God in heaven.
The fullness, the stretch, the sudden invasion…it still shocked me every time, no matter how my body had already been reshaped by our previous couplings. He was larger than anyhuman man could be, filling me beyond what should be possible, the pleasure-pain of it sharp enough to bring tears to my eyes even as heat pooled low in my belly.
This was different from our previous encounters. Beast moved with greater urgency, his thrusts hard enough to slide the heavy worktable across the stone floor. His fur felt coarser against my bare back, his growls deeper, less controlled. He rutted into me with single-minded purpose, chasing his pleasure with an animal intensity that left little room for the careful consideration he’d shown before.
Oh, how I cried out, my voice echoing against the stone walls like a prayer in a forgotten cathedral. His massive member claimed me deeper than the other times, stretching delicate flesh until I felt him press against my very womb. A spot that hurt when beaten against. It caused me to cry out again, but Beast kept going.
The invasion burned like fire and ice simultaneously. A sweet agony that made stars burst behind my eyelids. It felt like impaling myself on a heavy oak branch, the unyielding girth forcing my body to accommodate its presence, yet I never wanted that fullness to leave my core. With each savage thrust, I felt his previous seed coating both of us, creating a slick channel that allowed him to drive even deeper. That natural lubrication was desperately needed as he seemed to grow impossibly larger, harder, his naked flesh pulsing against mine like a second heartbeat.
I managed to twist slightly, looking over my shoulder at him. He stood proud and powerful above me, his massive form blocking the light from the windows. His eyes were closed, his head thrown back in pleasure, completely lost in the sensation. He wasn’t watching me as he had during our previous couplings. Wasn’t checking my reactions or adjusting to my responses. Thiswas pure, primal need—Beast ascendant over whatever man remained inside.
That wouldn’t do. Not if I wanted to keep him human enough to help me, to communicate, to find a way out of this shared nightmare. I shifted my weight to one arm, the motion causing him to sink even deeper inside me with a growl from me that sounded almost surprised. My free hand reached up, fingers stretching toward his face.
“Look at me,” I whispered, though I wasn’t sure he could hear me over his own panting breaths and the wet, slapping sounds of our coupling that left my breasts shaking with every new thrust.
My fingertips grazed the side of his muzzle, stroking through the short, soft fur that covered his face. The effect was immediate and dramatic. He froze mid-thrust, his entire massive form going utterly still above me. Those amber eyes snapped open, fixing on mine with a startled intensity.
For a heartbeat, we simply stared at one another, joined in the most intimate way possible yet separated by the gulf between human and beast. Then, slowly, deliberately, he leaned into my touch. His eyes closed again, but differently this time. Not in abandon but in something that looked almost like relief. Like a starving man finally being offered food.
How long since anyone had touched him with gentleness? Since anyone had touched him at all, except in fear or violence? The thought ached in my chest like last night, making it hard to breathe for reasons that had nothing to do with his weight pressing me against the table.
He began moving again, but the quality of his thrusts had changed. Still powerful, still claiming, but with an awareness of me that had been missing before. His paws repositioned, taking more of his weight, preventing me from being crushed. His angle shifted slightly, finding the spot inside me that sent lightning up my spine with each deep stroke.
I felt the change in him before I saw it. The swelling at the base of his member, stretching me further as his knot began to form. My breath came in short, sharp gasps as pleasure coiled tighter, higher, eclipsing the lingering discomfort of accommodating his size.
When he bent to bite me, I was already falling, my inner walls clenching around his intrusion as release crashed over me in waves. His teeth broke the skin at the side of my shoulder, adding a new mark to the pattern he seemed determined to create across my flesh. The back of my neck, the front of my shoulder, and now the side—three bites forming a clover leaf of ownership across my skin.
The sharp pain of the bite only intensified my climax, drawing a cry from my throat that echoed off the kitchen walls. Beast responded with a sound that was half-growl, half-howl as his seed flooded me, hot and copious. His knot locked us together, ensuring none of his essence would be wasted, that all of it would remain deep inside where it might take root.
