Page 38 of Grotesque Love

Like with the others, I can’t seem to resist moving my fingers over its intricately carved plinth. I drag my fingers over the stone until they feel raw, as if it’s some sort of magic lamp and the gargoyle will magically spring to life.

Nothing.

With a huff, I grab hold of one of his slightly spread wings and pull myself up onto its back, almost losing my footing as I climb up onto its pedestal.

Wrapping my arms around its neck, I adjust until I’m seated almost like I’m getting a piggyback ride, my skirt ruched up over my knees, my skin rubbing against the cold, hard stone.

“Your vantage point is beautiful,” I whisper, looking out across the garden. It would have been charming once upon a time, but now, overgrown with wild flowers, and pockets of vines creating shadowy groves – it’s magical. Bursts of colour and the hum of insects under the hot summer sun make me close my eyes and tilt my face up towards the bright light.

I bask for a moment or two before I realise that I’ve been absently stroking the gargoyles horns, my fingers moving over the weather worn ridges.

“If you were real, would you like this?” I ponder, before shifting myself up higher and adjusting my grip. The friction over my body makes me exhale shakily. What the heck was that?

What? My mind is clear and so my body is suddenly horny and desperate? Desperate enough that I find myself rubbing against a statue?

No. That’s…crazy.

Placing my hands on the gargoyles shoulders, I push higher, enjoying the drag against my pussy this time. Before I register what I’m doing, I lean in and run my tongue up the horn closestto me. My sexual experience is incredibly limited, and yet here I am getting myself off on a hunk of rock while licking its horns.

I throw my head back and surprise myself by laughing.

MAL

My little dove was playing with fire earlier when she exposed herself to me. If our little curse hadn’t kept me bound, I would have launched myself at her and had my way until she was screaming my name over. But the bonds are most powerful in the hours following sunrise, and so I’d stayed, trapped inside my stone form.

Luckily, I’d been able to move to another perch where I could continue to watch her, although it had drained me, almost to the point of exhaustion. The stone beneath me felt cold and unyielding, a stark contrast to the heat coursing through my veins at the mere thought of her.

As the sun begins to dip in the sky, casting long shadows across the landscape, I stretch against the bindings. Pushing and testing the bonds until they throb, yearning to break free and claim what is rightfully mine.

I need her. I need to be inside her.

Mine.

The very thought drives me wild with desire, igniting a primal urge that cannot be quenched until she belongs to me in every sense of the word.

I know she spent the afternoon with Sax, I could practically hear him purring like a cat where I caught glimpses of them together in the garden. Snatches of the conversation she had with him carried on the breeze and I tried to swallow back the bitter jealousy I felt, but it was no use. Being half feral means I’m rarely in control of my emotions these days, and she is the balm I need. She is mine.

The instant the bonds loosen, it’s a weight off my chest, and without a second thought, I race to her room. As I’m partrunning, part flying down the corridor, Sax slams into me from the side.

“We agreed to wait!” he growls, arms coming around my middle to try and pin me to him.

I kick out before throwing us against the wall until his grip loosens. “No! Youtoldme to wait. Then you let her dry hump you all afternoon!”

I thrash around like a fish out of water, fighting for every last ounce of freedom. He had a taste of her, and got to touch her all afternoon. The jealousy burning under my stone skin surprises me, but I’m too feral with need to calmly acknowledge it.

“Malachite! Stop it.” He bites down on my neck, sinking his fangs in until I roar.

“Get off me, Saxon. She is mine. I will have her.”

Despite Sax's attempts to restrain me, the burning desire within me refuses to be quenched. She is mine, and nothing will stand in my way of claiming her.

A small cough comes from up ahead, breaking the tension that hangs thick in the air between me and Sax.

“Um…Sax? Mal?”

Jas.

I bet he’s on Sax’s side like usual. How could he possibly understand what I’m going through? He has no idea?—

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