Run & Hide by Beatrix Hollow

10

Ava was still in the tent, sleeping in after the scare of last night. I roamed the woods behind our tent, trying to find evidence of what had been sneaking around. I wasn’t having any luck though. I sent a look over my shoulder, making sure Ava was still in the tent.

I didn’t want her to see something that scared her and there was so much of myself that could. That wouldn’t be very conducive to my love.

I cracked my neck and rolled my head, stretching as I felt the shift come over me. It was instantaneous, a small ripple over the skin. It felt like stepping in water. My eyes blinked open and I winced from the sun, too bright for these eyes. They were made for darker places.

I shifted my eyes back to human, then swept my gaze around, inhaling through my nose again. The scent from last night wasn’t here though. Ava said something had been in the woods—a shadowed shape.

Whatever it was, it wasn’twhat was at the camp last night.

The thing that had come to terrorize her in her sleep wasn’t human. I’d sensed that much. Its smell was peculiar—like nature more than an animal. It smelled like dirt, smoke, and something I couldn’t define.

I knew Ava called out to the weird and strange—knew that intimately. I looked down at the thick blue skin of my arms, the razor-sharp claws on my webbed fingers and toes. I used to pretend I was different from all the ghosts that latched on to her. They were needy things that wanted her so badly they didn’t care if they scared her.

At some point, I’d realized I was similar. It was about the time I was kicking the shit out of the fourth guy who came sniffing around in high school. I was just as selfish as everything else strange that clung to her.

Still, I was different. I was better. I’d care for her, not scare her. I’d protect her, comfort her. I’d be anything she needed and hide who I was.

Anger slashed through me. Some creepy fucker was in these woods, something more like me. A monster. I’d never let it get her.

The loud sound of squealing brakes came from behind me. I shifted back to fully human. It was more an illusion than anything. Hardly something I’d call a true form but it was a functional form, operating as a normal human’s.

I turned and went back to camp, furrowing my brows when I spotted a big bus parked on the street.

Fuck, it was the tour bus. I sighed as I walked across the street, making my way into Brandon and Matthias’ camp. Brandon looked like he was enjoying himself while watching his morning fire. I’d better say good morning, it was only polite.

My foot connected to the camping chair Brandon was sitting on, making the legs close up and the entire thing crumple beneath him. He yelped in surprise as he went down into the dirt. A moment later he was jumping up and snarling at me.

“What the fuck,” he hissed.

“What is that?” I hitched my thumb behind me, pointing at the bus. The sound of the door opened and I groaned as I heard feet spilling down the stairs and into the campground. Brandon looked on at my displeasure with a wide smile. He slipped his arm around my shoulders and turned me towards the rest of the band.

“Look who decided to show up,” he said proudly.

“Why?” I asked. There were two other members of the band—the bass player and the keyboardist. They spilled out of the bus, yawning, stretching, and squinting up at the sun.

“Well, I got to thinking,” Brandon said as he waved at his friends.

“Where’s Matthias?”

“Matthias is around, don’t worry about him. He thought this was a great idea too.” A fourth person spilled out of the bus that I didn’t recognize. He had a video camera hitched on his shoulder. He swept it around and then settled on Brandon and me. Brandon waved and my body stilled.

“Don’t be so tense,” Brandon said and I shrugged him off, disliking touching him any longer.

“What is this?” I asked.

“A Nix camping trip! We’ll post it to the band’s youtube page. Hey, where’s Ava?” Brandon asked, his head turning towards our camp. I looked back over at the camera with a frown before I flashed it a smile and waved like I was excited. It finally swept away to take in the rest of the campground.

The other band members came hopping over, looking actually excited. Their toothy smiles stretched widely at me.

“Ava is none of your business,” I told Brandon as the camera guy set the camera down and started to pull luggage from the bus storage. I flicked my head back to the guys standing around me.

“Hey, Cas,” the keyboardist, Grady, said. He had thick, black-rimmed glasses. One of those nerdy punk types that had a sweatband around one wrist at all times.

“Hey,” I said with a flat smile of displeasure. This caused them all to laugh.

“I see he hasn’t changed at all out in the wild,” Grady said.

“Oh, I beg to differ,” Brandon said, leaning in close to me. I eyed him, unimpressed. “He’s genuinely pleasant when his girl, Ava, is around.” I looked around at them as they smiled at me. They were up to something.

“Where is she? We were hoping to meet her again. Last time was weird, we want to make it up to her,” Grady said. The bassist, Simon, remained silent. He wasn’t a big talker and mostly kept to himself, something I normally appreciated but here he was to make my life difficult.

It almost felt as if they were trying to keep Ava and me apart. Nokken were furious, paranoid bastards when it came to their mate and I seemed to have that trait in spades.

It was the other reason I had needed a break from Ava five years ago. The tension of living with my unclaimed mate for years left me always angry and brimming with violence. Sometimes even lashing out at my own father.

“She’s none of your business,” I repeated.

“Don’t be like that. We just want to get to know her—” Grady was cut off as I lunged forward, grabbing his Weezer shirt. He held up his hands and panic flashed in his eyes. “Nothing weird, she’s yours. We all know that,” he said quickly. I dropped his shirt and stepped back. They all shifted around quietly, off-put by my sudden outburst.

