strained at her mage’s robe as if it needed ripped open to free them. King Detry was already envisioning himself pounding into the tiny woman. Imagining how she’d feel wrapped around him. “My King, I’m a very skilled mage. And now that Hawk is gone, I feel I could command them mages. They know me. They fear me. They’d abide by my directions. The King’s eyes narrowed on her thoughtfully. He grabbed her arm and yanked her into the chamber. Slamming the door behind them so she couldn’t get away. “Perhaps we could see if such a thing would even be possible.” “A woman, My Liege?” The advisor behind him expostulated. Already edging to the door as he yearned to be out of this room before the King decided to take the girl. “Will see just how durable she is.” The King’s lips turned in an evil smile. Tanya eyed him skeptically. Tossing back her black hair defiantly despite that her gaze flitted to the door. “Nah-ah-ah.” The King caught her chin and refocused her gaze on him as he slowly shook his head. “You’re far too late for that my dear. You came to me. Like a pretty little fly rushing to the web with a proposal. Thinking that you could command me, sway me. With what?” His gaze slid down and assessed her. “Your charms?” She chewed her bottom lip. Making it painfully apparent that she had thought her beauty might persuade him to give her an opportunity to be in a position to command her peers. “I’m not so easily swayed...” The King’s voice dropped dangerously. *** Tanya registered now how truly large the King was. Towering over her, nearly two foot above like some heathen of ancient times. The crown tight around his head. A short blonde beard making his square jaw seem even more rigid. Gray eyes looking at her coldly. Filled with darkness. Detry walked her out to the balcony to look down on the Training Gardens. “You think you can Command them?” She nodded but it was more tentative this time. King Detry tossed her around, so she was facing fully over the balcony. He caught the shoulders of her dress and began roughly yanking it down. Immediately freeing the bountiful flesh. She gasped in outrage and tried to push back against him to get away from the balcony. Where all the mages could now look up and see her breasts dangling over the railing. See that she was naked for the king. But he pushed a forearm against her lower back pushing her further over. Angling her forward. She fought harder, shoving her buttocks back as she tried to duck under his arm. Avoid how she was pinned against the white marble railing. He chuckled and ground himself against her. “Quite inviting aren’t you. I love a bit of fight in my wenches.” Lifting his arm briefly he shoved her robes and dress down around her ankles. Then returned the pressure to keep her bent over. He’d succeeded in revealing her naked form. Seeing how her pert ass wiggled as she struggled against him. Trying to writhe away from his pinning arm. “Where do you think you’re going, Little Fly. I haven’t even begun.” He wondered if she’d dare scream. Alert the Training Grounds to look up at her naked form? Or would she hold her silence to maintain her pride? To keep them from looking at her derisively for being the king’s plaything? To maintain a chance of commanding them? Or would she scream and beg for mercy. Show them all how weak she was? Detry was nearly awash with glee as he dropped his breeches and exposed his already-hard length. Ready to enter her. He examined her long smooth legs. “Your legs...” They were shapely and athletic from long hours on the Training Gardens. “Not the usual softness of the housemaids I take. Or the ladies that come to my bed. It’s interesting... Different, anyway. And your sweet little ass.” He ignored her grunting as she fought him. Reaching down with his free hand to stroke the upper swell and curve it under to touch her lips. Her most intimate place. He angled a finger in and slipped it into her. Immediately noticing that it was warm and hearty within her. “Not too tight though. I won’t be your first.” *** “You won’t have me at all!” Tanya objected. Using her hands to push off the rail only resulted in him giving a heavy shove down on her back. Making her pant for breaths as she was pinned between his weight on his arm and the unrelenting stone beneath her. “The hell I won’t.” He chuckled. “Do you know how often I’ve heard that?” He shrugged. “Though it has been a while, so I do appreciate your spark. Hate to douse it really. But it’s worth how you’ll feel with your little body sucking on my cock.” Those words seemed to break her. True fear entered her voice. “My Liege. Please no. There are other girls down in the fields. With more experience. Taller and softer like your other women.” “Don’t you talk fast?” He grinned appreciatively. “Adorable really. But I want what I have right here.” He pushed another two fingers into her and felt her body straining to accept them. She grunted but wouldn’t shout. “Stubborn little wench, aren’t ye?” He leaned over her to whisper in her ear. “I do prefer my women untouched. So, since I can clearly see you’re a bit stretched there, I’d like to try the other.” She stiffened. Going eerily still. “The other?” There was clear confusion as she was unsure what she meant. “You’ll know soon enough. I wonder...Are you used there too?” He rubbed himself along her crack. Stroking up and down between the full mounds of her lush ass. He groaned a little as he writhed against her. Growing even harder as he yearned for more. Her breaths quickened. “No. Please...” “You came to me.” He cackled. “Remember?” 28 The King’s Will is Not the Only Will “Here, I won’t be so rude as another might’ve been.” King Detry pressed a thumb into Tanya’s puckered hole, just as she’d feared he would. She yelped and lurched forward. “Whoa, whoa.” He coaxed. “Nearly threw yourself off the balcony and I’ve yet to feel your sweetness. Wouldn’t that be a shame?” “You’re evil!” She cried. “You’ve no idea...” He was pushing his thumb in and out of her. She clenched her teeth against the burning sensation. “That ought to have you warmed up enough for me. Certainly, a never-used hole.” He sounded satisfied with that knowledge. Leaning forward he gripped the railing on each side of her. Nuzzling his nose into her shoulder blades. His rough blonde beard scraping slightly. “I will, indeed be the first.” He leaned back enough that his heavy member probed at that puckered hole. “No. No.” Tanya leaned forward trying to get away but found she couldn’t move. Effectively pinned where she was. The swell of the stone on the inside of the balcony billowed out in decorative lines. Creating a bulge that she was formed over. Making her more readily open to him then she could escape. He slid a hand down to hold her hip steady. “Now hold still, Sweetheart. We’re going to have some fun. Question is, will you scream?” *** The blunted tip of him pressed against the puckered place. Pressing it wide so he could make entrance. And his thumb had slicked her enough inside that despite all of her will, her body offered little resistance. Biting down around him as he pushed in. “Ah!” She said in a hushed voice through gritted teeth. Arching up to evade the vicious pain. “That’s a good girl.” He pet her hair, condescendingly as he slid out. Then jerked back in. “Ah.” She cried a bit louder. Catching herself and biting the pain back. “Oh, are ye going to be a quiet one now?” He laughed coldly. “We’ll see how far your pride takes you.” He put his other hand between her shoulders and forced her flat down over the rail so her pendulum breasts swung over the edge and served himself to her ass. Pounding in and out so hard that her cheeks jounced with each penetrating stab. “Oh, don’t you feel like satin.” The King crooned. Banging roughly into her. His sack swinging against her lower lips as he took her. “It’s good you came to me. I haven’t had the backside of a woman in a while.” He rutted her. In and out under the bright sunshine. Metal clanged below in the Training Gardens and servants talked outside in the hall. But no one looked up. No one saw what was happening to Tanya. No one came to save her. “You’re pure evil.” She moaned sadly. “Evil...” He said between grunts. As if he liked the sound of it. “And you’re my toy. So, what does that make you? A witch?” She sobbed but tightened her lips, so the sound barely emerged. “Do you know, Little Toy, how much I hate mages?” He began driving into her harder. Pushing in and turning upward with the shape of her body. The answer was obvious. The King’s taking was brutal. And he moaned with pleasure as he caught her shoulder and stood her up. Rising painfully into her at a new angle gave him a great deal of pleasure. “So tight...” He purred. Then he grew so large and hard it became unbearable. Tanya reached back slapping his thighs in surrender as she thought she most certainly would rip. He growled in pleasure and forced upward hard. Holding steady as his cock jumped inside her. Feeling her with his fluid. “That a girl” He gave the side of her cheek a pat. Pulling out of her and letting her collapse to all fours on the stone balcony floor. A few quiet tears escaped her. But she’d never screamed. A fact, which Detry could appreciate as he pulled up his breeches and strode back into his chamber. *** “You have the job, my taut little hole. As long as you come to me each night and serve me up such a sweet meal.” Tanya couldn’t miss his meaning. She was breathing slowly trying to stem the pain. She couldn’t help reaching back and touching herself. Feeling the tenderness. She climbed to her feet on shaking legs. Though she’d come here to ally herself as the King’s new Second in Command, she vowed that he’d made an enemy today. One he’d eventually regret ever forcing over a railing. One that would make him pay. Tanya had a woman’s body and was taken viciously for it. But it wasn’t the first time it’d happened to her. But it would most certainly be the last. And she had a warrior’s heart. A will to survive that’d kept her whole in the Mage’s Guild, even when the occasional knight had snuck into the girl’s quarters to have at her. They’d never broken her. And this king wouldn’t now. Already, she was making plans to find Hawk and Magus and to ally with them. To find a way to make King Detry suffer as he’d just made her suffer. She stepped into her mage’s robes and walked from the room on heavy feet. “Don’t forget, Sweet Meal. You come to me again tonight. I’ll have another helping of that tender morse.” He pointed purposefully to her backside. Tanya gave him a look, her face unreadable. But tears danced in her eyes. “Will you cry for me now?” He grinned. Eyes brightening hopefully. *** Tanya was sitting sideways on the edge of her bed when several of the other girl’s came in looking for her. Sobbing into her palms so hard that her shoulders jerked. “Where were you?” Sunny asked. “What’s happened to you!” Alyssa cried. Both sat on opposite sides of her on the bed. “What can we do to help?” “It was the King.” Tanya said. “I went to talk to him.” “Oh, no.” Alyssa’s bottom lip shook sympathetically. “You didn’t! We all know what he does to the pretty ones.” “I thought-I thought I could...rationalize with him.” “He’s a king. There’s no rationalizing.” Sunny said. “I wanted to protect us. I wanted to lead us so no one else could hurt us.” “You already do.” Alyssa caught one of Tanya’s hands and clutched it tight. “You’ve always looked out for us. And things are better now that Hawk’s gone. He was so mean.” “But he didn’t touch us.” Tanya defended. “Who knows what the next might’ve done.” “So, what are we going to do?” Sunny asked a bit fearfully. “We’re going to get better. Then I’m going to find Hawk and Magus and get us all out of here.” “What about Warlord?” Sunny asked anxiously. “I’m going to kill him.” 29 A Target Warlord knew nothing of one of his mage’s games with the kings. He only knew that the woman standing in-front of him was the most argumentative, difficult little creature he’d ever laid eyes on. “You’d take me with you, if you ever escaped?” “Yes.” “How could we ever free your sister?” “We can’t, there’s no way to do so. We’d have to get the mage that created it to find a way to unwind it. And they couldn’t without the same ancient spellbook that the king possesses.” “So, someone would have to get it from the king?” “Impossible, Jade.” Warlord said coldly. “No woman enters his chambers and comes out unbroken. I’d never allow you.” *** Allow. I didn’t like that word. But I could see the gravity in his eyes. Something close to…Worry. For me? “Well, I will not sit by and be the captive of The King’s captive forever, Warlord. You’ve hinted you’ve some feeling for me. And I’m uncertain what I feel for you. I won’t know until we’re free and I can learn what manner of a man you truly are. But for that…We will be free. So, you best start planning before I do.” His black brows shot up in surprise. “Aren’t you the clever woman?” “You’ve no idea.” “Oh, I think I have some. You want to help me free my sister?” He asked warily. “Yes. Then we’re going to need the mages.” “You have them already.” “No. I’ve been put in the unique position of being hated by all of them. Both as their Commander and the King has made me the face of their sentencing for exactly this reason.” “That’s why they never know he’s the one behind the executions.” “Yes. All that are left. Are not amongst those who favor my company.” I eyed him thoughtfully, chew my cheeks. “But the ladies are…” *** “What?” He asked astonished. “I saw you at the banquet.” “I’m aware…” He eyed me askance. Wondering where I was going with this. “You’ve a unique way of charming women.” “Do I?” He quirked that haughty black brow. “It seems I’ve yet to charm you.” “I’m no normal woman.” “Indeed, you’re not…You’re a fierce little she-wolf.” There was a possessive note in his voice. “So, Warlord, let’s use all that skill in tacticians you’ve been honing to come up with a plan. But in the interim, I think you should start charming those she-mages.” He chuckled. “They’re just called mages, Jade.” “Well, if I’d said that, perhaps you’d have thought I meant for you to give the men a wink too.” I teased. Unable to resist the laughing note that entered my voice. He snorted over a laugh. “I most certainly wouldn’t have.” *** I found some bits of fabric and was pressing them to the bleeding wounds on his chest. “Go lay on the bed.” “Are you certain that’s where you want me?” I gave him a sharp look and caught him grinning broadly. Vivid white teeth seeming all the more stark against his tanned features and making those fathomless blue eyes dance. Changing his entire face. Making him look heart-wrenchingly handsome. For a moment I was awestruck. My prolonged study made that silence vanish and his gaze become hooded. “I was kidding, Jade.” “I know. But…” “Not a humorous joke, after what I’ve done. I understand.” That wasn’t what I was thinking at all. It’s what I should’ve been thinking. But somehow Warlord was impossible not to want to be close to. I want to know more about him. *** He walked over to me and tucked a stray lock behind my ear. “I’ll work on it, Jade.” Charming the she-mages. I felt the hint of jealousy, hoping he’d not find one more to his liking then he found me. I wondered how many women he’d really come to know, being locked away in that dark tower. Watching his mages from so far above. Being the one to point a finger and condemn someone to death. I didn’t think about how dangerous it could be for him, down amongst their ranks, because I couldn’t imagine them hurting him. He was a knight amidst pawns when he stood with them. He passed me and walked to the bed. Twisting to lay on his back. Crossing his ankles leisurely and linking his fingers over his belly. Whooshing a pained breath as he forced his body to relax. I walked over and began pushing at the wounds, inspecting them to see how best to bandage them. “There’s more cloth in the trunk under the table.” I frowned, having never noticed that there was a trunk there. But when I leaned over, I suddenly saw it. “How’d you keep that hidden this whole time?” “Carefully.” “Why?” “Because I didn’t want you stringing cloth together to try and drop into the gardens. Those mages would kill you like as look at you.” I reared back. “Why? They don’t even know me.” “They’ve been trained that wolves are killers. That’s why the king hunts them down to protect the country.” “They don’t bother people unless cornered.” He sighed. “I know that. And you know that. But they don’t.” *** I opened the trunk and found an array of gorgeous dresses. “Your sister’s?” “The King would’ve thrown them away.” He admitted. “Are you certain you’re fine with me tearing one up.” “She would tell me to shut up and let you do what needed doing.” “Why did the King hate her so much?” “He wanted her. He was smitten. And she’d have none of him.” “He desired her, despite that she was a wolf?” I was aghast. “That’s why he now hates them. He vowed to destroy every-one he came across after she rejected him. He tried to ravish her.” “Tried?” I couldn’t imagine anyone stopping him. “You intervened?” He scoffed. “I didn’t have to. BailaLae is a force of her own. Amazingly strong.” “She used magic against him?” Warlord laughed coldly. “That’s putting it mildly. He hated her after that. All of our kind.” “But she used magic not her wolf.” “He hates mages just as much. That’s why he makes them serve him. He calls it fighting fire with fire.” I winced in pain. Hating that phrase. And feeling Warlord’s resentment in saying it. Feeling his pain at having killed so many of both his kind. 30 Who’s Alpha I found the most worn dress in the trunk. Tossing it to him. “Rip this up for me.” He obediently wrenched it into pieces. Grunting with the effort it took. And making his wound bleed more profusely. I snatched up a few of the long strips. “Sit up.” He groaned, lurching into a sitting position. I scooted onto my knees next to him. Winding the makeshift bandage around his torso and over his shoulder. Tightening it along the back to hold the wound shut. “Do you know someone that can sew this shut?” “Would you like me to find you a needle?” “I’d have no idea how to do that!” “Nor would anyone else in this castle. So, you’d do as well as anyone else.” He rubbed his thumb and one fingertip together purposefully. Giving me a long look. Something silver began sliding up between those fingertips. A needle. Oh, no. *** I chewed my lip and gave him a worried look. Yanking it from his hand. “Does your magic always bring about bad things?” I’d meant as teasing, but my fear had made it sound severe. “No.” His smirk vanished. “BailaLae taught me some stuff other than just darkness.” “Really?” I leaned forward, intrigued. “Like what?” He closed his eyes and drew a long breath. As if he were connecting with his sister. He lifted a clenched fist before us and slowly opened his fingers. For a heartbeat there was nothing. Then I saw fingers of vines climbing up the posts of the headboard. Winding like thing green snakes which reached the top in several coils before casting blossoms all along its length which bloomed into pretty pink and white flowers. Gasping I looked around the room and saw the same thing happening up every wall and clambering over the furniture. Blooming everywhere until the dim room seemed brighter alive with plants like some sacred garden. “Beautiful…” I murmured. He was quiet. When I looked down, he was staring at me. “I’ve seen things more so.” He remarked. I gave him a searching study but wasn’t quite sure. *** I fell asleep that night on one edge of the bed and he on the other, wearing one of BailaLae’s nightdresses from the chest. But sometime during the night I heard him make a pained sound and realized that I’d rolled over and had my head resting on his shoulder and had apparently brushed across one of his wounds. “I’m sorry.” I whispered. Rising up and attempting to roll back the other direction. But before I could twist, his hand caught the side of my head and pressed it back down on the further edge of his shoulder. Holding firmly and stroking the top of my ear with his finger. “Get some rest.” He directed. To my surprise, I did. In moments I was out. Fast asleep and absorbing his warmth. He breathed steadily but I sensed he wasn’t sleeping. I wondered if he’d give anything I’d said a second thought. If he doesn’t, I’ll have to do it all on my own. *** I awoke to the sound of him barking commands. I sat bolt upright. Heart pounding because of the urgency in his directives. But a quick scan of the tower chamber revealed it wasn’t coming from inside. I dug around in the chest and found one of his sister’s wraps, quickly pulling it on. Then cracking the secret door out onto the balcony. I edged out there, staying as far from the railing as possible. To keep from sight. But standing on my toes, I was able to see the Training Gardens below. For the first time since I’d been here, Warlord was down amidst their ranks. Telling someone to hold their hands higher. Yelling at another for more precision. Telling them when to lift and when to release arrows which somehow magically flew from their hands into trees that’d been marked as targets. “Down!” Warlord commanded. Making all their hands fall simultaneously. “Reload.” They rounded as a unit. Swiping up their next arrows and taking aim. I watched, curious. When he gave the order for them to release, they weren’t firing from a bow. Instead, they were blowing the arrows from their palms. Sending them careening toward the trees at speeds I’d never seen them ejected from an arrow. Far more dangerous. *** As I watched them all taking Warlord’s orders, I observed how the mages were responding to him. The men looked anxious. Watching him carefully for any nuances in his behavior. Twitching every time he moved a bit too quickly. Like beaten pups. Wary of being put down. And I was sure that essentially, that’s exactly what they were. The women were looking at him through hooded eyes. Taking in his tall lean figure and stealing glances at him whenever they thought he might not notice. I couldn’t blame them for that. Haven’t I been guilty of just such a thing on numerous occasions. Still, I felt a slight pang of worry. Wondering how many of the women he might have lain with. How many he’s been intimate with? From the looks they were casting him, it seemed that plenty were willing. But I noticed one that was staring at him with blatant animosity. The hint of contempt whitened her lips and made her mouth tight, every time he walked past her. A pretty, petite, brunette. With hatred written over her face. What’d he do to her? After he’d given several commands, he turned to her and gestured her for her to take over. Take over command? I was stunned that he was asking a female to. Especially one that didn’t seem particularly willing to obey him, herself. What does she have on him, that he’s deferring to her? I found I had wandered closer to the railing then I meant to. And my hands were gripping it in a white-knuckled grip. I was logical enough to remind myself that I had no hold on him, no claim to him and no business feeling even the slightest bit possessive or jealous of him showing respect to another female. Stop it. I told myself. Ripping myself away from the sight and forcing myself to go back in. He doesn’t belong to you.

SUMMARY: Most nights the red-eyed monster came. Sucking my goats of their blood. And it seemed nothing I tried worked to dissuade it. So, I'd decided to hire a gunman with steady aim which could kill the beast. Save me, my ranch. But I never expected to find him attractive. I'd not found a man appealing before. Not since my husband had left me two years ago. But in these desolate plains, nothing is ever as it seems. Who's the monster and who's the lover can quickly change. 01 A Chilling Find The morning sun had not yet warmed the plain. But I sat on my heels. The strings of yellow wheat swaying against my arms. The morning fog still heavy around my shoulders and resting along the ground. My pale blue dress nearly the same shade of the mist surrounding me. The goat’s limp head cradled on my knees. Wondering how much more I could take. “Lizzy.” I sobbed. Rocking back and forth with the old black and white goat lying dead next to me. I knew how ridiculous it was for me to be mourning the death of a mere goat. But it seemed I’d lost so much over the last few years. “Rada?” The old neighbor, Bob must’ve heard my wailing from his house nearby. “Are you okay, Dear?” “It’s Lizzy.” I sniveled. Swiping my nose with my arms. “Ohh…I’m sorry Dear.” He dropped an old, withered hand to my shoulder. “I know she was your favorite. But she was getting on in years.” I knew that was true, but I had hoped to have her raise several more, young goats I could sell in town. And I was dependent on the profit from selling her milk. Lately she’d been tired and hadn’t been providing as much. That in itself had taken a toll on me. “I can’t figure out what happened to her…” I whined. Old Bob leaned over and pointed toward her neck. “I’d say that, Dear.” Only then did I notice what he was pointing out. There were too dark blotches of blood along her throat. Like something bit her. I lifted her to turn her over and found her painfully light. I gave Bob a startled look. “What?” “She’s so light.” “Like the last two.” He sighed. “Drained of blood, like them, no doubt. I’ve never, in all my years, seen an animal do that sort of damage.” He shook his head. “Best thing to do now is to chop her for meat before it’s destroyed in the heat.” “Okay.” I used my skirt to wipe my nose and let Bob help me up. I stood on shaking legs. “I’ll take her to the barn for ya and hang ‘er. You go to the house and get yourself cleaned up, Girl. I’ll tend to this.” I nodded. Still shaking my head sadly, as I obediently headed back to the house. Thankful that Old Bob was there. I don’t know what I’d have done the last two years without him. *** From the shadow of the few trees behind me, red eyes glinted. Watching the seen unfold. Staring hungrily at the dead goat in her lap. It shifted as it caught whiffs of the animal. Its eyes trailed over to the others wandering the range in the area. Others which smelled as delicious as the old one had proven to be. The beast could see the girl’s grief, but it didn’t understand it. Was not capable of feeling. Only hunger. The ever-present, forever-gnawing hunger. Others, which had been too fast the night before. Bob came over to the house once he had the goat hung. I’d prepared enough grits and oats for him, and we sat down to the meager meal. “I hate to bear bad news, Rada, but a woman such as you can’t continue out here alone with some beast hunting your stock. I’ve tried to help ya since Mato but…” “I know…” I murmured crestfallen because I knew he was right. But I’m not ready to move on. “I’m getting on in years, Girl and not sure how much longer I can help watch out for you. You need to hire a man to take care of whatever predator is hunting your stock.” “I know but-but I don’t…I don’t have the funds for that…” “I know.” He bobbed his head. “Betty and I will help you hire a man. He reached to pull a handful of coins from his pocket. Here’s some of our share. You need to go to town and find a gunner.” A gunslinger? That thought was unsettling. I didn’t know any, and I knew what sort of man they tended to be. “Just make sure you find a good one.” Old Bob set the coins on the table with a clink. Then swiped his mouth with a dirty red handkerchief before standing. “Fine fare, Miss Rada, as always. Thank you.” “Thank you, Bob.” “You’re welcome, Rada.” He opened the door before looking over his shoulder. “I hate to bring it up, but a pretty young thing like you, should be looking for a new man to tend ya, by now. You can’t keep going it alone. It’s been nigh on two years now…” I know. I nodded my head. Though inside, I felt anything but agreement by him. The door closed behind him, and I jumped slightly. *** It wasn’t the first time Old Bob had brought up such a thing. It was well-known that young women in this country should be married. Unwed women like me were prime prey for the wrong kind of men. Or for attacks by wild Indians. Though I had been lucky so far. Because of Mato. My husband had been Lakota. But he was feared by even his own kind because of the family he descended from. So, he’d been outcast even from them. He and I were alike in that. We’d been friends since childhood. Daring to play with each other despite that we’d both been forbidden. My mother had worked for the Madam in Sam’s Saloon, and many had expected me to follow her footsteps. They’d all been surprised when I’d ran off and married my Sweetheart from childhood. And Mato had built everything here. Built us a life. Then he’d left me. Without a word, he’d gone in the night. And that’s what everyone knew me as. The woman that wasn’t even good enough for an Indian, daughter of a Madam. And women were few and far between in this country. When a man abandoned one, it usually meant she was no good. I was having a harder and harder time selling goods in town. And getting more lewd comments. Many of the cowboys in the area had told me, I’d make better money working for old Susan in the Saloon. But that’s not who I am. 02 Nightfall Darkness came and with it was the gray beast. Slick with hairless skin like a seal. Eyes glittering like rubies as it peered around the tree. Watching the flock of goats in the pen next to the cabin. A long, thin tongue snaked out to lip nearly nonexistent lips. She’d driven them in, hoping to keep them off the range enough the predator wouldn’t find them. But the beast could see them in the darkness as clearly as if the sun shone high above. And it was hungry. Its slender stomach already rumbling. Ribs protruding as it starved for more of the animal’s fluid. Its spine was ridged, curving upward like a swaying hill. Lurching down and back with each movement as the thing slunk closer to the pen on spindly legs. It walked on all fours with split front feet. Lurching forward it jogged like a dog toward the pen. Leaping the fence to sink its pin pricked teeth into the first goat it could reach. Dragging it to the ground before it could utter a scream. The animal flailed on its side, tossing its legs. While the bigger beast drained it. Until its front legs began jerking spasmically. He wouldn’t kill this one. Not tonight. But he needed something to assuage the hunger. *** The next morning, I found one of my younger goats injured. The same neck wounds and its body ravaged from where something much larger had pinned it down to feed on it. It’s enough. I went inside and slid, Old Bob’s clanging coins off the table. Going to a small drawer tucked in the wall next to the stove I peered at what was inside and verified there was more coins there. Shoving it closed with a click, I stuck Old Bob’s coins in the pocket of my dress and went around to saddle Maxine, my mare. Giving her heel, I headed for town. Looking for a gunslinger. With true aim. Who won’t be scared of the monster hunting my flock. *** Once there, it didn’t take long to find him. I could tell what he was from the moment he got off the train. A shawl draped loosely over his shoulder and a saddle in his hand. His hat was pulled low in the front. Usually, an indicator he was a Wanted Man. But I knew enough about gunslingers, to be sure that most of them were. Usually for killing someone they shouldn’t have. Or someone with family that cared… I got into town and lifted the thin hood I kept over my pile of hair, to keep from drawing undue attention. My dress was the simple blue one I wore most days. I’d given it a thorough scrubbing last night, as well as myself and hoped I could present myself with a professional air. I stepped into his path. He waved me away and went around. “I don’t have time, Girl.” “I’m looking for a gunslinger.” I announced. Proud of the firm ring I heard in my own voice. He turned to me, and I could see the hard glint to his face. A brown beard dusted his cheeks, making him look the rogue he was sure to be. “What does a woman need a gunman for?” He paused to give me a sideways look. “I’ve something hunting my flock. I’ll pay well to have it killed.” I eased two coins into my hand and lifted them in offering. “Some now and I’ll give you the bulk of it when it’s done.” He rounded to face me fully. “Who says I’m looking for work?” “You just got off that train.” I nodded beyond him. “So, you’ll be looking to buy a horse. Need coin for that.” I bobbed my hand pointedly. “And the way you got that hat tucked, you’re running from some sort of past.” “Running, huh? Some sort of an impudent girl, you are.” He tapped the cloth hood back from my face, so it slipped over my head and fell hanging from the back of my neck to rest along my dress. He eyed my cornhusk hair and wide green eyes intently. “Ah,” He remarked. “I see why you were hiding.” Because I’m fair of face. I’d had enough men tell me so, usually in a cruel way, to know it was true. “I got a place to stay. You can lodge in my Main Room if you’re a proper man.” He lifted his head to level a brown eyed look on me. “Proper, huh?” We both know my meaning. He won’t try to touch me. “I can be proper enough to stay in a lady’s home.” I nodded and slapped the coins in his hand. Turning as an indication for him to follow me. “That’ll be enough to get you a horse from Joe’s stables round way then you can join up with me and I'll show you the way.” “’K.” He nodded and headed around the corner. Aiming for Joe’s. *** I waited for him to come riding back on a big black gelding. “Nice horse stable.” He remarked about Joe’s lot. “He does.” I nodded. “This way.” I turned Maxine toward home and heeled her. She took off. Finding the path on sure feet. She’d ridden this direction often enough I barely had to guide her. “Are you going to tell me your name, Gunslinger?” “Theodore. Ted, most call me.” “That your real name or one you tell folks, so they won’t find out your wanted name?” He shrugged. “You’re a mite bold for such a small one.” It wasn’t the first time I’d heard that. Mato used to tell me something similar quite often. “So, what is this beast, I’m after?” “I don’t know.” “You haven’t seen it?” His head swung toward me. “Great. Most like a Mountain Lion then.” He sounded very disgruntled at the prospect. “I don’t think so.” He eyed me. Brown eyes intent on my face. “Why not? Thought you didn’t know what it is.” “I don’t. But not for lack of seeing it.” “What’s that supposed to mean?” “Both Old Bob, my neighbor, and I have never seen anything like.” “Like what?” “Part bear, part cat, part dog. Pure monster.” 