3. Willow
Willow
I wake to a heavenly smell. It’s warm and earthy and masculine, and I instinctively snuggle deeper into my mattress, my lips tipping in a grin as it envelopes me fully.
Blindly, I reach out for my fiancé, and my palm connects with something large and solid—much too big to be human. My eyes fly open, and I’m met with the sight of glowing pink irises and a mouth filled with dripping white teeth. Monster teeth.
I jerk back, memories of the past twenty-four hours flooding my mind in quick succession. The morning of my wedding. Nathan, and the image of him fucking Kimberly in the bathroom. My heart, breaking. Me, running through the woods. The portal. The demon.
The last thing I remember is being so cold I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Now I’m lying in bed with my demon kidnapper, and he’s looking at me like a tasty snack. It’s made worse by the fact that I have nothing covering me but a thick blanket of what appears to be animal hide.
Where the hell did my dress go? Did he take it off me?
My face pales as I desperately try to remember what happened. Nothing on my body hurts, and the space between my legs feels untouched, so I think I’m in the clear. But then… Why am I naked and lying in a bed of furs with a demon?
The monster’s glowing magenta eyes track down my body, heating my skin the lower they go.
I beg my muscles to listen, to get up and run from this strange creature, but they refuse to obey.
Something inside pulls me to him, demands I move closer.
It’s an inexplicable desire that settles deep in my bones, poisoning my blood and pulsing through my body with each frantic beat of my heart. Growing. Consuming.
I swallow hard, summoning every ounce of bravery as I squeak out, “W-why am I here? What are you going to do to me?”
The creature smiles wider, baring sharp, pointed teeth that look like they could easily rip my throat out. Instead of answering, it leans in, scenting the air in front of my face. My heart drops into my stomach.
“So sweet,” it growls, voice low and heavily distorted. “So mine.”
Nope. Absolutely not.
My body finally decides to respond, and I roll away from the demon and land in a low crouch, keeping the hide clutched tight around my body as I scurry just out of reach of his long, muscular arms. He sits up, tilting his head and watching me with an amused expression as I gaze around the room, searching for something to defend myself with.
My eyes catch on a carved object lying on a small table at the opposite end of the room. It appears to be a dagger, made of the same strange shimmering ice-rock material that covers the walls and floor.
Before I lose my nerve, I rush toward the weapon, trying my best to hold the furs around my body. I shouldn’t care about modesty while my life is on the line like this, but I also don’t want the monster to see what’s under the hide and try to have sex with me or something.
I’m not sure if he has traditional male parts, or if he’s even attracted to humans, but I don’t want to risk it.
Thankfully, the demon doesn’t follow me, nor does he try to stop me. Holding the hide tight to my chest, I grab the dagger with my free hand and whip around, shoving the pointed end in his direction with my best “I mean business” expression.
Unfazed, the demon moves to all fours, crawling closer to me with a smirk playing on his lips.
“Don’t come any closer,” I say, hating how my voice shakes.
There’s a distorted crackling sound, almost like laughter. “My mate is a fighter.”
Mate? “J-just stay the hell away from me!”
“Or what?” he asks, genuinely curious. “Will you stab me?”
I swallow, my knuckles whitening with the strength of my grip. “Yes.”
That same odd laugh-sound rumbles from his throat once more. “You cannot hurt me, little human. Not with that.”
I gaze down at the knife, and he snaps his arm out, snatching the weapon from my palm faster than I can blink. He tosses the blade to the side, and it clatters against the far wall with a heartbreaking echo.
“You see? There’s no use trying to harm me.”
He moves so fast I barely see him. One moment I’m standing upright, the next, an invisible force is slamming into me, knocking me off my feet and sending me flying backward through the air.
Just before I slam to the ground, a pair of massive arms wrap around me, shielding my head and body, taking the entirety of the force.
The face of my captor hovers just above mine, his strange eyes beaming with pride. “You’re mine now. My human. My pet.”
“The fuck I am!” I beat my fists against his chest, but he doesn’t so much as blink.
“Don’t fight me.” His brows furrow in a deep frown. “I don’t want to punish you.”
“Punish me?” My eyes widen. “You have no right!”
In response, he lifts me off the ground as if I weigh less than nothing, tossing me over his shoulder so I have a full view of his toned ass.
And… is that a tail?
I hadn’t noticed it before, but it’s impossible to ignore now that I’ve seen it. It’s long and thick, ending in a tuft of pink fur that matches the color on his head. If I wasn’t so freaked out by the situation, I might even think it was cute.
