MONSTROUS KINK
Tuesday Morrigan
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This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable.
Monstrous Kink
Tuesday Morrigan
This e-book is a work of fiction. While reference might be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Loose Id LLC
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Carson City NV 89701-1215
www.loose-id.com
Copyright © October 2007 by Tuesday Morrigan
All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the purchaser of this e-book ONLY. No part of this e-book may be reproduced or shared in any form, including, but not limited to printing, photocopying, faxing, or emailing without prior written permission from Loose Id LLC.
ISBN 978-1-59632-563-0
Available in Adobe PDF, HTML, MobiPocket, and MS Reader
Printed in the United States of America
Editor: Crystal Esau
Cover Artist: Christine Clavel
Prologue
The Path of Passion
The Path Of Passion Is Forever Tread
But for Few it Leads to Rest
The Path Of Passion Is A Sight Unseen
It covers Those who Claim eternity
The path Of passion Can only Part
For The One Who Completes The Heart
Chapter One
That’s What It’s Made For
The air was thick with the scent of wet, aged stone. He took a deep breath and filled his nostrils with the pungent smell until he was sure his lungs were going to burst. Zacharias looked around him, at the miles upon miles of densely wooded acreage surrounding the ancient castle he called home.
His keen green eyes caught everything. He saw the falcon swoop low and grasp the scurrying mouse in its beak. He saw the pack of silver-haired wolves camp for the night at the farthest left edge of the property that was his domain. Zacharias even saw the small group of villagers making its way up the long, winding road to his castle.
His sigh of acceptance was deep. He could turn the villagers away, but they would keep coming back until he decided to listen to them. For some reason, the humans thought that just because he was the Krim Guardian, the king of the Krim kingdom, he had to heed their words, listen to their accusations, and fulfill their every desire.
The hard as stone skin that protected him didn’t allow him to feel the chilling temperature of the air, but he knew it was cold. His breath was foggy and the preternatural sixth sense he never understood told him the temperature was dropping, and rather quickly.
The humans were lucky. If they had left a little later, they would have found themselves on the road when the cold air came in. They surely would have frozen to death.
A circle of air moved around him. It was the only indication Zacharias received that he was not alone. Zacharias didn’t bother to turn and greet his guest. He knew who had joined him.
“I hope they are not here because of you,” he grumbled, his irritation at the humans’ arrival evident.
“’No, not I,” said the cat. “I’m not the man they came to talk about tonight,” Hugo said. His smooth melodic baritone grated along Zacharias‘s skin. “I haven’t bitten anyone who didn’t want biting,” he finished with a chuckle.
Zacharias turned in time to catch the flash of Hugo’s smile. It was nearing midnight, but the full moon and his sharp sight allowed him to see Hugo’s sharp canines with stunning clarity.
Zacharias took a deep breath and breathed in the vampire’s scent. He did not smell any fresh blood on Hugo. The bloodsucker was telling the truth. He had not fed tonight. Nor had he lain with a woman tonight. For once the villagers were not coming to complain he had taken one of their daughters or wives for a night of debauchery.
And the werewolves had not left their property for weeks.
Which meant they were coming for him.
“You have a duty to man and to those of Krim who look to you.” In the wake of his honest words, the shadows that cloaked the night parted to reveal the elderly gargoyle. Zacharias looked up to catch Rufus’s knowing eye. As one of the oldest gargoyles who had ever lived, Rufus was one of the most important of his counsel. He was also his friend. The older man understood all too well Zacharias’s current predicament. None knew exactly how old Rufus was. All of Krim only knew he was old enough to have witnessed the beginning of the damned tradition Zacharias was trying to ignore.
Rufus had witnessed the first marriage between man and gargoyle.
Zacharias sighed before turning and walking across the roof. His feet thundered with every step. The only thing that kept the floor from crumbling under his impressive weight was a carefully calculated architectural design that was over a thousand years old.
Hugo met him at the door at the top of the carved stone staircase. He smirked at Zacharias before throwing the door open.
Zacharias growled at him. The damn vampire found his situation humorous. Unfortunately, Zacharias was not man enough to admit that Hugo had a good reason to think this was funny.
He flapped his gigantic wings twice and stretched out his muscles before changing out of his gargoyle form. For one second he had considered going down to meet the villagers in his bestial appearance. A grim smile had tugged his lips at the thought. He knew the villagers would probably cower in fear at the sight of his gargoyle figure. Unfortunately it was not enough to get them to run screaming in fear. The bastards were too used to the preternatural beings that lived in the kingdom of Krim.
The griffons and dragons lived to the north, the werewolves and shape-shifting cats stuck to the western region of the land, the centaurs and unicorns never ventured far from the central plains, the vampires were everywhere, and the gargoyles protected from the midnight sky.