The thought should have terrified me. I could be breeding his child—or cub, or whatever unholy offspring might result from our coupling. Yet as we remained joined, his massive body draped over mine and his breath gradually slowing against my neck, I felt only a strange peace. A wave of warmth shuddered through me like the last two times, and I knew this wasn’t normal. A magical bite lingered in our bond, but I would draw on that to keep him human another day.
Then, without warning, he withdrew. Not gently, not carefully as he had done before, but with a sudden, brutal motion that tore his knot from me before it had fully subsided. Pain flashed, sharp and immediate, drawing a gasp from my lips. But before I could speak, before I could reach for him, he was gone. He went bounding out of the kitchen door on all fours, leaving me bentover the worktable with his seed trickling down my thighs and questions tangled on my tongue.
I stayed there for a long moment, catching my breath, feeling the pleasant ache spreading through my body. Three times now he had claimed me, marked me, filled me. Three bites forming a pattern on my skin. Nothing about it was random or purely animal. There was purpose behind his actions, meanings I had yet to decipher.
I straightened slowly, wincing at the soreness between my legs. If he continued at this pace, I would indeed need more food to keep up my strength. The thought brought a wry smile to my lips, inappropriate perhaps given my circumstances, but genuine nonetheless. Whatever else this strange captivity might be, at least I wasn’t bored. And at least, for now, there seemed to be enough humanity left in him to recognize me as more than just a vessel for his needs.
That would have to be enough until I could learn more.
sixteen
Isabeau
Beast’s essence trickled down my thighs, sticky and warm against my skin as I stood alone in the abandoned kitchen. My body ached pleasantly, yet another reminder of how completely he’d claimed me. Three times now. Three bites marking my skin like waypoints on a map with no legend. I couldn’t keep wandering the castle in various states of dishevelment, leaking his seed down my legs with every step. Practical concerns hadn’t disappeared just because I’d beenravished by a beast in an enchanted castle—if anything, they’d multiplied.
I found a relatively clean rag in one of the drawers and dampened it with water from the newly-repaired tap. The cool cloth felt soothing against my heated skin as I wiped away the evidence of our coupling. My fingers traced the newest bite mark on my shoulder, still tender and slightly raised. Each time he marked me, I felt that strange warmth spread through me, like magic settling into my bones. But the clean of his…
“I don’t even know what to call it,” I muttered to myself, grimacing at the stickiness that clung stubbornly to my inner thighs. “His seed? His essence? His...” I laughed, the sound echoing in the empty kitchen. The working women at the tavern had crude names for it, but somehow none stuck in my mind for what passed between Beast and me.
After cleaning myself as thoroughly as possible without a proper bath, I retrieved the blue sleeping gown from where it had fallen to the floor. The thin fabric slipped over my head with a whisper, settling against my skin like a sigh. It provided little warmth against the castle’s perpetual chill, but at least I wasn’t naked anymore.
My mind turned to practical matters as I surveyed the kitchen. The soaking beans would be ready to cook tomorrow. I’d found and ground grains for bread, salt for seasoning. But soap—I desperately needed soap. I could make it if I had the right ingredients. Wood ash, which the castle had in abundance, animal fat from Beast’s hunts, and fragrant herbs to mask the harsh smell. Simple enough in theory, though the process would take time. Until I got some fat, I’d have to use the ash as a cream or scrub maybe with some flour to bind it with the water.
My gaze drifted toward the door Beast had disappeared through. Where had he gone in such a hurry? And why had hetorn away from me like that, when previously he’d been almost tender in his departure?
“Only one way to find out,” I said to the empty kitchen.
Near the back door hung a dusty wicker basket, its handle cracked but still intact. I lifted it gently, testing its strength. Ancient and brittle, but it would serve my purpose, if I was careful. Perfect for gathering herbs and flowers, if I could find any growing near the castle. Soap-making would be my excuse for following Beast’s path, though curiosity was my true motivation.
