Page 48 of Tenebrous

Perhaps he is still frightened, but not as much as when he first awoke.

Something warm unfurls beneath my ribs, easing an ache I did not know existed until this human arrived.

It shouldn't matter. I do not understand why his fear troubles me so, but…

I hope to see a day when there is none left in him at all.

Chapter

Eighteen

Benji

I can't sleep.

Not because of the wound in my leg, nor is it the shivers from the fever—though neither of them help. No, my inability to relax has nothing to do with my physical state and everything to do with the horny eight-foot-tall creature currently snoozing across the cave.

Well, I guess it's… he's not horny anymore. Thank god. After telling him to think of something else, he'd left me alone to eat, and I'd been so stunned by what I'd just seen that I hadn't even thought to make another run for it.

“You know how to fix?”

Orion's gruff voice has been ringing in my head ever since he flashed me his… massive fucking cock. Jesus. Where the hell had that thing even come from? Swear, it was like the length of my torso. And that bulbous knot at the base…

Glancing over at him, I take in his hulking frame from where he rests beside the cave entrance. He’s asleep sitting up, back to the stone wall. One leg stretched out, the other drawn up with his elbow resting on his knee, his horned head tipped forward. My eyes drop to the space between his legs, but all I see is dark fur. No trace of the erection from earlier. Not even a set of balls.

Where the fuck does it go when it's not in use?

“Has something like this ever happened to you before?” I'd asked him, and he’d said no. The creature has never experienced a boner before, but somehow watching me eat made him hard. I don't even know how to begin to process that.

All I know is after the initial fear faded, I'd actually felt pity for the thing. Must be over a hundred years old and never experienced an orgasm before, like how sad is that? But also why the fuck am I thinking of him and orgasms? This is just too weird.

Sweating under the heavy furs, I try to scoot away from the dying fire. Another cramp tightens my stomach at the movement, and I groan in pain. They've been happening frequently for the last hour or so, right after the shakes started.

Maybe I'd misjudged the meat. Who knows how long that animal had been dead before the—before Orion—brought it in here. For some reason, the thought of dying from rancid moose makes me snort, which turns into a full-bodied laugh.

The sound startles Orion awake. His eyes flash in the dim cavern as he tilts his head in my direction, brows knitted tightly.

I laugh again, this time covering my mouth when another cramp sends a wave of nausea through me. Sweat beads the back of my neck, dripping off my forehead to burn my eyes, and if I weren't completely naked beneath the animal fur covering my body, I'd toss it aside.

“You are ill?” Orion asks, his guttural voice sending goosebumps over my heated flesh.

“It's just… so funny,” I breathe, rolling out my stiff shoulders. “Out of all the things that could have possibly killed me, you know? The gunshot, the fall, you. Myself.” Another almost manic laugh bursts out of me. “Some spoiled meat is what finally takes me out. What the fuck.”

He's on his feet before I finish laughing.

In two quick strides, Orion kneels beside me, one massive hand hovering uncertainly over my forehead. “You burn.”

“Yeah, I've noticed.”

A stabbing, painful cramp nearly folds me in half. My stomach clenches so hard I suck in a sharp breath, and the cave tilts around me when his pine scent floods my system.

Orion catches my shoulder in one large hand before I can slump sideways. “Fever?” he asks.

“Probably.” The feel of his warm palm on my skin makes me dizzy, but not in a bad way. I lean into it, even as I fight the instinct to rub against him like a cat. What the fuck is happening?

He studies me closely, the concern on his face deepening. My body ignites, a hot flash so visceral burning beneath my skin that I yank the fur off my body in desperation, nakedness be damned. It helps, but not much. The cool cave air pebbles my nipples, and I groan at the scent of Orion trickling up my nostrils.

Without warning, my cock shoots to full attention, harder than it's ever been in my entire life.