Page 3 of The Satyr's Wood

“Nah. Hank swore he saw a woman heading down this way from his lookout, but I don’t see anything.” He grimaced with so much disappointment that Tiffany smothered her smile behind her hand just in case she unexpectedly broke out into a giggle of relief. It seemed that they hadn’t come across where she’d tucked her clothes away. He shook his head with disgust. “I swear to god, he needs to lay off the hooch when he’s on duty. Remember when he sent up an alarm about a pack of wolfmen following the river? Caused a whole lot of panic for nothing.”

Tiffany froze. Wolfmen... along this river?

Burt slapped his knee with a shout of laughter that startled her hard enough that she would have lost the soap completely if not for the net bag around her neck. It slipped from between her fingers, hitting her torso as it plopped into the water.

To her horror, Burt’s hand went up, silencing Timmy as he turned slowly back toward the river. Tiffany felt a prickle of tears in her eyes.

Please. Please. Please, don’t let them find me.

A couple of minutes passed, and a goose squawked loudly as it took off from the water with wild splashes of its wings. Tiffany could have kissed that silly bird with the way the tension receded from Burt as he shook his head and scoffed aloud.

“Damned bird. I guess no soft company for us tonight.” He sighed and moved back from the embankment. “As for Hank—he’s no longer taking moonshine up into the lookout after that whole episode. Lawrence doesn’t allow it

Timmy squinted over the water and Tiffany immediately shrank further into the tree’s branches until both men disappeared completely from sight—just to be on the safe side.

“Yeah, yeah. So, you really don’t think he was seeing things again?”

Burt shook his head and spat loudly onto the ground. “Nah, I don’t think so. There was a woman. He wouldn’t get so excited for nothing. He just misjudged where she entered the forest is all. We will catch up eventually.”

“Yeah... well, I hate this damned forest,” Timmy loudly complained. “It’s hard to know where the original forest is and where the unnatural parts just come up on you and surprise you.”

His companion grunted loudly in agreement. “We will just go a little farther downriver and call it quits for the night. No sense in becoming lost once the sun starts to go down. That’s when the things that look to eat you come out. We will head back to camp and head back out with the dogs if we don’t come across her. She won’t be able to run far, not if she wants to stick close to a guaranteed water source.”

“That means we’ve got her. Good thinking,” Timmy chortled. “Let’s hurry on then. I’m sure hungry.” Tiffany made the mistake of peeking out just then as he grabbed his crotch lewdly. “But if I can’t have that hunger satiated, I’m ready to have my stomach filled too.”

“I hear you, brother,” Burt replied, a broad grin stretching his bearded face. “Let’s go and see if we can find our girl.”

Over her dead body.

Tiffany’s nose wrinkled but she remained perfectly still as they re-entered the forest, not daring to move at all from the water until she was certain that they no longer remained in the area. Even so, she was practically shaking with nerves as she dove from the water and rushed back up the embankment toremove her belongings from their hiding place. She stumbled over the rocks jabbing her feet, dancing in place as she rapidly pulled her clothing back on before stomping her feet back into her boots.

She gave one last regretful look at the water. She wouldn’t be able to safely travel along its banks now. Nor could she risk stopping to camp for the night—not when she needed to put as much distance between them as possible. At least she wasn’t the naïve little girl that they seemed to believe she was. That at least had to weigh in her favor a little—at least for a little while. And in this world, there was only today with no guarantee that one’s luck would improve or remain unchanged tomorrow. That was just how craptastic it was.

She shook her head as she turned back toward the forest and shouldered her pack. Damned if a post-apocalyptic world wasn’t a terrible fucking place to be a woman.

Chapter 3

Barbasa scratched his belly idly as he stretched out in the grass. Although he preferred his forest, he did enjoy frequent ventures out in the thick grassy areas to hunt out easy game that nested in the ground there. Pheasants and quail were particularly his favorite, but then there were the odd rabbits and occasional deer, the latter of which fed him easily for days once he hauled it back home and butchered it.

He studied his claws reflectively. Perhaps he should hunt. He wasn’t particularly hungry at the moment, but he would be and there was a restless itch crawling up his back that demanded that he get ready for... something.

Rolling over onto his side, he gave a jerk of his head as the thick straw of the surrounding plants caught on his horns and squinted into the distance. His tongue stroked over his sharp teeth thoughtfully as his eyes drifted shut and he drew in a deep breath, savoring a hint of something... intriguing... on the wind. Something sweet and utterly familiar with its feminine richness that sent a shiver through his frame. He inhaled deeper, a soft growl trebling in his throat.

Something was coming. Something... female.

His growl rolled through him, growing deeper as his lust hit hard. It had been so long... too long since he felt that desire. He hadn’t been able to bear touching another female since his mate’s death centuries ago. He had lost the taste for indulging in release with males in his company shortly after that. He’d been so long without feeling that special little response of true desire rather than his cock just spewing its lust defiantly at whim that it took him by surprise, but no more so than picking up the scent of a lone female so close to him.

Naturally, since escaping the labyrinth he’d seen small groups of males and females together, both human and fae. But a lone female was intriguing. Too intriguing to ignore. It made the predator within him stretch hungrily, eager for the hunt. He could chase her down—capture her—and once he had her, he could run his tongue rapturously over her most intimate of places where he would be able to feast upon her sweetness. His cock swelled and twitched within its sheath, to the tip threatening to extrude and spill evidence of his climbing lust everywhere. And it would be no small thing. Rather, he would recklessly waste it by bathing the grass around him with the copious amounts of precum and lubrication that made large satyr cocks easier for smaller beings to take. Something that the little female out there would definitely need. It had been so long since he savored a female cunt, he was certain that it wouldn’t even take much time or effort for him to reach engorgement and true rut.

His stones tightened at the base of his sheath, a small tingling sensation racing from them. His hips flexed in the air, a heavy indrawn and exhalation of breath making his frame jerk in response. He blinked in response to it, a small measure of his sanity returning through the blaze of his lust. Since when did he react so strongly? Like any satyr, his desires were a driving force, perhaps a bit more than others due to his size and age, but he didn’t recall having such a powerful reaction.

A small frown pulled at his mouth as he rolled into a crouch, his hooves digging into the dirt as his gaze peered over the top of the tall, reedy wild grass. Air rippled across the surface of the blades, sending a fresh wave of scent directly to him, portending something beyond his keen scope of vision. His nostrils flared to pinpoint her location and his pointed ears tipped forward as he strained to listen.

She was in the meadow, but she was far from the shelter of his woods and the boundaries of his territory markers. Barbasa glanced back at the nearby tree line uncertainly. Did he dare leave his territory undefended? His tongue ran over his fangs again, contemplatively. His absence would be all the opening another would need to move in on his territory and make a claim for it. A wise male would not. He was fortunate to find a comfortable spot. A thick tangle of forest with an abandoned human dwelling in surprisingly good repair nestled safely within it. Was a female truly worth risking it?

He drew another breath and moaned as he caught the richness of her scent on a swelling breeze. It sparked a longing within him... and he could not say that it was entirely of the carnal sort. That he could probably ignore. Instead, it caused a curious reaction in that, as much as his loins ached, the emptiness within him that had come with his solitude now ached even more. A satyr alone without a flock was a sad thing.

Shaking his head so that his horns tossed lightly, Barbasa stood and stretched. This was ridiculous. He turned away, fully intending to head back to his woods but blew out a long sigh as he stared at the deep shadows of the trees. Wouldn’t it be good to have a companion?

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