CHAPTER EIGHT #2
I’ve never felt this way. I’m ready to run. I’m ready to throw her to the bed, the floor, against the wall, and take her like the animal I am. I want to gently lay her upon the pillow and watch her sleep, content to finally be guarding something truly precious.
And I don’t know what to do.
I lean over and kiss her arm, the closest part of her to my lips. Instantly, she draws back. “Alad, I…”
I turn in my chair to watch the play of emotions cross her face. Want, yes, but also embarrassment—and something deeper.
A sudden chill claims my bones. Of course.
She might want me in my Fourth Form, my human guise, but what will she feel once I retake my First Form, the form to which I inevitably must revert?
Will she still look upon the four-pawed hairy beast with longing?
Or will my hide and fur disgust her as it did Karu, no matter how the slave tried to conceal her repugnance for me?
Shrugging aside the questions, I stand. Char.Lot wobbles at my sudden movement. She’s like the others I’ve noted in this time. These people are soft. They don’t anticipate danger at every turn. No warriors stand among them, which is strange.
At least Char.Lot now has me, even if she is rethinking her attraction. I’ll stand between her and trouble from whatever direction it might arise.
Putting the rectangle with words on the chair, I slowly draw her closer. She comes willingly, lifting her chin when my abdomen crushes her chest. I can’t help but stroke the cream of her cheek before I draw my thumb over her bottom lip. A soft gasp escapes her as she waits for me to kiss her.
But I can’t kiss her again, not until I know she’ll accept my embrace even when I’m in another form. I can’t risk encouraging what’s happening inside of me, not if I’m only going to be pushed away with disgust later on.
Instead, I turn her and escort her three steps to the bed.
The furniture is different to that of Uruk, less ornate and not made of the same wood.
The mattress is softer, as if filled only with feathers instead of reeds.
Even so, it is not as soft as her bounteous curves under my hands.
“You.” I point and mime sleeping. “I read.”
“Oh.” She looks to the hard chair before the hearth. Her face is a study in contrasts before she asks in a soft voice, “Do you want to lie down to read?” Even before the words finish, her face flushes crimson.
It’s the crimson that explains her words.
“Yes.” I want so much more, but right now, I’ll settle for comfort while I learn her language.
I gesture again, and she slips out of her fabric shoes, impractical for galivanting across the country, and tentatively slides to the far side of the mat.
The bed is insufficient for two, especially when one of the two is me.
Luckily, she is small-boned and will fit if spooled against me.
Which is unexpectedly lovely. It gives me an excuse to gather her under my arm. Her hair smells like flowers. Her body molds to mine like it was always meant to exist attached to me.
I’ll gladly suffer the chafing of keeping so much of me compressed into my Fourth Form if it means lying with her like this.
When she flips open the cover of the book, I care less about the words she mouths as her finger moves than I do with how she feels so right held close to me. When she finishes the story, I direct her back to the beginning again, this time forcing my brain to study the marks upon the pages.
She’s patient and kind, sunlight personified. In this simple room, at this simple activity, Char.Lot radiates contentment and joy. She’s so unlike Karu it’s becoming harder and harder to see the similarities.
Perhaps I only met Karu so I could be prepared to welcome Char.Lot into my life. The thought has merit. Fate works in mysterious ways, but it always reaches the end it desires.
When her voice trails off and she yawns wide, when her eyelids flutter and her breath deepens, I know she is falling asleep.
I move her slightly so I can grasp the book with both hands.
There is much to learn from context. Many words I already learned in the tavern below, but too many more remain a mystery.
Fine. Magick it is. If I alert my mother, so be it. Whatever she wishes, whatever the gods demand, I won’t give up Char.Lot. Not now. Maybe not ever. This is the adventure I always longed for, and it’s so much better than I could have imagined. For the first time in forever, I feel… found.
Perhaps while encased in stone, I discovered my will. Now, I’ve also found my purpose and, maybe, my heart.
You were deceived by your heart once before with Karu, a voice shouts in my head.
No, not deceived. Simply… undone. Simply… made aware. This time, I won’t make the same mistakes I made with Karu. I’ll evaluate Char.Lot’s personality more fully before dreaming of making her mine. I’ll make certain she wants me—all of me—before I lie with her.
Before I make her my mate.
Breathing deeply, drooling lightly, the female sprawled over me is so perfect, I can’t help but hope. She pulled me from stone. She stroked the fur base of my i?arum. She won’t turn from me in disgust.
I check my hand. My form holds, but for how long? I’m strong, powerful, but holding human body takes the most energy, the most magick. My reserves of power aren’t inexhaustible.
Bending my knees, I shift into Second Form to conserve strength, ripping all the fabric off me in the process. The bed screeches before settling. Char.Lot shifts, then cuddles closer into me.
Fine. First Form. I’m so turned on, I can’t keep anything else. My fur sprouts. My hands become paws. I will them back to palms and fingers so I can manipulate the pages of the book. Before my guide to this world awakens, I’ll shift back.
No sense rocking a boat sailing upon deceptively calm waters.
After gazing at her gentle beauty, beauty that makes Karu’s seem coarse by comparison, I concentrate hard and call upon my mother’s magick.
Throughout the night, I learn of this time and place.
I learn a bit of history, too. I very much enjoy the madcap adventures of The Midnight Menace, especially as there’s a stolen necklace involved.
It reminds me of Char.Lot’s unthinking generosity.
I read all night until the sun breaks the sky and Char.Lot’s lids flutter. Transforming into Fourth Form again, I jolt as her hand swipes over my i?arum. Instantly, my balls tighten with need. I’ve been ignoring my body’s responses all night, forcing a growl between my lips now.
The sound must wake her. With a start, she removes her fingers. “Oh!” Her eyes seek mine as her head moves from my chest. “Oh. You’re real.”
“Very real,” I rumble before winking. “Very hopeful of your continued caresses.”
Like a scalded cat, she jumps from me and shimmies to the end of the bed.
Her skirts lift as she moves, revealing the beautiful curve of her legs.
I could trace those curves with my lips.
Ankle bones to calf. Back of the knee to inside of the thigh.
To her sweet kir—the scent of which is making me ravenous, though not for food.
A groan leaves her lips as she stares at me with wild eyes.
I will eat the next sound that comes from her lips. That’s my promise to myself. And her.