I cracked a smile. His deep laugh filled my whole body with buzzing fireflies. “Depends, should I be offended when you call me sad one?”
His dark eyes glimmered. “Oh, but are you sad, aren't you? So deeply devastated that I can’t imagine a more perfect name for my new pet…” He rose up farther on the dock, bringing our faces close together. We were nose to nose, and I could see my reflection in his marble-like black eyes. His fingers sunk into my hair as he cupped the side of my head. The webbing felt odd, but not unpleasant, as did the slight scratch of his claws. “I saw you that night, you know.”
I blinked at him. What did he just say? My gaze flitted between his eyes as I frowned in confusion, then I shook my head. What night? Was he talking about my first night back, when I’d come down to his swamp and saw that black tentacle rising out of the water? Of course he saw me. I was pretty sure he’d seen me long before I saw him. He’d probably been stalking me from the moment my feet touched the gazebo.
He shook his head at my confusion. “No. I mean I saw you, ten years ago, as you fled towards the gates, covered in blood and screaming for your life." I sucked in a sharp breath as I flinched. The memory of that night hit me, knocking me off kilter. Kaz caught me in his strong arms. “Your screams were so beautiful, and your fear kept me full for months after you were gone.” He licked his lips with that forked tongue as my eyes glazed over in memory. “It was thick and sweet, tinged with rage, guilt, and regret. I haven't tasted something that completely satisfying since.”
My heart was in my throat. He’d been there…during the worst moments of my life, lapping up my pain like it was his favorite meal. He’d enjoyed my suffering, wanted more of it, like he did now. It made me wonder if he’d had the opportunity to change things, the same way he stopped Chaos from ripping my face off the other night. Had he heard my parent’s screams and chosen to ignore it, or had he eaten their fear too? The thought made my stomach revolt.
“I can read you like a book,” he said, interrupting my racing thoughts. I tried to pull away from him, but his arms just tightened around me as he started to push away from the dock. “You think I let them die on purpose…” Shaking his head, he waded farther out into the swamp. Even if I could get away now, I’d have to race him back to the bank and I’d never make it. He chuckled as if I’d just told the funniest joke he’d ever heard. “You humans and your suspicions and assumptions.” Despite my struggle, clawed fingers raked through my hair again, like he was petting me, trying to console me. “Unfortunately, I missed out on the buffet your family provided so freely.” Peering into my eyes, he didn’t show a single ounce of remorse for his biting words. “Had I been there, I would have feasted, just like I’ll feast on you soon.”
I narrowed my eyes on him as I stilled in his arms. My hands were on his bare chest, and I could feel the roughness of the scales under my fingers. The skin that wasn't scaled felt similar to human skin, maybe a little slicker and quite a bit tougher. There was no question that I was completely at this creature's mercy. He could slice me into pieces right now if he decided not to draw this out any longer.
I heaved out a long sigh, my shoulders dropping in defeat and exhaustion. In another life, I might have fought against him or begged him to spare me or taken my chances with the stagnant waters, but I had no interest in living this life anymore.
“Will it hurt when you do it?” I asked not that it mattered. I lived with pain as a constant in my life and inflicted it on myself every day. Every time my eyes opened and I realized I was stuck in this same monotonous life, I was in fucking pain.
His lips stretched into a smile, and a chill ran over my skin as his sharp teeth gleamed at me. “Yes, sad one. It's going to hurt a lot, but you don’t have to worry. I’ll make it as quick as I can manage, though I can’t make promises on behalf of my…friends.”
I paused, looking at him skeptically. “That’s the second time you said it like that. How do you know Cyn and Cilas anyway? Don’t tell me there’s some kind of monster support group held in the back of the old shed every Wednesday.” I was already laughing at the absurdity of that mental image. “Cilas made it seem like you’ve had run-ins with Chaos before too.” I shivered again, picturing that horrible creature, wondering where the hell he’d ended up.
“I know every creature that passes through here,” he said, his eyes scanning our dark surroundings before settling on me again. “This is my domain, and I choose who stays and who goes. Those two showed up not long after your left, drawn in by the darkness that hovers over this place, like so many others. It’s busier than ever these days, actually. Cyn and Cilas have been useful in weeding out the gluttons from the simply curious.”
“Aren’t you all gluttons though?” We waded farther into the swamp waters, and I was now soaked all the way up to my chest. I could feel his tentacles moving below the water as I wrapped my thighs around his waist to hold myself steady. His arms did the rest of the work.
