Chapter 8

IVORY

The memory of the night before came back to me. Gailie had arrived, giving Luna the cold shoulder, and the silent treatment. Luna simply rolled her eyes and appeared bored. But as amusing as that was, a stranger had arrived in the guise of my demon. She'd worn a ragged tunic stained with blood. Dried streaks of dark red covered her exposed skin. It was a frightful contrast to her gray tone. Her form was taller, scarily thin, so much so you could see every shift of muscle.

I'd opened my mouth several times to demand answers. She shifted when the urge struck her. Luna had even shown me the human form that appeared oddly wrong on her. I don't know what it said about me that I'd missed her sharp teeth and forked tongue, the spikes of her spine rubbing together in a weird soothing sound. Her nails were short and pale, I loved her black claws. The way they felt piercing the flesh of my hips when she took me.

I'd waited days for the meltdown to begin. Was something broken within me from years of imprisonment that any attention would draw me in? The short periods of time she was away from me were torturous. Painful enough that I searched her out wherever she was in the building. Even in the heat, I rubbed the sudden chill from my arms. Goosebumps forming under my palms.

"Is there a reason you're hiding out here?" Luna's voice came from behind me.

I glanced back over my shoulder to find her leaning in the open doorway with deceptive calmness.

"Where did you go last night?"

‘Do you want a pretty lie or an ugly truth?" she asked as she pushed off from the doorjamb and approached me. Her leanness suggested that she lacked physical strength, but I knew the strength that existed below her thin frame.

"I'd prefer the truth, but I'm scared of it."

"I visited your father," she answered, as she lifted her hand to tuck my hair behind my ear with dangerous claws.

"Is he still alive?" While I loved my father, it was an emotion ingrained in loyalty and not any father-daughter bond.

"He probably wishes he wasn't. I went a bit… old school." She smirked, and I didn't know but it made me roll my eyes, and purse my lips. "He was with two women when I arrived."

I gasped. I'd never pictured my father loving someone other than my mother. It was disgusting to think of him with any woman, more so with two.

"They appeared to be about your age. I searched his mind for his greatest fear. It was being buried alive. Tame in comparison and so very stereotypical. People have four core fears. Some primal instinct left over from the days of Neanderthals. Once I made him feel as if he was being buried, trapped inside his mind. Well," she paused and hugged my waist with one arm. "I set off his companions who attempted to tear him apart and eat him alive before his security arrived."

I gagged at the image of my father set upon with nails and teeth. What would the women have to endure when they realized what they'd done?

"Gailie threatened to snitch me out to you. I'm surprised she didn't."

"You're not one to be threatened."

"You've charmed my assistant, she has become annoyingly disobedient. It may be time to trade her in."

"No!" I panicked and then shoved against her chest when she laughed at me.

"I've kept her around a century, if I really wanted to do away with her I'd have done it long before now."

Luna had a strange sweetness about her when she interacted with the pixie, a tiny, winged creature that I'd only ever seen in storybooks or in movies. I'd been charmed by her as soon as she greeted me the evening I arrived. Gailie had seemed so excited to meet me.

"That seems almost sentimental."

"It's mental, that's for sure. I almost fed her to a ravenous Lycan the night she was given to me in a pretty gilded cage." Luna let out a long-suffering sigh. "Last night she smacked me with a wing, she's not cowering in fear. I've become too lenient with her."

"Luna." I breathed her name as I moved closer to her. "What happens now? With what happened with my father and all."

"I run this city, my purpose is to keep the balance in place. Creatures all over grew tired of hiding within the shadows. The more humans fear us the easier it is to keep them in their place. That's where I come in. While my powers work on more than mortals, that's my job."

"So you're in charge of everything?" That didn't shock me in any way.

"For the most part. I keep everyone in line. Keep the torches and pitchfork mentality at a minimum. Yet for some reason, they've been attempting to lure me with beautiful things… You being the latest one."

"So I'm just a thing, a pretty piece of scenery. I feel so special," I snarked because I liked the way the red shimmered in her black eyes when I did.

"You should, I'd planned to kill you the night they gave you to me. You didn't tame me as they'd hoped, but I definitely enjoy my sexy princess."

