Chapter 10: Ensnared: Chapter 10

Ivy clutched the steering wheel as her stomach twisted into knots. Those knots coalesced in a cold, dense ball of dread, so heavy it threatened to drag her down, down, down, and she knew she’d fall forever and ever into darkness and no one would hear her screams, no one would come save her.

Because right now she had no one.

And she really, really needed someone.

How could she have been so naïve? So stupid?

She closed her eyes. Young and dumb—that’s what she’d been at seventeen. Too young and too trusting, with her head in the clouds and her heart on her sleeve.

She hadn’t listened to reason, hadn’t listened to the people she should’ve trusted, the people she’d run away from a year ago. Instead, she’d trusted someone else, someone who she thought loved her, someone she’d given up everything for…

When she opened her eyes, she was standing on the sidewalk in front of her parents’ house. But it was so much bigger, darker, and more imposing than she remembered—not at all the place in which she’d grown up. The windows stared at her with judgment gleaming in their panes, the eaves looked like harshly angled eyebrows.

Her feet moved on their own, and she glided along the walkway with a slowness that gave her anxiety plenty of time to amplify.

Why had she come here? After everything, why here?

Because this is home, isn’t it? Somewhere has to be home…

And they are my parents.

Suddenly she was at the door. It towered over her, making her feel like a little kid again, telling her she was as small and naïve and stupid as she felt. Her hand weighed a thousand pounds as she lifted it to knock.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The sound echoed in the house and outside, but it built instead of diminishing, folding over itself again and again until it was as violent and powerful as thunder and she couldn’t even block it out by clamping her hands over her ears because it was inside her and it was going to tear her apart.

The latch clicked, and the thunder ceased as though it had never existed.

The door opened, and there stood her mother, her bright blue eyes so much like Ivy’s. Except Angela’s eyes were cold and empty as she stared at Ivy.

“What do you want?” Angela demanded.

Ivy had never heard her mother’s voice sound so unfeeling, so aloof. She’d known before coming that she shouldn’t have expected a warm welcome, especially not after the way Ivy had left, but this…

“I wanted to see you and Dad,” Ivy said, her throat tight. “I…I wanted to say that I’m sorry, that you were right. About everything.”

Angela’s eyes narrowed. “A little too late now, don’t you think? You made your choice.”

“I know, and I’m sorry. Sorrier than you know. But right now, I’m just so lost, so alone. I…I need you.”

I need someone.

Her father, Jason Foster, appeared beside his wife. His beard had more gray in it than the last time Ivy had seen him.

His thick brows furrowed as he stared down at her. Ivy had never thought of her father as intimidating, but there was something unnerving in his presence now. “You don’t belong here.”

Tears spilled from Ivy’s eyes.

Where do I belong?

“I made a mistake,” she whispered, her voice broken. “I was young and stupid. I should have listened to you both.”

Though her parents were standing right there in the doorway, right in front of her, they seemed to be getting farther and farther away, as though an impossible distance were opening between them and Ivy.

“And proof of your mistake is all over the internet now,” Jason said.

“All of our neighbors know,” Angela said. “All our friends. All our family. They all know that you’re a whore.”

Shame and despair crashed down upon Ivy, making her knees tremble. “I didn’t know! I trusted him. I loved—”

“What do you know of love?” Her mother sneered, grasping the cross hanging around her neck. “You left us so you could live in sin and spread your legs for a man who never wanted anything more than to take advantage of you. Bad enough you destroyed your reputation, but now you’ve damaged ours.”

A sob tore from Ivy’s throat. “I know. I know. Please. I have nowhere else to go.”

“You should have thought about that a long time ago,” her father said.

Jason and Angela were so far away now that they seemed tiny with the distance, but Ivy could still see their cold eyes, their disapproving frowns, and the hard sets of their brows with crystal clarity.

“Please don’t turn me away. I’m your daughter.”

“We don’t have a daughter,” Angela snapped.

The door slammed shut with another peal of thunder. Ivy tumbled backward into shadows, into impenetrable darkness, into nothingness.

Alone.

Ivy jolted awake, and for a moment, she still felt herself falling into that nothingness, still felt that emptiness inside her like an unbridgeable chasm. She rolled over onto her back and opened her eyes to stare up into the darkness. Her cheeks were wet with tears she must’ve shed in her sleep, her breaths were short, and she was trembling.

