Land of Monsters (Savage Lands #8)

Chapter 15

Deep in my hood, a cloak covering the bloodstained figure in my arms, I kept to the shadows. The cloudy afternoon dusted the narrow cobble streets with what little light was left in the day.

Getting Raven out was my only thought, her safety my first concern before anyone regained consciousness. My backpack was abandoned upstairs, so we had no money, no food, and no place to go. So many were after us, so many more willing to turn us in.

Especially now that the world was looking for the missing princess.

When Raven passed out in my arms, I noticed the newspaper on the table, her face in all her finery staring back, the headline dropping my stomach. Nowhere would be safe now. Headhunters, opportunists, and her own family were out searching for her.

They would take her away from me.

A fierce noise had worked up my throat. Picking her up and holding her to my chest, I carried her out. Mine.

My muscles shook after two hours of carting her across town, but I didn’t relent. Readjusting her in my arms, I pressed on. My body craved energy, needing nature, but snow clouds bristled overhead, dropping the temperature, shaking her bones. She needed warmth and shelter.

She needed a safe space to heal.

Glancing over my shoulder, I made sure we weren’t being followed as the trek took us back to the old town. Not that anyone was coherent enough to follow us from the club. If they did survive, they would be healing for weeks after what she did to them.

Raven was magnificent in the most terrifying way. Her devastation was felt in the atmosphere, watering the earth with blood, which even nature bowed to. I stood in the middle of her chaos with no fear of her wrath. Death fell around me like dominoes, a whirlwind of blood and screams, and I was the one she bowed to. As if I was the rock she had to smash against to find herself in the madness.

Wind whipped at my face and nose, the storm rolling in fast, the taste of snow in the air. I rushed to the only place I could think of. When we turned the corner, music rose in the air, and people milled in and out of the door, debauchery already eliciting customers in to escape life.

There was nowhere else to go, not when Raven needed to heal. With my own energy dragging, I required a place I could think. Come up with a plan.

I ducked inside. The dark lounge was sprinkled with only a few patrons at the gambling tables, hoping their luck would strike early.

The director of the house spotted our covered heads and vagabond clothes and came storming toward me, a cheery yellow robe fluttering behind him, contradicting the dark mood I carted through the door.

“What do we look like? A halfway house? Get out! We don’t allow—” He came to stop in front of me, his mouth parting when I lifted my head under the hood. He let out a gasp, his eyes widening at Raven’s limp, bloody figure in my arms. “Oh my gods…”

“We have nowhere else to go,” I rumbled, my gaze darting around, assessing everyone in the brothel.

Maestro Silk swallowed, his gaze running over Raven and the dried blood she was bathed in.

“Of course. Come.” Maestro motioned me to follow, instantly reacting, knowing this wasn’t the time to talk. “Let’s get her upstairs. Zabel?” He clicked his fingers at one of the workers. “Get brandy, some towels, clothes, and warm soup,” he ordered, taking the steps up to the second floor, down the hallway, to the last bedroom. He bumped the door open, motioning to the full bed, the room almost identical to the one we stayed in last time.

I carefully placed Raven down on the creaky bed, and she let out a small whimper, her muscles trembling violently. Wrapping the comforter over her, I peered around the room for more covers.

“Do you have a hot water bottle and more blankets?” I could hear the strain in my voice, the discomfort of watching her suffer at all.

“Yes.” Maestro nodded, darting out of the room, not even questioning my demands.

“ Dziubu?. ” I brushed hair off her forehead, strands stuck to the dried gore around her nose and eyes. “You’re safe.” I tightened the blanket around her.

“Here.” Maestro returned, dumping two more comforters onto the bed. “Zabel will bring up the heated water bottle and whatever else you need.”

I wrapped them around her, nodding back at him. My stress eased a little now that she could get warm. Start to heal.

“Thank you.” I turned to him, my deepest gratitude conveyed in my face and tone, my eyes making full contact with his. “I’m indebted to you.”

“Oh. Don’t even think of it. Plus, I am the one indebted to you, remember?” Maestro swished his hand with a half laugh. “And really, I like pretending I’m some grand hero, saving all the beautiful people so I have something delicious to stare at.”

I dipped my head with a smile, getting the feeling sentiment made him uncomfortable.

“Let me know if you need anything else.” He headed for the door and stopped. “She’ll be okay?”

“Yes. With rest.”

He touched his breastbone in relief before taking one more look at Raven, then slipped out.

I stared down at Raven, her body still shivering and convulsing. Crawling into bed next to her, I wrapped my body around hers.

