Page 57 of Stolen By The Beast
“Yes.” I wrapped my arms around my middle to stave off a sudden chill.
Something in my voice must have caught Karvik’s attention because he spun to face me. His eyes glowed in the dimly lit forest.
“Are you afraid of me?”
My jaw dropped. “Why would I be afraid of you?”
“That night—”
I cut him off. “That night I’d been sexually propositioned by a man not in the mood to take no for an answer, who also had enough money to make any legal issues I could cause him to go away.”
“That was the man in the large dwelling? The one who called for you. You were running from him?”
I nodded.
“I wanted to kill him. I should have given into the urge.” Karvik’s eyes shot to the sky, peeking through the canopy overhead. “Will this man still be at the dwelling? If I leave now, I can end him and be back before morning.”
I grabbed Karvik’s arm. “No! He isn’t worth the effort. Besides, he wasn’t even the worst of the humans I faced that night.”
“Those men planned to mate with you. They damaged your skin. I could not allow them to live.” Karvik scratched his antler. “But the strength of my reaction confused me. You shouldn’t have mattered to me. But you did.”
“Just like I could feel you in the woods. I hadn’t been looking for fireflies. I’d been looking for you when I first wandered into the woods.”
“You were meant to be mine.” Karvik’s chest rumbled in pleasure.
Wrapping my arms around his waist, I breathed in his comforting familiar scent. “Yes. And I was lonely, just like you.”
“Will you leave me? I cannot live in a human city. Our life together will be a simple one living in the wilderness.”
“I don’t care where we live, as long as I’m with you.” I rubbed my cheek against his fur.
Karvik’s breathing was growing harsh, and he took a step away from me. “We should keep walking. There is a small cave another hour from this location.”
Karvik stormed away, leaving me confused in his wake. Did monsters have mood swings?
One minute, he was cuddly and telling me he kinda loved me, and the next, he acted as if my presence was painful.
He’d eaten well today, maybe that had made him cranky and in need of sleep?
Over the next hour, I grew more concerned with Karvik’s strange behavior. His breathing was coming in fast pants as though he were winded from our trek. I was out of shape, but I wasn’t wheezing as hard as he was.
For the last fifteen minutes of our hike, a growl had rumbled deep in his chest. His body had grown stiff, every muscle becoming taut. It made him appear larger and more intimidating. Not to me, though. I found his body sexy-as-Hades.
“We have arrived,” Karvik snarled. “Let me inspect the cave for dangers, then you should rest.”
He disappeared inside the cave’s opening, returning several minutes later, wiping spider webs from his fur and antlers.
“It is safe. Go sleep. I’ll bring water and food for you by morning.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I set my jaw. “Yeah, no.”
“Yes? No?” Karvik huffed. “Which answer is it?”
“It means no, but that isn’t the point.”
Karvik rolled his golden orbs, and I nearly burst out laughing at his mimicry of the human gesture. “Then why not say no?”
“I did!”