I rolled my eyes.

“Sorry,” I said, smoothing the wrinkles from Grady’s shirt. I rested my hand on the side of his neck and smiled widely. Sometimes smiling didn’t entirely work. This was one of those times. It seemed to have the opposite effect, making them give me a strange expression. He also didn’t seem to like me touching him.

It was so hard to figure these things out sometimes. Touch me, don’t touch me. Blah, blah. What the fuck ever. I stepped back into my own space and dropped it.

“What’s going on here?” I asked Brandon. For all his annoying shit I could at least rely on him and Matthias not being interested in Ava.

“We just want to get to know Ava, talk to her. It was wrong to blame her for your decision. See, I don’t think she’s even really aware of… well,” he chuckled, “quite a lot.” He gave me a toothy smile and self-satisfied eyes. I swept my gaze over the three of them.

What did they plan on telling her exactly? They had no idea I wasn’t human, so it wasn’t that at least.

“She doesn’t know, does she?” Brandon asked.

“Doesn’t know what?” I asked. He stepped up in my face.

“What a little fucking sociopath you are,” he said in hate. I looked back and forth between his eyes. A smile slid across my face.

“If you go spouting shit to her—” I started but Brandon took a step back, rolling his eyes.

“I probably should warn her... “ He trailed off. I noted Matthias coming back from the bathroom, a damp towel folded over his shoulder, and his hair wet.

“See, I get it now,” Brandon said.

“Get what, exactly?” My attention focused back on him.

“You’re obsessed with her and for whatever reason, you go where she goes from now on. That’s what you were getting at before, right? Well, what if she wanted to tour with the band?” He asked.

“This is your grand plan?”

Brandon shrugged, nonplussed by my reaction. I thought it over. The idea of touring around with Ava could be great but why would she agree? Our relationship was just now finally starting. Also, I couldn’t ask her to quit this travel photography job. It was her first time away from her family. The first time she was putting her foot down about what she wanted. She was so excited about it. I couldn’t take that away from her. I wouldn’t even ask.

“Nah,” I said, scrunching my nose. Brandon’s face flashed with an angry expression. I smiled and shrugged at him. That seemed to piss him off more. At least this time I’d intended that reaction.

“See you guys later,” I said with a bright smile as I went back to Ava. They watched me go with frowns, Brandon clenching and unclenching his fists.

Quickly I unzipped the tent, feeling frantic to be near her, to touch her. My eyes went half-lidded and I let out a strangled breath as I thought again of last night. Of Ava underneath me, of her body grinding and squirming, my fingers playing with her pussy.

She stirred as I came into the tent. I didn’t bother zipping it back up, just kneeled down, my eyes going to my bite on her neck. All that was left was filling her up deep between her legs. Then she’d really be mine, not that there was any question of that.

Nokken were always male and imprinted with human women. It was an instantaneous thing that made my heart seize in my chest when I first saw her. It had been an overwhelming, life-changing experience.

Some nokken went a lifetime without finding their mate. Yet they were driven to constantly seek them out. It made for a bunch of manwhores, pulling women in with their wiles as often as possible, looking for the one who would be special.

Not me though. I’d only been fourteen when I first saw her. My new stepsister, with wide beautiful brown eyes and a curvy body that made me grind my teeth with a ravenous urge I’d never felt before.

There was not a single thing I disliked about her, except that she didn’t instantly love me too.

“What time is it?” She murmured sleepily as I settled beside her in the tent. I buried my face into the mating bite and she made a small noise of pain that made my head spin. Pain and pleasure could be so similar, the sounds almost identical and the intensity equal. My poor Ava, did she realize I wanted to hurt her? Just a little though, just enough so that she could have even more pleasure.

“Nearly eleven,” I said as she brought her fingers to the bite, delicately exploring it with the tips of her fingers. I didn’t want to think about anything outside this tent. Not the thing in the woods that wanted her, my bandmates across the street, nor the big bus and rolling camera.

Only Ava.

“Caspian,” she said somewhat in shock, feeling the wound I left her with. A slow smile of satisfaction spread over my face. I dropped it quickly as she turned, giving her an apprehensive look as I waited to see if she was angry.

“Last night…”

“The part with the raccoons, the knocking, or do you mean when you begged me to make you come,” I said with a smile. Her eyes widened and she looked away, embarrassed, biting her plump lip, bringing my attention to it. We were so close in this tiny tent, touching all over. My breathing picked up and I couldn’t think of anything else except having more of her.

“I didn’t beg,” she mumbled. “What was last night?” She asked quietly. I dragged my eyes from her ample cleavage to her face.

“What do you mean?”

“Was that… some strange way of teasing me more?”

“No,” I said and her eyes darted to mine.

“Then why did you do it?”

“Because I plan to fuck you on this trip,” I said, unable to stop myself from saying it. The shock on her face was priceless. She floundered, her face red.

“What?” She asked a few times. “Is that a joke?”

“You tell me,” I said, caressing her wrist. She shuddered. I brought her hand down to my pants, pressing her palm hard against my cock. “Am I joking?”

