“And so we begin, my pretty prey,” I murmured before jumping over the edge, enjoying the sight of her gown lifting as she plunged toward the water below.
Chapter Twelve
Knox
Aria shifted her body at the last moment, diving beneath the watery surface. A moment before I broke the surface, I mirrored her pose, penetrating through it seamlessly. I allowed myself to plunge to the bottom of the river, making it there just in time to see her push off the sleek stones and shoot up for the surface. Her toned legs kicked against the water as she rushed toward the shoreline.
I rose to the surface, only allowing my nose above water long enough to draw in a deep breath. Then I sank back underwater to watch her crawling over the silt of the beach. The moment she hit dry land, her eyes returned to the water, searching it for any sign of me. Aria didn’t stick around for me to pop out of the water, though. Instead, she bolted into the forest, and my body heated at the idea of hunting her.
She was about to recklessly run through the perilous forest to gauge her reflexes. Then again, it was also for me to watch her stumbling through the woods as I hunted her down. Aria was fucked. There was no other way she’d escape this forest tonight. She wasn’t stupid enough not to leave her body unguarded.
I’d made sure she wasn’t that neglectful when I’d chased her around the realms. The moment she entered this world, I’d begun ensuring she became hard enough to survive it. Lowering her guard would result in my exposing her mistake. She’d assumed I hadn’t known right where she fucking was, but I’d had her in my sights the entire time.
The way she thought, though, it had left me stunned. I’d assumed her move, but she’d been steps ahead of me without me being the wiser. I’d go to make a move, then step back, because she’d done something so mind-boggling, that I’d wanted to see her achieving it. While I was playing checkers, she’d been playing chess. She fixed the board without me realizing that she’d made a move. However, how she moved the pieces in such a strategic, merciless way was mind-boggling. It left me struggling to figure out her next move before she made it.
Aria’s brain was a work of art, and the thing I liked about her most. It calculated a problem, subtracted the incidentals, isolated the target, and then went to war against her target. The woman was created to wage war, and gods save anyone stupid enough to stand between her and what she wanted. She skillfully outmaneuvered me, which I wasn’t even upset about. She’d read the Art of War, yet it was undeniable that she was the entire book placed into one gorgeously-packaged woman.
Breaking free of the shimmering, moonlit surface, I shot toward the shore, then prowled toward the forest. I didn’t need to run because I could hear the erratic beat of her heart. The fragrance of her adrenaline mixed with the delicious scent of her arousal. The same arousal that would soon drip down my fucking chin.
I strolled into the dark forest, pausing as the sound of her feet crunching over the dry leaves met my ears. A smile curled over my lips as I took off after her, anticipation for what was coming, humming through me. My cock twitched at the thought of being buried deep inside her tight, needy cunt. I fucking loved the way it clenched around me, sucking me further into her haven.
Every step deeper into the woods brought me closer to her, and the veneer I wore around others steadily shed. Out here, we were animals with the urgent need to rut like beasts in the wild. The moment Aria’s inhibition started lowering, I felt the primal instinct rising within her as well.
The sound of her footsteps paused, as if she wasn’t certain what was happening. It sounded like she was spinning in a circle, searching for any hint of me in the area.
Our kind wasn’t meant to be tethered by the constraints of humanity. The Nine Realms were filled with beasts, monsters and those who thought themselves humanoid. None were meant to be clothed or held in constant captivity of their flesh. A beast ruled each realm, be it one who wore flesh or fur—it mattered little.
The hunt was instinctive. My base nature was driving my actions to relentlessly hunting Aria’s sexy, gorgeous ass down and fuck her so roughly that she’d never get me out of her system. Never mind the fact that getting her animalistic nature to kick-in would keep her safer where she was inside the new realm.
If I was right, Ember was riding within her as I hunted Aria down. The moment she felt me, she’d realize what I was doing and lend her host her abilities. Those abilities would keep Aria protected.
The scent of her sweat pulled me in, knowing she was close. Branches caught parts of her gown, leaving scattered remains throughout the woods. Pity, I’d planned to rip it from her flesh before teaching her why allowing any male close to her wasn’t a good idea.
The sound of branches crunching, stopped. Then Aria’s heavy breathing filled the woods, which meant she was running. Pausing behind a cluster of trees, I stared at the woman who’d changed my entire world. Her silver hair was wet and glistened beneath the iridescent moonlight. My gaze raked over every curve, hungering for her as she sucked air in, greedily. The small clearing that she’d paused in to catch her breath allowed the moon to bathe her alluring form in the glow of its light. The dress clung to her body like a second skin, revealing the hardened peaks of her taut, pretty pink nipples.
In my need to have her beneath me, writhing as we fucked until exhaustion, I’d missed it. Pins with the sun held a flimsy cape to the gown. Armlets, which declared her a princess to the Kingdom of Fire, adorned both of her biceps. Golden thread was woven throughout the gown, which made her look more like a goddess than a princess.
They’d created the woman to lure men to their deaths. If I’d scented the likeness to my inner beast, she’d have slaughtered me as Ember emerged from her pretty flesh. Fuck if she hadn’t been feral in her need to fuck, fight and feed.
When I released a deep, masculine rattle of need, she spun around, searching the darkness for me. She was breathtakingly gorgeous. Her teeth worried her bottom lip, which drove me insane. The soft hiss of air from her lungs as she gradually began backing up, had my cock straining for release against the wet pants I wore.
Her body tensed to run, but I shot forward, slamming into her hard. My fingers threaded through her hair before I pushed her against the nearest tree. Her pupils dilated, but her lips parted as she cried out in pain. Without warning, I released her hair to grip the flimsy fabric of the dress she wore, ripping it straight down the center before returning my hold to her silken strands. Rag dolling her body, I spun her around, forcing her against the tree until the bark pressed against the delicate skin of her cheek.
“You’re such pretty prey,” I hissed as I yanked the gown down, exposing her flesh to my greedy gaze. I forcefully kicked her feet apart and thrust two fingers deep into her needy cunt, realizing that it was already dripping wet. “So fucking deliciously wet for me already?”
Her cry of surprise only intensified my arousal. Aria’s pussy clamped down against my intrusion, sucking my fingers deeper into her body. Bloody hell, she was perfect. I fucked her with my fingers hard, forcing them deeper as I twisted her head, knowing it would burn and add pain to her pleasure.
“Knox!” she cried out as I added another. “Fuck, that aches.” Her breathy moan told me it might sting, but she liked the brutality of my fingers invading her pussy, conquering it as I taught it who really owned it and the soul of the woman it belonged to.