26.
With heavy footsteps, I clunk down the steps of our cabin, landing roughly on the ground. No time for shoes—not when a ferocious andvery sexymonster is hot on my heels. He’s giving me a head start, I think. Not daring to look back, I forge deeper into the woods toward our favorite field of wildflowers.
The sun slips behind a cloud, leaving me in shadow. Blades of grass stick to the bare skin of my legs. Moth’s laugh echoes above me before he lets out a shriek that turns my bones to jelly. A cloud wasn’t creating the shadows at all—it was the large body of the monster chasing me. I yelp, swerving into a thicket of trees and quickening my pace, darting backward and forward in an attempt to throw him off, but the only thing I accomplish is making myself dizzy. When he swoops down, my instincts take over, and my wings sprawl forth, launching me into the air. But it’s too late. He’s bigger, faster, and looking at me like I’m something to bedevoured.
He lands in front of me with the grace of a hawk. His body seems bigger out here, hulking and feathered. I back away, trying to hide the smile that pulls on my face.
“What do we have here?” Moth circles me, appraising every inch of my body. I’m dressed in a short chiffon nightgown in a babydoll cut. The billowing, transparent fabric does little to hide my shape. He tugs lightly at the base of my wings. “A faerie in the monster’s den…”
“I didn’tmean to—”
He tugs again, as if he means to rip them off my back. I groan, letting myself struggle against the barbaricfantasy.
“Have you any idea what happens to those who trespass here?”
“Let me go!” I shout, but I can’t get rid of the shrill laughter in my voice. He catches me by the waist and pins me to the trunk of a tree.
“Do you think it will be that easy to escape me?” he whispers, sending a chill down my back. “That, now that I have you, all it will take is a little begging for me to release you into the night?”
His hand curls around my neck, squeezing just lightly enough to provide the delicious pressure I’ve beencraving.
“I’ll run as far as I can. You’ll never see me again,” I promise, swallowing the smile at the edge of my lips. I don’t want the game to be over yet, not when it feels like it juststarted.
“Hmmm,” he appraises me, glancing up and down with a flick of his bulging eyes. “And why, my little lost faerie, would I want that?”
He trails a claw down the lengthof my jaw.
Fuck,he’s goodat this.
“You are my prey. I will let no one elsehave you.”
To further admire me, he loosens his grip, drinking in the sight of me. That’s his first mistake.
The game of cat and mouse is still on, and I haven’t given up. Launching into flight, I soar through the trees, feeling him right behind me with the way the breeze shifts around us. We chase each other through the branches of the tallest pine trees, diving and soaring until—
Uh!
A branch comes out of literally nowhere, hitting me square in the stomach and causing me to tumble. I scramble upward, pulling myself up by my arms rather than using my wings. The branch is thick enough to stand on though the width is less than a balance beam, and despite my recent gift of flight, the world tips when I look down. It doesn’t matter though. As soon as breath returns to my lungs, Moth’s shadow is upon me. His weight shifts the branch downward as he settlesonto it.
A large monstrous hand grips my chin, forcing my gaze up; with the popping and cracking of bones, his monster form melts away until I’m staring at the face of a faerie prince.
With all the play-acting and struggling, the sight of this softer version of him is a surprise—but right now, he’s not my lover, and the hunt isstill on.
I swerve on the branch, trying to knock him off balance—it works, for the most part. It wasn’t in my plan to tumble out of thetree too.
But here I am—falling from the sky. Before I can get my wings to cooperate, Moth swoops up, throwing me over his shoulder. The top half of my body hangs down his back, leaving my pantie clad ass almost entirely exposed on his shoulder, giving his palm the perfect position to land two sharp slaps.
Moth pauses mid-flight, as if wondering if he’s crossed an unsaid boundary. Breaking character, I fumble for his hand, giving it a littlesqueeze.
“I didn’t say stop.”
A laugh rumbles from his chest—the sweet sound making it easier for me to be caught off-guard when three more slaps to my ass follow. I groan, grinding against his strong shoulder muscles as he brings us to the ground, laying me down in a bed of leaves.
There’s a force to his touch that’s even better than it was in my imagination. His firm lips capture mine in a possessive kiss that leaves me gasping for breath—a reminder of a love that spans two realms and is all ours. My claws grow as they drag across his newly shifted flesh.
“Harder,” he demands, arching his wings so I have access to his bare shoulders. I rake my claws over his broad shoulders until deep pink marks are left across his skin. His soft mouth captures my earlobe, biting down just slightly before he whispers, “I saidharder.”
An order this time. I scratch the surface of his skin, digging in at the last second.