03 Theodore Ted shifted on his mount. “That sounds a bit intriguing.” “It kills my stock by bleeding them dry.” “What the Hell?” His head whipped back to me. “I’m sorry.” He lowered his head. “Not proper to talk to a lady such. I’ve just never heard of such a thing.” “None of us have.” “Well, if it shows it’s pretty face, I’ll put a bullet in it.” “Don’t be overconfident.” I warned. “It’s fast. Very fast.” “So, am I.” *** Ted would see what I meant that night. We both sat on the deck as the darkness was closing in. Deep blackness was enveloping everything. Even the cluster of dense pines that bordered my property. He rocked in the chair that Mato had hand carved for me. I didn’t mind sharing it. It was nice to see a man in it again. To watch the cut of his jaw beneath the tan hat as the shadows played over his face. Truthfully, it was just nice to look at handsome man again. To watch the play of light on him. “Those trees make a nice shade for your grounds.” He nodded to the pines. “They are pretty, lovely scent in the summer.” I agreed reservedly. “But I think that it lives in those.” “When does it come out?” “Just after dark usually. When the heat of the day cools into the fog.” As, always those twirling fingers crept from the moisture of the trees to make a white film over the range. And the curving gray back of the beast made it look like it had spines hovering just above the few feet of fog. Making it a dark shadow easing out of the grove. I immediately sank further into my wooden chair. Hating the instinctive sinking of my stomach as it neared. I wanted to protect my stock. To run out there and hit the thing. But all Mato had was the big .45 Revolver and I’d long since learned that my hands weren’t large or strong enough to hold it steady when I shot. Ted leaned forward in his chair, gripping the armrests. “What the Sam Hell is that?” “It’s the monster.” I whispered. “Be careful.” He stood up on the deck and drew his gun with precision accuracy but as he cocked it the beast whipped its head and landed red eyes on him. Ted was so stunned by the width of the monster’s face and the thickness of its shoulders as it crouched in the fog. The bones of its shoulders rolling, much like a mountain lion before it pounces. The ridged spine seemed to elongate into ridged spikes under the thick gray skin, looking more like armor by the minute. Ted fired a round and it skimmed along the monster’s shoulder before pinging along a tree trunk and hitting the dirt somewhere in the trees. “Its skin is impermeable.” Ted retreated a step. “Get inside.” *** It lunged forward. Red eyes locked on us. Ted fired another round as he fumbled backward toward the door. I tossed it open as the second round skimmed down the beast’s side. I caught his arm and yanked him in with me. We rushed inside and slammed the door. He spotted the bolt and rolled it into place with quick reflexes. Automatically rolling our backs against it. Ted was blinking huge brown eyes with thick lashes at me. Blatant confusion written over his hard features made them look somewhat vulnerable. This close I could see his dusting of brown beard along a square jaw. His chorded throat led down to the collar of his brown shirt. A dusty red handkerchief tied around his neck, for covering his face in the dirty winds. “What the devil was that?” He expostulated. Looking at me as though I’d betrayed him. His words drawing me from my study of his features. “The monster that’s been eating my stock. What I hired you to kill.” Whatever it is… He turned back to the door as if he could see through it. “Oh, I’m going to.” *** I boiled some tea and we sat down at the table to discuss what he’d just seen. Ted had a glazed look to him. Clearly in shock at having witnessed what he had. “That’s no monster. It’s a demon. Did you feel that?” He looked at me. Yes. I gave him a sympathetic look. Knowing precisely what he was talking about. “Evil. Pure evil was coming off that thing. It looked like something conjured from pure nightmare.” “I know.” I slid into the seat opposite him. Having a momentary vision of sipping tea by the firelight of the lone candle, just as we were now, with Mato. His long black hair in wild waves around his face. His blue eyes laughing at me as he told me some native tale about the great legends that built their beliefs. Tales which he turned into great epics with his grand gestures. Why’d he leave me? “Was it some kind of a bear? It looked big enough to be.” “I don’t know what it is.” I admitted. “But it sucks my animal’s blood. Bites their necks…” I knew how ridiculous it sounded but Ted had no choice but to believe me after what he’d seen. 04 Appeasing Loneliness “You look terrified.” Ted remarked. Reaching across the table to lift my chin. “You’ve been out here alone, dealing with this thing?” I nodded. Chewing my lip. “You’ve a lot of fire for such a tiny woman.” He examined my delicate features. Taking in the light blue of my eyes and my long blonde hair. “Far too beautiful to be out here all alone. No man?” “He runned off and left me, so they say. Or someone shot him dead, I suspect.” I swallowed hard at that thought. It was the one thing I refused to think of often. I hated the thought that someone would’ve killed him. But I also know how real that possibility is. Mato had been a pure-bred Lakota and people around here, had problems with natives living in their towns. Even outside them. And especially with a white woman. It wasn’t entirely impossible that someone would’ve shot him. But they’d have had to do it in the back. Because Mato had keen instinctive senses and he was damn hard to sneak up on. *** “How has no man snatched you up in all that time?” “I suppose they’ve tried. But most find me an unfit woman.” Since I was left by my man. “There’s nothing unfit about you.” His gaze roved over me, and his hand moved from my chin for a callused thumb to brush over my bottom lip. “You’re breathtaking.” I could see the look in his eyes. Feel the desire in his touch. I knew what he wanted. “You hardly know me…” I whispered in objection. “Do I need to?” I realized that he didn’t. I had been lonely for so long. And he was warm and male and knew what I knew. That monsters really do exist. And I wanted him. *** I lunged across the table, and he met me. Rising to his feet in a smooth motion to catch a palm along my cheek and under my hair. Meeting my lips with equal hunger. We consumed each other like two starved people. He jerked his hat off and tossed it on the counter next to us. An old wooden construction Mato had made with his bare hands. Wood he’d smoothed meticulously day over day. Now it was where I wanted to start something new. To move on. Maybe with this man. Maybe not. But he’s at least a start. Ted’s body was hard and honed from years of hard labor and travelling with not much to eat. Riding and gunslinging. I slipped around the corner without breaking contact. He took one long step and met me there to. His hands were suddenly everywhere. He pulled up my skirts and turned to set me atop the counter. He lifted my hips enough I could slide my skirt under me, pinning it beneath my hips. I caught his belt and was tugging at it, even as he was unbuckling it and letting his gun belt and pants slide to the floor. I pushed at the collar of his shirt, to palm his chest and clavicle. Feeling the hot, tanned skin. He lifted it from around his waist and peeled it off. Exposing the flat plane of his chest and a muscled abdomen. Shining brown skin which glistened in the dancing yellow light of the candle. A slight furring of brown hair was thin over his chest. I was unbuttoning the front of my dress as fast as my fingers could work. And as I opened the bodice of my blue dress, his hands instantly found their way in. Rough palms meeting soft womanly flesh. Massaging my pale breasts. Rubbing his rough thumbs over the tiny, crested nipples. He growled in his throat and slammed his pelvis against mine, hard enough that the counter jerked beneath me. I nearly flinched but I shared his urgency. So, I wiggled down to the edge of the counter, to part my legs around him. Lifting them to wind my long legs around his hips. I was short, but most of that was smooth, curving legs. I angled myself, reaching down and tracing my own fingers along my crease to ensure I was moist. Then laying back on my elbows and giving him a lowered lid look to let him know I was ready. “You look nearly as eager to get it, as I am to give it.” He said in approval. Stepping closer. Catching his hard length and angling it down to my entrance. He held my hips in place as he guided himself in. The overwhelming sensation immediately made my eyes flutter closed and my knees open further to allow him room. He slid in, inch by painstaking inch until I was stuffed full. Stretched as far as I could be. Tight around every bit of his length. Even feeling the swollen head of his rod. “You’re so tight.” He dropped over me to clench a fist near my shoulder. Resting it atop the counter as he fought to control the instant desire to unleash inside me. But I want more. *** I wanted this moment. The hot feel of a man’s body on mine. I hooked my arms under his arm pits and flattened them over the back of his shoulder blades. Pulling him down to me until my nipples encountered the flat swell of his pectorals. He was smooth flesh and taut skin. And I wanted to touch every inch of him. My hands roving his body as he caressed a hand down to mold over my breast. Thrusting into me and feeling the tiny nub grazing over his palm as the flesh danced every time, he sunk in. His other palm curved to cup my rounded hip as he took me atop the counter. The feel of him, hard and deep made me feel truly alive for the first time in two years. Hearing his male sounds as his pleasure mounted was immensely gratifying. I sat up and pushed him back a step. He tossed his arms up in objection. 05 In the Black of Night I slid off the counter and rolled onto my belly. Spreading my feet to offer myself to him while I leaned over the counter. He hesitated and I looked over my shoulder at him. He was clearly taking a moment to appreciate the view. I jerked my skirts up around my waist. Exposing myself further to him and wiggling my rear in offering. “Take me.” I beckoned. Letting the part of me that was all female take over my mouth. “Yes, ma’am.” He said obediently and I felt him enter me behind. I leaned up and braced my palms on the counter. Startled at the pleasurable intrusion. “Yes…” I purred. “And how would you like it?” He was willing to take advantage of my bold behavior. “Grab my hair.” He obediently caught a handful and wound it around his fist, using it to draw me back toward him as he pushed in. “Harder.” I told him. He was happy to oblige. “Hammering into me as fiercely as he tugged my hair.” All wild and passionate with the hint of possessiveness that Mato had always given me. I knew Ted was handsome. Appealing and sexy but I couldn’t help but imagine that it was my Mato taking me by flamelight. I was nothing if not a loyal woman. *** I took from Ted what he was willing to give. And he gave me everything. Our two bodies melded in the dim setting. He was looking down to watch himself entering and withdrawing from inside me. His momentum growing with every pleasured stroke. He could see the silken ripple of my cheeks with every impact. Rolling in and out. He tipped back to change the angle. Touching something which made me squeal and writhe. Unsure if I was trying to get away. Or get more of him. But what he was rubbing across now was enough to send me clawing the ceiling. I was panting and moaning loudly between. I dug my nails into the counter as I felt him touching so deeply it became almost painful. But it was assuaged every time he rubbed along the spot that felt so good. Finally, I could contain it no longer and I erupted around him. Coils of light unfurled behind my closed lids, and I went from icy cold to extremely hot and felt myself soaking around him. As pleasure unfurled like a blooming flower. I heard his sounds increasing, and knew he was getting closer to climax. “Finish in me.” I bid him. Wanting him to feel the same thing I had. He shouted in ecstasy as I felt the rush of warmth in me and knew he’d come. Then he dropped limply across my back. Nestling his face in my hair. “Yes, ma’am.” *** Then we heard the first loud bang against the front door. Signaling the end of our moment of bliss. Ted leapt back from me. Twirling and spotting his pants. Yanking them up and buckling his gun belt around his lean hips. His dusty tan pants the only other thing he was wearing as he swiped up his cowboy hat and perched it atop his head. Face solemn as he headed slowly for the door. I scrambled from off the counter. To push my skirts down and turned. Already buttoning my shirt. It’d felt incredible. Short as it’d been. But now something was barreling against the door enough the hinges were hopping like they might give out. Ted took two bold steps forward and booted the door to let the creature know we were prepared to fight. It must’ve worked because the thumping stopped. *** Ted opened the door. Not even enough time to recuperate from what we’d just experienced. I was on his heels. My last few buttons done crookedly in my haste. I opened the little drawer in the wall near the stove. Leaving the few coins, I planned to give Ted after he killed the beast but taking out the big silver revolver. Trying to adjust my hands around it to get a decent grip. Knowing it was too big for my hands and too hard to control to be accurate. But willing to use it up close if the thing got past Ted. It’s not going to kill any more of my stock. One way or another it dies tonight… Ted opened the door. Cautiously stepping through the doorway and angling toward one side with his gun pointed, then to the other. Taking each step with the expectation the blood-sucking monster would charge out any minute. He took the few steps down onto the level ground and began heading toward the goat pen. Seeing nothing there he began carefully edging toward the trees. Lowering to gaze into the darkness. Searching for red eyes gleaming back. I looked at his dark shadow wading through the fog and heard the unholy silence of nightbirds and knew that the thing was lurking there. I prayed with every ounce of belief I had left that he would kill it and return to the cabin. Perhaps build something with me. Pick up where Mato had left off with me. Here in this place. 06 What Remains But then Ted found what he was looking for. The looming creature’s ridged back emerged from the trees. Working slowly toward him from the right side. “Ted!” I cried. Pointing to the hazy outline. He lowered in a crouch and readied himself. Swinging his gun side to side as he waited for it to step into his view. Ready to shoot. The monster charged him at a dead sprint. Loping in huge steps to cross the distance. Tearing through the fog. Like a knife through wax. Peeling it apart to make way for its long spindly legs. It’s lumbering torso thick like a hyena’s but back rising to the height of a great bear. Each jogging step carried it several feet closer. Ted levelled his gun, and the shot rang out in the animal’s chest, this time it didn’t ricochet off like it had on its armored sides. Ted found a soft spot. I dropped to my knees in relief until I realized that the animal wasn’t stopping. It ran until leaping to snap huge jaws down around Ted’s neck and collar. Carving a hole down into his body. And jerking twice until it tore him apart. “No!” I shouted. Rushing back inside and slamming the door shut as I realized I couldn’t save Ted. If he couldn’t kill it. What power would I have to do so? I’d never before allowed myself to think about how small and helpless I was. But now I surrendered to the horrible feeling sobbing recklessly. *** The beast finished ripping at the gunman. Tearing his chest apart and ripping him midway down to his abdomen. Only then did it roll aside him. Collapsing as it poured blood from the gunshot wound to its right chest. It huffed. Cold pants in the night air that turned to frost. While it writhed in pain. Grunting gutturally as it tried to catch its breath. To ease the pain. Pain which was forcing its body to change. Reducing. Becoming smaller and turning to flesh. He sat up, huffing for more air. His body partly healing the wounds on the inside while his body processed the change. Eventually causing the bit of metal to eject from his body and launch to the ground with a dull thud. He climbed to his feet on shaking legs. Human legs which had not been used in several years. Holding a palm to put pressure to his chest he leaned over to spit on the dead man. “You were a fool to ever come here. She belongs to me.” *** I sat cowering in the cabin. On my knees. Praying that Ted was somehow okay. That the monster is somehow dead. Praying that it wouldn’t kill any more of my stock. That somehow this would all end happily. Then the doorknob turned, and I gasped. Realizing I’d not flipped the bolt. At first, I thought it was the beast coming for me next. But then I realized that the creature didn’t have hands with which to turn the knob. “Ted?” I asked softly. “Not nearly.” Another man stumbled in. Blood pouring over his hand pressed to his chest as he lurched backward, slamming to the wall. But it was a voice I knew. One I could’ve never forgotten. “Mato?” *** I knew that waving black hair down to his shoulders. Thick enough a woman could sink her fingers into. And bright blue eyes which could cut into one’s soul. And the smooth chiseled lines of his dark-skinned face. A face I’d missed unbearably. I sobbed. Staring at him in shock. Wondering if I was seeing a ghost. Blood poured over his hand, gushing from his chest. Where Ted had shot the monster. Was I losing my mind? Had I been seeing monsters when it had been Mato creeping from the trees? But the goats… “Are you-did you…Lizzy?” I didn’t know why but feeling betrayed that he could’ve killed my goat seemed even more logical right now than anything else did. “Your goat was sick, Rada. I had to kill her, or her milk would’ve poisoned you.” “But you hurt others.” “I never killed them…I had to eat, Rada.” “Where have you been?” “I was here. I’ve been…Something else. I couldn’t come home to you because I couldn’t return.” He gestured down his length with his other hand. “I would’ve hurt you in the other form.” “What…Are you…” “My clan called my family ‘The Bear’. That’s what my name means. But they were Skinwalkers. That’s what our people said. But I never believed it until…” I covered my mouth in horror. “You’ve been right here the whole time?” “I couldn’t come back to you…To keep you safe. But I’ve been here.” “As what? What is that thing!” I gestured behind him as if the monster was still somehow out there.” “Legend has often called us Chupacabra.”

SUMMARY: I was forced into an engagement with some withered old fool I'd never meant and didn't want. So, I thought myself quite the defiant little Miss when I teased a masked lord at the Ball. But once he'd lured me out to my aunt's Guest House, I found he was very different from the plaything sir that had seemed so charming a short time ago. He was bent on ruining me. My choice was simple. To let him have me and he'd keep it a secret. Or fight him and he'd publicly ruin me. Ensuring my new fiancé knew precisely what manner of woman I was. Really no choice at all... 01 A Huntress I turned in the candlelight. Knowing the purple and gold of my mask caught the glimmer of orange flames. Reflecting the sparkle as it highlighted over my golden-brown features. My lips so dark that they were considered unfashionable. My mother often pressed my maid to temper them down with light matte colors to pale them. So, you don’t look such the siren. My mother would say. But tonight, I’d dismissed all such trivialities. I rouged my cheeks and large beckoning lips. And darkened my lashes with kohl behind the half-mask. Willing to defy my mother and father and anyone else that crossed my path tonight. I stalked onto the dance floor in a gold ball gown. My brown eyes intent on finding some bit of prey. Some man to take out my frustrations on. Some man to help me foil everyone else’s plans for me. *** As I thought it, a gentleman in a specially tailored coat stepped before me. Half his overcoat was white, half was black. Perfectly mimicking the coloring of his mask. Shadowing eyes so dark brown they were nearly black. His square jaw was revealed just below the mask. “Are you looking for someone?” He queried in a smooth tone. “Not in the least. Quite the opposite actually.” “Oh?” A dark brown brow lifted questioningly at me. “I’m looking for a perfect no one.” “Well,” He bowed gracefully and offered his hands. “It just so happens I am precisely no one. And perfectly adept at being so.” I hesitated. So surprised I was unsure what to say as I stared at his awaiting hand. He wants to dance? “I guess, in this case, then I shall overlook your rudeness in approaching a lady without a proper introduction.” I stepped forward and forewent his hand to drop a gloved palm over his forearm. “But I was looking for a lady a trifle different then the most proper kind.” “An improper kind?” I asked haughtily. Very willing to put him in check if he were making advances. “Not in the least. Just less then boring.” “Well, boring is not something I’ve ever been accused of.” I tossed my long red hair. Sending the curls dancing wildly down my back since I’d refused to let my distraught maid put even a single pin in it. It can be as wild as I intend to be tonight. *** As he guided me further onto the Dancefloor, he turned me into his arms and unfolded his fingers to press his palm parallel to mine at shoulder height next to us. His other hand landed lightly along my lower back as he maneuvered the steps gracefully. I looked up at him and gauged his height and gaze and the musky cologne he wore. Not a man I know. That rather eased some of my troubles. An unabashed rogue, no doubt. But in truth that was perhaps just what I was looking for this eve. The stranger moved me in the dance. “So, since you’ve so rudely commandeered me for this dance despite what my card might’ve said, do you care to introduce yourself?” “Not in the least.” His brown eyes danced. It took me a moment to register that he was refusing to give me his name. I gave him a surprised look. He leaned a bit too close during the dance and whispered near my ear. “Perhaps I just call you Circe.” Circe? Enchantress? Seductress. I recognized the word. I felt my cheeks heat. “Then how about I call you Rogue, in return.” He shrugged. “One can no more hide their nature then they can their intellect.” “And you find yourself quite clever.” I guessed. Giving his tall frame an assessing look and noticing how much wider than mine his shoulders were. I was tall and thin but no match for his thicker stature. “Should I not?” He turned me. Making the gold gown spin out enough that the purple underskirt was briefly visible. 02 Interrupted “Kylie!” My sister Sarah appeared next to my elbow. Shooting the gentleman a glower, before dragging me from his grip. “Lord Durnmouth was first on your dance card tonight.” “Was he?” I asked absentmindedly. “Is this because of the engagement?” Sarah frowned down at me. A bit taller and far more somber, she was clearly the eldest of the two of us. “Is what?” I asked blandly. “That you’re dancing with random men rather than following your dance card and preparing to meet up with your affianced at the end of the night.” Nothing I could imagine wanting to do less. “Perhaps I’ve no desire to be crammed into the mold, you’re all setting for me.” I told her. “You know you don’t have a choice.” Sarah cocked her hip in that disapproving way. I blinked dully at her. Making her suspicions grow. “What are you about?” “What do you mean?” “You’re up to something. You’ve that look about you.” “I know not what you speak of.” I swept away. Skirts in my hands as I determined I wouldn’t answer her. She’ll only try and stop me. *** I stood watching the other dancers from a dark corner. My arms crossed over my chest and frowning as I watched everyone dancing so gleefully. Misery. That was the only word I could think of. I’d had such grand plans but now I was to be married off. Like a prized sheep for a pretty bit of coin. Thinking about it was only making me angrier. I nearly leapt from my skin when I felt a husky voice breathing along the back of my neck. “Meet me in the Guest House?” I knew of it. This was my aunt’s property, and I knew the Guest House was abandoned this time of year. So, does he, apparently. I turned slightly and peered over my shoulder. Only barely able to catch the silhouette of his white mask and the white side of his overcoat visible in the shadows. He was leaned back. Arms crossed over his shoulders and one boot lifted so the sole rested against the wall. His knee jutting out in a leisurely stance. His dim outline was aptly concealed in the shadows. Clearly not wanting to be seen. “Why would I do that?” I whispered over my shoulder. “To defy that pretty sister of yours…I heard you.” He whispered only loud enough I could hear him. Other young women standing near me were too far away to hear him. “Fine.” I agreed impulsively. “Fine.” He echoed. “I’ll wait for you out there. Don’t make me come back in and get you…I’m not above dragging a woman off the dancefloor.” I glanced over my shoulder to give him a quick look, but he was gone. *** As I crept from bush to bush to get to the Guest House, I felt rising bits of excitement. What am I going to do? Let him steal a kiss? Steal a touch? Perhaps something quite improper? It was tempting. It would certainly deter my would-be suitor to find out my reputation was sullied from a brief dalliance in a Guest House. Even if it’s not all the rumor mills will make it to be. I felt momentary satisfaction at realizing the deep shock that’d deflate my parents. They were so set on this course, despite all my objections. Well perhaps they’ll rethink it now. The weather seemed to mimic my dark thoughts. Clouds blocking the stars and a slight, drizzling rain beginning to patter over everything. I reached the Guest House and saw its pretty sparkling white paint glinting invitingly in the moonlight. Window surrounded nearly three sides. Revealing the darkness within. As I rounded the shrubs, I saw the hint of a fir in the far corner and the dancing flame of a candle tossing bits of orange light over the sparse furniture in the House. I saw the dark overcoat shrouding a man’s elbow which overhung the armrest of the chair before the fire. Was I really going to do this? I’ll stop it before it goes too far. I reassured myself. Drawing a steadying breath before sneaking to the door in the back which was always kept unlocked. 