By the Horns

by Jeanette Lynn

  With a grunt he cleared his throat and, with his hands rubbing soothing circles over my back, his story began.

  “Once, a long time ago, it is said all the realms were connected.”

  “Like in the tree.”

  “Who’s telling the story here, vacha?”

  “What does vacha mean? You say it a lot.”

  The impatient noise he made had me chuckling but settling down.

  “Are you going to allow me to tell it?” he said after a long moment.

  “Maybe if you start before I doze off,” I quipped. Pinning me to him, his hand cracked down on my ass. I burst out laughing, sticking my bum out and wiggling it at him. “Just remember, I’ll have my turn, husband-mine.”

  “I look forward to it, little beast of a woman.” He gave a fake growl that had me laughing, and once we’d settled his story began anew.

  I drifted off with visions of great battles between otherworldly creatures and humans, epic tales of conquest, woe, and betrayal.

  ˜˙˜*˜˙˜

  It was several weeks before the snow melted enough we could be on our way, and today was the day. Which was good, because supplies had grown drastically low and any creatures he’d managed to catch or trap were barely enough for the two of us.

  “Did you stock all this yourself?” I asked, gesturing at all the hollowed out sections, small planks of wood covering the tops of his small hide-a-holes. One was for dried foods, another meat and sun dried fruits and vegetables. It took some getting used to, with the dried out vegetables—of which I’d honestly thought were fruit initially, until I’d taken that first, gut checking bite—though I rather enjoyed the extra sweet and sour to the fruit, but it was better than nothing.

  The meat was no different than what Mother and Father would have us all prepare, a stiff jerky. Salted beef or pork was no different than greebosh, a soft blue meat from, by the way he described it, a goat-like animal with a long neck, thick woolly fur, five horns and two heads, and glands under its tongue that allowed it to spit a corrosive chemical that could melt flesh and bone.

  “You seem apprehensive,” I noted, walking up behind him to wrap my arms around his waist. His hand sought out mine and he gripped my fingers tight.

  Shoulders stiff, tense, he cleared his throat. “Why do you say that?”

  “I dunno.” Shrugging, I pressed my cheek to his back, smiling, enjoying the way his chest moved when he breathed. His heart was beating abnormally fast for him. Mayhap he was anxious, about the journey ahead? My gut said otherwise. “Just a feeling, I guess.” I couldn’t quite explain it.

  His fingers began to stroke over mine. “Get these feelings a lot, do you?” Twisting, he tried to peer at me from over his shoulder.

  Only when he’s acting distant and short, I answered, if only in my head.

  “You’re teasing,” I muttered, pulling away. He allowed me to go but watched me all the while. I liked the way he watched me, tracking me with those wild, wine colored eyes. Once safely back inside the tree, my lips kicked up in one corner. “Shut it. You’re just a big bully, aren’t you?” I waved the tiny fish dangling from the string we’d made from critter guts in my hand. “A big woolly bully.”

  “And you say I’ve the devil’s tongue,” he scoffed, storming after me.

  Taking off at a run, dancing away, I let out a witch cackle to his bellowing low, squealing when he really gave chase.

  It was a long while before we got moving, the stars already starting to dance across the sky, but the weather was fast growing cooler, Tavros—this place, as he called his home—having a winter, fall, and then spring, followed by a winter, fall, summer, all in a revolutions time. Strange, but I could manage that. I never was one for the extreme temperatures, and aside from cooler weather more often than not, he assured me the worst of it only came in, and went, with the storms. I was glad of it.

  Later that night, bellies full of fish and the last of our dried fruit and vegetable rations, we stood, staring at the mouth of the tree, the portal to my home world, my old home world, glowing faintly behind us.

  “Ready?” Kvigor asked. Without waiting for me to answer, he scooped my hand up in his. The male loved holding hands, pressing our markings together for that rushing tingle only the one that was yours could produce.

  My fingers gave his a squeeze. “Ready.”

