43. Fiella
My heart was beating so fast I feared it might give out.
Adrenaline flooded my veins as I sprinted through the forest. Without my protective cloak, the tree branches tore at my skin, and I could smell my own blood perfuming the air.
I pushed my legs to go faster. Faster. Faster.
I resisted the urge to turn around, but I could feel Redd right behind me. He was impossibly fast. I could smell his sandalwood and mint scent drifting up to meet me.
I was being hunted.
I loved it.
Distantly, part of my mind screamed at me that I wanted to get away from Redd. That I was running from him for a reason. That I didn’t want to be near him right now.
But the thrill of the chase ensnared me.
I ran harder.
I could sense Redd coming closer–could practically feel his breath huffing against the back of my neck. I tried to feint left before darting to the right around an especially large tree trunk, but he anticipated the movement. He let out a feral growl of satisfaction as he closed in on me.
I screamed as Redd’s arm snaked around my waist, snatching me off my feet before I could slip out of his grasp.
“Fiella!” he snarled in my ear as he hoisted me higher, pinning my arms to my sides as my feet dangled above the ground, kicking frantically. “Stop. Trying. To. Escape!”
I flailed uselessly. “Let me go!” I shouted.
“No. Not until you talk to me.” He wrangled my body into submission, finally setting my feet back on the ground as he pressed my front into a tree trunk and pulled my arms behind my back. My cheek scuffed against the rough bark.
His breath heaved by my ear, his body pressing into mine.
I was trapped. Captured.
My heart was thumping wildly, my breaths sawing in and out of my throat. “I don’t want to talk,” I forced out through gritted teeth.
“Yes, you do. How do I know that? Because I know you, Fiella. I know you. Just like you know me.”
I yanked on my arms, but his grip held, and he leaned more of his weight against me. My blood heated at his proximity, but my brain still held me back.
“No.” I protested lamely.
“Yes. Yes. Just think about it. This isn’t a betrayal. This isn’t an act of deceit. This is good.” He insisted.
I squeezed my eyes shut, my thoughts spiraling out of control. I had such a different relationship with Redd and my penpal. I struggled to reconcile the two.
“How didn’t we know?” I demanded. “How didn’t we figure it out?”
“I don’t know,” he sighed, leaning his forehead against my shoulder. “I didn’t want to look too closely. I didn’t want anything to change.”
I groaned in dismay. “All this time, Redd. We were working side-by-side almost every day, barely tolerating each other.”
“Iknow. I know.”
“This whole time!”
“I know, Fiella!”
My anger boiled over, my frustration and confusion ripping through my control.
With as much speed and strength as I could muster, I whirled in his grasp, yanking my arms from his grip with a painful jerk of my shoulders. He didn’t step back, and my hair snagged on the bark as he kept me caged against the tree.
“Why won’t you just let me go?” I screamed, shoving against his chest.
He captured my hands, holding them against him with an iron grip. “Because I fucking care about you, damn it! I care about you so much. I can’t stop thinking about you and it’s driving me insane!” he roared, his face inches from mine. His eyes bored into me with enough heat to start a fire. “You are the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning. You are the last thing I think about before I fall sleep. And it’s killing me, not having you by my side every second of every day!”
Silence descended upon us–even the bugs chirping in the night ceased their calls. The only sound was the thundering of our hearts, and the rasps of our breaths.
Minutes passed as we stared at each other. His grip on my wrists loosened.
Pieces clicked into place in my brain. The picture became clear.
“Say that again,” I whispered.
“I care about you,” He breathed. “I care about you, Fiella. I want you. I want to be with you. Gods, I just want to be near you. All the time. You have captured me–mind, body, and soul.” He stayed where he was, caging me against the tree. My hands pressed harder into to his chest as we breathed in sync.
Slowly, the strange sense of guilt that had been clouding me began to drift away.
There was nothing to feel guilty about.
While I had been growing attached to my penpal, my friend, I had also been growing attached to Redd in the flesh. I craved his presence, I desired his company, I ached for his touch.
When I didn’t say anything in response, Redd spoke again. “I know you care about me too.”
“I do,” I breathed, barely a whisper. Barely loud enough to be heard. He inhaled sharply, pressing ever so slightly closer to me.
“What was that? I couldn’t hear you,” he taunted.
I snorted. I spoke with more force this time. “I do. I care about you, too. More than I ever expected to. You’ve taken me by surprise.”
His eyes crinkled at the corners. “See, it feels good to say it, doesn’t it? It feels right.”
I allowed his words to wash over me, the tension finally leaving my body. Desire took its place, thrumming through my veins. My heart quickened.
This vampire, this gorgeous, kind, helpful soul, could be mine. He wanted to be.
I slid my hands up his chest, over his shoulders, around to the back of his neck. He let me, his hands releasing my wrists and sliding around to my waist.
“Don’t fight it. I know you’re shocked right now. Hells, I’m shocked too. But this is good,” he murmured.
