CHAPTER 5

“WHAT…?” I ORDER my brain to pry the words out and put them on my tongue, but my tongue’s too busy lapping my lips. The water does nothing to disguise his lower half. His gray-blue cock nestles on the black fur on his thigh. As he shifts, stretching his back, his cock slips off of its perch into the briny deep. For a second, a glimmer of gold shines from the tip before it tumbles away.

“Struggling to form the words?” A red eye peeks out from below his thick lashes. I nervously tighten the fur around my shoulders even though I’m so sweat-drenched I might slip right out of it. “Then I shall tell your tale for you. On Christmas Eve you were summoned to the house of one Damien DeVere the second.”

Gritting my jaw, I give a curt nod. Krampus doesn’t even glance my way. He’s returned to soaking in his mega hot tub.

“Where you were asked to do some menial work, no doubt with the promise of extra coin given the nearness of the holiday.”

“I had to babysit his kid.”

Krampus takes another peek. “My condolences,” he says before resuming his relaxation. If he wasn’t a horned goat-man from hell, I’d half expect him to put cucumbers over his double-pupil eyes. “Just as the night is winding down, the master of the house returns with offers of greater riches, gifts, and more if you agree to stay until Christmas.”

I dig deeper into my brain. The fog hasn’t crept away, only lightened. Flickers of a room, a bell, men in suits… Undertakers! No, that was a clock. A ski trip. Yes.

“I turned him down.”

Arms splash into the water and Krampus sits up in surprise. “Really? That’s a first.”

“There was no fucking way I was going to spend all of Christmas trapped with that little monster.” The night unspools in my brain like a poorly edited montage. That brat flushing my birth control. Toilet paper and hot sauce. Broken glass…

A groan slips out. “But he offered me a drink, and I took it.” Fuck.

“You woke to find yourself chained up,” he continues my tale like he was there the whole time.

“In whatever this is. I do not babysit in sleepwear,” I say as if my babysitting scruples are in question. After this, I’m never going near another family’s brat again. “I woke just before you…appeared.”

“Slid down the chimney.”

I stare at the man who could probably tear a chimney off of a house barehanded. “Sure,” falls from me, hiding none of my disbelief. “I don’t remember. I don’t… Why? Why did he do that?” Ignoring the whole serial killer possibility it doesn’t make a damn bit of sense. I’m a nobody. Rich people don’t kidnap nobodies unless, again, serial killers.

“It’s quite simple. You were bait.”

Bait? Like a minnow on a hook?

My wrists throb and I gulp.

Exactly like a tiny minnow helplessly dangling off of a line. “For who?” tumbles from my mouth just as I stare at him. How does he know all of this? Can he see the past? Was he watching the whole time?

Krampus places a hand to his chest and slightly tips his head. “Me.”

“You? Why the…?” The chains, the silk nightie, the fact he left me in a dark room next to the fireplace… “Are you telling me, I was some fucking yule sacrifice to the goat god?”

“I’ve never been called a god before.” He smiles like I complimented him.

Rage percolates in my blood. “He tricked me into the worst job of my life. I was tortured by that sniveling little shit for two hours. Just for him to strip me down and tie me up like the goddamn Christmas roast!” I unleash a roar at the man bobbing in the water. He doesn’t even blink at my clenched fists, burning face, and straining neck.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

His easy-going demeanor shifts. “That is a long tale not so easily answered, but to cut it short, you were there so I could not complete my job.”

“I was a fucking distraction? Like an air horn or saying ‘look over there!’” I can’t let this go. That rich asshole turned me into nothing more than a wrench thrown at someone’s kneecaps, or a bright piece of candy left on the table. Oh, fuck him and that fucking demon spawn.

A loud splash shakes me from my endless loop of cursing DeVere out. I start, realizing I’d been pacing through the spa and dragging the fur with me. The ends are sopping wet and growing heavier as they soak up more water. A single quick snort whips me away before I can feel too foolish.

He’s curled his hand under his chin and keeps tapping a finger to his lips. “Interesting. Most fall into despair if they ask about the truth, and even fewer bother. I’ve never seen such anger before.”

“This is nothing.” I wrench my arms up and clench my fists. “Once I get my hands on him—”

“No!” His thunderous command claps around the spa and my arms drop. I glare, but he closes his eyes and leans back—all interest in me gone. “You will walk through that door and forget Mr. DeVere and all he’s done to you.”