My cheeks stung at the growly way she called me princess. No one had ever used endearments. The limited memories I had of my mother, I couldn't remember her using them either. I was always just Ivory. My father had barely said my name at all. On occasion I wondered if he'd loved me at all. He only kept me alive for appearance purposes. He'd given me to Luna so easily.

"What's going on in your head?" she asked as she lowered her head to brush soft kisses to each corner of my mouth.

"You can't read my thoughts?"

"I could, but I refrain, I enjoy hearing you talk more."

"What about me made you want to keep me?" The longer I was around her the freer I became with my curiosity.

"Before you arrived I assumed you were a spoiled princess not worth the skin they wasted creating you."

I flinched but she soothed me by stroking my back up and down with her claw tips.

"None of that. The last one they sent to me, I fed to vampires. The moment Gailie ushered you into my room, I was obsessed. I wanted to break you, but not in the ways I'd done before. You were soft." She kissed me. "Innocent." Another one. "You didn't possess the hardness of experience to hide your emotions from me. You were terrified but so resigned to your fate. Being mine won't be easy."

"I don't want to see you do your job."

"I'll protect you from that. Yet I will require you to attend the odd event with me. There are traditions that need to be respected. In our modern times, a lot of our natures have turned into businesses and deals. Alliances. I run this club, no laws exist here but mine. While I've threatened anyone who even looks at you, I still need you to stay away from the club. Only attend with me with you."

"I've listened to what happens down there. You don't have to worry about me becoming curious."

"Don't say that, one night I may want to show you off. Rumors have been coming to me about your shopping trips with Gailie."

I lowered my head to hide my smile from her. The first time I'd left the building, Gailie had taken me shopping for new clothes, foods I liked, or wanted to try. Everyone I'd met, no matter their species, had treated me with the utmost respect. I knew that had more to do with who Luna was—the damage she could cause. The freedom to come and go was addictive. If I craved something or just wanted to get fresh air, I could simply leave. Humans in that part of the city were rare.

Luna told me there was a stigma on humans mixing with them–especially dating one of them. But I'd also noticed they weren't treated with the same reverence I was.

"Are humans mistreated here?"

"On occasion, to some of us, humans are still considered food or toys. There are clubs in this district that pay humans quite well for their time…and blood. This world is as far removed from your tower as it can get. Adjustment takes time, but I can't let you go. And whatever lengths I need to go to in protecting, you won't ever be too far. You have to understand that. I'm not a human, I don't possess the same morality."

"I understand that, but how long before you become bored with me and want a new toy?" I asked.

The painful tightening of her hand in my hair when she jerked my head back forced my gaze to hers.

"You're mine. I won't ever let you go. Princess, there is nowhere in the world you could escape to that I won't find you."

The red in her gaze intensified. I'd never seen that anger aimed my way before and I didn't like it. I knot formed in my throat and I was unable to speak, I was only able to nod my agreement. She easily lifted me against her chest with one arm and turned to carry me inside. I gasped as I sailed through the air, I bounced when I landed on the bed.

"Strip, princess. My rule of nudity was made clear on your first night here. Disobeying me required punishment. Take off that dress and turn over onto your hands and knees."

My heart hammered against my ribs. I rushed to comply. A moment of insecurity hit me at my plump body on display, but it didn't last long. The way she loved on me told me every inch of me was desirable. Her teeth had left scars all over my body, the most prominent on my neck for everyone to see. She'd marked me as hers.

I squeaked as she grabbed my hips and jerked me down until my knees perched on the edge of the mattress. Her rough palm stroked over the ample curves of my backside.

"Princess, you will learn to obey me." She growled deeply.

A scream lodged in my throat at the first smack of her hand. I felt the leashed strength. She usually tempered it so as not to hurt me in any way other would bring me pleasure. The spanking had nothing to do with pleasure, though. As she connected with one cheek, then the other, repeatedly, my bottom turned hot and felt swollen.

My heavy breasts swayed beneath me with the impact. The soft rolls of my stomach jiggled, along with my thick thighs. Even through the pain I relished the pleasure she took in my body that society would consider fat. Fat had become beauty where I'd always been made to feel ugly. The way she fucked me told me I was anything but. Beautiful. Sexy. Lush. I lost myself in my punishment even in the pleasure of the pain. I knew she could see my pussy growing wet and flushed. I'd learn my lesson but she'd fuck me after, and I wanted nothing more.