by Abby Knox
Relief washed over him, with slight regret that the blame for missing items and discord in the vibrations was being blamed on his best friend.
“Dev?” he asked.
“My most learned brother,” Zave said, his words dripping with sarcasm. “You can’t play dumb with us. We will find out what you and Dev are up to. Dev may have street smarts but you, our emo little bookworm, do not.”
Samuel then did something he dared not do ever before. He stepped up to Zave, the one who was bigger than him in all senses of the word. “That’s rich coming from the one of us who barely has two brain cells to rub together.”
Zave put his hand on the hilt of his sword and drew it out in front of him. “Oh, are we doing this?”
Samuel smirked. “Sure. But swords down.”
Zave laughed wickedly. “You can’t beat me in hand-to-hand combat, short stack.”
Samuel reared back. “What did you call me?“
“Come on, guys,” Yael interjected. “This isn’t how we solve our disagreements.”
“Little boy, mind your elders,” Zave snapped back without taking his eyes off of Samuel.
Samuel stared at him, confused. “You’re not making any sense.”
Yael replied, “Yeah, what’s that supposed to mean?”
Zave snorted. “I guess the brother with no brain cells knows a few things you don’t, so you should step all the way the fuck off, Samuel.”
Urek stepped in between them. “That’s enough, children. You’re all cruisin’ for a bruisin’. Zave, sheathe your sword. Now.”
Zave spat at the floor and puffed out his chest. “We only have one child here. I don’t know why we have to put up with—”
“He said that’s enough!” The bellow came from Yael, whose special ability to amplify his voice meant he was useful in breaking up fights like this from time to time. For some reason, it always came down to some beef that Zave had with Samuel, which Samuel never understood, but attributed to Zave being a complete asshole.
Samuel backed away. “Maybe if we spent less time getting in each other’s business and more time sorting out our own shit, we wouldn’t be losing our tempers,” Samuel said.
Without another word he left the courtyard and walked back toward his suite, showing his brothers his back. Zave would never dare strike him with his back turned. He may be a dick but he worshipped the rules of combat.
Samuel had come to terms with the fact that he was tired of the rules, tired of secrets, tired of all the forbidden things that kept him and his brothers in this box, ready to tear each other to pieces sometimes like trapped, starving wolves, unable to fully live according to either nature.
What sort of authority dooms an entire miraculous race of creatures to this never-ending half-life?
As he cleaned up the mess he had created on his way out, reassembling statuary and magically repairing tapestries, Samuel smiled to himself. They’re lucky Dev isn’t here. He doesn’t have an ounce of respect for the rules of combat. His street-fighting best friend would have chosen the medieval route and have had Zave stuffed into one of Urek’s kitchen cauldrons by then.
From then on, Samuel was going to do as he pleased. Prophecies, rules be damned.
As his feet hit the twisting stone staircase that led to his suite, the familiar scent of Ada’s heat already drifted up to meet him. In his newfound sense of liberty, he was set to march forward, starting with telling the human how it was going to go down. And she would accept his terms, she would leave, and he would be free of her.
Fuck prophecy. Fuck the scrolls.
It was his way or the highway.
Chapter Seventeen
Ada
Ada began to drift off to sleep while deep into a book about a mysterious community in pre-colonial America of violent, red-headed giants, as described by more than one indigenous tribe. She’d gotten to the part about 15-inch long sandals dug up in an archeological dig in Tennessee when she could no longer control the drooping of her eyelids.
So when her hot-headed giant burst into her room, her immediate reaction was to take to high ground on the bed and to break off the already-broken bedpost to wield in front of her as a weapon, and to shield her middle with a pillow.
“You want to see what I am? Well, here I am!”
As soon as the giant saw her, brandishing a jagged, broken bedpost twice her size, he reared back out the door.
“Oh my god! What the fuck!”