My eyes shutting, I breathed her in, willing my energy into Raven as I drifted off to sleep along with her.

?

When I woke, night colored the windows. A single firelight flickered on the table, the room glowing softly. A tray of food and supplies was left for us, and a hot water bottle was tucked at Raven’s feet. Muffled sounds of people congregating in the lounge below, spilling into the street, laid like a soundtrack to the brothel. I could tell by the quietness upstairs that it was still a little too early for activity to be rampant in the bedrooms.

My attention turned to the woman next to me. Blood caked her skin, but she slept soundlessly in my arms, her skin flushed with color, her breathing steady. Her magic hadn’t returned yet, but she seemed to be healing faster than before, as if I somehow let her use some of my energy to restore her own.

Was it even possible to share my magic with her? What we did on that mountain in the middle of the forest was impossible. It shouldn’t be feasible between two different fae races.

Yet, we did.

The question of why roused me from the bed. I extracted myself from Raven’s body without waking her. Quietly, I moved to the table, grabbing the brandy bottle and taking a swig. Letting the liquor burn down my throat, I exhaled, trying to keep centered.

It shouldn’t be possible… nor did I even want it to be. I came here with a simple plan. Revenge. To take the lives of the two people who took from me. My plan derailed the moment she walked into the bar. I didn’t even notice it creep in. When did everything change? How did it go from wanting her gone from my life to now clinging to her with desperation? Wanting to keep her next to me at all costs, even when I knew I couldn’t. We could fight a lot of things, but her family, who she was, was not one of them. She was a true princess. Her role was there.

The queen and king of the Unified Nations were not a force I could battle.

Of course they were scared and wanted her home safe with them. I wanted it for her as well.

She shouldn’t be in this mess. This was all my doing. What might have happened to her in the castle would haunt me for the rest of my days. The mere thought of Raven being raped and brutalized had me gasping for air, taking another swig of alcohol.

I couldn’t leave the rest of those women there, like Celeste, Viorica, and Brandu?a, to suffer that hell any longer. Nor Iacob or the innocent villagers. They were all there because of me. Because Sonya came hunting for me, and they got caught in the crosshairs.

My design to kill Sonya and Iain was only stronger, though it led to the same outcome. I probably wouldn’t make it out of this country alive. Not with what I had to do.

Whatever connection was between Raven and me didn’t matter. She was never meant to be part of my world. And I couldn’t handle it if anything happened to her.

“No.”

The voice whipped me around. Raven was sitting up, her eyes burning into me.

“You’re awake.” I moved to her, sitting on the bed. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m not leaving you.” Her gaze burrowed in, not allowing me to deter the subject.

My mouth parted, baffled at the directness, the fact she responded to something I was simply thinking when my back was to her. “What?”

“I said, I’m not leaving. I know what you were thinking. And we’ve been here before. Several times. Stop thinking you know what is best for me.”

“How did you know I was thinking that?” I frowned, anxiousness rolling in my lungs.

Her throat bobbed as she swallowed, her hands twisting together, her voice low. “I just did.”

Scrubbing my face, I let out an aggravated groan. “Raven—”

“No.” She shook her head. “I’m in this fight too.”

“But you shouldn’t be!” I stood up from the bed.

“Too late. I am.”

“The world is searching for you.” I paced in a line, aggravated and restless. “You’re famous. Everyone will be out searching for you, wanting to cash in, like Daciana. I don’t even know how truly safe we are here.”

“I’ll cut and dye my hair.” She climbed out of the layers of comforters, standing up, far stronger than she should’ve been. “I don’t care. But I’m not leaving you to this fight alone. I was there. I not only witnessed what they were doing to those women, but I experienced it.”

My muscles locked up at her words. The need to level the castle and destroy everything in it clenched my fists into balls.

“You have no right to take away my revenge.”

“If it saves your life, I fucking do!”

“So you can sacrifice, but I can’t?” She came up to me, shoving at my chest. Her legs were still wobbly, but fierce indignation flickered in her eyes. “No,” she challenged. “I forbid it.”

“You forbid it?” I scoffed.

“Yep. I demand you go back to Budapest, where you belong.” She folded her arms, searching my face. “See? Don’t like when someone tells you what to do, huh?”

“Raven.” Aggravation pinched my brow.

“No.” She wagged her head. “You don’t get to order me to do something, then not do the same when I ask you. Not how this works.”

“How this works?” I widened my legs, crossing my arms, mimicking her. “And how does this work, exactly?”

