In the past, he’d loved how “different” I was, how nerdy and sexual. His favorite type, he told me. It was the first time any man had complimented me outright, and it made me feel so desired.
As time went on, he started to move as far away from me as he did from that corpse. Sure, he still yearned for me. He promised he thought about eating me from behind, about making me shiver and come purely from the massage of his tongue. But he started to stay out later and later.
“Work stuff,” he assured me. “You’ll thank me when you see the ring you’re getting,” he’d joke.
Those assurances weren’t jokes to me. I dreamt about our wedding nearly every night. In due course, he was too tired to fuck. He grew distant. “Work problems.”
The same excuses kept piling up. The assurances went away. At our five-year mark, he was sleeping in his office regularly. That’s when I knew something was going on.
Madison. My best fucking friend.
I was a renowned scientist, dammit. I was smart, adventurous, and I had the good looks to back it up. I was a total catch, but he made me feel like a piece of furniture. His actions let me know I wasn’t as special as someone new. I was just another dumb girl to him.
I snapped out of the bad memories of our past, and we walked in silence for a while. Maybe he was reliving the same moments, but probably not. I knew he and Madison had broken up in a public screaming match on social media, but within a week, he had a new profile picture up of him and another girl at another one of the trashy clubs he loved.
We kept walking until the trees seemed taller. The leaves were thicker, and the air was heavy and damp. I placed my hand on the bark before quickly removing it when an insect-like-creature raced past my hand. Fear ran through me. We were still so lost and deep within their natural habitat.
“Zane, have you been paying attention to where you’ve been leading me?” I asked.
He stopped. “Leading? I thought you were leading!”
My limbs shook. Fear. The beasts fed off it, but they would not come to our aid. Not here. They had set a path for me, and I was supposed to follow. Those that ventured to where they weren’t called to suffered terrible fates. We couldn’t go any farther, but when I turned back, a mystical fog had rolled through the area. The trail was impossible to see.
“Think, Adeline,” I whispered.
“Are...” Zane gulped loudly. “Are we lost?”
“No,” I snapped, faster than I expected. I cleared my throat. “No, but we made a wrong turn.”
“So we’re lost,” he corrected me.
I breathed quickly, unable to get myself back to baseline. This place was an impossibility, a maze full of hallucinatory deceptions. I was supposed to be focusing on every step I took, but Zane’s presence made that difficult. I hoped to the beings of this realm I hadn’t already failed. Dying was one thing, but could I handle my soul being frozen in time like Dr. Jacobi? Doubtful.
I spun and searched for anything that might help me find the next steps to take. It was difficult, but to my southwest, there was a thin and flickering light, similar to a lighthouse. I didn’t know if it was the correct trail to take, but, as a leader, I had to make a choice.
“That way.” I nodded vehemently.
“You’re sure?” Zane asked.
I walked ahead of him, in defiance of all he had said and done to me. “I’ve always been sure.”
But the truth was, I hadn’t a fucking clue. In a place like this, my intuition was sure to lead me astray. In so many ways, I was still the dumb girl he thought I was. But at least I had a spine.
5
Magnus
I stalked them like a predator, analyzing every move they made. Already, they were turned around. Lost and confused. The way I liked the game to be played. I let out a quiet laugh as I watched Mr. Fuck-face fall near the perfectly preserved doctor’s body. He was a fun kill, but Zane’s death would end up topping my all-time-favorites list.
Cadmar was dead fucking wrong. As much as that man was a threat to us, he was as much of a threat to himself. He had no idea what he was doing, who he was dealing with, and Adeline was actively trying to break away from him. I had no fucking doubts about her curiosity.
Cadmar fought and lived by the heart, not his fists or beast prowess. Same with Donovan. His job was to find medicine and gather resources. My job was to kill. It’s how I was designed to be. All I really wanted was to leave.
But Cadmar found her. The one horny slut who would complete our broken souls.
