Page 26 of Promised to the Satyr

“What for?”

I don’t even know where to start the list. “For making you wait and being the cause of whatever Father tried to do.”

“Your father is back at his own home, licking his wounded pride. He’ll have no magic for several days and hopefully will have lost his bet and learned a lesson.”

“Now I’m really sorry I ran. I would have loved to have seen you squelch his magic.”

As Niko lifts me into his arms, I wrap my legs around his waist. “Can I take you home now, Astra, or should we visit with your friends first?” His cock is thick and trapped between us.

I grind against him. “We can visit with them tomorrow.”

With a growl, he leaves his Jeep behind and runs with me into the woods.

The thrill of it sends a shiver of excitement through me.

My forest, my satyr, my love.

Epilogue

Niko

Running through the woods behind our house, I cannot catch Astra. Spring has brought her to life in a way I couldn’t have dreamed. She’s lively and fast, not to mention filled with lust.

She jumps from the trees and lands beautifully naked in the path. Her grin is intoxicating. “You can catch me now if you want.”

“I would run myself ragged trying. Are you always so quick and elusive in the spring?” I slow my pace and close the gap.

Caressing my chest, she wraps her arms around me. “This is when my forest comes back to life. Don’t you feel the vibration of it?” Swinging around, she mounts my back.

A goaty sound bays out of me and my cock comes to full attention. I grip her legs and run through our woods. “I wish I could feel the earth as you do, my love.”

The oak where we first made love is on my right and I stop under its canopy of burgeoning leaves.

Touching her feet to the ground, she takes my hand and leads me to the trunk. “Would you really like to?”

My heart speeds up. “If it were possible, I would revel in hearing the trees as you hear them.”

She blushes. “The night my father came, and I ran, I knew you had not been killed. I knew it because I felt you as I feel my forest.”

“You never told me.”

“No. I didn’t want you to think you were like the trees or the blades of grass. You were and are so much more. Still, I feel you, and I think that if I opened my senses to you, you could become part of everything. At least you might hear this tree.” She runs her fingers along my horn, down my cheek, and rests her hand on my shoulder. “If you want?”

When she touches me, it’s magic that has nothing to do with her being a nymph. Wrapping my arms around her, I stare into her crystal eyes. Every nerve is awake and ready for more Astra. Still, we’ve lived together through eight months, and never has she made such an offer. “Why now?”

Tears spill over her lids. “All these months you have loved me without asking for anything in return. You make no demands. You never again asked for the marriage you came to New York for. I want to share this with you. It is something I have never shared with anyone else.”

Emotions swamp me. “Show me.”

She stands between me and the tree with her back to my front. Taking my hand, she presses the palm to the rough bark of the oak’s trunk. Her small hand covers only half of the back of mine.

A soft hum vibrates inside me as our hands sink into the tree. A rush of calm falls over me despite my instinct to pull away; I trust Astra and remain in the grip of the unknown. “Should I be afraid, sweetheart?”

“Never. Close your eyes and feel.”

Opening myself to whatever is to come, I do as I’m told. Rather than the darkness of the backs of my eyelids, I see light and shadows. The rings of the trees are in shades of brown, the beat of life within shines white, and the acceptance of the new connection reflects a calm green. The hum is all the life of the forest mingling like a crowded room buzzing with conversation.

Love for Astra flows through me to her in waves that band around my heart.

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