Page 50 of Fractured Shadows

Planting my feet, I focus on my monsters, on the way I feel about them, and funnel those thoughts into the sensation beneath my skin. The glow brightens, and Grim’s eyes widen.

“Bring it, minotaur,” I goad.

Grim tips his head down in challenge, desire flooding his eyes, and charges.

He’s been trying to teach me hand-to-hand combat, and while it will work against another human, I don’t have the strength to take on another monster. Still, I play by his rules, using my size and quickness to my advantage. I dodge his charge and dive to the side, rolling before I spring to my feet and face off against him again. Like I’m in a bullfight, I hold my hand out at my side and wave my fingers.

“Is that all you’ve got, Grim?” I purr.

With a roar, Grim charges again, his horns aimed right for me. I dance out of the way, moving quickly, and the magic in my veins waits for it.

Bracken appears beside me so suddenly, I nearly jump when his voice sounds right in my ear. “Play dirty, Goldie,” he murmurs. “You can’t hope to win with strength, but use the magic in your veins. This isn’t about fairness. It’s about winning.”

When I go to glance at him, he’s already moving away with a wink. Focusing back on Grim, I take Bracken’s advice and plant my feet, determined not to move. Grim digs his hoof into the ground and kicks dirt back. I swear steam comes out of his nose and curls around his nose ring before he charges.

This time, I don’t move or dodge as he comes closer. Instead, I hold up my hand and let the magic flow out of me. My entire body comes alive with the feeling of it, and the area we cleared for training lights up with the magic that pulses from my palm. Grim runs right into that pulse, and it flips him on his ass, shoving him down on the ground and holding him there. With a grin, I straddle his hips and release the magic, letting his hands come to my waist.

“I win,” I declare, and pride flares in his eyes before he jerks me down for a kiss that makes me grind against him.

“You win,” he repeats when we break apart, and he grins up at me, as if I’m the most beautiful thing in the world.

As my monsters gather around me, their excitement palpable, I can’t help but feel as if everything is as it’s meant to be, except for one thing.

Something’s missing. I don’t know what, but it’s coming. I can feel it like a warning on the wind.

I just don’t know if it is friend or foe.

ChapterTwenty-Five

Usually, I wake with the sun, but there isn’t much here, yet I know it’s morning. After spending our night talking, laughing, and eating, I fell into an exhausted sleep. I know we need to leave soon, but we are staying for a few days to help me get a better grasp on my magic. It feels like a countdown. This time here, with just us, before we have to get back to what we need to do, makes me anxious.

Stretching, I slide from Bracken’s arms. He groans and reaches for me in his sleep, making me grin. The fey might be a flirt and a deadly monster, but he sure is a cuddler. Sneaking past Nero, I hurry to the trees to pee. I’ve just finished when I look up and almost scream. Grim is leaning back against another tree, watching me as he cuts into some form of fruit with a blade.

“Fucking hell, dude,” I mutter. “Warn a girl before you spy on her peeing.”

He quirks a brow at me, continuing to eat as I march up to him and poke him in the chest. “You scared me. Unless you’re into the whole pee kink…” When he just stares, a slow grin crawls up my face. “Is that it? Big, bad Grim wants to watch me relieve myself? Gets him off—”

He moves faster than I can blink, wrapping his huge hand around my throat like a necklace as the blade and fruit drop to the ground. “I was protecting you, but you don’t know when to stop, do you?” He slams me to my knees. “You want to taunt me and be a brat? Then I’ll fill that teasing mouth until you can’t anymore.”

The change has desire roaring through me. Wiggling, I flutter my lashes up at him. “Gods, yes.”

“Open your mouth,” he orders, his eyes hard as he watches me. His nostrils flare as he stands straighter, looking down at me with those dark eyes as the scent of my arousal fills the air. “Do not make me ask again,” he warns, sliding his hand up to grip my chin and digging his thumb in until I open my mouth for him.

“Wider,” he commands.

Breathing heavily, I widen my mouth as he looks down at me. “Good girl. Now, you’re going to be quiet as you suck my cock, aren’t you? We don’t want the others finding you here. You’re all mine now. So be a good girl and make me come, and I’ll bend you over that tree stump and fuck you raw until you can’t walk.”

Fucking hell.

I actually shiver at his words. I don’t know what made Grim decide to play, but I’m not going to ask since I’m already wet and imagining him doing just that. My clit throbs in time with my heart as I stare up at my minotaur, beyond turned on and wanting exactly that. I need to taste him just as much as I want to fuck him.

Tilting his head down, he spits into my mouth. “Swallow,” he orders, and I do. It shouldn’t be a turn on, but it is when he strokes my neck in praise. “Good girl. Feel that magic moving through you, claiming you.”

His other hand releases his cock before stroking the huge, hard length. He drags me closer and runs the tip of his cock over my mouth, coating it in his magic pre-cum. My lips tingle, and my tongue darts out, licking it as he watches. Snarling, he thrusts into my mouth without warning, his other hand gripping my hair and controlling my movements as he watches me. I gag at the sudden intrusion, my throat not prepared.

“Good girl. Take me all the way back.” My hands come out, gripping his thighs, my nails digging into the hairy muscles to hold myself still as I suck. “I wanted to do this all day yesterday while you were teasing me with that incredible body, rubbing against me and flirting. I told myself I would be good, but then you wandered here, looking all sleepy and beautiful, and I couldn’t resist.”

I moan around his cock, loving the fact that he wants me so much.

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