Page 40 of Love & Monsters
“How did your secret base of operations come to be here?” I asked.
“The fortress?” His face twisted, puzzled by my human phrasing. “This was an ancestral home for my mother. Ilya and I spent time here when we were younger, but once Mother passed and Rykan was born, we stopped coming. He’s never been here, though he is aware of its existence.”
“So, he could find us here?” That thought, along with the increasing ruckus and chatter from the great hall, made me feel less safe than I’d like.
“He can try, but my army will be ready to march on the city by the time he figures it out.” Vadric’s words made my stomach sink, and I lost my appetite.
A pale mauve goblinoid monster opened the massive wooden door to the great hall. As soon as it swung open, the boisterous noise hit me like a wave and my eardrums thundered from the laughter and cheers erupting at Vadric’s appearance. My grip on his arm tightened as my heart twisted uncomfortably within my chest.
The cheers and applause also brought the eyes of beasts staring me down. Vadric ushered me to the long table along the back wall where the largest fireplace I’d ever seen in my life was roaring with dancing flame. All the monsters watched intently as we passed.
So many horns and claws and tails and scales and feathers and fangs. Even with Vadric at my side, I felt like a lamb being led to the slaughter. Vadric knew my blood was delicious, and everyone here looked like they wanted to determine that for themselves.
An enormous, high-backed, intricately carved wooden seat waited for him at the head of the main table. A servant pulled it out before scampering away. I noticed Ilya sitting in the smaller seat to the left.
“Thank you all for being here. Your support means everything to the Ascian family.” Vadric addressed the crowd the instant it was quiet enough. “Tonight, I want to see everyone with a drink in their hand and a full plate. Do not think of war or those yet to join us. For right now, we are alive and well and we will seize the opportunity to celebrate this night of freedom without thought of what awaits on the horizon.”
Vadric lifted a flagon of something dark from the table and rose it into the air. “Eat, drink, be merry. Smile and laugh. Be loud and joyous as we celebrate this night!”
Feet thundered on the stone floor; fists drummed on the long wooden tables before us. Monsters howled and bellowed in a chorus of beastly jubilation. They lifted their tankards and flagons from the table, and when Vadric took a long pull from the drink in his hand, they did the same.
It was inspiring to witness him rile up his people. There was something about Vadric that pulled you in if you wanted to be or not. Maybe that’s what attracted me to him. He had an otherworldly power and charisma that no human could ever dream of mirroring.
Vadric settled into the Lord’s seat. I looked at the smaller seat to his right. However, before I could sit down, Vadric’s arm went around my waist and yanked me down into his lap. An unseemly squeak slipped from my lips as my bottom landed on his hard, muscled thighs.
My first instinct was to squirm and wiggle out of his hold, but Vadric whispered close to my ear. “Remember, little one, play along.”
His voice was near a growl, and it made my insides tremble. The heat of his body at my back was intense. It was almost enough to make me forget about the many eyes on me. Glowering and staring, assessing like predators watching their prey. Waiting for the moment I would slip, and they could pounce.
This was a show for the monsters here. I had to put on an act that I belonged to their Lord, and him alone. Only Lord Ascian could have the human, as was befitting of his title. It’s what was owed to him.
Something fated me to be a pet for the Lord of Nadirn when Knox found me in the market, and here I fulfilled that role for the rightful Lord. I’d come full circle back to the outcome I originally feared.
Vadric’s hand was on my hip, dangerously close to the slit that ran up my leg. I felt his claws skimming my skin as his fingers began tracing patterns over my flesh. Vadric’s touch soothed my inner turmoil and ignited a wild heat within me at the same time. That was the feeling I seized as the night began.
Twenty-Three
|VADRIC|
It was easy coming home to my mother’s ancestral castle, and easy to sit on the makeshift throne in the great hall. Looking out over the many faces of the Nefellim I rightfully ruled over was as natural as breathing. This is what I had been born and raised to do.
But this time was different. Not just because we hid in the mountains as word spread of my escape, and Knox gathered my army in secret. No, this time there was someone frightfully important to me. Someone who I didn’t know how she truly felt towards me. Or how she would feel after being exposed to the creatures of my world she so rightfully feared as I pawed at her supple body.
I attempted to take comfort in the feel of being somewhere I considered home. To release the mask and allow myself to become my true self. Lord Vadric Ascian of Nadirn.
Nodding at Anakis across the hall, I smiled as she caught up with the other warriors, sloshing her ale and throwing her head back with laughter. Ilya fiddled with the folded note from Knox I’d given her before joining Mina in the bath. Her eyes were wet with unshed tears, and I didn’t need to ask to know she missed him.
While it was nice to see loyal subjects and warriors and their celebration of my escape, the feast was boring, and I was wholly disinterested in it. My surveying eyes passed over the tables of feasting beasts and landed on the soft human in my lap.
The sight of her stopped my blood in its tracks. Meela had done a number on Mina with the sheer dress threatening to expose her most intimate parts. For a brief second, I wanted it to.
“Eat, pet.” Guilt nipped at me as I gripped her chin and gave her the predatory command loud enough for others to hear. The scent of her fear was potent, and I wanted to hate it, but I couldn’t. No, I thoroughly enjoyed the smell.
Mina visibly shrank into herself as she picked at the grand assortment spread before us. Her hands trembled, and she clearly hesitated to decide on anything she ate.
Feeling her shift on my lap, ever so slightly, and the warmth of her delicate skin under my wandering fingers caused my revulsion at how I treated her now to deviate into pure, monstrous instinct. My heart thudded hard against my ribs. I clenched my jaw to fight the desire to dig my claws into her thigh and sink my teeth into her fragile neck.
I had to leash myself back under my control as I surveyed the exposed length of her leg under my hand. Her breasts were high and soft, threatening to slip free from one of the flimsy sewn on flowers covering her delicious flesh. Without painting them, Mina’s lips were pink and full and pulling me in to bite them.
