Reluctant Mates - 21 Paranormal Romance Stories (Werewolf, Vampire, Minotaur and Monster collection) (55 page)

I was ashamed to admit that I had not. I excused it away by saying I fell asleep during one of the Elder’s long-winded lectures on our kingdom’s history, which got Old Gran laughing.

“He does like to ramble, that he does.” She scratched at the hair protruding from her chin. “But listening to him does have merits. No matter how droll and plodding he may be there is no better source of wisdom than Drammond’s stories.”

“I know, I know,” I said, rolling my eyes. “He’s just so...well at any rate I’ll not belabor the point. Tell me of Mordan the wolf, and tell me why there is a poor omen afoot.”

“Not an omen, child,” she said. “News.”

“Yes, that’s what I meant.”

After a coughing fit shook her to the core, Old Gran settled onto a stump.

“As you know, this kingdom, our whole world, has settled between two cosmoses. Between savagery and civilization. Yes?”

“Yes Gran, I know this. When the Conqueror came, he brought his new, Only God with him, supplanting the old ones. That’s been generations now, but we still haven’t adjusted. Not completely.”

“Good, that’s very good.” Old Gran smiled and looked off in the distance for a moment. “Yes, we haven’t yet. Not the oldest of us. We still remember holding vigil for the ancient gods, the ones without names.”

“What about that wolf?” I nudged her back on track.

“Yes, yes, I’m sorry dear. When you’re old, your thoughts can drift.”

I smiled. No matter how long she prattled on, she was my favorite person in the world. I felt so peaceful with her, even when she was about to give me awful news.

“Mordan is the other thing that followed the Conqueror here from the south. He’s one of a rare race of creatures never seen here before, though those who have spoken with him – and there are those who have, and lived to tell the tale – say he speaks of others of his blood who now run the mountains near here.”

“I see. What a strange tale, and a strange creature no doubt. But, Gran, what does it have to do with me?”

She nodded, eyes fixed on mine.

“Dear child, he’s a monster so terrible, so utterly horrible, that we pay him sacrifice once a decade. The legends say that he is unable to mate with those of his blood because of the curse they carry. It prevents them from coupling with one another, or something of the sort. It’s not entirely clear. Or at least I haven’t read deeply enough into that creature’s mating habits to learn of it. Anyway, once every ten years, he emerges from the woods, from the mountains where he makes his home, and demands sacrifice. Demands a mate.”

“But if he’s a monster, and as awful as you say, what happens to the mate?”

Old Gran only arched an eyebrow. “Well...”

“Again, I ask you, what does this have to do with me?” My lip trembled. I didn’t need to hear the answer as I already knew what she was going to tell me.

“You bear the mark, dear Leoda. I didn’t want to say anything, but, I’m afraid the time has come. It cannot be denied.”

Just as she finished speaking and a hollow, desperate fear sunk into my chest, the Elder emerged from his cabin not forty paces from where we stood.

“Has the girl heard?” He said to Old Gran. She never took her eyes off my face.

“She has, yes, Drammond.”

“Is she ready?”

“Why don’t you ask her? She’s standing right there.”

“From the college of the Vestal Virgins, to the very depths of savagery, you’re being cast. I’m sorry for this Leoda. I truly am. I wish there was some other way to...”

“No,” I cut in, “no, Elder Drammond, if this is my fate, so be it. I was ready to give up having a family to take the cloth, I’m happy to give myself to a monster to save the people I love.”

“Such a brave girl,” he said. His lip quivered as he spoke. “Such a brave girl. I do hope that it lasts.”

Two

“This is the first time I’ve seen the leaves fall in such a way,” Old Gran said, stirring a pot of water over a gentle boil with her bare finger. I always wondered how she did that without burning herself. “Hmm, this is most dire news indeed.”

“What is it, Gran?”

“You’ve heard the tale I’m sure. The one about Mordan, the wolf?”

I was ashamed to admit that I had not. I excused it away by saying I fell asleep during one of the Elder’s long-winded lectures on our kingdom’s history, which got Old Gran laughing.

“He does like to ramble, that he does.” She scratched at the hair protruding from her chin. “But listening to him does have merits. No matter how droll and plodding he may be there is no better source of wisdom than Drammond’s stories.”