03 Strange Sanctuary I’d barely entered the door when he met me. His mouth descending on me so fiercely it was nearly brutal. He swung me around and kicked the door closed. It banged shut with such finality I suddenly realized my mistake. Jerking away from him before even fully registering he’d been kissing me. What am I doing alone in the Guest House during a rainstorm with a man I don’t know? One I’ve aptly already dubbed The Rogue. What the Hell was I thinking? “You smell like roses.” He remarked. Shedding his coat as he drew me further into the house. “Wait.” I said. “It’s too late for all that.” He dismissed. Unraveling it from his shoulders and shook it from his shoulders before catching one cuff, then the other, to tug it off. Before dropping it over the back of the chair across from the fire. When had he led me so far into the House? His mouth fell over mine again. His lips moving like silk over mine. Guiding them open so his tongue could delve fully into mine. His tongue tracing the inner walls and learning the shape and textures of my mouth so intimately I was left breathing raggedly. I shoved at his chest. Only to have him pull me closer. His arms wrapping me to work the laces of my corset at my lower back. “Wait. Wait!” I objected. He paused to give me a sideways look. “Strange words from a woman that would meet a man in a Guest House for a dalliance.” “I didn’t agree to that.” I said shakily. “Didn’t you?” He dropped his nose to mine. “What did you honestly think would happen? Did you expect any other outcome?” “Yes…” I’d thought I could control this interaction. He’d seemed so pliable a short hour ago. Now he seemed very out of control. Wild with passion and barely hearing my words. Far more prepared to act like an animal prepared to breed. Not with me! *** “No.” I said more assertively. Shoving his shoulders back just as he freed my corset and it dropped around my hips. Freeing my breasts within the bodice so I could draw a deep breath which I currently felt I desperately needed. I brushed curling red bangs back from my face and wiped a bit of sweat from my forehead as I desperately tried to rationalize how I was going to extract myself from this absurd situation. He cast me a withering look. Gazing at me from head to toe derisively. “What did you think would happen out here?” “I thought perhaps we’d talk.” “Do I seem a man suited to talking?” “You did inside.” I argued. Gesturing helplessly as I realized the foolhardiness of my actions. He clucked chidingly in his cheek. “I think I made it very clear what I was after inside. From the moment I wouldn’t provide you my name and I indicated to you I was looking for a less then proper woman who’d not prove so dreadfully dull.” He had said all that. And I had caught the innuendo. How do I provide I did not now? “Let’s save some time, shall we?” He edged closer as he hooked the bodice of my gown with a crooked finger and tugged it open enough, he could peer beneath it. Making me gasp in shock. “I was clear in my invitation, you were clear on the provocation, you came to me. Alone out here, regardless of your reputation, prepared to cast your reputation away in tatters. Now you want to refuse me…But I’m not so easily deterred. You see, I’m a very clever man. And my agenda is never as simple as one would think. And I have very particular designs on you.” He took another step toward me. Putting his nose nearly against my forehead and affording him an even more clear view beneath my gown. Yet I felt nearly so hypnotized I couldn’t move. Everything he said made sense. What have I done? Feeling I had only one recourse, I retreated. Taking a long step backward and clutching my bodice against my chest. “Why?” Why does he want me? He slid a long step after me. Refusing to give up any ground between us. “That is my business and quite none of your affair.” My lip curled in outrage. His rudeness was quite appalling. “But just to ensure my point is clear, let me tell you, you’ve come this far and now if you do not finish what you’ve promised…I’ll be forced to tell those back in the ball about your hearty offer to meet me out here. And how appalled I was to find you alone. Partially clad.” He said the words with such slow precision that they made me cringe. His intent painfully obvious. How he’ll make me look if I refuse him. As if I’m the wanton. 04 A Heartless Threat I’d be ruined! My hands fell to my sides in shock, and he took advantage of the moment to step forward and jerk the shoulders of my dress down to my elbows. Baring my shoulders and breasts to his hungry view. He took in the sight of my golden-brown skin and dark nipples, born down by the weight of the plump bits of flesh. His hands snatched my waist so fast I nearly leapt from my skin. Causing those large breasts to swing like pendulums. And one to brush the back of his hand. Making him growl in his throat. “Now this…Is more as it should be.” He pushed the pile of clothes at my waist down further. Catching the waist of all my undergarments by adjusting his fingers minutely. Clearly an expert at stripping women bare. Slipping my clothes down, revealed the outer width of my ripe hips before it slid down the length of my shapely legs. He leaned down by my feet to make sure the clothes were gathered there. So, everything is visible to his eye. I reflexively crossed my arms over my chest. Hooking my neck on the opposite sides in my palm. Hoping that the shadows of the dim room would hide the curling red hair at the juncture of my sex. He straightened. “Mmmhmm. Look at all that flesh…I’m going to touch you everywhere, Circe. I won’t miss an inch.” *** For whatever reason, his words immediately dampened the spot between my plump thighs. Though my mind still worked frantically for an escape. A way out of this situation before he gets his hands on me! “Now, here.” He caught my hands before I could move. I hissed an indrawn breath at the sudden contact of his large paws enveloping mine. He led my fingertips to the laces of his shirt. He put my hands over them and began plucking at the laces before his hands fell away and he gave me an expectant look. He wants me to undress him. Swallowing hard, I hesitated. Looking frantically around the Guest House but finding no reprieve. No escape. As if reading my thoughts, his face hardened. “There’s no way out now, Little Circe. You’re in too deep. And soon it’ll be my turn…” *** Feeling helpless I unlaced his shirt and guided it open to reveal the flat planes of his upper chest. The thick bones of his collar and the deep muscles which grooved behind it. He rolled his shoulders and shrugged out of it. Tossing it a distance away to land over the armrest of the chair. Something he’s clearly done before. Here? I suddenly wondered how many innocent young women he’d ruined in my Guest House. In-fact who the devil was he? “Who are you?” I blurted. “Ssh.” He put a fingertip to my lips and pressed his toes over mine lightly. As if to keep me in place. “Bit late for that now, isn’t it?” “I did ask for it before.” I defended. Tugging slightly at my slippers but finding I could no longer move away. “And I said no then. What makes you think I’d change my mind now?” Absolutely nothing. I was very sure that this man was precisely as unrelenting as he seemed to be. What I’d thought at first to be amusing charm, I now realized carried an underlying severity. A single-pointed mission to seduce women like me. *** He gave me a long probing look as he methodically unbuckled his belt and let it drop. Next, he caught my wrist and rolled my hand into his palm. Molding the inside of his fingers. Then without blinking, without changing expression, he put it against the front of his breeches. Revealing the iron hard rod concealed there. My brown eyes widened to the size of saucers as I shot him a look. He massaged my hand over it, and I felt the flesh beneath the cloth expanding even further. I knew enough of the act from watching the house maids to fear I’d not be able to fit this particular bit of flesh. “I can’t.” I said urgently. Pleading for him to understand. Staring at me through hooded brown eyes he asked mercilessly, “Why?” “It’ll not fit.” “And how would you know that? More the wanton than I’d first suspected?” He asked. “No!” I defended trying to retreat but instantly realizing he still pinned my slippers where they were beneath the toes of his boots. “Oh?” His brows lifted in interest then. “Pray do tell then…” 05 Betrayal of My Body “I-I once…” I made a gesture of my hand sliding down my body and sent him a pointed look. My cheeks on fire as I prayed I’d not have to say more. “You touched yourself?” He purred. I nodded so clumsily that my hair bobbed around my shoulders. “How very intriguing. And what did you find?” White teeth flashed in the darkness. A predatory grin. “I couldn’t…Two would not…” I lifted two fingers pressed together in a flustered effort to explain. “Perhaps that is only because you knew not what you were doing.” The back of his knuckles trailed over my belly toward the place I’d hinted at. His gaze travelling just ahead of his touch to land at the crux of my thighs. He licked his lips wolfishly. As if he wants to lick me just as fiercely. I shivered at the idea. He nudged my plump thighs apart with his fist enough I had to skid one leg aside in surprise. Staring at him in horror and hoping he was just jesting. When I suddenly felt two of his fingers penetrate into me, my hands shot over his shoulders to cling to him as my knees suddenly felt very untrustworthy. Already beginning to sway forward and back in imitation of how his hand moved between my legs. His fingers edging deeper into me. And soaking into my dampness. I made a choking sound as my fingers dug into the top of his shoulders. “Don’t worry, Little Circe.” He murmured. Moving his fingers more aggressively into me. Until my entire pelvis was being jerked toward him and then back. Like some primal offering. “Soon it’ll be far more than that, I’ll have stuffed in you.” He chuckled darkly. *** I thought temporarily about fleeing the Guest House into the rain screaming for help. That would surely have me compromised irreparably. I thought about shouting my head off for my sister. But there’s no guarantee she’ll be the one to come running. “What are you thinking?” He caught my chin in the fingertips of his free hand. Still working the other ones so far into me that I could feel the other knuckles pressing the tiny nub outside my entrance. Making me gasp at the rubbing touch. “N-nothing…” “A way out of this?” He gave a lopsided smile. “There isn’t one. Not without shredding your reputation which will land you in my bed anyway.” “How could you possibly be so arrogant as to think that?” “A ruined woman must make money somehow.” He shrugged. Still not stopping his pace which was making my fingernails bite into the bare tops of his shoulders and my toes curl within my slippers. Even beneath his boots. “Most gentleman won’t welcome a ruined lady into their bed. Preferring widows and mistresses. There’s a good possibility I’d be the only one that’d have you then.” He thrust against his hand. Meeting my bare thighs with his clothed ones. “To have my way with you for endless hours. Bent over every piece of furniture in my town home.” He growled in pleasure at the thought. “You’re an animal!” I accused. “As are you, Circe.” He grinned. “A wet little animal with a pussy ready to lick my cock.” I yelped. Stunned at his shocking words and he took the moment to drop his mouth over mine and swallow the sound as his tongue intruded into my mouth so determinedly that I was certain he was going to enter my core just as ferociously. I’d be torn. *** Even as I was thinking it, rivers of tension poured through me. Yanking at my muscles and pulling them taut like the strings on a violin. Making every inch of my body tighten and then relax in a strange singing tune. My voice was emerging in a sound that I didn’t recognize. A long, drawn-out, moan which seemed to go on forever and seemed far too low to be my voice. Not as I know it. “Good Girl.” He praised. “Now to do that on my cock while I’m sucked balls deep in your little hole.” “Damn you!” I swore at him. “This is not how a man talks to a lady.” “You’re not a lady now. You’re a ruined woman whose tasty little pussy is going milk my cock while I pound you like the little seductress you are. A woman has to realize there’s consequences for behaving as a wanton.” I could hear a triumphant note in his voice. “Especially an engaged one.” That’s why he’s doing this? Some vengeance against Lord Byron. I’m a conquest to send him tainted property. “H-how’d you know?” I asked. Chewing my lip. “I overheard you and your sister.” He said acidly. “Everyone did. I’m sure. And your blatant disregard. It’s clear you wanted a man to ruin you for your affianced. One to stick you so good, he won’t be able to repair the damage done.” “Damage?” I squeaked. He chuckled evilly. “Now take off my pants, Wench.” 06 Hazards of His Pleasure I didn’t want to obey him. I wanted to spit in his face. But he has the power to ruin me now. It occurred to me that if he wandered out the door and shouted as I’d considered doing, he was right. I’d be perilously destroyed for any man but those so unsavory they’d offer a broken lady a bit of coin for a good toss in the sheets. I don’t want to be that. I wouldn’t know the first thing about it. I shifted nervously. He caught my hands and slapped them over the laces on his breeches. I immediately registered that there was that firm bit of flesh prodding the inside of one of my palms again. His hardness. I squeaked. “Yes.” He crooned. Trailing fingertips on both sides from my collarbone down over my shoulders and over my upper arms to the back of my hands. Almost as if he were going to take my hands in his. But he didn’t. “I’ll soon be hearing more of that.” Growing impatient he plucked the laces himself and hooked my thumbs beneath his waistband. I was startled at the stunning heat of his skin. Feeling the sharpness of his hip bones. He snatched my wrists so abruptly that I jumped. Wincing in terror. His gaze roved my face assessingly and then he pushed my wrists down. Forcing my hands to remove his breeches over a length of muscled, furred thighs. Making me lean over to follow them. And sending his member nearly springing over the top of them to brush my lips. “Ahh.” He rumbled. Flexing his buttocks and pressing his staff tighter against my large, rouged lips. What had I been thinking? I should’ve done without the makeup. Without the sordid thoughts of escaping an unwanted engagement. Had I just been a dutiful daughter I wouldn’t be here now with a strange man pressing his rod against my lips. Massaging it along my mouth and brushing aside my nose. “I could take your mouth.” One of his hands left my wrist to scoop the back of my head. Pushing it against him. Startled, I angled my head away which made my chin press him against his pelvis. He groaned in pleasure at the sensation. “I could fuck your face. Well and truly teach you the ways of the wanton.” “I’m no wanton!” “Aren’t you?” He lifted his fingers and rubbed them together to show me the bit of moisture still lingering on them from when he’d had them inside me. And my pleasure had soaked them. I winced. Blushing furiously and refusing to look at him or the large cock he had in my face. One brow was lifted over those nearly black eyes, as he watched me. Turning my head slightly to make my mouth and chin rub along his length. “I could throw you to the floor and take you here. Pound your mouth until I spill into your throat.” *** “No!” I shoved his pants to the floor and retreated several steps. Desperately needing distance between he and I before he did just that. “You’re right.” He smirked. “That’s not at all where I want to be when I attain my pleasure. I want to be in the nest of your body and feel all that bountiful flesh when I possess you.” “Possess me?” My voice rose. “Well and truly.” He gave a lopsided grin. “Destroy you wholly for your precious fiancé.” “He’s not precious!” I spat. So furious I felt the need to attack someone, and the unknown man currently seemed the safest bet. “Isn’t he?” “Some old Sot with plenty of money, that my father favors.” “Is he now?” Rogue grinned. Dark eyes dancing behind his white and black mask. *** It dawned on me now that we both still wore our masks. Though he’d wasted no time in stripping me bare and then forcing me to undress him, he’d not bothered to remove my mask. Unwilling to, or not curious enough to know what my face looked like. It’s not my face that matters. I registered. He caught my arms and yanked me forward until my breasts were pinned against his chest. He kissed me again. His tongue lathing into my mouth, tasting every crevice. He tossed my arms aside and reached behind me to cup my buttocks and yank my pelvis against him. Pinioning his staff between he and I. Which seemed to make him even harder. He lifted my arms by my head and turned me quickly to pull me against him. Matching my length along the front of him. Lifting his foot made mine, lift. His step guiding mine. He took me over to the chair where he’d been sitting when I’d arrived. Turning me before him, so I faced the fire over the low chairback. “What are you doing?” I asked anxiously. Unable to see him behind me but feeling that he’d paused. His hands framing my waist and his gaze lingering on my shoulder blades as he considered the ways he wanted to take me. “Whatever I want to.” He purred into the crook of my throat and shoulder. His hands rising over my belly to take the weight of my breasts. Lifting and massaging them rhythmically, while he pressed against my buttocks. 07 Ruined He put a hand between my shoulder blades and tipped me over the upholstered chair. My pelvis against the wide wooden back. “Open your legs for me.” When I hesitated, he nudged the inside of my knees with his. Giving a frustrated screech I obeyed. Slipping my feet further apart. “More.” He directed. I slid them further. “More.” I grunted in aggravation and slid them apart until I was balanced on my toes. The majority of my weight balanced against the chairback. I had to balance myself by gripping the arm rests. Leaving most of my body tipped awkwardly forward. And making me feel extremely vulnerable with him behind me. His skin bare against mine and knowing my hole was open for his inspection. Even as I thought it, I felt him firmly adjusting my buttocks. Rubbing them side to side before pushing them apart to appreciatively inspect what he was about to partake of. Me. *** “Wait!” I blurted. The sudden awkwardness of it striking me. The unbearable vulnerability of knowing that he was going to do things to me I didn’t yet understand. I’d never been naked before a man in the past and he seemed to be letting it extend on forever. Making me feel as though this horrible moment would never end. “Do you know what I’m going to do to you, Circe?” “No.” I whispered. My throat so dry that the word was nearly inaudible. “I’m going to take this.” He gripped his cock and bounced it against my ass before holding it solidly and rolling it along the inside of one cheek then the other. He rubbed the tip of himself against my asshole a moment. I gasped and tensed. My legs flexing and my buttocks tightening in his grip. “Should I?” He leaned down to hover over my back and whisper against the fine tendrils of hair near my ear. “I bet I could just barely slip the tip in, and your ass would suck me right in. Tugging me in further. I could stuff all your holes full and make sure you’re good and broke in for that poor fiancé of yours.” “Don’t.” I whispered. “Please, Rogue.” I knew it wasn’t his name, but I didn’t know what else to call him. To spite me, he angled himself and pressed the tip just enough that the firm ring of my ass began to stretch open. Smoothing as it adjusted to let him through. “No!” I shrieked. Lurching up. Laughing, he shoved me back down. “I’m only teasing you, Seductress. Get back down. Bend over and stay open. And keep those feet by the chair legs. I swear if you close me out. Then I will indeed feel that little virgin hole you’re so worried about now.” “I’m worried about them both!” I objected. Nearly sobbing it. “Well, one is as good as mine so best forsake it.” There was humor in his mouth. “Perhaps next time you’ll think better of acting impulsively with rogues you don’t know.” *** I’d already done that. Deciding I’d never again be alone with a man. If I can get out of this engagement, I’ll die a spinster. I vowed it to myself. Damn you. “Ready to feel me?” His words were a deep rumble that made my belly tighten and my grip on the armrests tighten enough that my fingernails dug into the upholstery. “No. No!” But it was too late. He caught a fistful of my hair in one hand and pushed one buttock aside to give him better access. Then his teeth sunk into one of my shoulder blades to distract me from the sudden pain and stretching. I felt the hard tip of him push me open first. Easing between the soft lips and slipping in. Inch by inch. As it reached the delicate barrier which had protected me so long, he slowly pressed forward with his hips. Relentlessly piercing me. His biting teeth breaking skin on my shoulder as he tried to distract me from the pain inside by a bit of pain elsewhere. All I felt was pain. “No!” I shouted. “Get out.” “You’re too late.” He jerked my hair sideways to turn my head, so he faced me. His other hand left my ass to scoop a pointed tit. Feeling the untouched nipple spiking against his palm. “Now this, is what a woman’s body is intended for…” He purred. “Taking the root of a man.” He pushed in again. “Stop it!” I shouted. He laughed. “The hell if you think so. If you were mine, I’d do this until you screamed for mercy every night. You’re lucky you’re not.” 08 Possessed to Exhaustion He was covered in sweat, and I knew I was to. From my body tightening. Then relaxing to accept him more deeply. The sounds he was making were primal. Deep and guttural as he pounded me like a stallion rutting an unwilling mare. In and out. Up and down. Embedding until his sack rubbed against my soft lower lips. Stretching my pussy to an impossible size. Parting me inside so the mushroom shape of his tip could probe the entrance even deeper inside me. The tiny fragments of flesh trying to protect my womb from his intrusion. But he strained deeper and deeper. Pleasured sounds billowing out of him. At one point the exhaustion and constant motion of his thighs slapping the back of mine made one of my feet slip inward, blocking him. He slipped out abruptly and growled in aggravation. Scooping my thigh and shoving it aside. Leaning over to whisper warningly. “I’ll fill your ass, I vow it. Stay out of my way and give me your little hole.” *** What choice did I have? He worked my body harder and harder. His wild rhythm making the chair slam against the floor. Bump. Bump. Bump. My toes ached from being balanced on them, but I didn’t dare let my foot slip again. I already ached inside. Not sure how much more my body could take. “Mmm. Yes…” He swore. “You feel so good. I’ll have more. I’m going to fill you to brimming with my cum. Scream for me, Circe.” I shook my head. Tightening my lips until my mouth whitened. But he hit against me harder. The pressure of the chair pushing the bottom of my stomach and making the intensity of him nearly withdrawing then entering me brutally again so intense I once gave a squawk of objection at the sudden pressure. “Rogue, Please.” “That’s right beg me. Beg me for more.” “I’m so sore…” “You’ll get used to it. Just take it, Sweet Circe. I’m about to fill you.” I hated him in that moment. Hated his gender, hated his kind and was waiting to be done with him. To stalk from his company and never see him again. *** His fist tightened on my small breast. Holding the weight of it as it bounced against his hands. He gripped me from both ends. Thrusting into my hole and clutching my breast. Unrelenting. I was exhausted. “Please. Just finish with me. I just want to go home.” “You’ll be home soon enough.” This time there was nearly compassion in his voice as firelight danced over my bare back and the sheen of sweat shining along my skin. “Come.” He reared away from me, pulling his rod out. I blew a relieved breath at the reprieve. Feeling swollen and stiff inside. He caught my arm and pulled me around the front of the chair. What’s this? What’s he doing now? He shoved be back into the chair. The seat catching my knees and making me fold back until I was seated in it. Then he viciously yanked my legs up and pulled my ass down to the edge of the seat while he knelt between my legs. Positioning himself just over my entrance. He lifted my legs and crossed them at the ankles along one of his shoulders. Crossing a forearm over them to keep them in place. My feet propped next to his ear. With his other hand he pulled me down until my ass hung just off the edge of the seat. Lowered, so when he entered me the weight of my own body seated me firmly atop him. Planting him deeply into my core. Without preamble, he entered me roughly. Grunting in satisfaction. I screeched at the sudden intensity. The pain of the soreness rushing back as he filled me again. Stretching my body which was so unaccustomed to such use. 09 Finished with Me There was such unbearable intimacy in him hovered over me. Watching my face as he entered me and pulled out before pounding back in again. His skin nestled so close against mine. Even with this being my first time, I was certain that somehow, he was trying to punish me for some unknown crime. Something I did. Some affront I hadn’t known I committed. This was a man punishing a woman in the most primal of ways. Though my brain worked fervently, I couldn’t determine what I’d done and didn’t want to ask. Sensing it would only make him work harder into me. His brown eyes stared down at me from behind his mask. Roving over my breasts and the plane of my belly. His other hand massaging my legs as though he couldn’t get enough of touching them. Greedily wanting to put his hands all over my skin. And I want to take it all away from him. I thought resentfully. Glaring at him as I tried to conceive ways to make him pay. Though my body was sore, and I knew if I wanted to save my reputation, I’d had no choice but to ruin it, to let him have me. “You’re utterly despicable.” I spat up at him. “You’ve no idea, Sweetheart.” He grinned. His browned skin shining in the dancing firelight. His hips working in long strokes. Trying to penetrate me more deeply than he had yet. I felt my ass cheeks biting between his weight and the wooden seat. I’d have bruises tomorrow. “Do you feel that?” He slowed down. “Every inch of me, filling your hole.” He eased back in until he was pressed tight against my soft lower lips. “Stretching you. Heating you. Slicking you inside.” As much as what he was doing disgusted me. I felt my stomach tightening. Felt the place he was poking so fiercely begin to tense and then whirl with pleasure. My body was awash with pleasure and then I felt a flood of heat pour over me. And my back arched, my neck stretched. My walls tightened around him. Sending pulsing surges of pleasure over us both. And just like he’d told me I would, I screamed. A broken echoing sound that reverberated through the empty Guest House. Evidence of my wild pleasure. *** Amidst my screaming he attained his pleasure simultaneously. Flexing hard into me. Bruising my buttocks with his punishing thighs. Clutching my legs to his chest so hard I’d have fingerprints embedded in my skin tomorrow. He arched his back and his ass tightened as his pleasure began deep within his balls and seeped upward until he poured cum deep into the seat of my flesh. Filling my core with his pleasure at the same moment I soaked his cock with my fluids. Evidence that he’d pleasured me despite my loathing and disgust. And the fact that he’s blackmailing me to have me. I’d never have guessed that I’d let a man inside me based on the threat of mere words. But threatening a woman’s reputation is far more dangerous than mere words. It could put me in the workhouse or make me have to service on the streets. I couldn’t do it. Fear wound through me, and my hands worked into white-knuckled fists. Wanting to hit him for what he’d just done to me. Both forcing me and for shattering my pride by making me love what he did to me. *** “My God.” I panted. Relieved it was over. Shocked by my response and confused by the newness of what I’d just experienced with him. “I’ve been called worse.” He chuckled. Letting my legs go. My hips ached so I immediately swung them aside and dropped them to surround each of his hips. Eying him nervously as I worried, he’d want back inside me again. He rose and offered me his hand. I slapped mine into it. Taking it hatefully as he tugged me onto my feet. My legs wobbled slightly and when I would’ve lost my balance, he caught me against his chest. “Steady now. No acting as a foal on her first day.” I glared at him. The irony in that statement was not lost in me. He grinned mirthfully. Seeming quite proud of his joke. It had been my first day. I’d never been ridden before. 10 The Truth “I hope you’re quite pleased with yourself.” I said disdainfully. Ripping my hand from his grip. “I’m quite pleased with both of us.” He was grinning cockily like the cad he was. The despicable rogue. “Now,” He leaned over to sweep up my underskirt and tossed it at me. “Let’s get you dressed and back to your little ball. Wouldn’t want you to miss out on your meeting tonight would we.” I hated that he’d eavesdropped on Sarah and my conversation. I was even more determined than ever to escape the withered old man my father had affianced me to. What happened to me tonight will never happen to me again. And now I understood how men thought. I remembered what Rogue had said to me. That if I were his he’d never stop doing to me what he had tonight. Punishing me. *** In only a short time we were both dressed. I hated that I needed his help getting back into my corset and adjusting my skirts. But he laughingly helped. Seeming quite amused by my urgency. My desperation to get away from him. He opened the door for me. I poked my head out and looked furtively around before stepping out. He was at my side, his black and white overcoat draped over his forearm. His white shirt on but he’d not even bothered to lace his shirt. Letting it dangle open to reveal the hard lines of his chest. He glanced at all the windows. “Do you suppose someone watched us? Standing behind the bushes?” I shot him a horrified glare. “Could you imagine?” He smirked. “If your poor sister was out there watching me pound you while you were bent over the chair.” He nodded back toward the Guest House. “Or if she saw you folded over the seat while I made you scream in pleasure. Wouldn’t she have been quaking with fear to hear it?” I shuddered at the memory. Awash with humiliation. “So, My Dear.” He caught my hand. “What did we learn tonight?” *** “You’re the most horrible wretch and I will do anything within my power to never have to tolerate your presence again!” He grinned. Eyes dancing behind his mask. “Charming.” “You’ve no idea.” My lip curled. “I’ll find a way one day, to destroy you.” “You think it’ll be so easy?” “I do. I loathe you.” I wrenched my hand from his grip and stalked back to the ballroom. “Perhaps you’ll find it harder than you expect.” He called laughingly after me as I did my damnedest to ignore him. Storming across the ballroom to find my big sister. “Sarah!” I called to her. Torn between wanting to instantly confess to what’d happened and to simply beg her to get me out of the ball. “Kylie!” She caught my hand. “Papa has been waiting for you. It’s nearly midnight! Time to meet Lord Byron.” Just then the clock tolled. “I don’t give two shits about the old man!” I snapped. “I-” “Old?” Sarah tossed me a sharp look. “What are you talking about.” She pulled me along behind her until we reached papa’s side. I eyed them all hatefully. “There you are!” He hugged me quickly. “Lord Byron!” He welcomed a man over to us I didn’t know. I barely spared the man a glance. Staring at the floor and annoyed at my sister’s sideways hug. She’s keeping me from fleeing. I knew it. I could feel it in the tenseness of her arms. “Lovely to meet you, Miss Drake.” He man lowered over my hand. I tossed him several short looks and yanked my hand away impatiently. Barely noticing that he was tall but sloppily dressed. His white shirt barely laced… I sent him another stunned look and my gaze lingered. No… *** His dark eyes danced merrily. “I’m so dearly looking forward to you being my wife.” He said in a deep familiar rumble. Lifting a black and white mask to set over his nose. “No!” I shrieked. Struggling wildly against my sister’s grip. “I told you.” He walked by and leaned to whisper. “I’m a very clever man who had designs on you. I wanted you from the moment I saw you. For mine. To have when I wish. And I saw your fighting spirit and knew you’d try to escape me. So, I engineered a lover for you…” He grinned. “One you could never escape.” “You unbelievable…” “Fiancé…” He supplied with a triumphant look.

