Chapter 39: Chapter 39

Lilitha left Silus frustrated and upset. Awash with so many conflicting emotions, thoughts, and plans, she found herself wandering through the trees without a destination in mind. It didn’t help that she was hungry too. Woozy. Dizzy.

She suddenly found herself close to Clara’s sleeping place. Quietly, she crept closer. Lilitha gazed through the trees, watching, but it was already late enough that Clara was tucked away. Lilitha felt her heart lurch as she remembered their last meeting.

If Lilitha did nothing, Clara was destined to stay here forever, trapped. Clara wouldn’t accept that. And then what?

Lilitha approached on quiet footsteps. Crouching low, she peered between the roots and saw that she was asleep, safe, comfortable, her blonde hair splayed out on the soft leafy bedding she’d made for herself.

Lilitha felt such pity for her friend that her throat swelled and she had to push back her tears. All she wanted was to crawl inside and hold her.

Chewing her lip, she was considering her options, when she raised her nose to the air. She turned, staring into the trees. There was the faint rustle of leaves, a heavy thud. A looming figure appeared, demonic head bent awkwardly beneath the branches.

“Mateus!” she hissed. “You can’t be here!” His horns and eyes shone in the moonlight. He was naked. “And not like that!”

Lilitha looked over in horror as Clara stirred, but she was just turning in her sleep. Hurrying over, she grabbed his arm and dragged him back into the trees. When they were far enough away, Lilitha spun on him. “What did you think you were doing?”

“Come to get you. You don’t belong here. You belong with me.” He jammed a thumb into his chest. “You should be spending all your time with ~me~.”

He tried to grab her, but Lilitha stepped back. Narrowing his eyes, he seized her wrist.

“Leave me alone, Mateus. I don’t feel like it.”

“I doubt that.”

He released her wrist and took her hand instead. His eyes locked onto hers, and Lilitha stood like a fool, mouth parted, panting. He stepped in close and she sagged in his arms. His heart was beating fast against her chest, almost as fast as hers. He tilted up her face and kissed her. Lilitha kissed back. He lowered her to the ground.

~Goddamnit.~

She stared up at the trees as he stripped her. He began low, dragging his mouth between her legs, lapping at her belly button, tracing his tongue over the point of her hip, along her ribs. He latched onto her breast, and Lilitha seized his horns with a gasp. Behind his back, his tail coiled and swayed. He kissed her shoulder, her neck, encountered her lips. At the feel of his erection prodding her thigh, Lilitha spread her legs and braced herself. He entered slowly, carefully, but his size was still a surprise, and Lilitha winced. He stopped to look at her, checking to make sure she was unhurt, and when she smiled and nodded, he gripped her hands and plunged.

He was steady and rhythmic, pulling out all the way before re-entering her, his thick tip making her gasp and moan. It didn’t take long. One final thrust, and she came, Mateus following soon after with a groan.

Tightening his embrace, he rolled onto his back, pulling her along with him. Now she lay on top, the crisp night air caressing her naked skin, tickling her wounded tail. He was still hard and long inside her, throbbing faintly against her vagina.

“I’m sorry for what Damon did to you,” Lilitha said, stroking his bruised and swollen jaw.

“It was worth it.” Mateus took her hand and kissed her wrist. “We should go.”

“I don’t think I want to.” Lilitha laid her head against his chest and listened to his heart.

“We must. We are a clan.”

“But Damon might be there.”

“So? I had to deal with him loving you. Let him deal with it now.”

Lilitha sat up with a sigh. Mateus clutched at her thighs, smiling, eyes raking over her moon-struck curves, his horns glowing a wicked blue against the light. His appetite was insatiable. Just like Damon’s. Just like hers. Damon wasn’t wrong when he said they were sensual beings. Or perhaps they were more like rutting beasts. She eased away with a wince.

They were the last ones to arrive. Lilitha flushed at the look on Damon’s face. Mateus was shamelessly naked, displaying his swollen, slippery manhood to everyone without a care.

The fire blazed. She, Mateus, and Damon were a pathetic sight with their broken faces, but neither Silus nor Carmella remarked over it, nor did they seem surprised. They were a clan and there were no secrets.

Tonight, Carmella and Damon were together. She was sitting against him between his legs, long hair brushed back, allowing the scarlet light to probe at her breasts and catch in the thatch of black hair between her legs. She smiled at Lilitha, and Lilitha smiled weakly in return.

She was so lovely. Lilitha’s gaze lingered on her breasts, her hips, her hair. She was so much fuller, more radiant. There wasn’t a shadow of a rib. Not a single scar. Lilitha grimaced. Why would Mateus or Damon want someone as damaged and lackluster as herself?

Damon dropped his chin onto Carmella’s shoulder, tightening his arms around her waist as he glared at Lilitha and Mateus. Mateus slung an arm around Lilitha’s waist and dropped to his bottom, pulling her into his lap. Sitting with his back against the white tree, he wrapped his arms around her and glared right back.

