Chapter 7
Asterion
“Motherfucker,” I hear her hiss, falling into line behind me as I pull her across the dusty cavern before entering one of the tunnels without hesitation.
A lifetime in these caves means I have memorized every path in this serpentine labyrinth.
I know the exact tunnels I need to take to get anywhere.
“I did not ‘fuck’ my mother,” I growl at her, shooting a glare over my shoulder as I tug the rope hard enough to make her stumble. This little wretch has a wicked tongue that strikes as viciously as a blade in her hands.
“I didn’t—that’s not what I meant.” She stumbles over her words, brushing her hair out of her eyes.
“That was my father.”
She almost chokes. “Is that how you came to be a—?”
“A Minotaur, yes.”
She clears her throat. “So, was your mother a Minotaur too?”
“No.”
“Your father then?”
“You talk too much.”
“Just making small talk,” she grumbles.
“Talk smaller.” This human talks far too much and walks far too little.
“O-kay then,” she mutters under her breath.
In truth, I do not know my parents outside of the stories I have been told.
My mother was cursed by a God to fall in lust with a beast because my father had failed to uphold his sacrificial honor.
I was only an infant when I was taken from my mother and placed inside the labyrinth.
My only company, the fourteen people sent to me every nine years in sacrifice.
That is, until the Fates brought us here and shielded all the monsters from the modernizing outside world.
I wind through tunnels and around corners, passing the hot spring along the way, and then, almost abruptly, we come to the cave entrance.
The sun has since set, a cool breeze wafting in off the ocean, and it feels like bliss across my skin after being in the warm and stuffy underground.
It is not too long a journey, but I am eager to be aboveground for a short while.
It is not often that I get to see real stars scattered across the skies.
The glow worms are a poor substitute for the beauty of the constellations.
I jerk. The rope anchoring the girl and me together pulls taut as I head for the crudely carved entrance. I look back at her, eyes narrowing when I see her standing behind me with her arms crossed over her chest and a defiant look in her eye.
“What are you doing?” I rumble, eyebrows furrowed in annoyance.
“Where are we going?”
I growl. “I told you.”
“No, you didn’t. You just said ‘back’. Back where?” She narrows her eyes at me.
“To the Drakons.”
“Dragons?” She squeaks. “The lizard monsters?”
“Drakons.” I snort. “And yes.”
I shake my head to myself. Ladon and Pytho would have something to say about being called lizards. The thought almost makes me smile.
“No.” She clenches her teeth and juts her chin out.
“Yes.” I pinch the bridge between my eyes. We do not have time for this.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No, and I can do this all night.” She sits down on the cave floor and crosses her legs.
I huff, fists clenching at my sides, before stalking over to her, my heavy footfalls making the stones rattle. In one swoop, I pick her up and sling her over my shoulder.
“Hey!” she yelps, her stomach making impact with my shoulder so that her head hangs near the middle of my back. She bangs her fists against my hardened muscles.
“Let me down!”
“No.”
“Arghhh!” she screeches, and I am very glad her head is not up near my ears.
This little wisp is as light as a feather, and bony too. I do not care for the complaints she mutters as I leave the cave and begin our journey to the mountain.
The grass is long, almost to my thighs, and jagged boulders peek out in spots, making the terrain uneven.
Silvery moths flit around the grass, the moonlight making their wings shimmer.
I can smell the ocean still, the salt floating in on the cool breeze and mixing with the scent of strawberries that is now annoyingly too close to my nose.
“Achooo!” The girl sneezes, and sneezes, and sneezes.
“Will you pull yourself together?!” I growl, my grip around her thighs tightening with my annoyance. She squirms beneath my hold with a whimper, her scent thickening. Right along with my cock.
“Fates.” I groan, running my palm down my face. At least with her head smacking against my back, she cannot see my now-erect length tenting my loincloth.
“Fates-damned mate bond,” I mutter and shake my head. “Fates-damned Drakons and their tricks.”
The sneezing stops, thank the Fates. “What’s a mate bond?”
I almost trip, her question catching me off guard and causing me to stumble on a rock sticking out in the way of our path.
I clear my throat. “It is a bond between two souls that ties them together for eternity. Or until one of them dies, I suppose.”
Now, there is a thought. Maybe I could throw her off the side of the mountain and be done with it.
I grimace. Severing a mate bond is quite traumatic.
After bearing witness to Cyclops and his grief, I do not wish that upon anyone, least of all myself.
But I also do not want to be stuck with this little viper and her frustratingly delicious scent for the rest of eternity.
“Sounds horrible. Who would want to be stuck with someone forever?” She shudders, and the rippling of her body against my shoulder makes my loins ache.
“You have no idea.” How much I want exactly that.
But not with someone who has been used to tempt me.
Perhaps I should explain to her that she is mine and I am hers, but the words do not come.
I can only imagine her reaction. I pat the small knife tucked into the waist of my loincloth, checking that it is still there, despite knowing she has not had any opportunity to snatch it back.
I trust the little viper as much as she weighs, which is very Fates-damned little.
My mate needs to be strong and sturdy, especially if we are to mate.
I could snap this girl in half just by accident.
She would need to eat a lot of food just to keep up with me.
I could make her roast meats over the fire, collect the fat drippings to cook up root vegetables with.
Pressure settles low in my gut, my cock jutting straight out at the thought of feeding a mate.
My mate. And then rutting into her until we are both sated and full. Full of food and full of my seed.
All I want to do is take my cock in my hand and release the pressure there, but I do not.
And I should not be thinking about all the things I could cook for this little viper until her bones no longer protrude from her skin.
She is probably just as likely to carve out my heart and eat it than accept anything I make for her.
The ground begins to incline, the path up the mountain a few hours ahead, and the ground rises and falls into soft hills the closer we get. My erection finally goes down, but there’s a tenderness that sits inside my balls at the inability to empty themselves.
A soft snoring comes from my back, and I realize the girl has fallen asleep.
I am equally impressed and annoyed that she was able to do so even while thrown over my shoulder.
We will need to camp for the night and be ready to begin our ascent as the sun rises, so I find a clearing that is mostly free from sharp, pointy rocks and drop the girl to the ground, not at all being gentle with her sleeping form.
I smirk when she wakes with a startle and a yelp, rubbing her behind.
“What was that for?”
“We will make camp here tonight.” I take my pack off and remove a fur, lay it on the ground, and settle upon it. She looks around us at the clearing and then back at me. I lie down and close my eyes, preparing to sleep so that I am well-rested for the journey in the morning.
“Where am I going to sleep?”
I open one eye to peer at her. She wrings her hands in front of her, and despite her aggravated tone, her hands and the souring of her scent betray her anxiety.
“I am sure right there is good enough.” I gesture to the ground beneath her with a smirk.
She glowers at me before crossing her arms over her chest. “Are you not going to light a fire, at least?”
I snort and close my eyes again. “Why would I do that?”
“Uh, for warmth? To keep the wolves away? I don’t know.” Her annoyance brings me great pleasure.
“There is not a tree in sight to gather firewood from, and I am not going to go looking just for you to run off again.” I turn over, my back now to her.
I do not tell her there are no wolves on this island, however.
Best to keep her scared of leaving my side, so I do not have to hunt her down again.
She does not reply, though I can feel her glare searing into the back of my skull.
For the first time since catching the little viper, I crack a grin, knowing she is sitting there seething at me.
“Besides, I am the scariest thing out here.”