17. Seventeen

seventeen

After several minutes of being held, I worked up the courage to ask him, "How do you not have nightmares?"

"Who said I don't?"

"Then how do you cope with them? The only time I feel safe is when I'm in your arms. I couldn't focus at all today at work. I kept looking around, waiting for someone to snatch me from my cubicle. To tell me my escape was just a dream and that I was still trapped in that basement."

His arms tightened around me and I burrowed deeper into his chest.

"We might have had an easier time because until very recently we didn't know there was any other way to exist. Our whole lives were spent in captivity, our every move dictated by the whims of scientists and militants.

"It's only since escaping that we've experienced kindness and comfort."

I sat up and speared my fingers into his ruff, then smoothed my palms over his ears. "When I think of what you must have gone through, my own experience pales in comparison."

He shook his head. "No. Your trauma is no less traumatic."

He buried his nose in my hair and we sat in the quiet for several minutes.

"Would it help to tell me what happened?"

I snorted. "My therapist wants me to open up about it. She says that talking about it out loud will make it more concrete, and less like a bogeyman. That it will help me move on."

"Do you believe her?"

I sucked in a breath. In a small voice I answered, "I do."

"Would you tell me? I've been told I'm a good listener."

There was a certain vulnerability in the way he asked. Like he wanted me to trust him with my demons, but he also didn't want to push too hard. It cracked my heart wide open, and all my trauma and fear came pouring out.

"I was walking to my car after work and a van pulled up next to me. I didn't think anything of it at first. It's a public parking lot so strange cars are often parked there. I only looked over when I heard the side door open.

"Two men jumped out. They had masks and gloves on. I remember thinking I had to fight, but I never got the chance. They were too strong. Something was shoved against my face and everything went dark."

I swallowed hard. I think if Drym had made the tiniest sound, I wouldn't have been able to continue. But he didn't.

"When I woke up, I was in the basement. The others—Sarah, Grace, and Catherine—were standing in their cages staring at me. Catherine was quiet. She'd been there the longest. Grace greeted me with a smile and said, ‘Welcome to hell!' in a cheery voice even as tears streaked down her face.

"I asked them what was going on, but before they could answer three men walked in. Two of them were obviously powerful. They walked like they owned the world. The third carried a clipboard and took notes as the other two spoke.

"They were…"

I choked on a sob, and Drym's arms tightened around me.

"They were giving us numbers. I didn't realize until later it was the order they'd hunt us. Catherine knew. She pressed herself against the bars and spit at them, hurled curses and even reached an arm through to try and grab them.

"Sarah cowered in the back of her cell, her knees tucked to her chest and her head down." I shook my head. "She presented no challenge. That's what they said about her."

Drym's hand smoothed up and down my back and I tried to relax my shoulders and fists.

"They took her first. I kept thinking they were just going to rape her, and she'd be back. That we'd work out a way to escape together.

"They took Grace three days later. She walked out with her head held high. I don't think she played their game. We could hear the dogs just outside. Could hear her screaming at them, saying she refused to run."

I took a deep breath.

"The crack of the gunshot was so loud."

I swiped my wet cheeks on Drym's chest.

"After that, they told us the rules of the game. If we made it to the perimeter of their hunting area, we'd be free. Neither of us thought that was true. Catherine flat out told them it was bullshit, but they insisted. Told us the perimeter was marked with plastic tape tied around trees.

"We both knew they didn't want a repeat of Grace. It was no fun for them if we didn't run. What's a hunt where the prey gives up?" I snorted.

"That didn't mean I wasn't going to try. I expected to be next, but they took Catherine instead. Before she passed through the doorway she looked back at me. Determination was etched in every one of her muscles. We nodded at each other, and then she was gone.

"I think that was the worst part. Watching as one by one they were led out and never returned. Seeing our numbers dwindle and knowing there was nothing I could do to stop it.

"We tried. We dug at the window casings, but they were metal set into stone. We tried to lure the guards close enough to grab them. We tried to find anything we could use as a weapon.

"Every time a thought didn't work, or a plan failed, our hope dimmed. When they came to lead me out, I didn't look back. As soon as my feet hit the dirt outside, I took off. I ran as fast as I could, knowing I wouldn't be fast enough."

I wrapped my arms around Drym's neck.

"My mind knew it was hopeless, but my body wouldn't give up. I would be dead if it weren't for you. Some rich asshole's prize to brag about with other rich assholes."

"I am glad beyond measure that you found me, Kendal."

I looked into my monster's eyes and said, "Not nearly as glad as I am you found me."