There wasn’t a week that he did not receive a visit from at least one villager complaining about some way he had been slighted by the un-naturals, as the preternatural beings were known.
Zacharias ran one long-fingered hand through his wavy, shoulder-length chestnut locks before stepping through the doorway. I would give anything to believe they were here because of one of the un-naturals’ actions, Zacharias thought before stepping onto the first stair.
He grimaced at the feel of the cool stone under his feet. Goose bumps immediately broke out over his golden flesh from the harsh lash of the cold air within the stairwell. It was the most disconcerting fact about changing. After hours of numbness, his body had to readjust and get used to feeling all over again.
“It doesn’t help that you’re naked,” Liana said, her French accent soft and soothing as she made her way to him, bundle in hand. Even in the dimly lit enclosed space, his sharp eyes could make out the jeweled tones of his clothing.
“No, it doesn’t,” he murmured before gifting her with an honest, white smile. “But there is no point in wearing clothing when I tear through them changing into my guardian form, and the clothes I wear while a guardian won’t fit when I’m a man.”
Liana gave him a soft kis
s on both of his cheeks before standing to look him in the eyes. “True. And with this method I get to see you naked night after night after a long night’s watch,” she said softly before holding out the pile of clothing.
Zacharias laughed at her flirtatious words. He was even able to brush aside the fact that Liana eyed him as he dressed. Her gaze roamed over every inch of his six feet eight frame. But with Liana, there was none of the uneasiness that came from being around another female of his kind.
Liana understood that he could never take a gargoyle bride and that he could not take one as his mistress. The Krim Guardian had to guarantee the existence of his people by cementing the relationship between gargoyles and humans with a joining, a handfasting, a marriage.
And the Krim Guardian had to be wed to a human by the night’s fall on the last day of the full Black Crescent
moon and that night fell on All Hallows’ Eve ‑‑ Halloween ‑‑ this year.
By Halloween he had to be wed to the human queen who would stand beside him. With the aid of his magicks he would bind his chosen wife to him and she would be his for the span of a gargoyle lifetime. At least a thousand years.
No big deal, his mind said in mocking tones.
For weeks now Zacharias had tried to pretend that fall wasn’t coming now simply because it meant that All Hallows’ Eve was right around the corner. The problem was Zacharias hadn’t found a female that appealed to him in over two hundred years, but in less than two weeks he had to find a woman and bed her.
That was going to be no problem at all.
Less than twenty minutes later he stood in the midst of a human meat market. All around him females were parading their wares, hoping to be purchased or, in this case specifically, wed.
He glanced at a woman across from him. She was the comeliest of the girls on display. Her smile was vivid and shocking. Her hips were small and graceful. Her breasts were large and firm. She was a woman of perfection. Even in the long dress she wore, Zacharias could see the woman’s legs were long and shapely. Arianna was an exceptional woman.
Too bad the sight of Arianna’s ruby lips made him want to snarl. It should have made him happy, excited…aroused. But it did none of the above. It made him want to howl at the moon.
The woman was beautiful, sexy, and desirous, but she wasn’t what he needed. No, she was another woman in a long line of women who could never satisfy his needs. His gaze moved down the line, looking at the many women the villagers had lined up for him. Not one of the women appealed to him.
“You have chosen one on your own?” The voice belonged to the wizened witch priest who had gathered the women for his perusal.
“No,” Zacharias said with a sigh. He ran his fingers through his hair as he eyed the women. One had to be better than the others. One of them had to appeal to him, right?
“I will choose one for the Black Crescent Moon.”
“You will choose one now.”
Zacharias’s green eyes darkened at the priest’s bold words. “I will choose one when I am ready. Never think to tell me what to do, human.”
The priest backed up at his growling tone. He knew he’d overstepped the boundaries. He had no right to tell the Krim Guardian what to do, but the old man knew of Zacharias‘s…issue with the opposite sex.
For some time Zacharias had felt there was something unnaturally wrong with him. It wasn’t that he liked men. He loved women. Zacharias just didn’t get aroused. He had even sought out the priest’s knowledge on the subject, only to find he had not been cursed. Zacharias just had not found a woman to stir his blood in centuries. The priest attempted to appease him when a loud commotion broke through Zacharias’s thoughts.
The whole room turned around at the sound of the boom.
Zacharias slowly rose from his throne. The crowd parted as he made his way toward the source of the commotion. The priest reached out one feeble hand. His fingers almost touched the thick wool jacket Zacharias wore.
Zacharias turned and stared at the weathered hand seconds before it would have reached him. It stopped instantly. He turned back and caught a glimpse of bright red fabric before the villagers swarmed and blocked his view.
