Chapter 22

Book 2

It was well after midday when Lilitha woke in Damon’s arms, smiling and aching, the forest floor hard against her hip. He was watching her, eyes gleaming behind a haze of auburn hair, his horns shining against the afternoon glare.

Damon brushed her hair away from her shoulders, kissed her neck, her jaw. Lilitha curled around him, gripping him tightly. He gently held the back of her neck and kissed her on the mouth.

“How do you feel?” he murmured against her lips.

“Happy.”

“Things will be different now. I’ll look after you. Love you.” He nuzzled her ear. “You’ll meet the clan. Your family.”

“Are they like you?” she asked nervously.

“Of course.”

She bit her lip.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “They’ll love you as much as I love you. I promise.”

He kissed her again.

She licked her lips and pressed her forehead to his, his horns straddling her head.

The forest looked different now that she knew she had nothing to fear. It helped greatly that it was a sunny day, the light streaming through the leaves and warming her shoulders.

Lilitha strolled by Damon’s side in only her boots. Damon wasn’t even wearing those, his boots and britches keeping her cloak company somewhere in the trees. They held hands as they walked, their eyes wandering over each other’s bodies. They kept tripping over things in their path.

Laughing, Damon swung an arm around her waist. He was tall and broad and beautiful, so much better than the sullen, hooded figure who had guided her, or ~mis~guided her, through the forest over the past few days.

She took in his features eagerly: his strong jaw, his full lips, his gleaming jade eyes, his long red hair cascading down his back, his muscled core. She blushed and smiled at the sight of his shaft as it bobbed between his legs. Then she turned to his horns. She swallowed. Then there was his lashing tail.

He smiled at her curiosity. “Did you want to touch them?” He kneeled before her and craned his neck, long hair falling back in a sweep. Lilitha hesitated. “Come on. They won’t hurt you.”

She tentatively traced her fingertips along his right horn, following its length from the top of his ear, along the curve, to its blunt tip just in front of his forehead.

“They’re so smooth,” she said. She grasped them both, stroked them, patted their points with the pads of her fingers. They were strangely warm. “Do you feel me touching you?”

“Yes. They’re not as sensitive as skin, but they’re similar.”

“What are they like? Are they heavy?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. They just feel normal to me.”

Still stroking them, Lilitha looked over at his tail. Her heart sank. She ran her hands down her backside. Damon grabbed her hips and pulled her close.

“Don’t be sad,” he said. “This should be a time of gladness. We have each other now.”

She gave a half-hearted smile. Grinning mischievously, he pressed his mouth to her bellybutton, blowing against it until she giggled and squirmed in his grasp.

“It tickles!”

“Tickles, does it? Well, maybe you’ll like this better,” and he inched up, mouth against her waist, her ribs, her breast—

There, he stopped, enjoying himself. Lilitha rolled her eyes, letting his tongue swirl and suck and ravage her nipple until she gasped and clutched his head against her.

Pulling away, he looked up, panting, eyes glassy.

Lilitha bent low and kissed him. “Later, I need to go and find Clara.”

He growled. “I’m getting tired of hearing about her.” He pulled her against him and licked her bellybutton again.

“Damon! I mean it.”

He released her with a sigh.

Hand in hand, they passed through the clearing where they had first made love. It looked smaller than she remembered. The trees were gouged and broken.

“You were so angry,” she said.

“Yes. I’m sorry. I’m an alpha. I get emotional sometimes. Particularly around females.”

Lilitha was studying the gouges as she donned her cloak, wondering what he could have done to a human body. Damon put on his boots and britches and carried his cloak over his arm. He wore his britches low, his tail sticking out above.

“We shouldn’t delay any longer,” Lilitha said. “We need to get Clara to Mainstry.”

“She’s not going anywhere.”

“What?”

“I was never going to take her to Mainstry. It was all a ruse to ensnare you.”

“I understand that. But now that you have me, what need do you have of her?”

“It’s not about need. It’s about survival. If she returns, she will speak and all human beasts will soon know of our weakness.”

Lilitha frowned. “What do you mean? What weakness?”

“If she returns, the humans will question our ferocity. Instead of fearing us, they will learn to hunt us.”