SUMMARY I met The King. Didn’t mean I liked him. Sure, he may’ve saved me from a runaway horse, but at what cost? And he was fine enough to look on, but I wasn’t one easily seduced. His quick wit was titillating but the last thing I was about to do was to surrender to some king to become his carefully controlled queen. Not when I had so much living left to do... Though my father was determined to wed me off, I certainly wasn’t willing. 01 Confrontation First Thing Gray was not my favorite mare. She was high strung and irritable. But I’d been in the mood for a challenge this morning. Probably feeling much the same nature as her. That’s why I’d picked her for the stableboy to saddle. I’d gracefully mounted her high back despite my green riding habit with large gold buttons. I was agile enough to take my seat without assistance. After all I’d been riding as long as I could grasp mane. But this morning was fated to not go as I expected. I had guided Gray down my usual trail through the sparse trees in the chilly morning air. Giving her heel once her hooves found the path. I reflexively ducked the branches I knew blocked the path. Letting my fevered mind wander. My father was worrying me. As of late, he’d been pressing harder and harder for me to take a husband. Just this morning, before the sun had even fully risen, we’d had a fight about just such. “You have to marry! I cannot live forever.” “I suggest you do.” I’d said haughtily. “Girl…” He’d warned. “I should wed you to the stable hand to be rid of you.” “Jack does have more deportment than most of the suitors you allow to come call.” “Ridiculous! They’re princes! Royalty! You should be treating them with due respect.” “When I meet one worthy of it, I’ll surely display it.” I hissed back. Jutting my chin determinedly. “You’re the most deplorable girl in human history.” “Seems a bit of an exaggeration.” I snorted. Father eyed me askance. Saying dryly. “Not by much.” I shot him a quelling look. “If you’ve merely come to insult me, leave me be so I can get ready for my morning ride.” “How about I sell every horse in the stable!” He challenged. Furious at my dismissive attitude. “Then who would pull your carriage?” I laced my high boots. “You. Seems an appropriate duty for an old nag.” I gasped and gave him an appalled look. “Now I have your attention.” He said snidely. His nose twitching above his bushy white mustache. “That is most certainly what you’ll be if you continue refusing every suitor which asks for your hand.” “You should take it as a compliment.” I set my booted feet flat and faced him. “That I’d rather be here taking care of you.” I gave his long white beard an affectionate tug. Despite his efforts to be severe a smile twitched about his lips. I knew that the small gesture reminded him of his affection for me. Since I’d been tugging his beard since I was tiny enough to first grab it. “You’re not charming.” “I’m aware.” I walked past him. Fluttering a dismissive hand. “You’re malcontented and wicked-natured.” “As you’ve said.” I called over my shoulder. He began furiously muttering about how it was fact. But I caught the banister and rushed down the stairs. In no mood to have a fight with him. *** I heard a quick step behind me and knew immediately it was Tommy. My little brother skipped to keep up with me. “Is it necessary to sour his mood first thing in the morning.” “It was already sour, or he’d not have been hassling me first thing.” “Fair point.” He acknowledged. “But why not just tell him the real reason you won’t go.” I stopped to turn to him. “Because he’d merely insist harder that I go.” I put a hand on my hip. Challenging Tommy to argue with me. “A fact which you’re well aware.” I resumed my quick pace downstairs, but Tommy was in a rarely persistent mood. “You can’t take care of us forever you know.” He whispered. “Who else could I trust to do it right?” I paused again to twist. Giving him a severe look. “Anyone!” He tossed his hands. “Literally anyone would do it for Da’s coin.” “Not good enough.” I harrumphed. Heading out to the stables. Tommy shook his head. “You really are impossible.” “As he said.” I gestured upstairs and kept walking. “Well, it’s true!” He called after me. 02 My Morning Ride I kicked Gray to get her gallop to speed. She neighed, shaking her head in objection. Though she did comply. It was only a few long trots before she glimpsed something slithering from the underbrush and lost her mind. She reared up. I leaned forward to maintain my seat and released the rein to clutch her mane. Knowing it’d hold me steadier. Gray took off like a streak of lightning. I swung my leg over her rear to move from side saddle to astride to stay my seat. I heard thundering hoofbeats closing in behind me and caught the movement of a man in my peripheral riding a huge black stallion. He rode just ahead of me and then swung the stallion sideways across Gray’s path. She reared and shrieked in a high shrill objection to the massive obstacle. Rounding ninety degrees and taking several long steps before coming to a jarring stop at the edge of a crystalline lake. I gripped her mane and balanced my weight to keep from being tossed over her head at the sudden stop. Catching around her sides with my legs and holding on. I whooshed a relieved breath as I slumped back into the saddle. Watching the beast beneath me warily as she stood on the bank, heaving as she decided what to do. She neighed, shook her head and pawed the ground but then the tension winding through her seemed to ease and I realized our mad flight was over. I twisted in the saddle to confront the man that’d nearly had me careening into the lake. *** I realized instantly how striking he was. Shining dark brown hair was smoothed back in swaying waves from his forehead and down just over the high collar of his tunic. Matching in darkness, the lengthy beard which ran in smooth waves over his chin and to his upper chest. Framing his mouth in the same dark color. He had fine brows which were lifted slightly in surprise. A short straight nose and a straight jaw. Interesting enough features. He wore a burgundy and silver tunic with a silver pendant dangling over it and depicting a shining sun. Several large rings marked the fingers of his slim hands. One resting along the top of his thigh. The other lightly guiding his mount’s rein. Royalty. That knowledge only made my annoyance rise. Though not as well-groomed as the usual. His hair and beard were unfashionably long compared to her usual clean-cut suitors. “Are you here to court me?” I asked harshly as I dismounted from Gray to catch my breath and steady my feet and to get the hell off her, in case she lost her mind again in the next five seconds. “Since I’ve not the faintest idea who ‘me’ is, it’s unlikely. I’m out here for my morning ride.” He looked at me unblinkingly. Amber eyes burning into me. His haughty tone rivalled mine. Even I could acknowledge that. He’s trying to put me in my place. “Then feel free to go. Enjoy the rest of your ride. See if you can find some other maid to attempt to kill.” He looked slowly one direction then the other. “I see no other so careless in these woods. Just you I fear.” Fear…Good word. He should fear me. “What exactly was your motivation of entering the path?” “To slow your wild run.” He said flatly. “Toward the pond?” I quirked a brow as I peered at him over Gray’s back. Checking the stays on Gray’s saddle and rein, absentmindedly. “Figured it was an ideal direction.” “Ideal! I could’ve been killed.” “How do you figure?” He straightened in curiosity. How could he not see the clear ramifications that could’ve resulted? Was he dense? *** “What in the Devil are you doing?” I shouted at him. Panting between words as I huffed air. “Saving your neck.” “And what if she’d thrown me just then?” “If you were going to lose your seat, you’d have done it back there when she first saw the snake.” He was behind me then? Watching me? “How could interfering in the trail have possibly seemed a good idea?” “She was either going to stop or jump in. Either way it’d have slowed her headlong pace.” “And what of me. What if I’d been tossed in the water with her?” He blinked at me. “Then I’d have gone in after.” I grimaced. Rolling my eyes Heavenward. “How dreadfully droll.” “Indeed. It would’ve been. I’m rather glad your steed had more sense than that.” “Most females do.” “But men do not?” He challenged immediately. I hopped back atop Gray. Not bothering with being side saddle again. Who knows what she’ll do on the way back? “It hasn’t been my experience.” “And how much has that been?” There was a long note in his voice as though he were asking me a more intimate question. I’m not answering that. Especially when it was framed as a pseudo-insult. I tipped my head down and narrowed my eyes to give him a properly scathing look. “I suppose you’d had some girlish fantasy of a hero riding alongside you and slipping you from your runaway mount to kiss your lush red mouth and tell you of your remarkable beauty.” I snorted. “Not in the least. I was hoping to gain control of her after she ran a moment.” “Before or after you broke your neck.” “Before I became irritated…” I emphasized. Hoping he’d catch the hint that he was irritating me. Rounding Gray, I headed back toward the Mane Country Citadel. Home. “You’re welcome.” He called behind me. An annoyed note entering his voice. Good. I preferred when would-be suitors were immediately annoyed. It tended to dissuade them from idiotic proposals. *** I was annoyed I was still thinking of the would-be rescuer as my maid ready me for tonight’s ball. A suitors ball. There’s nothing I’d desire to attend less… My maid expertly worked tiny bits into my hair as she wound it across each other. I watched her in the mirror, my mind wandering. She spritzed me with a bit of fragrance from the Dressing Table before me. I didn’t even know which it was. The rose water perhaps? I didn’t particularly care. I was busy trying to banish amber eyes and a pleasantly quick wit from my mind. Hoping he’d not be here tonight. Or am I? I suppressed what I suspected might be the hint of anticipation that I might see him again tonight. 03 A Suitor's Ball I groaned at the sight of the men milling at the bottom of the stairs. “So many of them.” “Come, Your Highness.” Rita was tugging on my arm. “Inspect your prey, at least.” She wasn’t entirely wrong. We both knew that was how I viewed them all. They thought they were here hunting me. But at the end of the day, it would be I that destroyed them. “Please don’t be dreadful.” “But it’s what I’m best at.” “Indeed. Still…Please. I’m next to you. And I’d rather not be associated with your venom.” I groaned dramatically. “If I must.” I lifted my mask and held it against my face. Hoping it’d help me not be recognized. A rather foolhardy thought indeed. Especially since I was wearing a red dress. The color of royalty. Hemmed in gold embroidery at the collar and the bottom of my flowing skirt. Perfectly complimenting my knee-length raven-black hair. Which was currently plaited with tiny pearls which glistened in the dim candlelight. I supposed Rita was right and it enhanced my strangely exotic features. My mother had come across the sea and I was told that I looked much like her, instead of my fairer father. I’d always taken that as a compliment because she was both clever and stunning. But those compliments had faded with her passing. When father began trying to sell me off… And when he started getting sick. I dismissed those morose thoughts and reached the bottom of the steps. Instantly swarmed by mask clad men. *** But as they all hastily introduced themselves and began scribbling on the dance card dangling from my wrist. I tugged my hand away. Aggravated at their pulling and tugging. I turned to spot the punch table. Wanting to get some refreshment to escape the cloy of voices surrounding me. Like it always does. I wanted a moment to myself. They’ll be dreadfully hard to obtain the rest of the night. As I was scanning the room, I spotted one man standing in shadow near the punch table. His white mask stark against his dark features. And the silken dark beard from his chin, making clear who he was. My gaze narrowed on him, and I gave him a dispassionate look as I stalked over to get myself a drink. *** As I headed for it, he leisurely reached over and filled a glass. Swirling it thoughtfully as he watched my approach like a Hawk observing a mouse. I’m not your mouse. He offered me the glass when I drew close. I rebuffed it to fill my own. Jutting my chin in a way that told him I was refusing. “Hunting again, are we?” I asked sideways. “Some of the best hunters stage near the drink and wait for the prey to come to them.” I looked at the punch in my hand then to him. Realizing what he’d just said. “Do they now?” There was a distinctly unwelcoming note in my voice. As I intended. “Indeed.” He had on arm draped across his stomach and tucked under the far elbow. He sipped from the punch glass boredly. His ankles crossed as he leaned against the wall. Looking utterly at home. “Ah, best feign some interest quick, My Dear. As the hornets are headed this way. Hoping to sting you.” Sting? I gave him a questioning look. My brows rising as I realized what he’d meant. Wanting to pierce me. Before I took the time to respond, I furtively looked over my shoulder to see what he did. One of the men saw me lingering at the table talking to the man and began to beeline over. I glimpsed him from the corner of my eye, knowing the rest would follow. Unwilling to be left behind in their little competition. One, none of them will win. *** I swung around the corner of the table. He unfolded from the wall, looking not the least surprised. But intently welcoming, as he opened his arms to me. I didn’t hesitate. Standing far too close to him and peering up at him. Batting my eyes adoringly. His arm quickly slung around to caress my side in a highly intimate gesture. Indicating familiarity, we didn’t have. I giggled up at him as if he’d just said something tremendously amusing. Enhancing the look of us appearing quite intent on each other. His gaze skimmed from one of my green eyes to the other, before sliding down to my rose lips. The hint of a dimple framed one corner of his mouth. As though amused by my antics. There were several disappointed groans and reassuring pats on each other’s shoulders as the men behind me, reluctantly scattered. I felt the slight caressing of his thumb along my rib cage. Sending warm thrills through me. Something I’d never have admitted aloud. “Well-played.” He remarked. “They’ve gone. Though I suggest remaining as you are to keep them at bay awhile.” “I’m certain you do.” I cleared my throat and moved away a bit. He reluctantly let me break his grip on me. *** He took another sip from his glass. “What think you of a dance to seal their suspicions.” “Only a dance?” I asked suspiciously. “Oh, My Dear…You couldn’t handle any more than that.” My brows shot up in surprise at his husky tone. My instinctive response was to argue but I suspected that was what he was hoping to bait me into. To tempt me. “You view yourself as quite special, don’t you?” I said a bit harshly. “Oh, I know I’m different from your lads there.” He nodded over my shoulder. I set my drink down on the edge of the table. “How could you possibly be any different?” “Sweetheart, those there, are boys. What you see before you, is all man.” He lifted his arms out to display himself. Rising off the wall to give a slow turn. I took advantage of his preening to inspect the frame he was displaying. I could admit there were many things different about him from my typical suitor. From his hard-muscled frame to his confidant stance. Most of the kings and princes were delicate. Delicate hands, delicate bites, delicate steps. Frilled clothes. This man had no interest in such extravagance. He’s right. There’s nothing boyish about him. 04 One Dance “One dance.” I lifted a finger to emphasize the point. “And it does not mean I accept your suit.” He gave a sideways head tilt in slight acknowledgement. I spun around to walk away but he caught my elbow. “Where to, so fast?” “To try to evade their cloying hands.” “Then come to mine and let’s have our dance.” I lifted my wrist. “My dance card…” “What would they say?” He challenged. “They could call you out.” I lifted a brow. Knowing that them doing so would be perfectly acceptable for such a slight. “Let them.” “Bold one, aren’t you?” “You’ve no idea…” He caught my elbow and led me to the floor. His grip on my arm sending little swirls of heat coursing through me. *** We danced. We talked. He was dry. Sarcastic. Bold and by far the most interesting man I’d ever met. “Tell me your no royalty.” “I am indeed.” He shrugged. Knowing I’d be disappointed. “Tell me you’ve not come to wed me.” “You do possess a lot of land you stand to inherit.” I gave him a bored look. “Would you prefer it, if I told you I was here to ravish you?” He pointed out. “Yes, actually. That’d be different…Slightly interesting in its uniqueness, at least.” I said stupidly as I looked around. Having lost interest because I now knew he was feigning the same interest every one of my suitors was willing to exhibit to get to my inheritance. He leaned forward to whisper just above my ear, into my hair. “I’m quite willing to ravish you, should I get you alone for but a short time.” I reared back. Stunned at his statement. Outraged, insulted, and…intrigued. I turned my head sideways to give him a suspicious look. “Look hard, Sweetheart. See if I won’t do it.” But there was no flicker on his face. No hint of fear at the prospect. I realized it. The same moment he said it. “I absolutely will.” *** I suddenly had the deep desire to call him out. To lead him to his own fate and see if he’d take action or realize his mistake and retreat. He could be banished, called out, even executed for defiling the King’s daughter. I caught his hand and hid it behind my back as I led him through the milling crowd and across the Ballroom. People turned to stare at us but quickly looked away when I cast them withering glances. Afraid of getting one of my scathing putdowns. Soon I had freed both this man and I from the crowd. Only then did it dawn on me that I didn’t even know his name. “Who are you?” I asked just outside the doorway. “Kellen Illius, King of the Paladines.” I opened my mouth to make a quick remark but paused and my eyes flew back to his face. I’d heard the name. Knew of him. He was renowned throughout the lands as being remarkably striking. Powerful and fearless. And from everything I’ve seen so far, he quite lives up to that. “Are you going to ask my name?” I asked. Hoping he wouldn’t. His lips turned down in a mouth shrug and he shook his head. “I’d rather know what you’d have me call you.” I looked at him in astonishment. Surprised that he was willing to let me guide this game. Tell him where to go, what to call me, and how I wanted him to behave. I rather liked that there was no fight for control. No battle of wills. He’s conceded before we began. I like it. 05 A Little Ravishment I looked around the foyer and saw it was absent of servants as they were readying the banquet that would be held in a few hours before the dancing resumed. Perfect. I guided him up the stairs and quickly verified the hall was clear. Boldly taking him to my chamber. Where he’d be tried for defiling me, if he was found even entering it. I let go of his hand and stepped inside. Turning to face him. Expecting that here was where any of his bluffing would end. “Well?” I quirked a raven brow and gestured for him to come in. My green eyes flashing with mirth as I waited for him to proclaim this was nonsense and I was crazy and quickly leave. Never to be heard from or thought of again… I hoped. For I’d already thought of him far too much as it was. He bowed. “As you wish.” Taking a long step across the threshold and putting his palm to the door to push it closed. I backed up. “If you’re caught here…” “I’m well aware.” He dismissed. Tracing my steps with long sliding ones. “Are you going to keep running from me or prove as daring as you’d have had me believe.” “I…” I looked beyond him to the door. Realizing I had gone too far. I’m in over my head. *** My gaze slid back to him. Seeing his warm amber eyes looking impossibly deep. Then he did the unthinkable. He closed the gap between us and swept a hand along my jaw and underneath my hair to the back of my head. Holding me still as his lips lowered to ravage mine. Coaxing against them until I parted them to catch my breath. Then his tongue delved expertly in my mouth. Tasting me more deeply than anyone ever had. I need to stop. I took a step back, but he hung onto me. Keeping my mouth to his as he ravished it. He caught my hip and took another sliding step forward to straighten me and mold his body to mine. I tried to object but he swallowed the sound, and his grip grew firmer. Pulling me closer. That hand skid around the curve of my hip to scoop my ass from over my dress. Dragging me against him. I broke the kiss to stare up at him. “What are you doing?” “Having my way with you…I did warn you.” “And if I say no?” I was trying to gather my thoughts which now seemed like trying to find pebbles in mud. “Then I’ll kiss you until you submit.” “And if I don’t?” I hitched my chin. He smiled down at me. “Ah, Sweetheart…You will.” *** He was kissing me again. Nearly brutal. My hands found his beard, catching it between my palms and learning the feel of its strange smoothness. He pulled back. “Like it?” “It’s quite soft.” “Indeed. Most women hate it.” “I like it.” He quirked his lips in a half smile and refused to be distracted any further. Returning his focus to being attentive to my mouth. Stealing my breath. I don’t even know when he’d began walking me. I didn’t realize we were moving until my back bumped into the wall. I leapt forward with a small, muffled noise. He growled in approval since that small movement had my breasts smashing against his chest and nearly spilling over the low neckline of my gown. Something he too must’ve noticed, for suddenly his hand was delving beneath it to stroke my breast. His thumb rolling over my budding nipple with vast expertise. He was kissing me in such a way, I found it hard to catch air. I was getting dizzy and all thoughts of stopping him were getting progressively more jumbled. I wanted his touch. Wanted my clothes off. And his clothes off. I wanted to feel his body. He pushed away from me. Taking two steps back. “Woman, if you want me to stop, you better say so now, or toss up that skirt and let me have you.” He was leaned forward like a predator about to strike. Warning clearly written all over him as if the devil possessed him. But I want to dance with the devil… 06 Battle of Wills I hesitated a moment too long. And it was enough for him. “Get that skirt up.” He commanded. Lifting his hand in an impatient gesture. I licked my lips and gave him a long look. Slowly working up my skirt. Seeing that it was going to take a moment as I was gathering courage with each movement, he walked forward and began plucking at the laces on the front of my dress until, with a hiss, it peeled open. Bearing the hollow of my cleavage beyond it. He growled and caught my skirts lifting them to nearly my shoulder, next to me so he could reach with his roving hands to feel the smoothness of my thighs. Caressing first the outside then working toward the inside. Slicking up between them to stroke me with nimble fingers. Lightly brushing over my crease and then dragging one precise finger along the slick slit. Finding me already wet. Ready for him. I stared up at him. Swallowing hard. Wondering what the hell I was doing. The forbidden… The answer came immediately. I made myself a promise that this would change nothing. I won’t go. I won’t accept him beyond this. I want to know what this feels like. *** “Stop.” I said breathlessly. But he didn’t. Massaging me a bit more determinedly. “Stop!” I demanded in a whisper. His gaze narrowed. “I did warn you-” “Take off your clothes.” I cut him off to demand. Both because I wanted to know what he looked like, I’d never seen a naked man, and because I wanted to regain some element of control. He gave a grudging head tilt. Watching my face as he loosened his tunic and pulled it over his head. I noticed this one was burgundy and black, complimenting the dark shade of his hair and beard. His shirt was next. Unlaced and tossed behind him onto the bed. He stepped out of his boots and unlaced his breeches. Lowering them and revealing the thrusting rod which had been straining them. He stepped out of the last of his clothes. “Take a good long look, My Dear.” And I did. Mesmerized by the sight of his hard length. I’d never seen such a thing before and certainly nothing so proud as this one. Long and rigid and wound with powerful veins feeding the beast that’d take me. I took a hesitant step toward the bed. But his slow head shake stopped me. “Na-uh.” I gave him a questioning look. “Is it not typically done on a bed?” I knew perilously little about the act, but from what I’d always understood. The bed was the appropriate location. “Not for me. Not for one as unique as you.” “Meaning?” “It is your first time, and mine with you. I want to feel every inch of you. And know each of your tiniest responses. So, I want you here.” He pointed near his feet. “On the floor.” “Why!” “Because there’s no give, no sink, no rattle…No way to escape me. You’ll be mine as I am yours for this time.” I swallowed at the intensity of his words. *** He gave me no time to think. Walking over to slide my dress over my shoulders and guiding it methodically down my body. Stroking me everywhere that was revealed. Caressing each mound, following each curve as if idolizing my flesh. My legs were shaking. I flexed my hands, realizing that my palms were sweating as I stood naked before him. Having let him strip me bare. He reached and lifted my face with a knuckle under my chin. “Mmm…hmm.” He murmured thoughtfully. “I want you, Girl. Now.” He pointed to the floor. I swallowed convulsively and began lowering. He stopped me to shake out my dress and lay it beneath me. Creating a soft padding under my back. I instinctively covered my breasts with my palms and drew my knees up. Trying to be subtle in my efforts to hide myself from his permeating gaze. I’d never in my life felt so vulnerable, as I did laid out before him now. Like a meal he was preparing to partake of. I looked away from him up to the ceiling. Feeling his gaze still burning over my flesh as if he were touching me. He stretched out over me. His body suddenly everywhere. Touching every part of me. My eyes widened at the overwhelming sensation of being pinned to the floor. At the feel of his hard body and the unrelenting floor beneath me. At everything… *** He reached between us to stroke me more thoroughly with his agile fingers. One flicking the nub peaking my crease and the other doing short quick rubs along my crease. Ensuring I was still moist and receptive. Then he slid a finger into me. It was the most shocking, intrusive feeling I’d ever experienced. Suddenly stretching in places, I was barely aware of. He twirled that finger and my back arched up against him. Pressing my belly and breasts to the flat planes of his hard, welcoming body. And soon I felt his hard length jumping along the inside of my thigh. Eager to have at me. I felt the first rush. A sudden little pop in me where everything seemed to soak and twirl. Making me blink blearily and try to gather hazed thoughts. Wondering why I’d appeared to stop thinking entirely. His mouth found me again. Kissing me wildly. Taking utter control of me. Both with his lips and with his fingers. Working my body and stretching me to receive him. “Are you ready?” He pulled back to ask. I hesitated. Opening my mouth and giving my head one shake. He tilted his head chidingly. “Your tight little body says otherwise.” He slid the tip of his staff down the inside of my thigh. Letting it drag over my sensitized flesh and down to my center. He adjusted his hips to probe at my entrance. Sliding up and then down over it until my opening spread to catch him amid his stroking. Sucking in the head of his cock and pulling him in deeper. He quickly followed its lead. Letting my body pull him in. Groaning in my mouth at the feel of my tight walls closing in on him. I squeaked in objection, but he swallowed the sound. Tasting every honeyed corner of my mouth. “You feel like velvet and taste like the sweetest wine. Not sure I’ll be able to get enough in just one night.” 