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Tiffany nodded and offered him a wry smile as she began to weave her hair into a braid. “Yeah. Honestly, I’m surprised he held out as long as he did. I’ve had a lot of time to think about it since I left and while I felt betrayed by his decision, I have to wonder now how long the town had been pressuring him… and how hard. I knew that my single status was protested quite frequently at the meeting hall, and it wasn’t like I didn’t have men following me whenever I happened to be caught alone, but I don’t know how far it went.” She shivered then and he had no doubt that it was in memory of being hunted, a thought that made Barbasa want to huntthemdown. “So, I got out before the wolves could truly begin circling and I was thrown to their mercy at the next town meeting.”
His hackles rising, Barbasa sprung to his hooves and stalked away from her, the simmering anger within his belly loosening tendrils of the taint buried within him. He wrestled them down until all he felt was his anger without the touch of the madness. The snarl he vocalized, however, made his little female jump slightly in surprise, though her eyes warmed as she watched him pace irritably, his tail held out stiffly behind him as he attempted to work off some of his pent aggression.
“And the men hunting you?” he bit out. “Do they intend to do this as well?”
“Probably not,” she admitted. “They won’t need to. They would either share me between them or have already decided who gets to keep me.”
And instead of chasing her through a labyrinth of city streets, they chased her through the grasses. No different really. He understood why she left. At least in the wilderness she had a chance of escape. And she had managed to remain ahead of her pursuers though it had obviously left her exhausted. Though he had no intention of letting her go, he also had no intention of abusing her in such a way. When he finally hunted her it would be becauseshedesired it. She would not be unwilling prey to any male.
Females loved the thrill of the chase when it came to a satyr’s lust because they made sure it was always on her terms. That was something that even he had forgotten in the dark depths of the labyrinth as the poison of the corridors ate at his mind and spirit. It now rose furiously within him along with a strong sense to protect that. He was a selfish male… too selfish to release her, but he would honor that.
Spinning abruptly back toward Tiffany, he peered down at her, his chest expanding so that she understood that he was a large and powerful male. Although he wasn’t as large as Asterion, he still had some size advantage to many of the human males he had spotted at a distance. And though his flock was gone, he was a king. He would see to her protection.
“You will be safe here with me, I swear it,” he rumbled and the teary look of gratitude in her eyes nearly undid him right there.
Overcome by his emotion he hurried to the door. “Remain here while I scout my territory. Have some apples if you wish, or bread. It is a couple days old and made with ground acorns so I don’t know if it will be to your taste. You may enjoy anything I have. I will return shortly.”
With that promise and her murmured thanks, he slipped out the door into the morning light and dragged in the scents of his territory into his lungs. While in the past he had been tolerant of human comings and goings around and through his territory, he would make certain no human was foolish enough to come anywhere near it now. Not when he had a female to protect and so much more to potentially lose!
Tiffany proppedher elbows on the counter as she watched Barbasa work a loaf between his hands, her admiration growing rapidly ever since his pronouncement of her complete safety just days ago. She didn’t see him for long stretches of the day, but she got the idea that he was often roaming his forest anyway. She didn’t mind since she felt perfectly safe, even if it was getting a bit boring. She’d come to look forward to his returns in the late afternoon, often with some small game that he had come across.
To her surprise, despite his poorly disguised leering and frequent extruding at random times to tempt with her the glimpse of a cock that seemed to verge on scarily large, she was comfortable in his company. Oh, she had no doubt that he desired her—it was pretty hard for her to ignore, although Barbasa seemed to be able to overlook the presence of his erect cock as if it wasn’t staring back at her—but he wasn’t aggressively pushing her toward anything. He was just very blatant about his interest and made no effort to hide it. Not even when he eventually curled around her as they lay together at night and the hard, hot length pressed firmly against her bottom. Every twitch of it against her never failed to send hot currents deep into her belly to the point that it was leaving her with a restless feeling throughout the day.
It was getting to the point where she was beginning to wish that he would make a move. Even if his dick frightened her a little, there was an ache growing slowly within her, one that she shouldn’t indulge in since she wasn’t staying. Barbasa’s offer, as generous as it had been, was only a temporary one. Which was probably the reason he good-naturedly tolerated the little adjustments she made to the cabin in his absence.
The table she sat at was one of them. She’d found it pushed into one corner with a heavy layer of dust and covered with a bunch of old crap that she was sure had been there since before the Ravening. It had taken her most of that afternoon to haul the heavy tarps and pieces of some sort of machinery that appeared to be some kind of engine off of it. Hunting down a cleanser had taken her a bit longer. Water and regular soap had been close to ineffectual. It wasn’t until she spotted a small shed just off to the side of the cabin and went to explore its contents that she found exactly what she was looking for. That was, once she got past the gruesome sight of numerous metal traps, long hooks hanging from the ceiling, and a butchery table stained so thoroughly with blood that her stomach turned. As there was a bucket of water sitting next to it, she knew that Barbasa utilized it and the clean hooks closest to it even if he touched none of the other dust coated things within the shed.
