Chapter 21

The trees flashed by as she ran. She could hear Damon smashing through the forest after her. She tried to pick up the pace, but he was incredibly fast and strong.

There was a loud ~crack!~ just behind her, so loud it made her ears ring.

Lilitha screamed.

“Stop!” he roared.

Knowing she couldn’t get away, she skidded to a halt and spun around. ~God,~ ~look at him~.

He was more beast than man: skin and hair glistening with sweat, chest heaving, teeth bared, growling deeply in his throat.

His horns were raised, tail swishing behind him like some demonic lizard.

“I won’t hurt you.”

“You have a funny way of showing it.”

“What did you expect? Don’t call me a monster. Don’t call yourself a monster. Listen and see!”

Lilitha stared at his horns, so chilling, so incredible. She grabbed at herself.

“Come to me.”

“No.”

He stepped toward her, holding out his arms, long red hair spilling down his broad shoulders. As much as he was terrible, he was striking.

Lilitha stared into his eyes—his ~eyes~—unable to look away. He took another step, then another. She didn’t move, was ~unable~ to move, her loins fighting with her brain.

Then he was upon her, kissing her. She couldn’t resist him. Looping her arms around his neck, she kissed him harder.

His skin was slick with sweat, his tongue sweet and cool. He felt so good against her. So ~right~. Like she’d been waiting for him her whole life. He lowered her to the ground.

The tips of his horns gouged troughs into the earth on either side of her head. He kissed softly, softer than she did him.

There was a second loud ~crack!~ and she realised it had come from his tail, coiling and releasing like a whip up behind him. Incredible. Terrifying. Unbelievable.

He released her mouth, turning his mouth to her cheek, her eye, her nose, then her throat, kissing her all over. She gasped as he sucked.

He was pushing his hips against her, his shaft sliding along her wetness, searching for her opening. Lilitha clenched her legs together. With a grunt, Damon dropped a hand between them.

“Lilitha. Let me in.”

Why she was bothering to resist now, she didn’t understand. She’d already lost. She’d already given in. A last feeble attempt to fight her instincts. And they ~were~ her instincts.

She understood that now. She gazed up at his horns and found they didn’t scare her as much as they ought to, if she were good, if she were sane.

The same with his crimes, the same with his so-called evil. Nothing mattered except his touch, his mouth, his love. She relaxed her thighs.

He slid inside easily. Lilitha welcomed him, slick and ready. She clutched his biceps with a gasp as he kissed her again.

Then he sank his face into her neck, muttering gentle words in her ear as his auburn hair fell in a haze around her. Cupping her breast, he lowered his head, fondling her nipple with his tongue.

Then he growled and clenched his hands into fists as he began to pump into her furiously. Lilitha cried out, her entire body prickling with pleasure.

She could feel him swelling inside her, filling her up. Shifting her hands from his arms to his backside, she gripped him tightly as she rocked with him.

He was driving into her fast and hard, his panting turning to grunts.

Lilitha gripped the base of his coiling tail, demanding he thrust harder, his cock hitting that wonderful spot again and again in such quick succession that her body hummed with ecstasy.

The world around them faded, then disappeared. The forest dissolved. The ground beneath her lost all substance. Anything outside her own delicious sensations ceased to exist.

Then Damon lifted his head, and Lilitha saw his agony, how he strained, how he gasped for breath. It made her heart swell and heightened her own coming to know he got such pleasure out of her.

Unable to contain himself any longer, he arched his back, threw his head up high and roared into the night.

He released inside her over and over again, and Lilitha gasped as she clenched hard around him, pulling him in deeper, drawing in his seed. He slowed his thrusting, then stopped.

They lay together, Damon inside her, his heart thudding in time with hers, Lilitha’s vagina throbbing around him. Above, the trees rippled gently in a light breeze.

Except for a noisy cricket and their ragged breathing, all was quiet. Eventually he stirred, giving her a long, lingering kiss before slipping out of her.

He lay on his side, smiling uncertainly as he ran his fingers through her damp hair. “You all right?”

She nodded. “You?”

He kissed her nose. “Silly question.” He gripped her hand, entwining their fingers. “I’m sorry if I frightened you. I didn’t mean to.”

He cupped her cheek, brushing her lips with his thumb. “I understand this is all so confusing.”