Why did she have to dream of them? Why now, after all these years, did she have to be reminded of that rejection, that abandonment? Of how truly alone she’d been for so, so long. Ivy rubbed her chest.

But those old memories and the tightness in her chest didn’t matter compared to the unbearable ache in her bladder. It felt like it was going to explode if she moved again. The pressure was so immense, so unrelenting, that she clenched her jaw and held her breath to contain a pained cry.

She’d awoken from a nightmare just to face a new one.

Without food and water in stasis, her body simply hadn’t had anything to expel—but she’d stuffed herself with fruits, vegetables, and water yesterday, and now everything had been kickstarted into motion.

And she had nowhere to go to relieve herself. At least, not without help.

With a groan, she rolled over and pushed herself up on her hands and knees, clenching her thighs as she sat back on her heels. She wasn’t sure which way she was facing with how dark it was, but she knew Ketahn was somewhere near the entrance of the nest.

“Ketahn?”

Ketahn’s voice rumbled from the nearby shadows. “Sheevix, Ivy. Etorri’ven.”

Ivy pressed her hands down upon her thighs and dug her fingertips into them as the pressure in her bladder increased. “Ketahn, I need you to wake up.”

“Arvok elthan you?”

A moment later, a blue glow filled the nest; Ketahn had uncovered the crystal that emitted its own light. It still startled her to see him appear out of the shadows. He was lying on his back with his hindquarters pointed toward her, his legs folded and drawn in against his body, his arms crossed over his chest, and his shoulders leaning against the curved wall. A pile of furs beneath him served as his bed. Because of the lighting, most of his body was dark, like a shade caught in pale moonlight, but his eyes and those purple markings were vibrant and glowing.

She pointed toward the cloth covered hole behind him. “Out.”

“Dak. No.”

Ivy stared at him. “Spider man, did you just tell me no? I need to go out. Now.” She pointed to the exit again.

“Ree elad selyek dera etorrahl.” Ketahn released something from his hand—the leather cover that had been hiding the crystal. It fell with a soft rasp, plunging the nest into darkness again.

“Are you serious right now?” she asked, brow furrowed and mouth agape.

Squeezing her thighs together, she stood up and waddled through the dark with one hand out in front of her. As soon as her fingers bumped the crystal, she yanked the cover off.

Ketahn, still lying against the wall with his spindly legs folded up, lifted his head. His violet eyes gleamed at her, reflecting the weak light. He snapped his mandibles. “Arvok elad you ven? Etorri’ven, Ivy. No…out. Ursh.” He pointed to the floor where she’d been laying.

Etorri’ven could be nothing else but go to sleep, especially given his commanding tone.

“Yes, out.” She jabbed her finger at him. “Ketahn take Ivy”—she turned her finger toward the entrance—“out now.”

A decidedly irritated growl sounded in his chest. “Ivy stay. No out.”

“Oh, you big jerk.” Ivy crossed her legs and pressed her fists against her pelvis. She bounced slightly, a whimper escaping her as the pain and pressure increased tenfold. Tears flooded her eyes. “I need to go out! I need to go out now!”

Ketahn narrowed his eyes and lifted his torso upright, tilting his head. His tone was much gentler—and much more concerned—when he spoke again. “Arvok elthan you, Ivy? Elad you zikahl?”

“Out. Oh, God, please. I have to pee, Ketahn! Just take me out!”

But it was too late; she couldn’t hold it any longer.

Shame blazed through her as hot urine soaked her shorts and ran down the insides of her legs to pool on the fur rug at her feet.

Mortified and defeated, Ivy stood there with tears spilling down her cheeks as she sobbed. “I hate you. I hate this.”

How could one bad choice I made as a dumb teenager lead me to this?

Ketahn rolled over, unfurled his legs, and rose with alarming smoothness and grace. He stepped closer to her. Ivy tried to back away from him, but he simply swept one of his front legs behind her, blocking her only escape route.

He dipped his head toward her and inhaled. His mandibles twitched, and he narrowed his eyes, sniffed at her again, and dipped lower still to look down at the wet spot on the floor. Even in the dim light, she could make out the fine hairs on his legs standing on end.

