He sucked in a breath, feeling the slick chill of the mist flood his senses. In all sense of the mist, it should have been untouchable, unfeelable, but it wasn’t. Itcouldbe felt, and itwastangible. Like the steam his body released could be felt. The mist was like a vaporous poisonous gas so thick it whispered across your skin like a brush of feathers.
He never noticed it unless he fixated on it because the curse had been a constant in his life since the second he was birthed from his mother’s womb. Even through the wet slop of his birth, he could feel the curse envelop him into a new, more horrid womb. One he would never be delivered from.
The rope tied about his waist tugged at his middle and he waited a moment for Aldora to catch up.
He only focused on the mist because of her. It grounded him enough to not strip her anew and have her mount him again.
I begged.
Vedikus sneered, palming the handle of his axe. His prick was as hard as ever, now coated with a human female’s essence, and chafing against his leathers. It had been a distraction before, but now that he had sampled Aldora’s hot quim, he was now deranged with an entirely new curse.
His body was primed to mate. And when a minotaur was primed, its true self came to light. Blood was shed, and scars were made. He had not expected to feel so desperate so quickly after capturing his her. He had not been prepared, and despite how much that agitated him, it was the truth. If anything should ambush them now, he would thank his gods for coming to his salvation.
His father had become the tribe’s chief several years after he had brought back his mother from the border. She had arrived already pregnant with his eldest brother and free of the corruption, but what had happened to his mother and his sire between her capture and delivery was lost to him. Their couplings were often frenetic and public during his youth, but so were the mating habits of the rest of his old tribe. There was no shame in the act, but with Aldora...
Her skin pinkens, her voice hitches. She cannot mount me at will.He liked how she reacted. He liked the struggle. He liked it so much it made him throb and crave her more. His fingers danced over his weapon.The way she shudders and moans.It made the act heretical.
Vedikus cracked his neck.
He looked around. Nothing but eerie stillness and the ever-present buzzing of swamp bugs met him in every direction. In the daylight, all appeared deserted and settled here, but it was a trap to all outsiders. The moment the tiny ball of sun that shone through the mist began to descend, the bog would wake up like a gaping mouth stretched into a toothy yawn. He had traversed the lands around Prayer many times in his travels but rarely did he ever enter its grounds. It was protected with heavy wafts of dark magic that pulsated from its source: the settlement at its center. A place no one ventured despite its safety, because of how easy it would devour your soul.
Vedikus stilled as a breeze twitched his ears.
“Is something wrong?” Aldora asked quietly at his side.
He listened further but the wind was gone. “No.” Vedikus glanced at her, his hooves slowly sinking into the muck. She had redressed herself despite his order, and the sudden need to tear her clothes to shreds quickly overcame him. She hid her mouth behind the back of her hand and her tongue darted out to swipe across it.
His eyes sharpened as she lifted her chin to meet his gaze. Her eyes widened, lips pursing, and the damning need to have her mount his body had him forgetting the real danger they were in. Vedikus tasted blood in his mouth, impure sanguine that teased at the purity just within reach.
She braces for me.His prick twitched uncomfortably. If she had been a half-breed like him, a female of his tribe, he would have had her under him in the grasses already, feeding his bulge between her thighs.
Vedikus could hear her heart begin to pound under his scrutiny. She pressed the back of her hand hard against her mouth.
“Why do you do that?” he asked, tense.
He watched as Aldora slowly comprehended his words and drew her hand away from her face to study it. The silence lingered and he flicked his tail. Vedikus reached out and tangled his fingers into her hair and forced Aldora to look at him. “What is wrong?”
“I couldn’t taste the meat.”
It took a moment for him to realize she meant the meat from earlier. He stiffened and drew her near. “You did not tell me?”
“I didn’t know until I ate. I thought it was because I couldn’t smell, that its taste was dulled, and the more I chewed, the more I realized it was me. I’m afraid of what will go next,” she blurted out. “I keep licking my skin, hoping to taste sweat.”
Had she lost two senses in that many days?How is that possible?“Have you lost anything else?” The need to get her the cure weighed down on him again and he cursed the distractions that had delayed them. Cursed his lust.
“N-no. Nothing else, not yet at least. Is it supposed to take effect this fast?” Aldora licked her hand again and he captured it afterward, sliding his tongue where hers had just been.I taste salt and sweat, bitter and sweet.The flavors burst over his tongue.
Vedikus raised his head and scanned the perimeter, peering as far as he could before the haze closed in on him. He glanced at the sun and knew they had not turned around or walked in circles. The mud was a clear indication that progress had been made.This is why the wetlands around Prayer are so dangerous.The more you wanted to reach your destination, the quicker the paranoia came to take over your mind. He checked again and closed his eyes. Aldora pulled her hand from his and wiped it on her tunic.
“No,” he said after his initial unease left him, and with it his immediate need to mate. “It should take a moon cycle for it to weaken you enough to take your sense of self.”
“I still feel like myself.”
“And you have lost your ability to smell and taste.” He grasped her arm and continued walking. “It should take longer than several days.”
“Did it take longer for your mother?” she asked.
Vedikus stilled and thought back to the stories he had been told, then moved forward once again. Time chased them faster than the other labyrinthian creatures did. Their steps slurped with their speed.
