34. Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Four
Lucy
Ifelt selfish. Too worried about acceptance from my father and if I was doing the right thing to be with Simon. Simon believed in me from the very start, put his worries away to capture me, and forget the missing memories that haunted him.
I had my memories.
My earliest was when I was five, and Father had taken me to some remote island. We were on a beach, and I got to play in the sand on a day off. We built sandcastles, made moats and collected seashells all day. By the end of the day, I was exhausted. As the stars came out, I fell fast asleep by the fire, with the waves crashing against the shoreline and the heat of the fire warming me.
Simon’s last memory was of how his parents left him with an unknown attacker who dragged him away. His parents were in a hypnotic state. He had to know that. They would never have willingly left him. The person who took them had to be a god. He was beautiful, just like the woman with the stunning horned crown at the hot spring.
She was a goddess. I just wasn’t sure of which one. The god that led those fauns away took them in the blink of an eye while I watched from a distance. I knew Simon was being dragged away, but I kept my eye on the god as he waved them toward him.
Floating red hair and beard, a sea-foam colored robe with soft linen pants. His feet were bare, and he held a trident in his hand. Poseidon was one of the major gods I learned about in high school.
But why would Poseidon be leading the fauns away? He was the god of the sea, and fauns were land dwellers.
I ran my fingers through Simon’s hair. He wasn’t dreaming; he was in a deep sleep. I knew it was deep because I couldn’t see or feel anything. He had slept little the past several days. He had tried to brush off all his memories and tended to me instead of discussing what he had seen.
I wanted him to bring up all these memories on his own. I didn’t want to pry, but when those memories got too dark, I couldn’t help it.
I should have stepped in sooner.
I nuzzled my face into his forehead, my fingers stroking his cheek. I didn’t know how many more of his memories would come back to him, or why they were coming back now, but I would be there for him just like he was there for me during my time of doubt.
I saw food being set inside our little bungalow, as I like to call it, by the door again when my stomach growled. It was in a neat little woven basket similar to the tree that had woven itself into a beautiful home for us. In fact, the tree had grown larger while we slept. The soft bedding looked smaller compared to what it was when we first filled the space.
We had two windows that let the light in. In both windows, baskets hung outside, that grew huge blossoms which brought a clean-smelling fragrance inside. The floor was no longer sunken in but now flat, easier for me to walk on.
We still didn’t stray from the bedding, too cozy to move and too dedicated to our nest.
Yes, a nest. That was the best way to call it.
I disentangled myself from Simon’s arms. He groaned, reaching for me, so I brushed his face with my palm and placed a kiss right above his forehead, in between his horns. “I’m just getting the food by the door.”
Yes, the place had a door now, complete with wooden hinges. I didn’t know if Simon was conjuring something in his head to create a home for us or the forest was doing it on its own, but I would not ask questions.
It was nice not asking questions and just letting things be. I was calm and just accepting of my fate.
The only question I had was why Poseidon took all the fauns. Fauns that appeared to be on Earth because the foliage around them was definitely from Earth. That was how humans came up with the stories of fauns, because they had, in fact, been on Earth.
Also, the minotaurs, centaurs… all of those creatures, had Poseidon taken them, too? Because humans were after them all?
I gritted my teeth at the thought. Humans could be terrible beings.
I picked up the basket just outside the door. Everything was brought to us. Even water. Giant leaves wrapped and fused together, corked with… I don’t even want to know what with.
A thick mushroom?
Don’t question it, Lucy.
I brought it closer to the bed. In it were fruit and vegetables, including Simon’s favorite roots, all recently washed. Leaves for hygiene to brush one’s teeth and other assortments of good-smelling flowers for our home. While I loved the fresh food, I was really hungry for some meat.
And not just Simon’s sausage.
I gently brushed my fingers across Simon’s soft, warm cheek, feeling the smoothness beneath my touch. “Hey, let’s get you to eat something. You feeling any better?” I kneeled down and peppered kisses along his jawline. He smiled and buried himself further into the clouds.
Simon wrapped his arms around my waist, and his face went between my legs.
“I know what I want to eat,” he growled playfully.
I begrudgingly tried to push him away. “No, no! Simon, we cannot right now!” I grabbed him by the horns, but he pushed me down anyway. While I felt I had more strength in me, better to match his, I gave up quickly, submitting to him as I felt his tongue part my folds.
“Simon,” I breathed. “We can’t stay in this nest forever.”
Simon hummed and pressed kisses to the top of my mound. He went higher, kissing my stomach until he reached my breasts. “I do not see why not. No one is in charge here to tell me what to do.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Really? Do I need to put you in your place, then?”
Simon put both his hands beside my head. His eyes glanced over my petite new horns. His eyes twinkled when he saw them. While I didn’t have the lower half that matched, I saw how much my new horns pleased him. I liked them, too, I especially liked it when he used them to push my mouth further onto his dick.
I shivered, remembering how he gripped my hair tightly when I slightly gagged.
Simon lowered his head, ready to place a kiss on my lips, when there was a knock on the door. Both of us made a face of confusion, as though asking ourselves if there really was a knock.
We had lost track of how many days we had spent here, only going out to bathe and relieve ourselves, but we expected no one to come here. Especially since we had just mated.
