Page 23 of Foxin' Around

She yelped with laughter as she wriggled against him in an attempt to get free as he carried her through the trees. She could feel the outline of his cock pressing against her and growing harder. It rubbed enticingly against her ass, sending a throbbing heat low into her belly so that she practically panted, and not just from shortness of breath.

The asshole wasn’t even laboring to breathe in the least. He just laughed at her squirming and readjusted his hold as he carried her, seemingly unaffected by what was rising between his legs. Or at very least, it didn’t slow him down any—and he definitely had a destination in mind, one that quickly made itself apparent as the sound of a nearby river quickly grew louder.

“Don’t you dare!” she shouted around her laughter.

The river that fed into the lake was a small one but big enough to ensure she would be thoroughly soaked from head to toe. Which might not be entirely a bad thing with the way she was feeling. It was as if her insides had become molten with the lust burning through her.

His wicked laughter in her ears just made her hotter. “Were you not just objecting to being dirty, sweetness?”

Twisting in his arms, she glanced over her shoulder and caught sight of the water between the trees. It sparkled in the streams of sunlight falling upon it between the trees, the light sound of its current mingling with the birdsong above. Syrix lifted her higher in his arms as he stepped over the debris in his way and down to the river’s embankment. She drew her legs up in protest as she laughed and prepared herself by gulping in a huge breath as he rocked her back and pitched her into themiddle of the river. Despite her best intentions, she screamed as she hit the icy water that promptly flooded into her mouth and nose. Getting her feet beneath her, she stood and coughed up water as she swept her soaked, streaming hair back from her face.

“You’re evil,” she sputtered around a laugh and shivered with cold as the shock of the air cooling her wet body caught up with her.

Any minute now she was going to start shivering.

Syrix’s clothing clung to her body like a second skin where they were tighter, and sagged in all the loose places, water pouring from her as she fought her way back to the shore. She could hear his feet on the loose rocks as he drew closer, his laughter warming her to a small degree, but that didn’t stop her from shooting him a castigating glower that merely made him laugh harder as he leaned down, reaching for her.

Swatting his hands away, Krystal muffled her giggles as she turned toward a fallen log overgrown with thick grass and grabbed a hold of it to haul herself up out of the river. The log was not quite as stable as it looked, however, as it rocked unexpectedly, pitching her forward for the second time, this time straight into the tall grass toward a massive skull that leered up on at her with hints of fur and tissue still clinging it is sharp-toothed smile. Maggots wriggled in the rotting flesh dripping from it, creating a gruesome picture that belonged in some kind of horror movie. Her laughter died and she drew in a quick breath of terror and immediately choked on it, a scream bubbling to her lips as she threw herself back from it.

“Krystal? What is it?” Syxrix demanded as he rushed up behind her, his hands gripping her shoulders and dragging her back against him to hug her firmly to his chest as he peered around her at the grisly remains.

“What the fuck is it?” she choked out around on a sob, and his hold on her tightened.

“A bear. Just what is left of a bear,” he whispered into her hair.

She laughed weakly, but then began to cry in earnest. “What the fuck is with all the dead things? Don’t tell me that the bitch can bring down a motherfucking bear.”

He nodded grimly. “A mature lamia is… quite large. She must be ravenous and near starving to bring it down. You can see at the rear of its skull where it is caved in from the constricting weight of one of her coils. It would have been risky as, even with her considerable size, she can be hurt by such a potentially dangerous animal. Especially when it is fighting for its life.”

“Fuck,” Krystal whimpered, and she sagged against Syrix, her arousal forgotten.

“It is unusual for a lamia to bring down such large prey. A human is usually enough to satisfy her appetite for a few months. Larger species like adult orcs are still smaller than this bear and are typically bypassed for this reason.” He caressed her arm absently with one hand. “The bright side is that she will likely not disturb us for a time while she is digesting.”

“That’s one hell of a dark bright side,” she joked as he stood and pulled her to her feet.

She shivered and his arms wrapped around her once more, cocooning her in his warmth. Leaning back against his chest, she stared down at the large skull. It was only then that she noticed that all of the birds had fallen silent. She tipped her head back and peered into the trees. Everything seemed too quiet.

Her head turned and she peered down a trail until she spotted something dark looming from within the heart of the trees. Her breath caught and a cold feeling swept over her. The Mallory cabin. Somehow, they had partially circled the lake while gathering wood and she hadn’t even realized it. Just a littlefarther along, the river would disappear into a rocky rise a short distance from the main trail that circled the lake.

“Just how close are we to your boundary line?” she whispered.

She felt Syrix nod toward the river. “The far embankment there on this side of the lake,” he murmured.

Krystal swallowed and nodded in acknowledgment. Good. They were still within the boundaries of his territory. She nearly laughed then because, of course, he wouldn’t have carried her outside of his territory when he was so reluctant to cross it with her. And certainly not with the lamia around. But her eyes drifted back to the dark silhouette of the cabin, and a coldness crept over her as if something had just walked across her grave. Stepping out of his embrace, she turned toward him with a nervous smile.

“Let’s… let’s go get the wood we dropped and head back.”

Syrix squinted at the cabin, his smile fading as he watched her with concern. “Are you well, Krystal? This is not the only cabin near yours. There is another on the opposite side?—”

She quickly nodded an affirmative. “The Mallory place is east of us, and southwest, a bit farther away, is the Jenson cabin. We often went over there in the fall after the family left for the season because they had planted a bunch of blackberry bushes around their cabin.” She glanced back to the shadow of the Mallory cabin and trembled. “I don’t know what it is about the Mallory cabin,” she confessed, “but it has always just seemed… wrong.”

His eyes narrowed on her for a moment, and she wondered if he would dismiss her feelings. Her family often had, but she was convinced that she hadn’t survived the Ravening for so long from ignoring her feelings. It was because of those senses that she had been so shocked to discover that something like the lamia had been pursuing her without her knowledge, since thatsense of knowing seemed to get even stronger after the world she knew fell apart.

“I know. It sounds crazy.” She went for a nervous laugh, but it fell flat, and her lips twisted in a grimace as she tensed warily.

She didn’t even realize she was holding her breath expectantly until he grimly nodded.

“Some are gifted with senses beyond others,” he said quietly. “My senses are superior to many, but even mine can have blind spots that may be perceived by another with more clarity in the places that I am weak. If you say that there is something wrong with that cabin, and it is something that I cannot sense, then I believe you.”

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