Page 28 of Shared By the Werebears
16
GOLDIE
The guys were still busy picking berries when the sunlit glade suddenly went dark.
I felt Madam Locasta before I saw her. A feeling of doom rolled through me—a fear of imminent demise, like Death himself was stalking me.
Finn and Ronan felt it too. Both their heads jerked up at the same time and I heard Finn breathe,
Oh, fuck no…”
Ronan was silent but I saw his jaw clench and his shoulders tense. He was getting ready for a fight for his life—for all our lives. He stepped out in front of Finn and me protectively.
Finn looked behind him, his eyes searching frantically for me.
“Goldie, run!” he hissed. “She’s coming—I can feel her!”
“It is too late to run!”A low, feminine voice rolled through the forest.“For I am here and I shall have my due!”
I felt my knees lock in fear. They say you either go into flight, fright, or freeze mode when you’re threatened—it appeared my body had chosen to freeze.
A presence was coming through the trees—not a person, not really—a being. A deity. I remembered that Goodie A had said Madam Locasta was a demi-goddess—I could feel her power long before she came into view.
Then I saw her, looming among the trees, taller than any of them. Finn and Ronan had described her as dark and terrible but the face I saw staring at the three of us was pale as death. She was dressed in dark robes made of shadows that roiled around her impossibly tall form. Her eyes were the color of lightning in her white face.
“You…”she hissed, pointing at Ronan and Finn.“How dare you enter my forest again after what you took from me? After the pain and agony you caused?”
As she spoke, I could feel her pain. My Succubus side was dialed up to eleven at that point from all the time I’d spent with my guys—and also, she wasn’t exactly being subtle with her emotions.
The demi-goddess’s pain washed over me, filling me with agony like murky water. I gasped and put a hand to my heart—nowI understood. She had loved the stag Ronan and Finn and their Clan leader, Thorne had killed. It had been like a pet to her but more than a pet—it was her companion. It understood her words and was able to speak back to her. It was almost as though they had killed her lover…or her child.
“Goldie? Are you all right? Don’t cry—we won’t let her hurt you!”
Finn was looking at me anxiously and I realized I was weeping—weeping with the pain of the demi-goddess and the pure sorrow she still felt.
I swiped at the tears, trying to clear my eyes. Then I stepped forward.
Ronan gripped me by the arm.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing? Run away, like Finn said!”
“You can’t run from this…from her,” I told him. “You didn’t just kill her pet—you killed her love. You wounded herdeeply.”
The great, pale face turned down to look at me and I saw some emotion I couldn’t name glimmer in the lightning-colored eyes.
“Alas, you are correct, child. They killed my dearest love. That white stag was my companion for over three hundred years. He almost never left my side and the one time he did…they murdered him.”She glared down at Ronan and Finn with hatred in her eyes. “And now you’re back in my woods, picking the berries that grew from the blood you spilled. Tell me, why should I not kill you both where you stand?”
I sucked in a breath. This wasn’t going to be easy to get out of. But I thought I had an idea.
I stepped forward again, shaking off Ronan’s hand. I looked up at the demi-goddess looming over us, her shadows blending with the forest.
“Maybe I can offer you something…some recompense for what was done,” I said, hoping my voice didn’t shake too much. “I feel your pain and I understand how much it hurt you when these two killed your beloved companion, but I swear to you, they didn’t do it on purpose. They were in their Bear forms, hunting. They didn’t understand what a grave sin they were committing.”
Locasta turned her pale, deadly eyes on me.
“What can you possibly offer me, little witch, that can make up for the pain I feel?”
“Maybe…maybe I can give you pleasure,” I said, hoping she wouldn’t strike me down on the spot for offering such an outrageous deal. “I mean, I’m a Succubus. Well,half-Succubus,” I amended quickly. “I can feel the emotions of others and also project my own emotions outwards. I can send you pleasure to help ease some of the pain in your heart…if you’ll let me,” I added in a low voice.
