Sacrificed to the Beast

I’m only allowed a moment of contentment, though, because a worry begins to creep in. Diana was sacrificed to a beast. And while I know she is my fate, she was given to me by mistake. What happens when the humans realize their error?

Will Diana believe our being together was an error and want to go home?

My lips peel back in a snarl. I will not let her go.

I am never letting her go.

But the worry remains, because I know I would do anything to guarantee Diana’s happiness. What if she can only be happy back in the village with…normal people? I have seen my reflection in the stream. I know I am far from normal.

She once thought me a beast, didn’t she?

Diana sighs in her sleep and reaches out for me. I can do nothing but wrap my warmth around her sweet body and rock her to sleep. But I am far from soothed. I won’t be until I know we’ll be together forever.

CHAPTER SIX

Diana

It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours and I’m already rocking a loincloth.

When in Rome…?

I let Ike fashion a modified version of his dick pouch and mine looks kind of like a rustic bikini, which is incredibly freeing. We’re standing in the stream in knee-deep water and I can’t remember having been this relaxed in a long time. The orgasms probably had something to do with my loose limbs and dopey smile. I’m sore between my legs and I’m covered in friction marks from Ike’s chest hair and beard, but they feel like little badges of pride.

I turn my face up to the sun and sigh, marveling over the fact that back home, I was never this calm. Never felt this…wanted. Like I belong and someone wants me around. When Ike brought me back to his cave, it was a given that I would try and escape or negotiate my way free, but now?

Is it completely insane that I might want to stay?

Whereas the cave was crude and basic when I first saw it, when I woke up from my post-sex coma, I saw Ike’s home through new eyes. So there was no indoor plumbing. So what? I had a seven-foot gentle giant wrapped around me, holding me like he might never let go.

Ike was definitely interested in round two when we woke up, but the sight of my virgin blood on my thighs caused him to scoop me up with a gruff sound, dress me with painstaking care and bring me down to the stream instead.

Now, he cups hands of water and rubs the red streaks away. His erection is once again stretching the confines of his cloth and he gives me a measuring look, as if I might be offended, so I reach up and stroke a hand over his long, wild hair.

He cups my womanhood and massages gently. “Did I hurt you, Diana?”

It takes me a moment to speak around the gasp lodged in my throat. “Just a little, but n-not for long. A-and then it just felt amazing.”

“Amazing.” He grunts—twice—and throws his shoulders back. “Very good.”

I laugh and he goes very still, as if hypnotized by the sound. “You are…happy with me? Here in this place?”

“It’s only been one day…” I hedge, hesitant to commit when all of this is so new and overwhelming. Especially the way Ike makes me feel.

All ooey gooey and light.

His eyebrows draw together and he nods. “Let’s move farther downstream and I will catch us some fish to eat.”

“Okay.” Hand in hand, we wade farther down the narrow body of water and after only a minute of walking, I hear the unmistakable sounds of a waterfall. I smile and bounce around on the balls of my feet. “Waterfall! Can we go look?”

“Of course,” Ike says, his attention arrested on my face. “You like waterfalls?”

“I’ve only seen them in a movies or read about them in books.”

When it comes into view, I let go of his hand and splash forward, pressure building in my chest. I’ve never seen anything more beautiful in my life. It’s two stories high, translucent blue water pouring down off an outcropping of rocks. With a complete lack of self-consciousness that only Ike has ever made me feel, I reach out and touch the falling water with a squeal of excitement, taking his hand and making him do it, too, once he joins me.

“Wow,” I breathe. “Just wow. I can’t believe this has been a few miles from my house all this time.” I lean into his side and look up into his face. “I can’t believe you’ve been a few miles away, either.”

He turns me to face him, the spray from the waterfall landing on us both. “If I’d known you were even a million miles away, Diana, I would have made the journey.”