Page 14 of Stolen By The Beast
“I move around often,” I lied, the words leaving a foul taste in my mouth. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why I cared so much about what she thought was true or otherwise. “We’ll stay here for the night. This looks like a good place for a shelter.”
“Okay.” She acquiesced easily enough, making it obvious that she trusted me, and I wondered if I had the right to abuse that.
Ignoring the thought, I used my long, sharp claws to dig into the earth, burrowing until a crater large enough to fit my body was left. I sunk down into the pit, pulling Juniper with me, curling my form around hers.
I closed my eyes, prepared to rest, but I couldn’t slip into the darkness within me like I wanted—not with the female so close. But perhaps I could try to sleep as she did. My kind was nocturnal by nature, but I knew hers was not.
My slumber wouldn’t be restorative by any means, but it might be enough to silence the thoughts running through my head. Of course, Juniper chose this moment to squirm in my arms, tossing back and forth until I finally pinned her down under my heavy hand.
Her lips curled down in the opposite direction of what I liked, and I traced the seam of her mouth with a claw of my other hand. We stared at one another, the fire of my eyes setting her delicate face aglow.
“What do you call this?” I asked, tracing the soft skin of her lips.
“Call what?”
“When your lips turn down—an unsmile?”
She laughed, the expression morphing into one I was secretly starting to cherish. “No! It’s a scowl because I’m glaring at you. It means I’m irritated—mildly angry.”
I grunt at her answer. “You glare a lot.”
“That’s because you annoy me a lot.”
“The feeling is mutual. Now, go to sleep.”
“I can’t get comfortable!” she huffed.
Rolling onto my back, I pulled her partially on top of me while hooking her right thigh over my waist. “Is this better?”
“No!” she squeaked.
I inhaled, calling upon my patience, and a long-forgotten scent filled the air between us. Try as I might, I couldn’t recall what the aroma was, but it tickled at the edges of my memory. Juniper adjusted herself, distracting me, and I rubbed lazy circles into her back.
She traced the same design in the fur at my chest, and to my surprise, a purr rumbled forth. Juniper laughed at the sound, snuggling deeper into me, and finally closed her eyes to drift asleep.
But any hope of me resting was long gone, replaced by my need to figure out what the smell was. To do this, I knew I needed to embrace the darkness inside of me. But it was risky—if I forgot myself and lost control, I might eat the very creature I’d sworn to protect.
After making sure the female was deep in slumber, I crept out of my pit, unpacking the earth, and reforming the dirt around hers. It was a wonder that we fit so well together, with mine being so much bigger, but it was almost as if Juniper had been made to lie with me. Although I was unable to scowl, I imagined my expression mirroring the one she’d introduced me to.
My thoughts vexed me.
Turning away from the female and my thoughts, I ran northward, stumbling across a wounded bear lying on the banks of a shallow river. Its body shuddered with every breath it tried to take, and I bowed my head in recognition before slashing my claws through its heart.
The stream at my feet turned crimson as I feasted, sating the rest of my hunger. I picked the carcass to the bone before consuming those, sure to leave nothing left for humans to uncover. Some suspected I existed, but most thought me a figment of their imagination—and I preferred to keep it this way.
When I raced back to Juniper, she was exactly as I’d left her. I pushed back the dirt, reforming myself around her small body as my chest thrummed with emotion. It wasn’t something I’d felt before I met her.
Is this the contentment she spoke of that I’ve seen in her kind?
Growling, I slammed my eyes closed, letting the blackness envelop me, completely refusing to address the possessive need this creature stirred in me. The darkness greeted me like an old friend.
When you were death, everyone was afraid of you. As such, I had no one. Perhaps this was why the tiny human intrigued me so much. She showed no fear or remembrance of what I was—there was only acceptance.
I let my thoughts drift away from her to the vast knowledge I’d accumulated over the eons. There, tucked deep away in the alcoves of my mind, I found my answer of why the scent Juniper had previously emitted was so familiar—and why I couldn’t remember it.
The musky perfume of arousal.
Long ago, I had smelled it on my Chosen. This was before she had been taken from me—we’d never even had a chance to bond because she’d been cruelly ripped away by Juniper’s kind. I’d slaughtered the humans who’d killed my Chosen, but then I’d run.
