by Natavia
“Give me my baby!” Keora said, trying to sit up, but as she reached for it, Musaf disappeared. “What did you do?” she cried.
“That baby is not your baby. Once Saka’s soul comes out of it, the baby will die. The baby wasn’t meant to live,” I said to her.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Keora cried.
“I know you are, but it’s time to send Saka to a world where he will be trapped.” As I walked out of the dungeon, Keora cried and screamed. I walked outside of the temple into a small stone house. Musaf held the baby in his arms, sprinkling some dust over it. A dark cloud hovered over us.
“You have been very busy, Father,” I said. Keora’s pup closed its eyes; Saka’s soul could no longer keep it alive. “What is it that you want?” I asked him.
“I want my body!” his voice shouted.
“I cannot give you that. I kept you in spirit because you are my father, but even in spirit you are still dangerous. It’s time I let you go.”
“I am your father!” he screamed.
“Goodbye, Father.” Musaf pulled out a gold urn, and it sucked the small black cloud up. Musaf was going to send my father to hell where he belonged. I patted Musaf’s shoulders, and he nodded his head at me. Musaf didn’t talk much. He mostly stayed in his sanctuary practicing voodoo.
“Where have you been? You cannot roam the temple all night by yourself,” Ammon said to me, when I returned back to the temple.
“I have been taking care of unfinished business,” I said to him. Ammon caressed my face.
“I miss you, Naobi.” He pulled me into him, and a tear slipped from my eye.
“I’m leaving this temple,” I said to him.
“Not without my permission; you will remain here. You are my mate, and you will act like one!” Ammon shouted at me with his eyes turning.
I touched his face. “My dear Ammon; my wolf god. It’s time for me to depart from this temple and live amongst the free. I will live in my sanctuary far away from here. You will always have desires for a wolf who can birth your pups. I did my job; I kept you alive, and I gave you a powerful son. Akua will be the next ruler in Anubi hundreds and hundreds of years from now. He will be a powerful one.”
“You have desires like a human. You will serve as my mate, Naobi. What do you want? You want what the humans on earth have? Since you have been watching Akua on earth you’ve changed! What have you become, huh? You are a witch. You will never have and feel what humans feel,” Ammon fussed.
“They hold hands, make love, kiss on the lips, and sleep holding each other. They have romance; they have each other. It’s a beautiful feeling. Immortals can live that way, but everything we do is because of rules. Women walk around their mates naked and free. I would be called a Jezebel if I walked around you like that. When you enter me, I cannot touch you. I have to lay still and let you have your way with me. You have an outside pup, and his pups are living in our temple, along with his mother. You have a family here that I will not be a part of. You have forgotten where you came from. You came from humans. How dare you look down on them,” I said to him.
“You will be banished if you use that tone with me.”
“What is that word Kanya uses on Akua when she is upset? Oh yeah, that’s right. Fuck you.”
Ammon’s nostrils flared. He charged into me, but a force pulled him back. He had a chain around his neck that was connected to the wall. Ammon was in wolf form, and he howled while trying to pull away from the chain that was around his neck.
“You will be released when the sun peaks over the river,” I said, walking out. I put the hood on my cape over my head. I grabbed my spells books then put them into my sack. I went down into the dungeon to release Keora, but she wasn’t free.
“Where are you taking me?” Keora asked me.
“You think I would leave you here? You are stuck with me until you become pure again. Evil still lurks around the hatred in your heart. When you become pure, I will erase everything from your mind. You will live how I see fit, but not as a witch. Now come, I have work to do.”
“My hands are locked together,” Keora complained.
“And they will remain that way,” I said, pulling her up the stairs. Kofi and Opal walked towards us.
“Promise us that you will stay in our visions,” Kofi said to me. I grabbed his hand.
“Of course. I will miss the both of you, and if you need me, I will know.” I then hugged Opal. After I said my goodbyes Keora and I disappeared.
