Page 36 of Ravaging Red
One item spilled from the contents of the sack.
No shift. No undergarments. No fucking shoes. Just that red cloak. Because that’s all she needed.
It wasn’t about modesty or comfort. That red cloak wasn’t just fabric. It was a warning. A visual threat to every monster and male in the Hollow Realm. Red was a symbol older than the Council itself, older than most of the monsters who haunted Hollow Glen’s rotted paths, a color that screamed of danger and heat, of blood and sex, of a female already taken and therefore forbidden. Cloaks like this were worn by mates, unmarked or not. I was declaring my claim to protect what was not yet sealed by blood or ritual.
She didn’t care. “I need clothes,” she said, each word accentuated her fury. and a fear she didn’t want to admit.
Her voice trembled at the edges, but she held herself still, her shoulders squared like she thought would make herself larger or stronger than me. Her hair was still a wild mess from where I’d fisted it hours before, tangled with sweat, and sex. She honestly looked as pissed off as I felt.
“Isn’t there a dress in a closet somewhere? I’m sure my Nana left something behind. A shirt. Anything.”
She wanted dignity. I wanted her naked on all four, eyes glazed over with lust as she surrendered to me.
But I’d settle atobedience. For now.
“You’ll wear whatever I fucking tell you to wear.” I snarled, the walls of the cabin vibrating under the force of my voice. I wasn’t used to being challenged as much as this woman defied me. And I didn’t very much like it.
“You don’t get to control what I wear, Wolf!” She said the word in a demeaning sort of way, and it did the job, causing me to growl at her.
“You also don’t scare me,” she placed a hand on her hip, her tits looking delectable on her naked frame.
I took a deep breath and the tension in my voice became deadly. “You’ll wearnothingif I say so. You’ll kneel, spread, crawl, however I want you. Wherever. Whenever. That wet little cunt of yours belongs to me now. And it’ll bereadywhen I say it will.”
Her spine stiffened, but she didn’t cower. Instead, the rebellion in her eyes ignited again, brighter than before, rage coiling in every taut muscle of her stubborn little body. “Do you want me to be attacked?” she shot back, her voice cracking with fury. “Taken away by another one of your kind?” She stared at me. “You said the Market is dangerous! If someone sees me…”
“They’ll have to get through me, first.”
I took a step toward her, just one. “And I promise you, if it gets to that point, they will not survive.”
“You don't know that,” she huffed.
I took a step closer and she fell back against the door. “Put, the fucking, cloak on.”
Call me cocky, self-assured, arrogant, whatever you wanted, but I did not lie. Those that had once challenged me never survived. I’d make them fucking bleed if they so much as looked at her the wrong way. But the flash of fear behind her fire didn’t go unnoticed. She was trying to hide it, but I could smell it on her skin, taste it in the air between us.
And gods help me… it softened me. Just enough to see her. Not just the bond or this maddening need, but the human woman, the one who hadn’t asked for this.
I didn’t give in, but it gave me pause, and that seemed to be enough for her.
She picked up the cloak, narrowing her eyes in rebellion as she dragged the worn fabric around her naked body. She didn’t look at me while she did it. She didn’t speak. She used the rough leather strap I’d left near the firewood, wrapped it around her waist like a belt, then again over her breasts, cinching it tight. Asmuch as I hated it, she made it work. Covering herself away from all those who might harm her.
I watched her hands tremble as she tied the last knot and pulled the hood over her curls, hiding the bite marks I’d left beneath her jaw. I grunted in aggravation, then turned away before I did something worse. I let her have this. Let her believe she’d won. Let her pretend she still had pieces of herself I hadn’t touched. What she didn’t know was that the world outside this cabin would teach her soon enough that monsters didn’t care how clever a human was, or how clothed she was, only how well she screamed when they sank their teeth in.
We left as the Blood Moon began to dip behind the mountains, its glow still thick in the sky, casting everything in that strange, dreamlike shade of red. We were headed to the Maw Market. My new mate needed food, and I had no idea what my world could offer her. So as much as I wanted her beneath me and hidden, she needed strength and nutrients, which meant she needed to be fed.
The path twisted through ravines and thickets and clawed its way down ridges that were difficult for her to travel through, so I carried her through the worst of it without complaint, my claws gripping rock and root with ease as she clung to my neck. She felt soft, and warm in my arms.
When the trees broke, the road to the matket spread before us. I quickly placed her hood on her head, hiding her beneath the robe.
“You are to act unseen.”
“And how am I supposed to do that? If you can smell me, so can they,” she pointed at the drunk Ogres as we walked passed.They all stared at me, sniffing the air, and I rushed past them quickly. She had a point; it would be hard to hide a human. I would just need to keep her at my side at all times.
We continued the walk down the stone path until we finally reached the square. Maw Market was set at the edge of the Wyrm Spine Mountains. Red stood beside me, staring up at the majestic scene before us.
“How big is this place?”
“Larger than your town,” I whispered to her.