07 Ravishing He abruptly slid the rest of the way in. Burying himself in me to the hilt. I squawked at the sudden bloom of pain as something fragmented inside me. Something tiny and frail gave way. Letting him possess me fully. I arched up as my body immediately tried to retreat from being impaled. But the hardness of the floor had no give and allowed me no reprieve. Keeping him planted inside. Simply changing the angle in which I was perched on his hard staff. He was ruthless in his rhythm. Seeing me writhe beneath him only seemed to excite him more. Each little moan that escaped him was a tiny triumph for him. He rocked his body into mine. Sliding back and up then dropping down to plunge deeper. Dipping into my hot wetness. Slicking his length with my arousal as he took me. Stroke after stroke he took me. Owning my body in a way no one had. Using me to bring him pleasure. But I was somehow stealing the same from him. I felt myself tensing more with every tightening of his body. I caressed the lean muscles of his back. Following it down to grip his hard ass. Awed by the strength there as he flexed in and out of me. Next, I learned the movement and feel of his arms. From corded forearms to rippling biceps and strong shoulders. Every part of him seemed perfectly carved. Like fine statues I’d seen in museums. And watching his jaw tighten and his head throw back as he occasionally felt me inadvertently clench around him. Unwilling to release like a grip clutching him. He was handsome, rigid, a force to be reckoned with. And I was submitting to him like his little plaything. Bringing him pleasure. I felt weak, vulnerable and feminine. Strong in my weakness. He was pushing harder, driving us both towards immense pleasure. As he withdrew his member, nearly pulling fully out before thrusting back in. My body rolled with each strong piercing. Feeling every inch of him and unable to escape it. I was his. *** “Say you’re mine.” He said as if reading my thoughts. “What?” I said angrily. Defiant at the mere idea. He began pressing harder. Entering me more firmly and pressing something tender inside that made me yelp. I held onto his arms. “Please. Easier.” “Easier? Or stop?” He was giving me a hard look. “No!” I lifted my head. Appalled at the idea of stopping in the middle and missing out on whatever might be coming. Another thrill of pleasure like I’d felt when his finger whirled around inside me. “Then give me what I want.” I gave him a penetrating look and realized he was slowing and withdrawing further. He is going to stop. I opened my mouth and stamped down my frustration at my own weakness. “I’m yours.” “Yes.” He groaned. “You are.” He began swinging his hips in a circular motion. Pressing several different sides in me. I clawed at his shoulders in a desperate attempt to regain my shattering control. “Now, come on me, Princess.” “I…” “Do it.” He growled. Swirling faster and jabbing deeper. Until I drew my knees up along his sides, pinching his ribs between them as I clung to him. Reaching back to cup his ass and enjoying the feel of him rolling into me. The power of his body mounting mine. I wasn’t entirely sure how to do was he said but I simply stopped fighting whatever had been building. Letting it roll over me like a morning tide. Swelling higher with each long sweep into me. Stealing my will and strengthening the pleasure that was already swirling within my body. Making my fingertips tingle and my hairline then rolling down until every bit of my senses seemed focused on what he was doing to my core. In and out. Taking me. Ravishing me. Claiming me. While I could do nothing to resist him. Powerless. Submitting… *** I gave him what he wanted. The blinding whiteness exploding behind my eyes and twisting in me until every muscle cinched tight. Clamping down on him. He shouted in ecstasy as my body jerked at him. Forcing from him what he hadn’t been willing to surrender. Milking him of his fluid and forcing it loose into me. Stealing from him as he’d done to me. He came. His body tight. His pelvis merged to mine as he pressed deep. Surging into me with each pulse of his cock. Claiming me inside. His abdomen flexed, working like a wave as they flexed from the top down to his root. His sack jerking tight and his thighs flexing against the inside of mine. He’s magnificent. Like a stag in the evening light, taking his mate. And I registered some vague sense of worship for this man and for what he’d just given me. And taken from me. I blinked at him in shock. Frozen. And he recognized the panic on my face. Pressing his palms to my shoulders. “No. Don’t go anywhere. Stay.” 08 Pending Results “I…” I shook my head, adamantly. Twisting from beneath him and freeing him from the comfortable heat he’d been enjoying. Seeing him rolling to his side on my dress, propping his head on one palm braced by an elbow, I realized I needed a different dress. He watched my frantic scrambling around my room to find another one that might be similar enough to not be noticed. “What are you doing?” He drawled. “I must…get back down there.” “With your dress in shambles?” He gestured beneath him. “I’m finding a different one.” “With your hair loose and wild?” I reached up to touch it. Feeling several wild tendrils shooting out at all angles. I tried to smooth them down. Whimpering in frustration. “Everyone will know what you’ve done.” He rolled to his back to toy with a bit of loose thread from my dress. “Can you not say things like that.” “Would you prefer me to lie to you.” “Could you say something helpful?” “Just give in. Accept me as the only suitor deserving of you and let me have you.” *** “Never!” I stopped to stomp. Not realizing that it made my pert little breasts hop with the sudden movement. Or that in my urgency I was failing to cover the nest of my sex which he was looking at with renewed interest. “Sweetheart, have you not considered…That you already have…” “Your meaning?” I eyed him suspiciously. He twirled the little thread with a smirk. “I could shout for your servants right now.” “No…You wouldn’t!” “I most certainly would. And you’d be utterly compromised.” “You’d be labelled a rogue!” I tried to argue some sense. He shrugged. “I care not a whit what they label me. My interest is in the woman I came to collect.” I deflated. “You did come to woo me.” “I came to inspect you. To see if you were all that rumors said.” “And what did you find.” “You’re so much worse…Delightful, witty, decisive. Everything I’d have in a queen.” *** “You say nothing of my beauty.” “Do I need to?” He tilted his head in question. “It is of course, an incentive. As is the magical way you feel…And those little sounds you made…But beauty fades. Wit does not for much time after. I enjoy your quick mind.” That was new. Men typically hated my quick responses. Because they’re usually insults. I admitted. “No.” He rolled to his feet. “We’ll see if that’s still your tune tomorrow.” “What happens tomorrow.” “I ask for your hand.” “Ask away. Doesn’t mean I’ll let you have it.” “Need I remind you, you’ve already let me have you. I need only mention that little fact and your father would be both furious and begging me to wed you.” He’s right. On all accounts. I found his intelligence both admirable and adversarial. He’s impossible to control. And I was having a hard time anticipating his responses. Which would make him very hard to manage… If not impossible… *** I never made it downstairs. But I did demand he dress and leave. While I inspected the shambles of what I’d done. Touching myself and finding I was very sore. But when I looked down, I noticed my dress was gone. I hadn’t watched him leave, refused to look at him again. Vowing to dismiss him entirely from my mind. And pay his threats no heed. He’d not dare. But I couldn’t fathom a single reason he’d have stolen my dress. I groaned and rubbed my face. I had bigger problems. How am I going to tell my father I’m going to refuse yet another proposal? And one from one of the most powerful kings in the realm, nonetheless. He’s not going to like that. I slumped back on my bed. Frustrated beyond belief that I’d gotten so carried away. And made such a costly mistake. He won’t tell. He could face consequences. *** I didn’t know that King Kellen of the Paladines had met with my father, first thing in the morning. A red and gold dress in his fist. Stained with a bit of blood. He walked in and quietly closed the door. Soon the king was shouting unintelligibly. King Kellen’s voice rose calmly in response. Assuaging the king’s fury. And soon Kellen had clued the king in on his plans to wed the princess. The king had conceded it was the only ethical thing to do. And that the king would urge her to accept to save her own honor. But knowing none of that, I’d gone out the majority of the day for my ride. Avoiding the trail where King Kellen had found me before. Ensuring I’d be safe. And alone. To think. It was the next evening when I returned. My maid quickly cleaned me up and I went downstairs and was presented for dinner where it was declared that the King of the Paladines had a proposal to offer. Oh, no. I looked to my father, for some reason hoping for an ally. But he was giving me an intense look that indicated he expected me to accept, or he’d be furious. I can’t. *** So, when the time came, and King Kellen stood and lifted his goblet declaring that he was proposing an alliance of the Paladines and Mane Country through our wedding. I glared at him. Gripping the gilded swirls on my chair arm. He’d maneuvered me. Planned it all. Purposely seduced me. Thinking to corner me. But I wasn’t so easily moved. “No.” I announced. Launching to my feet. I ignored my father’s furious sputtering. My gaze fixated on Kellen. The betrayer. “Excuse me?” Kellen lowered the goblet. His chin rising as he challenged me to say it again. I will. I’m not afraid of you. But deep inside I was dearly hoping he’d not announce I was tainted. That he’d already had me and that I was now due to him as the spoils of my own dishonor. “No.” I said louder. Giving him my most haughty, cold stare. “I would marry no King with a beard like a Thrush Bird. Begone from here, King Thrush beard.” I waved him away airily and returned to my seat. Lifting my goblet slowly in feigned boredom. But my hand was shaking. Dead silence had fallen over the Banquet Hall. And King Kellen was staring at me like something that’d just crawled from under a rock. I felt the first deep curl of apprehension. Sensing the danger emanating from him. I’m toying with the wrong man. I knew it. But it’s too late now. I can’t take any of it back. So, I ignored the long look he was pinning me with. Though I could feel it searing straight into my very soul. Without a word more, he pushed past his chair and stalked toward the door. His black cloak swinging from his burgundy and green striped tunic. His step furious as he made his way outside. Slamming the huge flat of wood with a horrendous bang that paralyzed everyone in the room. They all felt his fury. Sensed the danger. Knew I’ve stirred the devil to fury… What have I done? THE END

SUMMARY: I’d made a deal with true evil. I’d bargained my flesh for the kindest old woman’s life. And he’d pounced on the offer to cruelly ravish me. Bruising my flesh and wounding my spirit. But I escaped his clutches. Wearing his red cloak. And my flight through the woods landed me in the care of the most feared creature in these woods…Wrath. Now the question is, what is he going to do with me? And what can I get him to do for me…? 01 His Woods He didn’t like the color red. That was really all I knew about this man. I’d heard the stories and knew Wrath was the name of the wolf that hunted these woods. That keeps the other hunters away. He’s a wolf. And there was something about him that told me he was dangerous. A feminine instinct inside me was screaming. This is a man not an animal. “Ouch.” I cried out. Feeling the spearing pain deep in my core, I clutched my abdomen and fell to my knees. Realizing I was momentarily safe from the terror I’d known such a short time ago, I felt hot tears streaming my face. Wrath stared down at me impassively. I was lowering to my backside on my heels, and I dropped my face into my hands. “Why?” I sobbed. “Why, what?” He queried. I looked up at him from a teary face and saw his gaze was still riveted on the red cloak and the beads around my neck. “Why’d he take me?” “Did he join with you.” “It wasn’t joining. Rather one sided.” Wrath frowned and tilted his head. “The leader of the NightHunters?” “I don’t know.” “That’s who was pursuing you. Didn’t you see the wolves?” “Wolves?” I asked with a start. “No. They were men.” *** “Of a sort.” He grunted. “Was it Seth? The dark, large one?” I imagined the man that had been sliding in and out of me. And the raw pleasure of hurting me written over his face. The dark eyes and hair, the large frame. “Yes...I think so.” “Why were you in that hut?” “Gram.” “Gram?” He crouched before me and put a hand to my hair. I nearly flinched away but saw he wasn’t trying to harm me. He was a lovely creature. Flowing gold hair like a mane. And vibrant, grass green eyes which looked like they might glow in the dark just as they were. Incredibly bright. “Gram. That’s what we call her.” I explained through sobs. “She’s saved many of us.” “From the village?” I nodded. “Vesvera.” “Why were you all the way out here alone?” His voice turned harsh. Almost accusing. He reached up and his rough hands brushed around my neck. I realized his nimble fingers were working beneath my hair to undo the latches. Letting them slip forward and drop into my lap. The heavy beads forcing their weight forward. He wants them off me. I realized numbly. Because he hates red. But the cloak is red. I clutched it around my shoulders. Knowing it was the only thing I was wearing. I’d had no option to grab more clothes when I’d fled Gram’s hut. “Was Seth in Gram’s hut?” He asked urgently as I finished my frantic breaths. “Yes.” “Where is Gram now?” “I traded for her release.” “Traded what?” He asked slowly. Worry casting a haze over his eyes as he began to suspect what had been offered. *** “The only thing he wanted was me.” “In you?” He asked crudely. I flinched at the brutish question but nodded hesitantly. “Why would you make that trade?” “He’d have killed her!” I said defensively. He studied me with renewed interest. “You’re certainly right about that. But in all likelihood, you only bought her time. He’ll be looking for her again now.” Wrath stood and I sensed he was preparing to leave me. He can’t go! They could find me! “He promised he’d let her go!” I defended. It was the only reason I did it. “He promises a lot of things...When it suits him.” Wrath countered coldly. “Why would he want to hurt, Gram?” I couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to hurt the sweet, old woman that had helped save so many lives. “To find me.” “You?” I blinked in confusion. “I am Wrath.” He said simply. “And these are my woods.” 02 A Haven “I have to go.” He told me. “I have to make sure she’s safe.” “Gram?” He knows her? “Yes. I know right where she’d go.” “Why?” “Because she’s my mother.” He said blandly. “I’ll be back. Stay quiet until then and stay out of my things.” He pushed the bit of wood and the door turned. Allowing him to exit. I realized that as it closed again, I felt like I was in complete darkness. Why had it seemed brighter when he was here? I cowered in the dark like an injured animal. Shuddering. Visions of Seth’s face ripping through my mind and all he’d done to me. *** And after an hour I was no longer shivering I was angry. White-knuckled furious, angry. Wrath came back and when the door turned, I glimpsed it was dusk. Quickly getting dark. He reared back at the sight of my face. Sloshing some steaming water, he held in a bucket. “And they call me Wrath. From the look of your face right now, it’d be better suited to you.” “I feel like it.” Bitterness burned in every word. “What all did he do to you, Girl?” “He hurt me. He took things I can’t ever get back. Least not until I slit his throat.” “You sound very set on that.” He sighed. Dragging a wood chair to rest before me, where I now sat with my back to a wall. “But best be warned that killing a man is never as easy as you think. It’s bloody, smelly, and they fight with all they’ve got. And you’ll have nightmares about it for years to come.” “Not nearly the nightmares I’ll have now...” *** “That may be true...” He said grudgingly. “If I vow not to hurt you, will you trust me to tend you?” He gave me a long look with those intense green eyes and I understood the gravity of what he was asking me. He's asking me not to freak out when he touches me. But in truth, I had no idea if I would or not. The idea of anyone touching me right now made me feel a little ill. But one thing seemed more urgent than that. And maybe if I’m talking I won’t think about it. “How is Gram?” He chuckled and shook his head. “She’s fine. Hard to outfox that old fox but she wasn’t where I thought she’d be. She had doubled back to get to you.” “To me?” “She had grand plans to save you.” He gave me a quick glance. Before lifting the bit of cloth and rubbing it just beneath the shoulder of the cloak. “How could a little old woman come rescue me?” I thought of the raw power I’d felt in Seth’s grip. He’d have crushed her. “You’d be surprised how strong she can be.” He gave me a proud grin. “And she was trying to find me. And I’d have destroyed Seth.” I wasn’t wholly certain of that. The man had been raw, dark, violence. Though Wrath was huge, built like a lumberjack, and wound with a kind of intensity I’d never seen. I had yet to see any of the extreme reactions I’d earlier witnessed. Thankfully. He rubbed my shoulder, beneath the cloak. Massaging out the tension and helping me relax under his ministrations. Soon the warm water was drizzling down between my breasts, and I remembered how bare I was. My eyes rounded and my gaze fell. Seeing that my nipples were jutting and had kept the lightness of the cloak from covering me. Revealing a broad sliver all down my body of creamy bare skin. My hands shot up to cover my mouth. “Don’t worry about it.” He shifted to the side. “Though you’ve a beautiful body, it is just a body at the end of the day. One that currently needs tending.” I chewed my cheek. My cheeks heating furiously as I looked up. Trying to concentrate on anything but the fact that his rag had lowered to brush along the deep purpling bruises near my collar and along the upper swell of my breasts. Then around the rings where he’d gripped my biceps. Soothing away the tenseness until I eventually gave a contented purr. He paused. I peeled open my eyes to look at him and found him standing eerily still. “What?” “It’s just been a long time, since I heard sounds of pleasure on a woman’s lips.” He blinked as if I’d jerked him from somewhere that’d been too painful to stay. “Why?” “Because when I began turning, I became too aggressive for any woman to tolerate.” “Turning?” “Sweetheart,” He straightened as if surprised by my confusion. “Don’t you know, I’m a wolf?” 03 Wolves “I don’t think I understand.” “When incited or under particular types of moons, I become a furred beast. I wouldn’t think it too hard to understand the concept.” “If it was possible!” He smirked, giving me a long look. “Highly possible. I’ll show you soon enough.” He nodded upward. “Now, stand.” I hesitantly rose. My legs shaking as I realized I was completely revealed to him. My breaths quickened as I feared he’d do the forceful things Seth had to me. That I’d gone straight from the frying pan to the fire. But Wrath, despite his name, was nearly clinical in the way he touched me. Wiping dirt and smears off my body and tenderly scrubbing bruises. Making me feel as if he washed away the filthy things that’d happened to me. “I hate him.” I muttered. Staring up to avoid the intimacy of watching him wash my body. One man healing what the last damaged. Soon he was finished and stood and guided me to duck under a branch and then to a narrow, bulky bed in a dark corner. I jerked from in-front of him and rounded to face him. Heart racing. I clutched the cloak closed around me. “Not in the least.” He remarked. Staring down at me darkly. *** “What?” “I’ve no intention of pushing my way on you. You sleep there and I’ll sleep elsewhere.” “Where?” I demanded. “Perhaps where my mother is hiding.” “Don’t go!” I blurted. “You wish me to stay?” He reared back in surprise at the sudden change of pace. “I don’t want to be alone. What if he finds me?” “That’s unlikely. But I’ll stay if you wish it.” He tipped his head down and his waving gold hair swept over muscled shoulders. His brows were a darker shade. Closer to brown and sharply peaked toward the back. His long nose was immaculately straight. And descended over lips that seemed far too full for a man. Every movement they made was somehow mesmerizing. He shifted slightly and I realized that despite everything I’d so recently been through I wanted closer to him. His chest was bare, golden and toned. He wore a bit of leather cinched around his hips. Though it should’ve looked like a short skirt, it looked utterly masculine over his muscled thighs. Every part of him was beautiful. Like carved from the finest metals. I found myself stroking a hand down his thick arm. Wondering why I felt the need to touch him. Why he’s so magnetic, entirely. *** “If you wish me to stay, I’ll stay.” He murmured. I looked nervously from the bed to him. “Not there.” He shook his head slowly. “Not until you ask me to.” I won’t. I never want any of that again. I told myself. But even as I thought it, I found myself wondering things about him. Like how he’d move. Or how he’d touch. And what he’d want from me? He seemed nothing like Seth. The dark creature that ravished me in an old woman’s hut. An evil being, entirely without conscience. Yet, Wrath was the one known to be so brutal. He stepped to a chest and dug something out. It was a simple white gown with laced sleeves and collar. He deposited it over my head and let it flow down over my body. I reflexively stuck my arms through it. Finding that it was slightly big for me but fit me well. He plucked the back of the cloak’s hood and pulled it off me. Tossing it aside. “You hate red that much?” “Who said that?” “Gram.” “Ah.” He chuckled. “Red makes me lustful. It makes me want to mount you. She thought it would make me desire to protect you.” He eyed me thoughtfully. His gaze roving over my dark waving hair and pale green eyes. “She wasn’t entirely wrong.” That’s why she gave me the beads… *** The next few days passed thus. Eerily quiet. With Wrath coming and going as if I weren’t there. At night I rested in his bed. He gave me a poultice created by Gram to apply to my lower region to help me heal. And in three days I found myself completely better physically. And only anger and bitter inwardly. But the sadness had gone. Wrath caught food and cooked it. Though I never saw him eat any. He merely sat back against the wall, his elbows resting on his knees as he watched me eat. It was a strange truce. I knew if I wanted to go home, he’d let me. But how do I know Seth and his beasts aren’t out there waiting. What if I came across them on the way back to Vesvera. The first time I dared leave was when he insisted that I go to the creek to wash. He vowed not to look and to keep me safe. *** We’d only gone a short distance when I saw a brown wolf charging from the brush at us. I shrieked and dodged off to the side. Shrieking as I tried to recall which direction to run. Wanting to get back to the village or even to the tree shelter. But paralyzed by the knowledge that I didn’t know the direction. The white gown twining around my legs and keeping me from going anywhere very fast. But even as I jerked trying to decide, Wrath exploded. Leaping into the air his back cracking and arching and his hands rotating up by his face as they transformed. His fingers linking and thickening into huge white paws. Black coursed up a long bushy tail, crawling over his back and up over his head to stripe down a white snout. Making him huge and stark. As he landed, he was already on the brown beast. Biting fiercely into its neck so there was a brutal crunch. Wrath wrenched sideways and folded the other wolf’s head down against its side and launched his weight against it. Rolling it over so I heard its spine snap yet again. Then it went creepily still. I stared in astonishment from the bulky white and black wolf to the shaggy brown one on the ground, half the size of the one standing. Wrath was indeed a wolf. He had told me that. What he neglected to mention was that he was the largest creature I’d ever seen. He sat pointedly and stared up at me. His mouth opening as he panted from the sudden exertion. “Wha-” My words stopped as his ears perked, and his head whipped to the right. 04 Persuasion Two more wolves charged. Wrath leapt in front of me and crouched and welcomed them with vicious teeth and snarling. Ripping at them both until they collapsed sideways. One did manage to sink teeth in near the ankle of his front paw. I gasped at the sight. Realizing that I’d been the target of the second two. Wrath watched me a moment before grunting and rounding. Padding off down toward the creek. He’d killed them as easily as snapping a rabbit’s neck. He could do that to the leader of the NightHunters. I followed him on hesitant feet. Making my way to the drizzling water behind him. He topped a slight hill and as I came over it, I saw him crouched naked next to it. Splashing water on his face. I dropped a hand to his shoulder, and he growled low in his throat. His head rotating to look at me touching him. I stilled, fearing he’d bite it. “I need you.” I whispered. His gaze lifted to my face and water still dripped from his cupped hands. A question in his eyes. “I want to go after him.” “Seth.” He supplied. “Will you kill him for me like you did those?” He straightened and sighed. Facing me fully. “Are you sure that’s what you want?” *** “It is.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and stood on my toes to plant my lips around his. Having to jerk his head down to me. I had to balance on his feet to reach him. But his reaction was explosive. His lips molded to me. And his body smashed against mine. I found myself clinging to him. Wanting more. I realized that I’d been craving this for the last several days. Wanting closer to him. Felt more like a need then a desire. Touching him felt as necessary as breathing. He hooked the back of my leg with his heel and jerked backward. We fell to the ground in a tumbled pile. Him landing beneath us and me on top of him. His hands were jerking my skirts aside. Dragging them up over my hips and exposing my nudity beneath. His touch was rough and urgent. Feeling the same urgency I was. “Stop!” He roared. His hands hovering at our sides as he refused to touch me. “This is not necessary to persuade me to your bidding.” I lifted my head to look at him. “It’s not?” “No. I’ve no qualms about killing Seth for being one of the NightHunters. Much more for what he did to you.” “You’d do that?” “Without blinking. You’ve no need to offer yourself to me as you did him.” Was that what I thought I was doing? The answer came instantly. No! *** “I want you.” I said. “Are you certain you know what you’re saying?” He lifted his blonde head and I was struck by the squareness of his jaw and the vibrancy of those eyes. “I think so…” “Hmm.” He growled. His mouth meeting mine voraciously. He tugged my dress up around my waist. Rolling me onto my back he leaned onto his knees to strip the dress from over my head. His hands started at my ankles and molded up my legs. Tracing the shapes of my calves and thighs and hips to grab my waist and lift me up against his hard length. Jerking me roughly to him. “Tell me to stop now if you’re going to.” He said raggedly. “I’m not certain I’ll be able to cease later. My beast will be in full heat.” “I don’t want you to stop. Take me, Wrath.” And he did. He molded his palms over me like unwrapping a fine gift. Finding every rounded curve and kissing and licking every hollow of my flesh. Discovering my body. I found myself moaning and writhing. “Each sound you make is music to my ears. And this body…This fine body is a primed instrument. I strum.” He rubbed his fingers along my lower lips. I hummed in pleasure. Straining my throat and digging nails into his chest as I felt myself dampening against his hand. “And you sing so pretty for me.” He said in a husky voice. “I want more.” 05 Sweetest Nectar He slipped a finger into me. Watching my face as my body tensed around him. Clutching at his finger as though it were already his cock deep in my walls. “You’re already wet for me. Are you ready Sweet Thing?” I nodded. Feeling the hint of fear enter my eyes. “None of that.” He lifted his finger from between our bodies to shake it before me. “No fear of me. I’ll not tolerate it.” “You’re right.” I breathed. “I don’t fear you. Just the act.” “It’ll be nothing as you knew.” I’m counting on that. Every stroke of Wrath’s golden, fine fingered hands had my body goose bumping. Rippling with warmth. Flushing with desire. My body reacted to him violently. Already tiny muscles in my thighs were shivering with excitement. The anticipation of more. And I wanted more of this man. Much more. *** “Tell me when, My Girl.” Wrath positioned over me. His powerful body tight with arousal. His hardness hovering near my entrance. He barely touched me. Making me want to arch up and see if I could angle the tip of him into me. Feel him. He leaned back. Taking his body from mine. “Ah. Ah. Not until you say the words. You say when.” “Now!” I cried urgently. Sinking my nails into his back desperately and lifting my legs to hook my heels around his buttocks and drag him down to me. I maneuvered myself from beneath him until I aligned with that hard blunted tip. “Wrath!” I begged. It seemed that was the magical word because he leaned forward and entered me slowly. “Understand, My Girl. This is your doing. There’s no force in this taking. You came to me. And you told me what you desired. You cannot now resent me for giving it to you.” He’s right. He was very clear in his intent. He’d ensured I could not blame him in the way I clearly did Seth. I hate him. *** He painstakingly worked into my body. Swinging his hips side to side, to wiggle further in until he was entirely nestled in the cushion of my body. His sack pressuring against my soft lower lips. Deliciously touching me everywhere. I whimpered as I flexed my ass trying to pull him into me. Wanting more. He dragged out. Bit by bit. The heavy head of him opening my walls as it peeled back out of me. Once nearly out, he pushed back inside. Gliding in. My slickness making way for him. I learned the motions. Rising to meet him. Our bodies rocked together. He quickened the pace. Thrusting harder into me until I felt the tensing that pulsed through me. Making my fingers flex and then convulse, biting into the skin of his arms as I held onto him like he could somehow anchor me when I felt I was terribly close to shooting off into the sky. The more I drove my heels into his cheeks, the harder he pounded into me. Working his lower body had every muscle in his stomach tightening as I gave the root of him deep pleasure. He was moaning. Long, drawn-out sounds that made my own primal ones rise. I was soon screeching into the morning air. The sound echoing through the trees and making birds flutter skyward in the distance. The desperate cries of two creatures mating. He took me and I accepted him. Pulling him into me. My walls fisting around to grip him. Clutching him in and making his breathing become more ragged. Dropping lower. I lifted my hips, using my legs around him as leverage to do shorter, faster strokes. My fingers raking his arms as they dragged down. “More.” He growled. Lurching back on his heels to catch my hips. Lifting them and slamming them toward him to drive him deep into my center. Rocking me as if I were propped on a table to serve him. I felt vulnerable, desirable. The animalistic female inside me wanting to glimpse the beast in him. To let him have me as the animal he is. I leaned up. Dark hair falling down my back in deep brown waves which dropped over his forearm, scooping my lower back. I bounced over him. He guided the motion. Controlling the speed as he propped me up and down along his length. We were both clutching at each other hungrily when I saw a bloom of light behind my eye lids. Rolling from my core up through my chest and erupt in a cry of pleasure. Hanging onto his shoulders. “Yes, My Girl. Give it to me.” He thrust harder. As though I’d just given him a taste of the feast he wished to consume. 06 His Intentions I heard the sounds of our flesh slapping together. Felt the dampness between us from my pleasure. Washing over him. Knew that what we were doing was somehow ecstasy and my shame all at once. But I didn’t care. I was absorbed in the sensations I was feeling. My breasts scraping against his chest as he held me to him. Moving me up and down on his rod. I felt him hardening and he tossed his head like a wounded animal before lifting it in an instinctive roar as he poured into me. Planting me down hard on him so he could reach as far in as possible. Filling me with his seed. He drew a long breath and his head fell to meet my gaze. “Sexy little Vixen, aren’t you, Woman?” “My name is Cerise.” “Cerise…” He turned it over. “It sounds as beautiful and exotic as the woman herself.” I wondered if he’d still be saying such things to me were I not still impaled on him. Our chests flattened together. His arm looping my lower back. Connected as intimately as two people can be. “Was that enough?” I asked. His eyes narrowed. “Enough for what? To do you bidding? I thought we’d discussed that. To sate me? Not nearly.” With a growl, he lifted my hair and sunk his teeth into my shoulder. Piercing my flesh. *** I was still hazy with pleasure and only half registered the intense pain. His bite was far deeper than Seth’s had been. I felt one tooth scraping bone. “Wrath!” I shrieked in objection. Pushing at his chest. “What are you doing.” He lifted his head. Blood seeping over his chin. “Doing what needed done before the pleasure had worn off.” “What needed done.” “It’s a round moon tonight. He’d marked you as his and would be able to track you through that mark.” “Seth?” I said. “Yes.” “What did you do?” “I overrode it with mine.” I frowned at him. Wondering if it was like when a dog pissed on a tree and a bigger one came by and peed on the same tree. Was I the tree? As disgusted as I was at that thought, it seemed I understood the concept. “You said nothing to me.” “You’d not have consented anyway. And we couldn’t have delayed.” “So now you can track me?” I registered with huge eyes. “Yes.” *** The next few days passed in a blur. Wrath was true to his word. He led me out that first night and stationed me in the woods in a pool of silvery moonlight. The red cloak over me and little else. Making me look like easy prey. Then he rubbed his shoulder against a few trees in the area. Scenting them in a way that would indicate to other wolves something interesting had been here. Immediately luring the NightHunters. And they certainly came. The first night was the two that’d been with Seth, or so Wrath told me later. They were the ones always with him. His personal bodyguards. He also told me that Seth was the alpha of the NightHunters pack. And at his death his children would inherit rule of the pack. If Wrath let any of them live. *** I’d asked him one day what the feud was between he and them. “I protect the villagers.” Was all he’d say. Not much more than the lore of Wrath had told. I wanted to know more. I want to know everything about him. The second night was the night he set me out as bait for Seth. And Seth came. But Wrath was waiting, stepping between he and I. Though I was nearly vibrating with the terrible prospect of Seth possessing me again, he never had a chance. Wrath attacked and without proper backup, Seth stood no chance. Wrath bit through his throat. Tossing him to the ground with a shrieking whimper before chomping brutally into the flesh. Biting, crushing, and jerking until he had entirely severed the gray wolf’s head. He bit it between his teeth and in the moonlight I walked with a hand to the monstrous wolf’s back. His coat covered in blood. And we walked the miles to the edge of NightHunter territory where he set the head purposefully on a boulder overlooking the encampment. Seth’s head. He’ll never touch me again. And I lowered to a knee to drop my forehead to that of the huge wolf. He bowed his in return and we shared an intimate moment before we aimed back toward his tree shelter. To hunt more tomorrow.

