Chapter 4
Chapter
Four
DRAKKAN
Ihad never spoken to a human before. My tail twitched and my claws extended in response to the bone deep craving that only grew stronger in the witch’s presence.
The part of me that made me bare my teeth and bristle the fur of my tail wanted to pounce on her—to lay her down on the leafy forest floor and devour her—was overpowered by my utter fascination with her.
She stood tall, taking me in with a glimmer of wonder in her gaze. I found myself puffing out my chest, pulling myself to my full height so that my antlers brushed the tree branches above.
At first, it had only mattered to me that she had responded to my call, but now another thought struck me. I tilted my head.
“Are you afraid?” I asked.
“No.” She said the word as if it surprised her. “Do you want me to be?”
“No,” I echoed. “You do not fear this forest, and that is why I called to you.”
She took one small step forward, as if she did not even realize she was doing so. “This forest has never harmed me, despite the tales some tell of it. If you truly are this forest, then I have nothing to fear from you either.”
I lowered my chin, fixing her with a predatory stare as pulled back my lips to expose my elongated canines. “I would not be so sure.”
As much as I didn’t want her to be afraid, I wondered if her bravery might be temporary. She might change her mind and flee from the woods once she saw the darker side of me—the side of me that was the death and decay that gave this forest life, and the hunger of the wolf as he tore into his prey.
The witch narrowed her dark eyes, which glittered in the thin light of the moon filtering through the leaves. “I am a celestial witch on the full moon. I would not be so sure.”
My hunger intensified at her bold words, and a low rumble built in my chest, but she continued.
“Besides, if you called me here, then you need me. You won’t get whatever it is you want if you kill me,” she pointed out, putting her hands on her hips.
The movement pulled her dress so that the opening under her breasts showed of the glowing witch mark illustrating the phases of the moon stretched across the hollow beneath her ribs.
They told me she was blessed by the goddess Lunara—a distant cousin of mine.
“What is it that you want? That you called me here for?” She asked, ignoring the rake of my gaze down her torso.
I opened my mouth, ready to tell her all I desired from her.
To share with her how the sight of her silvery hair against her dark skin caught my eye every time she was in the garden, and how the swell of her hip as she propped a basket on it caused an aching tightness in my groin.
I would tell her how the antlers in her hair told me that she would be mine, and I would claim her as such under the light of this full moon.
I said none of those things.
“What are you called?” I asked instead.
The determined set of her jaw softened. “Esmeray,” she said, the syllables like music on her lips.
“Esmeray,” I repeated, relishing the sweet taste of the syllables on my tongue. “Tell me Esmeray, what is this tradition where humans tie their hands together?”
She blinked, looking startled, as if I had managed to throw her off her guard for the first time since meeting in this clearing.
“Handfasting? It is how we get married in our village, for we have no holy man or temple. It’s how people bind themselves to one another,” she explained, smoothing her hands over her green skirt, the fabric the same dark color as the late summer leaves around us.
She really was made for the forest. For me.
“This is what I want,” I declared. “To bind you to me.”
Esmeray’s mouth fell open, but instead of registering her shock, I could only look at the O of her lips and think of how I wanted to cover them with my own. It was a human custom I had seen at these handfasting ceremonies, and one that had caught my interest and held it with a singular focus.
As I pondered Esmeray’s lips, she did not speak for several long moments, the only sounds the whispering of wind and the hoot of a distant owl.
“Why?” she finally, said, the single syllable a breathy gust of air.
“I have walked this forest alone for longer than your village has existed,” I admitted. “I am a God, and I need no companion. But watching the humans live their lives in the company of others for the past decades… it has made me want.”
Understanding dawned on her features, and for a second it seemed like Esmeray saw straight through my flesh to the primal power that lurked beneath my bark. It felt like being flayed open—completely foreign, and yet I reveled in it.
“You want a bride,” she observed. “But humans don’t usually marry those they have just met.”
I took a prowling step forward, but Esmeray did not back away. My nostrils flared as I caught her scent on the evening breeze. It was woodsy and rich, making my mouth water.
“But you have known me for years. You have walked beneath my trees and gathered mushrooms in my shade. You have watched me from your garden every day, just as I have watched you. You said yourself that if I am the forest, you have nothing to fear from me.” I leaned closer, towering over her so she had to crane her neck to look up at me.
Something sparked in her eyes as I continued.
“Well, these woods and I are one and the same, and you have been drawn to me ever since you first laid eyes on me.”
She sucked in a shivering breath, but she did not speak. Slowly, I raised one hand to drag a clawed finger along the delicate gold twist of the antlers perched atop her head. The cool metal warmed under my touch.
“You even adorned yourself with my symbol, tonight, as if to tell me you were ready to be my bride,” I said.
Esmeray tilted her head to break my touch on her golden antlers. I bared my teeth but left my hand hovering in space as I waited for her response.
“Let’s make a deal,” she offered.
I nodded, waiting for her to continue with tension in every muscle of my body.
To find out if after all these years I was to have a companion, and if that companion would be her.
The witch who had transfixed me for so many years.
If gods weren’t immune to such things, I would have thought she had cast an enchantment to ensnare me.
“If I am going to be your bride, you have to prove yourself,” Esmeray said, lifting her chin.
My hackles rose, and part of me wanted to insist that a god did not have to prove themselves to a witch, but the mischievous look on her face gave me pause.
The corners of her lips twitched in the beginnings of a wild smile, and her dark eyes glinted with something feral that promised to be everything I desired and more, if I could just be patient a little longer.
“I’m going to run, and if you can’t reach me before I reach the edge of the woods, then you will owe me a favor of my choosing. If you catch me, though, I will be your bride,” she offered.
A rushing filled my ears at her words, and tension built in my cock. Esmeray’s eyes, which had remained fixed on my face throughout our entire conversation, flicked down to it where it began to stand to full attention, and her tongue darted out to wet her lips.
Still, I held myself in check, clenching my fists until my claws drew blood from my palms.
“To be clear, if I catch you, I am going to claim you in every way. I will make you mine so thoroughly that there will never be any others—imprint my power on you so deeply that my essence will be stitched into the very fiber of your being.” The words came out as a growling rumble, full of the wildness of the woods and the darkness of my deepest shadows.
Esmeray sucked in a shuddering breath, but her resolve did not appear to crumble.
“That is the deal you are striking. Is that what you agree to?” My body trembled with tension, but I held myself perfectly still, a predator waiting for the perfect moment to pounce on its prey.
“Yes.”
The single syllable hit me like a physical blow and heat rushed through me like an inferno.
I could only stare and take in the feral look on her face that I was sure mirrored my own.
It was an expression that promised the thrill of a hunt, and at the end of it, satisfaction unlike any I had ever known.
The roaring in my ears grew so intense that I barely heard what she said next.
“But first, you have to catch me.”
Then she bolted.
My body took a moment to unfreeze, but when it did, it was as if the strings holding me upright had snapped. I dropped to all fours, the posture of a wolf on the prowl. I tipped my head back and let out a long, unrestrained howl at the moon. The sign of my new bride.
She was in my realm now, and the hunt was afoot.