*****
“What basement are we in?” Keora asked in her prison.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said to her, as I sat in my chair watching my small globe. I smiled as I watched Akua and Kanya play around in the woods. Their beasts rolled around on the ground with each other. Kanya licked his ear, and he rubbed his head under her neck.
“This is what you call love, Keora. You shouldn’t have to cast spells to get it.”
“Why are you this way?” Keora asked me.
“My mother was a human. Warlocks impregnate human women. The female witches are born infertile, but the male witches aren’t. My mother got old and died. I watched her from afar when I was a little girl. Saka took me from her when I was a baby to raise me to be powerful. I watched her for years as her age progressed. She lived to be ninety years old. I visited her on her deathbed, but she didn’t know who I was. I told her I was her daughter. She said my daughter should be gray. I looked to be only fifteen years old. So, I made a way for the Egyptians to live for eternity. I should’ve reincarnated her after she died, but I didn’t know how to use spells back then,” I said to Keora, and a tear slipped from Keora’s eye.
I looked around my new home. I was far away from Ammon’s palace. I didn’t have warriors roaming around for protection. It was just Keora and I. I snapped my fingers, and a meal of chicken, fruit, and wine appeared. Keora looked at the food.
“Are you trying to poison me?” Keora asked me, which made me chuckle.
“If I do that, then Adika will die. Your punishment is fair enough. I never thought my own creation would turn out this way. I created you and her with love from my heart.”
“What the hell is that?” Keora asked, pointing behind me. An oversized tiger walked into my sanctuary. His eyes glowed green.
I smiled. “That is Kumba,” I said, rubbing the tiger’s head. A gold medallion was embedded into his chest, and gold bangles were wrapped around his legs. Keora backed away in her prison; she was scared.
Kumba shifted into human form, and there he stood—tall, dark, and strong. He was about six-foot eight in height, and his chest and shoulders were broad. His skin was the color of honey, and his face was strong and strikingly handsome. His green eyes looked down at me.
“My beautiful, Naobi. I’m glad to see you home. I have been waiting a long time for you,” Kumba said to me.
“Who the hell is that and what’s going on? Are you going to feed me to him?” Keora asked. I pulled out a thin sheet of stone with drawings on it. I walked towards her cage-like prison then dropped the sheet inside. Keora picked it up and read the drawings. “Your human mother’s ancestors had a vision of you with a tiger warrior? Ammon isn’t going to stand back. He will sense when someone else enters you. Send me back to earth. I don’t want any parts of this shit.”
Kumba laughed. “She is something else.”
“Why does he speak fine English?” Keora asked me.
“We are on earth,” I said to her.
“You are weak on earth,” Keora said to me, and then I laughed.
“That’s what I wanted Ammon to think. If he knew all I was capable of, I would be considered a threat to Anubi.”
“Ammon isn’t going to allow this. You and I both know it!”
“We will wait and see,” I said to her. I walked out of the basement then upstairs. Kumba followed behind me wearing only black silk pants. He had black, thick markings across his chest resembling his tiger. I have been connecting with Kumba in my sec
ret sanctuary back in Anubi. He had visions of me in his dreams where I appeared. He touched my face.
“You are even more beautiful in person. You look very young,” he chuckled. Kumba wasn’t an ancestor of my creation. He was an ancestor of one of Musaf’s offspring who was into voodoo using cats.
I touched him. He looked to be in his mid-thirties in human years.
“Show me around,” I said to him. He grabbed my hand then walked me around his home. It was smaller than Ammon’s temple, but it felt like home. It felt warm; it felt like life lived in it. There weren’t any rules; just he and I. Kumba owned a chain of restaurants that cooked African foods. He doesn’t age, so he barely shows his face. When he had to, I disguised him.
He opened up a door. “This is our bedroom. It’s different than what you are used to, but you will adjust.” I looked around. I walked into another room that was connected to his.
“What is that?” I asked him. He came in then turned a knob. Water came out into a big, white-shaped octagon.
“That is a Jacuzzi. I sit in it to relax.”
“Do I take my clothes off?” I asked him.