  ˜˙˜*˜˙˜

  “Is it going to be okay?” I asked suddenly, watching twin suns, one orange, the other a deep, dark red, similar to a blood moon but brighter, coming out to play. There were several moons that came and went, he’d explained, pointing them out as the days went on and I had a chance to see each for myself. The Taurans even had a Trickster, King, Queen moon type combo. What an odd world, and even odder coincidence. It was like a piece of my old home had followed me to the new.

  “Is what going to be okay?” Ears flicking, his wide, horned head cocked to the side.

  “You know... me, and you, and your village?” And that was the source of the wriggling horn worms twisting my gut.

  Kvigor frowned, his eyes never leaving the trail up ahead. “Thought we might do something else first.”

  “Oh?” I couldn’t hide my shock at this news. Or elation.

  “It’s a surprise.” His hand squeezed mine.

  I’d yet to dislike one of his surprises yet. We’d been traveling for hours, walking and eating noon day meal instead of stopping for a break. Eager to be on our way as well, I hadn’t protested.

  Contemplating how many blisters I must have on my feet, now I was sort of wishing I had.

  “Is it too much farther? This surprise?” While trepidation was still foremost, worrying as to what exactly this surprise would entail, I could barely contain my excitement. That eagerness was tempered with a heavy dose of anxious dread. Would everyone in his village be like my husband? Would it be alright? Would some other woman, some Tauran, force me to fight to keep him? I stiffened at the thought but forced myself to relax. We weren’t going there, not yet, he was to take us somewhere else first.

  “Just the two of us?” I asked.

  “Yes,” he replied happily.

  I didn’t try to contain my sigh of relief.

  As insane as it sounded, I’d grown to care so deeply for my Tauran, on a level I could barely fathom. Just the thought of losing him made me feel sick to my stomach. And no one, and I mean no one, was going to separate us. The idea of being forced apart caused a physical ache in my chest.

  “We aren’t going to go to the village,” my pair bond said after a lengthy pause, “ever.”

  “We aren’t?” Oh, lucky day.

  “No.” Shaking his head, he pointed somewhere over my head, silently instructing me to get off the worn looking path we’d found not an hour ago, and head straight into the woods.

  These weren’t The Hollows spooky woods, but my steps still faltered. Something just... it was bothering me, gnawing at my gut. Kvigor almost plowed me over, ushering me off to my left. We weren’t even going to stop in for a visit, though, if only to collect his things and be on our way? A really short one? “Why not?”

  “Why not what?” He tried to play innocent, as if he truly didn’t understand, but I wasn’t buying it.

  “Why not go to the village at all?” The hairs on my nape rose, that extra sense I’d been trying to tap into sending up warnings. Something was amiss.

  “There is nothing for me there.” His smile was short, almost curt, as if forced, but no less cajoling. “Not anymore. And besides, Addie-mine,” bending, he scooped me up, grinning when I went along easily, watching him curiously, “I’ve something much better.”

  “Better than taking me home?” Where we might settle in and try to have a happily ever after, like he’d been speaking of these last few weeks? Was all that talk of hunting and fishing and harvesting, a community of Tauran working together, for each other, like one big happy family, not like he’d said? What awaited us in the village he could not face...?

&nbs
p; Face. My hands went to mine and I swallowed thickly. My face... Was it me? Was I the reason?

  “This place is more than your village? More to offer us?”

  “So much more.” That crazy tongue of his snuck out to swipe across my face, something he knew, had quickly learned, I hated, yet it gave him great pleasure to watch me squirm, swatting at him, unable to escape him, trapped as I was. “Much, much better.”

  “I like these, you know.” Squinting up at him, sour face still firmly in place, plucking the pointy end of one of his blackened tipped horns. The once white tips were marred with black, charcoaled at the ends. It gave him an air of danger.

  “Oh?”

  “Mmm, hmm.” Squirming until I was upright, I gripped the other horn, laughing when I moved his head this way and that, using them as handle bars and he complied.

  “Always jesting,” he muttered. There was no heat behind his words. Thick hands reached for my waist, lifting me, forcing me to turn away from him and stand, feet barely touching the ground before he bent, my backside perilously close to his horns and that too long tongue. Wide fingers reached around me and tugged at the tie to my pants. “Need to be giving you something better to do with your time.”

