Page 13 of Stolen By the Gargoyle
“So are you,” I whispered.
He lifted his hand, reaching out to grab my chin but thought better of it when the blood splattered down between us. He grunted, as if displeased, and then bent to pick me up. He grasped me under the knees and at my lower back, lifting without a grunt. He pressed me close to his chest, fingers gripping me tight.
There was a loud snap as his wings lifted… and then we were flying.
I swallowed down my yelp of surprise, choking on the wind as we soared high into the sky. His wings beat rapidly, creating swift gusts that ruffled my makeshift skirt, blowing it upward to my thighs.
He didn’t speak as he flew us away, though I wasn’t sure I expected him to, or that I would have heard him over the gush of rushing wind at the velocity he was going. Silence was better. It gave me time to stew in my own stupidity.
You know what,no.
Fuck that.
I wasn’t stupid. I wasterrified. I’d woken up in a strange place, kidnapped by a strange creature, claiming he was going to mate with me so I’d be his wife. Me leaving, trying to find a way out, wasn’t stupid. It was a very real and valid reaction to the uncertain situation I had suddenly found myself in.
So what if I didn’t know the area or where I was? I wasn’t going to sit around with my arms crossed just because I had no idea what was outside. Yes, that had gone badly. Yes, I could have gotten killed. That wasn’t the point.
When faced with life-altering situations, fight or flight instincts had kicked in, and I’d chosen to run away from what I’d perceived as an imminent threat.
But… did I still feel that way after what had just happened? I wondered as we finally touched ground near the mouth of that now-familiar cave. He carried me through the dark threshold in silence and I felt myself clinging tighter to him. But was it fear, or something else?
He’d saved me from those demons, but he’d also brought me back here. To the place I associated with my captivity, the cage that tore me from my freedom.
What did I feel? I couldn’t quite place a name to it. It still clenched at my gut, but the ache was less now. I wondered if it was precisely because he had saved me. But the earlier anxiety ramped up anyway, with thoughts of what he’d all but promised would happen between us.
He made huffing noises as he stormed into the cave, going deep inside, further even than where he’d laid out his nest of blankets. He walked into another tunnel until I heard a trickling rush of… water?
We emerged into an illuminated cavern. I gasped at the sight. Bioluminescent algae clung over the jutted walls and ceiling, casting a yellow light down on what looked like a little pool.Water streamed in from a cluster of rocks like a little fall, and steam emanated from it.
My bones suddenly ached to take a dip.
A second later, I got my wish.
The gargoyle walked to the edge of the pool and, without a word of warning, tossed me inside.
My limbs flailed out and water shot up my nose, burning my nostrils as I was enveloped in the warmth. Thrashing out, my palms blindly searched for the edge, nails breaking as my fingers grasped wet rock. Sputtering, I pulled myself along the edge until my feet found purchase and I could stand on my own.
“What the fuck?!” I shoved my sopping hair back and glared at him.
“Clean yourself,” he demanded. That calm facade transformed once again, making him finally appear angry. I wanted to flinch away from how scary it made him look, but I was too pissed to do anything other than glare back. “I will return momentarily.”
And he turned…
And left.
I had to physicallyremove myself from her presence. I could not remain near her, smelling the scent of her blood, the acrid lick of her fear, without wanting to fly off into a rage.
I was angry. At those demons. At myself. At her. But more than that, I worried for my wife. There had been a reason she had fled. A reason she had tricked me into believing she was readying for our mating when she had so obviously meant to escape into a world she knew nothing of.
She would have rather been mauled apart by demons than mated to me.
I did not experience the sensation that pressed into my chest often, but I could recognize it as hurt.
My wife hadhurtme, and I did not know what to do with it.
In battle, when I suffered from lesions, I made my enemy bleed in retaliation. Violence was a lifelong friend I was well acquainted with. But my wife was not my enemy, and I could nottreat her as such. I could not make her bleed–nor did I want to harm her in any capacity.
So I forced myself to stalk back to the cave’s entrance. In the distance beyond the horizon, I could just make out the screams and howls of more demons. Blood and death sent them into a frenzy. The more dangerous ones would find themselves thirsting over the scents we had left behind. My mate’s, my own. They would hunger for blood and flesh. Especially hers. They would come find us.
