Chapter 16
Chapter
Sixteen
ECHO
Ididn’t wait for Vale to respond. I was off like a shot, running like my life depended on it. I knew Vale would chase me. He’d tasted my blood and come back for more, and he wasn’t some goody-two-shoes fake monster who was afraid of hurting people.
Vale loved me, and he wanted to bite me. I was going to make it good for both of us.
I let go of all of my thoughts, allowing my feet to take me where they wanted to go. As I ran, I felt more alive than I ever remembered being. I was free.
I leapt over a rotted log and did my best to land in a snow-free spot. I didn’t think I could outrun Vale, but I was still going to give it everything I had.
There was dead silence in the forest around me, and I knew it meant Vale had taken me up on my offer. If he hadn’t, he’d be swearing and yelling at me to come back.
Silence meant he was coming for me.
The skin on the back of my neck prickled as my survival instincts kicked in, filling my body with all the chemicals it needed to make a last-ditch effort to escape from a predator ready to tear me apart.
The growing hard-on I was rocking started to make it difficult to run, but I did the best I could.
There was a rustle in the tree in front of me, and I bolted to the left, taking an animal trail, feeling very much like a small woodland creature myself.
The blood in my veins was singing like I was filled with pure magic. I never wanted the chase to end. Never in my life had I felt more alive than I did in that moment.
Something large dashed past me several yards to my right. The snow scattered, and branches gave way, cracking and snapping as they went. Then there was only silence.
He was playing with me, letting me know where he was and that he could take me whenever he wanted.
My heart raced, beating against my ribs like it was trying to escape, and I panted like a trapped animal. Which way should I go? Was he in front of me, or was he only trying to trick me?
I didn’t have time for thoughts. It was act or die, so I grabbed a flexible sapling and used it to help me change course without losing momentum and slingshot myself in a different direction.
My legs shook, barely holding me up, and I couldn’t breathe.
I was running on empty and couldn’t keep going much longer.
A shadow appeared in front of me, and I tried to bank left, but the shadow vanished before I managed to course-correct.
I stalled out in confusion, stumbling to a stop. Where was he?
There was a rustle in the leaves behind me, and I turned around but saw nothing.
Then, behind me, even closer, I heard footsteps crunch in the snow.
I turned around, skittering backward, but there was nothing there.
My foot caught on a fallen branch, and I began to go down, but I was stopped mid-fall by a hand grabbing the back of my jacket.
Air left my body with an oof as I was thrown roughly and then caught just before I could slam into a tree.
Vale’s face was shadowed, but his eyes blazed bright in the darkness.
“Mine,” he growled before sinking his teeth into the side of my neck.
I tensed against the pain before relaxing into it.
It was what I wanted. Both times before had been so fast that I’d melted into a lust puddle and gone along for the ride before realizing what was happening.
I was hardly coherent either time. All I’d felt had been an overwhelming sense of being needed and owned.
Maybe it was because I’d known it was coming, or maybe it was something more, but as I relaxed into being Vale’s willing meal, I began to sense something more.
I began to hear Vale. It wasn’t quite words, but it was close enough that I could understand what he was thinking, and the gist was a running litany of: So perfect. So good. So mine.
Vale really loved me. He’d meant it. I could feel from his brilliant mind to the foundation of all he was that he was utterly and hopelessly in love with me.
If I’d thought I’d felt alive during the chase, it didn’t compare to how Vale felt while holding me in his arms, with me submitting to him fully while he fed.
“Love you,” I said dreamily. How could I not? How could anyone hold back in the face of such devotion?
Vale responded by tearing open my pants and freeing my dick. He palmed me while feeding, and my world went hazy and gray. Blood loss weakness, folks. It happens to the best of us, am I right?
Vale caught me as my knees buckled, and he stopped feeding. “Are you still with me?” His voice was husky, and it was more monster than man.
“Fuck yes,” I gasped. “Please don’t stop.”
Vale chuckled darkly. “I might kill you if I don’t.” His words were clearer, and the energy I’d felt from him shifted. Vale was growing more in control, and the monster was subsiding.
Did I want that?
Vale went to his knees and took my dick into his mouth and holyjesusfuckingchrist…
I didn’t care who was in charge, Vale or the monster. Whoever was down there had a mouth like a sexy vacuum cleaner, and I wasn’t about to ask him to stop. I grabbed handfuls of his hair and thrust into his mouth mindlessly, begging him not to stop.
He swallowed me down greedily, seemingly not needing air, or at the very least, needing me more.
As he fucked me with his mouth, my body began to tingle and my skin started to glow a soft, shimmery green. The sensation built in waves, getting stronger and stronger until it reached a crescendo, and I came helplessly while Vale swallowed with the same fervor he had while drinking my blood.
I fully planned to keel over and pass out for an undetermined amount of time, but I felt stronger and even more alive than I had before, and I was glowing like a firefly.
I gazed down at Vale as he licked his lips with satisfaction, eyes still glowing, but instead of the orange fire I’d seen earlier, it matched my own green glow.
“What…” I rasped, voice absolutely fucked after whatever the hell had just happened. “What did you do?”
Vale’s hazy expression of self-satisfaction faded, and he frowned. “You’re glowing.”
“No shit!” I snapped. “Did you just give me your fairy STD? Am I going to start eating people?”
“It’s not an STD, and this isn’t what happened when I was cursed.” Vale made a face and tucked my dick away for me. “The Cody has had enough of a show, I think.”
“I haven’t,” The Cody announced, stepping out from a tree. Like, literally. She moseyed right out of it like it was a door rather than a plant. “That didn’t count as fucking.”
“It really didn’t.” I agreed readily. “Even if you just gave me a fae STD, Vale, we’re still doing that again.”
“I didn’t give you an STD,” Vale said stiffly. “I can’t get sick or pass things along. My body is literally frozen in time.”
“So, what’s happening to me?” I demanded. My body was only glowing brighter, and Vale’s eyes were doing their best to keep up.
The Cody gave us a once over, walking around us in a circuit, making ooo and ahhh noises before announcing, “Congratulations on your marriage!”
“On our what?!” Vale shouted, and I echoed right on his heels.