Whoever was at the door, knocked again, and Simon snarled. I felt a fresh wave of his scent descend on me. My body heated, feeling the heat of his over me. His scent would turn me on in an instant, but any sort of jealousy and he would scent me as well, making me crave him and only him.
“Don’t do that,” I slapped his chest. “We are going to stink up the room!” I hissed.
More than it already was?
Simon huffed. “Stay here, bury yourself into the nest. I’ll tell them to leave.”
“Can you smell who it is?” I asked and shuffled around to find my ripped clothes somewhere in our bungalow. The branches rearranged above me. I braced myself for a limb to fall, but a vine brought down a white dress. I pulled it from the vine and inspected it. The fabric was soft, thick but still breathable. It reminded me of the nest that we sleep in.
The vine hovered in front of me as if waiting for me to say something. “Ah, thank you?” I told it and petted the vine on top like it was a dog. It shaped itself into a heart and rolled back up into the top of the thick branches that covered the top of our tree house for a roof.
Weird.
I put the dress on, and Simon turned around with his hand on the door. “Why are you dressed? Take it off!”
I opened my mouth and threw out my hands. “Just because I have horns,” I pointed to my head, “doesn’t mean I get to go naked. I got nothing to cover my boobs and my lady parts!”
Simon pouted, and someone banged on the door again.
“Go on, answer it!” I shooed at him.
Simon growled and cracked the door an inch, then a little more, and more, until it was fully open. “There is no one there.” He stomped his hoof and slammed the door.
I tilted my head, went to the nearest window and stuck out my head. Simon followed me and pulled me back.
“They could still be outside. Stay here.” He huffed and led me back to the nest. But when we turned, we saw someone already standing within our home, standing next to our bed .
The woman wore a wrinkled pair of grey joggers and a large pink t-shirt. She wore her hair in lopsided pigtails. One side of her eye makeup was done, while the other was smeared, either from crying or rubbing her eye, as if she had forgotten she’d even applied makeup. “Oh, I fucked up,” she muttered to herself.
Instead of feeling afraid, I was utterly confused.
Simon grabbed my hand and pulled me behind him.
The woman chewed on the piece of gum in her mouth for a moment longer and blew out a large bubble, popping it when it got too large.
“Listen, please, please, please, do not tell my boss about this. I just got this job. I literally just got it three weeks ago, and I already screwed it up!” The woman got on her knees and had her palms planted together in a pleading manner. Simon backed me up, and the vines from the top of the bungalow lifted her up to standing.
Simon’s body relaxed and brought me to his side.
“She’s a witch. A not very good one,” he whispered to me.
“How can you tell?” I asked.
“Smell that?”
I sniffed the air. It was familiar, ozone, like lightning during a storm. Similar to Rune. I nodded at Simon in understanding.
“Again, I’m so sorry.” The witch pulled on her pigtails to release the rubber bands and ran her fingers through her hair. “I’ve got some mad ADHD. This is my first job outside the coven. And with the goddess, no less. I can’t believe she thought I would be good with this, giving me such an important job with so many more qualified witches. She put me in charge of all the fauns. Me! Look at me! I haven’t even gotten dressed today!” She snapped her fingers, and her sloppy clothes vanished.
She now wore dark jeans and a cute, hot pink blazer. Her bright blonde hair was in a bun, and her dark-rimmed glasses sat on top of her head. A notebook was in her hand, and she looked like the perfect… receptionist?
Simon and I both stared at her in confusion, and she tilted her head back at us.
“Is this okay? Should I change into something different? Maybe less formal? Oh, he’s naked, and you are half naked, should I be—” She moved to snap her fingers, and I jumped forward to grab her hand.
“Nope, nooo. You are just fine. You look great.” I patted her hand and looked back at Simon, who was too stunned to speak.
I rolled my lips together and tried to make sense of it all. “What do you mean, job and your boss? The Moon Goddess? A job like Starla, perhaps?”
The witch nodded excitedly.
She cleared her throat and tapped the clipboard with her fingers before she flipped a few pages over and read out loud. “Hello. My name is Sable, and I am a member of the Witches Monster Bonding Guild, hired by the most benevolent, the Moon Goddess. I am here to help you on your journey to become bonded.”
Sable looked at us both, and her shoulders dropped. “But you have already done that without me.” She frowned.
Simon crossed his arms and puffed out his chest.
I rolled my eyes and put my hand on her back. “That’s okay, you are just learning.”
It would have saved us from bothering the orcs, having Simon get drugged, me riding out a lot of his rut while he was asleep, getting kidnapped in front of my dad and his new mate, but hey—no biggie.
“It’s alright. Is there anything else you can help us with besides telling us how to bond?” I asked patiently. Simon pulled me back, his nose buried into the fresh mark on my shoulder.
Sable sighed heavily and looked down at the notes in her notebook. “Well, I could tell you more about your past, but you should be getting more of your memories back, if you had any memory loss.”
Simon huffed in annoyance, his warm breath traveling down into my dress.
“I can answer questions like why Poseidon took all the fauns and why you were accidentally left,” Sable suggested hopefully.
Simon’s ears picked up, and he let out a long bleat of excitement. “Yes!”