I watched them for hours as they tirelessly walked in the wrong direction, toward the light, like two moths to a fire. If the dense fog made it difficult for them before, it was worse now, spread across the valley. I shifted my eyes until my pupils fixed to see through the darkness. A web of iridescent blue opened up in front of me, and all their analytics registered.
Female. Age: 28.
Male. Age: 31.
They would not see me here, for I was made in the forest. I dug deeper, slowly inhaling the air behind their steps. More data flooded in. Their habits. The movements of any being helped my mind paint an elaborate picture.
Slowly pulling my blade from its leather sheath, I examined more until I got a clear view of the two parties. She held herself with an air of grace and true beauty. An innocent, of course. If she weren’t, she’d be dead by now. That rat was certainly using her.
“Zane. Don’t.” They were already bickering. Not a good sign. Her voice was tight with worry, but Zane could not sense it, too busy in his own head, guarding clandestine plans. So, maybe Cadmar wasn’t wrong, after all. I couldn’t be sure what he knew, but his intent held some level of malice. I just hoped he hadn’t convinced her he still had some good left in him.
Did he know of our weaknesses? How long had he been following her, and what was he trying to gain? Humans were despicable creatures, for the most part.
I pressed forward, blade out in front of me. Eyesight turning a tint of red, I was gaining ground on him, my rage nearly consuming me. I wanted to slice him open with my blade. I yearned to tear his flesh and preserve his pulsating organs.
But then, I gazed at her beautiful thick lips, the result of incredible breeding over generations. My balls grew tight. My cock inched into the air, blood coursing through the hard shaft. I imagined spreading her open, drilling my thickness through her damp and leaking hole. I felt it throb between my legs, an unbearable longing. I had waited so long to pierce her ripe cunt...
It was encoded within me. A savage beast required sweetness. Someone to hold. Someone to subdue. Someone to fuck to pieces.
The desire for that deep connection took over, and I stopped focusing on Zane. Only she mattered.
We were the decay, the process life itself exhibits. Death and regeneration. Nothing ever truly died here. In this world, the energy was channeled back into us, an eternal dilemma for the others. It meant nothing to me now. I was here to kill and fuck. Plain and simple.
Adeline reached a small grove and breathed rapidly. “Zane, I think... fuck, fuck, fuck, we’re lost,” she muttered.
Tears rolled down her face, but it was dark enough for Zane to miss it. She was frantic, and her pheromones were wild against the cold oxygen emanating from the trees. Everything had a scent to take in, but hers drove me fucking crazy.
I kept watching, gritting my teeth to make it through the pull of my appetite. Without even tasting her, I was addicted. Yes, she was the one. There was no doubt about it now. She needed my cock. I could see it in the way she walked, in the way her tongue pronounced each syllable, in the way her perfectly sculpted tits drew up her body with each breath. To slide deep into her tight pussy would be a great honor.
“Will you stop trying to be so smart all the time, and let me lead? We’re not lost,” Zane declared, anxiously. “We’re just a bit turned around is all.”
Wrong. So wrong, Zany boy.
The question wasn’t if I’d take her. I had to take in order to keep my
sanity. But I had to decide where the first time would be. It had to be a certain kind of special.
Did I wait for them to find the light? The house of refuge, a small cabin within the forest, was designed for her liking. Not my choice, but the realm’s decision. A big, comfortable bed, warmth, and rows of books would be enough to satisfy her for the night.
My urges were more primal than expected. I fell onto my knees and raised my face to the stars with the wind whipping around my back. Closing my eyes, I felt the energies persuade the earth around me to rise. Bits of soil vibrated until loose enough to rise. The trees swayed, and their roots cracked. I imagined her split open, my cock deep within her quivering lips, clit erect and beating from so much pleasure. My cock grew harder until my entire body resonated with heat.
“No,” I whispered. It was too much. Her sex needed to be taken and devoured. I couldn’t stop myself.
I just couldn’t.