“If you want to,” he chuckled. I got undressed then stood in front of him naked. He didn’t look at me like I had committed a sin, he looked at me with lust. His strong hands covered my breasts. Goosebumps formed on my arms. My body temperature rose, and I started to panic.
“What is happening?” I asked him.
“You are aroused,” he said to me. Kumba was very tall, like a giant. He picked me up so I could be eye level with him. His lips came to mine, and he slipped his tongue inside of my mouth. My legs wrapped around him. He pulled his pants down, dropping them to his ankles. He climbed inside of the tub with me, and the water bubbled.
I was straddling him as his length grew underneath me. I throbbed uncontrollably like I never had throbbed before. I needed him inside of me. He lifted me up then slowly slid himself inside of me. Kumba took my breast inside of his mouth. I didn’t know if what he was doing was wrong, but it was a feeling I had never had before. My body trembled. I didn’t know what to do.
“You feel so beautiful,” Kumba whispered in my ear, as he thrust upwards inside of me. A moan slipped from my lips, followed by many others. Kumba’s size stretched me open. With every thrust, I felt connected to him. A tear slid out of my eye. I missed thousands and thousands of years of this feeling. His tongue flickered across my swollen nipple; I cried out. His nails extended, cutting into my skin. The water splashed out of the tub, and Kumba purred. My secret place gripped his girth, causing my body to tremble as I screamed out. The glass in his mirrors cracked, and the light in the room blew out. Kumba throbbed. Then I felt something shoot up inside of me. He kissed my lips then smirked, showing a set of white teeth with very long canines. “I would’ve lasted longer, but you gripped the hell out of me,” he said, kissing my neck.
“It’s supposed to last longer?”
“On earth, we call it stamina.”
“What does that mean?”
“Making love for a long period of time without getting tired.” He then gave me a serious look. “Will your pup approve of me? I have met a few werewolves, and they aren’t the easiest to get along with.”
“Akua is very grumpy, but I have a feeling his mate will scold him. She is very feisty, and he lets her get her way,” I said laughing.
“What about Ammon? Do you still love him?”
“I love him because he gave me my son, who I love more than life, but Ammon and I aren’t destined to be. I gave him many years, and yet I still felt incomplete.”
“Let me out of here!” Keora screamed and we chuckled.
“You are an evil witch,” Kumba said, kissing my nose.
“With a lot of love to give.”
Kanya
The holidays were approaching, and Beastly Treasures was crowded. Goon walked around interacting with costumers. He wore his tailored suit, and it fit his body perfectly. I stared at him like I had never seen him before. The way he walked, his stride and his appearance screamed alpha. He was my alpha, my beast.
Goon walked over to me then bent down to whisper in my ear. “How dare you get an arousal around all of these people. Now I want to taste you,” he said, causing me to blush.
“Cut it out. I’m glad you’ve been talking to me normally and not popping up in my head. You know that shit still scares me sometimes, right?” I asked him, and then he chuckled.
A man and a woman walked into the store. The man was very tall, like a basketball player. The woman seemed familiar; I remembered that walk. Her walk was smooth and seductive, like her feet didn’t touch the floor. The couple walked over to Goon and me. The tall guy had a scent of an animal—an animal I wasn’t familiar with. A growl slipped out of our throats. When the couple got closer to us, I realized it was Naobi. She looked normal. She wasn’t in her thick, ancient jewelry or her fancy silk garments. She was dressed in a pair of jeans, a sweater, and riding boots. Her hair was braided up in some type of updo, and her face was so youthful.
When Naobi got closer to Goon, she reached out then hugged him. She planted kisses all over his cheeks. A smirk spread across Goon’s face until he looked at the tall man his mother was with.
“That isn’t my father,” Goon said to Naobi.
“This is Kumba. Kumba, this is my son, Akua.”
“We can go to my office and talk,” I said, and they followed me into the back. Goon looked like he wanted to shift; he kept growling. When we got to my office, I hurriedly closed the door.
“Who are you and what are you to my mother?” Goon asked.
