Chapter 5

CHAPTER5

Though he’d been tempted, he couldn’t keep her in his realm. Sending her back to her own was harder than he’d expected. There was a twinge of displeasure at the idea of having her out of reach, but at least he could set her up to be safe and content until he came back for her.

The protective feelings that had sprung into existence, seemingly from nowhere, confused him. He found himself worrying about what would happen when he wasn’t there to protect her. The rules he’d left were mostly to ease his own concerns, especially in regard to that messenger job.

Her assumption, and his own, that it contained drugs had been drastically off base. He intended to have a ‘conversation’ at some point, with the Lev person who’d hired her. The man had known full well he was putting her in danger by sending her across town with a head in a bag. A literal head.

Master wasn’t entirely sure what had been behind the gruesome gift, but she’d have been in serious trouble if he hadn’t been with her. She was so naïve she hadn’t even looked inside, and would have walked in there completely unaware of the danger she was in.

As Krampus it was his job to punish the wicked, but that didn’t give him carte blanche to wipe out the entire criminal element of the city. His work was narrower in focus, and he’d already overstepped slightly to take out the small gang who’d attacked her, so other retribution would have to wait.

Still, he’d terrified the recipients of the bag and warned them away from retaliating against her. Hopefully that would be enough to keep her safe until he could return to claim her.

The neighborhood she lived in was full of people on the edge, just like she was. Leaving her with lots of money and expensive clothes would be noticed if she wasn’t careful. It would be like a feeding frenzy if anyone found out what she had, but he had no intention of leaving her to starve for another month.

Telling her to check into a hotel was the best solution. That and the other rules he’d carefully come up with, would ensure she was taken care of. The money, cards, and clothes would make sure she was entertained, so she wouldn’t mind the rules much.

He thought.

Master really didn’t know human women that well. He’d assumed that her gratitude for the huge favor he’d done her, and her own submissive fantasies, would be enough to ensure she obeyed. And if both of those failed, then the threats of punishment would keep her in line.

He pictured her spending tons of money, holed up in a fancy hotel room, enjoying herself as she dined on the best food the city had to offer.

That was not what he found when he returned on Krampusnacht to retrieve her.

“Aline.”

She jerked, and the car keys dropped to the ground as she spun around to see him. “You-you’re back!” she blurted.

“I told you I’d return.” Judging by the expression on her face, she hadn’t believed him.

“I know but… it’s been a while. I thought…”

“Thought I’d forgotten you? Changed my mind?” The thoughts were so vivid that they were practically shouted at him.

“Something like that.” Her voice wavered as she crouched down to retrieve her keys.

It gave him a second to take in the situation and he was more than a little confused. He’d given her thousands of dollars and credit cards with high enough limits that she could have charged a house, if she’d chosen. Instead…

“Is this what you bought with the money I left you?” One eyebrow went up as he stared at the vehicle. It was old, and not in an antique way. Rust spots peppered the faded paint and plastic sheeting had taken the place of a window on one of the back doors.

She popped back up. “Yeah, um, you said I could treat myself.”

“This isn’t what I’d call a treat. You could have bought a new one with what I gave you.” He frowned and turned to look around. “This is where you were living before.”

She shrugged. “I’m still living here, and a new car would have caused trouble. This one is more believable. It’s not like I wanted people to know I had money, right?”

Of course, that was the clever way to handle it, if she was intending to ignore his rules and stay where she was. “You were supposed to move into a hotel. I was very explicit about that.”

“I just never got around to it.” The tremor in her voice made it clear she wasn’t quite as blasé about the disobedience as she seemed.

He moved closer, pinning her against the side of the car. “So you decided to misbehave. Interesting choice. You’ll regret that, but I won’t. I’m going to enjoy punishing you.” He could tell she was already having second thoughts.

His hand slid into her hair, fisting in it as he yanked her head back to expose her neck. He ignored her gasp and leaned in close to whisper in her ear, “Such a rebel. We’ll see how bad you want to be after your first punishment.”

Her heart sped up and her breathing quickened. She was scared, but also aroused. He fed on that fear, and it was delicious. His tongue, still human for now, swiped across the tender skin of her neck, right over her pulse point.

She jumped and made a small whimpering sound behind closed lips as she trembled against him. She didn’t say a word. He wasn’t sure she was capable of speaking in that moment.

He inhaled deeply through his nose and then let out the breath in a long low chuckle. “Oh, little girl. You have so many lessons to learn. I can’t wait to get started.” He was tempted to take her right there. Fuck her against her junkpile of a car and never mind who saw it happen—she was his.

But there would be time for that once he brought her home. He let his arms drop and stepped back. “It’s time to go. Pack your things and make sure you don’t forget anything you want to keep. You won’t be coming back here.”

The intensity of her reaction had left her body weak, and she stumbled when he let her go. The distraction kept her from understanding what he’d said for a few seconds. “Wait. Um, I have to bring everything now? Can’t we come back later?”