I nodded. “It is,” I said quietly. I pulled his head down to mine and pressed my lips to his. Hard. The lingering adrenaline of the chase reignited in my veins and heat pooled in my stomach.
His fingers dug into my waist, his grip tightening as he pulled me closer.
He deepened the kiss, his tongue sliding into my mouth in a caress that boiled my blood. I dug my fingers into his hair and relished his sharp intake of breath.
“Well,” I murmured when I finally pulled away. His mouth traveled to my jaw before settling over my throat, his lips teasing my sensitive skin. “You caught me. What are you going to do with me now?”
He laughed wickedly against my skin. “I have a few ideas.”
In a flash, he ducked, tearing my trousers from my legs with a harsh yank. I squealed in surprise. Before I could react further, he lifted me off my feet. I wrapped my legs around his waist on instinct. He kept my back shoved against the tree as he pressed his body into mine, erasing every inch between us.
“I hope there are no other folk around to hear,” I gasped, winding my arms around his shoulders to help hold myself up.
“Let them listen. Let them hear you scream while I make you mine,” he growled.
He dove back for my mouth in a frenzy, his fangs clashing against mine. He ground his clothed erection against my center, the heat radiating through the fabric. I moaned low in my throat.
“You know, that doesn’t work so well with trousers on,” I panted against his mouth.
I felt his smile against my mouth. “Patient as ever, I see.”
He reached down with one hand to unbutton his trousers, only pulling them down far enough to free his cock.
Then he tore my undergarments from my body. I gasped in outrage. “Again? Seriously? You’re going to need to buy me–”
“I’ll buy you whatever you want, Fiella. I don’t care about the gods” damned clothes.” He brought his mouth back to mine as he lowered me onto his throbbing cock in one smooth motion.
He swallowed my sounds as I cried out, pleasure stabbing through me. He set a punishing rhythm, pounding into me as my back scraped against the rough bark of the tree. All I could do was hold on and take it, thoroughly enjoying every moment.
His hands held my hips with a strength that was sure to leave bruises, but I didn’t mind in the slightest.
“You’re mine. Say it,” he gritted out.
I was too lost in bliss to speak, unable to form words.
“Fiella,” he growled. He pulled out of me, and before I could protest, he set me on my feet and whirled me around. He pressed my front to the tree, pulled my arms behind my back, and entered me again in one sharp thrust. He resumed his agonizing rhythm, shoving me closer and closer towards a soul-rending orgasm.
He grasped both of my wrists in one hand, tugging just hard enough to arch my back. My shoulders stretched in protest. My breasts scraped against the tree bark, my tunic protecting me from any abrasions. The sensation only heightened my pleasure.
He pounded into me from behind. The sound of our skin meeting echoed throughout the forest.
“Mine,” he insisted.
“Yours. I’m yours,” I gasped.
“Good girl,” he crooned, finally releasing my arms. I clutched the tree, holding myself steady against the onslaught of sensations Redd was wringing out of me. He reached around me, stroking my clit as his hips continued their delicious torment. I writhed, panting moans bursting out of me.
“Let me keep you,” he groaned.
“Yes, please,” I said, at his mercy. I would have agreed to anything he said at that moment.
His growl raised the hair on my arms, and I twisted my head to look at him over my shoulder, desperate to see his face. His expression was a mix of agony and bliss. Absolute torment.
“I can’t hold on any longer, Fiella. You feel incredible. Come for me,” he gritted out through clenched teeth.
His words were my undoing. I cried out as the orgasm ripped through me, darkening my vision and turning my legs to liquid. Redd’s grip was the only thing keeping me standing. I felt his hands tighten and his rhythm falter as he found his own oblivion, letting out a strangled groan that made me shiver.
When my vision finally cleared and I felt like I could stand on my own again, I pushed myself away from the tree.
His release dripped down my legs, onto the ground beneath me. I glanced at Redd, noticing that his eyes were on my legs as well. He swallowed harshly before tearing his gaze away and clearing his throat.
He tucked himself into his trousers, fastening the button before he spoke.
“I’m sorry about your clothes…” He mumbled.
I laughed, looking around helplessly at the dense forest surrounding us. “You should be! Now I’ve got to make it back to my cottage with my lady bits out on display! I don’t even have my cloak.”
Truly, the loss of clothes was worth it. We would probably pass my cloak on the journey back to town. I collected the tattered remains of my trousers and undergarments, clucking my tongue at the destruction. They would need to be repaired before they would stay on my body again.
The forest had come back to life, the critters resuming their chirping and the bugs restarting their chants. I shivered, the cool air chilling my sweat-streaked skin.
Somehow, Redd’s cloak had remained fastened around his shoulders. He whipped it off and tucked it around me, scooping me up in his arms.
“Hey!” I protested weakly. “I can walk.”
I didn’t put up any real fight.
“I know you can,” he laughed. He tucked me tight against his chest, one arm around my back while the other cradled my knees. “But I would like to carry you. I know how much you hate running, after all.”
I snorted at that, settling into his embrace as he carried me back to his cottage, where I remained for the night, curled into his arms.
Where I belonged.