Page 43 of Ravaging Red
“I don't know. None of us do. It's for the Blood Moon to decide.”
She shivered against me. “So if this is fated, why haven't you done it yet?”
It was a good question, and I paused, calculating every word.
“You are not ready for my mark, not yet, little Red. But when I do sink my teeth into that soft neck of yours, when I carve my name into your skin with blood, you’ll be mine in every way that matters, and there won’t be a god or a Council in all the Hollow that could ever take you from me.”
She shivered in my lap, her arms wrapped around my shoulders, her breasts pressed to my chest, her pussy slick and hot and rubbing against me like she couldn’t help herself anymore.
I pressed my lips to her throat, not biting, not yet, but letting the promise hang there like a sweet threat in the air.
“I will mark you,” I whispered. “And when I do, you’ll never stop begging for this cock, for my knot, for my name, for the monster you dared to call yours.”
She didn’t pull away.
She just leaned in and smiled.
Chapter 17
The Creature
RED
It had been days since we’d gone to the Market, days since I'd seen the human world. And although I could still feel the ache of Rael's knot, the echo of him inside me, another feeling had taken root. Something quieter, something I hadn’t let myself feel.
I was missing my family, and I wasn’t sure how Rael would take that information. I decided to mention it one evening, while curled against his chest. The firelight crackled in the hearth, and his claws lazily dragged patterns down my spine, I was growing more and more comfortable around my monster.
“Rael, I miss my home.” He tensed beneath me, not in rejection, but in thought.
“I’m sure my mom has been worried. I can almost feel her calling to me. They’re not used to me disappearing like this, and I usually go visit them once a week. I know you said there are dangers to being apart, but I need to at least call them. Do cell phones even work on this side of the Veil?
He shook his head. “We do not communicate the way you do.”
“Please, Rael. I have to see them.”
“I will take you to the Veil,” he said finally, his voice quiet, rough with uncertainty. “You may go see them, but you must return to me.” He stated urgently.
I looked up at him, his golden eyes shadowed by worry. “You don’t trust me?”
“I trust the bond,” he said. “What I don't trust is the Blood Moon and its effect on us when parted. I warn you, Red, if you are not back by the moon’s rise… I will come for you.”
The threat was gentle. Loving in its possessiveness. And I nodded, knowing that I could not run from him, not really. Not unless he wanted me to. Besides, I didn’t want to run. Not anymore. My heart had changed since I’d been with him. My body responded to his in a way that although it was unfathomable, it felt right. There was a freedom here that I did not have in the human world.
“I’ll return,” I said, my fingers tracing the bridge of his snout. “I don’t want to leave your side. I just… need them to know I’m safe.”
“Be careful, my pet.” He whispered gently, kissing me softly.
That morning, I kissed him slowly, tasting him one last time before I slipped through the trees, the bag he’d given me was now full of human-world essentials, my scarf, the bracelet, the red cloak. He stayed behind at the cabin, watching with those burning eyes as I stepped through the Veil and left the Hollow behind.
The shift was instant. The sound of birds returned, the colors shifted. The air smelled different, it was less wild and contained almost no magic. It just felt more human.
My boots crunched down on the familiar path as I made my way toward town, the trees parting as if they remembered me. Every step was surreal. I walked down my old street, passing my neighbors’ homes. Dulce’s bakery sat eerily quiet this early inthe morning. It all felt smaller now. Dimmer. Like a dream I’d woken up from and couldn’t quite reenter.
I went home first, showered, changed and gathered a few items that I needed to take with me. After getting settled, I took my car and headed toward my mother’s house. I saw my grandmother before I even reached the front porch. She was outside, watering her garden, humming.
She looked up and smiled.
“Red,” she said, setting the can down. Her eyes looked bright, I was glad it was a good day.