“No. Anything you want needs to come with you now.”

“So…” she trailed off, swallowed hard, and tried again, “You don’t live here then? In Moscow I mean?”

“No.”

“Then where—”

“You are running out of time to collect your things. Most in your position aren’t given a warning so they can pack. You should be grateful for the chance.” Typically Krampus simply took his victims. He was mindful that this one would be his mate and was trying to be nicer than he normally would have been.

“In my—”

He cleared his throat and gave her a look. It was enough to get her moving. She turned and hurried inside the building without finishing her sentence.

Chasing her up three flights of stairs was of no interest to him, so he simply waited until she was at her door and then appeared behind her. She was distracted enough not to notice, though at this point, it really wouldn’t matter. She’d find out what and who he was soon.

“I don’t have much to pack,” she said as she moved around the one-room apartment collecting a few small items. “I’m not sure what to do about my furniture though.”

Her home had changed since his previous visit. Clearly she had at least been using the cards to make her life a little more comfortable. But it was still far from the luxury he’d pictured for her. Understandable. There was only so much she could have done without attracting attention, but he struggled not to frown as he looked around at the sad attempts to brighten the room.

“Pack things that are meaningful to you. Memories. Leave the rest.” It was an attempt to be tactful, rather than saying nothing she had was worth taking.

Her expression made it clear that she’d understood the underlying point. Her cheeks darkened as a flush of embarrassment heated her face. “Yeah, well, I don’t have a lot of meaningful things.”

She didn’t look at him as she went through her drawers and pulled out all the new clothes he’d left her. They went back into the leather case.

“You can leave those if you like. I can replace them.”

She shot a look his way and her mouth twisted. “That would be a waste. I haven’t even worn most of them.”

Master let it go when he realized that aside from that, she grabbed only a few small items. She really didn’t have much else to bring. “Is that all?”

She hesitated, looking around the room and then shook her head. “I guess. I lost most of my stuff in a fire a few years ago. Photo albums and stuff all burned up.” Her mouth tilted down and her eyes seemed a little watery.

“Well, you’ll have plenty of new things soon. Whatever you want.” Humans liked things. He thought the reminder that money would no longer be an issue would cheer her up, but she didn’t look any happier.

After one last glance around the room she fumbled in her pocket for her key ring. “Okay, I’m ready. I should give my key to the manager, I guess. He’ll keep the damage deposit because I didn’t clear it out, but I hear he always finds a reason to keep it anyway.

He took the keys from her and set them on the counter. “He’ll figure it out when he doesn’t get paid.”

She frowned and then another thought came to her. “Oh, what about my car though? What if I drive it and meet you… wherever.”

Master laughed. “That wouldn’t work very well, and you won’t need that car where we’re going. Just leave it there.”

“But I just bought it,” she protested.

“You can’t bring it, Aline.” And even if she could bring it, she’d have no use for it in his realm, but she was upset. He could see it growing.

He wasn’t entirely sure why the thought of leaving the beat-up piece of junk was bothering her, but her eyes were filling with tears now and he found it alarming.

It couldn’t possibly have much value. “I can get you a brand new one, a dozen if you like.”

The offer was real enough. The cars wouldn’t be. They’d be made of mist and magic like everything else in his realm, but they would feel real enough to her. She’d be able to drive them if she wanted, or just look at them if she didn’t. It seemed a fair trade, but it didn’t help.

“You don’t understand.” The words burst from her at full volume and then she bit her lip as if to hold back more.

It wasn’t a tantrum. It was real unhappiness, and he had no idea what to do with that. “You’re right. I don’t. Do you want to explain?”

“Do you know how hard it is to get a car around here? It meant… freedom. It meant I could go anywhere I wanted, and I didn’t have to be scared someone would grab me. You don’t know what it’s like to stand at a bus stop in the middle of the night and cringe every time someone walks by.”

The gush of words seemed to help, and she took a deep breath, regaining some control. “I could even have driven out of the city. Gone someplace else. I know to you it’s just junk, but to me it meant choices and… and it was mine,” she added.

Human emotions were a lot. He had a glimmer of the issue, but he didn’t entirely understand it. Any words from him would probably make things worse. Finally, he just pulled her into his arms.

It was the first time he’d held her, and it felt surprisingly good. She remained stiff for a long moment, and he was afraid she might pull away, but then she relaxed and leaned into him. They stood like that for several minutes and he could feel some of the stress leaving her body.

“Sorry. I know I’m being silly.” It was nearly a whisper.

“I don’t think you’re being silly.” Her feelings were valid even if he didn’t understand them. “Maybe there’s someone you would like to give it to? If it meant freedom and choices for you, it might mean that for someone else?”

“Oh!” She pulled back and her eyes lit up. “Is that okay? I mean, I know you paid for it. There’s a neighbor downstairs with three kids; a car would probably make her life a lot easier.”

