29. A surprise encounter
A SURPRISE ENCOUNTER
Ro
“Got it all?” I ask.
Lor barely glances at me as she nods absently, her gaze tracking across the dirt one last time.
I snag her bag of stardust and loop it over my shoulder, then grin as I let the wicked glint of my demon enter my eye.
Lor’s gaze widens as she takes a step back, but I dart forward and snatch her wrist. I spin her around, folding her arms across her chest and banding one of mine around her to hold her in place.
“Not so fast, Starfire,” I murmur.
She shivers against me and my entire body heats.
I light a small fireball and hold it out in front of her, then slowly bring it closer to her body. Lor presses her back into my chest; we both know I would never hurt her, but it’s human instinct to recoil from danger.
I dance the flame across my fingers, then turn my palm up and let it rest in the center of my hand. Her breathing starts to slow again as she settles, and I grin with wicked satisfaction.
I snap my hand closed, fisting the fire to put it out and Lor jumps in my hold at the sudden movement and her heartrate spikes again, higher than it was before.
I can feel it in her wrist where I’m gripping her against me, and see it in the pulse thrumming in her neck.
I tighten my grip on her as I lean down again.
I want to consume her, but first I want to catch her.
“Run, little starchaser,” I growl into her ear.
As soon as my hold loosens, Lor darts out of it. I cackle with glee as Lor sprints away, her hair flowing behind her. I enjoy a good chase, but that’s not the purpose of today, even though Lor might think it is as I take off after her.
I laugh as I catch glimpses of her silver hair flashing between the trees. Thanks to my earlier casing, I know the paths she’s likely to take, and I catch up to her within minutes.
Lor is breathing hard and her pupils are dilated, but she grins when she catches sight of me dashing through the trees to her left.
She ducks to the right, towards the river, and I whoop with wild abandon.
I’m right behind her, within lunging distance, when she looks over her shoulder and stumbles.
It’s exactly what I was waiting for, and I pounce.
I twist to take the fall with Lor landing on top of me, then we roll through the ferns and undergrowth until I have her pinned to the spongy moss beneath me. I flip her onto her stomach as she lets out a breathless laugh.
“Ro,” she says, panting. “What—”
I unfold the black bag I’ve been hiding, and whip it over her head.
She shrieks, her hands flying up to grapple with the edge of the bag, but I snatch her wrists and tug them behind her back. Lor’s chest heaves and I lean forward, hovering over her.
I savor this moment, more satisfied and excited than I’ve ever been as my demon side thrills in the capture. Leaning down, I lick a long, slow stripe along the side of her neck where the skin peeks out beneath the bag.
Lor shivers, and I groan at the feel of her tight body against mine. My blood heats as it thrums through me, and a heady euphoria sweeps my inhibitions away.
“You wanna play?” I whisper against her skin, sending goosebumps scattering down her neck as I stroke my free hand down her arm in a deceptively gentle caress.
Lor swallows hard as her breathing picks up.
“Yes,” she says, voice ragged. “I want to play.”
Admittedly, the chuckle I let out is more demonic than usual, so I can’t blame her for struggling a bit in response. My hand is loose around hers though, and she hasn’t used her safe word or movement, so I’m not worried.
She agreed to this, after all, she just didn’t know when it was going to happen.
I release my grip on her to Velcro the bag around her neck, ensuring it’s loose enough that she could get out if she wanted, but not so slack that it’ll fall off.
My grin is wicked as I let my inner demon take control.
I pull us both to standing, then I spin her to face me and toss her over my shoulder.
Her startled screech of protest is music to my ears as I stand, hook her stardust bag around my elbow, and start walking into the woods with my trophy.
My arm tightens over her thighs as I hold her to me.
“Ro!” Lor yells, her voice covered by the bag and muffled against my back.
“What’s that?” I say. “Can’t quite hear you!”
Her cute fists pound against my lower back, and I cackle in response. Then I turn my head to the side and bite her sexy ass. It would be more satisfying if she wasn’t wearing pants. I pause, considering.
“Can I take your pants off first?”
“Oh my god! No!”
Ah well, it was worth a shot. I pick up my pace again, carefully stalking my way through the thick foliage along the river.
Lor
Why did I agree to this? Being carried over someone’s shoulder is not as fun or sexy as it sounded. I should have known this game was coming, though. Ro’s been acting cagey all morning, not nearly as overbearingly cheerful as he usually is.
Him avoiding me should have been my first clue he had something like this planned. We didn’t even finish the conversation when we first tried to talk about it a couple months ago. We both got so turned on that we ended up fucking on the rug right where we had been standing.
We agreed to a ‘no touching’ rule for the duration of the conversation the second time we approached it. But going through with it in real life is a whole different experience. My breath is hot inside the bag, and I can only catch faint glimmers of light through the dark fabric.
