Page 25 of The Demon’s Collar (The Bard’s Demon #1)

B?k: Is This Yearning or No?

I plunged into the water, letting the icy waves assault my heated flesh.

My cock throbbed—fucking at the water the same way it’d fucked at my pants before I’d fled the clearing, like a rogue battering ram at a siege.

It ached, demanding satisfaction it couldn’t have because the bard wanted it, and I couldn’t reward her for crying empty words at me. What good would that do?

I growled a stream of unintelligible curses into the water.

Haz’s sagging sack.

I was supposed to be tormenting Ero into submission, ensuring that she would not become a bigger problem—not turning my cock to stone.

Yet her sweet cries echoed in my ears. Her lips, parted and panting, danced across the backs of my eyelids.

The flavor of her bittersweet melody lingered acidically on my tongue.

Frigid water succeeded in shattering my cock swell, but it did nothing to relieve my frustration. I stood, now only waist deep, letting the chilly wind bite into me. Facing the hard truth.

I wanted her.

It wasn’t just about neutralizing the possibility that her schemes would interfere with my goals.

I wanted her on her knees, begging.

I wanted her bent over a tree, clenched with the anticipation of my next blow.

I wanted to pull her up by her hair and shove her to her knees and watch those soft lips close around my cock.

Hells, I even wanted her to make that snarky little face that broadcasted her intention to fight so I could watch it freeze and break when I gave her no choice but to submit.

And…just like that, hard again.

A few hours later, I had a full stomach, a soft cock, and a plan.

I scattered the remains of my fire and tossed the deer entrails off a nearby cliff face. At some point during the hunt, I’d regained control. I wouldn’t lose it again.

Something nagged at the corner of my mind as I set off down the trail.

The Fates had things to say. They danced just close enough to make their presence known without allowing me to grasp them.

A flash of a soldier’s face here, a flourish of the Huntress’s cloak there.

A spear of celestial power glittering ominously in a twilit sky.

It was all just enough to irritate me without giving me any useful information .

But that was fine, I told myself. I knew the Huntress’s game, didn’t I? Today wasn’t about that.

I cast my consciousness wide—reaching for the bard’s essence instead. The newly reawakened beast inside me rippled with anticipation. No holds barred this time. No teasing. I would find her and drink my fill. Glut myself to flush the need from my body once and for all.

It was never a fair hunt, of course. The bard could cloak her physical form all she liked—but her magic? It lit up like a beacon, guiding me true. If she were smart, she would already be far?—

I stopped mid-thought, surprised to pick up her discordant melody right away. It was close. Ten minutes’ walk at most, not remotely worthy of the hours I’d given her to run. I frowned.

What was she playing at? Had she purposely made it easy to find her? Was she so desperate to get fucked that she’d made the grave error of failing to even try?

I was still considering the punishment possibilities when the first bolt of electricity cut into my chest. It lashed like a whip, burning through my shirt and burrowing into the skin.

Although the burning that might have been agonizing for anyone else didn’t faze me at all, the gaping wound wasn’t pleasant. I reeled back.

The magic was visible, but faint—like threads of gold only catching the sunlight from certain angles.

Slowly, I smiled. She hadn’t run. But not because she wanted me to catch her. Because she’d decided to fight.

I licked my lips. This was going to be fun.

My skin knitted back together on its own. It didn’t take long. The shirt had a dramatic look, but I didn’t mind that. Let her get satisfaction from her small win. It would be her last.

I made quick work of dispelling the magic as I proceeded, akin to sweeping cobwebs from my path. But I moved slowly from there, more vigilant. I noticed and leapt over a patch of flesh-eating slick spelled into the dirt. I ducked under a shimmering tripwire attached to a conjured game net.

My bard had been busy.

When I finally spotted her, I was glad her eyes were closed.

She wore leaves stitched together with that same golden magic—not the living tendrils pulsing around her, but strands I assumed must have been drawn from the air by her lute.

I’d debated taking the instrument. I was glad now that I’d left it for her.

The barely covered skin was almost more alluring than seeing her spread open wide for me had been.

She was deep in concentration as she hummed a low melody.

Her soft pink lips—slightly open—shaped the chords.

She knelt on a small grassy peak, surrounded for ten paces all around by venomous rock toads.

A few more hopped into the fray as I watched, freezing when they reached their place in the group.

A butterfly drifted into the clearing. No sooner did it breach the space than the closest three toads jolted from their trances and shot out their tongues to catch it.

The commotion drew Ero’s gaze—her face mildly startled, softening quickly into relieved confidence as she watched them tear the intruder apart.

Her trap worked. Her pleasure sparked a rose-wine scent that made my mouth water.

