Selene Yue inherited fox spirit powers from her mother. When she falls in love with a human bandit named Julong Tian, she is willing to use her powers to help him shake the Imperial forces who are in pursuit of him. She is injured by a group of vill...
Freshwater was scarce in the desert so you could imagine my relief when I was finally given a bucket to wash the filth of my journey off. In these grasslands, the water they brought me was tasted sweeter than honey to my parched tongue. I also found clean clothing laid out for me on a wooden stool nearby. I didn't hesitate to abandon the flimsy fine embroidered silk of the capital even though the alternative was a plain shapeless gown in clay pot gray. At least this outfit came with sturdy leather boots.
Alix appeared after the sun had gone down. He, too, had cleaned up and changed into a new set of clothing. He tossed me a gambir-like bread along with a strip of dried camel meat. I wished I had the strength to throw it back at his feet, but my hunger overcame my pride. My wrists were still aching from the rope, and my fingers were barely recovering their ability to feel, but even so, I immediately shoved the meager food into my mouth.
"As always, you know nothing of gratitude," Alix snorted as he approached my side. I squirmed away in fear. It was a reflexive movement by now. He seldom spoke to me except to drive fear into my heart. He moved closer, and I saw him remove a strap of leather from his waist. I squeezed my eyes shut out of fear that he would hit me, but he laughed instead.
"If I wanted to beat you, I wouldn't start with your face, my love." He crouched down beside me and leaned uncomfortably close. "There's too much of a danger that I'll snap your neck, and where would the fun be in that?"
Even now, in my weak human form, I still had my pride. With a bit of food in my stomach, I decided to let my anger get the best of me. I spat what meager saliva I had in my mouth on Alix's face. At least the shock of that action makes him flinch back. But, as soon as I completed the act, I immediately regretted it. If he spoke to me with barely concealed disdain before, now the fury was raging through every fiber of his being. He seized me by the waist and threw me on the bed.
Alix was doing much more than removing his belt now. He threw off his shirt and joined me on the bed. I forced my knees together, but he chuckled at that. He pinned me down by my wrists and held me in place.
"Oh, Selene, Selene, my darling dear, your fighting spirit is only betrayed by your obvious desire for me."
"In your dreams," I snarled back.
Alix slapped me across the face. I tasted blood where my cheek met my clenched teeth.
"I am going to teach you a bit of gratitude, you little vixen."
"Gratitude? For what?" I hissed back and continued to struggle helplessly against his one-handed hold on my wrists.
"For not skinning you alive back in the Imperial City. I can still make you into a handsome pair of fox fur boots if you wish."
"Then do it, kill me," I snapped. It was my turn to laugh now. I flashed my blood-stained teeth at him. "Kill me and put me out of my misery."
"No, Serene, when I do decide to kill you, it will be slow," Alix whispered into my ear. His coarse fingers trailed down between my breasts and lingered on the naked flesh of my exposed right hip. "I will strip your skin from you piece by piece, as the wolves do with their prey."
His fingers drifted over the swell of my hip and into the valley between my legs. I loosened my clenched knees as his fingertips rubbed the throbbing ache between my thighs. His touch was unyielding and my closed knees did little to protect my body from his advances. I fought against the waves of pleasure that radiated from under his damned touch. His lips were dangerously close to brushing against mine now. I can't think of anything else, not even of my precious powers that he stripped from me, now with his lips so close to mine, his breath felt like the tickle of a housefly's wings against my chin.
"You are mine now," Alix whispered and slid a thigh up between my legs. I bit my lower lip to suppress a moan. His body pressed up against mine and I almost loosed my knees to welcome his advances.
I both wanted him to be struck down by a bolt of lightning, and to force his way into my aroused quarters. It took every bit of willpower I had left not to lay claim over his lips. They were so deliciously close and yet he backed away as though my pleasure disgusted him. His fingers lingered over the flat of my abdomen reminding me of the way he tortured me and teased me with pleasure that he wouldn't fully let me experience. "I will kill him and make you watch," Alix gloated and brushed his fingers against my chin. "We will bathe in the blood of your Julong Tian, your precious Qin Wang."
"And then, after he is dead?" I gasped as Alix threw me back down on the bed. It was impossible to conceal how my body betrayed me. My thighs were throbbing wanton desire. I wanted more than just his hands all over me. I wished my hands were free so that I could tear his pants off him. They were already slipping from his waist ever since he removed his belt. I could see how badly he desired me through the fabric of his pants, and at the last minute, I wondered if I could withstand such a fearsome tool of male desire. Ever since he reclaimed his Lycan form, his body had changed as well. It was no longer the form of a lowly human man, although even back in his human form, Alix had been a beast to reckon with.
Now, he was a monster through and through. I didn't know if I wanted to find out what punishments awaited me when he finally stripped himself bare before me.
"Then, and only then, will I decide if you are to live or to die," Alix answered with a malicious glint in his eyes. "If you submit to me, perhaps I will live out your days as my slave. Perhaps, you will prefer to die." Alix teased. Even though he was now standing a good distance away from me, he continued staring at my lips as though he longed to kiss me. But then, he seemed to awaken from his momentary reverie, and disdain colored his features once again.
"There will be no pleasure in it for you, Serene," Alix hissed. "Only pain. I will make sure of it. For all the evil deeds you have done, a wicked creature such as you deserves to be chained up and made to beg for mercy over and over again."
"Will there be pleasure in it for you?" I ask but immediately wish I hadn't challenged him. Alix seized me by the jaw and squeezed. I moaned in pain this time, but just as I was about to cry out, he released me. To my surprise, he also released my wrists.
"You will sleep on the floor," Alix barked and kicked at the threadbare woven carpet by his feet. "And there is no escape from this place. I can promise you, the last thing you want to draw the attention of at night is a horde of werewolves."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
