Page 158 of Monsters in Love

Taking advantage of the fact that he was kneeling on the ground, bringing the formidable male down nearer to her height, Vicky stepped forward and, before she could change her mind, wrapped her arms around him. Her limbs disappeared into the thick ruff of fur, startling a delighted giggle out of her of the likes she hadn’t made in years. Against her, Asterion froze, his muscles tightening to a degree that she couldn’t help but be aware of it.

Vicky stiffened warily. Perhaps she misread the situation?

Embarrassed, she started to pull away when she was seized by two powerful arms that held her close, squeezing against his massive chest with a carefulness that was endearing. Pressed against his chest, she could feel his heart thumping and felt a strange connection to him, as if something tied them together in that moment, and his soft muzzle brushed the nape of her neck bared by the ponytail she chose to wear that day. The sensation sent a shiver jolting through her, tickling her, and she chuckled as she burrowed her cheek into the fur around his collar, soaking in the warmth of actual close contact. Not human contact, but in her recent experiences, it was far sweeter and more freely given than anything she had received even from the few lovers that she had encountered.

Impulsively, she reached up and grabbed ahold of his nearest horn and gently tugged the side of his face closer to press a kiss into the fur there. It happened so quick and without thought on her part that it caught both of them by surprise. She felt him jerk slightly before cautiously leaning into the touch. She swallowed, unable to believe she had the nerve to kiss a monster like he was another human being, but she was strangely glad that she did. It seemed that the terrible monster was as skittish as a beaten creature, wary of touch while being entirely touch starved. Without drawing away, she smiled against the fur of his jawbone.

“Thank you, Asterion.”

He responded with a soft rumble that vibrated against her with such strength that it nearly shook her. Stifling a laugh, she leaned into it, ignoring the shocking lick of heat it ignited within her. Given that she knew quite well that her body responded in a very healthy fashion to stimulation, she didn’t put any significant weight on it and enjoyed the novelty of being hugged.

Perhaps she was more than a little touch starved herself.

He pulled away gradually, and there was something new in his expression that she couldn’t quite identify. With deep, chuffing sound that might have been a chuckle, he lightly plucked the dice from her hand and held them up in front of her.

“Let me teach you how to play.”

Nodding eagerly, she took her place at the opposite side of the circle he had scraped into the stone with one claw. Glancing over at her, he surprised her with a broad, sharp-toothed smile that evoked a quiver within her that was definitely not due to fear.

Okay, that was a little harder to ignore, but the fact that she was just pressed intimately against him moments ago likely had some bearing on it. She didn’t know what was happening between them, but there was a certain excitement to the unknown that came with the territory of having a companion. Strange physical reactions aside, she decided in that moment that she really did want a friend for once.

Sure, whatever existed between them wasn’t quite yet friendship, but it was a start.

Asterion’s tail flicked as he tried to ignore the very naked female bathing just behind him as he worked in his garden. It wasn’t like she was nude. She had her undergarments on and was using a small scrap of leather to wash herself. That she was cleansing her body just behind him should not feel as indecent as it did. He had just rinsed the blood and sweat of the hunt from himself a short time ago without any shame or compunction about her enjoying the garden nearby. Yet with her, his very presence there while she performed such an intimate task felt borderline obscene.

Days were indistinct deep within the labyrinth without any sun to track the passage of hours, so he could not rightly tell how many days had passed with her in his company. It had been at least a dozen risings now by his count. Days with his Vicky seemed to speed by. Somehow, despite the lingering awkwardness between them, that was only made worse by Asterion’s inability to control his nightly reactions to her nearness and her responding arousal that perfumed the air, they had fallen into an easy rhythm that filled his days with more pleasure than any other he could remember. It shamed him to admit that it even surpassed his youthful memories from when he dotingly followed Ariadne on adventures through his prison.

Although his sister had attempted to make his abode as much a home as possible, it had never felt like more than a sheltered place to be where he could let down his guard and escape the creatures occupying the corridors. It never felt like what he vaguely understood a home should feel like. Before, unless he required rest, he never felt a need or desire to stay within the walls, preferring to hunt in his territory or pay respect to the shrines in the lower halls to pass his waking hours.

