Bound by Roses (The Bound Series Book 1) (23 page)

“Feel fortunate, Huntsman. Not all my prey survive an ordeal such as that,” the Witch approached, eyes hungry for more than his life force. He knew that look well. For it is a look he has had for Lady Astra, Marguerite, and common whores alike. It is even that which entered his mind staring at the Witch.

“What did you do?” His voice rough and gritty, he rubbed his face with both hands. Strength slowly returned.

“Merely stole your life force to sustain my own. And in it, I saw nearly the whole of your life. The greatness that is your bloodline, and the guilt that weighs upon your heart so heavily,” Theodora Talisa leaned upon a bedpost facing the Huntsman. Her hand up, she leaned heavily into it. Her other hand rubbed the post seductively up and down thrice.

“I have no guilt,” Avarice again tried to move, but could not, his energy still gone.

“So much do you carry, but beyond the killing of Giants, I could not see,” Theodora Talisa crawled towards him, “the work of Dame Mother, no doubt, clever Witch.”

“There is nothing to hide,” Avarice declared as Theodora Talisa drew closer. He could smell her. He couldn’t move, not that he wanted to. He enjoyed the scent that wafted off the woman approaching him slowly on all fours. 

Theodora Talisa mounted Avarice. Locking lips with the stubble and scarred face she enjoyed every inch of his rugged lips. Something about her kiss gave him energy, just as easily as she took it. Both her hands caressed his scruff upon his thick jaw. She eventually broke the kiss to talk. His energy seemed to wane.

“Lie all you like, but I have tasted your life, Huntsman. I have seen the bloodlust pump through your veins when you killed those Giants, Jack. And I have heard of your raw sexual power, Avarice. Now take me!”

Overcome by a spell and magic beyond him, Avarice did as was commanded. He took her. There. He wrapped his muscular, hairy arms around her slender, soft milky body. He squeezed so tight she yelped. But his lips upon hers silenced it. As he spun her roughly onto her back, her pink slip broke into a sweet mist of vanilla and black currants, a thick mist that he could not help but to inhale deeply. The sweet mist permeated every inch of his once numb limbs.

It sent his mind deep into haze.

A haze his mind could not penetrate, nor wanted to.

Theodora Talisa’s lips were electric. Each embrace of them sent chills down his spine. Each embrace gave more energy returned. More mist hung and danced upon the bed. More mist into his nostrils. She ran her delicate fingers through the salt and peppered hair that covered his chest. Fingers down his strong, well defined hairy stomach. Further below her fingers traveled. There with merely a touch and flick of her fingers unleashed his throbbing cock. She lowered his pants to his knees. Her hand lowered again. She pulled back the hood of his foreskin. She teased him, just at her own entrance. The Huntsman’s thickness was more than her hand could wrap around. Avarice took one deeper inhalation of mist before she let him enter her. She winced and cried out as she was entered for the first time. Avarice let out a grunt of pleasure as he began thrusting immediately. Tears fell from her eyes as Avarice continued to thrust forcefully. Forcefully without end, only caring about his pleasure. She bit her lip and soon the pain faded.

Hand to her groin, she enjoyed feeling him thrust in and out. Fingers wet with blood. Blood that she happily smeared under the Huntsman’s noise. He inhaled the sweet coppery astringency of the virgin blood. His heart raced and blood flowed. His eyes grew hungry. He thrust harder.

Avarice took Theodora Talisa’s hands into his own and placed them above her head. He held them with only one of his. Their bodies became one as he thrust like a wild animal. Every breath he took through his noise, there she was. Between the pain and ecstasy of him taking her, she spoke into his ear,

“Hunter Jack, I bind you. Huntsman to the Queen, I bind you. Avarice, I bind you to my will, undying. As you were Dame Mother’s, and as you were my sister’s, you are now mine.”

The pink mist with its hints of vanilla and black currants turned stale and became tinged with blood. It turned coppery crimson in Avarice’s mind. He inhaled the coppery smoke deeper. She let out a cry, a whimper. His eyes glazed over. With one final thrust into Theodora Talisa, he finished. He twitched and shook for a moment before sliding out, and falling to his side.

