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They didn’t know each other, apart from the way their paths had crossed decades ago and now. Zai had no desire to know the Beast or anyone.
He was comfortable in his aloneness.
Even though the young human, Ben, was ever on the edges of his thoughts, making him feel something close toconcernabout the boy’s wellbeing.
This was a dangerous place, fraught with terror and violence for someone like Ben. Zai hoped he was carrying out his part of the mission like they planned. Honestly, he didn’t care one way or the other about the false mission. If Ben took the Queen’s steeds and hightailed out of these lands, good riddance.
As long as he was safe.
But, if the human did succeed in finding Zai, if they travelled together, Zai would make sure Ben arrived in safe lands, with people who would protect him.
He was too special to hide in human villages; he barely looked like the average human around here. He was built like an Immortal. A Pure One.
But Pure Ones had no power, even less than the sheep-like humans. And Ben could never maintain the ruse of being a Dark One as he was currently disguised. Elementals might have welcomed him, but they were few and far between, scattered to the corners of the earth.
That left only the animal spirits.
They still banded in clans. At least, the raptors and the felines did. The serpents hid deep beneath the seas, and in any case, Ben would not be able to live with them, as he didn’t possess gills.
If Ben was able to track Zai and they reunited, then Zai would try to find one of the animal spirit enclaves for him. Either Goya’s pride or…
The Eagle King, Sol.
Rumors had it that the King of raptors had lost his mind to madness long ago. His condition was described as being akin to that of an animal in mourning for his Mate. Not unlike the destructive rampages that the liger had been on until his imprisonment.
But no one had ever seen or heard of the Eagle King’s Mate. They only knew that, even though Beasts were known to find new Mates when their spirit healed, the Eagle King never did.
His personal circumstances aside, Sol’s aeries were still well organized, fortified, and difficult to access, situated on the tallest mountain peaks. Zai could potentially take Ben to either Beast King.
Ben would besafe.
Zai told himself he didn’t want to do this because he “cared.” He just wanted to stifle the niggling in the back of his mind.
It was annoying. He didn’t like to live with regrets.
He didn’t form… “attachments” easily. He’d always lived self-sufficiently. Only two instances bucked this rule. First, the need to fulfill whatever debt he felt he owed to the liger, and now, the need to ensure a human boy’s safety.
Presently, while he waited for Ben to find him (or go searching for the boy himself), he didn’t have a particular direction in mind. Now that his first task was done, now that he’d released his mortal enemy from prison and paid off a debt he strangely felt he owed, he could go wherever he wanted to.
Simply disappear.
Right now, he wanted to follow the faint sounds of water splashing in a nearby pool. He hadn’t drunk or eaten since over a day ago. The fucking Beast didn’t share his kill, after all. Taunting him with fresh meat as he devoured it, smacking his blood-matted maw.
He wanted to wash too, if the pool was big and deep enough. He was covered with dirt, blood and…other fluids. The stuff had dried on his groin, stomach and inner thighs, tangling in the thatch around his cock like thick tree sap, irritating his skin.
And…
He felt it inside of him, still warm and sticky. It was slowly leaking out, making his sore hole always uncomfortably wet, chafing the torn flesh with each stride.
He didn’t think of what had happened as anything but a brutal punishment, an act of retribution, one that he’d spurred on at every turn. Because debt or not, he wasn’t going to just hand it over to the Beast on a platter. The hairy fucker could work for it.
But unlike his other wounds from the Beast’s claws and teeth, the soreness inside of him continuously burned like a living brand instead of healing. Maybe it was the cum that mixed with his blood, and the heat of his insides that kept the fluids from drying.
There was just so much of it. He felt filled to the brim. He swore he could hear it squishing, feel it moving inside of him, coating all of his insides with the Beast’s primitive mark.
It was maddening.
Even more so because he wanted to wash it out as much as he wanted to hold it in.