Even when Ariadne had been there with him, they had spent much of their time exploring and playing games among the twists and turns. But that was in the early days of his prison, before his father began sending victims into the halls to die, when the labyrinth had been a comforting—if somewhat dark and mysterious—place to be. But still, it had not been home then, nor in the great many years that followed.

Vicky had changed that.

With her there, he no longer felt the desire or need to wander through the corridors or to pursue his hunt as soon as he rose from bed. Some mornings, he even enjoyed lingering in bed, watching his female sleep if he happened to awaken first or sharing fruit together as they reclined comfortably in the furs for their morning meal. He still found it difficult to open up to her and was often gruffer than he ought to be, but even then he could not keep himself from watching her.

She was everything that he was not. Soft, small, delicate. She didn’t belong in the labyrinth with monsters like him, and that made him not only relish his moments to enjoy her company, but he also acknowledged that it made him terribly paranoid. Even with the magics protecting his dwelling, he carefully assured himself that nothing managed to pass him whenever he entered or exited. As unlikely as it was to happen given the nature of Ariadne’s spells, he could not help but worry when his female was alone there without his protection. Every moment he was away from her, he felt an unsettling dread build as each day passed that something would find a way to snuff out the bright light of her soul and beautiful laughter.

That laughter sounded behind him, stirring his cock even as it brought a delightful warmth to gather within his chest to occupy the space held by his heart.

“Asterion, you look ready to panic. This isn’t exactly the first time you’ve been in here with me while I wash,” she teased. “It’s not like I’m naked and bathing. I never would have imagined you’d be so prudish.”

Unbidden, he could see her very clearly in his mind’s eye as she might be while bathing, her naked body reclined on the rocks beside the spring as she thoroughly washed her most intimate places. He swallowed back a groan, his cock stiffening painfully as it became fully erect with need, his hunger igniting in his belly. He was therefore startled when he heard a splash and a splatter of water suddenly doused the fur along his back, drawing an annoyed growl from him. Mostly because it did little to ease the ache between his thighs or cool the burning hunger that was rising through him like a flame upon tinder.

“Do not,” he growled, closing his eyes against the haze of need burning through him.

Vicky fell silent for a moment, the gurgle of the spring the only sound in the room for several beats of his heart. He grimaced, certain that he had emotionally harmed her once again by his brutish words. He was surprised, however, that when she spoke it was with no little amount of chagrin in her voice.

“I’m sorry, Asterion. I should respect your boundaries. Please, forget I said anything.”

He wanted to assure her that she was not at fault and to speak whatever she desired, but he held his tongue. He did not want to further encourage such inciting behavior when it had such quick consequences for him. She had done nothing wrong, but he did not wish to scare her with the hunger he had managed to keep contained.

His breath felt hot as it dragged in and out of his lungs, though he strove to ignore it. Although a faint haze had descended over his vision, he battled through it to focus on the bush in front of him and the small pink medicinal blooms that he was gathering to dry. Vicky had asked about pain relievers, evasively claiming that she needed something for “that time of the month.” He had no clue what event occurred every lunar cycle that required pain suppressants, but that there was something like that made him feel ill.

More often than he could count, he had ripped flesh from bone, but he could not stomach the idea of his little female in pain. The irony of it all was not lost upon him, and he grunted dourly as he plucked another bloom, adding it to the pile in his basket. Unfortunately, forcing his attention to the flowers, the reason he needed them, and his task at hand did little to quell the hunger burning through him.

He wondered if perhaps he had been cast to Tartaros after all for the profanity of his existence and his terrible deeds, and some demon was solely responsible for his current torture.

Asterion sighed as Vicky’s soft humming reached his ears, mingling with the soft sounds of water splashing as she returned to her ministrations. If Tartaros was where he was, he admittedly would happily remain there and be tortured indefinitely if he could keep her. That was also why he took care to not expose her to his hunger. If he yielded to her teasing and looked at her, he knew that the need would grow far beyond what he could hide. He nearly shook with it now. It was only by his will that he was remaining in place, attending to his work, rather than striding over to rip the small cloth coverings to free her breasts and sex to his pleasure.

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