Page 28 of Goblin Candy

Several chuckles greet her words from some of the interspecies and human couples that have drawn closer to us during this little altercation even as a small handful of the human couples shift further away with obvious expressions of disgust, several humans drifting closer to him as if to back him up if necessary. Let them—I will enjoy the additional quarry.

“Monster fucker,” Kyle finally growls with disgust as he backs away, but I’ve had enough.

My tail whips out from around Candy even as I portal with a soft pop, only to pop back in with visible waves displaced energy just behind him. Kyle stiffens as if sensing something is off as he scans the crowd.

“Where did that fucker go?” he yells, his voice warbling into a higher octave. “So help me, Candy, goblins probably kill and eat humans! Did you even think of that? If anything happens, my parents will sue!”

With a grin I sneak in closer and lean forward so that I’m inches from his ear, and I hiss three little words.

“Boo. Got you.”

He stumbles away from me shrieking, practically tripping over his own feet to get away as he runs out of the building. I watch him go with a grin that gets only wider when I hear my mate chuckle. I extend my hand to her and draw her up to me as I pull her out onto the dance floor. The piles of cakes and fudge and various sweets on the table at the end still tempt me, but none are as desirable as the female in my arms. Soon enough we will lick frosting off of each other. I can wait.

The gyrating beat of the music is not quite the same as the wild tempo played by goblins around the autumn feast fires, but my tail still swings to it as I dance song after song with my female, watching the joy on her face. There is a fake tail pinned to the back of her dress that swings with every swish of her hips, teasing me with her every movement. It’s not a true tail, and nor do I wish my mate to really have one, but it draws my attention all the more to the appetizing curve of her ass where I long to sink my teeth.

We finally break away for a moment, and I practically carry my laughing mate to a shadowy corner behind the dessert table. The spread is impressive, but I select a thick fudge with a heavy layer of chocolate frosting topping plastered on it. I don’t eat it right away, but I do take the moment to paint her neck with a long streak of chocolate that I slowly lap up. The way she shivers against me with every stroke of my tongue sends my own hunger spiraling higher until I can’t do anything else but pull her back onto the dance floor so we might find some kind of energetic release to delay the moment.

We dance for what feels like hours, taking little breaks every now and then to talk to a couple or indulge in another sweet. Lottie and Lyrax show up sometime after the first hour and make admirable company, though half the humans in the room eye the draxalican warily. It makes me laugh every time someone cringes away despite Lyrax’s softly worded apology for accidentally stepping on or brushing against a much smaller human with one of his eight legs. Candy presses her face into my chest to muffle the sound of her own amusement, but I don’t mind if people glare at me so I just laugh louder to cover the soft sounds of her own laughter. She may have a position in this community to uphold, but I’ve had far fiercer things throw murderous looks at me, so it doesn’t even faze me. Every minute that passes is just as exciting as the last, even though my own hunger grows sharper as the night lengthens.

When she finally pulls me out the door to the small park outside, I feel a sense of relief, knowing that finally it has come. She doesn’t lead me toward the car, however, but further into the park, just before the tree line of a heavily wooded area. The full moon overhead thrums within my blood, demanding that the hunt be fulfilled. Yet I don’t initiate. I allow her to push me into a large wooden swing hanging from a tree at the edge of the playground, and her plush bottom slides onto my lap. With my tail and free hand, I hold her tightly to me as I push us back and forth with my feet, enjoying the swaying motion and the soft warmth of my mate against me.

At length, she looks up at me, the moon reflecting in her dark eyes, and she smiles as she tenderly brushes my hair back out of my eyes.

“I meant every word I said in there. I want you to know that,” she whispers. “You are truly the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“I know,” I reply, grinning happily down, though it makes her laugh and roll her eyes.

“Not modest at all, are you? Or maybe I’m just that obvious,” she rejoins.

I shake my head. “You misunderstand, my sweet. I know because it is what I feel in my own heart as well. How can a love this big not be felt by you as well when it consumes me wholeheartedly?” I say as I watch her eyes round with wonder. “How can you even doubt it? You complete me in ways I’ve heard told but still could never imagine. You are my mate, Candy. My sweetest delicacy, unrivaled. No other.”

She trembles against me, but the smile that stretches across her face mirrors the delight in my own heart. “So… what now?”

I lean down and brush my nose against her cheek, my breath warming her ear. “Now run, my sweetest Candy. Run as far and as fast as you can, because tonight this hunt ends.”

The rich scent of her desire rises around us and she hesitates for just a moment, but when I give her ear a small nip she springs from my lap with a wild-eyed look of excitement.

“Hurry, my love. I will even give you a head start. It is only sporting,” I add with a grin as I silently bid my lantern spirit to begin its work to lead false trails away from our hunt and disguise our own path. “The count of one hundred and then I’m coming after you!” I call, dropping a hand over my eyes as I hear her race away with a laugh.

“One. Two. Three.”

My hunger only increases with every number, twisting and clawing at my will as I hear her footsteps get fainter the farther she runs from me. The desire to give chase is overpowering, but still I count until at last I arrive at one hundred and spring from the swing, my entire body taut and aflame with the power of the hunt pulsing through me.

“Ready or not, here I come!” I bellow as I tear forward, drawing in her scent like a beacon as I race into the wooded parkland after her.

CHAPTER18

CANDY

He’s after me and closing the distance quickly. I don’t have to look back or be psychic to know that. I can feel it in the air as I run deeper into the woods at the edge of the town. The city rec center is so conveniently placed near them that this could have almost been staged if not for the fact that this entire party was something that Grimsal had been completely unaware of.

And that at least gives me some advantage in this little chase. Sort of.

Given that I’m not entirely familiar with the paths myself, having only been through here a handful of times in recent years, I’m not confident on the direction that I’m going other than the fact that I’m heading roughly toward the edge of city limits. If I get far enough, I may get close to the old highway that runs by this part of town. Which means that there’s less likelihood, the farther we get from the rec center, of being caught doing something that could get us fined… or potentially arrested.

After all, I’m under no illusion as to how this hunt will end. Most likely with my ass up over a fallen tree.

I shake my head as I clear a particularly rocky patch, already panting for breath. I sure as hell hope that he at least gives me his jacket for some cushioning if that’s the case. Having my skin scraped raw against weathered tree bark would suck ass… and not in the fun way. But he hasn’t caught me. Not yet. And not any time soon, if I have my way. Something tells me that the length of the chase is important to him, so I’ll do my damnedest to evade him and hold out for as long as possible.

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