“Arvok ven you ur ven?” he asked, straightening to look into her eyes. Now he was the one who jabbed a finger—down at the soaked fur. His voice was quite a bit more exasperated when he said, “Ursh kir’ani tovuun? Ven your lavil krax ursh your tovuun?”

He was scolding her like she was a naughty puppy!

“Don’t you dare take that tone with me.” She leaned toward him, the anger simmering in her just as strong as the shame that had her eyes brimming with fresh tears. “You have no right being angry. I told you I needed to go out”—she pointed to the entrance—“but you didn’t listen!”

“I ven’dak unir your ikarahl—”

“Ivy needed to go out! Out, out, out, out!”

“Ova I unir thuun out ven’dak unixt krax ursh my tovuun,” he growled. Ketahn eased back from her just enough to spread his legs and lower himself closer to the fur rug.

She heard him inhale again, heard him mutter something. Her skin burned.

Ketahn rose with a frustrated huff. Before she could say a word, he hooked his left arms around her—one at her back, the other just beneath her ass—and yanked her off her feet and against his side. She gasped, throwing her arms around his shoulder and neck in reflex.

He shifted his lower hand to palm her ass, pushing her pelvis firmly against him and forcing her legs around his waist—so her wet crotch, thighs, and shorts were in full contact with his warm, leathery skin.

Ivy wanted to cry more.

“Ahgan ikesh telenas nek out,” he grumbled. He spread his legs to either side, bracing them against the curved walls to lift himself completely off the floor, and reached down to snatch up the rug. He rolled it up hastily with his right hands.

“You’re not allowed to be grumbly with me, spider man. This is your fault,” Ivy muttered.

“Ketahn. No stider man.”

“Caught on to that one quick, huh? And it’s spider, not stider. Puh. But I guess we’ve pretty well established you have a problem with pee, huh?”

Low blow, Ivy. Low blow.

“You ikar kalakaxx,” he snapped. Tucking the fur rug under one arm, he turned and strode to the opening, yanking away the cloth over it. There was no sunlight to be seen—only darkness deep enough to make the crystal’s cool blue glow seem dazzling in comparison.

Ketahn didn’t slow; he pulled himself through the opening, latching onto the outside of the nest.

Ivy’s eyes flared as he turned to climb toward the web, and she found herself suddenly looking down. She let out a squeak and tightened her hold on him, pressing her face closer to his shoulder. It wasn’t completely dark out here—she could see hints of huge branches and dangling vines barely etched in the faint light, and there were ghostly glows scattered around in various colors, but straight down there was only impenetrable black.

The same void she’d found herself in during that nightmare.

She squeezed her eyes shut and clung to Ketahn, pushing aside everything that had just happened—at least for now. She wasn’t alone. That was all that mattered at the moment. She wasn’t alone in that darkness.

Though Ivy felt their bodies swaying and bouncing along with the nest, the web, and the branches as Ketahn climbed, he was solid and dependable, grounding her despite everything. His hold on her strengthened when he turned belly up to traverse the underside of the web, and he twisted his torso to allow her body to rest against his more fully.

Her damp thighs felt like they were sticking to his skin, and her soaked shorts were miles beyond uncomfortable, but Ketahn made no further complaint. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry about this situation.

After that sense of helplessness, of feeling and being treated like a child in that nightmare-memory, waking up and pissing herself was a perfect new low.

Ivy kept her eyes closed for a while even after she and Ketahn were upright again. Like that, she could almost pretend everything was okay. She could almost pretend that she had begun her exciting new life on the other side of the galaxy, that she’d finally arrived in the place where she could unlock all the potential she’d thrown away as a teenager.

But her curiosity eventually won out; she’d only glimpsed bits of this world so far, and it didn’t matter how hard she closed her eyes and hoped—it all wasn’t going to go away.

Ketahn was traveling steadily downward, crossing immense branches and scaling thick tree trunks, hauling her through an alien landscape that was made all the more bizarre because so much of it almost looked familiar. Silver moonlight broke through the canopy, which was now far overhead, in several places, and the eerie sources of light amidst the tangled vegetation were more prevalent now that they’d gone lower.

So much of this jungle seemed to glow by night—leaves, mushrooms, beautiful flowers, and small, fluttering bugs. It was like a magical fairy land. She’d been too disorientated and scared that first night to see it. And Ketahn fit right in with his glowing violet markings and eyes.