Returning to the cabin with the grease cleaner had felt like a small victory, but it proved worth the effort after she hauled the table into a bright spot in front of a window and scrubbed it thoroughly. It had taken some work, but the old furniture gleamed with the bit of wood polish she’d rubbed sparingly into it. The wildflowers that she’d gathered had been the final touch. Sure, it had probably been overkill, especially since they required a cupful of precious water that she got from the barrel of drinking water, but Barbasa had smiled when he saw them. He did, however, raise an eyebrow at the junk pile that had shifted onto the floor before quietly setting to moving it out of the cabin. She wasn’t entirely sure where he put everything since the shed hadn’t had too much room as it was, but the cabin felt quite a bit cozier afterward, especially now he was bent over it, wearing a weathered apron with yellow ducks printed over it, turning out bread dough.
She shook her head in awe as she watched him work.Acorn bread. Imagine.
That certainly hadn’t occurred to anyone within town, and she couldn’t say why since there were plenty of acorns from trees that grew everywhere in the abandoned areas. Instead, they struggled with small farm plots to grow wheat, barley, oats and other food staples. Bread was communally made, baked and divided among those living there with extra portions going to men for doing more of the “harder work,” and needing more of the calories. Or some such stupidity since she was well aware of how the women worked themselves from morning to night. There had been many days that Tiffany had still been hungry following supper and would have been thrilled at having more of the hearty bread available. And now… now because of Barbasa’s acorn flour, she had all that she could possibly eat.
And she had made quick work of what remained of his last loaf, much to her embarrassment. He had been strangely pleased, however, and she couldn’t understand why. Since she was too embarrassed to ask and he didn’t seem inclined to say anything about it, it remained a great mystery. But she was sure that satisfaction had something to do with why he was making bread that morning instead of going on his usual rounds.
She certainly didn’t object to watching his powerful hands knead the dough and the veins on his forearms stood out in firm ridges with the effort. He was glorious to watch, even with the ducky apron that added to masculinity in the confidence with which he wore it. Her gaze drifted over him before returning to the loaf he was fashioning.
“Do you still plan to go out today?” she asked conversationally.
His yellow eyes flicked to her and a smile tugged at his lips. “Have you missed me that much?” he purred in return, drawing a giggle from her.
“I’m not sure how to answer that,” she teased. “If I say yes you will get a big head. If I say no, you may be crushed and suspect I wish to oust you from your own home and keep it to myself.”
Eyes dancing mirthfully, his smile widened at her response. “As for the first, I already have a most impressive head, as you’ve seen for yourself. And especially that one,” he added with a meaningful look toward his cock hidden behind his apron, making her choke on an embarrassed laugh. “As to the second, you can try,” he rumbled, “but you will quickly discover that I won’t give up so easily when it comes to what I desire to keep.”
Those final words were delivered with such directness and intensity that they conveyed a sort of heat that rushed over her as if they were speaking of more than just the cabin.
“So, what will it be, then?” he continued. “Do we spend a day together?”
He glanced over at her again as he spoke, one of his dark eyebrows rising with his inquiry. Despite the directness of his question, she thought she caught a hint of vulnerability in the quick shift of his gaze as he studied the dough, turning it about between his hands an unnecessary number of times as he did so.
Spend a day with him? A warmth crawled through her as her imagination conjured a cozy image within her mind. They could build up the fire in the hearth and perhaps she could teach him a few games. She’d found a faded deck of cards. There were a couple missing so it wasn’t quite complete but good enough for a few games. And he would have plenty of opportunities to teach her a few things.
Despite her best effort not to, Tiffany’s cheeks grew hot just as she swore that heat raced through her and erupted within her belly to sink low to the intimate spot between her legs. Barbasa’s nostrils twitched and flared as he drew in a sharp breath in reaction and the hair prickled along her arms at just how primal that response was as he clearly scented her arousal.
“I would like that,” she replied though her belly quivered with a sudden nervousness.
His eyelids dropped slightly and he regarded her through thick, dark lashes from beneath their hoods. The hard line of his mouth curved in response, and his beautifully sculpted cheek creased with the flash of a dimple. Though he was distinctly inhuman in appearance from the tip of his horns and the gleam of his glowing eyes, right down to his tuft of a tail and hooves, those parts of him that were like those of a human man were of a breathless beauty.
