Page 166 of Monsters in Love

“No, you do not,” he agreed. “Nor are you cursed to remain here. There is a chance that you could find your way out.”

“And then what?” Barbasas snarled. “None but Theseus has been able to escape, and we have no sorceress here to aid us. Your mate’s prayers, while incredible, do not make her one.”

“You are right. Only Ariadne could move at will by her magic. However, you may have a chance to do so while the labyrinth is injured. That you have such an opportunity is because of my mate whom you wish death upon. But I would not wait long to do so.”

He walked away, ignoring the frantic clop of hooves of the male pacing back and forth behind him.

“Guard your mate well, Asterion!” Barbasas shouted after him. “Because I will not! Her blood for ours is worth any cost, even your anger. Until then, I will take your advice and pray to the uncaring gods for all of us.”

Asterion closed his eyes, fighting against the anger that welled within him and tamping it down with the iron of his will. It was just words. He would let it be for now. Should any attack, however, then they would know the bite of his labrys.

Asterion was glad that Barbasas did not attempt to follow him. Although only the worthy would be shown the way, he wasn’t entirely sure how that would work should he be followed. He would not have hesitated to kill the male to keep the way safe. As it was, only his respect for their one-time companionship kept him from slaughtering the male outright to safeguard Vicky. If the male was intelligent, he would follow his advice. Asterion hoped he did. The satyr flock needed healing as much as he did, and he did not think they would find it in the confines of the labyrinth as he had.

Although weighed down by the sacks and his weapon, it took him little time to return to the dancing floor. This time, he allowed himself a moment of peace there, the memories he thought faded rushing up, drawing tears to his eyes. His sister was there, her long dark hair trailing after her as she danced the crane dance over the painted path, her smile sweet and eyes dancing.

“Come on, Asterion. You remember the way.”

His heart in his throat, he set down his load and followed the ghost of her memory through each step, the soft echo of her laughter in his ears, and he swore for a moment he could feel the touch of her fingertips against his as she turned toward him and threaded her hands with his.

“I love you, brother. Never forget.”

She disappeared back into the mists of time, and he blinked away his tears. She had said that to him, and he had not paid attention. He had been reluctant that day to dance, his spirit souring from the knowledge of his bloody fate and the torments of his hunger. Though she had planned to leave, she had come to him one last time to dance the dance and remind him of her love.

He never would have had this moment—never would have been able to see Ariadne, even if in his memories, one last time—if it had not been for Vicky.

It was time to go home. His mate was waiting for him.

Asterion picked up their things and descended the dark stairs. He did not stop to admire his surroundings this time as he strode across the meadow and made his way to the little house behind the temple. Nothing tempted his eye when need and hunger rolled through him, rising rapidly as he caught his mate’s fresh clean scent.

Stepping inside, he could hear Vicky moving about in another part of the house and he shivered, his body demanding that he hunt down his female. It was the filth sticking to his fur, however, that made him pause and turn instead to the bathing pool and sink gratefully into its heat. Resting his shoulders against one side, he allowed the water to soothe his aches, and he slowly and methodically washed himself. When his hand came at last to his cock, he groaned, his hips shunting helplessly against his hand.

Water lapped gently at his fur, stirred by the female stepping into the pool across from him. Even with his eyes closed, he knew she was there from the soft splashes of water as she moved through it toward him. Moaning, his eyes slid open to take in the sight of his mate, for once completely nude, her dark hair trailing in damp locks down her back and teasing the sides of her breasts.

Nothing he had ever seen was more beautiful and more precious. Nor had roused his hungers that they burned within him painfully. He thrust up into his hand and hissed.

“Vicky.” The word fell from his lips in a low groan that brought a smile to her face.

As she waded toward him, the water became deeper, sliding up to cup her sex before sliding up her hips to the soft swell of her belly, and still it rose until it kissed at the bottom curve of her breasts. His hand worked his cock as he watched her come to him with all the beauty of a nymph. Soft human hands stroked down the scars of his chest concealed beneath his fur. The way she stroked them, he wondered how well she could feel them and if she knew what it did to him.

His lips peeling back from his teeth, he let his head fall back, his cock thickening further in his hand, the red haze of his hunger filling his mind. Her eyes smiled with hot pleasure as she ran her fingers lower to caress his abs and, this time, he allowed that hunger to come. Outside of the influence of the labyrinth, he did not fear it. Instead, he luxuriated in it, enjoying the primal rush of heat and blood as she explored him.

He knew the moment her eyes fell on his cock from her soft, lustful gasp and the scent of her arousal surrounding him. Under her gaze, his hand tightened around his cock, his claws biting slightly into the soft tissue, drawing forth an erotic burn as droplets of blood mixed with the precum seeping from its flat, blunt head. Every pump made his muscles quiver, yet still he did not reach for her. Not yet. He enjoyed her attentive touch too much to put an end to it just yet. But soon.

The first light touch of her fingers against his sex nearly made him cum, his balls tightening rapturously. Her lips parted at his reaction as he jerked upward in silent demand, her eyes glazing as she slipped her hand above his, stroking his length and exploring the head of his cock with interest. Her tongue slipped over her lips, and he wondered if she might take it into her mouth. His hunger clawed through his belly, and he growled. That would have to wait for another time.

Releasing his cock, his arm snaked around her, dragging her against his chest, her breasts flattening against his pectorals as the heat of her sex brushed the reddened head of his cock. His claws bit into her arms very slightly, enough to leave red lines scratched into the softness as, in one deft move, he turned and hauled her up onto the side of the pool, her legs looping over his horns as he lowered his ravenous mouth.

The wide flat of his tongue covered her entire cunt as it swept over the wet flesh. Vicky’s cry of pleasure was the sweetest music, complimenting that rich honey of her cunt. Asterion lapped at it greedily, needing to capture every drop of flavor until it burst over his tongue as Vicky cried out, her legs jerking against his horns with the power of her release. Still, he continued to drink from her, enjoying every shuddering gasp and quiver of his body until he deemed that he had enough of that flavor, and it was time to satisfy the greater hunger urging through him, twisting his gut with its frenzy.

The warmth in his belly burned as if he had drunk several goblets of the best wine cultivated on Thera’s fertile lands, his cock jerking against his belly.

Unhooking her legs from his horns, Asterion rose above her, anchoring her legs against his hips as he lined up with the weeping petals of her cunt. The head of his sex bumped against her slit, and a shiver of pleasure ran through him as her slick coated him in her fragrance. His eyes rolled back in his head, tongue stroking over his fangs as the hunger roared through him, its heat streaking through his veins and belly. From somewhere in the depths of his consciousness, an awareness surfaced that, in this position, he might accidentally hurt her under the full influence of the hunger.

His claws digging slightly into her hips, he flipped her, dragging her bottom up into the air so that her sex was fully presented to him at the perfect angle. Flushed dark pink with arousal, it was like a rose unfurled just for him, inviting him to enjoy its sweetest essence. His cock glided over it, every stroke coating it further with her arousal as her musk deepened with the fresh bloom of her need.

“Asterion,” she panted, her bottom lifting to him, begging to be filled.

Hands slamming down on either side of her, Asterion snarled, his cock slipping into place, and with a flex of his hips it pushed through the silky embrace of her channel. Her little body quivered around him, her cunt pulsing with tiny tremors around his invasion, drawing his seed up.

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