Her gaze went to the window, picking absently at the dried blood on her hands, her lips pressing together.

Since we escaped the castle, the elephant we ignored had grown from giant to colossal, weighing down the room and thickening the air with strain.

Between what happened on that mountain and the unbelievable sex, like I think she broke me sex, tension clouded the space between us, signaling something far deeper than I wanted to go.

My cock hardened painfully at the idea of being inside her again, but fear made me step back, pushing me toward the brandy.

“Please.” I took a huge swallow of ?uic?, keeping my back to her. “There are too many against us. Do this for me.”

“Exactly why you need me more!”

“No!” I whirled around. “It’s why I can’t protect you! And if anything happened to you—” I cut myself off, anger bristling off me, staring to the side. You will destroy what is left of me.

“Look at me, Ash,” she demanded.

I shifted on my feet but didn’t trust myself to do what she said.

“Look. At. Me!” Her dominance yanked my gaze to her green eyes, bright with emotion. “Do I look like I need your protection?” She opened her arms, displaying torn clothes, her skin caked with other people’s lives. “All my life, I’ve worn pretty dresses and put on a smile for the most dangerous people in the world, including my own family, knowing I was the thing they should dread the most. All my life I have tried to control it, to keep myself in check. My obscurer desires death, while my dweller craves their blood. I am the monster they fear. And I bow to no one.”

“You bow to me.” The statement came out of my mouth before I could stop it.

“What?”

“You. Bow. To. Me.” I stated firmer. Setting my glass down, I sauntered back to her until my boots hit hers, my body looming, my lips about an inch from hers. “ They bow to me.”

Her cheeks flushed while her lids tapered. She looked ready to fight me.

“You can’t lie to me,” I whispered hoarsely. “I am the only one they succumb to.” I felt it in my soul, could sense them. Read her like she could read me.

Slowly her head dipped in agreement, our breaths starting to labor, the tension circling the room like prey. “I’m scared I’ll go too far.”

“I’m not. I don’t fear them.” My voice dragged across the ground. “They want to unleash their fury… they unleash on me . They crave blood… they taste mine .” My thumb slid over a bit of dried gore on her cheek. “You need to bring yourself back from the brink? I am what you anchor to. They need to fight, fuck, or kill?” My hand slid to the base of her skull, knotting my fingers through her hair, yanking hard on the strands. She let out a gasp, which my dick felt down to the veins, throbbing with need. “They take it out on me, understand?”

“Yes, but—”

“There are no buts.” I pulled her head back more, my mouth ghosting over hers.

“There are always buts.” A fierce growl rumbled in the back of her throat. “We’re in this together, okay? I am not leaving. Discussion over. Understand?”

Staring down at her, I realized how truly fucked I was. I would never win a fight ever again. She owned me in ways I had never understood before.

“You’re not cutting your hair,” I mumbled, tightening my grip on her stands, Minotaur blood soaking it.

“Should we talk about what happened?”

“Do you want to talk about what happened?” I slid my thumb over her bottom lip.

“Not especially.” She sounded breathy. “I need a shower.”

“Do you?” I cocked up an eyebrow.

“I’m still pretty weak and unsteady.” She peered at me through her lashes. “I might need help.”

“Well, you’re in luck.” I leaned closer. “Tree fairies are exceptional at assisting people in need.” I gripped her chin. “Especially those hard-to-reach places.”

“Good.” She went on her toes, her lips grazing mine in a taunt. “Because my pussy is a place I can’t seem to reach.”

“ Szar , dziubu?. ” A sputtered cough moaned out of my throat. “You are killing me.”

“I’m the only one who gets to.”

My mouth slammed down on hers, our hunger already forgoing all the things we needed to discuss, my mind on one thought. I needed to be inside her more than I needed to breathe.

“Let’s get you clean so I can get you dirty all over again.” I picked her up, her legs wrapping around my waist as I took us down the hall to the bathroom, stripping her clothes along the way, not caring who might be walking by.

My mouth never leaving hers, I stumbled into the bathroom, ramming her spine into the wall as I reached back for the door.

“Leave it open.” She pulled away, her hands fumbling on my zipper.

“What?”

“I want everyone to watch. To hear us.” She pushed my pants down, a mischievous smile on her lips. “To experience and envy every time you push deeper inside me, making me scream.”

Air caught in my chest, my cock becoming so hard my eyes watered. I was very much into being both a voyeur and an exhibitionist. Before, I would be fine with whoever was watching or joining in. Now, a rage ignited in my chest at the thought of anyone else touching her, being the reason she cried out.