Just walk on through a door, erase all that trauma and the terrible night with one step. That sounds fantastic. I wring my neck around until I’m able to just make out the red door down the hall. Escape would be easy. The goat-man doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to stop me. But I can’t shake another nagging thought. “How many times has this happened?”

“Hmm?”

“You said there were others,” I point out. Krampus’ calm face twists for a second before he smooths it away. “He’s done this before.”

“Yes. I cannot recall how often, but it’s always the same. Some nubile young lady is trussed up before the fireplace. I stumble upon her and—”

His hand gliding under my breast, almost cupping it flashes through my mind. “You cop a feel?” I ask, my cheeks burning and heart racing at not the touch but the anticipation of it.

There’s no pulled face at being caught. Krampus only smiles and leans back. “No, that’s rare. You’re a different specimen from his usual lot. They’re usually so small and vulnerable. I could snap them like a twig between my fingers.”

Great. Yeah. I’m not dainty. I’ve never dated a man taller than me and there was only one who came close. If any man tried to pick me up, he’d probably fall over and break his coccyx. Except for the eight-foot-tall monster; he held me like I was a matchstick doll. A small, vulnerable, terrified doll that he curled around in bed.

“Each girl I break from the chains is brought back to my lair, allowed to rest and recuperate, then leave. It’s become my Christmas tradition, I suppose.”

There could have been dozens of girls he’s kidnapped…rescued each year. All of them dropped into his bed like an acorn in the sea. Swallowed by the furs and his rough, hairy body as he holds them tight in dreams.

“You’re upset.”

For a second I though that maybe I was special. Someone you wanted to drag back to your lair and spear with your goathood until I tore all of that black fur off your chest. But nope. I was just another girl on another Christmas.

“This is why I’d rather you leave before answering your questions. All it does is needlessly upset you.”

The cryptic comments, the way he stripped down without a care… Was that all to scare me off? Well, showing off his bare ass sure didn’t work. I’d have walked through fire to follow that.

I frown at myself for giving in to baser instincts. Yes, fine, he’s attractive—as hot as a man with hooves and horns can be. But there’s a much bigger picture here. Some asshole keeps drugging and kidnapping women every Christmas, and no one’s stopping him.

“I’m not upset,” I snarl.

“No?”

“I’m angry. I want to tear him to pieces, then chain him up in his little torture dungeon and beat those pieces some more!”

A jingle dances in the air like a sleigh passing by. My eyes dart up as if I expect to see Santa flying overhead. But as they drop, the Loch Ness monster lurks between Krampus’ thighs. Water laps around his rod-straight cock piercing to the sky. But what dries my throat and digs my nails into the fur is a gold hoop curling from the tip of his cock down through the frenulum. It looks like the hoop people put through bull’s noses to lead them around, but it’s not on a nose. No, it’s right there, hanging off the crown of his cock, just daring me to curl my finger through it and run my fingers down his shaft.

The cock jerks and I leap back just as a hand slides up from the water. Long claws cinch around the gray cock. Staring me in the eye, Krampus pumps his fist up his shaft. He draws the tip of his tongue to the edge of his lips, then keeps going. Just as his tongue reaches his chin, he brushes his thumb over the gold hoop. A low groan of pleasure erupts with such deep bass, water ripples toward me.

As quickly as he stroked himself to a full erection, his hand falls into the water and he sits back like it never happened. Though, even at this distance, I spot the blue veins pulsing up his shaft for more. “All I can offer you is peace. Return home. Forget this night. Forget DeVere. Forget…any pain that fell upon your brow.”

I crane back to the door. “So, just to be sure I understand this, if I walk through that door, I’ll be back in my apartment.”

“On Christmas morning, your mind clear of all that transpired. You’ll awaken in your bed refreshed and happy.”

“Any time?” I ask, looking back at him.

“Hmm?”

“I can go back at any time and it will always return me to Christmas?” My heart flutters. I keep clawing at my thighs, lifting the nightie’s hem higher to scrape down my thighs.

Krampus stares past me to the door, then he nods. “Yes. You won’t have missed a thing.”

“Good,” I say and drop the fur off my shoulders.