FOREVER KNIGHTS: #5 Subjugation of Beasts

“Chavias is a dangerous name.” She murmured, tilting her head made the smooth strands of hair adjust in his palms. “However, you contradict yourself.”

“No. I don’t. I said I was no danger to you, but I’m far from safe.”

I want you.

Hell, what man wouldn’t?

“Yet you fear you’ll lose control if I look at you?” She countered.

“The control to keep my secrets and keep us both safe.”

From Radix.

“I’m safer not knowing the ghost haunting my chambers?” Her skeptical brow lifted. “I find that hard to believe.”

“You’re no trusting Dove.” Admiration marked his voice.

“I’ve cared for myself for many years, Chavias.”

Oof. Her name on his lips was about enough to knock him off her feet. Instantly erotic. A growl erupted unbidden from him.

“I’m no quaking maid.”

“That I can see.” He cleared his throat.

“You growled at me?”

“I growl at the sound of my name on your pretty lips. A primal response.” He admitted.

Watching her draw a quick breath. “You’re an animal?”

“Mostly.” Humor tinged his voice.

You’ve no idea.

I’d like to take you like the animal I’ve become… He laughed coldly at his own crude thoughts. Mentally chiding himself.

“And you find that funny?” She asked waspishly.

No. My wicked thoughts. I’ve not had such in decades.

I’d thought I was dead to them, actually.

“I find it funny that such a well-groomed woman speaks to me so plainly.”

“Do most fear speaking to you plainly?”

Most fear me. Period.

“Most.” He swallowed as he pictured Radix’s hated face.

She stopped that thought with a question. “Why do you haunt me only at night?”

Because it’s the only time I can escape my body without notice.

They think I’m asleep. There was silence as he mulled over how much he could say.

She prompted. “Chavias?”

Again, there was the guttural sound and a smile teased her lips.

He twisted around her and spotted it. Making the sound of his leather armor creak as he moved.

She’s doing it apurpose now.

“I’m glad you enjoy my pain.”

She stiffened, and the smile vanished.

He instantly regretted his words. “The evening is when I’m able to come to you.”

“But?”

He sighed. “The moon makes me hunger for everything. When it’s full like this...” She couldn’t see but he gestured to the window. “I’m ravenous. Dangerous. It’s the wolf in me.”

Her confusion was tangible. She gave a nervous laugh.

I’m critically serious.

“I’ve seen more and more of my brethren falling into the delicate hands of your kind lately and I’ve no wish to be among their ranks.”

“My kind?” She asked suspiciously.

“Your gender.” Impatience tinged his voice. “Women.”

“Ah.” She nodded a little. “You despise women, do you?”

Not in the least! He nearly scoffed. But sensed the mocking note in her voice. She’s teasing me.

“You can tell well that I do not. But I’ve no wish to be a toy in one’s hands.”

But looking at you, I may change my mind…

She snorted. “I doubt you’ve ever been any woman’s toy…Anyone’s victim…”

Now there you’d be wrong…

“Do you?” He asked thoughtfully. “And if I told you I’m one now?”

“Then I’d free you.”

What’d she just say?

Big words, Beauty. But not so easily done. Savage Jaxson’s face flashed in his mind as he recalled the countless times he’d offered.

“And why, pray tell, would you do that?”

“Because no man nor woman should ever be a victim.”

“I believe you mean that.” Surprise made his hands fall from her hair. He watched it fall. Fascinated by the shimmering lights in it.

“Then you’re not as foolish as you seem.” That teasing note again.

The things I’d do to you if you let me. He had the sudden urge to wrap his arms around her and playfully nip her shoulder in retaliation. Why would I think such a thing? We’ve no familiarity.

“Foolish?”

“A strange man in a woman’s chamber. All I need do is scream.”

“You think you’d have time?” He challenged in a whisper.

You should be afraid. Not I.

“I know I would.” She said confidently enough to make him curious. Her chin jutting. Her voice softened with her next question. “You think I could meld you into my victim?”

“Nay. The other way, I chance say. My kind bear a tendency to take what they desire. Women included.”

“Take?”

“Steal away with.” He explained. “When a woman’s soul calls to us, we’re nearly unable to resist. Our mates have been written on the parchment of time and I think it’s that calling that makes us so helpless against the draw.”

“Why would your kind be so susceptible?”

Because half of our makeup is feral.

“Because we mate for life.” It sounded better.

“Does that mean anything to a man?” A note of bitterness entered her voice.

A hard past, I suspect.

“Oh…Now that is the question of a woman who harbors ill feelings towards my gender.”

“Perhaps…” She admitted. A flash of pain tossed over her features. “Explain what you mean by ‘mate’.”

“Because of what we are. We’ll only ever have one. So, when one of us senses her, he whisks her away to avoid the chance of losing her.”

I’m saying ‘we’ like I’m still among them. His stomach dropped slightly. Reprimanding himself for laying claim to a people he was no longer part of because of his shame for those he was among.

Thadeus shifted again. Feet whispering along the wooden sill.

“Why?” She asked slowly.

He banished painful thoughts and leaned closer to her. “To slowly, methodically seduce her.” He felt the tingle from her flesh and chuckled softly. “We’re can be very aggressive in our pursuit of a woman we desire.”