The Sorrow
Greta sat on her bed, wringing her hands in her lap. After Ixoril had retreated, she’d let the hellhounds teleport her back to the Reyes compound. Karma stood nearby, dark eyes full of concern.
“You don’t have to watch me until Beam gets here,” Greta said, after a few more awkward minutes.
“I don’t think you should be alone right now.”
“I told you, I’m fine.”
Karma folded her arms over her chest. “You don’t look fine.”
“I’m upset because I don’t know what to think anymore. It didn’t feel like I was being influenced by him.”
Karma offered a sympathetic smile. “Isn’t that exactly how it would feel to be manipulated?”
Greta sighed. “Maybe.”
Beam rushed in and plopped down next to Greta, wrapping her arms around her. “Oh my gods. Are you okay?”
Greta tried to put a little space between them, and Beam reluctantly gave way. “I was just telling Karma that I’m fine.”
Karma huffed.
Beam leveled a serious look Greta’s way. “Dasher said they found you with the Basilisk.”
“He saved me from a flash flood.”
“The better to eat you?”
Greta shook her head. “No, it wasn’t like that. He was really very sweet.”
Beam stared at her. “Sweet?”
“I know what you’re thinking.” Greta shrugged. “That I was being hypnotized or whatever, but the more I think about it, the more I don’t believe it.”
“But you wouldn’t necessarily know, right?”
“You didn’t see his face.” Greta folded her hands. “He was devastated when I left. I think he’s just lonely.”
Karma spluttered. “He’s not a stray dog, Greta. He’s a dangerous killer. Don’t you remember what Basilio said about him?”
“Basilio lied about a lot of things,” Greta said with certainty. “Ixoril had plenty of opportunities to kill me, if that’s what he wanted to do. Instead, he cooked me dinner.”
Beam made a face. “He what?”
“Made me a delicious meal. After he made sure I was warm and dry. After he saved me from a flood that would almost certainly have killed me.” She squeezed Beam’s hands. “He took care of me.”
“Okay, I’ll grant you that doesn’t sound like something a monster would do. But Dasher said he was really aggressive?”
“Only after the twins showed up and started talking about taking me away. I think he was trying to protect me.”
“You fucked him,” Karma said with shock.
Greta aimed a glare her way. “I don’t think that’s relevant.”
Next to her, Beam bristled. “Gotta agree there.”
“I didn’t mean it in a judgy way,” Karma rushed to add. “I meant that it’s coloring your impression of him.”
Beam hummed. “I think it pushes the balance the other way, actually. If there’s one thing I trust, it’s Greta’s gut. She doesn’t go for assholes. Like ever.”
Greta smiled at her friend. “Thank you. I appreciate that.” She’d been doubting herself since she had let the hellhounds take her out of the woods, but that vote of confidence made her feel better about her decisions. “Remember what you said to me when you first told me about Talon?”
Beam sighed. “That you didn’t know him the way I did.”
Greta nodded. “And I trusted you because you were right. I didn’t know him like that. I couldn’t. Only you could.”
Beam wrinkled her nose. “Point taken.”
“I’m going to shower and change. Can you ask one of the guys to give me a lift back?” she asked Karma.
Karma’s eyes got wide, and she looked to Beam for backup.
Beam shrugged. “She’s a grown-ass woman. Don’t make her ask twice.”
Greta tackled her friend with a hug.
Less than an hour later, Dancer took Greta’s hand and teleported her back to the woods. They were outside the cave, almost exactly where she’d left from. Dancer looked around, shrugged, and then disappeared in a puff of air that smelled of brimstone.
Greta had been very specific about him lingering, and she was grateful that he’d listened without argument, considering how badly everything had gone the last time.
She was gathering her nerve to head inside, trying to figure out what she was going to say to Ixoril by way of apology, when she realized he’d already stepped into the outer part of the cave. His eyes glowed from the dim interior, unblinking and eerie.
She took off her pack and let out a long sigh. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let them talk me into leaving like that.”
The only answer was a slight rumbling growl, but there was still no movement and no response.
“I didn’t actually think you had done any of the things they said, but I was also really overwhelmed by all of this. I told you that even before they arrived.”
At first, he didn’t respond, but after a few seconds he spoke up, “Why are you back here?”
“Because I didn’t want to leave things that way. You didn’t deserve to be treated like that. No matter what anyone thinks, you aren’t a monster.”
