Those brilliant golden eyes are slit like a snake’s. It shouldn’t surprise me, but I still stare into them in a trance, as if he can actually hypnotize me. I reach up and wrap my fingers around his wrist, planning on pulling him away from me, but once there, once I feel the warmth, I linger.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
“Such fire in your eyes,” he murmurs. “Your own kind threw you to the monsters. It’s such a shame.” He leans closer. “With that fire, you could have been a queen.”
“You could let me go,” I say, blinking and feeling as if I’m clearing some sort of fog from my brain. “You could let me walk right past.”
His lips tilt up. “But where would be the fun in that?”
He leans in then, as if he’s going to kiss me. I can’t decide if I want him to or if by doing so, he’ll kill me with some sort of venom I’m not prepared for. Some small part of me wants to say damn the consequences and see what this beautiful monster tastes like, but another part of me sees it for the bad idea it is. Still, I can’t pull away.
“Such intoxicating magic in your veins,” he purrs, his breath fanning across my lips.
I blink dumbly. “What?”
He doesn’t get the chance to answer. Another presence enters the forest, and at first, I worry it’s the teasing monster again. I jerk in his hold, even as his lips curl up in annoyance.
“Nero! Release the human!”
The booming voice echoes around us. Only then do I realize how silent the trees are. There are no animals, no wind. It’s as if the two predators have caused the forest to tuck into its holes and hide.
The monster, Nero, blows out a puff of air and straightens, but he still doesn’t release me. “She’s the annual offering, Grimus. You cannot possibly be claiming her for yourself.”
I twist, searching for who this Grimus is, but I can’t see him in the darkness he stands in. Clearly, Nero can, or else he wouldn’t be speaking to him.
“It matters not what I plan to do with her. I’ve allowed you to remain in my territory only because you cause no trouble for me.” The owner of the voice, Grimus, steps from the darkness, and my eyes widen at the sight of the monster before me. “Are you starting trouble now?”
Nero sighs. “I was just going to play.” He glances at me. “I wasn’t going to eat her.” At my narrowed eyes, he grins, revealing those sharp teeth once more. “Unless she asked me to.”
Despite the wetness between my thighs, I bare my teeth at him, which only serves to bring back his amusement. Slowly, the white scales uncoil from around me, dropping me back on my feet as he pulls away. I sway slightly but refuse to fall in front of these two monsters, especially since this newcomer could be saving me to kill me himself. He certainly looks like it.
“Don’t look so sad, firefly,” he purrs. “Perhaps we’ll play again.”
“Fuck you,” I spit out.
“Oh, I intend to.” The way he purrs the words has me clamping my thighs together, but there’s another threat in the area now, and my eyes trail back to the monster standing on the edge, his arms folded across his chest in a way that only highlights how fucking massive he is.
I’ve heard legends of beasts like him, read a story in my short time in school about them, but I never thought I’d see one in person. Standing a few feet taller than me, the minotaur, Grimus, is intimidating, and it’s as the snake moves away completely that I realize I’ve just been handed over to yet another monster. His jet-black hair hangs around his shoulders, highlighted by the massive horns on his head. His face and body are humanoid, but his features are reminiscent of a bull’s. Though he’s clearly half man, half bull, it does nothing to take away from his looks. His skin is a soft gray, making his bright orange eyes glow in the darkness.
I dart to the right, much to Nero’s amusement, but the minotaur is faster than I expect. Before I can move into the darkness, strong hands clamp around my waist. I screech and fight its hold as it lifts me into the air. I kick and punch, giving everything I have left to give.
Nero laughs. “Good luck, firefly.” He slithers into the darkness, disappearing like a ghost.
My leg makes contact with the minotaur’s thigh, and he grunts. “Settle down, little one. If I wanted you dead, you would be.”
I still, my heart beating so loudly in my ears, I know every creature within a mile radius can probably hear it. Once I stop struggling, Grimus sets me back on my unsteady feet. I have to grab his arm to keep my balance, but I release him quickly.
Turning, I stare up at the monster before me, at the gold glinting in his nose and the horns curling from his head. If not for the fear in my blood, I’d have realized right then how beautiful he is, but in the way of warriors. Dressed in armor, with a large weapon strung on his back, blood splattered across the worn emblem on the breastplate, he is a sight.
“Why did you help me then?” I ask once I catch my breath and my heart slows. I take the opportunity to take a step back, and his eyes follow the movement carefully, as if he expects me to try to run again.
“I don’t know.” He shrugs. “But you aren’t safe here. If my brethren scent you, which they clearly have” —he gestures in the direction that Nero disappeared in— “they’ll kill you for what’s inside.”
He turns, as if he’s going to leave.
“Wait! What’s inside? What do you mean?” I ask, taking a step after him. My instincts tell me I’m safer with him than I am alone in the forest. He hasn’t tried to hurt me, not yet. It could all be a trick, but my instincts are telling me it’s not. He clearly wants nothing to do with me, but why save me? I take the chance. Unlike the blue flirt and the white snake, he doesn’t lie and he doesn’t seem to want to eat me alive.
He looks at me, his eyes trailing from my feet to my face. The lingering gaze makes my toes curl inside my fraying slippers. Okay then, maybe he does.
