Chapter 67

The next evening, they continued their journey. Mateus and Carmella walked alongside Lilitha. Damon followed behind, still upset and angry, hidden somewhere in the trees.

“I thought we were already home,” Lilitha said.

“Not quite,” answered Silus from up ahead. “Just a little farther. We’re a little too close to the edge of humanity.”

Carmella smiled at her, and Lilitha blushed. She was certain the female Diablon had heard her and Mateus’s lovemaking. Lilitha gripped Mateus’s hand tighter.

“Can I look?” Carmella asked.

Lilitha paused, then nodded. Carmella was careful as she pulled away her underwear and bandages. “Oh, Lilitha.” She put them back and they continued walking. There was a deep crease between her eyes. “It looks painful.”

“It ~is~ painful.”

“They will pay,” Mateus growled. “They will ~all~ pay. Damon should have killed him.” He bared his teeth.

“I couldn’t leave her, Mateus,” Damon snapped back from the trees.

“He helped me instead,” Lilitha argued. “You would have done the same.”

“It wouldn’t have taken much to slit his throat.” His tail whipped out with a crack.

“He was armed,” Lilitha said.

Mateus scoffed as he lowered his horns. “So am I.”

“Besides, it wasn’t as though it wasn’t already mutilated.” She halted, suddenly realizing. “What happened to my father? My ~human~ father, I mean?”

Mateus gave her a mischievous look that answered everything. Lilitha’s eyes widened.

“It’s not like we could drag him along,” Mateus said.

“Or that we would bother,” Damon added from behind.

“You—you mean…” Her throat was dry as she swallowed. “Have we—have we been ~eating~ him?”

“Maybe. Possibly. Likely.” Mateus shrugged. “They’re all one and the same now. One big meat pie.” He snorted.

“I got the privilege,” Damon said. Lilitha looked over her shoulder. He was close now, red hair damp with sweat and plastered to his shoulders. His horns gleamed. “He got what he deserved—I made sure of it.”

Mateus snickered.

Lilitha turned away, not knowing what to think.

The clouds became thick, blocking out most of the moonlight. Wet leaves brushed against her damp skin. They passed over a creek, Lilitha allowing her bare feet to splash through the water. It was incredible how well her feet were holding up, their path unexpectedly cool and soft.

When they reached the other side, Lilitha suddenly felt better. It was as though something had lifted from her shoulders. As though she’d just passed through some invisible, wonderful border.

“Home,” Silus said, looking up into the canopy with a sigh.

“Come on,” Mateus said, squeezing her wrist, “let’s go get you something to eat.”

There wasn’t a cave this time, only an overhanging ridge. It was rank with blood, though, and Lilitha’s stomach growled. She looked around in surprise at all the baskets. At all the large bundles of leaf-wrapped innards.

“How did you carry so much with you?” If she remembered correctly, there had been nine people left—a lot. All men and so heavy. Even with Mateus’s size and strength, it must have been a huge task.

“It took a few trips.” He pointed at what looked like a wooden sled, stained with blood, which he must have used to cart the remains through the forest.

“Damon helped. We have a store of empty baskets and blades that we leave here. It is only one of our three homes, remember. Once the humans have delivered their stock here from Mainstry, we’ll move to their other bigger town.”

“Esteria,” Lilitha whispered. “It’s supposed to be huge.”

Mateus nodded. “We always get a big lot from there. Sometimes we can stay for six months or more.”

“But what about wolves or bears or some other creature that might steal it?” She suddenly realized she’d never seen any such predator anywhere in the forest.

“They know well enough to keep away,” Mateus said. “They avoid our territory. Smart. Smarter than humans.”

He grabbed up one of the baskets and handed it over. “No reservations?”

She gave a faint smile. “Only a little.”

“A little is too much. You are what you are, Lilitha. We are the predator, and they are our prey.”

Lilitha nodded grimly. Slinging an arm around her waist, Mateus steered her away from the ridge.

***

The others had already set up camp for the night. The clouds had cleared, and Lilitha watched as the stars twinkled between the branches.

“Lilitha…,” spoke Carmella.

Hearing the warning in her voice, Lilitha looked over at the female Diablon. The look on her face told her enough, and Lilitha promptly opened her basket of flesh. She suddenly remembered the faces of the imprisoned, the crying man, the wary Champion, the one who had died. Then there was her father. Who ~was~ she eating?

Mateus gripped her shoulder. Carmella’s eyes were drilling little holes into her. They were all quiet, watching, as Lilitha ate.

“Stop looking at me, would you?” She licked her fingers. She sucked away the blood trickling down her wrist.

“When the next lot arrives,” Damon began, “we’ll have to get you to slaughter one. Only then will you be fully one of us. Only then can we trust that you won’t run again.”

Lilitha looked up at him. He was watching her with his jade eyes, the firelight glinting against his horns.

“You’re already too late,” she said, remembering the drunk with a wince.

“No,” he said, though he looked surprised. “Once you kill out of pleasure rather than desperation. I want to see your eyes when you do it.”

Lilitha stared at him, at the big vein running down his bicep, at his long red hair spilling over his broad shoulders. His skin was gleaming with sweat. She looked around the circle. None of them spoke against him. Lilitha turned back to her meal.

Once she was done, she leaned back against Mateus, staring into the branches again. She closed her eyes but stayed awake, listening as the others spoke about their preparations for their next delivery. Mateus nuzzled her throat.

She snapped open her eyes. “Will it be a problem? That knight I was…was with is still alive. He knows about me.”

“He knows nothing,” Silus said. “Only that you’re a monster.”

“What if he comes after me? After us?”

“The man’s a coward. He won’t,” Damon growled.

“Who will follow him? And who will believe him?” Carmella asked.

“Even if they do believe him, they will resolve to avoid us. It’ll merely solidify our myth,” Silus said. “You’ve done us a favor.”

“They’ve tried before,” Mateus interjected. “Tried to come in and destroy us. On your route up from Norfolk, did you see the skulls? They haven’t tried since.”

“But they will one day, when those from the south arrive,” Silus reminded them.

“It might not happen for years. For decades. We might be dead before they do,” Carmella said, her voice hopeful and desperate.

“We can only hope.”

Partway through their meeting, Lilitha slipped from Mateus’s grasp and sat beside her father. She could feel Damon watching her but ignored him. Silus patted her knee.

Carmella was lying on the ground closer to the fire, her black braids allowed to fall in a wreath around her head. Her breasts shone against the light. Lilitha couldn’t stop looking at her.

Soon, the darkness turned bright, and they all stood to leave. Mateus approached Lilitha’s spot, but Damon stopped him before he could grab her.

“My turn,” Damon said.

The two alphas glared at each other. Carmella remained on the ground, hands braced behind her head, smiling as she watched the drama unfold. Silus rolled his eyes and left.

“You had your turn already,” Mateus growled.

“And so have you,” Damon retorted.

They bared their teeth at each other. Both their tails were coiling dangerously.

“Don’t I get to decide?” Lilitha said, surprised by the laughter in her voice. She missed this. She missed them both. She missed them ~all~.

They both looked at her. Lilitha stared back as they waited, a flush rushing up her neck. She was only joking.

“Well…?” Damon’s tail was writhing like a snake.

Chuckling, Carmella raised her arms. “Come to me, Mateus. Let them go. Have me today.”

The big alpha turned. She arched her back seductively. The violence in Mateus’s face softened. His stance seemed to wilt. Then he was smiling. Carmella burst into laughter as he hauled her into his arms.

Just as Mateus and Carmella vanished into the trees, so did Lilitha and Damon.