The giant held up his hands. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
She shouted angrily, unafraid and not in need of any of his mind tricks to remain calm, so he’d better not dare try that shit again. “You could have announced yourself!”
“I’m sorry. I was…on a mission. I come with terms for your release.”
Ada’s breathing calmed, but she still clung to the jagged bedpost. Her captor remained halfway tucked behind the door, standing in the dancing shadows cast by the torchlight in the study. He watched her with half his face hidden in shadow.
Reality was setting in for her. Sexual curiosity was one thing, but she was not prepared for the real thing.
She saw a deep-set, glowing, violet eye in the face of a ten-foot-tall creature. Good god, had she been fantasizing about something not human? The beast filled up the gigantic door frame, his silhouette defining a human-shaped tower of flesh that made no sense. In all her life as a scientist, she’d never encountered something this fantastical. He had long, jet-black hair, a severe jawline, arms so powerful he could lift a car on his own, and legs that could have been carved out of marble. He was as large, as perfectly sculpted, and as naked as Da Vinci’s David. A scar slashed a thin line down the left side of his face.
“I was right? It’s all real?” she asked. “Angels, fallen angels, Nephilim—all of it?”
The giant did not answer at first, only stepped backward, deeper into the shadows.
“Does it matter?”
Ada laughed though she found none of it funny. “Of course it matters. It matters to me whether I’ve been kidnapped by a human or something not human.”
The giant’s tone had changed; his hands were raised. She let the heavy bedpost plonk to the floor, where it splintered even more. Honestly, she was grateful to let it go; holding on to it was killing her forearm muscles.
“You already tricked me into admitting what I am. You’re not prepared to absorb my true form. I should come back later.”
Ada knew she could not let that happen. Everything in her wanted him to stay.
“Let me see you. I won’t scream. Please don’t intrude on my thoughts again.”
The giant stepped out from behind the door and into the light.
She tried to keep her breathing even, tried not to hyperventilate. Tried not to think too hard about the fact that she was part of an unprecedented encounter with a cryptid. Cryptid. Such a tiny word for such an overwhelming presence. It was the kind of word that belongs to the realm of Chupacabras and gremlins on airplane wings.
“Tell me your name. It’s only fair. You already know everything about me.”
His violet eyes glowed even brighter the closer he approached her. She did not move the pillow nor climb down off the bed. It was not lost on her that she was still craning her neck up at him while she stood on a mattress elevated four feet off the floor.
“Samuel.”
She cocked her head. “Thought you’d have wings. Gotta say, this is a bummer.”
Samuel’s full lips formed a shy smile, and he looked like he was stretching his shoulders for some complicated gymnastics. What happened next was far more shocking to Ada than the fact that she was in the presence of a real-life giant.
Wings sprouted from his back. A field of feathers unfurled in a great rush, as one would expect from a ten-foot-tall eagle or an owl, and the wingspan was as wide as he was tall. She felt her hand go instinctively to cover her neck and then her heart; her other hand gripped the pillow even tighter.
He backed u
p a touch. His face looked pained. It was the same intense face as the man she remembered from the festival, but larger, just like the rest of him was so much more imposing. “I’ve frightened you enough today. I can leave.”
“Stay!” she insisted. “I need to look at you. For science.”
He obeyed, but something about the situation felt off. His blazing eyes were wide, his jaw rippling with unease. At first glance, the wings were a steely gray, but when she concentrated, the giant’s wings revealed themselves to be iridescent and no particular color at all, only reflecting their surroundings. “Amazing,” she breathed, curling the pillow closer to her body and reaching out one hand. “May I?”
Samuel briefly nodded, stepping in closer to let Ada touch him. When her fingers made contact with his feathers, she detected a humming. It was like if a hummingbird’s wings were sped up by a thousand.
A long moment passed while Ada gathered herself and examined her captor from head to toe.
Her eyes traveled downward to the thing she was most curious about, apart from his stature and wings. It hung at the base of his pelvis and it was proportionate to a ten-foot-tall person, in her opinion. She guessed it to be eight inches both in length and girth, flaccid.
