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Wick held back a growl and resumed his thrusts. He kept them soft and shallow, not daring to jolt her against the rough bark. He didn’t even try to push his last ridge inside her, even though he could hear her biting back a whimper every time it brushed her entrance.

The three men emerged into the clearing. Two of them were holding crossbows, the third was clutching a dagger nervously, a dead pig hanging over his shoulder.

“Fire’s not long gone,” said the first man, kicking at the ash heap that was once their campfire. “Camp’s still set up. Can’t see any struggle.”

“I didn’t hear shit,” said the man in the middle. He turned to the pig man. “Sure you heard something, Pen?”

“Iswearit was this way,” said Pen, shoving the pig’s snout out of the way of his dagger. “You heard it, right, Vern?”

Vern grunted. He was in front, an old scar closing one eye permanently. The other eye roved the clearing, not faltering on where Wick was mating Briar quietly behind a tree.

“Heard somethin’,” said Vern quietly. “‘Cept if it’s what IthinkI heard, we’d already be dead.”

If Wick weren’t so focused on mating quietly, he would have been annoyed. He wished his siblings in the mortal realm weren’t so bloodthirsty. They gave Skullstalkers a bad name.

Briar let out a tiny gasp.

Wick covered her mouth again. Briar’s eyelids fluttered, her hole squeezing around him so tightly that Wick let out his own noise, rough and guttural.

The men in the clearing froze. Vern clicked something in his crossbow, eyes scanning the clearing warily.

“Earnest,” he said to the second man. “You hear it now?”

“Sure do, boss,” Earnest whispered, clutching his crossbow tightly. “Sure it sounds Skull-like?”

“I know animals,” Vern said. “That ain’t animal. That’s a monster.”

Wick gritted his fangs and thrust faster. For some reason, the idea that they would get caught made him harder. His cock swelled inside Briar, a telltale sign that he was about to come.

Briar panted under his hand. Lust rolled off her in waves, so hot and tantalizing that Wick’s mouth watered.

He squeezed his eyes shut, thrusting as fast as he dared.

“Can’t tell where it came from,” came Pen’s nervous voice as Wick’s hips started to stutter. “What do we do, Vern?”

Vern said something. Wick didn’t hear it. His orgasm flooded through his body as powerfully as any frenzy, and he pinned Briar into the bark as he filled her. Waves of pleasure unlike any he’d ever known before Briar rolled through him, so intense his legs threatened to give out.

Wick dug his claws into the tree and bit down hard on his tongue. It didn’t help. A growl ripped out of his throat, low and unmistakable. Briar whined underneath it, the sound so delicious that Wick pulsed once more, feeling it drip out of her hole and down his balls.

The clearing went silent.

Wick held his breath. Briar’s hot breath dragged against his palm, her bright eyes pinned on him as they waited.

Vern burst through the trees, his crossbow raised. His hard expression dropped into disgust as he took in the sight in front of him.

“Void take me,” he snarled. “Unhand her, monster!”

“Okay, let’s waitonemoment—” Briar’s breathy reply cut off with a yelp as the crossbow let fly.

Wick grabbed it out of the air and crushed it in his hand. It would have hit his chest, he realized. That was good. As long as they didn’t hurt Briar.

He slipped out of her, ignoring her gasp as he placed her back on the ground.

“If everyone couldwait,” Briar said, louder.

But horrified gasps were coming up behind them. Wick turned to see Earnest, his face twisted in shock and his crossbow raised. Pen stood behind him, gaping, his arms going so slack the pig dropped out of them.

The dead pig hit the floor. Earnest fumbled with his crossbow, another arrow letting fly.