“That’s exactly what I am, Greta. I can do all the things they accused me of. I could tear out your throat right now, and you’d stand there and let me.”
“But you wouldn’t.” She’d never been surer of anything in her life. When he had said he would never use his powers on her, she’d known it to be true.
“You seem awfully certain for someone who looked terrified when you left.”
“Once I had time to think about it, I understood. You want to protect me. That’s all you ever wanted.”
Finally, he stepped out of the darkness, approaching her slowly, as if she might bolt at any moment. His wings resettled behind him after a few strides. “You should go back to the city. I can take you to your car.” His voice was frosty and reserved, very unlike his usual warm timbre.
“I don’t need your help to get back to my car,” she snapped.
He stopped, a shocked expression overtaking his handsome face. His tail lashed behind him, wary and questioning.
“I’m sorry I hurt you. I knew you were lonely and that even the idea of my leaving wounded you, yet I didn’t consider that when the twins showed up and started trying to convince me to go.
And then when you acted aggressively, rather than trying to understand why that might be, I gave into the fear. ”
He looked down at the ground. “It was understandable.”
The desolation in his face threatened to tear her heart from her chest. She would do anything to make it go away. “No, it wasn’t. That’s what I’m trying to tell you, if you would just fucking listen. I’m not scared of you. I’ll never be scared of you, Ixoril.”
He met her eyes slowly, the hope in his expression almost too much to bear. “You’re…not?” His gaze panned over her. “You’re not.”
He moved closer, heart-achingly tentative, then gaining confidence when she didn’t back away.
His tail touched her first, a light brush over the knuckles of her hand before coiling up around her wrist and forearm.
His arms came next, wrapping her as carefully as if she were a porcelain doll and pulling her into his embrace.
He buried his face in the crook of her neck and inhaled. “I was going to let you go,” he murmured into her skin. “If you were afraid of me. But I didn’t want to.”
She slid her hands up his back to run her fingers through his feathered wings, pulling him closer. “You don’t ever have to let me go.”
A loud, cheerful purr vibrated from him. “You need to be careful about offering me these things, Greta.”
She hugged him tighter, enjoying how warm and strong he was in her arms. “Why’s that?”
He let out a long sigh. “Because you’re my mate.”
She froze. “You’re sure?”
Ixoril nodded against her. “It’s why you being here doesn’t bother me, and why I was so aggressive earlier. It took me a while to recognize the signs.” When she didn’t respond, he continued, “This doesn’t mean you have to accept me. I’d never pressure you that way. You just need to be careful—”
She cut him off by squeezing him tighter. “I accept you. Your bond. Whatever. I don’t know how basilisks work, but however it is, I’m in.”
He drew in a long, slow breath. “That was exactly what you should not have done. You need time to consider what it means to be the mate of a possessive, violent creature.”
“I don’t care, Ix.” When he started to protest, she hushed him. “I don’t. I want you, and I’m just so fucking relieved that you want me too, even after what I did, and that there really is no rhyme or reason to it.”
“The reason is that you smell delicious.” He buried his nose in her hair. “And you taste even better.”
She curled her fingers into the muscles of his back, pulling him closer. She was done waiting. “I’ve finally decided,” she whispered. “I want you to ruin me for everyone else.”
His mouth brushed her shoulder as a growl escaped his lips. The trailing kiss along the column of her throat held the promise of teeth. “Then you should run.”
Desire raced through her, driven by her pounding heart. The idea of running from this powerful predator had her trembling in his arms. He squeezed her ass and then let her go.
For a moment, she was bereft without his hands on her, and then she remembered that he wanted to chase her. Dashing past him, she dove into the tree line. She ran headlong into the forest, panting for breath. Adrenaline pumped through her blood, heightening her senses.
She dared a look behind her, but didn’t see him anywhere. Still, she felt him back there somewhere. The heat of his regard warmed her skin. A minute later she reached the steep downward slope of a canyon and came to a sliding stop.
Ixoril’s tail coiled around her, yanking her off her feet and into the air. He swooped into a low turn, flying them back the way they had come. He brought them to an abrupt landing outside his cave, absorbing all the impact himself.
Greta yelped when he bit her earlobe, her fingers digging into his tail where it held her.
“You can’t run from me,” he rumbled in her ear. “Not anymore.” His hand plunged into her shorts.
She gasped and squirmed in his grip, but he wrapped his free arm around her neck. He parted her folds and slipped his fingers through her wetness with a dark chuckle. “Seems you like being treated a little rough.”