Page 14 of Gentle Giant

She sipped at the water, though most of it escaped her mouth and trickled down her neck. I gasped when her hand clamped tightly around my hardened shaft. Though I longed to claim her, I couldn’t do so in good conscience when I worried for her state of mind.

After she took several more sips of water, I carefully pulled her hand off my cock and lifted her in my arms. I needed to get her to a healer and fast. A howl of distress left me as I departed my rooms.

HAILEY

The room spun,my head ached, and I feared I might vomit. Groaning, I was curled on my side on a soft surface, shuddering as a wave of sickness descended. What was wrong? Where was I?

I tried to open my eyes, but my vision was so blurry, I immediately pressed my eyes shut and tried to take a couple of deep breaths. Someone was stroking my hair, and I leaned into the comforting touch.

“Nick?” I whispered. But just as I said his name, a vision of him fucking a woman who was bent over a washing machine flashed in my mind. Memories returned. Bottles crashing.Shouted accusations. The scent of wine. Tears coating my face. The hard, cool bathroom floor. Glass crunching under my boots. Unsent wedding invitations.

Finally, I opened my eyes and was able to focus on a face. A familiar face, but it wasn’t Nick. It was the beast from my dreams. Was I dreaming again? I swallowed past the dryness in my throat and tried to ask a question, but no words issued forth.

A hand pressed to my head, and another hand touched my stomach. Somehow, I realized it wasn’t the beast who was touching me, but another individual, though I was too tired to look around and investigate.

A humming sound filled my head, and slowly, the dizziness and sickness faded.

I heard strange words I couldn’t understand. A conversation in another language. But I was still too dazed to speak, so I burrowed into the large arms holding me, sinking into the safety of my dream-beast’s embrace.

Chapter 9

HAILEY

My eyes fluttered open.I’d been dreaming, though now that I was awake, I couldn’t recall many details. Something about a forest and a strange looking creature.

I tried to sit up, but I couldn’t move very easily. I slumped onto a soft mattress and tugged on the warm blanket that covered me. Maybe I would just go back to sleep. Why not? I was on vacation.

“Hailey?” came a deep voice. “Hailey, are you all right?”

That voice. I knew it. But from where?

I sighed and rubbed at my eyes, then slowly turned over as I tried to pull the blanket up to my neck, but it wouldn’t budge. So, I patted the warmth that was draped over me, only to realize it wasn’t a blanket. It was an arm. A big, furry arm.

I gasped and sat fully upright in bed, pushing the arm away, as my gaze collided with familiar pale blue eyes. And just like that, I remembered everything. Or at least I hoped I was recalling recent events correctly.

The fermented roots. I’d only eaten a small amount, yet I’d become very drunk. As I continued staring at Brutus, the embarrassing things I’d said to him came rushing back.

Oh damn.

I’d complimented his big muscles and his firm butt. And that wasn’t all I’d said.Your bigfoot-bod is making me very, very excited. You’re so fucking sexy I can barely stand it.My face heated and I felt my eyes go wide. Holy crap. I’d also told Brutus I was ready to mate with himandI’d boldly grabbed his erect cock.

I glanced away from him, wishing there was an actual blanket on the bed so I could pull it over myself and hide.

“You look much better than you did yesterday,” he said, his eyes filled with guilt and worry. “How are you feeling?”

“Yesterday?” I touched my head. I recalled feeling dizzy and sick to my stomach, and I’d also gotten a pounding headache. But then the pain had stopped—someone had healed me, if I were remembering correctly—and I’d fallen into a restful sleep. “Have I truly been sleeping for an entire day?”

“Yes,” Brutus said with a nod, and his look of guilt increased. “The roots I gave you did not agree with you. I am deeply sorry, Hailey. If I’d known humans couldn’t eat fermented foods, I would never have given them to you.”

Humiliation continued coursing through me, and I couldn’t bring myself to meet his eyes yet, so I studied my hands in my lap and tried to think of something to say. He understood that the roots hadn’t agreed with me, but did he understand that I would’ve never behaved so wantonly toward him had I been in my right state of mind?

“There are purple mushrooms that grow deep in the forest that affect Montikaans in the same way the fermented roots affected you. The mushrooms cause us to laugh, howl strangely, and… sometimes fill us with the desire to copulate. When wewere younger, my brothers and I partook in the mushrooms. I ended up climbing a tree and howling for hours, while Mastorr sat beneath the tree giggling uncontrollably, and Gorran mistook a fallen tree for a Montikaan female and he…” Brutus’s voice trailed off and he cleared his throat. When I finally glanced his way, I was shocked to see a rosy hue tinting his cheeks.

Blushing. The big Sasquatch was blushing.

His story, though embarrassing for him, brought me comfort. And I found myself softening toward him as I realized that had been his intent all along—he’d shared a humiliating memory from his youth just to help me feel better.

“Please don’t tell Mastorr or Gorran what I told you.”

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