“I know, I know,” I said, rolling my eyes. “He’s just so...well at any rate I’ll not belabor the point. Tell me of Mordan the wolf, and tell me why there is a poor omen afoot.”

“Not an omen, child,” she said. “News.”

“Yes, that’s what I meant.”

After a coughing fit shook her to the core, Old Gran settled onto a stump.

“As you know, this kingdom, our whole world, has settled between two cosmoses. Between savagery and civilization. Yes?”

“Yes Gran, I know this. When the Conqueror came, he brought his new, Only God with him, supplanting the old ones. That’s been generations now, but we still haven’t adjusted. Not completely.”

“Good, that’s very good.” Old Gran smiled and looked off in the distance for a moment. “Yes, we haven’t yet. Not the oldest of us. We still remember holding vigil for the ancient gods, the ones without names.”

“What about that wolf?” I nudged her back on track.

“Yes, yes, I’m sorry dear. When you’re old, your thoughts can drift.”

I smiled. No matter how long she prattled on, she was my favorite person in the world. I felt so peaceful with her, even when she was about to give me awful news.

“Mordan is the other thing that followed the Conqueror here from the south. He’s one of a rare race of creatures never seen here before, though those who have spoken with him – and there are those who have, and lived to tell the tale – say he speaks of others of his blood who now run the mountains near here.”

“I see. What a strange tale, and a strange creature no doubt. But, Gran, what does it have to do with me?”

She nodded, eyes fixed on mine.

“Dear child, he’s a monster so terrible, so utterly horrible, that we pay him sacrifice once a decade. The legends say that he is unable to mate with those of his blood because of the curse they carry. It prevents them from coupling with one another, or something of the sort. It’s not entirely clear. Or at least I haven’t read deeply enough into that creature’s mating habits to learn of it. Anyway, once every ten years, he emerges from the woods, from the mountains where he makes his home, and demands sacrifice. Demands a mate.”

“But if he’s a monster, and as awful as you say, what happens to the mate?”

Old Gran only arched an eyebrow. “Well...”

“Again, I ask you, what does this have to do with me?” My lip trembled. I didn’t need to hear the answer as I already knew what she was going to tell me.

“You bear the mark, dear Leoda. I didn’t want to say anything, but, I’m afraid the time has come. It cannot be denied.”

Just as she finished speaking and a hollow, desperate fear sunk into my chest, the Elder emerged from his cabin not forty paces from where we stood.

“Has the girl heard?” He said to Old Gran. She never took her eyes off my face.

“She has, yes, Drammond.”

“Is she ready?”

“Why don’t you ask her? She’s standing right there.”

“From the college of the Vestal Virgins, to the very depths of savagery, you’re being cast. I’m sorry for this Leoda. I truly am. I wish there was some other way to...”

“No,” I cut in, “no, Elder Drammond, if this is my fate, so be it. I was ready to give up having a family to take the cloth, I’m happy to give myself to a monster to save the people I love.”

“Such a brave girl,” he said. His lip quivered as he spoke. “Such a brave girl. I do hope that it lasts.”

Three

Hours maybe, or possibly half a day passed with Mordan inside me. When I awoke, surrounded by unearthly warmth, a glow held me in its clutch.

Of course, I knew after what I’d done that halos were not likely to come find me any time soon. I laughed at such a thought.

“What’s that?” The beast rumbled. “Is something the matter?”

“Oh no, not at all, I was just laughing at a thought I had.”

“What was it?” He said stroking my face as he had after we coupled.

I turned to face him, and when I did the ball of his passion had shrunk enough to come out of me with a naughty pop.

“I’m not afraid to admit my fear,” I whispered. “What if...what if I’m not a suitable house for your seed? For your young?”

“The fact that you’re worried about keeping it inside rather than becoming its vessel in the first place is a good sign.” He slid an arm underneath me and pulled me toward himself.

“Mordan,” I said, “you’re still a man. Or, you are in a way.”

He chuckled.

“If what I think has happened actually has, you’ve put me in this form until the next turn of the moon. Of course I might also turn into an uncontrollable monster tomorrow when you wake. All part of the fun.”

“You call it fun, I call it tremendously frightening.”

