11. Chapter Eleven
Chapter Eleven
Lucy
Iplaced my trembling hand on my pounding chest, feeling the rapid thump of my racing heart. My body tensed, and the sound of my heavy breaths echoed into the cave as I took three cautious steps back from Simon.
The sweet, innocent faun—whom I had no business finding attractive—with the curiosity of a child, just dared to look me in the eyes and say, Mine ?!
My brain shut off, trying to reboot.
He had thoughts—complicated ones. He knew words yet had trouble speaking them because…? Well, I wasn’t sure why. Simon understood everything I said, so why had he never had the chance to speak his mind?
Simon had no one else to talk to, but surely he would have at least tried to speak? He should speak and know how to move his tongue. If I was guessing correctly, he should at least be in his twenties, even early thirties, but even that estimate was moot because nothing in this realm aged.
This place was confusing.
Why couldn’t he speak?
Simon stared at me with a smug look. He widened his stance, his hooves shining with the light source that filtered in. He thrust out his chest, showing off his lean, muscular body. You could see the deep v-line, that Adonis’ Belt I’d read far too much about.
I wasn’t a prude; I could appreciate the male body. I’d looked at the shifters before I came here. Dutton, for one. His body was nice, but it did nothing for me.
Yet, Simon, why did I feel more attracted to him than anyone I had come into contact with? That same question echoed in my head time and time again, but then that word registered again…
Mine.
He said I was his. The one word that was spoken often in this realm. It was when a mate claimed another, and this faun just told me I was his. He claimed me. Words that were not taken lightly around here.
Surely not. He must be mistaken. Yet, if Simon knew the words of the realm, then he knew what they meant.
He’d claimed me!
Me!
I drew a deep breath, calming my nerves. He could speak that word so well, the way he drew it out. It had a hint of a growl in it, a bleat at the beginning, but he said it.
The idea that soulmates were real, that a goddess paired couples together based on their souls, was a sweet notion but one that couldn’t possibly be true. It had to be on body type or smell, or favorability to procreate. He wasn’t claiming me because I was his soul mate.
Was he?
I wanted to believe it; the sweet, fictional satisfaction of someone claiming me, taking me, and making me theirs, but this would be by far the weirdest pairing, if I had ever seen one.
Human and orc, sure, okay, that worked. I haven’t seen those couples in person yet. The idea was scary. The size difference, the personalities… there were big differences there.
A faun, the only faun that I had seen as yet, thought I was his mate?
Maybe he was mimicking what he had seen?
My pussy was crying at the thought that he wanted me because I was destined to be his.
Ovulating! I was ovulating, and that was what he’d smelled. I was in the middle of my cycle. He had heightened senses. He could tell my body was primed for birthing a child.
I knew it! It wasn’t a soul thing; it was just… he was horny.
I was, too. In fact, I don’t remember my body getting this hot over anyone staring at me like he did.
Desire swam in his eyes, dilated pupils, panting, grunting, a slight whine in his voice, the whole nine yards. That fanny pack wasn’t hiding much. I was worried it was going to pop out at any moment, and yup, there it went.
Please don’t wink at me.
Simon didn’t move, letting it hang out of his front pocket. It was really… wide. Great, I was running out of adjectives. Girthy, yes, that was the word I was looking for.
Simon stepped closer to me, making my heart rate increase. My heart was going to flutter out of my chest at this rate. I continued to walk backwards until I hit the cave wall, and his hand landed on the wall at the side of my head.
He had the ‘male lean’ and had never even read a book in his life, I was sure. His breath was warm when he placed his nose closer to my neck. I turned my head so as not to breathe in his scent, which smelled too much like home to me. A home I’d never been to but wanted it to be.
He took light sniffs along my neck, barely touching the skin. My body prickled with goosebumps. “Lucy, touch,” he said, then dropped his tongue out of his mouth and licked a spot on my shoulder.
My knees buckled, and I slid to the floor.
I was grinning wildly, and my hands slapped my cheeks. I couldn’t believe he just did that.
Did he not know how incredibly sexy that was, what he just did?
I cleared my throat and went to stand. He tried to help me, but I pushed his hands so they stayed at the sides of his body and narrowed my eyes.
He only wanted me because my body was in its prime, not because he thought I was his mate.
I couldn’t be anyone’s mate. I was weird, not of this realm, and very much not cut out to take the enormous penis jutting out, staring at me like a one-eyed monster.
“Simon,” my voice grew stern. “I am not yours.” I put my hands on my hips. “I am a human and not of this realm. I cannot be your mate. You need to take me back to my camp so I can make sure everyone is okay.”
Simon mimicked my stance. “No!”
He came closer, though not touching me. Sick as it was, I wanted him to touch me. I wanted him to grab me, but he didn’t. His slightly furred lips tickled my ear, and he spoke the word that still took my breath away.
“Mine.”