A new sound joined the night music of the alien jungle—the trickling of running water, somewhere ahead and below. A swath of jungle opened before Ivy suddenly, lit by the largest concentration of bioluminescent plants she’d ever seen, all of which were clustered along the banks of a wide stream. The water’s surface wavered with reflected light.

Here more than anywhere else, she got a sense of otherworldly magic.

Ketahn climbed down to the ground. Instead of stopping and setting her down, he strode toward the water.

“Ketahn? What are you doing?” Ivy drew back and pushed at his shoulder, but he held firm. Her gaze flicked between him and the fast-approaching stream. She wriggled in his arms. “Ketahn, stop!”

Without slowing his stride, he tossed the rolled-up fur onto the streambank and carried Ivy straight into the water.

The warm water rose around her quickly, past her legs, hips, and chest until it was nearly touching her chin. Her wide eyes met Ketahn’s. Finally, he adjusted his hold on her, settling a pair of hands on her hips.

He dunked her under.

The water enveloped her, muffling her hearing and blinding her. Ivy fought him, but even his seemingly casual grip was too strong to overcome.

As soon as he released her, she kicked up, sputtering and gasping for air when her head broke the surface. She swept her hair from her face and glared at him as she treaded water.

“You…you…asshole! Are you trying to drown me? Is this punishment because I peed on your precious rug? I told you I—”

“Sheevix, Ivy,” he said with a snap of his mandibles.

“Don’t you hush me! And don’t go snapping those”—she pressed a thumb to each of her cheeks and curled her fingers, wagging them to mimic his mandibles—“at me.”

Ketahn cocked his head, eyes narrowing. He lifted a hand to his mouth and opened and closed his fingers and thumb repeatedly as he made a series of nonsensical sounds.

“Did you just… Are you mocking me, spider man?”

He growled low. “Ketahn.”

Maybe it wasn’t smart to tease a spider alien who could easily tear her apart with his bare hands, but she couldn’t help herself. She was just so damn angry—and underneath that, she was stressed, upset, afraid, and still exhausted. And this was just one harmless little way of getting back at him for her humiliation.

Notching her chin up, she smirked at him. “Spider man.”

His mandibles drooped and came together slowly, and though he neither narrowed nor widened his eyes, his gaze seemed suddenly quite dry. Without a word, he placed a hand atop her head. Water streamed off it, running down her face, and she blinked it away.

“Ketahn, don’t you d—”

He pushed her under again.

Her words were cut off as water filled her mouth. She came back up splashing and coughing. Once she’d expelled the water she’d nearly drowned in, she shot Ketahn a death glare.

He chittered, spread his mandibles wide, and raised them, narrowing his eyes. He was laughing at her. That dang spider man was laughing and grinning at her.

“Sure. Laugh it up, spider man. I’ll pee on another one of your rugs. See how you like that,” she muttered as she swam toward the bank, giving him a wide berth. As soon as her feet touched the bottom, she stormed to the shore, sloshing water around her legs. “Big ole jerk.”

Even if she hadn’t been able to hear the water moving behind her, she would’ve known he was following her closely just by feel—Ketahn’s presence was impossible to ignore. If she hadn’t been so angry, she might’ve wondered if that was merely her instincts recognizing the nearness of a dangerous predator, but she didn’t care about any of that now.

If he intended to hurt her, he would have done so a long time ago.

Once her feet were on the grassy bank, Ivy spun to face him. Her wet hair slapped her in the face, and she yanked it aside, ignoring the water streaming down her legs. “The next time I say out, Ketahn takes Ivy out. Understood?”

But Ketahn made no indication that he understood—he didn’t even make any indication that he’d heard her to begin with. His eyes were fixed upon her body with a curious gleam.

Looking down, Ivy realized that not only were her white shirt and shorts clinging to her like a second skin, but they were practically transparent. She could see her pink areolas clearly through the material.

She brought her gaze back up to Ketahn. He was still staring at her body.

Her brow creased as she crossed her arms over her chest, feeling vulnerable and naked. “Umm…Ketahn?”

“Arvok elad you, Ivy?” His voice was even lower than normal, even more inhuman, as he moved toward her. “You elad iln zet I ur losak.”