  “Oh?” I glanced over my shoulder as his hands fell away and my pants slid down my hips, exposing my derriere to his red flushing eyes.

  “Aye,” he muttered, standing, letting his pack fall, whipping his kilt off, exposing a massive erection that twitched at the hungry look in my eyes.

  “Like what?” A smile lit my heated green gaze, my lips tipping in a taunting smirk. We were in the middle of a forest, surrounded by tall, thick trees, and even thicker bushes, wilderness as far as the eye could see.

  “For starters?” That teasing lilt of his with mouth, full of warmth, had my toes curling in my boots, skin tightening. “Warm your Tauran.”

  I laughed, incredulous. “Me? Keep you warm?” Of all the silly-

  “Come, vacha, my little Addie-mine,” lifting the blankets off my shoulders, then the fur draped over his shoulder off his, flapping them out, his smile was as wicked as the heat in those glowing red orbs. “Let your male warm you.”

  Standing there, biting my lip, I shivered in the cold. Strong hands fell to my hips, urging me towards him. Flat teeth nipped one of my ass cheeks hard enough to make me yowl.

  My mate laughed his fool head off at my less than pleased look, flopping back, tugging me down into his lap with him. Lifting me up, despite my threats to unman him, we groaned in unison as his cock found what it wanted and he breached my aching sex, working my cunt onto that fat cock.

  Nails digging into his forearms as he ground us together, his rough handling setting me off, I pumped myself on him, my legs already beginning to tremble, it felt so good.

  “Feeling warmer?” I got out between panting moans.

  He thrust up, harder and harder, faster, until I was wound up tight, his hands at my hips hard enough to bruise. Teeth nipped at my ear and I clenched reflexively, softly crying out. My sex clamped down around him then, my inner walls embracing him. “Always. You, my little pair, how does my wingless beastie fair?” A thick arm lifted, his hand reaching for my breast, pressing me to his chest, plucking at a nipple. “Warmer, little wife?”

  My legs began to tremble, collapsing until he was the only thing holding me up. He came then, beating me to it, his hand going to the pearl at my sex to rub. Finding a rhythm I responded to, he manipulated my clit while I ground myself down on him. He growled into my nape in satisfaction when I climaxed hard, gasping his name.

  “Vacha?” he murmured in my ear, a deep, pleased rumble issuing from his lips, rattling his chest.

  With a sigh I melted against him, smiling when he kept us intimately joined, his hand at my hip staying me, the blanket coming around to enfold us. Snuggling against him, I turned my head, pressing a kiss to his fuzzy cheek. “Am I warmer? Infinitely.” From the tips of my toes to that cluggin’ lump fluttering in my chest.

  We couldn’t reach our new home, wherever that might be, soon enough.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Well, we were, according to Kvigor, only a short jaunt away, less than a half a day’s walk from our not so far away, much better, wherever it was, surprise place he’d still yet to divulge, when we heard it.

  We’d been traveling for almost a week, total, these last two days at a quicker pace than I found myself accustomed to. There was something about this area we were in, the trees denser, foliage thicker, that had Kvigor practically dragging me along with him. Kvigor claimed it was on the off chance another chilling storm blew in, and it had been overcast for most of the day, so there was that, but... something, I couldn’t put my finger on it, had me worried.

  “What’s that? Is that-” I’d begun to ask if he knew the males making that funny bull-trumpeting, a very cow-like lowing moo, though deeper, longer, louder, but he motioned for me to be quiet. Did all Taurans do that?

  Taking that as a no on the possibility of coming across some friendlies, I followed him down into the thick brush he ducked down into, hoping it was enough to disguise us. Kind of hard to camouflage a giant white bull man with the snow rapidly melting, the suns, when they saw fit to peek out, beating down on that icy white stuff surrounding us all day, but we’d sure give it a shot.

  Those trumpeting bellows sounded again.

  So odd... so very strange... but I was in the land of half bovine now, so I’d better shut up and shape up or end up shunned. It was startling, trying to wrap my head around all of this.

  “Kvigor!” a disgustingly deep voice shouted, following it up with that crazy cattle call.

  Moo, moo, Kvigor. Them beasts are calling for you.