The mist overwhelmed him into a deep, dreamless slumber.

Theodora Talisa smiled wide before sliding out of bed and walking away from the bed and now ensnared Huntsman. She slowly approached the mirror doorway. Her pink slip reformed around her body from the floor in a mist. The blood that trailed down her leg evaporated. Throwing a hand into the air, the mirror rippled multiple colors. Walking through it, Theodora Talisa disappeared.

All that was left was the sleeping Huntsman and the bright moon.

Sixteen

Asena and her entourage of loyal guards traveled day and night far away from the tower of Theodora Talisa. They traveled with little rest. They traveled fast, back to the Hessen Forest that bordered the planes of Zhan’ding. There more scattered Wolf Clans arrived while she was away. They arrived to see the fabled Queen of the Wolves. They arrived to see who would reunite the fractured Wolves. They rested, and waited within the now foreboding woods. Great stone mounds and outcroppings broke the tender flesh of the dirt, and caves appeared naturally. Caves were silver was once mined.

Asena made her home in one of these great caverns, with only the closest of companions personally chosen by her, to protect her, to make love to her. The rest made due outside in the elements. They did not care; for they felt only inferior Humans dwelled within structures built by hand. Many true Wolves loved to feel the dirt beneath their paws, the crisp night air bite at their nose, and the breeze blow through their thick coats of fur. It made them feel alive.

In the fires that lit the cave, the silver veins glistened beautifully like stardust. Thick bands naturally mimicked the late night sky. Asena, in Human guise and naked, lay on her back upon a bed of animal furs, many of still damp from being freshly killed and ripped from flesh. Fire red hair sprawled out like a cape. Legs bent up and crossed, her foot dangled up and down playfully. She played with the glass bead that was the incomplete Bloodstone. She stared deep at its blood red color as it glistened in the firelight like a star.

Asena hummed softly to herself. She hummed a song she remembered her mother sang to her under light of the full moon. Her mother was a giant of a pale woman, whose hair was whiter than snow. She enjoyed listening to the river, near where her grandmother’s cabin rested, as her hair was combed. Asena no longer remembered the words, if the song even had any. She only remembered the tune. It calmed her nerves, and cleared her mind. But also heightened her senses.

Outside the cavern, Wolves gathered in a wide circle. Two fought. The circle gazed onward. They enticed them. All present enjoyed the rush of the fight. A fight they hoped resulted in a kill that they could feast upon. As the small critters and creatures of the forest were sufficient, the Clans that gathered craved a more, satisfying feast. The adrenaline was intoxicating to all those that watched.

Of those that fought, one was one of Asena’s personal guards. The creature’s white body low, drops of blood stained him. The beast he fought arrived only a short time ago, while his Queen was away. The newcomer arrived from the south of Thule to the far North. Having heard rumors of a Queen that had arisen near the House of Red.

The two Wolves slashed each other with their claws,

“How can you follow a creature that claims to be Queen?” The brown newcomer questioned.

“She does not claim—she is Queen!” The White Wolf barked.

“Any can make such claims. As she is not the first since the Fall!” The Brown Wolf growled, “You are the fool who is blinded!”

His cackles high, body low.

“I do not follow blindly!” The White Wolf barked. “Only the foolish refuse to believe!”

He then lunged and swiped his claw, digging and taking a deep chunk of flesh and brown fur with him. The Wolf yelped.

“How can you follow when the rumors spread like fleas and ticks?”

“The rumors will be put down like the vermin who spread them!” The White Wolf growled, body lowered.

Both Wolves launched at each other. Growls echoed into the cave. Asena listened for some time. The two were almost in time with her humming. She stopped and listened to the growls. She listened until she could bear no more. Enraged at the noises she heard, Asena stood, and fake Bloodstone left on the furs she laid upon.

From the caves entrance, she could see the two entranced by fighting. Where she stood the Winds that naturally exited the cave allowed her strong scent to be carried. It was carried into all their nostrils. Many gathered closer to the cave’s entrance scattered. Cowered in fear. Those closest to the fighting could only smell the disturbed dirt. The two fighting could only smell blood, and one another.