He took hold of her wrist with a big, clawed hands and tugged one of her arms down before reaching for her chest. His fingers grazed her nipple, making it harden, and Ivy gasped, smacking his hand away.

“No,” she said.

With a sound that was somehow a grunt and a hiss at once, Ketahn closed the remaining distance between them and caught her other wrist. He forced her arms wide apart. “Enevet’ven.”

Ivy’s eyes rounded. She yanked her arms, trying to free them from his grip, but she couldn’t budge them. “Ketahn, let me go.”

Ketahn leaned down as his lower hands caught the hem of her shirt and lifted it. His knuckles brushed across her belly.

Ivy inhaled sharply, flinching against the tickle of his touch as he peeled her shirt up. She leaned away from him, trying again to pull her wrists free, but she was trapped as he bared her breasts. “What are you doing?”

He kept one hand on her shirt, holding it up, as he moved another to her breast. His hand covered it completely. Ivy stilled, her breath quickening.

“Arvok elad ithin?” He watched his hand as he squeezed her breast.

The rasp of his palm over her hardened nipple elicited a jolt of pleasure that speared Ivy straight to her core. She clenched her thighs in shock.

Oh my God. No. What the hell was that?

Ketahn dipped his head lower still as he shifted his hold on her breast to cup it from beneath. He lifted it slightly and stared at her nipple. He said something, but the words were lost on her when he stroked the pad of his thumb across the taut bud. The ache in her core expanded.

No. No, no, no, no. This can’t be happening.

She was not getting turned on while this spider creature touched her. It…it was simply her body’s natural reaction, something she had no control over. It had nothing to do with attraction because…because…he was a spider! Their bodies were completely different, and he was just satisfying his curiosity. That was all.

He switched his hold to her other breast and stroked his rough thumb over its nipple, causing it to harden as well. A tremor wracked her, and her sex clenched.

“Oh, please stop,” she whimpered.

“Dak akar tes you elad soft,” he said, his rumbling voice thoughtful. “Dak akar et selyek.”

Ivy struggled to focus on his words instead of his touch; she was so close to understanding a few more of them, but he was making her feel things that she shouldn’t have felt, things that made it impossible to think straight.

“Y-Yes. Ivy soft. You can let go now,” she said.

“No. No soft.” He pinched her nipple between finger and thumb as though to prove otherwise.

It didn’t hurt, but it sent a bolt of pure pleasure straight to her clit that made her knees weak. She drew her lips into her mouth and bit down on them to lock in a moan.

What’s happening to me? This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening.

Ketahn tilted his head, mandibles twitching. He drew in a deep breath and stilled. “Your jurrahl…”

His long legs spread to the sides, and he sank low, sniffing at her as his face dipped below her head, as his cheek brushed her right breast, as his breath fanned across her stomach. He stopped with his gaze directly upon her shorts.

Ivy opened her mouth, meaning to tell him to stop, but his lower hands had already hooked the waistband of her shorts. He peeled them down without hesitation, baring her sex. When he released the shorts, they fell to pool around her ankles.

“Hair dun, kota?” Ketahn shifted his face forward, so close that the hard crest of his forehead bumped her belly, and inhaled.

“Oh God.” Ivy pushed back on her toes to put distance between them. “Yes, I have hair there. Now let go. Examination over.”

Ketahn did not seem to agree. With a growl, he tugged on her arms, drawing her closer still, and settled his lower hands on her hips. He brushed a thumb downward over the small patch of hair above her pussy several times, like he was petting it—until he touched the apex of her sex.

Ivy’s breath hitched. She squeezed her thighs together to deny him further access, but as she’d learned so many times already, Ketahn was not so easily deterred.

His front legs slid forward, their tips slipping between her calves, and hooked around her legs. Effortlessly, he swept his legs to either side—forcing hers apart as though she’d made no attempt at resisting. Her skin flushed with embarrassment. He eased her back, directing her thighs to rest on his legs.

The night air was warm against her exposed sex, but Ketahn’s breath upon it was like sweet fire. Unbidden, her imagination pictured him extending that long, purple tongue and licking her.

Panting softly, Ivy swiftly pushed that perverse image away and struggled to free her arms or close her legs, but she was thoroughly trapped, her body quivering not in fear, but in need.

I’m going to hell.