My face heats when I imagine what we look like in the fading light of the evening. Me slung over his shoulder with my arms dangling, a bag over my head, and him probably stomping proudly through the trees like he won some sort of olympic medal.
I scoff and roll my eyes, even though he can’t see it.
“Got something to say, Starfire?” Ro jostles my legs, then palms my ass, squeezing one cheek and then the other.
“No,” I huff, then wheeze when he stops suddenly, putting unexpected pressure on my stomach. His hand tightens on my thighs as his back muscles flex against me.
There’s a strange sounding growl, but before I can even register the sound, Ro speaks.
“Oh, hello. I didn’t see you, we’re just… Uh…”
Is someone else here? Mortified, I yank the bag halfway off my head and brace an arm against his lower back, propping myself up so I can peer around him.
“Ro? What’s going on?”
He shifts to the side slightly, probably trying to hide me, but the angle lets me peek underneath his arm.
There’s a man staring at us, a look of anger slowly turning to confusion as his eyes widen.
He could be any sort of person or paranormal, and the fact he’s out here in the middle of the woods…
My throat goes dry as possible scenarious, each one worse than the last, flit through my mind.
I raise my hand to give Ro our safeword-signal when…
Some sort of gazelle bounds up next to the mystery man.
I blink, then squint at it. I’m pretty sure that animal isn’t native to the pacific northwest.
Then the gazelle shifts into a human. A very naked woman, to be precise. My eyes widen in surprise, but the man quickly shoves her behind him with another growl. Is he some sort of shifter too? All he’s done is growl at us so far, so it seems like a good guess.
The woman pokes her head around the man’s arm as she glances around, taking in the situation. Her dainty fingers press tiny dents into his forearm as she tugs at him.
“Ash?” she says.
She looks up at the man who still has his eyes narrowed at Ro and me, and the moment feels surreal. I guess we do look suspicious. To be fair, he does too, though.
Is this real life? Me, being pretend kidnapped with a black bag barely hanging onto my hair as my demon lights a flame in his hand behind him, clearly preparing for the worst. Her, naked in the middle of the woods with a big, angry creature of some sort protecting her.
I laugh, a single, loud guffaw, and everyone jumps.
I glance at the naked woman, the first to recover, and she breaks into a mischievous smile.
Her hands creep around the man’s sides to curl up over his shoulders as she rests her cheek against his biceps.
Her blonde wavy hair floats alongside them in the stray breeze.
“Uh, Lor?” Ro whispers.
“Aww,” naked girl stage whispers, intentionally loud enough for us to hear. “Are you making new friends, Ash?”
The angry man looks stricken, like he just learned he was fatally poisoned or something. He glowers at her, a gruff “no” punching out of his chest.
That makes me snort-laugh again, but this time it doesn’t stop. I feel like I’m outside my body. Disconnected from reality. I mean seriously, what the actual fuck is happening?
I drop my hands and my face hits Ro’s back as I lose control, laughing hysterically. Is this what finally does me in? Playing Ro’s demon games in the middle of the woods and apparently not being the only ones doing it?
Un-fucking-believable.
“Hey,” naked-girl says. “I’m Raya, and this is Asher.”
I can hear Ro’s answering grin as he douses the hidden flame and replies. “Nice to meet you! I’m Ro, and this is Lor.”
He pats my ass in what would be a fond gesture in any other context, but here it comes off as possessive with a side of demeaning.
And now, I’m the one growling.
I can’t believe that sound comes out of me, but who does he think he is? I thrash in his hold, but he tightens his grip with a low chuckle. I flatten my hands on his back and throw a glare up at him as I twist around to look at naked-girl, whatever her name was.
“I guess our game is intruding on your game, huh?” she says, a wide smile stretching across her face.
A surprised huff leaves my mouth as my face swivels between her and Ro. This woman is like a spirit twin to him, isn’t she? I grimace. Too much sunshine in one spot.
Unimpressed, I meet her partner’s eyes, taking in his lack of amusement in the situation as well.
“Yes,” I grumble. “You are.”
Then my arms give up for a final time, and I flop limply into Ro’s back.
“Sorry about that!” she chirps. “We’ll just go a couple miles over that way, right Ash?”
“Perfect, we’re heading this direction,” Ro replies. I assume he points or gestures.
“Awesome, we’ll stay out of your hair. And hey, cute setup over there!”
“Thanks for understanding,” Ro says, far too chipper in this situation. “Have fun, new friends!”
“You too!” Raya says, then she’s back in her gazelle form and leaping away into the trees. A blur follows moments later, one I just barely catch out of the corner of my eye before the bag shifts and covers my eyes again. I blink. That was… a vampire?
Ooookay, then. I heave a sigh, accepting that I have no idea what is happening anymore.
“Well, they seemed nice!” Ro says, then continues on his way to whatever unknown destination he has in mind.