by Naomi Lucas
Fire and brimstone flooded her nose as his hand grasped her hair, pulling it like he often did. Her shift was no protection at all from her minotaur.
“Thank you,” she whispered, finding her palms sweaty, her fingers twitching. “Thank you...”
“For what, female?”
“For saving my life.”
He leaned down and pressed his mouth to her shoulder, licking her skin. “The only one worth saving.”
“How did you know?”
Vedikus tilted his head at her question. “Your voice. I needed to hear more of it, even if it killed me.”
Her smile widened. Hope flared. “You are not as hard as you make yourself out to be, Minotaur. You would have killed yourself for an apple farmer. What would your brothers have thought if you had died?”
“That it was an honorable death. You will soon see when you meet them.”
“I look forward to it.”
He tugged her hair once before letting it go, picking her up to lie her upon his furs. She looked up at him with the same possessive expression he mirrored back. And with her dark captor filling her vision, her head, her heart, she was exactly where she belonged.
Epilogue
***
Aldora curled her arms over her middle and looked out over the cliffs. She was draped in new furs and skins, given to her by Vedikus straight from his walls.
I wear his conquests. She was pleased to do so, reveling in the strength of her mate. Her fingers drifted over the stitching she had put upon and ties that held them upon her body.
She had come here nearly every day since Vedikus showed her the hidden trails to this spot. The view was breathtaking. She couldn’t quite explain what drew her to come back so frequently since it was more of the same endless ocean of gauzy white.
But she liked to watch the mist dance with the wind and shift with the sky. And sometimes, when the light from the sun was at its brightest, she could glimpse the cerulean blue skies beyond. Whenever that pop of blue filled her vision—for the moment that it lasted—she thought of her family and the farm. We all have to leave the nest sometime. She just wished she could have said a proper goodbye first.
Vedikus appeared at her side. “You are always here when I cannot find you.”
She pressed her body to his, and his arm came up to enclose her in.
“Perhaps you should start by looking here first then. I like the mystery. I’ve always wondered about all that I can’t see,” she said idly, comforted. “Although most of the time I hope to catch a glimpse of the sky.”
“Ah yes. The color is intriguing, brilliant within so much white. I have never seen it so clearly since bringing you here.”
“Because I repel the mist? You should see the sky when there is nothing to obscure it, it goes on for an eternity. And at night it sparkles with stars.”
“One day, when my brothers find their mates, it will open up for us at this peak and it will never close again. One day we will be free of this mist.” His fist hit his chest. Aldora pressed her cheek to his side and nodded shallowly. She didn’t know how she felt about other women coming here. There was a selfish place in her head that was looking forward to such a time, if it was just to be by someone of her own kind, who had survived the first night as a sacrifice.
There are others out there.
She wanted to save them all, but to want that also meant she accepted what the kingdom of light was doing. She did not want to become one of the many monsters ravenous for humans. Even if her intent was pure.
“I do not like you coming up here alone. There are predators that fly these skies. You are safe among the trees where they will not see you, but up here, you’re ripe for the plucking.”
Aldora lifted her head to look at him. “Would you come after me if I was caught up?”
“Yes,” he said it with such finality it made her pulse race. “Come.” Vedikus pulled her away from the edge and toward the path. “We will see Dezetus off. He is at the gate as we speak.”
She gave one last look over the mist, finding it had settled during their brief conversation. A little over a week had passed since she and Vedikus made it to his home. Our home. She had to remind herself. Bathyr. Aldora had named it such for her minotaur. A home that was three times the size of her previous one, now that she’d had the chance to explore properly. After the first several days of rest that was forced upon her, she had found herself horrendously bored and had taken it upon herself to clean out the ruins of all their dirt, overgrowth, and webbing, starting with her home. The labor was back-breaking, but it kept her busy while the others hunted and scouted. She would do more, but the tension was thick down below. Dezetus was not easy to get along with.
She found him stalking her, studying her as if she was an oddity far more than she was comfortable with. I’m happy he’s leaving.
She followed Vedikus down the peak, making her way slowly over the rocky path, listening to the dirt and gravel crunch under his hooves. She was getting used to them. She had explored him thoroughly, going so far as washing his body from horn tip to boney hooves, taking her time and allowing herself to grow accustomed to their differences. At night, when she lay awake in the gloom, curled into her bull, Aldora could hear dual heartbeats under her ear.
One for the animal and one for the man. She listened for the sound now whenever they rested and relished the peace of mind that accompanied it.
A gust of wind blasted over her and she tugged her furs more securely around her frame.
Vedikus stood at the bottom of the path, where it changed from rocks to stone stairs, waiting for her. She licked some warmth back into her lips and closed the distance, taking his hand as he helped her down the last drop. His hand engulfed her own. Her nose twitched as she caught the smell of wood-burning smoke and the faded aroma of the morning meal.