We didn’t get much further after that. We both sat by the wall, just sitting and breathing. His faun sausage poking out of his pouch.
I didn’t dare look at him as I started to argue with him again. I spoke to the wall, not into his eyes.
Simon threw a faun-fit as we argued, and he stomped around the cave. I was worried about males of this realm; they were aggressive. The ogres and shifters were, but I had never seen them hit a woman.
Simon, he was visibly angry. I kept asking to leave, but instead he offered me food, and his enormous bed for me to rest, while he sat at the front of the cave on a mound of fresh hay to give me space.
He didn’t ask to sleep beside me, but I saw the longing look.
Why did I feel guilty?
Why was I being so difficult? Was it so hard to believe in a goddess and a fairy tale when I was already living in one?
I tried to remember any of the times my father had read fairy tales to me, but he never had. He was a single man, engrossed with his work, who just happened to have a daughter. He read research notes to put me to sleep because his voice was calm and soothing.
I lay against the pillow, drifting in and out of sleep throughout the night. Not for fear of Simon hurting me, but because of all the what-ifs. He was the first one who had made me feel—well, not broken. My body was awakened, but I was also leery.
What if I put my emotions into him, and he had a mate out there? His real one, not one who was ovulating?
I rolled my eyes when I saw the first light source appearing in the sky. Simon was already up and leaning over the cliff. He crouched down, one ear perked up, and then he took steps to back away.
This caught my interest immediately, and I got up to see why he was acting secretive. Voices from down below caught my attention, and I raced out of the cave.
Before I could scream, Simon whispered, “Lucy, touch,” and kept my mouth covered so I wouldn’t alert them.
“Lucy!” I heard Elmira’s voice shout out into the Wood. “Lucy!”
I struggled in his hold, but Simon kept me there with him, yet did not drag me back to the cave.
“We should split up; two groups. Each take an orc,” Dutton said from below. I stilled, hearing his voice. Other voices followed, and I realized that everyone from the group was safe.
I struggled again when I realized people were still looking for me, and I needed to get free. I grunted and pushed against Simon, but he was too strong. Everyone in this realm was too strong.
Slowly, he dragged me back to the cave when the voices vanished.
By the time I broke free, I knew it was useless to go back outside. They were gone, and I was left alone with Simon.
He panted, his chest rose and fell, but at least his junk wasn’t hanging out.
“You can’t keep me like this!” I flung my hands up in the air. “It’s kidnapping! You could go to jail for doing that where I am from. You can’t hold me against my will!”
“Lucy, mine!” He banged his chest.
My pussy fluttered at the tone of his voice, the ferocity and determination that he really thought I was his.
My brain had to win out, or I was going to jump his faun sausage.
At least I had an IUD.
Ugh, not helping yourself, Lucy.
Arguing against him would not work. I needed him to talk back. That was the only way to reason with him.
“Fine,” I said simply as I folded my hands over my chest.
Simon’s eyes turned into slits, and he walked around me.
“If I am going to stay here, you need to learn how to speak to me. This whole caveman talking won’t do.” I waved my hand in front of me.
Except in the bedroom. By all means, you can boss me there.
Oh, my gods, shut up, Slut Lucy.
“I need words, Simon. We need to have conversations. I can help you with that if you are willing. Then, we will talk and come to an arrangement. I am not yours to keep. You cannot keep a person.”
Simon came closer, like he was a predator. Could he be a predator? He was a faun! Then, those fangs, that resembled a vampire’s came into view when he smirked. He showed me his hand and sought permission before he pushed my hair back behind my ear.
“Lucy… like… meee.”
I swallowed. “Well, look at that. You said a whole sentence,” I whispered.
The backside of Simon’s claw ran down my cheek, tickling my skin. “Do not make fun,” he said utterly slowly. He was concentrating really hard; I could see how he was trying to move his tongue.
Yeah, you want that tongue moved somewhere else. Maybe between our legs?
Shut up, Slut Lucy.
“I s-smell you,” he growled in his throat. “You want me, too.”
He pressed his chest against mine, and I knew that his dick just slipped out of his fanny pack. It lay against my stomach, hot and twitching against me.
Abort, abort!
“Just because you smell me doesn’t mean I want you. Just because I’m wet doesn’t mean I’m ready.”
Simon’s eyes go wide. “-et?”
I reached up and pressed my fingers to his mouth. Moving his lips to help create the W sound. He watched my mouth and repeated.
“Wet,” he said. “Lucy is wet ‘or S-simon.”
I cleared my throat. “It is a natural response from a woman when she is around someone who is attractive. That does not give consent.”
Simon backed away, taking a long draw of the air between us. “I will mm-ake you want S-simon.”
I thought my ovaries had just exploded.
The stuttering, the lisp, they didn’t matter. He was dead serious. He was going to make me want him? Why was that hot?
Still, I held firm to the notion that I couldn’t be his mate. I just couldn’t handle the heartbreak if I really wasn’t.