Drym kept his word. Every night that week, just after full dark, the gentle knock came at my door. Every night he held me, cradled in his arms. Never once did he push for more.

I still desired him. I'd felt his big, beautiful cock, and it ruined me for any other, but the stress of moving through the world all day kept our nights chaste. I prowled my apartment from the time I got home until I heard that scratch at the door. Restless, unable to settle until he arrived.

Only in his arms, surrounded by his body, could I sleep.

My therapist would not approve. I knew full well I'd moved into unhealthy territory. I didn't care. My coping mechanism may be bad, but who was I to say it wasn't exactly what I needed?

Somewhere in the far reaches of my mind, I knew a crash was coming. That was a problem for future me. Present me was blissfully ignorant of all issues that might arise from staunchly ignoring my mental health and relying on a seven-foot-tall monster security blanket.

I was more at ease with Drym than with any human I knew. The fourth night, he showed up with a laptop. He explained they'd purloined it from BioSynth. I offered to help him comb the data for information on who owned the company and where they might have run.

"My brothers are looking into that." He said from the other end of the couch.

My face scrunched in confusion. "So what are you looking for?"

He never looked up from tapping on the keyboard as he replied, "Your kidnappers."

I fell back onto the couch in shock. My eyes trained on him and the ridiculous sight he made. The laptop seemed tiny under his huge hands, his typing slow and careful as he pressed each key with a claw.

"Why are you looking for my kidnappers?"

His ears flicked back and forth, the end of his tail thumping on the wooden floor. "To kill them."

His voice held such malice, his expression determined as he continued to click the keys. Heat flooded through me. I saw his nose twitch before his glowing eyes raised to mine. I should be embarrassed that he smelled my arousal, but it just made me wetter.

My breath grew heavy as we stared at each other. I licked my lips and saw his eyes dart to them. I took a deep breath. "I need you."

He closed the laptop and carefully set it on the floor before turning toward me. "What do you need from me?"

I ignored the flush that rose on my skin and pushed past the embarrassment. How could I still be embarrassed? "I need you to fuck me."

He started and I saw his fingers flex. "How do you need me to fuck you?"

I tilted my head. "What do you mean?"

His nose lowered, his back hunched until he was staring straight into my eyes. "Do you need it slow and gentle, a rising crescendo that builds until you can't stand it anymore and you beg for release? Or do you need it hard and fast, with me pounding into you and using your body until it shatters beneath me?"

It was hard to push words from my panting chest. "Yes," was all I managed.

He nodded and somehow understood what I meant. My knees were bent, my back against the opposite arm of the couch. I jumped when his hands curled around my ankles and pulled, laying me flat on my back. My sleep shirt rode up my stomach, my shorts bunched around my waist.

He slid my shorts and underwear off my legs in one smooth pull. He spread my thighs, one foot on the floor and the other wrapped around his back. My gasp when his cold, wet nose trailed up my inner thigh turned into a moan as he attacked my clit with his forked tongue.

In seconds I was writhing beneath him, trying to push closer, riding his tongue with wanton abandon. His hands circled my hips, holding me in place as he feasted. Tension coiled and built and as suddenly as he'd started, he pulled away. I whimpered as cool air hit my flesh.

I felt his cock notched at my entrance and tried to lift my hips to greet him, but he held them still. He filled me in one smooth thrust, the spikes along his shaft scraping deliciously along my walls.

Seated to the hilt, he ground the growing bump at the top of his slit against my clit. He pulled out, thrust, circled his small knot on my clit again and again. He set a steady, punishing rhythm. Without his hands holding my hips, I would have traveled the length of the couch. Each time he withdrew, he pulled me toward him.

His teeth nipped at my neck, my chest, my breasts, his tongue flicking at my ear. He was everywhere at once, and dominated my body as he'd promised. I dug my fingers into the thick fur at his shoulders and bowed my back. His tail wrapped around my thigh and squeezed, pulling me impossibly wide. The angle of his thrusts changed and I moaned as he slid along the bundle of nerves, crashing into my cervix. His pace increased just to the point of pain. I was so turned on liquid rushed from me, making his thrusts squelch erotically.

"Come. Now," he demanded in my ear as his teeth rasped the space between my neck and shoulder.

My body obeyed and I screamed. The world seemed to go black, the only sensation him moving over and into my body. I drifted down, aftershocks making my legs jump.

He slid to the floor and sat me up on the couch, my legs forced wide by his body. I nearly came unglued when he swept his tongue up my cleft, circling my clit. I looked at him in shock through hooded lids.

"I'm not even close to done with you."