SUMMARY: Red was the color I always avoided. Because we all knew about the wolves that hunted in the woods. And the biggest one of them all hated the color red. So, I thought I was safe without it, but I wasn't ready for the creature that came calling at Gram's wanting information. I only wanted to take some bread to grandma. I didn't expect to walk into the middle of a territory war or the price I'd have to pay to keep her safe. But the price the alpha of the NightHunter Pack wanted was a high one to pay. Especially to protect a man I didn't know and had never met. But for Grandma...I'd do nearly anything... 01 To See Gram The direction he came from was filled with giant mushrooms and tiny fluttering fey. They intermingled with the black trimmed orange butterflies which twisted through the fragments of light. Trying to dry their dewy wings in the early morning sun seeping through treetops. But down here the morning fog held fast. Hanging low and covering everything like a hazy gray blanket. As the man walked through it, it dampened his pants, making him pull the flaps of his red velvety cloak tighter around him to block against the moisture. He wore the garment with the hood pulled up over his head. The hem just brushing the grass around his feet. It was long enough that it just fit his tall frame. He was moving so early in the morning, because he had great purpose. A set look in his brown eyes and intensity making his whiskered jaw tighten rhythmically. The trees thinned and the grass was shorter, the mushrooms less colorful as they parted the grass with their tan and white tops. Tiny purple flowers crept through the grass on wild vines. They crunched under his heavy boot, as his feet found the path toward the small hut with the thatched roof. A tiny hut which leaned predominantly to one side. Two other men stepped to his flank. “Is this it?” “This is her.” The leader said. “She’ll know where he is. And he doesn’t get away this time.” The leader said it with determined finality. “We’re ready boss.” The bigger of the two rolled his shoulders in preparation for battle. “Stay out here. Out of sight. Let me know if anyone comes but don’t make yourself obvious unless I tell you to be. If it’s him. Let him come…” “Yes boss.” The tall, wiry one nodded. When Seth, the leader looked back at them both the others lowered their heads in deference. Grunting in satisfaction, he headed in. There was a woman’s terrified scream as he threw open the door. But it was quickly stifled as he overcame her. *** Cerise...My name meant red. It was odd to think it. Especially, when I came from a whole town afraid of the color... I felt a little guilty as I headed off toward Gram’s with a basket full of homemade bread, I’d safely tucked away. Folded under linens light enough to refrain from smashing it. I headed out today in my simple brown gown. A worn one of my mother’s that she’d hemmed in for me. The sleeves of my white undershirt billowing around my arms. Keeping me cool enough to not be bothered by the spring heat trapped in the trees of the forest. Enclosing all the humidity in miserable pockets separated by cool expanses. My only extravagance was the necklaces of thick beads which Gram had made me. Often offering me a new one and telling me they’d keep me safe on my walks into the woods. Even though they were red. I was looking forward to the walk with my friend, Betty, today. A refreshing break from my chores. Betty decided to walk partway with me, as she often did. About halfway there she’d turn back. “Why do you bring these out here every week, Cerise?” “The bread?” She nodded. “Because you know Gram hates coming into the village!” I gave her a look. Sensing we were going to have one of our frequent disputes over Gram. Betty doesn’t like her. I suspected it was because Gram had tried to save Betty’s little brother but hadn’t gotten there in time and her magic was rendered useless by the lack of time. “She still has to, Cerise.” “But not as often.” I countered. “Your mother is still making them because of your dad?” “Yes, if it wasn’t for Gram, he’d have died of the palpitations. You know that.” “She creeps me out.” Betty shuddered. “You know how many people she’s saved.” “I do. Still creepy.” “I love Gram.” I defended. The sage old woman had taught me a lot about mixing potions and healing herbs. “Most of the villagers do. That’s why everyone calls her grandma.” It was true. She wasn’t truly any of our family. He was the village healer so despite being a hermit who resided a way, outside of Vesvera village, she was usually well-tended. Everyone’s grandma because what she did with her herbs and potions was so important to us. And grandma had no family, so we all served as her children. She’s saved so many of our loved ones. She’d supposedly had a son once, but no one knew what’d happened to him. It was thought that the wolves that haunted these woods had gotten him. That’d been before the hunter came. *** We reached the midway point and Betty turned around and began to head back to the village. Leaving me alone to tread the darkest parts of the forest. I was careful walking the dirt trek leading to Gram’s house. We all knew of the wolves that filled the length of these woods. However, there were very few surrounding Vesvera because of the hunter. Only a few of the villagers had ever seen the protector of our section of the woods. They called him Wrath. The biggest of the wolves out here had seemed to claim this as his territory. He was the only one I was ever worried about coming across. However, it was said that generally one was safe from him as long as they weren’t wearing crimson. It was well known that for some reason, the color seemed to trigger him, so I was careful never to wear it. Other than my pretty necklaces Gram gave me. Which I always ensured were safely tucked under the hem of my white undershirt. Gram’s tiny hut came into view. I noticed everything was eerily quiet here. Undisturbed. It seemed like even the birds dared not peep. I noticed the butterflies that always haunted the path and tended to linger on Gram’s roof were gone today. Odd. I shook off the weird feeling and headed in the door. 02 Trapped As soon as I entered, my arm was caught, and I was dragged into the room and around to slam my back against the wall. Nearly knocking the air out of me. I found myself staring up at a tall, slender man. One I’d never met. “Why are-are you in Gram’s house?” “Why are you?” He demanded. His authoritative tone spurred me to answer despite myself. “She’s my friend.” I peered around him and saw Gram in the distance. She was sitting in her old rocking chair. Tipping it slowly. “You shouldn’t have come, Dear.” She shook her head. Though she was trying hard to make her movements look calm, it was clear they were not. She’s scared and anxious. Why? “Why are they here, Grandma? What’s going on?” “We need her to tell us something very important.” “So, tell them, Gram.” “I cannot!” Gram snapped angrily, rocking faster. “What is it, Gram?” She said nothing. The leader kept pressure on my shoulder to ensure I couldn’t go anywhere. He twisted around. “Tell me where he is!” He demanded. She tightened her lips. The wrinkles at the corner of her eyes grew strained. “Who?” I asked tentatively of the leader. His head whipped to see me. “Her son!” He pointed behind him angrily. “I-I know where he is…” I said. “Cerise!” Gram objected. Leaning forward and trying to silence me. Her eyes desperate. “Where?” The man roared. His attention focused on me hatefully. Brown eyes cold and flat. “I’ll-I’ll t-t-take you to him…If you let her go.” I nodded toward Gram. He grinned slowly. Eyes going hooded. “Oh, it’ll take a hell of a lot more than that, Sweetheart.” “L-like?” I was scared my hands were shaking. Is he going to want to kill me instead? His eyes drifted over my face and down toward the rise of my upper breasts shadowed beneath the filmy fabric of my white undershirt. He massaged the round of one with his thumb resting below my collar. I caught my breath as his meaning became clear. *** I chewed my lip a moment. Gathering the remnants of my slippery courage enough to blurt. “If I let you, will you release her?” He chuckled coldly. “Who said I need you to let me?” That made me swallow a lump in my throat. “Will you let her go?” I persisted. He dropped his hand. “I suppose. If you’re real good and you tell me what I want to know, I could do that.” “Let her go first.” “Why?” He reared back in half amusement. Eyeing me sideways. “Because I won’t do anything for you otherwise.” I jutted my chin in a way that made my mom reiterate it was why I was so old and unmarried. Still in their cottage instead of with a husband. “Let her go.” I forced strength into my voice as I commanded it. “Fine. What do I call you, Little Firefly?” “My name is Cerise.” “Pretty name.” He commented offhandedly. “Tell me what you’ll do for me, pretty Cerise.” “Whatever you need. If you let her go.” “Fine.” He tilted his head to inspect me. Catching a lock of silky black hair to stroke thoughtfully with his thumb. “But if you don’t show me where to find Wrath after, I’ll break you…” I met his look. Feeling my heart racing in my chest as I wondered how the hell, I was going to pull this off. “Do you understand me, Cerise?” He said my name slowly. Making it sound far more intimate than it should’ve. *** “I do.” “Good.” He walked over to stick his head out the door. “Let the old woman go. Stay where you are.” There are more people out there? It occurred to me that was why all the creatures had been silent. Why I’d felt such a sense of unsettle when I’d arrived. I should’ve gone to get help then. I cursed my fool actions. But I didn’t know. “Go, Old Woman. I’ll find your boy. One way or the other, his reign is coming to an end.” He walked over and pushed open the door. Leaving it gaping. Gram eyed me as she hesitantly walked toward it. She suddenly stopped and reached to close the door. Deciding she won’t leave me. “Go, Gram.” I said. Giving her a long look that I hoped would convey that I couldn’t fight them or try to escape if I had to worry about her. I need her to go now. She returned my gaze. Her fine white brows drawing together on her tanned forehead as she looked strained. “Go.” I mouthed. “Please.” She chewed her cheek and looked morose as she stared at me. Stepping out the door and looking at me until she’d eased from a clear view of me. “Go, Gram.” I called to her. “Hurry.” The man walked over and jerked the door closed with a bang that rang with finality. Like the cage door sealing. “Now, Pretty. Let’s have a look at you before we get down to business.” 03 So, It Begins He stepped back and gave my length a long study from head to toe. Making me feel as if I was already standing before him unclothed. I instinctively crossed my arms over my chest. I gave him the same study. He was tall with a very slender build, but he exuded power. Control. Like someone who would let no detail escape his purview. His complexion seemed naturally dark. As he lifted a hand to massage his jaw, I noticed it was as sinewed as the rest of him. He pushed the hood of his rich red cloak back, exposing red-brown hair which flowed back to his collar in thick straight strands. He was handsome, strong and confident. But something about him made me feel very small and vulnerable. Perhaps the way he is looking at me? Like I’m a delicious snack rather than a person. *** He unlaced his cloak and tossed it back onto Gram’s narrow bed. Revealing that his chest was bare beneath it. He wore only the brown breeches and boots. He kicked those off and headed for me. His hand moved purposefully to his side, and he drew a long silver blade from a sheath at his side. His pace didn’t slow until he stood so close before me that I could feel his breath fanning my face. He caught my fists. At first, I grimaced, thinking he was putting the blade to my neck but instead he gripped it over my fist and moved my hands down to my side. I found myself flattening my palms against the wall behind me to keep from reaching up to stop him as he caught the neck of my shirt and pulled it from against the hollow of my throat and away from my skin. Putting the blade against it and pushing it down. Severing the garment with barely a hissing sound. He paused when it reached the bodice of my brown dress. He pushed slightly harder, and I gasped as I felt the blade tip and caress between my breasts and trace along my skin. Not quite deep enough to cut but certainly enough to scare me. He dragged it down to where my dress became too fitted along my belly, just as my skirts started. I held my breath as he sheathed the dagger and caught both sides of my dress. Jerking hard to rip the fabric apart. I turned my head away. Feeling like it was far too intimate to watch the intensity with which he was examining my heavy, brown tipped breasts. Dangling just below the heavy lines of thick red beads. His tongue snaked out to lick his lips. And I could tell his palms itched to touch me. “Please.” I murmured. Staring at a side wall. “What?” “Don’t-don’t look at me…Like that.” “Oh, Sweetheart, I plan to examine every inch of you, thoroughly.” I chewed my lip and tried to stamp down the ever-growing fear that was blooming inside me like a spring flower. “And I think you’ll find you rather enjoy looking me over as well.” He gave the last little tear and my skirts finished splitting. He eased the dress open and pushed it over my slim shoulders to fall to the ground. He immediately encircled my waist, likely noticing it ranged a little thicker than most, and my hips were far too large, a fact I hid by wearing more flared skirts. “All this soft flesh.” He growled. Sounding pleased as he jerked my hips forward against him. I yelped. He leaned forward with a wicked smile to whisper near my ear. “I can’t wait to sink myself into it.” “What do I do?” I asked. He grinned. Making his face brighten and his eyes seem to dance with some excited intent. He stepped back from me and began unlacing the front of his pants to kick them down and push them off. Tossing them aside. Exposing his pulsing hardness. Already excited from the sight of me. His legs were thinner but well-muscled and wound with wiry hair. He snatched his cloak from the bed and lifted it in a billow of red velvet as he swung it out before letting it settle over the floor. He settled on top of it. Easing his shoulders down before lifting his head enough to curl an inviting finger at me. The movement made his stomach flex with rippling muscle. His hips and pelvis were lean. Making it look it look like the lines tightening over his hips led directly to the nest at his center. A place I found mesmerizing and couldn’t look away from. “Come here.” He lifted his hand in a beckoning. I walked over and knelt at his feet. Crawling over him while he watched. Brows lifted as he enjoyed the view of my hanging breasts as I moved over his legs. Trying to prolong the time it took to get to him. “Hold it.” He commanded. “Right there.” *** I looked down and saw that just below my chin was his hard rod. “Put your mouth on it, Cerise.” “I…” He leaned up. Face hardening. “I could have them go get your precious Grandma now. They could run her down in an instant and drag her back.” He caught the back of my head and helped angle it down. Slowly pushing to guide me down until my lips kissed the head of him. “Good, Girl. Now open your mouth.” I parted my lips to object, but at the same time, he lifted his hips a few inches. Making his cock intrude into my mouth. The feeling was strangely odd but somehow pleasant. The skin was soft like cotton over metal. He instantly moaned deep in his throat as he pushed into my mouth fully. The tip of him brushing the back of my throat and stretching the tissue. He growled as I took him in. 04 Owned For a while I massaged him with my mouth. He guided my head by loosening the pressure than lightly pressing me back down. One time he went too far, and I tried to object but realized that it only pressed him further into me. He gave a pleasured snarl and began jutting into my throat. Uncontrolled. Finally, I could take no more and lurched off him. Rearing back and angrily wiping my mouth. Glaring at him vengefully. “What are you going to do, Pretty? Glare me to death. You’re the one that made the deal…Just remember that.” “Not much of a deal.” “Oh…” He made a fake sound of sympathy. “You were awful quick to offer it when your Gram was on the line, now weren’t you?” I hated that he was right. “Now hop up top.” He caught himself and waved it slightly. I eyed him in horror. “I don’t know how.” “Lift up.” He gestured with his head toward my hips. “And I’ll show you.” I straightened and slid up on my knees until I was hovering over him. He greedily caught my round hips, massaging his fingers into the soft skin. Giving an appreciative half-smile. “All of you has been made to welcome a man. Can’t wait until I’m stuffed inside.” He nodded toward the nest of my sex. I felt my cheeks heat, unbearably. No one had ever talked to me like that. They wouldn’t have dared. *** He lined me up over him. “Now lower.” He said huskily. I swallowed, steadying myself as I looked upward. Praying for strength as I began to relax my thighs and ease myself down and back toward my heels. I felt the sturdy jutting of him, aligning with my crease. I jumped up a little at the contact. His grip became biting as he slowly pushed me back down. Flexing his ass and stroking forward and back as he massaged my entrance. The feeling was shockingly pleasant. At first it felt a bit rough but was soon smoothly gliding. Then he leapt up, pushing beyond my entrance. I hissed through my teeth and lifted some, but he caught me before I could go far. Holding me steady for him as he did tiny thrusts, working further into my body. Pervading the soft hollow in the center of my body. Rising beneath my pelvis. Making the pressure feel as though it was going forward, back and opening both sides until my hips stopped the stretching. He tugged me down further until I was fully nestled atop him. “Ah.” He groaned in pleasure. “You do feel better than a summer day.” “Mmmhmm.” He moaned, satisfied. “Now ride me. Hard.” I gave him a confused look. He worked my hips forcefully forward. I gasped as I felt pressure deep into my second entrance. Making me feel like he was interrupting the mouth of my very womb. Stealing my innocence. He pushed my hips back and then changed the angle of his hands to yank me forward. Making me stroke along his length. He growled. Leaning up to watch where we joined. Seeing him delving further into me then retracting. “Now that’s a pretty sight.” “What?” “Me fucking your pretty little pussy, Sweetheart. Owning your body. It’s at my disposal right now. Bringing me pleasure.” He pressed me forward and back faster. He angled his head back as he felt the rising pleasure. “Making my flesh feel good. Deep, deep inside you. And soon I’ll rise and spill seed into your core. And you’ll take it. Like my dutiful little hole.” His wicked words made me shiver. I cried out. Feeling my body cinching around him. Clutching at him wildly. My body became rigid, and I was panting as I fought the wild waves of something I didn’t understand clawing through me. Making everything inside feel tighter and tighter. The necklaces around my neck and resting along my collar seemed impossibly cool. My skin goose bumped, and I realized I needed to get off him before I exploded. Fearing what would happen if I didn’t, I reared off him. Rolling off to the side and trying to flee toward the door. As my hand caught the handle, his arm circled around the front of my hips and hauled me backward. Jerking me in a half circle to bend me over the foot of Gram’s bed. Folding my chest across the top. “Have it your way.” He growled. Kicking my feet apart with his before he entered me brutally. I cried out and clawed at the blanket. Already feeling the hint of soreness fighting him. Making the inside of my body want to close enough he couldn’t make entry. Instead, it just made it fist around him. Fighting to keep him inside, making him drag through me. The tip of him unable to come out fully as my body gripped him. Enhancing his pleasure as my body held him in me. Then he’d grunt and lurch his pelvis forward, immersing himself fully back into me. Making me clutch the coverlet harder. With each forceful prodding. “You should’ve just let me spill into you.” He was leaned over my back. His chest smashed against my skin so he could speak nearly into my ear. His hands gripping my wrists to keep me pinned to the bed while he rocked forward and back. In and out of me. Making my body rear forward with every rough stroke. “I was so close.” He paused to give a long growl of ecstasy. “And so were you.” My hardened nipples scraped over the blanket, and I was crying out every time he entered me. Feeling them bob and drag over the wool. His taking was anything but kind now. He worked a steady rhythm. Pulsing into me. The bed creaked beneath me. As if complaining of its rough treatment. My hips were pinned where they were by the heavy footboard. Feeling him cramming into me like a root taking hold, only to draw out and then force in again. He released one of my wrists to catch a fistful of my hair. Pulling it back to keep me steady for his penetrations. It made the clicking of my beaded necklaces more pronounced as they jangled together. I yelped and tried to wiggle away but it only made him growl in his throat as if the small motion gave him more of what he wanted from me. The sounds of his pleasure were nearly animalistic pants now. My thighs shook as that familiar tension was climbing through me. Making my legs tighten, spread open as they were. His bruising pounding against my tender lower lips was somehow making his piercing seem even more intense. I could feel his body pinning every inch of me. Making me completely vulnerable to him. 05 Oh, Yes “I can do this all night.” His lips brushed the shell of my ear. “So, you might as well cum on my cock because I’m not stopping until you do. I’ll rut you all night until you admit you’re as much the animal as me. You’re liking the way I feel rooted inside you. You like being pinned down beneath me and being dominated by an alpha…Don’t you Cerise?” “No. No. No.” I shook my head. Making my hair tug in his grip. “Oh, yes, you do.” He growled angrily. Giving my hair a rough pull. My mouth opened and a tiny gasp escaped my throat. But he wasn’t slowing, Keeping the brutal thrusting rocking into me. Making me slide along the coverlet. Clutching it to try and hold onto some sense of reality. But the heat of his chest warming my back. The feel of muscled legs pressed to mine and the aching intimacy of him joined into me was too much. “No.” I cried as I felt a tidal wave of heat surging through me. “I’ll stop.” He warned raggedly. “If you don’t say it, Cerise.” He slowed slightly. Making his threat seem more sincere. No. I couldn’t imagine him stopping when I was so close to touching some other realm of sensation I’d never experienced. Feeling the sense of being utterly full of another human was overwhelming. All consuming. And I want more… *** “Yes, please…” I begged. Relieved when he speeded up again. “I want it!” I moaned in defeat. Admitting to him what I hadn’t even wanted to admit to myself. He was bucking into me. Mounting me like a stallion on a mare. His weight holding me still for him as he surged in and out of me like a wild animal. Seeking his pleasure hungrily. “Ah, ah.” He was grunting wildly. “Take it Cerise. Take me.” Then he went iron hard. Swollen beyond what I thought I could bare. Then I felt the hot moisture pouring into me. He gave long breaths of relief as he found his release. “That a girl. Take it…” Then I felt the sharp sting. The biting pain of teeth piercing my flesh as he sunk them into my shoulder. Drawing thick red drops of blood which slid down the curve of my back and poured over the back of my arm. “Ouch!” I shrieked in objection. Forcing myself deeper into the bed in order to try and escape the pain. My face was contorted in agony as he held on. His grip on my skin unrelenting. “Let go! Please!” Finally, he did. I dropped back down flat, crying against the coverlet. Shocked by where this sudden vicious attack had come from. 06 Can’t Be Held I shuddered beneath him. Feeling his sweat-coated weight dropping over me. Too weak to hold himself up for a moment. Too weak to hold onto me. I skid sideways, twisting to rotate his weight onto the bed. And ripping off his relaxed staff, to swing sideways and grab his red cloak. Tossing it over my shoulders as I leapt out the open shutters. Landing on my shoulder on the ground and rolling to my feet like my brother had shown me to leap from the stable loft. Then I ran. Fast as I could. Praying Gram was somewhere safe by now. I leapt logs and went further into the woods. Wearing only the cloak for cover. *** I didn’t stop running until I was deep in the trees. Deeply lost having no idea how near or far the trail was. A trail I need to find to get home. Then I heard the first wild snarls of the wolves. Howling cries and thudding paws. Twigs snapping beneath them. The sounds seemed to be coming from behind me. But from every direction at once. How many of them are there? I was beginning to feel the first trickles of renewed panic. The wolves. I knew those sounds. Everyone in the village had been warned to run from them. But they were animals born of these trees. I’ve no chance of escaping them in it. Suddenly I heard an echoing snarly from further in the trees ahead of me. Louder and more ferocious it seemed to echo off every boulder and branch. Rumbling over the landscape. I paused and looked both directions, crouched in a run. I have to go somewhere. I decided to run North as I had been and hope I’d find my way back to the village before that monster of a wolf found me. It felt like I’d been running for an eternity. My feet ached from things I’d stepped on and I had to clutch the folds of the cloak to keep it from hooking on everything behind me. It’s too big. But I ran as though the devil possessed me. Which he had. Just a short time ago, he’d been buried in, to the hilt. I mourned the loss of everything I’d been before that horrible moment. But there was a tiny part of me that was angry. And it grew fiercer as I thought about the moment he’d bit and held onto the skin of my back. Hurting me in the only way he hadn’t already. I didn’t deserve any of it. But I’ll pay him back one day for what he made me do. I’ll find out who he is, and he’ll pay… Just then I slammed into a solid wall. I looked up and met the fierce green gaze of the most vicious looking man I’d ever seen. “Red.” His lip curled as he eyed my cloak. Then his gaze slid down, and his face softened as his eyes settled on the dark blotches already forming on my arms and legs. “Come.” I followed behind him on leaden feet. Hoping I wasn’t leaping from the pan to the fire. And he looks far more dangerous than whatever that was back there. I grimaced at the thought. He tugged me around to the back of a huge tree and pushed the side of his hand on one section. Making a chunk of bark the size of a door twist to reveal the gaping opening. He ducked and stepped through. Reaching back out to snatch my forearm and pull me in behind him. “Quick.” He urged. I stepped through and he pushed the door. Rotating it closed. I looked up at him as everything beyond the tree became achingly silent. He stood listening. Staring at the wood behind me as if they might come pouring through the door any moment. “Who are you?” I asked puzzled. His eyes flitted to look at me. His gaze fixating on the dark red beads around my neck. “My name is Wrath.”

SUMMARY: It was only a painting. But it had stolen me at first glimpse. Then he came and he wanted back what was his. He was willing to make a trade. One night of all his skill in pleasuring for the returning of his portrait. How could a girl say no to a face like that? Even when she was certain there’d be no happy ending to this tale... 01 The Acquisition I had never really been one for paintings but something about this one spoke to me. It could've been the man's smokey gray eyes or the way he looked at you through hooded eyes with a lowered head. Like he knows something I don't... I'd ended up at the auction only because my boyfriend, Tim, had dragged me here. He enjoyed the sophistication of the events, dressing me up like a pretty doll, and wearing his own expertly tailored suits and perfectly tied cravats. Cravat. I almost giggled to myself. It seemed such a strange word for modern days. The auction was being held in some man's mansion. Tim knew him. I didn't. But it was quite lovely. White walls with a vaulted ceiling. Accompanied by a low hanging chandelier with diamond shaped bulbs illuminated the room in a warm glow. The tinkling of glasses echoed in the large room. Waiters walked around offering everyone more wine and expensive hors d'oeuvres. Music which seemed far too old for the time played from a speaker a distance away. The tables were covered in lavender laced cloths, and everyone was beginning to sit down with their little numbered signs to begin the bidding. Men were adjusting their suits as though they were preparing for some sort of battle rather than readying to raise their sign a few inches. I nearly laughed. This wasn't my type of setting. But Tim liked to take me places like this to 'show me off' he called it. *** I listened to the jumble of murmured voices and masculine laughter. Women tossing little furs over their shoulders as they giggled in response. As if they had any idea what the men were discussing. I don't. I was willing to admit it. These were the items that a museum had acquired a few years ago. But during recent renovations they had found higher valued items so were willing to let these go. There were some shiny things that I barely paid attention to as I expected a roll of meat and cream cheese, assessing whether there might be some manner of fish eggs in there. But eventually they lifted the painting, and I felt my whole body stand to attention and my gaze was drawn to see what they were presenting. I was shocked at the stark colors of it. With a flat brown background, it made those gray eyes seem somehow brilliant. His black hair had a velvety sheen like a bird's underwing. I felt like I could walk up and reach through the painting to touch him. He had a square jaw and a somewhat pointed chin. With high cheekbones and darkly lashed eyes, his face looked angular in a way that seemed to express the intensity of the man. He was leaned forward in such a way that I almost felt like he was preparing to speak to me personally. “Tim…” I touched his forearm. Staring at the painting unable to look away. “You want it, Sweetheart?” He asked. I nodded dully. “Then of course it’s yours.” He lifted his number and the auctioneer pointed at him and called out an exorbitant number, but I barely heard the interchange as other men competed with Tim. If I’d managed to peel my gaze away, I might’ve noticed that nearly every woman in the room was staring at the painting the same as I was. Blatant lust on their faces. *** I’d hardly noticed that Tim had won the painting. Other men apologizing to their forlorn wives. “You’ll have your painting, Marissa.” Tim beamed at me. He was always trying to please me. It was rather touching how hard he tried. He had plenty of money and was fine enough to get many women, but he enjoyed having me on his arm. Like a trinket he’d found in a small town and polished to be shown off. I knew it was a matter of time before he’d lose interest in something shiny and new, but I’d enjoy the peek into the extravagancies for now. And his willingness to get me things I desired was certainly appealing enough. But these facts weren’t on my mind as the painting was brought out and handed over to Tim who took it and leaned it against my chair. I found myself grinning unstoppably as it was lowered next to me. And as my gaze returned to the auction, I found myself absentmindedly stroking the top of the frame like a woman would a lover’s hand. 02 Home with Me Once back home I found it irresistible to hang the painting immediately. Taking it to my room and adjusting it along my wall. I had to take down paintings of an old ranch house and a sunrise, but they now seemed so inconsequential compared to the depth of this man’s face. And I wanted him lined up with my bed so, after adjusting it side to side a few times until it was perfect, I could return to my bed to look at it. I was still staring at it as I reached behind my back to awkwardly catch the zipper of my slitted black dress. Tugging it down made the shoulder straps dip forward. One of them sliding over my shoulder to dangle along my bicep. In a way I felt the heat of the painting’s silvery gaze as if he watched me undressing. Bidding me to do more. For him. I licked my lips. Looking back at him as I slid my shoes from my feet and tossed them along the wall. Then opened the part in the side of my dress to begin rolling down my stocking. Taking it off before hanging it over the back of the wooden chair. I did the same thing with the other. Stepping from the dress I folded it over the seat of the chair. I straightened in only my thin lacy braw and stringy underwear. I walked closer to the painting to peer at the insignia in the corner. One hand braced on the wall so I could look more closely at it. I couldn’t read the artist’s signature. But just above it he’d kindly printed ‘A Face of Gray.’ Gray? I looked at the man again. He looked so life like, I’d almost felt like his penetrating gaze had moved to watch me rising from the corner of the painting to look at him levelly. I gasped somewhat startled but as my gaze roved the intricate detailing, I realized I was just being foolish. Overly fanciful. My mind returned to the mystery of the man. Why ‘A Face of Gray’? Because of his gray eyes? Or his gray clothes? Or had that been his name. I could picture him having a name like Baron Graystoke and being haughtily dubbed ‘Gray’. I fancied it. Imagining him as some grand lord who’d have left ladies swooning. I loved the idea of that time period. *** I finally turned my back to the painting to walk across the room, promising myself I could study him more once I was laid down. I passed the large black and gold shoe chest at the foot of my bed. As I walked, I found myself looking into the mirror above my bed and seeing my cloud of silky brown hair down in waves around my face. My large brown eyes seeming somehow hollow compared to the depth of Gray’s gaze. I slid under the blankets in my bra and underwear. Liking the feel of the cottony sheets under my back and up across my chest. I propped the pillows up so I could stare at the painting a long while. Wondering who he’d been and what he’d done and why the artist had decided he should be the subject of his fancy. Without meaning to, I was lulled into sleep. Sliding down the pillows and further beneath the coverlet. *** I never heard the sound of a haunting sigh feeling the room. Nor did I see the way the painting seemed to smear. Dragging down from the frame until the face of the man became a hollow shell. Looking more like rotting flesh barely hanging on the skull then like the man I had been so besotted with. As the colored oils reached the bottom of the gold frame they bowed out as if slipping over an invisible border to reach the floor. Outlining the form of a man before hardening into shape. I woke with a jolt. Immediately recognizing a presence in the room. I gasped and sat up. Clutching my blanket to my chest. “No need for that.” He rumbled. A black silhouette moving along the wall. He seemed tall and broad-shouldered. He stood just from the moonlight seeping into my room. Carefully evading the light. Purposely avoiding it. That made me even more leery. He doesn’t want me to see his face. I wondered if he’d followed me home from the auction to attack me. How’d he get in? I remembered locking my apartment door. And everyone had to have a specific four-digit code to get through the front door. He could’ve seen someone type it though. Could’ve followed me and seen me do it. I realized. Gut sinking. “Who are you?” “Does it matter who I am?” “It does when you’re in my room in the middle of the night.” “I’m here for the painting.” He said tonelessly. “I’ll take it and go.” “You can’t have it!” I screeched in panic. Leaning forward threateningly without even meaning to. Threateningly? What am I going to do? Throw a pillow at him? I chastised myself. “You could take something else. But not the painting.” I nodded toward several other valuable things strung across my bedroom. Things Tim gave me. “I don’t want those things.” I felt his gray gaze sliding over me. Memorizing the form, he could see outlined by the thin summer blanket. “What if I could offer you something better than the painting.” He moved along the wall in the utter darkness. “Like what?” I put my hands to the blanket so I could shift. Twisting to keep him in view. Growing slightly excited as he drew near the slash of moonlight from my window. I might get a glimpse of him. I could give a description to the cops if I got a good enough look at him. “Like the real flesh and blood man. Rather than his image.” He purposely slid his face into the silvery light. Revealing the stony gray eyes and the sleek black hair smoothed back from his forehead and curling at his collar to ease over his shoulders. My mouth gaped as I stared in awe. Leaning forward to peer at him. “H-how?” 03 What I’d Agreed To “Don’t worry about how.” He directed harshly. I saw the moonlight glint of something which shimmered as he whirled it in his hand before slamming it to the floor and holding it near his hip. A cane? I registered that it had a strange narrow diamond grip. “What are you going to do?” “Hmm…” He rumbled. “I’m offering you something I’m very good at in exchange for what belongs to me to be returned to me.” “What do you mean returned?” “You take my painting to this address.” He’d somehow drawn close enough to me that he now stood at the side of my bed. Offering me a faded address scribbled on a bit of parchment between his fingers. I reached up and hesitantly took it feeling the finality of it. Understanding I was making some sort of exchange I didn’t completely understand the significance of yet. But from the moment I took that parchment I’d agreed to take what he offered and deliver his painting to whomever was at that address. What have I done? *** As the scrap slid from his fingers into my hand. He seemed to grin in a way that made his lips part too far back along his cheeks. Baring more teeth than he should have. His eyes became hooded with knowing and he purposefully licked his lips. “Good, Girl.” “What are you?” I whispered. He quirked the corner of his mouth and twitched his fingers in a motion away from me. Making my blanket jerk off me so fast I yelped as it piled at the foot of my bed. Revealing me lying in only my scanty undergarments. I crossed my legs to better conceal myself from his view. Draping my arms across my chest and hooking the opposite elbows. “Immortal.” He answered simply. “Is all you need know.” He stared down at me from next to my bed, like I was some naïve little animal, eying him. He drew a long breath and the moonlight dumped into the room. Brightening my taupe carpet and making the cream-colored walls seem inexplicably white. Making my skin luminesce. “Who are you?” “Ah, Little Sweet. Now that is the question you should’ve been asking all along…I am Dorian Gray. And I’m here to fuck you.” *** “I don’t…” I was shaking my head. “I don’t know-I think…I wasn’t…” “You do want me to.” He responded as though I was wasting his time with all my blustering. And damn him, he’s right. I could already feel my juices flowing in my soft pussy. And my body was begging to feel him. There was such knowledge in those gray eyes that I knew he could satisfy me. Take me to new heights of pleasure. And I was eager to let him stuff inside me. To feel him all over me. “Now, first.” He made some small hand gesture that was too fast for me to catch. I heard the creaking of my bed posts and looked at the one nearest me. Seeing the winding bits of wood representing vines untangling from around the large post. It rose like a serpent and stretched over to me. Weaving and bobbing as it seemed to float before snatching one of my wrists. Spinning around it before I could react. I squawked and clawed at it with my other hand. Yanking my arm in a desperate attempt to free it but the wood was unrelenting. In moments, I felt the jerk of another catching my other wrist and yanking it back at the same time one snatched my ankle and began pulling me down the bed. They both retracted and tightened until I was stretched taut over my sheet. The final one catching my other ankle until I was well and fully pinned down. I was gasping. My small breasts straining against my bra as I panted for air. My brown eyes huge as they stared back up at Dorian’s satisfied gray ones. “Now,” He said decisively, spinning his cane so the flat end was pointed at me. He hit a button and a small, curved blade snapped free from the side and folded straight out. He’s going to kill me. I began twisting and dragging my heels across the bedding in truth. I opened my mouth to scream, but he shot a hand out sideways and my black nylon stockings flew across the room from the chair, into his empty hand. His fingers locked around them and he shoved one in my mouth behind my teeth. Pinning my tongue down and making it so I could make no sound. I flailed and tossed resisting being silenced while he stabbed me. But he simply stood there with the pointed tip of his cane facing me. And my stocking draped over the fingers of his other hand like a casual wine glass. He lifted it to his face and took in the scent of my skin. “Your aroma is…tantalizing…” He purred. “I can’t wait to fill you. Stretch you until you writhe in pleasure and scream with the agony of overwhelming sensations. For tonight, Sweet Thing…You’re well and truly mine… 04 Touched by Dorian Gray He took that curved blade like a hooked finger and swept it under the center of my bra. “Off with this.” A quick jerk shredded the garment and sent it tossing open along my arms. Exposing my small breasts and the large, pointed nipples. Already erect as if awaiting a mouth on them. “Now,” He tilted his head to look at the tiny panties barely covering the small dusting of hair covering my sex. “I can’t get inside you with that in the way, now, can I?” He caught one strap over my hip with that blade and shredded it. Making them whip open to expose me. He moved down the side of my bed to catch a fistful of the loose satin and yank, making it snap free of my other thigh, so I was entirely visible to him. Spread open and gagged. His to be had. I shivered. Somehow terrified and exhilarated. Knowing how vulnerable I was and that I could do nothing to stop him when he chose to crawl over me. And put his hard cock inside my softness. He was right. I was his toy now. And he would undoubtedly pleasure himself inside me. I was panting behind the gag. Watching him with eyes both afraid and