The trap would work on me, too, I realized—if I were foolish enough to walk into it.

I could heal quickly, but rock toad venom had psychedelic effects.

With enough of it, even I would be incapacitated for long enough to ruin our little game.

Not to mention the danger posed by the gold strands blowing in the breeze above the toads—charged with the same lightning I’d already encountered, no doubt .

“Not bad,” I said.

My kitten’s body stiffened, confirming that she hadn’t heard my approach. She let the lute slide onto her back and stood slowly, turning to face me with a confidence as impressive as it was erroneous. I noted that her braid was back, as were its enchantments. Something else to make her pay for.

I took one step closer to the toads, careful to stop short of the nearest golden spell thread.

I could taste her desire for my misstep.

Surely she knew I would win in the end, but she longed for a minor victory first. She wanted to see me struggle—to work out how to entice the toads from my path or to thunder through them and endure their venom.

Too bad.

I let the fire pool in my hands and pushed.

The cyclone cut through the toads, cooking the ones that weren’t fast enough to jump out of the way as it raced toward Ero. I met her scream with a smile. She should be afraid.

The fire died at the edge of her patch of grass.

“Come here,” I said.

The surprise on her face sparked and almost instantly twisted into anger. Poor bard. She hadn’t considered this possibility. The most obvious answer. That I didn’t need to reach her, because I could make her come to me .

Her feet moved. She had only a split second to decide—venomous toads or burning embers.

“Hurry,” I growled.

Already, my cock pulsed in time with my heartbeat. If she wanted mercy, she would find none here. She cried out when her bare foot touched the blackened trail.

I smirked. Of course she would avoid the toads. If one wanted to see what mortals feared most, one needed only to examine the traps they set for others. My kitten would rather burn her feet than lose her senses.

She ran down the trail, shrieking when the toads—jarred from their trance by her motion—leapt at her. She jumped the last several feet, landing hard and crashing into me. She clung to my tattered shirt. Like I was her salvation rather than the source of her torment.

Her mistake.

I fisted her hair, not caring that thorns sprang from it and dug into my flesh. Blood trailed down my fingers, but amid her cries and pleas—the desires dancing in the air betrayed her so sweetly. She still wanted this. And I marveled at that—at her desire to push me until I ruined her.

I allowed her fantasies to lead the way—thanking gods and devils alike that they so neatly mirrored my own.

I turned her over, shoving her face down on the ground—dangerously close to the toads that were now busy tearing each other to shreds, awakened from the stupor she’d played them into and reminded that they were territorial beasts.

She fought hard, even though we both knew there was no point.

I pinned her between my thighs, finally letting my cock free to claim its due.

“B?k—” she cried.

Fear permeated the air. Fear that I would give her what she was afraid to want. Fear that her own trap would be her downfall.

“Don’t speak,” I ordered.

The compulsion elicited a strangled cry.

She wanted to beg, wanted to plead her case—and taking that from her teased the agony to new heights.

I pushed my fingers under her braid, through the hair at the base of her neck, and fisted hard, wrenching her head to the side so my breath could skate across her ear.

“You want it, so take it,” I growled.

I released her hair and let her turn her face away, hiding those pretty tears in the grass while I reached into my satchel for what I needed.

One twist of the slippery tinnio pod released the plant’s slick gel, coating my cock from tip to base.

I wanted to ruin her—not destroy her. I knew that this wasn’t the last time I would want this.

And if her desires swirling around me weren’t enough to confirm the same for her, her dripping pussy would have.

The gel worked its magic. I was already hard as a fucking rock, but a fresh ache added to my need as the gel made my cock vibrate. The hum pulsed in tune with Ero’s gasping breaths.

I positioned my cock against her tightest ring, and she fought me—pulling herself just an inch forward—a futile resistance that made me smile. Because her desire for me to give chase only strengthened. So, I did.

Pushing in felt like heaven. I met her gasp with a groan. Despite all her scrabbling, she took it so well, opening up for me as I pressed relentlessly forward. I murmured in her ear, reminding her to relax, coaxing as I drove deeper. Her rose-wine glow grew, a scent and a flavor and a song.

I knew I was overwhelming her, but my kitten could take it. I picked up my pace, nearing release?—

And then everything went black.

I woke in new flesh hours later.

It took a long moment to recall where I’d been and why. Another moment to realize... I’d died.

I’d died?

I sat up, looking around. There were still a couple rock toads about, but they were scattered now. A few broken threads of magic blew in the breeze. The sun was still up, but it had a hazy glow that hinted at sunset.

I looked around stupidly, trying to piece together what had happened. And then I noticed...

Ero was gone.

And so were my things.