Lilitha shook her head. “It would take much more than that.”

“It is a beginning.”

“Her intent is to hide.”

“She will be discovered—and questioned.”

Lilitha folded her arms. “She cannot, ~will not~, stay out here.”

He gave her a wicked grin. “And how, pray tell, do you plan to get there? You don’t know the way, and you cannot overcome me, though I might let you ~try~.” He sniggered.

“This is no joke.”

“No, it’s not.” He frowned. “Do not mistake my jesting for insincerity. My life, your life, all the lives of our clan, could be in the balance if she speaks, if she is found. She cannot, ~will not~, leave.”

Lilitha sank her feet into the ground. “I will get her there, and you won’t stop me.”

She stumbled as he seized her wrist and pulled her close. He bore down on her, more devil than man. Suddenly, Lilitha didn’t see Damon but a monster, and for several heart-stopping moments, she imagined what it would be like to be devoured by him. ~The slaughter~. Remember the slaughter? She swallowed.

“Try to leave, and I will catch you. Your friend tries to flee—and I will slaughter her.” He spun her around and held her against him. Pressing his lips to her ear, he said, “Doubt not my love, but doubt my fury even less. Obey or suffer the consequences.”

Lilitha thrust him away, stepping back in dismay. He was glaring at her, silent and motionless, as stark as one of God’s sculpted angels—or demons.

His face softened. “Lila, I won’t hurt you. I will never hurt you. You must understand that I am an alpha, and it’s my duty—and instinct—to protect you and to protect the clan. It’s what keeps us alive.” He held out his hand. “Come. I will take you to her.”

Lilitha stared at his hand. Her eyes darted to his horns. Then they fell to his soft lips. Hesitantly, she took it.

His hand was warm in hers as they walked. They were close enough that their hips kept brushing. Lilitha winced at a sudden rush of pain in her bottom. As quick as it had appeared, it was gone.

Damon noticed. “How do you feel?”

“I think it’s getting better—whatever it is.” She looked up at him questioningly.

“Your body is changing—it ~has~ changed.”

“Why? How?”

“You know.”

Lilitha lowered her eyes to her feet as she nodded.

“You will be different now. Stronger. Healthier. Fertile. Your gut has changed. Your vision will be sharper. As for your tail—things would be different. It’s trying to be what it cannot be.” He sounded sad. “I hate that. I hate that for you.”

It didn’t take long before they reached Clara’s location. Damon released her and kept away, disappearing back into the trees. “Remember, I’m watching,” came his voice.

Lilitha searched her surroundings. “Clara?”

There came rustling, then the sound of footsteps. “Lilitha?”

“It’s okay. It’s-it’s safe.”

Clara’s golden head appeared around a tree. Instantly, her eyes filled with tears, and she rushed over. “You’re alive!”

Clara wrapped her arms around her, and Lilitha hugged her back.

“What happened? How did you get away? All that roaring!”

“I was with Damon,” Lilitha said. “He protected me—and you. The monster was out doing…whatever it was doing.”

“Oh, so he’s back.” She frowned. “But isn’t ~he~ the problem?”

“He’s not what you think.” Lilitha could have laughed at the truth and lie of it.

“Is he going to take us to Mainstry?”

Lilitha sucked in a breath. “No.”

Clara stared, aghast.

“I want to tell you so much,” Lilitha said. “You don’t know how much. But it’s all so—unbelievable.”

“We must leave, Lilitha.”

“We must not. Damon has warned me that the monsters will take you—us—if we try.”

Clara narrowed her eyes. “A warning—or threat?”

Lilitha sucked at her bottom lip.

“I do not trust him. You do not trust him. It is dangerous here.” She looked around the trees. “I feel it. If we stay, we die. Or, at least, ~I~ will die.”

After Damon’s alarming threat, Lilitha couldn’t deny it. Clara was right. It might be days or weeks or years, at his hand or the other Diablons’, but it would happen. They would kill her.

Clara had to escape.

“I’ll think of something.”

Clara gave her a wary look.

“Don’t look at me like that. I ~will~,” Lilitha snapped. “But let me work things out. We need to be cunning and safe.”

“Whatever you need to do.”