excited. What’s he going to do to me? *** “Don’t look at me that way, Sweet Thing.” He cooed. “I’m only beginning the fun. He spun his cane in a smooth motion that made the diamond shaped bit of crystal point at me. He reached over and lightly tapped it against the wood frame of the bed. Again, I wondered if he was trying to break it, so he’d have something sharp to stab me with. But even I saw the lack of rationale in that. He could’ve just stabbed me with the knife if that was his intent. Suddenly I understood when he lifted the cane and I saw the bit of crystal vibrating wildly. He put it against my sternum just under my chin and drug it down until it rested between my breasts. Somehow the heat of my skin and the energy of my flesh filled it. Making the crystal shake harder until the soft flesh of my breasts bobbed side to side against it as if I rode a train. “Do you feel it?” He asked. “The pleasure of a cold touch? An inhuman touch on your body?” He dragged the cane thoughtfully across my body. Tracing the mound of one breast until the vibrating crystal shuddered against the high, thrusting brown nipple. “Look how tasty you look…” There was praise in his voice. I could bite that nipple while I have your legs wrapped around me sinking into you. Holding you still for me while I work in and out of you until your nails bite into my back. I wanted to try to ask from behind the gag, how I could do that when he had me completely restrained to the bed. Instead, I held my silence and chose to take it as a hopeful sign he didn’t intend to keep me that way. *** He retracted that cane and I suddenly felt very cold and bereft. My skin tingling as I yearned for more of his touch. He tinked it against my bedframe again and I worried it would break but it didn’t. Somehow designed for torturing women in this way, it was heated and vibrating as he slid it over the curved plane of my belly and down to my lower lips. Turning it so it moved inside the lips. Making me moan and writhe as much as my restrained legs would let me. He took the time to frame each of my legs with the heated stone. Slowly dragging it across me until my skin felt alive with need. He tinked it on the frame again and then pressed the tip to my lower lips pressing one aside then the other as he stood at the foot of the bed. Turning his head admiringly as he gazed at my shape. I was moaning and begging behind my gag, but those small desperate sounds only seemed to make him more inclined to take his time. I turned my ankles in an effort to close my thighs around the stone. I wasn’t sure if I was trying to force it deeper or shove it away, but I needed something. Urgently. “There’s nothing more beautiful…” He murmured. “Then the need on a woman’s face as she is craving being fulfilled. Her pained anguish as she yearns for the feel of a man inside her…Nothing is more erotic…” “Please…” I managed to beg around my gag. “Please take my time?” He lifted a black brow over a gray eye. “Don’t worry Sweet Thing. I always do precisely as I wish. I’ll torture you as long as it makes me hard. And then I’ll shove my cock inside you when I’m ready to feel your heat biting down around me. And touch every inch of your flesh as though I own it. You’re mine tonight, Sweet Thing. For whatever I wish.” “But…” I tried to murmur around the gag. Why me? “There’s no buts now, Sweet Thing. When you brought my portrait into your house you invited me inside you…” 05 Pierced Then he tapped that crystal again and this time he angled the slightly rounded diamond tip, so it separated my lower lips and touched my core. Then without preamble, he thrust the stone and bit of wood inside me. I arched and tried to withdraw from the sudden intrusion but found that neither was as sharp or uncomfortable as I feared. They were somehow smooth. And the stone was heated like someone’s hand had been around it and the wood containing it was icy cold, creating a contrast that sent my nerve endings quaking. The vibrating feel of the stone shuddering inside me had me pressing against the cane as if begging for more. I was flexing my ass so I could slide slightly up and down on it. Though he held it in place the vibrating was creating a wicked friction that was still stirring me to mindlessness. “Now you can speak.” And he yanked the stocking from my mouth. “My God…” I breathed. Whimpering as the vibrations made me shudder again and again. Finally, my whole body clenched, rolling forward into as much of a ball as the restraints would allow. It felt like some wildly pleasurable seizure as every muscle in me bunched and shivered then released. Sending wet surges pouring through my core and slicking the staff he was gliding slightly in and out of me. “You love that, don’t you?” He asked. Lowering his head. His gray eyes burning me with his intelligence. He knows the body of a woman. The sounds of her pleasure. And how to offer it in such tiny increments that when she cums it’s like a small death. I realized it suddenly and now understood the mystique and fear surrounding myths of Dorian Gray. And I wondered if I would survive whatever he was going to do to me. *** “Now.” He said decisively. Retracting the cane and withdrawing all that pleasure he’d just offered me with it, he dropped it with a thunk next to the bed. “You’ll do that around my cock, Sweet Thing. I’ll feel every inch of your pleasure rip through you.” He shucked his clothes so quickly I didn’t know what he’d tossed off first and the moonlight seemed to glow along skin that might’ve been too pale on any other man but just led to his immortal appeal. His eyes seeming that much darker as he came up from the foot of the bed. Locking eyes with me as he purposefully crawled up the bed. I could see that he had a large member, and it was already swollen and veined. A slow grin turned his features, and he followed my gaze. “Oh, yes. I’m ready to be inside you. And it’ll fit. Just might take a minute.” Or more. I cast him a fearful gaze. But his grin was unflinching as he dropped his weight over me. I felt horribly vulnerable knowing that once he was inside me there’d be no getting him out. Not how I was restrained. With wooden posts binding me down. *** His hands roamed freely over me. As if he owned me. Just as he’d said they would. He was touching me everywhere. I’d never felt so possessed by a man. I could already feel the rigid tip of him probing my entrance. He swayed his hips side to side to peel me open for him. Giving a satisfied moan when he felt how soaked I was. Ready for him. Moaning in pleasure he entered me. Sliding in and straining my walls. Even in this he was methodical. Gliding inch by inch and opening me further then I’d ever been stretched. I was starting to get nervous and realized I’d tightened around him like a fist until he could move no further. His breathing became ragged. “Gripping me like that might make me spill into you far faster then I’d intended. Are you going to let me in, Sweet Thing or will I have to force my way?” I drew a shaking breath. “That’s it.” He encouraged. “Breathe…Relax. Let me burrow all the way in…” And he did. I moaned and my back arched as I was pierced more deeply than I’d ever been. Feeling him stretching every wall and pushing at the tiny fabric of skin deep beneath my pelvis. Even as he stopped there it felt like he was still swelling inside me. Widening and lengthening so I had to wiggle my hips to adapt to him. “Good…” He coaxed. “Now how would you have me, Sweet Thing? Soft and loving and pillaging and taking?” *** I knew what I wanted but didn’t know how to tell him. And was somehow afraid of the consequences if I said it aloud. His gaze roved my face, and a knowing look came over him. He’d had countless women over the centuries he’d lived, and he’d learned to read the face of a woman who wanted loved and a woman who wanted possessed. It was always there. Written all over her if one looked deep enough to see her darkest desires. And Dorian always did. “You want taken.” Sweat from the nervousness began to bead on my brow but I nodded hesitantly. Still, I was somehow not prepared when he put his hands to each of my biceps to pin them down and turned his face into my neck to bite me. His teeth sinking in just enough to be painful and keep me still but not enough to distract from the weight of his cock jamming into me until every part of my body strained. My breasts smashed into his chest as my body arched to accommodate him but had nowhere to go, between the restraints and his pinning teeth. “Mmm.” He growled at my vulnerability. Beginning to charge in and out of me. Banging hard against my soft lower lips as he rammed into me over and over again. Stretching me until I cried out. At first it was from the pain when he pierced deep but that abated and soon it was the deep pleasure of his roughness. His furious taking as though I were his slave, and he were declaring his ownership of my flesh. Page Break 06 Pillaged He palmed my breasts and nibbled down my neck until he could bite my shoulder just below my collar. Holding me in place while he tweaked my nipples and twisted them slightly. Making me lurch up slightly as he met my thrust. Pounding into me even more deeply. I squeaked in pain at the shock of what I’d done forced him deeper. He growled animalistically. Both of us were already covered in sweat. I came again. Whining as the pleasure became overwhelming and I clenched around him. But he didn’t slow down. Continuing to drive into me relentlessly which only pushed me to newer heights. “Please, Dorian!” I begged. “No. You’re mine.” *** Just as I thought he’d cum and the relentless slamming into me would stop he whispered a word. “Release.” The posts of my bed snapped free from around me. The wood vines creaking as they retracted and wound around the wooden corners. Hardening as they stilled and became all that they’d been before. Harmless. He caught my hip and yanked it with him as he slid over the side of the bed. Guiding my feet under me and forcing me to stand. He kicked my feet and had me walking forward. We rounded to the end of the bed, and I stared down at my black and gold shoe chest. “Kneel on it.” “What?” I looked over my shoulder. “You heard me.” He shoved me down on it. My knees automatically folding to bear my weight. He caught my narrow waist and scooted me forward until the front of my thighs were over the footboard, keeping me from going forward with his weight behind me. My only choice to try and get some space was to scoot back and he was already there. But this time I felt his huge, rigid cock rubbing my puckered little hole. “Not my ass.” I whispered fearfully. I’d never been taken that way. “You’re afraid?” He asked. “Yes.” I whispered. “Good.” *** He angled himself and began pushing inside. The pressure was intense. Slowly I began opening and let him in. “No!” I cried out. Gripping the footboard as my back straightened. “Ah, ah.” He chided. Clucking in his cheek as he pressed my back down until my nipples grazed the blanket. “Let me have it.” “I…” “I asked you what you wanted, Marissa.” He’d stopped moving as if posing the question again. But I was shocked into stillness by his use of my name. “How do you know my name?” “I know everything about you now, Marissa. From the moment I entered you, I absorbed all things about you.” *** It seemed painfully intimate. That just by being inside me he could know all things about me from my name to the fact that I’d always been curious and afraid of how a man would feel in my ass. He knew. I was certain of it now. “That’s right, Marissa. You want me here.” And he finished pressing into me. Filling my ass until I felt that my hips had to part to make way for him. “Dorian!” “Stretch for me, Marissa. Let me have your pretty little ass. I can feel you sucking me in. Your body trying to drag me deeper even while you scream.” I knew he was right. Even the intense pain of raw nerves being touched, and flesh being stretched in new ways wasn’t enough to stem the exhilaration of the pleasure tearing through my body with each inch he was deeper inside me. The feel of him completely impaling me made me feel as though he owned me. “Dorian!” I whimpered just as he was fully in me. His pelvis pressing my cheeks apart. “There you are…” He purred. “Oh, you feel good. Your tiny hole sucking me like the best mistress…I’m going to cum in you now, Marissa and when I do, you’ll become fully mine…Forever…” Before I could pick apart what he meant, my body spasmed in pleasure. My back craning back toward him. And feeling his abdomen tightening as he buried deep inside me. Spilling hot fluid inside me. “Yes, Marissa!” He gripped my hips so tightly his knuckles turned white. His head threw back and he moaned my name again. Like some sacred prayer. “Marissa…” I felt a piece of my energy escape. Seeping out of me and charging him. He moaned at the feel of it, and I felt him shiver. I looked back at him and saw his hair lengthen slightly and become shinier. Even the tiny wrinkles at the corner of his eyes smoothed until he seemed even younger. And I felt myself beginning to wrinkle along my hands and at the edges of my face. He was stealing my youth but somehow, I didn’t care. My mind dulled and I realized all I wanted was to belong to him and to do what made him happy. “Now, Sweet Thing.” He leaned forward to kiss my shoulder. “Take my painting to that address…” He backed away. I watched over my shoulder as he gradually faded into the dimming blackness until he seemed to vanish into my wall. His face dissolving over the skeletal image of him until it aligned once more with his face. Becoming that mesmerizing portrait again. When I stood up, I looked in the mirror and was vaguely surprised at what I saw. I saw an old woman. With withered skin and flesh hanging from her arms and stomach. Eyes that seemed bleary and too tired to care what I looked like any longer. I sighed mournfully and rounded the bed to pick up the address. Feeling like I’d not sleep until I got the portrait to that address. I must do what he wants. I must please him. I have to see him again…It was all I could think. As though nothing else in the world mattered any longer. THE END Part of my Filthy Fairytales Short Erotic One Shot Series BOOK 1 - STOLEN MERMAID BOOK 2 - WITHIN THE FRAME BOOK 3 - A SINGLE TASTE BOOK 4 - THE CERISE CLOAK BOOK 5 - RED & WRATH (The Sequel to The Cerise Cloak) BOOK 6 - MY KING

SUMMARY: When a single bath in the woods catches the eye of something a bit more than mortal, I could’ve never foreseen the consequences of the path he’d lead me down. But my Jason meant the world to me, and I’d not be led astray. Not by even the most tempting morsel. But could I resist so easily, the most tempting creature to walk between realms? That’d prove a less simple feat. But one wrong choice could land me in the fey realm for all of eternity. How far can one woman’s self-control bend before it breaks? Especially when presented with the most delicious things. How much harm could one, tasty, little bite do? 01 Caught Bathing I knew how my maids would’ve warned me against bathing in the creek. Knew they’d be upset I’d wandered so far into the woods by myself. But I enjoyed the slight sense of adventure. My father had even taught me to hunt, which had only fed my desire to always be out here. There’s something mystical about the peace of the woods. I caught another handful of the sun-kissed water and let it drizzle coolly over my skin. Washing away the heat and sweat of the morning spent entertaining other ladies in the gardens of Millen Manor. I felt the cool touch of the water dancing around my ribs and occasionally sloshing up to brush the underside of my breasts which hovered just above the surface when I stood in the water. My small, hard nipples tightened against the breeze that wafted through the trees, teasing them. I heard a branch crack and I ducked into the water. Peering at the border of the trees, I glimpsed the shadowy cloak of someone standing just beyond the dense branches at the border of the far side of the creek. I saw brown eyes looking back at me from between a few lower branches. I made long eye contact with the stranger. A man who was watching me bathe. *** “What are you doing here?” I queried in the boldest voice I could muster. Wondering if he’d soon be dragging me out onto the bank to force his way into me. Holding me down while he rode me. I’d seen it happen to the maids often enough. Though they didn’t object, the act itself seemed unduly violent. “What are you doing in my woods?” He moved further along the trees. “This is Millen Land, Sir.” “Not hardly.” There was a low chuckle. And I could feel his eyes roving over me as if he touched me. Though I could only see the shadow of the top of his head. “I’ve owned this land since long before any of your kind existed here.” “Who are you?” “Who are you to intrude in my woods, in my water?” “It is none of your affair who I am. As I said, my family owns this land.” “You’re a Millen gel then?” His voice was husky. Feeling almost like velvet across my skin. In a way it made me yearn to throw back my head and feel that voice rumble along my vulnerable flesh. “I am a bathing woman, and you have no place here.” “I could haul you out of that water.” I grimaced, his threat hitting far too close to where my own fears had lain just a short moment ago. “And I’d scream loud enough to rouse the house out to your pretty woods.” I threatened venomously. He laughed. “Full of fire, aren’t you, Sweet Thing?” “You’ve no idea.” “I plan to, though.” “Oh, and how might you manage that?” “I’m a hard man to resist.” He said simply. Then I heard leaves and branches cracking. Sensing he was leaving. *** I slipped from the water and caught my nightdress from the branch dangling over the water. Where it let the hem just brush the swaying surface. I tossed the billowing garment over my head. Cinching the laces that tightened the waist as I rose from the water. I looked down and saw where a bare foot had stood on the grass watching me. His foot. I couldn’t resist following the trail a little ways. Seeing his tracks marking the path he’d taken. I put one of my bare feet into the mud where his had been and saw a flash of a dark castle. Festively lit by endless candles. Cheerful laughter filling the room and the most delicious scent of roasted duck billowing around me like a foggy cloud. His words echoed in my head. I’m a hard man to resist. I brought my feet to a screeching halt. I envisioned my Jason’s face. My precious fiancé. The man who loved me no matter what. I’ll not betray him by wandering into the woods after another man. But turning around was the hardest thing I’d ever done. Every fiber of my being was screeching for me to follow the man’s footsteps. Discover where he’s gone…Who he is. But I didn’t. I began walking back toward the creek. Toward where I knew there was a small crossing bridge that lifted over it. But just as I reached the fragmented land bridge, I heard the pounding of thudding hooves. I glanced sideways in time to catch sight of a giant stag lurching from the trees. 02 Castle of the Fey His great antlers jutted out like wild tree branches. Twisting like ancient twigs. It was by far the biggest deer I’d ever seen. Something that can’t exist. He was bigger than a horse. And stampeding toward me. His cloven hooves tearing through the moss and foliage along the forest floor. Throwing up clods of dirt around his shoulder as he rushed. I knew I should run but I was frozen where I was. Unable to move. My feet had suddenly sprouted roots that wouldn’t let me go. “No!” I shouted, tossing my arms over my face to protect myself. The stag didn’t even slow. Just lowered his head to scoop me onto his antlers. I shrieked and balanced amidst them. My hands pricking on the sharper points. Tiny bits jabbing into the back of my legs as he carried me at this roaring pace. My voice became one long resonating scream. *** I didn’t know how long he’d run because I’d been too busy clinging to him and trying not to fall before him to be trampled underfoot. But hanging on was like clutching the top of a rushing carriage. Little to hold on to. The trees became strange as we went further. The leaves turning a gilded shade. Shimmering gold as each shined like a precious stone. We brushed under them but didn’t dislodge them. As if these trees weren’t alive. They’re something else. Permanent centurions guarding this place. As we drew near, their lower branches lifted like arms rising to let us pass. They rattled and clattered like made of armor. As they peeled open, I was stunned to see what was revealed. A towering white castle. Made all of shining marble. *** It was the most gorgeous structure I’d ever seen. With tall parapets and gold rooftops. White balconies framed by gold rails. It looks like something from a dream. An unreal place. Soon the stag reached the drawbridge and it lowered before us for him to cross. Then the massive gates to the bailey swung wide and even the double doors of the castle flew open. Their black ringed handles thudding along the wood as we ran by. We slowed as we entered a grand banquet hall. The click of wooden cups on tables ceased. And gowns of every shade of spring swept over the room. Beautiful women with heavy curls piled atop their heads hung on the arms of silver-eyed men. The way they moved was ethereal. Slow and somewhat disinterested as they turned to watch the stag entering the center of their Banquet Hall. As if it is the most natural sight for them to behold. Every piece of furniture I saw was embroidered in gold. And upholstered in rich red velvet or dried furs. Everything is beautiful. Every woman, man, bit of furniture, chandelier or tapestry is stunning. I was paralyzed by the sight. And somehow as the stag lowered me the great antlers became arms that set me on my feet. I turned to look and found myself face to face with the man that’d watched me bathe. “Now, Sweet Thing, ask me who I am?” I licked my lips and tried to gather my composure. Realizing that the room had silenced the moment he spoke. “Who are you.” “I’m king here. King of these woods. King of this land. King of all things Unseen. And you, Sweet Thing are in my court now.” “What does that mean?” I asked nervously. “It means that a single taste,” He lifted his finger pointedly. “Of anything within my hall and you become mine forever.” “And if I taste nothing?” “If you can resist the temptations of my Castle, for one night, then you may return home.” “How many people have left your Castle?” “None so far.” He took a step back to gesture at the number surrounding us, proudly. “But I must warn you, you will end up in my bed.” I was already shaking my head. Thinking of my fiancé. My Jason. But the Fey King leaned forward and pressed his lips to my ear. “Oh, you will. And I’ll be buried to the hilt in you.” I shook my head with my mouth gaping but was afraid to deny it for fear that he’d only become more adamant. I could feel I was on tenuous ground already. He’s all powerful here. I didn’t have to see the way those in the court watched him to know. I could feel his power everywhere here. It was all consuming. Like a flavor on one’s lips which touched from every direction you turned. Like his fingers could stretch from any corner. This was the sort of place where hands would reach from walls to caress you while you slept. 03 Temptations The Fey King turned my shoulders and faced me toward the endless table. And I instantly wished he hadn’t. There was any tasty little morsel that a woman could desire laid out before us. On a platter next to me where the ripest red strawberries I’d ever seen, still heavy with fat droplets of dew as though they’d only been plucked moments ago. Next to them were pieces of dark chocolate chunked into squares. Beyond that was sugared pastries. Drizzled with icing and stuffed to brimming with blackberries and apples. Glazed vegetables glistened in the center, as if covered in a layer of wax. Beyond that was the roasted duck. So aromatic that its rich buttery flavor was already caressing along my tongue. And surrounding it were tiny baked quail. There was a boar which had been slowly cooked over flames hours ago perched at the other end of the table. A ruby apple looking crisp from its mouth. Bits of yellow fruit strung over its back. Wine and steaming tea filled pitchers along the table. It looked like enough food to feed all of Millen house for a year. I’d never seen so much to eat in one place in one night. “What is all this?” “It is the sweetest food you’ll ever taste. The most satisfying meats you can imagine. The ripest fruits to ever cross your lips. If you don’t take a bite, you’ll regret it for the entirety of your life…If you do…” His voice dropped meaningfully. “Then you stay with me, forever.” “I have someone back in the city.” I said slowly. Trying to rip my gaze from the food and blinking hard to resist staring at it. My hand was lifting without conscious thoughts to reach for a pastry. I had to push it aside with my other to stop myself. What’s happening. “Is this fey magic?” “Call it fey magic. Call it human temptation. Whatever you wish to define it as, it’s the same thing.” His low, rumbling voice, sent goosebumps coursing over my flesh. Making me shiver as his merest touch brushed along my skin. I wanted to lean back against him. Drop my head to his shoulder and feel every inch of his length pressed along mine. To learn his body as well as I know my own. I’d never felt something so overwhelming. I was nearly dizzied with the sensation. *** “I won’t touch any of it.” I said. My voice weak even to my own ears. Already I was less sure than I’d have told myself an hour ago, I would be. “Why wouldn’t you want to?” He teased. Turning me to face him. I found myself staring up at magnetic brown eyes. Eyes that when I looked into, I noticed tiny green and gold flecks. Irises which seemed to swirl in a hypnotic way. Perfectly symmetrical features. A square jaw and a straight nose, dark brows beneath a few loose curls of dark brown hair. Everything about him seemed to exude life. But these people are trapped here for an eternity. I told myself. Looking back at them and wondering how many of them might’ve been the same as me. A simple girl bathing in the woods lured here by the Fey King and his dark magic. *** At some point the King had begun swaying me side to side and now had me fully dancing in his arms. Far closer than was appropriate. My body molded to his as we moved as one. I noticed that everyone else was dancing in slow intimate movements around the banquet table. The same as we did. As if they are bid to mimic his every movement. He twirled me and I realized that my billowing white nightdress had now turned a shining red velvet. Etched in green vinery across the low bodice and winding around my waist to send curling vines over one hip. I gasped at the sight of the fine garment. “You’re a beautiful creature.” He brought me against him again. His hand linked tightly with mine. As if I might try to escape. He held our hands aloft above our heads as he tilted me to walk sideways with me to the steps of beating music that had suddenly begun somewhere in the hall and now echoed off every wall until it became a rising crescendo. Humming along my flesh and vibrating my most intimate places. I gasped and my head fell back as I felt quaking between my thighs as if an earthquake shook me with its ferocity. “So beautiful.” He leaned forward to palm my throat and caress a slow hand down it’s column to span the top of my chest below my collar and sliding further until his long fingers brushed the rise of my breasts. And lower. Suddenly he caressed a fingertip and a thumb over the distended nipples. Rubbing them in quick short movements that matched the vibrating low in my body. Everything in me tightened and I blew a long breath. My next tone caught, and I stumbled a step in the dance as I tried to clutch my thighs closed. My back arched and a vicious climax tore through me like a whirlwind. Ripping from my core to wind through me. Like wild currents that didn’t stop until they crackled from my nipples to reach his fingertips. I was almost shrieking in pleasure. My hand clutching his overcoat to hold myself up. He gave a deep chuckle as he turned me again. Somehow making my feet lift in step to the dance despite that I was suddenly so weak I was clay in his hands. 04 Not the Last When my body stopped shuddering and my back was able to bend from the rough curve it had clenched into, I found myself staring at him helplessly. “What was that?” I queried. “That, Sweet Thing, was only the first of many I’ll give you.” He looked over my head as he spun me again. “So, many…” And as he turned me again, I stared at him in horror because despite my certainty that I could keep from plucking up even the merest bit of food in honor of my sweet Jason, I was now very sure that I had no hope of keeping the Fey King from possessing me until the morning. He grinned and his gaze brightened on my face. “Ah, there it is…Now you know.” “Know what?” “The surrender is there, in your eyes.” I noticed there was some heavy accent to his words. As if the human language was foreign to him. But it wasn’t any accent that I knew. He’s utterly exotic. Inhuman. *** He dipped me backward in the dance and there was an explosion of bedding as I fell into his giant bed. Nearly spanning an entire room. Though I was sure he’d catch me anywhere I landed on it. “I can’t.” I objected wanly. “Jason…” “Jason isn’t here.” His face was between my breasts. Lathing his way down my sternum and kissing wetly along my ribs as if he were tasting me. Like I’m the precious morsel. He licked the underside of my breast and trailed it up to latch his mouth over my nipple. Tossing the blankets back around his shoulders. I couldn’t even remember him taking off my dress. But I recalled the sound of ripping fabric. Was that him tearing my clothes or me, his? I was almost too terrified of the answer to remember. But I was so dizzied by his touch that it was nearly as if I was intoxicated. What was happening to me seemed to go in and out in fragments. The haze of pleasure was nearly overwhelming. My hands had wound through his dark hair. Feeling the silky thickness and tangling in it as I clutched him to me, desperately. As if I was afraid, he might stop. Please, please stop. I thought. Because it was becoming increasingly obvious, I couldn’t gain the willpower to stop him. His hands were everywhere. Touching me in slow swirling caresses that left me panting. The more sounds I made, the more fevered his touch became. “I’m going to possess every corner of your flesh.” He kissed up my neck. “Fill your holes until every part of you is yearning for me.” The truly terrifying part was that I was certain he was right. *** “Jason...” I murmured. “Your ‘Jason’ isn’t here, Sweet Thing.” He showered kisses from one side of my neck to the other and down my body. His lips felt like satin. His hands followed the curves of my hips to reach beneath me and scoop my buttocks. Guiding my thighs open as he drew me to him. I’d never felt so many sensations at once. Heat, his hands which seemed to be everywhere, smooth lips touching my most intimate places. His knowledge of my body exceeded my own. He knew every place to kiss or caress that set me on fire. He leaned his pelvis forward and I felt the heavy weight of his member dragging along my crease. I gasped and gripped along the bedding. Searching for something to hold onto. To anchor me to reality. *** His fingers slid from beneath my ass cheeks to touch along my entrance, rubbing in circular motions. “Please!” I begged. “Please, what, Sweet Thing?” “Stop! Please stop.” I gasped. “The wetness of your body tells me you want otherwise.” He continued his ministrations. Working his nimble fingers as he looked at me steadily. “Is that really what you want?” I wanted to nod. But despite all my commands, my body wasn’t cooperating. “Could you imagine...” He caught one thigh and guided my leg with a sweeping caress to fold over his hip. Flattening his palm on the outside as he dragged it more roughly back up the length to reach my hip, side, ribs and breast. Palming it as he pressed me down. He did the same with his other hand on my other leg as he slowly, methodically leaned over me to whisper near my forehead. “If I stopped now. If I left you like this, walked away before you were filled, left you yearning and wanting.” He kissed my bangs lightly. “I could you know, if that’s what you really want.” He moved lower so he could look in my face, waiting. I was mesmerized by his green flecked, brown eyes and perfect features. His skin was smooth. Shimmering nearly gold in the flickering light of the nearby fire. Which danced over his flesh. His lips were swollen and hungry. His gaze nearly starved as it roved over me. I could physically feel how ravenous he was. His deep desire to take me. To feel my wetness wrap around him and my body suckle his as I took him in. I was panting in short breaths. Just trying to breathe. I was drowning in sensations. In his need. And I could do nothing other than fulfill it. I lifted my hips to him as an offering. “Take me?” He grinned, slow and evil. And he jerked forward and glided into me in one smooth thrust. *** I yelped. Reaching to grab his shoulders with biting nails as I felt my body abruptly open for him. Swallowing him in. Tiny fragments of me giving way to make a path for him until he wholly filled me. Entering me before I could object. Before I could think. Of Jason. My poor Jason. “There will be others.” He whispered against my cheek as he rhythmically moved into me. “Other men who will,” he groaned in pleasure. “Want you, feel you. And offer themselves to you. Jason will not be your first.” He leaned up to grin at me. Because that is now clearly him. “Nor will he be your last.” But that seemed almost ominous. Like a threat that he will be my last as well. 05 A Crescendo I shook my head. Trying to sweep away the daze of feelings I was experiencing. Think of something else. The sin of this moment. For a moment I wondered how many women he’d had. How many have been taken in this castle? In this bed? He was moving over me. His smooth body, slicking with a sheen of sweat as he slipped in and out. Stretching me to accommodate his length. Then moving back out. At first, I was very still. Unsure what to do because I was so shocked by the sheer intimacy of having a man’s body in mine. His thighs moved within the nest of mine. His ankles draping over mine. One hand caressed leisurely circles around my breast. The other held my cheek as his lips descended. Tasting mine from different directions as he stuffed me full. “Please...” I begged. Not even certain what I was asking for. “Not yet, Sweet Thing. Not nearly yet.” *** I understood why soon after that. Muscles in my body began to draw tight as a bowstring. My knees curled up slightly. My toes winding tight. My back bent at an angle I’d never contorted before, dropping my weight to the back of my head. My hips shoved themselves more firmly against him to meet his writhing thrusts. Even when he ground his hips into circles against me. Dragging himself through me at different angles. I made some short, primal, female noises as he took me. Soon writhing beneath him as everything in me tensed. Then I exploded. My body feeling like it shattered into a million fragments. Lights burned behind my clenched eyes and the air became purer. My nostrils filled with his alluring male scent. My nails raking into his back and down his arms only made him give a low, pleased chuckle. He wants it all. All of me. I suddenly understood that with him I could do no wrong. As long as I’m beneath him. At mercy to his sway. “Let me go.” I croaked. He laughed unsympathetically. “Why would you ever want to leave. When I could take you each night. Cover you in this sweat. Bring you to these heights and watch your towers crumble night after night until you are vulnerable to only me. Mine entirely.” “And who would you belong to?” I countered viciously. Trying to gather something to put between us, at least mentally. “You.” He pushed into me hard to make his point. “Don’t you feel that I do right now. You have me. My most vulnerable places at the mercy of your body. The things you could do to harm me.” His voice dropped dangerously. “To please me...” Why did he make me shiver when he said it like that? *** Before I could even clear my muddled mind, he sat up and caught my legs tighter around his waist. Working into me more deeply and becoming more feral as he took his pleasure from my body. I wanted to resent him. Wanted to feel filthy for what he was doing to me. But looking at his chorded, beautiful body, all I could think was that I wanted more of him. I want to possess him. I want him for mine. But instantly a tiny voice asked me how many other women had lain beneath him in this bed wondering these same things. I won’t be one of those hapless women! I promised myself. But despite all my valiant thoughts, I came again. Quaking around him. Vibrating him inside me as my walls caved to suckle him warmly. Taking the wild spurting of his pleasure deeper within me. Touching my very womb with the evidence of his animalistic ecstasy. “See, Sweet Thing?” His head fell and his dark eyes were on me again. He was very still, buried inside me. “I told you it would be like this. And don’t we belong to each other now?” *** Before he could say anything more in that persuasive, appealing voice, I lifted off him and skid between his elbow and hip to slide from under him. Rolling to my feet and taking the sheet with me. Twisting it around me hastily. “No! I do not belong to you!” I looked out the window and saw the first glimmers of an orange dawn creeping through the gold trees. Making the light explode of their gilded leaves. “See! It is morning already!” I cried. Pointing triumphantly. “And I ate none of your blasted food!” The fiend had not won. My body may have surrendered shamelessly to him, but my spirit has not. He sighed and rolled onto his back. A pillow tucked behind him as he sat up against the headboard. Carefully inspecting his fingernails. “Be careful you don’t annoy me in your triumph, Sweet Thing.” His voice held a harsh, commanding note now that warned me of something bad. My stomach sunk. Why not? What more will he do to me? 06 Freedom I had earned my freedom, hadn’t I? He can’t take it from me. I ate none of his food. I recalled the conditions he’d put on me here. I was staring at him, waiting for him to make some move. But he made none. I picked up my dress but found it tattered as though a bear had clawed through it. Apparently, it had been my dress tearing. That answered that question. “There are more in the armoire.” He gestured with a thumb to a vast wooden construction standing near his side of the bed. Still seeming preoccupied with his own hands. Hands that’d been all over me. I stepped over his white dark shirt and realized it too was in pieces. I tore his clothes as well. I’d been in great haste to feel his skin. The images of me touching his chest before he’d shoved me back on the bed, came in flashes. How I’d caressed over him reverently. Wanting to feel every part of his body. *** Closing my eyes against the images I fled to the armoire. Tossing open the doors to grab the first dress I saw. One of silver satin with shimmering lace over it. I snatched it out and climbed into it. Not even bothering to do the fastens on the back, I clutched it to my chest. “Which way is out?” Giving me a lopsided grin, he didn’t move. After what seemed an eternity, he slid from the bed onto his bare feet. My gaze was instantly drawn to his cock. The bare piece of him that had sunk into my flesh. It was large and imposing. Making me take a step back as I wondered if he’d take me again. Certain I could no more resist him now then I already had. As my gaze slid up, he smirked. And he was instantly dressed. His clothes from the floor gone. But what he wore now, was in pristine condition. Fey magic. *** He walked toward me, and I turned to bolt but my feet locked in place. His arms draped over me, placing a white cloak over my shoulders then circling before me so he could drop his face into the crook of my neck. A touching gesture for one so wicked. Jason had held me like that, but it had never felt so intimate. So blatantly sexual. But Jason wasn’t as tall or dominating either. I swallowed hard. Realizing I didn’t want to move. I wanted to enjoy the way this felt. I felt warm, safer than I ever had, sheltered in his arms. As if he’d look after me all of my days. Probably how they all felt when he trapped them at court. I told myself. Forcing the bitterness back. And driving me forward from his arms. I could feel him behind me. Staring at my back but saying nothing. “This way.” He finally whispered. I barely heard the words before he caught my arm and turning me to lead me before him out the doorway of the chamber. Down the stairs. He tugged open the dual front doors and let the morning sun pour in and disperse over the marbled floor. Brightening the room. I didn’t look back at the banquet table. Afraid I might be tempted when I was so close to freedom. *** He walked me out the doors and to the trees. Then everything became blurred flashes as he pulled my hand. Guiding me through the woods expertly. But too fast for me to remember how I’d gotten there. Soon the trees grew thick and dark, and we stepped through them to reveal the creek where I’d been bathing. “Just know...” He stood next to me, staring at the water rather than looking at me. “you’re the first one I’ve ever let go. And to do that when you have something so precious to me, speaks to how remarkable a woman you are.” I frowned at him focused on his first words. “Let go? You couldn’t keep me. I ate nothing.” “I didn’t say eat, Sweet Thing.” He turned his head to level that brown gaze on me, coldly. “I said taste anything.” I gasped and put a hand to my lips. Realizing what he meant. I’d tasted him. I vaguely remembered nipping him. His kisses, my lips showering wet kisses along his chest. I blinked at him in horror. “Now you see...” He blinked slowly. “I am indeed, releasing the pretty little bird I’d caught in my web.” I wanted to ask why but was too afraid of the answer. “Just remember that what you have, is still mine. No matter what your precious fiancé says.” There was bitterness with a tinge of annoyance marking his voice. I was quick to defend my love. “His name is Jason Charters, Lord Charters.” I said proudly. “He’s a good man. The best I’ve ever known.” “Good. I wouldn’t want you with anything else. Nor for else to raise my offspring.” He turned and was stepping through the trees. His dark figure already being swallowed by their depths. “What?” “My son. You may marry the man but my son you name after me. A bit of remembrance to comfort you all the nights you’ll lie awake thinking of my touch...” He didn’t look back. I took a step after him to keep him in view a moment longer. “I don’t even know your name!” I squawked. Praying he was wrong. About all of it! What he’s saying is insanity. “Bodin.” He called back. His voice fading into the woods as he vanished. Leaving me there alone. As if my life hasn’t changed forever...