“Of course, it’s fine. Ju—” Before he could finish what he was about to say, she was grabbing the keychain off the counter, and prying the car key off the ring.

“I should write out a bill of sale for her too.” She dashed around the room grabbing a notebook and a pen, scrawling some words on it, while he watched in amusement. “We can drop them off on the way out.”

He’d intended to leave directly from her apartment, but now he found himself carrying her suitcase and following her down the stairs to a different apartment. He stood there awkwardly as Aline explained about the car. The explosion of emotions from both women left him shaking his head, but he was glad he’d made the suggestion.

He was less glad about how long it took for Aline to say goodbye. He’d waited over a month to claim her, and every second of delay was driving him crazy. He cleared his throat a few times, hoping to encourage her to wrap things up.

Instead he found himself being pulled over and introduced as her fiancé. Well, he supposed the word did fit. The proposal wasn’t exactly typical, but it counted.

It led to him being hugged by a strange woman, and the next thing he knew there was a small child wrapped around his leg and he was starting to panic. This was not how the day was supposed to go.

None of it went according to plan.

It was supposed to be a quick stop in the mortal realm to pick up his mate and bring her home so he could show her all the carnal delights that came with being his. For the past month he’d thought of almost nothing else.

He was dying to strip her naked, to make her writhe under his touch. He wanted to see her expression when he made her come for the first time.

At no point had he pictured sitting down in a cramped apartment to eat macaroni with microwaved buckwheat sausages, and children on either side of him. But that was what he did, while his mate chattered happily with her friend.

He forced himself to smile and eat the overcooked noodles so that she could have these last few minutes to say her farewells. It was thoughtful. It was the kind of thing he should do for his mate, knowing she’d have an uneasy transition coming.

He was pleased with his kindness. This mating business really wasn’t as complicated as the others said it would be.

After the meal, which seemed to go on forever, Aline showed no signs of being ready to leave. In fact, he was beginning to think she was stalling to avoid it. He frowned and when they got up from the table and started to move to the futon in the living room, he took the opportunity to pull her aside.

With his mouth just brushing her ear he said, “I would have thought you’d be anxious to experience some of those fantasies you were so eager to explore. Especially since you weren’t allowed to come during the past month. I expected you to be desperate by now. You have been waiting like a good girl, right?”

“I—I uh… oh, you were serious about that?”

Master could feel the heat rising to the surface and knew she’d broken another rule. He chuckled and then nipped her ear lobe sharply. “Another reason to punish you. I can’t wait to have you on your hands and knees, with your ass bright red, begging to suck my cock.”

She made a low needy sound as the words did exactly what they were intended to do. After that she stopped stalling. A quick goodbye and they were out the door, with Aline practically tugging him along.

He smirked and wished he’d thought of doing it earlier. But it didn’t matter. It was only the first day and there would be plenty of time.

“I’m glad you got to spend some time with your friend. It will be a while before you get to see her again,” he said as they left the building.

Aline turned her head, eyebrows going up. “Oh, she isn’t a friend. I mean she seems nice enough, but she only moved in last week. I just figured the car would be a help for her.”

Master stopped in his tracks. His brows furrowed. “You’re not friends?”

“Nope.”

“Then… why did we just sit there for almost two hours while you talked?”

“Well, it seemed rude just to hand her the keys and leave. Besides with all those kids I think she was just happy to have adults to talk to.” A sly grin tilted her lips up at one side.

He stared at her. Humans were the strangest creatures. He would never have endured that meal, with toddlers crawling all over him, if he’d known they were strangers.

“What?” She laughed. “Didn’t you enjoy the buckwheat sausages?”

His eyebrows slowly climbed, almost to his hairline. There was something about her amusement that clued him in. “Aline… did you keep us there all that time on purpose?”

“Maybe.” The sing-song tone made it clear she had.

“Why?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Like I said, I thought she could use the company, and I figured you might enjoy seeing how the other side lives. With your fancy clothes and money, I’m guessing you wouldn’t know much about life around here.”

He kept looking at her, slowly shaking his head as he laughed. It had been a prank. A month ago he would have been thinking about how to train that behavior out of her, but now… he liked the fire and sass. The mortals he normally took home were too terrified to cause him any trouble.

She was wrong though. Krampus knew more about poverty and subsistence level living than she could ever imagine. He’d never experienced those deprivations, but he’d been around when people starved through the winters because the harvest had been bad.

He’d seen villagers having to choose between eviction from their land or turning over their only food in tithes. Watched them eat soup that was nothing more than pine needle broth, and wear clothes that were ragged and threadbare.

Like most of his siblings he rarely took his victims from the people at the bottom. They were already suffering and most of their sins, like hers, came from necessity. To survive they needed to be fighters and he could see that in her.

There was a reason Krampus often chose their mates from those who were struggling, and their regular victims from those at the top. She didn’t need to know that, so all he said was, “It certainly was an experience.”