Page 27 of Stolen By The Beast
Her flesh was soft—so warm—and I marveled at the sensation of the contact. After so many years of isolation, the only thing I touched was the prey I hunted to eat.
The night pressed on, the forest alive with its own nocturnal symphony. The shadows danced around us, a silent witness to my internal musings.
I found myself wondering about the future—about the path that lay ahead for Juniper and me—and despite the darkness that still lurked within, there was a glimmer of something else.
A yearning.
I was starved for companionship, and all this time, I’d thought I only needed the black crevasse inside of me.
The night had a way of revealing truths hidden in the depths of the soul, and I realized the inky emptiness inside of me wanted more than to just destroy.
It wanted to be filled—it wanted Juniper.
Forever.
The idea of the tiny female as my mate had crossed my mind, but it seemed like insanity. For centuries, I had lived a solitary existence, avoiding the complexities of human connections and emotions.
Yet, her presence had stirred something within me, something that defied my solitary nature. I had always considered myself a creature of the night, bound by darkness.
But Juniper was an exception—a fragile, beautiful, tenacious exception.
What would life be like with a human as my mate?
The question hung in my mind like an unanswered riddle. I couldn’t deny the attraction I felt toward her, nor could I ignore the sense of protectiveness that had taken root within me.
I wondered about the sacrifices and compromises such a life would entail—could I truly protect her from the dangers that lurked in the woods?
Could I offer her the companionship she seemed to crave while still retaining my own identity—who was I even, anymore?
In truth, I was a creature of the shadows, and she was a delicate light that had pierced through the darkness that consumed me.
But the prospect of a future with her both intrigued and frightened me. While a part of me entertained the idea of Juniper as my mate, another part warned of the numerous reasons why such a path should remain uncharted.
My very nature was solitary, and I had spent eons embracing that isolation. The notion of companionship and the responsibilities that came with it felt foreign and overwhelming.
The world I lived in wasn’t meant for tiny humans. Bringing Juniper deeper into it meant exposing her to untold dangers—something I couldn’t bear the thought of.
Then there was the chasm that resided within me that sought to consume everything. It wanted Junipernow, but I couldn’t guarantee that it wouldn’t harm or change Juniper in ways I couldn’t foresee.
Despite the undeniable connection and attraction between us, the reasons against pursuing a life together loomed like specters in the night.
It was a path filled with uncertainty, sacrifices, and challenges that I couldn’t easily dismiss because, at the core of it, Juniper and I were inherently incompatible.
The reasons against bonding to the female outweighed the good, but even then, they were overshadowed by an undeniable force that I couldn’t resist—the call of the abyss.
If it wants Juniper, who am I to deny it?
All the next day, my decision to bond with Juniper weighed heavily upon me as she and I trekked across the wilderness, searching for materials to use to build a shelter.
It was one thing for me to agree with the darkness and claim the tiny female as a mate, but it was another for her to actually accept me.
I wanted to ask her what humans did to bond, but thought otherwise. I sank deeper into my thoughts until Juniper touched my arm, leaving it to rest there.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Liar, liar, pants on fire.”