SUMMARY: She was my obsession. A beautiful creature I couldn't stop thinking about. And when another mermaid told me how I could be with her, I couldn't resist. Captivated by her hypnotic appeal I had no choice but to see if the myth was true. To see if I truly could have a taste of the forbidden... 01 My Obsession It was the fourth day in a row that I’d come out here to watch her. After having come across her by accident on my dawn walk three sunrises ago. She had come here near a grassy edge of the shore to use the long leaves from the trees above as a rag to shine the scales covering her legs and those molding up her sides and shimmering over her bountiful breasts. Her body is enough for any man to obsess over. He told himself. Staring riveted. Especially as she used the leaves to rub her breasts in a circular motion. The scales climbed around the sides and stretched over the huge breast nearly like a hand covering it. But the creases beneath and aside were visible. And they made me hungry. I wanted to lick all over her. I knew it was wrong because she wasn’t human. She’s some kind of an animal. But the indented curve of her waist was nearly too small to imagine. Easily grasped by large hands like mine. Then her hips were deliciously swelled as though designed to take in a man. But those scales covered everywhere I wanted to be. Between her legs and deep inside her. I’d stared hungrily at her. Desperately trying to figure out how a man could mate with such a mesmerizing creature but could fathom no way it’s possible. Which only made me harder for her. There has to be a way. She turned her back and peered over her shoulder at me as she had the last two days. Letting the water slip down her bare back. Droplets winding over smooth elegant flesh. She has the skin of a princess. Not some manner of fish. I’d never seen a woman so fine of form. With such large breasts and a tiny waist and lush hips but I assumed that since she resided underwater, her body could be shaped different. Still, I wanted her. And she wants me…I think. She was blinking at me through hooded eyes as she used the leaves to wash the curves of her smooth hips, lightly dusted with gold scales. Then she turned and leaned against the bank. Leaving only her tail swishing slowly in the water. Revealing the fin which broke into two pieces seeming entirely contrived of fine winding strands. Like bits of sea moss stitched together. She closed her eyes and sighed. Rubbing the leaves low along her belly and writhing as though she were pleasuring herself. Now. I could catch her now. I shifted where I was crouched. Badly wanting to taste her skin to feel her heat. I wondered, not for the first time, who’d really come here to see who. *** The first morning I’d stumbled across her bathing she hadn’t seemed to notice me, and I’d paused to watch this hypnotic creature in a trancelike state, where I’d seemed unable to move. Staring at her, fascinated. The second morning I’d rushed out here early to await her. Hoping I might see her again. As she’d swam in, her gaze had flitted over the bank until landing on me crouched near a rock. She’d maintained eye contact with me as she swam far enough in that the water became shallow enough, she could turn and lean up out of it. Making that pearlescent skin glitter damply in the morning sunlight. Begging to be touched. The third day had been nearly the same as the second, but she’d been staring at me as she was now. Washing herself while she looked at me. Lips parted as though she were aroused at the fact that I watched her so intently. Crouched again behind the boulder. This morning she was even bolder. Laying on the grass and writhing. Grabbing at handfuls of it as though a man were mounted atop her taking her. She grabbed fistfuls of grass surrounding her like she needed to clutch at something in her throes of passion. Her pale cheeks flushed with arousal and her tail was jerking more roughly as though she were being ridden. She tossed her long waving red hair along the grass. First one way then the other. Then she admitted a primal, female moan that had me aching. It was enough to make me groan with yearning. Having to shift myself in my breeches. Damn her. She was teasing me. I knew it. She knows it. 02 Hunting My Desire Still, I was obsessed with her. I could think of nothing else. While having some milk and eggs, I found myself staring into the bottle of creamy milk thinking of how it matched the perfect shade of her skin. Skin I wanted to lick from top to bottom. I want all of her. But how? How does one mate with a mermaid? The question plagued me. Keeping me from eating or drinking. I tried a glass of sherry after a scant dinner that evening but the dark red shade of the liquid made me think of the shade of her hair, soaked from the sea. What would it look like dry? All piled around her? It made me tighten low again just wondering such things. I wanted to feel the woman. I was certain my reaction was not uncommon. I knew the lore of sirens that could lead men to their deaths. I remembered the moan she’d emitted while she writhed seductively in the grass and I could see how it would drive a man to pursue her into the water until he drowned. That sound echoed hauntingly in my ears. God, I want her. I wanted to sink into her heat and plant deep. Then watch her lips part as they had and hear her moan that sound that made me hard just thinking about it. Then I wanted to pour cum into her soft body. My dreams were haunted of images of me riding her. Her clawing at me, whimpering and panting with need. Then writhing beneath me as she had on that grass. Damn her. I thought as soon as I woke. Having to touch myself to sate the wild need running through me. *** It was the fifth morning now and the sun had barely risen when I threw on my clothes and rest into the expansive gold and red corridor of the palace. “Good Morning, Your Highness.” My Knights nodded in greeting. “Going out again, My Prince?” The Butler asked me near the door. “Indeed.” To watch my little siren and see how far she goes this morning. But something was bound to change this morning. I could feel time was running out. Sensed the little tease would only enjoy torturing me so long. If I want her, I need to figure this out soon. Before there comes a day, she doesn’t return. It made me hasten my walk out to the grassy bank. Crouching behind the familiar boulder and watching for her coming in. She started by stopping on a flat boulder a distance from the shore. She slithered out, bouncing along the surface made her bountiful breasts jiggle beneath the scales. “Mmm.” I growled in my throat. Once fully atop the rock she rolled onto her back and lightly began stroking her chest and belly as if soothing herself as she soaked in the morning sun. Streamers of long red hair were scattered over the rock and draping into the water. She’s perfection. *** “You wish to mate with her, don’t you?” A rasping voice near me drew my attention. I glanced sideways and spotted a gray-haired woman peering just above the water. Her eyes were large and nearly red. Though her features were slim and fair there was something ominous about her that unsettled me. Perhaps the red eyes. I stared at the woman creature who only blinked those red eyes at me. Her nose and mouth concealed beneath the sloshing water. She floated eerily along the surface as though one with it. She turned up her face, so her mouth was above the water and her rasping voice rose again. “Do you want her, Little Prince?” “I do.” I said quickly. Easing further back from the water. Wanting some distance between myself and this darker mermaid. If that’s what she is. *** “Take her onto the shore…” She rasped. Her eyes large and smiling with some hint of triumph. “What?” “If the sun sets and she is not in the water, her fins will turn to legs. Then you can have her.” “Human legs?” “As human as yours…” She nodded. “Her flesh will appear as human. For you to take, if you wish it.” I looked over at the red-haired seductress sprawled on the rock and imagined myself climbing over her. Making me ache below the belt. “I do. I do wish it.” “Then take her.” The strange woman gestured to the beauty drying on the rock. “Make her yours…But” She lifted a finger. “A word of caution. You can’t listen to her. If you hear her voice, you’ll obey her.” That worried me. Wasn’t I just thinking how the voices of sirens had driven men to drown? And how I might follow her voice anywhere? I eyed the strange woman a long while. “Why would you let me have her?” 03 A Captivating Captive “We don’t like Ari.” This female said simply. “She steals the attention of our men. She’s a wanton. She lures them away from us. A taste of captivity would do Ari well.” Ari? So that was her name. It suited her. I shot this strange woman-creature a quick look. My black brows shooting up as I knew my blue eyes were awash with curiosity. Wanting to know more. It was true that the woman I desired touched herself as if she knew the pleasures of being with a man. Still, she exuded some bit of innocence that made her twice as tantalizing. I wondered briefly if I could believe this creature divulging so much. “Well,” She cocked her head. Blinking just those red eyes against the bobbing ocean surface. “what will you do?” I ripped my gaze from her and stared at the one I so badly wanted. “I’ll take her.” The woman nodded in approval and without a word more she turned, and I heard a large splash. Glancing over I saw the hint of a gray fin before it completely submerged. “Remember…If you hear her, she’ll own you.” With that, the eerie woman was gone as fast as she’d come. Her haunting, rasping voice echoing along the rocks. I shuddered. Glad she was gone. And I focused on my prize, my fingers digging into the boulder at the prospect of possessing the creature. *** I waited excruciatingly as she swam in. Inch by inch. Her gaze roving to spot me behind the boulder. My usual spot. Then she climbed half from the water and scrubbed herself with leaves as she often did. Her gaze locked on mine and her head lowered as she gave me a sultry stare. Rubbing her body in that massaging way that made me want to replace her hands with mine. Then she splayed on the bank as she had yesterday. Preparing to give me that teasing show again. But while she writhed and tossed her head, swaying her hips up and down as if meeting the thrusts of a man, I suddenly snatched her biceps which were stretched near her head. She squawked and I put her wrists in one of my hands and swept around to cover her mouth. Sitting on her chest and holding her down made her pant for air. “Quiet.” I put a finger to my lips. “And I’ll uncover your mouth.” She nodded under my hand. I slipped my grip away but immediately used a bit of cuff from one of my shirts to tie over her mouth. Her blue eyes went huge in shock. I used another strip of my shirt to bind her wrists and then without letting my grip stray from her for even the merest moment, I skid sideways off her and swept her into my arms. She yelped under the binding over her mouth and flailed in my grip. Tossing her large fin like a wild fish. But I was relentless as I headed toward a cave high on the sandy bank. My personal sanctuary. No one knew of its existence, so it was my favorite place to hide from my father and palace responsibilities. “You’re mine now, Sweet Mermaid.” I whispered against her temple. Little Ari. *** She reached to rip the cloth off her mouth again. I stopped and knelt in the sand to roll her onto her belly. Untying her wrists over her head and knotting them behind her back. This seemed to really startle her. Her grunts and rapid words beneath the cloth became more desperate. Short screams followed. She’s truly scared now. I could tell. The further I went from the water, the more panicked she became. Once in the dark cave, I expertly made my way to a furthest corridor where I knew there was a smoke hole in the stone ceiling, so I could start a fire tonight. I plan to stay with her all day. And try to keep my hands off her until she turns. But already feeling her cool, slick skin was having an effect on me. As she tossed against me, she sent her bobbing breasts smashing against my chest more than once. Making me wish I could put her down and have her now. Even her struggles were making me crazy. What is it about this creature? I hadn’t felt the same dangerous hypnosis when I’d seen the red-eyed one, as I did when I looked at this one. Though this one was far more alluring. *** I tied her hands to a heavy boulder so no matter her struggle she couldn’t free herself from its weight. She was glaring at me heatedly. The binding covering her mouth. Several hours had gone by and she seemed determined to escape. Struggling every time she worked up the energy again. Grunting behind her gag. And glaring at me as though I’d betrayed her. I was sure she was probably hungry but didn’t know what to feed her and I didn’t dare ask her. Afraid of what she’d say if I let her speak. Probably tell me to drown myself in the sea. I winced at the idea. “Do you eat fish?” I asked. Logic making me guess that’d be her main staple. She hesitated. Sitting up and sliding her hair along the stone wall behind her as she gazed at me in the dimness of the cave. After a time, she gave a hesitant nod. “Stay here. I’ll bring you something to eat.” She wouldn’t. I’d already determined she was fierce enough, she’d not wait docilely for her captors return. 04 Her Grip I used a quick-catch net and soon had three different kinds of fish to take back to her. I rushed back to the cave and stood outside it a moment. Waiting. Is she escaping? Has she changed? But it was very quiet a long time. Until I heard the abrupt slap of her tale against the stone again. Still a mermaid. I ducked at the entrance and made my way far enough into the cave that I could just make out her outline against one wall. “I brought you a meal and stuff for a fire. I’ll get one going.” I untied her hands when she nodded, agreeing she’d not speak. She ate quickly. Eyeing me warily. When she’d finished, I immediately put the gag back and tied her back to the heavy boulder. She tossed her head and objected wildly. Her tail slapping the stone loudly in agitation. Clearly annoyed with me. After a time, I leaned against the wall watching her. Waiting to see if she changed. At some point the warmth of the small fire must’ve gotten to me because I found I’d dozed off. I heard scraping along the stone which woke me, and I saw Ari managing to free herself from the bindings. She leapt onto two feet and sprinted toward the cave entrance, pausing at the turns as she was unsure which way to go. She’s got feet now. It must’ve happened while I rested. It didn’t take me long to catch up to her. *** I wrapped my arms around that tiny waist and lifted her off her feet. She squawked and I quickly fought to put the binding back between her teeth while she kicked wildly and hammered small fists against my forearm. But she was so tiny it seemed like the struggles of a fruit fly. “Come back here, Pretty. I’m nowhere near done with you yet.” I hauled her, somewhat annoyed, back into the cave. Frustrated that I’d nearly missed my opportunity. That won’t happen again. I tore what was left of my shirt to make several bindings. Pinning the knots of the first one under a huge boulder then dragging her down to tie her ankle and pin those knots under another boulder and finally the same for her other ankle. Until she was nearly completely immobilized on the sandy floor. She still twisted and dragged her knees along the sandy floor as she attempted to fight the restraints. I stood between her ankles to admire her body. She looks like a goddess. Her hair had fully dried and was wild, red waves splayed all over the cove floor. Nearly mimicking the deeper shades of the dancing flames. The orange glow tossed over her pearly white skin. Making it nearly glitter. There was a pile of gold scales where she’d been pinned before. She’d shed them. Now the only gold was a small nest of glinting hair atop the crux of her thighs. And her nipples still glittered gold. The tiny numbs shimmering under a sheen of it. Making resisting tasting it seem nearly impossible. And her legs…Those legs… *** They were as perfect as the rest of her. The thighs were plump and soft. Looking juicy to the touch. Narrowing flawlessly to the elegant sway of her knees and calves to slim ankles and delicate feet. Kneeling between her ankles, I scooped the outside of them and lightly trailed my fingers up the outside of them. Testing their form and the firmness of her glinting skin. I had to slide between her knees to reach her hips, following the curve to her tiny waist before trailing the lines of her pelvis back down to her center. As much as I wanted to touch her there, I sensed it’d be too soon. I splayed my fingers on the inside of her thighs and spread them apart. Looking up to her face, I saw her huge blue eyes round in shock. Her gold tipped breasts were heaving as she breathed heavily. Afraid or excited? I wanted it to be the latter. *** I moved back to her feet. Standing I saw the way her gaze roved over my bare torso. The entirety of my shirt was what kept her tied down and gagged so my sun-browned skin was available to her gaze. She stared openly at the muscles of my chest moving as I touched her. And the skin bunching over my rippled abdomen. She likes the way I look. I realized she’d stopped struggling. Wanting to offer her more I slowly unlaced my breeches and skid it down my thighs. Carefully guiding my cock from my pants. Her eyes became a bit wary. Scared of the unknown. I registered there was no way that she was the wild seductress the other mermaid had claimed. She might be a seductress of the first kind, but she knew nothing of the ways between a man and woman. And feared the size of a heavy cock. She’s innocent. I felt a moment of guilt but knew I was too aroused now to stop. And she was curious enough her gaze was still roving hungrily over my body. I finished shucking my pants and tossed them aside to stand before her. Letting her look her fill. She jerked her head at me as if asking me to come closer. Brow furrowing, I obediently walked over. When I straddled her hips, I looked down at her and saw her flexing the fingers of one hand. Watching her in suspicion, I undid a few of the knots in that bit of cloth, freeing her hand several feet. She shocked me when she lurched to a sitting position and caught my cock in her fist. 05 Her Curiosity I gasped, afraid she might yank but to my surprise she merely fingered its length. Eying it in awe. I wanted to take the cloth off her mouth. Hear what she’d have to say. If I could understand it. And I wanted to watch her lips part in excitement or see when she licked them in anticipation. I felt I was somehow robbing us both by stealing her voice. She closed her fist fully and I hummed in pleasure. Lowering to my knees over her belly to give her more access. She began tightening and loosening her grip. Giving me a questioning grip. I reached to put my hand over hers. Guiding her hand up and down and showing her when to tighten it, to melt me. She caught on quickly. Stroking me more thoroughly. I gasped in pleasure at the smooth slickness of her grip. Letting her have her way with my body. I leaned back onto my palms and let her eyes take me in. She watched the way my belly tightened every time she stroked away from me then relaxed as she slid her hand back down. She watched greedily. I was instantly wondering if she’d be so starved to take my body into hers. *** I noticed that beneath me she was writhing her hips up to meet each stroke. Instinctively knowing the movements. And I badly wanted to feel her. I lightly tugged myself from her grip and climbed back down between her ankles. Stroking her long curved legs. I’d always been weakened by the legs of attractive women. And hers are perfection. I stroked her heel and began rubbing my hands up the inside of her legs. Inching forward on my knees until I was between her thighs. I caught my cock and began rubbing the tip in circles along her thigh. She blinked rapidly at me. Lurching up to watch. She gave me a quizzical look, so I moved to her center and lightly began rubbing her push lower lips with my tip. Her brows shot up and I knew that behind that gag her lips would be parted in delicious surprise. Once I felt she’d moistened enough I caught one of her hips and leaned over her, dropping in a push up over her body and I held her hip still as I lightly began to enter her with just the tip of my rod. Feeling her warm flesh peel open to make way for me. Then suck me tight once I was in. As if wanting to pull me in deeper. And I want more. But I waited. Letting her dampen and her gaze become hooded with pleasure. Only then did I grunt and push further. Entering her enough that her walls had to stretch, and her knees rose slightly as though she’d try to block me out. Her fingers flexed and her neck strained. So, I paused. Deciding I couldn’t do this with her all tied up I reached up and unknotted her wrists. Still planted partway into her but unmoving. I’ve never taken a woman bound and had no desire to now. If she’s curious she should get to touch me as she wishes. Learn my body as I learn hers. She leaned up onto her elbows to give me a shocked look. She tentatively reached for the mouth cover. I shook my head no. “Leave that on. Please.” She frowned, brows drawing together but slowly lowered her hands. Is she going to run? 06 A Brutal Taking She made no move to go so I slid out of her and leaned back to untie one ankle, then the other. I waited a moment to see if she’d jump and run away. When she didn’t, I felt like it was an agreement to what I intended to do to her. So, I felt less restraint as I entered her this time. I paused midway in and then thrust hard. Nipping at her shoulder. She gasped but I felt no barrier. Perhaps not as innocent as I thought. But it only fueled my desire for her. My willingness to take her a bit more roughly. As I planted deep in her warmth, her legs drew up to hug my hips and I yearned for more. I cupped her large breasts, knowing they spilled over my fingers as I fondled their softness. Then I thrust into her hard again. Taking her body fully. Her head fell back, and her throat worked. I rode her violently, pounding into her woman’s cushion as I’d craved to do all those mornings, she’d caressed herself and writhed in pleasure in the grass. I heard her moan again in my mind and felt myself grow fiercely hard. I was thrusting hard into her. Holding her hips in place to receive me fully. Watching her breasts ripple upward then sway back down with each hard pulse. Her body was a rhythm, and I was savoring every movement. She lifted her hips as if wanting more so I gave it to her harder. Seeing her skin blush red and a sheen of sweat covering her body as she moaned behind the gag. *** She suddenly popped her head up. Watching between us where I arced up to enter her then withdrew. She watched greedily and it made me want more. I caught her breasts and used them as leverage to pull harder up her body. Sinking in so deep I felt her furthest barrier. Making her whimper. In pain or wanting more? I paused to look at her. But she took advantage of the moment, to hook me with one leg and roll me aside. To run? But before I’d even completed the thought she slid up to her knees and caught my staff beneath her. Lining it up with her hole and then slamming down brutally on me. “Ahhh.” I moaned in intense pleasure. Feeling my balls tighten. But she was far from finished. She lurched up sliding to just the tip and then doing slow circles on it before dropping back on me as viciously as she had a moment ago. I lurched up feeling even my toes curling. She continued riding me wildly. Tossing her hair over her shoulder like a wild mare as she ground against me. Slipping up then slamming down. Her claws embedded in my chest as she greedily took my body. When I was close to climax I grunted, gritting my teeth. Her nails dug in harder, and she twirled her hip in long circles. Dragging her body up and down. Up and down until I spurted hot cum into her. Catching her hips and yanking her down hard on me. While I stabbed into her. Her breasts swinging like great pendulums with every motion. Her hips rippling as they tightened and then relaxed. Taking me in deep as her inner walls sucked me better than any mouth I’d ever come across. Sinking me in deeper. As if her very pussy were hungry for my cock. Her back arched and she moaned wildly beneath the gag. Her gold tipped breasts jutting upward on the bountiful skin. As I came my body grew weak and I slumped in exhaustion. She was staring at me intensely and I could no longer resist knowing what she’d say. I caught the gag and yanked it down her neck. She blinked huge blue eyes at me and said one demanding word… “More.” THE END Part of my Filthy Fairytales Short Erotic One Shot Series BOOK 1 - STOLEN MERMAID BOOK 2 - WITHIN THE FRAME BOOK 3 - A SINGLE TASTE BOOK 4 - THE CERISE CLOAK BOOK 5 - RED & WRATH (The Sequel to The Cerise Cloak) BOOK 6 - MY KING