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A moan slipped out of me and his fingers dug into my cheeks through my shorts as his fabric covered erection rubbed against me.

“Mmm. There’s my good slut. I bet your needy pussy is dripping for me.”

I fought against the urge to give in and gyrate my hips, yet I found myself grinding against him the seam of my shorts dampening with my movements. Bane groaned and tilted his head back. Leaning down I licked a stripe over the tendons straining in his throat, then spoke against his oddly smooth, stone skin. “Why don’t you find out for yourself?”

That knot of nerves throbbed against the soaked, thin cotton fabric of my thong.

“Be careful what you ask of me, Honeybee,” Bane said, chuckling huskily. “I have shite impulse control.” I panted as the last two words he spoke formed through a guttural moan and the tip of his tail snuck under the hem of my shorts.

Oh, the possibilities of that prehensile tail.

Biting my lip, I trailed a hand over his chest and plucked one of his nipples between my fingers.

“Again,” he insisted, but tensed beneath me and sat upright, holding me to him and clamping a hard hand over my mouth, muting my, “What the fuck?”

“Shh. Something’s coming.”

With his words the lust clouding my brain vanished, alerting me to the fact that we were trapped in another fairytale, but I was too horny to notice. Or care.

Bane’s wings twitched, rustling against the blanket of pine needles beneath us. Our eyes met and he raised a finger to his lips. I nodded, communicating my understanding. Several minutes of agonizing tension later, he sighed. “It’s okay. They’re gone.” I collapsed against him, circling my arms around his neck as Bane embraced me.

For some reason, despite our circumstances, he makes me feel safe.

My muscled locked up. I wasn’t used to relying on others for anything, let alone my own well-being, and didn’t enjoy the odd, uncomfortable juxtaposition of those feelings within me. Wordlessly, I uncoiled myself from his lap and stood, his comforting arms falling away.

Immediate regret plunged into my guts as an icy wind blew through the surrounding trees, stirring up miniature snow cyclones in its wake. “Spectacular. It’s winter here. Wherever here is.” My toes curled inside my sneakers, their mesh top and sides doing nothing to keep out the chill. “This is absolute bullshit. Normally, I love the cold seasons but not when I’m dressed for smothering heat. Once again, summer has fucked me over.” Bane chuckled and my shoulders raised to my ears. “What about this situation is humorous to you, Grotesque?” I snapped and hugged my arms close to my torso. Peering at Bane, I watched him roll to his feet and glide to my side.

“It’s not the situation that I find amusing, it’s you. I enjoy how you can find some way to be grouchy about literally anything you set your mind to.”

My mouth opened to snip at him, but I quickly closed it. “Thank you,” I grumbled as he draped an arm around my waist and a wing rose to cocoon my side, buffeting the breeze cutting through my clothes.

“You’re welcome. I,” he swallowed, the distracting bump on the front of his throat bobbing, “I don’t like to see you suffer. Anyway, let’s walk for a bit. Maybe we’ll find somewhere warm to sleep for the night.”

“Fine.”

I squinted into the oppressive darkness, unable to quite believe what was nailed to the circle of trees not too far ahead. Cleaning my glasses on the edge of my shirt, I took another look, like that might change what I saw, and halted, dread trailing icy fingers over my scalp. We moved closer, stopping on the edge of a circular clearing, snow drifting down from a black, cloudless sky. I peeked around Bane’s wing, looking at where we came from. It wasn’t flurrying behind us or to either of our sides as far as I could tell; although perhaps that wasn’t the best test since my night vision couldn’t compare to his.

Something about the even coating of pure white forming inside the circle felt ominous, as if, were we to cross into the clearing, breeching the perfect circle, untold horrors would fall upon us. My fear escalated as I witnessed moonlight arrowing through skeletal branches and highlighting the macabre display reflecting back at us from a close circle of white bark trees.

Shaking my head, I squirmed, desperate to flee. My heart launched into my throat as something tickled my ankle, causing my stare to search for the source. Stilling, I glanced at his tail while it skimmed up my legs, between my breasts, and secured itself to the base of my throat. I breathed unsteadily, breath fogging and legs shaking so badly the only thing holding me upright was Bane’s grip on my waist and his tail collaring my neck.

Maybe, I should be afraid that he could easily snap my head from my shoulders or tighten his tail until I asphyxiated than the woods we dropped into, but I wasn’t. Not even close.

No, I felt comfort in that snug hold around my throat.

“What’s wrong?” Bane questioned, gently rubbing a horn against the top of my head.

I stared, terror icing over my blood faster than the weather, my wide eyes staring back at me in the reflections surrounding us. “I-I don’t fuck around with mirrors,” I admitted shakily.

Bane’s tail lightly squeezed my throat once, the tip rubbing soothing circles higher on my neck, and laughed softly. “There’s nothing to be scared of, Lass. What harm could come from a bit of glass, eh?”

My pulse throbbed in my temples. “I can’t believe you just said that. Monstera enjoyed scaring the shit out of me on occasion, and has told me all about demon lore, despite me begging her not to, and how they loved to use mirrors for various nefarious purposes. I might be new in the knowledge that supernaturals and other mystical things really exist,” I turned, gripping Bane’s shirt with a hand, “but I’ve always has strong sense of otherworldliness from mirrors.”

He growled, covering my hand with his, the rounded pad of his thumb rubbing side to side in soothing movements. “I admit, you’re right about mirrors. Nasty things. Rest assured, I won’t let anything harm you.”

“Yes, well, statements like that can be dangerous. You’re essentially flipping off the universe.”

My belly swooped as Bane’s purr started up, vibrating against my torso as he removed his tail from my neck. “It’s best we play it safe then.”