“Thank you,” she murmured, looking over the many stone buildings built into the mountain. Most of which remained untouched or impossible to get to from hundreds of years of deterioration. Someday. Her resolve hardened, and her curiosity piqued. Now that Dezetus was leaving, she would explore all that she’d wanted to when she’d been nervous to do so before.
Now, that she didn’t have a lurker.
Vedikus grunted. Together, they descended an old staircase that zig-zagged down the cliff-face between several of the ghostly structures. Before long, they were hidden within the canopy of the trees.
Scattered about were worn carvings decorating the walls. Human depictions. Most she hadn’t even begun to try to understand. After finding an elaborate, albeit barren, altar room within the first building that led up the way they came, she began to see this place as more of an ancient temple and less of an abandoned settlement. It reminded her of the temples in Thetras, but only in the severity of the embellishments to the decor.
Her awe of this place had grown into respect as she’d learned how the Bathyr lived and operated. This wasn’t a place for peasants. Or beasts with horns. And yet both had ended up here regardless of its original intent.
They continued to walk in silence as they made their way to the gate and past the ruins that housed the altar and where the minotaur nested. No one met them for the whole journey.
Because the others were inexplicably gone.
Dezetus came into view, crouched next to the bonfire they all shared, with a dagger in one hand and a stray piece of wood in the other. A familiar shape was forming where parts of the wood were whittled away. Aldora paused, her eyes narrowing on the piece.
“I have been waiting,” Dezetus said without looking up.
On me? Aldora looked away from his hands, to his broken horn, and stiffened.
“You have been waiting since our mother expelled you from her womb, and you will be waiting long after this day has come and gone,” Vedikus grumbled as Dezetus stood.
Aldora took a step forward as a wall of minotaur blocked her view. They were large, far bigger than any human man, and far stronger. She looked
at Vedikus. Her bruised thighs were proof of that strength through their vigorous mating. She pressed her legs infinitesimally closer together.
“And you, brother, will stand by my side and wait with me, such is our curse.” Dezetus’s eyes landed on her. “The others should be here but have vanished the same day you arrived.”
“They have not vanished, I tracked hoof prints halfway down the mountain. There were no signs of any other passage but our own from our ascent. There is no mist-beast trespassing our lands. No signs of an attack, ambush, nor fight and none of the enchantments we have placed have been triggered. If Hinekur and Thyrius left, it was not because of us, but because of you.”
Dezetus kept his gaze on her despite her silence. He made her want to hide. “It matters not what you say, I will find the answers for myself,” he said, his voice darkening with warning. A thin, almost imperceptible wisp of steam trailed from his nostrils, dissipating within the unkempt hair that fell heavily over his face. His irises were lighter in color than Vedikus’s and startling among all the shadows that seemed to want to cling to him. Oftentimes, she thought he just looked... broken.
Vedikus gripped his brother’s shoulder and the other minotaur finally tore his intense gaze away from her. “Then find them and turn your anger to something else,” he hissed. Steam released from both of them as Vedikus knocked his horns against his brothers. “We are prepared to take over the next watch.”
“You are prepared! Not her. You should not have brought her here without warning!” Dezetus raged, beating his horns roughly back.
Aldora moved away.
“She is my mate!”
“Do not forget what has happened in the past—”
“You think me weak enough to forget?” Vedikus placed his hands over the shafts of his axes.
“We have come here to find answers! To rebuild what was once great about our people, not to repeat history.” Dezetus turned away and stormed to the gate. Her eyes widened as she watched him walk away. There was one large battle axe strapped across his bare back. She had never seen a weapon so large.
“And you think a gift of fate should be ignored?” Vedikus demanded.
“I did not receive this gift, brother, but you. Your mission was to scout beyond our lands, not to collect us a human sacrifice. Now, half our clan is missing on the horizon of this event,” Dezetus raised a wooden lever and the wall opened. Heavy mist flooded in from the outside. Aldora looked beyond to find nothing but more of it distorting her view.
“You are not the chief anymore.” Vedikus followed him.
“Neither are you!” Dezetus roared. Somewhere, far off in the distance, an animal howled back. Both minotaurs stopped and Aldora held her breath. The strain of this past fortnight had been threatening to boil over, as both suspected the other of being the reason why Hinekur and Thyrius had gone.
Aldora rushed over to Vedikus and placed her hand on his forearm, imploring him to stop. “He will never be satisfied unless he searches for them himself.” The muscles under her fingers gradually loosened. “Let him go.”
She glanced up to see Dezetus watching her.
“You may be precious, human, on this side of the wall, but understand, you are not one of us. Our mother taught us that well. You will never be one of us.” He took a step toward her. “I will come back with my brothers, and when I do, we’ll all know the truth.” He turned to Vedikus. Her mate moved to step between them.