Although my eyes were closed, I could sense them looking in my direction. The forest around me had risen high into the air, alongside my body, as if we were magnetized to an incredible degree. I shook with dire lust, ready to fuck the slut who would complete me.
“Addie...” Zane’s voice. I could hear him shuffling away from her, leaving her to fend for herself. His heart beat rapidly, faster and faster, as hard as a rock against rock. It agitated my peripheral senses, causing a high-pitched and abrupt clicking noise to exit my throat. My mating call. Also, my death call. It would be over soon...
“Addie, run!” Zane screamed with terror. He started moving before she could gather her emotions. I opened my eyes and gazed upon her pure body covered with pointless clothing items. She pressed her back against a tree, arms flailing outward in shocked defense as a look of horror contorted her face. Yet, no sound escaped her gaping mouth.
The earth around me shook until soil, trees, and loose debris shot outward. My instincts kicked in, and my eyesight intensified, locking onto the only target helpless in front of me. Adeline. My hunger ripped through my core, and I drove forward, feet tearing through the ground. “Adeline!” I roared, lips quivering.
She tried to run, tried to kick away from me, but I grabbed hold of her so effortlessly I thought I might accidentally break her before the fun began. I brought her close to my face and forced her still, despite her frantic attempts to push me away. “Adeline, do not run, my slave.”
“N-n-no!”
Adeline knocked her elbow into my eye socket. A flash of pain subdued me, and she got her chance to run, but I wasn’t done. I was just getting started.
A deep need ricocheted throughout my core, dragging deep into my cock. I needed to fuck her and give her my seed, lest I be consumed by the madness of this realm. I sucked in a breath and let out a bone-chilling roar, so loud it flowed across the tops of the gentle pines.
Flashbacks of the terrible kind ran through my head. Adrenaline built to an unimaginable level, and though she was fleeing like a small and panicked bunny rabbit, my attention focused back on something off to my side. A scent. Zane’s scent.
“Hey, think fast, motherfucker,” he said.
I turned and pivoted, my heel sliding against the cold earth before spinning to my side and growling with pure energy. A bright light flashed in front of my eyes, followed by the stinging pain of something unfamiliar. Debilitated, I could feel something coursing through my system. He had thrown a dust or fine powder of some sort of poison, but I had no idea what it could be. Every one of my limbs fell numb, and I could hear the scurrying of both parties as I cried out in beastly pain.
What is happening to me?
My knees buckled, and I collapsed onto the rich soil, huffing in air erratically and screaming with absolute pain. Tears rushed to squelch the mess; the powder blinded me. My cock drew limp and pathetic, sagging between my legs. In all of my existence, I had never cried before. Not one fucking time. But that man had weakened me. He knew more about my weaknesses than I did.
How? Who sent him here?
Slowly but surely, I came back to my senses. I breathed in the cool air longingly, my heart pounding. The area felt desolate and empty. There was a low rumble where the wind hit the valleys, but no sound of life around me. Somewhere near, they hid, but I couldn’t suss it out. My ability to register a scent was malfunctioning.
“Where are you?” I growled and sniffed wildly.
Silence. Complete silence.
Guilt washed over me. I could have taken him, could have torn out his spinal column with one hand. But I was distracted by her sheer beauty and sex appeal. She had a perfectly thick figure, curvy, soft, and luscious enough to satisfy multiple beasts.
Judging by the measurements of her frame, her pussy would fit tight around our cocks. All of those factors were tantalizing, but I should have eliminated any threat to her person. I failed.
She was ovulating. I could scent that out easily, and, within an hour’s time, I was sure to do it again with ease. Cadmar had found the right breed of woman, all right. Her soaking panties would be a joy to tear through. She was perfect for us.
My only prayer was Zane didn’t get to her first.
6
Adeline
“Don’t. Move,” Zane whispered.
He forced his hand over my mouth, pulling me into his chest. I hated being this close to him again. I couldn’t stop thinking about the monsters lurking within the forest’s depths. The obsessive lust and hunger they exuded frightened me.