Again he ran his hand through my hair, and then let it fall onto my belly where he rested it.

“There’s something you’ve done, some power coursing through you that’s given me this form.” His voice was so deep and so soft when he was in this haunting, man-like shape that it brought me more comfort than it did excitement. “But some things remain the same.”

“Meaning?”

“Listen to how brave the girl has become.” He smiled down at me, as he cradled me closer to his chest. “For one thing, you will not be allowed to leave.”

“Ever?”

He nodded.

“For another, you will be in a great deal of pain.”

“I welcome the challenge,” I said with an arrogant flash to my grin. “I’ll show you that I can do what you need of me. I’m strong enough to hold this child.”

“You are brave,” he said, “but don’t become cocky. That’s killed more than one of my mates. You’ll need to rest. Already my son grows inside you, or if he doesn’t, he will soon.”

“How do you know? Humans spend weeks, months sometimes, wondering whether or not seed has quickened in their bellies.”

Again he laughed in his patient, plodding way. “I am not a human. And I am about to take you again, just to make most certain that I’m not wasting what little time I have left. Be strong, Leoda. Be strong. Otherwise you will certainly suffer.”

I took a deep breath. “Already? Already you want me again?”

He nodded. “If you were someone else, I would
need
you again. To make sure that my child was inside you. But since you are you, then yes. I want you already. Come, woman. Please your master.”

Looking at him as Mordan blotted out the sun descending upon me I took a breath and prepared myself to be made his once again.

––––––––

“Y
ou have got to be fucking kidding me.” Amy cursed into the cold night air through her open window when she heard the slap of split rubber against the asphalt. “I have two flat tires in my entire life, and they always happen when I’m in the middle of absolute nowhere. Great.”

Amy was just past her thirtieth birthday, four weeks and a day, to be exact. She had decided when she rounded the curve of her twenties to do something adventurous – something wild and out of control. She graduated college with a 3.8 GPA and a degree in Psychology, but never had the nerve to apply for graduate schools. She ended up as a case-worker at a nearby state hospital for a few years, but recently, had grown really sick of it. When she hit thirty, she knew she had to do something completely uncharacteristic, or she feared she’d never do anything at all with herself. She’d always had a little wanderlust, so she figured that this was as good a time as any to give in to it.

“Hell no, I don’t know what I hit!” she screamed into her mobile phone’s mouthpiece. She had called her boyfriend Doug in a panic. He was completely useless, as usual.

“Doug, okay thanks. That really helps. Yeah. Fantastic, I’ll just sit here on the side of a completely abandoned road and wait for some saintly trucker to ramble by and save me. Good night, Doug.” Amy swore again, loudly, into the night air before she decided that she should probably try to find somewhere to spend the night.

“Well, okay. At least my GPS still works.” She said to no one in particular. “Looks like I’m about three miles from the next town, so that shouldn’t be too bad. It isn’t too late – just after dark – so I can probably find a motel or something on the edge of town.”

As soon as she made up her mind to find civilization, she began to jog. She was in fairly remarkable shape for someone who spent as little time as possible exercising, so she made good time. About a mile and a half down the road, she got a little winded, and half-stumbled to a walking pace. While she ambled down the lonely, dusty interstate’s shoulder, her mind wandered. She wasn’t easy to spook by any means. She’d seen pretty much everything she could imagine during her years at the hospital, so little noises off in the woods didn’t have much of an effect on her. She began, strangely, to fantasize about something she kept buried way back in the depths of her mind.

For as long as she could remember, she’d wanted someone to surprise her out on a dark, secluded road like this, and take her right there and then. She’d had the fantasy many times, but always felt a little bit ashamed of her curious longing for pseudo-rape, and never tried to act on them, or even to get a boyfriend to tie her up or anything like that. It was something that was just a little figment of her imagination, and she wasn’t really sure why it came up right now, as she was actually wandering down such a road. Probably had something to do with how obnoxious and juvenile Doug, her worthless boyfriend, was.

Off to the south-east she spotted a farmhouse behind a large iron gate. The house seemed to be quite old, and as far as she could see there were no lights on. “Worth a shot, I guess.” She said under her breath, crossing the road and finding the gate half-open already.