She did the math in her head. Her eyes grew wide as she stared at the pinkish-tan shaft in wonder. With no provocation, it twitched and then swelled about half an inch before her eyes. The pink hue intensified and she noticed the rapid rise and fall of his chest.
If that dick grew any bigger, there was no way… And yet according to…who was it again? Gods, why could she not remember things? Appointments, events, names of people—so many vivid, immediate things felt as if they had happened a hundred years ago. But someone had told her that this species liked to have one-night stands with humans. No way that was possible with that monster schlong.
“The longer you stare at it, the more likely it is to stand up.”
Samuel reached out and she reeled back a step before she saw he wasn’t reaching for her but using telekinesis to reassemble the splinters of wood on the floor, restoring the bedpost as if it had never been broken.
Straight up magic, now? That was more than she could take. Some dark, irrational part of her brain thought about taking his giant-sized cock in her hand, curious if there was any way…
The craving in her body kicked up all kinds of wishful thinking; her innermost muscles flexed involuntarily. She needed to calm herself. How could she even think being penetrated by that…monstrosity…would be a good thing? It was massive, more than any human body could take. He truly was a monster, and she needed to get away from him.
Ada leaped from the bed. She ducked down, weaved, spun, and wriggled her way past Samuel’s huge body, but she was no match for his speed or dexterity. In a blur, he had her wrapped in his arms and pinned to the bed, flat on her stomach. She was trapped and face down, again.
“I’m not going to try to fit that in you, if that’s what you’re worried about. Not yet, anyway. Not ever, if you don’t want to. I would never hurt you, but I can’t let you run away, little fox. It’s not safe out there. Also, I have terms to discuss with you.” His gigantic face hovered so close to hers that his hot breath warmed her cheek. With her face turned to the side, one eye took in the face of her predator close up.
In her childhood, Ada had had dreams about her guardian angel. The giant who had her was no angel. He was more severe, crueler, and felt more like an agent of chaos, or violence, than of good. And yet, she sensed he was telling her the truth.
She felt her resolve crumble. She didn’t want to run away; she’d only been spooked. She believed him when he said he would never hurt her.
His face was human, like hers. His skin felt like hers; she already knew from their brief tussle in the courtyard. Still, she had so many questions.
“You say you won’t hurt me, but you burst into my room naked, wielding a foot-long grinder.”
Samuel gentled a small portion of his weight down onto her back, covering her. “Sometimes we wear clothes, sometimes we don’t. We don’t feel shame about our bodies the way most humans do. Also, it’s ten inches.” He wasn’t bragging, she thought.
“Flaccid. Ten inches, flaccid. Think about what that will do to me,” she said.
“I said I’m not interested in fucking you with this cock if you don’t want that. Is that clear enough?”
She squirmed. He groaned and she felt one of his gargantuan legs slip between both of hers, his thigh pressing against her backside.
“Then what are you…what are we…”
Ada trailed off when the giant shot up, abruptly flipped her over onto her back, and let her catch him licking his lips. Slowly.
“Oh.” Her tummy butterflies were then as big as fruit bats. He was going to…and with his tongue…his large, pink tongue. Oh shit.
He nodded his head.
“…That.”
Samuel slid one hand up the outside of Ada’s thigh. “If you want me to.”
She had to pause to collect herself. Inside, her body was falling apart at the seams while her scientific mind protested to the bitter end. “That’s irrelevant. You did magic. You could have done something to my mind. Or you put something in the food and I’m hallucinating.”
Samuel let out a predatory growl. She sucked in a breath when he trailed his hand over the top of her leg and moved along the inside of her thigh. God, why did it have to feel so good? Why wasn’t she objecting?
“I fixed your bed. And did you find the bathroom I built for you also objectionable?” he asked.