But I have no time for cute right now. “Hey! Put me down!” I pound my fists on his muscular back, gritting my teeth at the sight of his tail swishing back and forth. “I said put me down!”
In response, he reaches up, smacking my ass hard. “Bad. No hitting.”
My face flames as tears sting the corners of my eyes. He… he fucking spanked me! How dare he!
Though, even as I think it, heat pools low in my belly, filling my veins with a powerful desire to feel him touch me that way again. It’s wrong and immoral, but it’s there.
My mind must have broken when he pulled me through that portal. That’s the only explanation that makes sense.
I’m so caught off guard by my newfound feelings I don’t notice he’s walked us across the room.
He places me on the ground, keeping one hand curled possessively around the back of my neck, stopping me from trying to bolt.
I watch with wide eyes as the demon reaches into a crudely carved chest and pulls out a ring of metal.
It’s made of a material that looks closer to the silver on earth, but it shimmers with that otherworldly energy that is born of this strange place. No thicker than my pinky finger, the metal curves to make a perfect circle, connected at the top by an embossed metal clasp.
I don’t understand what it is until he moves the ring toward my neck, clearly meaning for me to wear it. A collar.
Oh hell no. “If you try to put that on me, I’ll bite your damn fingers off.”
He tilts his head, brows furrowing in that disappointed frown from earlier. “Please don’t fight, pet. I don’t like correcting you.”
Correcting who, now? “Listen here, buddy,” I say, reaching up to jab a finger in his face, “I am no one’s pet, and you have no right to correct me. I am a grown woman, and I demand you put that thing away and take me home right this instant!”
Instead of anger, the demon drops his head, his shoulders slumping inward as a sad little whine echoes from his throat.
“But… I don’t want to. You smell pretty, and your eyes look like trees.
” He raises his head, his pink eyes shining with a raw kind of desperation.
“You looked so sad. I took you away from whatever was making you sad.” He shakes his head, his whimper turning to a low rumbling growl.
“I don’t understand. Why would you want to go back? You belong here, with me.”
“I… I don’t…” All the things I’ve been suppressing since I woke up come flooding back to me at his mention of my sadness. All the betrayal, the hurt and heartache. It’s all too much. I gasp around soundless words, unable to get anything out past the fist tightening around my windpipe. “I… I…”
The demon reaches out, snapping the collar around my neck before I have time to register what’s happening.
In the next moment, a long, shimmering chain materializes in his palm, one that he hooks to the back of my collar.
I follow the length of the chain, my stomach tightening when I notice the other end is connected to the wall. I’m trapped.
Panic claws up my throat as my fingertips trace the ring of metal, knowing without even trying that this will be nearly impossible to remove.
The demon steps closer, his eyes shining with pride as he takes in his handiwork.
“Much better.” He reaches out to caress my cheek with a small grin, his mood having done a complete one-eighty. “You look so lovely…”
I should step away. Should reject his touch. But even now, even with all he’s done, I can’t. I don’t want to. In fact, the only thing I do want is to lean in, to demand he move his hand lower. To touch me there—-
I shake my head, pushing those dangerous desires to the back of my mind. I blink heavily, focusing on the demon’s mouth, the words flowing from his full, perfect lips.
“You’re safe here, like this. They won’t try to take you from me, or make me send you back.” He frowns. “At least, not unless they find you.”
I’m not sure who they are, but I don’t think I’ll like them any better than this creature. “I want to go home,” I whisper.
Ignoring my request, he touches my belly, frowning in concentration. “Are you hungry? I’m not sure how often your kind needs to eat…”
At the mention of food, my stomach rumbles. I hadn’t eaten the morning of my wedding, so God only knows how long it’s been since I last had a decent meal.
I was so looking forward to that wedding cake…
Thinking about the cake has my stomach letting out a loud, angry growl, and the demon jerks back in alarm, his eyes wide as he stares down at my belly.
“Your stomach… it… spoke.”
“It does that. When I’m hungry,” I explain.
“So you are hungry!” he says, happily. “I will procure some food for you to fill your belly.”
“That’s not necessary. Just take me back home—” But it’s too late. He’s gone.
I stare at the wall of ice, the hide draped over the exit, functioning like a door. There’s no way for me to get out of these chains, no way for me to call for help. I’m not physically strong enough, and if I scream, I could alert those others that he spoke of.
It’s best to keep silent and wait for his return—and plan my eventual escape.