Fuck. No.

But them watching me touch her, hear her scream my name… fuck yes.

A groan worked up the back of my throat. I set her down, and we frantically kicked out of our boots, tearing at our clothes. My cock throbbed as I turned on the water, both of us unable to stop touching each other as we stepped under the cold spray, not waiting for it to heat up.

I could hear people coming down the hall as I slammed her back into the tile, my mouth covering hers, the curtain wide open.

A small gasp sounded from someone in the hall, their feet stopping as they came upon us. Adrenaline sang in my veins, my fingers sliding down her torso, parting her legs, and sliding into her pussy.

“Ash…” She tipped her head back.

“Put your leg onto the side of the tub. Let them see what I get to have,” I ordered. Heat danced in her eyes as she did what I said, opening wide and putting herself on full display for our viewers.

Dropping to my knees, I dragged my lips down her stomach to her inner thighs, feeling the extra attention turn me on even more. Except the moment my tongue slid into her pussy, all I could think of was her.

When the fuck did this happen? I couldn’t even recall exactly when things flipped on me. When I no longer yearned for death, but for life with her.

Her nails raked through my hair, her hips fucking my face, the taste of her smearing over my tongue. When did she become home?

I learned young that home did not mean blood ties, nor did it insinuate a place. It was where I found family. Only a handful of people actually were at that level, a place where I let down my guard. To be myself.

Somewhere along the way, Raven found her way under my skin, burrowing into my bones. Making me feel something I thought myself incapable of. It pissed me off that I couldn’t fight it, especially knowing this couldn’t go anywhere. I couldn’t live in her world, nor could she stay in mine.

“Ash!” Raven’s moans were mixed with others, the hallway sounding slightly more crowded, our energy luring them to us. “I need you inside me.” She yanked my head back, pulling at my hair. “Now.”

I licked at the wetness covering my mouth, and when I saw the red flicker in her eyes, I knew she was on the cusp. I climbed to my feet, gripping her hips.

“Watch them respond to the way I fuck you.” I huskily spoke in her ear before twisting her to face the open door. “Grab onto the rim.”

She leaned over, her grip wrapping around the lip of the tub. My hands slid over her ass, spanking it.

She jerked, a sound puffing from her lips, her excitement sliding down her leg.

I spanked her again, her back bowing, her groans louder. “Please…”

My need was so desperate I couldn’t even pretend to torture her any longer. Widening her legs, I bent her over further. Clutching her throat, I held her in place, thrusting deep into her.

Raven’s howls echoed in the room as I pushed in all the way, her legs dipping as I bottomed out.

“Fuuuuck!” My body tingled, dots forming in my vision, and I pulled out enough to plunge back in. This time, no actual words came out, just belligerent sounds choking out of my throat. The sensation of being inside her hit even harder than before, as if each time she sank deeper into me, intensifying the pleasure until she was so much a part of me, I would never come back. The fear of her power over me, of the damage we were lying down in front of us, burned in my lungs.

But my desire to let go, to fully jump in, had me railing Raven harder.

The room disappeared. We were only semi-aware of our audience joining in. Two women prostitutes got each other off near the sink while a well-dressed man fucked a whore right against the opposite wall. Another prostitute, barely half-dressed, her legs wide open, fingered herself as she watched us in the doorway.

“You like this?” I grunted, not easing a bit. “Like them watching us? Getting off to how wet I make you?” I pressed my thumb harder into her throat, feeling her strangle my cock.

“Yessss.” She spat out each word. “I want them to know it’s my pussy you’re fucking. That’s making you lose your mind. Your cock will only be fucking me !”

Oh. Holy. Fuck. Something in me snapped.

Her claim made me as feral as her. A noise snarled from me, like her beast crawled into me and took over. I wasn’t just fucking her… I was mating her.

“Oh gods!!” Raven’s entire body shook. My hips pounded into her so hard tears poured from her eyes. “More!” Our sounds were so obscene I knew they could hear us downstairs and up the street. “Ash!” Her pussy tightened around me, squeezing, flickering my eyes back in my head.

“ Megbasz …” I hissed through my teeth, trying to keep my legs under me. I could feel how near she was. Her beast growled at the surface, her magic forming on her tongue.

Pulling out, I twisted her around and lifted her up. Her legs wrapped around me as I sank into her again. “I need to watch you come.” I gripped her chin, my teeth bared. “Do not take your eyes off me.”

Her gaze locked on mine, flickering with flames as I pumped in harder, my balls slapping her pussy. Water cascaded down our bodies as we moved together. I let go, feeling myself not just sink inside her but sink inside her soul.