  Were they pseudo friend or foe?

  Foe? Then why did they sound, sort of... friendly?

  “Kvigor?” I called in a harsh whisper. “Do you know these men?”

  “Of course not,” he shot back, expression pinching, “now be quiet and stay down, or they’ll find us and it’ll all be over.”

  It would? What would all be over? “Then why do they know your name?” I dared to ask.

  My pair bond’s eyes shone red and I was treated to my first death glare, a real, genuine glare of anger aimed for little old me. I could only assume this was one of many to come, if his instant annoyance at my question meant anything. Honeymoon over? Perhaps.

  Quickly dropping my gaze under that menacing stare, lips pursed, I hunched, sidling carefully away from him, where I stayed. Beneath my quiet, demure acquiescence I was long past frustrated, but there’d be time to express that later.

  Who was this male crouched down beside me really? I didn’t know this Kvigor. The sight of it, wild red eyes trained on me, not in lust but in pure, unadulterated anger, had my back up, hackles rising.

  Was he a wanted man? Had I married a wanted man? A Tauran fugitive of the law? Those voices certainly had that authoritative tone to them. And were we actually married? No ceremony, merely words and sealing the deal with sex, a promise of forever, nothing more.

  “Kvigor!” One voice was loudest, deep and resonant, jarring me back to reality. That voice screamed power, sounding off not far from our spot.

  Why did my Minotaur not want us to be found? If he was a wanted male, what was he a wanted of? Murder? Theft? How had I unknowingly followed a criminal into this beast-land? Were they a feuding group? At odds with his village?

  Was he running from his own village? What was it?

  Was he afraid? Worried? Ashamed? Ashamed of me? Was it wrong to pair with the ‘wingless’, as he continued to refer to me? Was that the crime in and of itself? I posed no threat, there wasn’t a speck of magick within me. Tauran, if Kvigor was telling me true, were all his size, if not a smidge smaller. A female, if as strong and capable as a male, could crush me easily. What kind of harm could I honestly be?

  Stomping, leaves crunching, reached my ears.

  “Do not be playing games. You have Suzaela out of h
er head.”

  Suzaela?! Who the bloody hell was Suzaela?!

  With a sharp, shocked gasp, I spun on Kvigor, who, at hearing me make that sound, turned to me with a sharp look and pleading eyes.

  Words caught, stuck in my throat. I wanted to have this out, figure out what all this nonsense was about, who this Suzaela was and what she meant to him, right this minute, yet I didn’t utter a word.

  Was he, I felt sick just thinking about it, running from a wife?

  Glaring up at the male, daring him to give me one more dirty, shut the fuck up look, because it would surely be his last, I made a cutting motion, my finger slicing across my throat after I mimed the beast stomping around us trotting off.

  It’s not what you think, he mouthed, with a quick jerk of his head, his hand instantly going for mine. Hurt crossed my features, too late for me to hide it, and I pulled back. It was a gut reaction. This was... wrong. All fucking wrong.

  The little world I’d imagined for us, our future, was slowly starting to crumble around the edges. Gods, had it ever been perfectly ideal? Of course not, but this...

  Forgetting himself, and his sizeable horns, wanting to lunge for me, snatch me up so I couldn’t escape him, he reached out to me yet again, and yet again I retreated, reeling back, shaking my head to shoot backwards. His horns shook the bushes, forcing him to still. It was warm in here, or so it felt. I felt confined. This space was too tight, here with him, nowhere else to go. I was suddenly wary, in need of even an inch of space to myself. It hurt me as much as it did him, to watch his face fall at my rebuff—it was like a stab to my heart—but he had a lot of explaining to do if he wanted us, this, to continue on as it had. A lot of explaining.

  I wouldn’t give us away but I wasn’t going to just sit here and let him lull me into some false sense of comfort for the hell of it. I’m flexible, not a rug to stamp your boots on before you enter a house.

  Everything was going pear-shaped. I didn’t understand, didn’t know where to go from here. What’s going on?!! My eyes kept seeking out Kvigor’s to skirt away. It hurt to look at him but I couldn’t resist. He’d paired with me, claimed me, he was supposed to be mine!