23. Zoe
Zoe
I stumble backward a few steps as the man moves toward me.
"Interesting choice, dressing as the Fire Goddess."
The bonfire, only a few paces away, reflects off a mask that covers his entire face and the back of his head.
It's been molded and painted to resemble a crocodile's head, and the accuracy is quite eerie.
I feel like the man before me truly is part beast. He's wearing a thick, black collar around his neck, and his slim, naked torso has been painted with greenish-brown scales to match the mask.
A skirt in a similar shade of green to the scales swirls around his feet, a thick black belt matching the collar around his hips.
He catches me as I peruse his body, and though I can't see it, I know he's got a pleased, cocky expression beneath that croc head.
"She's not very popular anymore, is she?
Hard to have worshippers when you don't Bless anyone.
" He reaches forward and grabs a lock of my wavy hair.
"A shame, really. She is an interesting God.
" His voice tickles the back of my mind, like I've heard it before.
I wonder if he is one of the Alpha Aides for my Menagerie class.
Or maybe in Designation Hierarchy with me.
I find my voice. "You seem to be very interested in Ilota when you're dressed as if you've been Blessed by Aenella."
"She was best friends with Ilota, did you know that? Fire and water, opposite sides on the coin of passion."
Maybe I can get some information about Ilota tonight, after all. This man seems to have a loose tongue.
"I didn't. How do you?"
He relaxes back against a tree and crosses his arms over his chest. "There are journals from the early days, when they still walked among us.
They're old and rare, and easily ruined by anyone without a delicate touch, so they're kept locked away.
" He leans forward, holding a hand beside his elongated, false snout as if to tell me a secret.
"Lucky, my hands are very good at delicate touches. "
His innuendo is not lost on me or my libido. It has been a while since I've been with someone, and the way my flesh grows heated at the slightest provocation proves that my body is ready to break the dry spell.
I force my arousal to the back of my mind in favor of my goal. "I would love to read some of them. It's fascinating how little information there is on her."
"Mmm, it is." His rumbling voice goes straight between my thighs. "I theorize it may be on purpose. Perhaps the powers that be are hiding something from us. But you didn't hear that from me."
It hadn't crossed my mind before, but now that he brings it up, it does seem suspicious that there is so little on Ilota. "What would hiding her history do? What could their goal be?"
He takes another step toward me and rests his hand on my hip with familiarity that would be offensive if I weren't having to ignore that I am burning up inside for this stranger.
Where is this coming from? Sure, the man is attractive—at least the parts of him I can see—but this is getting a little out of hand.
"With knowledge comes power, and there is nothing men crave more than power."
That strange familiarity hits me again. I have met this man before, I'm sure of it, but I don't know where.
Not that it matters. The whole point of tonight is not to know who the other is. If the sounds I'm hearing are any indication, many people have decided to take advantage of the anonymity.
I find myself moving closer to him until our bodies are nearly flush together.
"Is that what you crave?"
His fingers flex on my hip, and I can hear his breath hitch. "I've never desired power."
"Then what do you desire?"
"People with power." I close the distance between our bodies, and he wraps his arm around my waist and tilts my chin toward him. His mask keeps us farther apart than I want to be. "I find them intoxicating and am liable to do whatever they ask for a crumb of attention."
At this moment, I do feel powerful, and it has nothing to do with my dragon.
The obvious erection that pushes against me is proof that he wants me in the way I do him.
How did we get here? It is like there is a magnetic pull, erasing the space between us and pulling our attention away from our conversation and onto something more base.
I thought that recognizing Dominic as my scent match would dampen my attraction to others, but that is not the case.
If anything, I am feeling more now than I have in ages.
This stranger is an Alpha. He smells like sticky toffee, and it makes my mouth water. How many sweets did he eat for the scent to cling to him like that? Would his lips taste of it?
Is this what being an Omega is like? Will close proximity to an Alpha always bring forward this type of reaction? I've lost all desire to question him about his knowledge of my Goddess, my focus reduced to the places our bodies touch.
The heat between us reaches a boiling point as he drags his hand up my exposed thigh. The touch leaves shockwaves in its path, and I lose my grip on dignity.
"Touch me, please." The words come out of me in a soft, desperate voice. I'd be embarrassed if my body wasn't on fire for him. He reaches behind him, pulling at the back of his mask, but I stop him before he can remove it. "This stays on."
He pauses, but doesn't move his hand. "How will I kiss those plump lips with the maw of a crocodile?"
"You won't. That isn't what this is. I don't want to know who you are."
I whine as he removes his hand from me and steps back. "Not what this is? I want you to know who I am."
I am weeping between my thighs for his attention. Have I ever been this desperate for a man before? It feels as if I am sharing control with my dragon, because I can almost hear her purring in my mind, her desire fanning the flames of my own, and I am tempted to let her guide.
"This night needs to be a fantasy. Things can't be awkward between us if we don't know who one another are. We could be classmates and need to work together in the future. It's easier this way."
He pushes a strand of hair behind my ear with a gentle hand. "What if I already know who you are?"
I knew this was likely. My mask does little to hide my identity, and I find I don't care that much. The fantasy is in him staying anonymous, not me.
"Then you'll have something to think about every time you see me around campus."
For a moment, I think he is going to turn and walk away, that keeping his face covered is too big an ask for him.
The masked man proves me wrong, taking me by the hips and pressing me against the tree.
"You're sure?" He slides his hand under the slit of my dress, caressing my inner thigh but missing the spot where I crave his touch the most.
"Very."
As the words leave my lips, his fingers find my soaked panties and stroke me through them. He growls low in his throat.
"Oh love, you're dripping. Does being taken by a beast turn you on?"
"Shut up and take me."
His fingers slide under the fabric, and the moment they touch my clit, I have to fight back a scream of pleasure.
It's so intense, more than anything I've ever felt before, that it feels like an electric current is running through him.
He's shuddering, shoulders twitching in little jerks as he strokes me.
I go to wrap my arms around his neck when he pins me by the wrists above my head.
"I'm the one who's going to do the touching today."
My momentary disappointment is blown away by the feeling of him sinking a finger inside of me.
I struggle against the hand holding me captive, but he holds firm and curls his finger inside me.
My sounds join the ones coming from the bonfire.
He slides in a second finger and rubs my clit with his thumb as he thrusts them into me.
"I want to touch you." I struggle against his hands. "Please, let me touch you."
He's holding his body as far from me as possible, our only points of contact his hands. "Not tonight. Maybe next time."
There won't be a next time, but that thought flies away as a third finger makes its way inside me, and the satisfying stretch of it has me sobbing in pleasure. Does this feel so good because I am an Omega and we're built for pleasure? Or is he just that good with his hands?
I can feel my orgasm boiling inside me, and my dragon is roaring with delight at this Alpha's attention. A few tight circles on my clit are all it takes to have my back arching off the tree and my body shaking as if it's been shocked, as fire floods my veins.
When I come down from the earth-shattering experience, I'm looking at the man through heavy eyelids. Now I'm wishing I could see his face, to know if he is as wrecked as I feel.
I reach for him as he takes a few steps back from me.
"Come back. I want to take care of you."
He shakes his head. "Not this time, darling."
Before I can say anything, he's leaving with such quickness that my stomach bottoms out. I've never had someone so eager to be away from me after sex that they run away, and it doesn't feel good.
I have to push the thoughts from my head because I've been out here for too long, and I'm sure Viv is searching for me.
I can worry about this empty feeling in my chest after I check on my friend.