“No,” she urged, squeezing his arm. Aldora walked back to the fire and picked up the wooden carving. Her fingers slid over the patches of smooth wood to the rougher areas that had yet to be finished. In her hand was a partially finished idol of a human woman. She carried it with her and handed it to Dezetus, hoping he would take it from her hand.
Vedikus growled menacingly as Dezetus narrowed his eyes upon her. She turned the idol in her hand and slowly, with heavy suspicion, Dezetus relieved her of it. Aldora wiped her palm on her cloak to hide the tremor. “I will prove you wrong,” she said.
Dezetus snorted. “We shall see.” His chest expanded and a trail of steam expelled from his nose.
Aldora nodded and returned to Vedikus’s side, needing the distance.
“Brother,” Dezetus looked at Vedikus, “I will return with our kin.”
“Return with them.” The anger in him had not abated. “Or do not return at all.”
They shared a look of warning, of pent-up male aggression, and she knew then, that there was something she hadn’t been told. A secret that the brothers shared that kept them together. If they battled, Aldora wouldn’t know who would win. Her heart told her Vedikus but...
She shook her head, scrutinizing the two of them, trying to divest the tension that crackled between them. Dezetus glanced at her once more before turning away and stomping through the gate. The last thing she saw was the tip of his horn, before it too, was consumed by the mist.
Then, at last, her and Vedikus were once again alone. She moved past him and pulled the lever of the gate. It closed with finality and silence. The added strain of dealing with Dezetus’s disgust while adapting to this new life had not been easy.
He will find his answers. Aldora stared, unmoving, at the black wood of the gate.
“Aldora, come and let us prepare for nightfall.”
She turned to find Vedikus storming back to their nest. Her gaze sensually followed the hard outlines of his corded muscles, down the brown fur on his bull legs, and to his hooves that she loved to touch. He disappeared within and a smile lifted her lips when light bloomed from the cracks of the old stone windows. Her hands found her belly. Her skin warmed under her furs.
He’s already inside me.
As she neared, the smell of blisterwood smoke and woodsy herbs filled her nose. She stopped for a moment to breathe it in, closing her eyes in pleasure and anticipation. Yes. Her fingers trailed over bandages on her palm. Aldora untied the cloak from her shoulders and let it drop to her feet, enjoying the mountain chill on her heated flesh.
Yes. Her eyes glazed over as she pushed the heavy flap of leather aside to enter.
Vedikus stood in the center of the space like a demon bathed in firelight, a creature not of her world, with a small bone dagger in his hand. His prick extruded from between his legs, dripping with lubrication. Surrounding him on the floor was a circle of crude design, red with their blood and willow growth, with pieces of blisterwood, all alight, placed in triangular patterns alongside it.
Aldora approached him slowly, to stand just outside the circle, where she stripped off the last of her clothes.
He reached for her when she stood naked before him and helped her across the threshold. Her sex leaked with essence down her thighs. The bandages were peeled from her hand and dropped to the floor. She shivered, swaying into his heat when he brought her delicate wound to his mouth and licked it thoroughly.
“Vedikus,” she breathed his name, giving into the ritual, and the curse they both wanted to destroy. There was no mist here.
“Blood guard us, blood sustain, until the day that only blood remains.”
Aldora bent down to grab the bull mask at her feet, and rose on her toes to place it over his head. It hung on him heavily, showing only his eyes.
“We will open the skies together,” she said, tracing her gaze over his mask. “With our young.”
“With our strength,” he grunted, leaning in for a heretical kiss.
Author’s note
***
Thank you for reading Blooded, the first book that follows the Bestial Tribe Minotaurs. Keep an eye out for book two, coming in 2019, following one of the deliciously brutal brothers of the Bathyr clan. And if you liked the story or have a comment please leave me a review. I’d love to know your thoughts!
If you love cyborgs, aliens, anti-heroes, and adventure, follow me on facebook or through my blog online for information on new releases and updates.
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Naomi Luca
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Turn the page if you’re wondering what I’m working on next...
Chaos Croc
Cyborg Shifters Book Six
Janet was a man eater.
She knew what men wanted, took what she pleased and used that to her advantage. But the men who lived in the small colonies on her home planet were not the same as those who traveled and conquered the universe. They were nothing like the Cyborgs who showed up to solve all her family’s problems, especially the green-eyed god who crowded her space.
So she used him like she used the rest—and bit off far more than she could ever chew.
Zeph carried a demon on his back, one that scratched at the inside of his skull relentlessly. No one would guess that the neon green knight had a terrible secret, not with his charm and his lies. And because of his charisma, his razzle-dazzle darkness, the EPED used him for all he was worth. But sometimes missions can’t be fixed with diplomacy. Sometimes you have to follow your own instincts—even a croc’s instincts—to go after what you really want.
He wanted Janet. He wanted to keep her.
But the demon wanted something else entirely.