Zacharias didn’t realize he’d growled until he saw the villagers scatter and run. They parted and allowed him a view of the newcomer.
She turned toward him and smiled.
He took a deep breath, taking in the scent and sight of the woman before him.
Her midnight hair was in disarray. Her bright red wool coat was dirty and stained. There were black coal streaks on her cocoa face, and her matching leather suitcases were ripped.
She looked like hell.
He took another step toward her.
“Hi there,” she said with a fluttering wave. “Thank goodness I stumbled onto this place. I was so lost and scared and then my car broke down and I ‑‑” She stopped suddenly. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened. “Jesus, you’re a big one,” she muttered.
Zacharias took a deep, steadying breath and smiled back at her. His eyes almost immediately narrowed. Her scent was thick and strong. She wore perfume, lovely smelling perfume, but beneath that was her scent and it called to him.
Zacharias took another whiff of the woman and rolled it over his tongue. It tasted like perfection. It tasted like home. And it made him feel.
Heat coursed through his veins. Arousal spread through every inch of his body, and desire like nothing he’d ever felt before consumed him.
“I guess I’m not in Kansas anymore,” she said with a soft chuckle.
“No, you’re not. You’re home,” he responded.
Chapter Two
Beautiful Struggle
Mila smiled at the dark giant across from her. He was kind of sexy in an old world, eastern European way.
She looked him up and down, starting from his chestnut-colored hair to his long, broad feet, and back again. Her gaze paused on the dark, tight pants he wore. Her smile grew wider. Mila definitely liked what she saw.
She needed something to make her feel better about her bad luck. Her glance drifted back to the man before her. Mila might as well have a bit of fun, and something told her she would have more than a little bit of fun with the gorgeous man before her.
She lifted her battered red camera bag onto her shoulder. She had been in the area taking pictures. And to top things off everything that had gone wrong today, her car broke down on her night off. She was stuck.
No more traveling.
And that was her favorite part about being who she was. Mila loved traveling. She loved taking pictures. So it only made sense that she’d taken off right after graduation to apprentice with one of the world’s most famous photojournalists. Five years later she had struck out on her own.
After spending ten years living out of suitcases, hotels, and surviving on the bare essentials, most people would have found themselves drained. Not Mila. She lived for the moment when she could travel to another exotic locale, live out of another suitcase, and bathe in a nation without running water.
And this was definitely an area without running water.
“I’m sorry to barge in like this. I saw the lights and I was hoping I could crash here until the storm was over.”
“You are always welcome here. I am Zacharias,” the giant said before wrapping one long, broad arm around her shoulders.
“My name is Mila,” she said softly. Her voice came out a thick whisper. His simple touch had ignited something that slithered over her body to settle in her lower abdomen. It was suddenly a reminder of how long she had gone without a man’s touch.
Too long.
Out of the corner of her eye, Mila saw the old, wizened man jerk. She gave him a narrow smile that was sharp and full of bite.
She had seen the same man less than three hours ago. She had begged him for food and shelter. She had even offered to pay. He had spit on her, told Mila her kind wasn’t wanted, and that she could never afford his hospitality.
; Zacharias turned to the old man suddenly. “What have you done, priest?”
The old man’s eyes widened and he visibly shook with fear. “I did not know. I swear I did not know, my lord. I could not foresee.”
“You could not foresee that all who reach this town have a destiny.”
Her gaze slid to the man beside her. What did he mean by destiny? She opened her mouth. At that moment, Mila’s stomach growled. She had the grace to blush.
“You are hungry.”
“Yes,” Mila said with a shy smile. “Apparently people are supposed to eat every day. Imagine that.”
Zacharias smiled at her. “I have learned that lesson during my lifetime,” he said with a chuckle. The soft sound of his laughter landed on top of the tense sexual feeling his touch ignited. It made Mila feel more like a cat. She simply wanted to rub herself all over his hard frame.
He turned and glanced at a woman across the room. “We will have a meal prepared for you.” The woman immediately turned and left the room.
The woman’s quick action made Mila raise her eyebrows in surprise. She turned back to the man beside her and peered at him curiously. It was obvious he was someone important. And it had not escaped her notice she was standing in a genuine castle.
She chewed her lip as a thought occurred to her. He couldn’t be a prince, could he? She’d done research on the region she was traveling to, but she had no idea where she was.
She could have wandered into a kingdom without even realizing it. She uneasily glanced around her. Yeah, the room screamed abode of a ruler. “It’s late. I don’t want to put you out. I’ll be fine with a sandwich or just simply bread and water. I’m not a demanding beggar,” Mila said as she eyed the doorway the woman had departed through.
“Come. Let me show you to your room.”
The tone of his voice let Mila know the chestnut-haired god was not going to accept any arguments. And she was exhausted.
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