“I didn’t really mean what I said.” She looked at him desperately. “You’re not evil, are you?”

“No.” He kissed her. He pressed his forehead to hers, keeping his horns safely tilted away. Lilitha eyed them warily.

A cool breeze snatched away their heat and they tightened their embrace, trying to keep warm.

“I have a lot of questions,” she said.

He gave a throaty chuckle. “I’m sure you do.”

“Did you really murder all those Champions?”

He tightened his grip. “Must we talk about such a thing now? Ask me something else.”

“No. It’s important.”

“You must understand, Lilitha. We are what we are. Just like you feast on beast flesh, we feast on human. We cannot live without it.”

“I’ve lived without it.”

He ran his fingers through her red hair, then reached down to grip her bony hip. “No, you haven’t.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

He sighed. “Why do you care when all they were trying to do was hurt you?”

“I don’t care about that. All I care about is what you’ve done.”

He looked into her eyes, hard and cold. “Then yes, I did.”

She looked away, heart clenching in her chest. “I could not do that.”

“Yes, you will—and must. How you’ve managed to survive so far is a miracle.”

“Don’t you feel pain? Don’t you feel guilt?”

He gently gripped her chin, forcing her to look at him. “They are beasts, Lilitha. The sooner you realize that, the better.” He released her. “We can deal with this later. Ask me something else.”

“How did you know about me?”

He smiled. “Better. The first time I suspected was our encounter on the night of the slaughter as you lay quivering beneath me.”

“I thought that was you.”

“Yes.” He smiled, brushing his fingers through her fringe. “I’m sorry for scaring you. I didn’t know.”

She closed her eyes as she recalled the horror of that night: that terrible growl, the feel of the monster’s breath upon her neck, the screams in the distance.

“Would you have eaten me…?”

He ignored her question. “I scented you, as you must have scented me,” he said. “But I could not believe it. A lost Diablon living among humans?

“Not possible. I wanted to investigate more, but then Mateus struck…”

“Mateus?”

“The other alpha in our clan. You’ll meet him.” He stiffened against her. “That man…”

“Which man?”

“That man you were with. The knight with the golden hair.”

Lilitha turned her eyes away. “What about him?”

He was quiet a long moment. “Nothing.” He brushed away the tear rolling down her cheek. His mouth was hard. The tendons were sticking out in his throat. His biceps were bulging.

How much had he seen? How much did he ~know~?

Lilitha nuzzled into him, kissing his throat, his collarbone, his shoulder. She kissed him along his chest, and he gently clasped the back of her head.

She reached his lips, and he smiled. “I haven’t finished with my story.”

“Go on then.”

“I followed you. Keeping an eye on you. Seeing who you were, what you were like.”

“I sensed you, I think.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “Like a prickling right here.”

“I liked watching you eat. The way you licked yourself. The way you drank it down. Delighting in it. I liked feeding you, especially your first few times. You were like a child.”

Smiling at her, he brushed the hair away from her ear. “Feel better?”

“I feel…different, for sure.” She swallowed. “But I don’t feel good about it. How could you…how could you make me… You tricked me.”

“I didn’t trick you. I lied.”

Lilitha blinked rapidly against the tears filling her eyes. They choked in her throat. He was stroking her back. Slowly, he trailed his hand down lower. She shifted with a gasp when he found her scar.

“Don’t. Leave it.” She tried to pull his hand away. “It’s ugly.”

“Don’t say that. None of you is ugly. I’m sorry.” He laid his warm hand against it. “I’m sorry for not being there. I’m sorry for not stopping him. For not protecting you.”

And he said it with such heartache that she almost burst into tears. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to let the agonizing memories of all her countless abuses and beatings overwhelm her.

“~Humans~,” he suddenly spat. “All they know is how to cause pain and wreak destruction.”

Lilitha opened her eyes. “And you don’t?”

He glared at her.

She looked away, gazing into the canopy, blinking away a tear. “Father was right. Look at me now: here, with you. I am everything he said I was.”

“Is that~ really ~such a terrible thing?”

Lilitha touched his lips, his cheek, then dared to touch the tip of his left horn—so dreadful, so awesome. She gazed into his eyes, unable to respond, the answer stuck in her throat.

Damon smiled.

—End of Book One—