Her throat bobbed as she swallowed.

“Please, stepsister. Help your stepbrother out.” I thrust my hips into her palm. Her fingers gripped the outline in curiosity, making me almost jerk in surprise.

“This isn’t porn,” she grumbled. She hated it when I called us step siblings. I thought it was funny. Her fingers kept gripping me, exploring the size and shape. Too bad it wasn’t the size and shape of what she’d take, I thought in humor. My mate would never take anything but my true form between her legs.

As she willingly continued to touch me, I felt desperate with need. She was touching me. She wanted me.

“Please, Ava,” I asked quietly, the desire for humor drying up. My mouth cracked open, as she slid her palm over my length through my pants. Fuck. I couldn’t act cool. I fumbled with the button of my pants, my eyes watching her face, making sure she was okay with this.

I unzipped my pants and pushed them lower on my hips until my cock was naked between us, a welling collection of precum emphasizing how needy I was.

“You okay?” I asked. She nodded and I swallowed, feeling too frantic. I grabbed her wrist and slid my fingers into hers, threading our hands together. Then I pushed into the grip that our combined hands made. I felt hot all over as my cock slid against our palms.

“Fuck,” I hissed. She looked shocked but aroused with straining nipples, the brown tint showing through the thin tank top she wore. I jerked the fabric away from her breasts, baring her nipples to me. She sucked in a breath as I leaned forward and ran my tongue over them. She tasted divine--her skin fresh and the hard points an exciting texture in my mouth.

I pushed into our grip faster, my breath hitching. She was breathing hard and I pulled back from her breasts to see her lips parted.

I couldn't stop myself.

“Ava,” I breathed out, removing my hand from hers and cupping her face, bringing her in. She gripped my cock all on her own as my lips pressed into hers. A ripple of pleasure rolled over me. It had been so long since I’d kissed her. Too long. It was fucking pathetic how much this meant to me but I didn’t care.

Instead of tensing when I kissed her, she relaxed into it. Her hand slid up my length and back down. A dry hand job, fuck I didn’t care because she was touching me. That alone had my balls already drawing up. My tongue pressed between her lips and she made a small noise that had me consuming her mouth in smooth languid desperation. I was always desperate for her. It was as much a part of me as was my blood and bone.

I couldn’t come like this though. Not in her hand. I needed between her legs, deep inside. So deep she screamed. Oh, how sweet her cries would sound.

My skin was hot, my arms shaking as I kissed her. My instincts were demanding I take my mate. A growl rolled from my mouth as I pushed on top of her, slapping her hand away from my cock.

“What—” She tried asking but I didn’t let her talk. Our lips pushed and pulled, my tongue dancing with hers. I pulled back and looked at her, pupils blown, chest heaving. There was apprehension on her face too, a bit of confusion still there.

“You feel so warm,” she said and I laughed.

“That’s what you have to say?”

“But you are…” she grumbled. My eyes slid to the bite. Pinprick holes spaced close together. That wasn’t a human’s bite mark. My tongue slid over my lips and I settled my thumb on the mark.

“You didn’t even complain,” I said, pushing my thumb a little harder on the wound. The skin around her eyes tightened but her shoulders went back, her breasts pushing into me. It made me breathe harder, an eager smile begging to break out on my face. She liked me pressing on her bite.

I leaned forward, burying my face in her black hair and inhaling before pressing my mouth to her ear.

“Do you like a little pain, Ava?” I purred low. She trembled beneath me as I kept pressing on the mark.

“I don’t know,” she said shakily and I hummed in her ear, making her shudder and squirm underneath me. My cock was still out, still hard and leaking precum from the tip as it sat heavily on her leg.

“Do you? Like pain, I mean,” she said gulping.

“A little pain can make the pleasure better. Could make you tremble.” I stroked her hair and bore down harder on the bite. Her legs spread in an invitation, even as she winced. Her hands went up to grip my shirt tightly. Her body was telling me it was willing.

“What I’d really like is to hear you scream,” I said into her ear. She sucked in a sharp breath, her heart hammering in her chest. I pulled back and looked down at her. Ava was biting her lip—anticipating, hoping, wanting.

Fuck, she was ready. I needed to get to the water and fuck her in a way no other thing could.

“Come on,” I said in a rush, fumbling around the tent until I found the swimming suits I’d thrown in here earlier this morning.

“What?” She asked in confusion, sitting up.

“The water. I’d like to fuck you there,” I said, laying down to slide off my pants and tug up my swim shorts. Her eyes zeroed in on my bobbing erection. When her tongue darted over her lips I nearly changed my mind, wanting her sensuous mouth around me. That wouldn’t relieve this need to mate though. The instinct was a painful feeling in my gut, a demanding bastard.

“Wait,” she said, her eyes furrowing as I got my shorts all the way up. She reached out and tugged one side of them down.

Shit.

“Is that my name?” She asked, eyeing the tattoo on my hip. I swallowed, tugging the material back over the tattoo. I started to leave the tent, nerves squirming in my stomach. Was she going to freak out?

“Caspian?”

“Get dressed,” I said, standing outside. She huffed in frustration but I heard her changing.