I remember the dirt sliding out from beneath my feet, the tumble of lights as I crashed from me world into this one. Iremember wandering, moving deeper through the maze of trees, heavy bush and a seemingly endless terrain of wilderness. I was just beginning to panic. Thinking I’d gotten myself lost in the mountains, that Mom and Dad were going to be worried sick when they can’t find me.
It’s unclear how I found the gate. The short garden wall choked with vines. But the thought of finding help had me pushing through.
I rub the patch of skin between my brows as I try to remember the haze stretch of fog still soaking much of the images. But I have the memory of waking up and finding a giant beast with fur and antlers standing at the foot of the bed. His eyes glowed an inhuman red as he bared his fangs.
“What are you doing here?”
My response, like any normal person when facing an eight-foot-tall creature with talons as big as they are and a skull face was to scream and threw myself off the side of the bed.
“Get back!”I screamed, racing to the nearest tree and tearing off a branch, which had enraged him.
He snarled and I swung. I got him a few times when he lunged for me. We were both showered with leaves as I got him on the shoulders, chest, his face.
I somehow wound up tossed on the bed. The branch snatched from my fingers and him pinning me down. I was sure he was going to eat me, especially the way he was trembling with rage.
But he lost his fur to vines and his skull was replaced with the most beautiful face I had ever seen. The red dimmed in his eyes but still lingered as he stared down at me.
“How did you get here?”
His voice, still gruff and husky had a whole other effect on me that I knew I shouldn’t be entertaining.
He was a legit demon.
Some devil creature who is most likely going to torture me before flaying my skin for supper.
“I know you can talk,”he muttered, unimpressed by my staring.
“Give me a minute!”I snapped back.“I have a lot of feelings right now and I’m processing.”
His eyes blinked, but my fingers were reaching for the thick coil of roots across his chest. I tap it with a finger.
“Is this real?”
“What...?”I went for his antlers next, for the ivory arches. He smacked my hand.“Stop that.”
“How are you real?”
He scrambled off me, his branch still in hand like he’s ready to smack me with it.
“How are you in my bed?”
It seemed settled that I wasn’t allowed to leave. That I belonged to him now. A turn of events would make any book girly purr with delight, but I knew I had to get back. It had already been days, and Mom and Dad were probably freaking out.
That did not mean shit to him. I broke into his castle and rightfully, he can do whatever he wanted
But he never locked me up. Never mistreated me. He made sure I had food, even though he never ate, and so many beautiful dresses. He took me with him all over the kingdom and showed me his world.
He was still an asshole, but he made me laugh and listened when I talked. Really listened. Whenever I mentioned something I missed, it would appear the next day, except my parents.
“Humans aren’t supposed to be here, little one,”he always said.
It was months later while I was watching him rebuild a garden after a thunderstorm destroyed some of the flowers that I realized I was falling for him. Not just a crush or a sexual fantasy daydream, but actually in love with him. It was a crazy thought because he had made no inappropriate advances. The few times our hands had brushed, he had jerked away like I burned him.
But I’d seen the way he’d watch me. The way his eyes would turn a faint red when he did something that turned me on. I couldn’t figure out how he always knew until that afternoon when I was watching him move through the garden. Muscles flexing. Big hands lifting and cutting. The way his long legs moved across the grass. It had been a mild afternoon, but I was sweating. My panties were soaked. It took everything in me not to shift and...
He appeared in front of me, eyes a wild red as he bared down on me with all that raw, rugged heat. His massive silhouette blotted the sun as I sat on my picnic blanket in my pretty blue dress.
I didn’t even pretend to fight when he shoved my skirt up and dove face first between my thighs. I dropped to the ground and spread my knees. I dragged my neckline down, baring my breasts and meet his hungry gaze at I teased my nipples and rode his face.