Fire took over her eyes, and I saw her mouth part, but she bit down on her lip, stopping herself.

“Do it,” I snarled, egging her on, craving the pain it would later cause. To put the final nail in my coffin. Her core started to flutter, and I knew we were both close. My thumb hooked over her bottom teeth, tugging at her jaw. “Do. It!”

Latin hissed from her mouth, the spell slipping off her tongue and wrapping around us.

Throttling my cock.

I heard myself bellow, the magic strangling her around me so tightly I could no longer move. The base of my cock swelled as she locked around me, my seed spurting out in hot waves, stuffing her pussy to the point she could no longer take more.

“ASH!”

We were no longer on this earth, transported to a plane where sight, smell, and taste didn’t mean anything in the normal sense, though she was everywhere and in everything.

Where reality was a faraway dream, and the dream was sharp and real.

Her eyes never left mine as I continuously came inside her. The barriers between us disappeared to the point I could read her thoughts, steal her knowledge, and truly understand what was happening. What I tried to ignore the night before.

It shouldn’t have been possible. A tree fairy shouldn’t be capable of it for many reasons, but nature didn’t seem to give a fuck.

I bellowed out as she knotted around me, tying me to her with no hope of escape.

?

“Just because it looks like a massive mushroom doesn’t mean you should lick it.”

Chirp!

“Trying to give you some friendly advice.

Chirp! Chirp!

“I licked it first, only to be sure it was safe… for you .”

Chirp!

“Noooo,” I groaned, rolling my head into the pillow. “Go away.” Wanting to ignore the voices pulling me from my deep slumber, my arms automatically pulled Raven into me, digging my head into her neck.

After what we did in the bathroom, she was barely conscious. I cleaned her up and brought her back here, passing out next to her. In the middle of the night, I woke up enough to slide inside her, slowly fucking her until we conked out again.

“Don’t touch or lick any part of me or her,” I muttered.

“That’s not what you were saying last night.”

I opened one lid, peering at the figure standing on Raven’s hip, his arms crossed.

Another moan sank my head deeper into the pillow. “What the fuck are you wearing?”

“Don’t you like it?” Opie’s expression filled with hope. Just one critical word would make him cry.

“Um… sure.”

Dice from the gambling tables dangled on a fringe around his waist, barely covering him. Gold silk draped off him in a cape, and pleasure beads wrapped around his beard, connecting to the clip-on nipple rings he wore on his chest.

“What do you expect?” he exclaimed. “You drag us to these places, which have nothing for me to work with. I do the best I can.”

Chirp!

My eyes dragged to the imp, climbing up next to Opie. Bitzy wore a gold silk diaper, nipple rings in her giant bat-like ears, and pleasure beads around her neck.

“Right.” Opie nodded. “You still owe us, Mushroom Man. I get a whole section of the Byzantine era to make into a work of art. And Bitzy wants a dozen mushrooms.”

I exhaled with irritation, though I couldn’t find it in me to be. My system was still blissed out and buzzing with energy, my dick sore, but in the way it wanted to be inside her again.

Fear hovered on the edges, knowing reality was ahead of us once we stepped out of this bubble. What I pushed her to do last night scared me to face in the light of day. The connection I doubled down on. I wanted to pretend it was some strange dream. Not something plausible that could happen between us, though I had seen my friends fall to their significant others in the same way.

Tree fairies did not mate. Period. The end.

“Look at you.” Opie’s bushy eyebrows went up and down. “The smitten kitten.”

“Don’t ever call me that again.”

Chirp!

“Oh yeah… you guys need to stop leaving your mark everywhere you go. It’s like a calling card.”

“What are you talking about?” I lifted my head.

“The trees outside.” Opie motioned over his shoulder to the window. “You did the same at the last place.”

“What?” I flicked the back covers, climbing out of bed.

“Whoa, whoa! Warn a brownie before you swing your wild mushroom about!” Opie ducked. “You could hurt someone with it… like hurt in the do it again way.”

Chirp!

“I wasn’t implying I wanted to be that someone!”

Ignoring them, I traveled to the window, pushing the thin curtain to the side. The hazy sun barely broke through the clouds, fresh snow covering the ground and sill, but my attention caught on something else.

“Holy shit,” I whispered.

The trees planted along the pavement were all bent into each other, their limbs tangled and tied together.

A lump formed in the back of my throat, and I struggled to swallow, knowing we did this. It came from the magic Raven and I produced—we had knotted them together.

Like we were.