Page 10 of Promised to the Satyr

I carry things inside and put the tray on the kitchen counter. The house is so quiet, I wonder if Astra has run away, but she promised the week and I believe she will honor her word. Making sure my hooves are heard on the stairs, I go to her door and knock. “May I come in?”

“I suppose so.” She sounds petulant even though her father called me. She acts as if I’m in cahoots with him.

I step in and feel torn between being saved by the bell and wanting her amorous gaze back. She stares out the window with her arms crossed over her chest. Her phone is on the nightstand with the opened letter from yesterday and the one from today still sealed in its envelope.

Part of me hoped she’d read it right away, but I knew she probably wouldn’t. “Your father has requested that we pay him a visit.”

“You mean he demanded I come.” She meets my gaze. “Did he make threats?”

“I won’t lie to you. He said that if we don’t come, he’ll drag you home and lock you away from your trees.” My gut tightens.

“Then, I suppose, I have no choice.” She picks up her phone and puts it in her pocket. “I can go by myself, Niko.”

Pushing down my urge to strip her naked and give her what she asked for on the porch, I close the distance between us. “Astra, I would never allow you to come to harm, not even at the hands of your father. He will not take you away from your trees or anything else that brings you joy. I will accompany you, unless you forbid it.”

She worries her bottom lip between her teeth. “I’m not getting married today.”

“No. I have informed your father that there will be no wedding this afternoon.” Unable to stop myself, I run my fingers along her upper arm. Her skin is soft and warm. She prickles with gooseflesh at my touch and I don’t know if that’s good or bad.

Swaying slightly toward me, she blinks and catches herself. “Unless you want a fight with my father on your front door, we should go. It’s a long walk.”

“We don’t have to walk. I have a vehicle.” I can’t help grinning when her mouth opens and now words come out.

“You are too big to fit in a human car.” She cocks her head, but amusement lights her eyes and I like that I’ve put it there.

Once I’ve escorted her downstairs, I pull my specially made Jeep to the front driveway.

Astra gapes from the steps and then laughs. “That’s the biggest, blackest, baddest Jeep I’ve ever seen.” She skips to the passenger’s door and leaps in and buckles her seat belt. “I love it.”

Happy that I’ve done something to make her smile, I shift into gear and head toward her father’s house. Even with the alterations, my head reaches the top of the roof and I’m happierwhen I can take the top off. I suspect it will rain. I wasn’t willing to risk drenching us both and the interior for my comfort.

“Can we ride in this one day when the weather will be better?” She’s grinning and my heart soars at the sight.

“I think tomorrow it will be sunny all day. We can ride with the top off.” It’s such a small thing, but her asking me for this seems bigger. No strings. No rules. Just going out and having fun together.

“I know a place that will be perfect to ride and after the rain this afternoon, it should be a lot of fun.” She grips the grab bar on the dashboard with both hands as if it’s the safety bar on an amusement ride.

“What other activities amuse you?” I pray she doesn’t say anything alluring. The effects of her request have not fully vanished, nor do I expect they will any time soon.

“I like to swim and run with the whitetail deer that live in the woods. I climb my trees from the outside and oversee the forest. I have a few friends who are not under the spell of my sexual appeal and I visit with them. I study the stars and enjoy astronomy as well as astrology.” She sighs. “I like books, though rarely make the time to read much these days.”

“It sounds like a lot of fun.” I wanted to go and watch her swim today, but it would have defeated the point of her wishing to be away from me.

“Do you have hobbies?” She blushes as if this is the first time she’s inquired about someone.

“I read a great deal. I can’t climb a tree, but I do enjoy taking a book and reading under them. I can swim, though I’m not very graceful in water.” At least I won’t drown. “I told you I enjoy cooking even though it is technically my profession, and I play several instruments better than most.”

“Why are you so big?” She stares at my legs, then scans up to my face, with an adorable crease between her eyes.

“What do you mean?” It takes all my will not to get fully hard again.

She lets out a breath. “Goat legs shouldn’t be so large. You could be part horse, but that wouldn’t explain the horns.”

“I am man and goat and perhaps because of my ancestors, bigger than most of either species. My father was the same.” I shrug and make the turn that leads the last few miles to Nocturn’s house.

“Who is your mother? Is she a monster?”

Thinking of my parents always makes me smile. “Mother is a Lycan. Very beautiful and very fierce. She can shift to human form but prefers to stay a beast. I think Father prefers it too.”

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