Silus was sitting on his own. He had his face in his hands and was shaking his head. A growl echoed from across the fire, and Lilitha raised her eyes to Damon. He was trying to make her jealous, grabbing one of Carmella’s breasts and leaning in to kiss her throat. Carmella looked unimpressed.

Clearing her throat, Lilitha turned her head and raised her face to kiss Mateus. That was all it took for the meeting to erupt. Damon’s tail cracked as he leapt to his feet, Carmella tumbling out of his lap. Mateus snarled, then roared, shooting to his fullest height in challenge. Damon charged, boots thudding against the ground. The fire snapped and crackled at his blast of wind.

“ENOUGH!” Silus roared. Damon skidded to a halt. “Either get along—or ~leave~.”

They all stared at him, at one another, unmoving.

“This is my domain,” he snarled, lowering his horns, “and you will do as I say.”

The fire sputtered. Mateus and Damon glared at each other. Damon was growling and snarling, his teeth bared.

“Damon—~leave,~” Silus snapped.

He turned to glare at Silus. Then he looked at Lilitha, green eyes bright. Lilitha jumped at his sudden roar. His tail cracked, then cracked again. Over and over until Lilitha clapped her hands to her ears. Whipping around his head, he fled the clearing, hunched over so low he was almost on all fours. He looked like an animal.

Carmella was shaking her head at Lilitha with an angry frown.

“Mateus, are you going to behave?” Silus said. “Or do you have to leave too?”

Mateus snorted. His tail was swishing aggressively. He, too, was hunched over, horns pointing toward the trees where Damon had vanished. The big muscles in his shoulders were bunched around his neck. Slowly, he unfisted his hands and straightened. The snarl eased from his face.

Silus sat back down with a sigh. He was looking old and tired.

“I’m sorry,” Lilitha whispered at a wave of guilt.

“It’s not your fault.” He patted the seat beside him, and Lilitha joined him on the log, sitting down a little too heavily as her legs shook.

Both looked up at another savage roar. There was an explosion of snapping branches, more roaring. Bats screeched and batted their wings as they fled into the sky. There was a cacophony of noises as other animals scuttled and squeaked and flapped.

Lilitha clutched at her throat.

“Don’t worry about him,” Silus said. “Like I said, he’s an alpha. They have their rages.”

Mateus sniggered. “Damon and his tantrums.”

Silus whipped around his head. “~You’re~ just as bad. Say anything more and you can leave too.”

Mateus huffed. He stepped toward Lilitha, who leaned back.

Mateus’s forehead crinkled up. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Silus gripped Lilitha’s shoulder. “He won’t, I promise. Alphas never hurt females—or betas.”

Mateus raised his palms, looking remorseful. “Lilitha …”

Lilitha looked toward Carmella across the fire, who nodded. Lilitha shifted aside so he could sit beside her. That wasn’t good enough for him, pulling her back into his lap and wrapping his arms around her.

“You’ll get used to them,” Carmella said.

They started talking again as though nothing had happened. Lilitha hardly listened, staring into the trees after Damon with a heavy heart. She desperately wanted to go after him but he was just way too unpredictable and scary right now. Instead, she huddled into Mateus.

Soon, her thoughts turned away from Damon and toward their conversation. They were discussing their future, and what they might do if things changed since Damon and Mateus’s attack on the Champions.

“I’m telling you they will be so fearful that they will probably send more prisoners our way,” Mateus said.

“You haven’t found anyone come to investigate their disappearance?” Silus said.

“Nothing.” Mateus leaned his chin on Lilitha’s shoulder. “To be honest, I kind of hope they stop sending in kills. I am eager for it. I miss the hunt. I have grown fat and idle with all these easy pickings.”

“You won’t think so when we begin to starve,” Silus said.

“I survived well enough before passing into your domain. I will so again.”

“~You~ might, perhaps, and Damon, but as for the rest of us—” He glanced at the girls.

Mateus’s arms tightened around Lilitha. “I will take care of you all.”

Her father shook his head. “You underestimate the humans, I think. I hear that in the southern settlements they have made armor that can withstand any blow, even from that of a longsword. Maybe even our tails. I hear-tell they have constructed bows that can shoot large arrows at high speed and over great distances, and at much greater accuracy without any effort at all. Even with your speed and brawn Mateus, you couldn’t hope to defeat such a weapon.”

Mateus bowed his head so the firelight flashed against his horns. “One word, Silus—fear.”

“I don’t know if that will be enough anymore,” Silus said grimly. “You know as well as I that they have been seeking us out and destroying us over the past few years, and it’s only getting worse. They are becoming wise and brave.”

The glow from the fire bathed their pinched faces. Something lifted from its perch with a rustle and a flap. Lilitha huddled into Mateus’s arms with a shiver.

“I don’t care to talk of such things any longer,” Carmella said.