In the moment, it was hard to know whether they wanted to kill me or fuck me. Every muscle in his body bulged and flexed as he sized me up.
I knew what he wanted. Strangely, I wanted it, too. I could see him for what he was. Giant and masculine. Alien, yet humanoid and handsome. His strength was like no other. This one was clearly a fighter, and I had no doubt in my mind he was the one to kill that doctor.
I didn’t care. I still wanted him. I only recoiled because I didn’t expect to see another so soon.
Throughout my paralyzing fear, my pussy edged to the thought of him pouncing on me and pulling me into his powerful hold. I grew wet as the slow pull of the seconds flying by led him closer to me.
He was going to take me. If he didn’t kill me, it would prove what I had been thinking all along was right. It was possible for something so wild, atrocious, and savage to love a human.
Zane stopped me from getting any closer to them. He stepped in and ruined my connection to the beasts, as well as this realm. Was he just trying to save my life? Maybe. But I was fairly certain he was doing it for his own selfish reasons.
As soon as I heard those terrible cries, my heart shattered. At times, he was capable of being so sweet, but there was always an agenda behind everything he did.
At this point, there was no scientific reasoning behind my feelings. I could have been out of my depth. Maybe I was facing a natural-born killer, an untamable monster born to take, rut, and kill every beautiful woman who entered through the gateway. If believing the opposite were ignorant or naive, I would have to live with that. Or die. Still, I was sure those screams would haunt me for decades.
Zane brought me close enough for me to feel more uncomfortable than I did around that unnatural creature. His grip on me was disorienting and unsettling. I managed to nudge away from him while keeping my movements quiet. Although I wanted to come across that towering mass again, I didn’t want to see Zane killed. As much as he bothered me, he wasn’t a killer. He was just a douchebag.
It might have also been fair to mention I wasn’t sure how I could actually take a monster like that. His body wasn’t the only thing big. Growing hard before me was his cock. Could it even be called that? It was practically a fucking sword.
The crown of his head extended past his thick foreskin. A pulsating and terrifyingly massive rod rose into the darkness, dripping pearly beads of lubricant. His balls were as big as my fists. Veins coursing, he let out his roar, terrifying me.
I’d need to take my time with this one.
The minutes dragged on, the forest filled with the buzzing of silence. Occasionally, the wind would whip against the trees, but the beast was gone. I stood up and walked back into the clearing.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Zane whispered.
I ignored him and walked back to where he had chased me. His gigantic hand and footprints were wonderfully preserved by the soil. I stooped to get a better look and even thought to take a sample, but something else caught my attention. Something glimmering. A blade.
I didn’t dare touch it. A sigil or some type of initial had been crudely woven into the center of the handle. M. It wasn’t mine to wield, and I had a feeling he didn’t mean to leave it behind. Zane must have injured him enough to drop it.
Before Zane could stand and see what I was doing, I pulled out my handkerchief and quickly bagged the blade. My body tensed as I heard him stop behind me.
“Addie, what the fuck is going on with you?”
I swallowed hard but toughened up my resolve. Turning to face him, I took his sweaty palm and raised it. “You see this? These fingers? They weren’t made to touch things in this realm, so keep your hands in your pocket like a good boy.”
He took his hand back and frowned. “You can thank me later for saving you,” he scoffed.
A sudden rush of anger swept through me. I couldn’t bite my tongue hard enough to hold back my concern. “Can’t you take my feelings into account this one time?”
“Whoa. Hold up.” Zane’s face was full of concern, and I suddenly wished I prevented him from seeing the weakness I had foolishly revealed by my pleading tone.
“Look, just drop it,” I groaned.
“Are you... oh, Christ! This is incredible. You’re in love with those ogres,” he stated confidently, shocked by the way I was acting.
Primal: A Dark Sci-Fi Reverse Harem Romance (Alpha Unknown Book 1) Page 5