Kumba chuckled. “I’m your mother’s mate.”
“You aren’t a werewolf. What are you?” Goon asked him.
“I’m a tiger,” Kumba said.
“So, this is why my father said he mated on the outside. You had no connectional bond with him because you had a mate?” Goon asked his mother.
“Yes,” Naobi said, sadly. Goon looked Kumba up and down. “He speaks without an Anubi accent. Does he live amongst the humans too?” Goon asked her.
“Yes, he does, and so do I. I left Anubi.”
“You can do that?” I asked her.
“I can do a lot. If we stay on earth for a long time, we are locked out of Anubi, but I have no reason to go back. Where is Jalesa? I need to tell her that she doesn’t have to go back.”
“She and Amadi were last seen bringing some oil in,” I said to Naobi. Izra and Dayo barged into my office.
“There is an animal in here,” Dayo said, with Izra growling.
“It’s me,” Kumba said, not feeling the least bit of a threat.
“You like cats anyway, don’t you?” Goon asked Izra.
“Very funny, nigga. This big muthafucka isn’t a cat,” Izra stated, rudely.
“He is a tiger, and watch your tongue,” Naobi scolded Izra.
“Oh, what’s up, Naobi? I didn’t know that was you. You look normal. I’m surprised you aren’t dressed like those people in that movie Coming to America,” Izra said.
Dayo pushed Izra into the wall. “This is one ignorant jackass,” Dayo said about Izra.
Kumba laughed. “Quite a pack you got here.”
Goon eased up. “Keep her happy so I won’t get any more markings. Every time she cries, I get one, and it hurts like hell,” Goon joked.
“Where is Keora?” I asked Naobi.
“In her dungeon. You will not see her anymore or hear from Saka,” she assured me. Naobi gave us her address, and she promised to see us soon, then she and Kumba left.
“She seemed so normal, even though her presence is still strong,” I said to Goon.
“I noticed that,” Goon said. I fixed his tie.
“I’m proud of you. You didn’t leap on Kumba, even though you wanted to,” I said to him.
“I didn’t feel like hearing your yacking in my head. You women are very sensitive when it comes to love. Besides, I’m looking forward to
this honeymoon you spoke of after we get married. A week away from the pack; it will just be you and I having more pups.”
“I’m not in heat.”
“Well, I’m going to pretend that you are and fuck the living shit out of you,” he said, in his husky voice.
“I need to separate you from Dayo and Izra,” I said, walking out of the office. Goon reached out then grabbed my bottom, and I swatted his hand away.
Anastasia switched over to me, slinging his short, edgy cut. “Kanya, darrliinnggggggg, I have been looking all over for you,” he sang out. He pulled me to the side.
“We are very busy,” I said to him.
“I know, but I was wondering if you want a three-layer cake or a four-layer cake for the wedding?” Anastasia asked me. He was a godsend. He helped me with my store and was helping me plan a wedding. Adika said she could give me the wedding of the century with her spells, but I wanted to experience it like a normal woman. I wanted to do things the traditional way.
“It doesn’t matter. Nobody in my house eats cake, but make sure we have a lot of red meat, slightly cooked. I mean, a lot of rare meat,” I said to Anastasia.
“You sure you aren’t a wolf? I swear you guys remind me of werewolves. I’m infatuated with them. Don’t you just hate that we have to live like humans? I want to jump in a Twilight book and screw Jacob’s brains out,” Anastasia said, then I laughed.
“You have quite an imagination,” I said to him.
“I know. That’s why I’m gay. Nothing is normal in my world,” he joked, swinging his hair and making me laugh.
My cell phone rang, and it was my mother. I excused myself from Anastasia to answer my phone.
“Hello,” I sang, sweetly into the phone.
“I’m sorry, Kanya. Your father still refuses to come to your wedding.”
“But why?” I asked her.
“He doesn’t want you to marry Akua. He said that Akua is a thug and is going down the road of destruction. I tried to talk him into it, but he still refuses. I’m sorry, honey.”