“She is not worth following—”

“Who dares question my authority?” Asena howled from the cavern, cutting of the Brown Wolf. Red hair covered most of her nudity, but not that she cared. She enjoyed being naked before her pets, and loyal subjects. It freed her from the constraints of humanity. It made her feel superior to them.

The Wolves silent, parted. She gazed upon the two creatures. Both bloodied from their claws swiping and teeth that gnawed each other. She remained at the entrance, “Your Queen has asked a question!” Asena howled again towards the fighting Wolves, “Who questions my authority?”

“This—
pitiful
creature here, questions you,
my
Queen,” Asena’s loyal guard bowed his head low. Teeth glistened at the bloodied brown Wolf. As she approached, he tucked his tail between his legs. He could see the anger flare in her jade eyes. He ducked away as to avoid the wrath she would bring swiftly down upon his opponent.

Asena stopped just outside the ring of Wolves. They parted like a wave. She sniffed the intoxicating blood that hung upon the air. She deeply inhaled its coppery astringency. It sweetly stung her nostrils. She licked her lips before she looked upon the lowly Brown Wolf with pity,

“Is that correct?”

The Wolf, who looked more auburn than brown from blood soaked fur, was worn down. He looked upon Asena with disgust, “If you were truly the Queen of the Wolves, as you claim—you would not appear before us as a disgusting two-legged sun worshipper!”

“I have chosen this avatar, to better communicate, my desires,” Asena decreed. Many in the circle bowed low to her. “I am your God Queen!”

“Perhaps the rumors are true.” The Brown Wolf barked.

“And of what rumors do you speak?” Asena’s eyes were on fire. They stared at the broken beast before her hungrily. They tried to penetrate him. Neither backed down from their gaze of another.

“That you are nothing more than a daughter of a Human—a filthy half-breed!” The Brown Wolf spat blood as he barked.

“MONGREL!” Asena with bloodlust pumping through her veins, leapt into the air. Skin tore apart. Rich red fur revealed and glistened in the moonlight. Joints reformed and twisted. Asena released a howl that made those that bowed cower. She landed a mighty beast, twice his size; atop the blood soaked Wolf that dared defy her. The Brown Wolf let out a gasp from the weight of the Asena upon his body. Her teeth sharp and wet with drool. He was trapped under the Queen’s massive paws. She growled low.

“You pathetic waste of a canine!” Asena growled so deep her body vibrated the air around her,

“How dare you question the
only
Queen of the Wolves!”

“For-forgive me, it will never happen again,
ahhh
!” The Wolf pleaded as Asena stepped upon the pinned creature’s throat.

“It will never happen again,
my Queen
,” Asena had her snout almost touching his, her voice low, but loud enough that all could still hear.

“It will never happen again,
my Queen
,” the Brown Wolf pleaded and repeated what he was told.

Asena removed her paw from his neck. He panted heavily.

“I know,” the massive Wolf dug her teeth sharply into the pinned creature’s neck. She dug and tore at every major artery. Her head dropped and dug over and over. The Wolves cries of anguish disappeared under mighty pools of blood that filled his lungs.

Blood sprayed like a fountain before running like a river. Asena’s mouth dripped crimson as she tore and pulled out his throat. Skin tore. Muscles ripped. Veins popped. Leaning her head back she swallowed it greedily. Shaking her head, blood sprayed everywhere. Chin dripped as she licked her snout happily.

“It will not,” Asena stepped off the dead Wolf and looked upon her Pack, and all the Clans gathered, “And let this be the
only
warning to who question my authority as Queen!”

The Wolves present all sat one after the other. Each leaned their heads and howled high into the sky. Their cry of obedience rang throughout the woods and beyond. Zhan’ding heard their song. It carried upon the Winds all the way to Ashok Orai. It sang and rang to all corners of the known realm. Those that had come for mere curiosity now believed in Asena. In that moment, Asena was Queen of All Wolves. The song sung called to the still scattered children of Lunalesca. Called them to come home. In the song that sung, she knew that her empire would become whole again.