She felt as though she were latching on to reason in a way that felt analogous to grasping the edge of a cliff with one finger, knowing that gravity must win but fighting anyway. “None of that is possible. It’s some kind of illusion. It must be. And even if it’s real, I owe you nothing.”
“This is not a transaction. I’ll leave if you want me to.”
Ada’s eyes followed as he retracted his wings. She felt them brush against her skin and it was all too, too real. She knew it was not a hallucination or a dream. He was real, he was touching her, and she could feel his skin against hers, feel his words penetrating her everywhere.
They both waited for her decision as they stared at each other. She liked the weight of him on top of her, even though the bed creaked with every move he made. Finally, Ada made up her mind and pressed her pelvis against his oversized leg.
For a brief moment, she reveled in watching him close his eyes, his lips parted, and absorb the sensation of her heat against his leg. He eventually composed himself. “Ada. Forget what you think you know. And let me tell you how we’re going to get what we want from each other, and how you’re going to leave here unharmed and agree never to come back.”
She pressed up again, riding his thigh, fully aware that the tunic had gotten hitched up around her waist in the tussle. She listened as he told her his plan to let her go.
“What do you say to that? You think you can let us have one night together and then leave and never think of me again?”
“What about your orgy thing or whatever?” she asked.
“I’ve been without a companion for thirty-one years. One more season without one is nothing in the life of a Nephilim.”
Her eyes flashed. “What happened 31 years ago?”
Samuel squinted at her as if weighing how much to reveal to her. “I don’t know. I…changed. And then I saw your name and something inside me woke up again.”
Ada sucked in a breath. “I was born 31 years ago. Funny coincidence, huh?” His eyes widened. He looked as if his thoughts were racing. But it was a flash, and then he recovered.
“So, those are the terms,” he said, ignoring this coincidence. “One night with me, and then I release you. In exchange, I leave you with proof enough, something you can use to write your book. You’ll have your fifteen minutes, whatever you want to do with it. But you have to swear to reveal nothing more than what I am going to give you. Not pho
tographs. If you agree to these terms, we swear an angel oath, so that if either of us breaks it, we die. If you don’t agree to these terms, then you’ll have to stay with me forever.”
Ada scoffed. “You think it’s that difficult of a decision? Get a grip, angel boy. Of course, I’ll take the one night. I’m a scientist, not a complete fool.”
Samuel blurted out a noise that was somewhere between a laugh and a wheeze and a snort. Somehow still pretty freaking sexy, with his lips quirked up in a smirk. He slipped his massive finger in between her folds, startling Ada so abruptly she sucked in a sharp breath and her eyes rolled back at the pleasure.
Samuel was not prepared to find out how on fire she was, for when the tip of his finger entered her, he grunted out a “Fuck” under his breath.
“It’s sealed then,” he said, lowering his lips down to hers. She didn’t hate it, the warm connection of their mouths, or the feeling of being surrounded by that gigantic creature. His kiss was firm but warm, hitting her in all the right places, eliciting quivers throughout all the deep, dark corners of her body that should be awakened by a good, strong kiss. It was all she could do to keep from coming instantly at the sensation of his lips against hers combined with his fingers in her slickness.
She welcomed his tongue into her mouth. Although it was huge as it snaked around hers, it warmed her and made her feel like she might levitate. He tasted like the sweetest candy, and she never wanted to stop kissing him. He was instantly addictive. It was then she knew one night wasn’t going to be enough. Could she still escape from here after maybe two, three nights? Would he give her even more information if she agreed to stay longer?
As his lips caressed her mouth and his hand stoked the flames of arousal inside her, she knew the answer to that question. She was a human; she was not enough for him. Why would giants trifle with humans when surely they were better matched with the females of their own kinds? Surely they needed other giants with magical libidos to match theirs.
He traced kisses down her neck and sank his middle finger one more inch inside her. Her body almost seized but she breathed through it. “Do you want me to taste your pussy the same way I kiss your mouth?”