He grinned wickedly. “Oh, I’m definitely a glutton, but even I know my limits. It would be so easy for us to devour every morsel of suffering inside of you, to drink you dry before feasting on your soft flesh until there was nothing left but bones to throw to the lesser creatures. In fact, I considered it the moment you approached my waters, reeking of dread.”
His awful words should have had me screaming. I knew my reactions weren’t normal, and I was probably officially insane at this point, because all I did was relax into his hold and listen. He could have killed me ten years ago too, when my fear and pain was fresh, but he didn’t. He let me leave, and I felt like there was a reason for that.
“But you didn’t,” I said, fishing for answers. “If it was so easy, then why hold back? What’s the point of all this?” I gestured to the way he held me in his arms. I didn’t understand.
He cradled the back of my head, his eyes flickering with excitement in the moonlight. “Because I have other cravings too, Iris. I might be a monster, but I am still a male, and with that comes very male needs. There are so many ways to savor you, and I plan on making the most of it.” Flicking his forked tongue out, he skimmed it along the seam of my lips until I opened for him. It took a moment, but I complied. Leaning it, Kaz placed a small kiss on my lips, and my eyes fell shut, savoring the unusual softness of them. “Would you like me to fuck you the way the shadows did?”
My eyes flew open as I felt something harden against my core as he pulled me tighter to his muscular body. I moved my hips against it, and need flared in his eyes. He licked his lips again, and there was a slight tremor in his grip, as if he was barely holding himself back.
“And what do I get out of this?” I asked, my voice breathless. Maybe I was the one holding myself back.
That hardness moved again, pressing harder against my slick core, and I glanced down between my spread thighs but could barely see through the dark water. Noting this, he rose up until our waists broke the surface. I sucked in a breath as a flush of heat traveled through me.
His cock was unlike anything I’d ever seen, even in the deepest, darkest recesses of porn sites. It was massive, to the point that I wasn’t even sure it would fit inside of me, but it was also covered in dark green and black scales with a long ridge that ran up the underside of it. The ridge was bumpy and looked hard, as if it was some kind of cartilage just underneath the scales. He was full and hard, and I could see a slight pulsing, letting me know that all I had to do was say the word and he’d plunge that thing inside of me.
I met his eyes again, my whole body responding to the feel of his growing cock that was now lying against my abdomen. I dragged my palms down the front of his chest, feeling my way towards his arms and down farther, until I reached the first of the many tentacles that protruded from his sides.
Two of them immediately moved through the water, wrapping around me, holding me in a viselike grip until I couldn’t move, but he left my arms free to wander. I moved my hips again, rubbing my sensitive core along the ridges of his cock. Shocks of pleasure rolled through me at the strange feel of his skin.
“If you let me take what I need, I promise to have you writhing in pleasure so great, you’ll be begging for death.” His words were whispered, but firm and full of very real promises that I knew he would keep. “In an instant, I’ll erase every human cock you’ve ever had inside you, until you’re screaming out in exquisite agony. If you let me have you, I’ll show you what it feels like to be consumed in every way that you crave.”
I wanted that. I wanted to feel everything he described, everything he promised, and more. If the way I’d been handled by Cyn and Cilas before was any indication of what monsters were capable of making me feel, then I’d be an idiot to refuse him.
My fingers flexed at his sides, the tips inching over the top pair of tentacles, and I almost pulled my hand away in surprise as Kaz sucked in a sharp breath. Our eyes met as I explored him, while his face seemed to transform. He looked suddenly feral, the angles of his face appearing sharper, and his onyx eyes were so dark, it only intensified the glowing green ring in the middle. Everything about Kazimir was otherworldly and menacing. He was a monster in its purest form, and he was hungry for me.
He groaned as I ran my hand along his tentacle, feeling the rough ridges and dips against a plane of silky smooth scales. There was texture to it, but it was still soft and malleable, and it seemed to contract under my touch like a muscle. Arms tightened around me, and his cock pulsed again, telling me it was now or never.
With my mind made up, I wrapped my hand around the tentacle and guided it to my lips, running the very tip over them sensually, then slipping out my tongue and tasting him for the first time. A low growl built in his chest as I licked him while swiveling my hips.
“Show me what it’s like to be with you,” I whispered, letting my tongue trail up the tentacle until I reached the very tip, where I flicked it gently, eliciting another groan of pleasure from Kaz. “Make me forget the human men. I want to know what a monster can really do to a poor little mortal like me.”
His lips tilted upwards. “Are you sure you know what you're asking for?” It was probably the only warning I’d get.