I hope you're somewhere praying | Tantalize

[Tantalize]

tantalize

I’ll have a reason good enough

I’ll believe in you and trust

On the day you finally see that the way you treated me

Was a far cry from love

They are blinded. Blinded by lust, greed, hunger. Voracious appetites that beg to be filled by any means necessary, no matter the cost. Roving gazes either conveniently miss the dark throne strands that keep her in place or don’t care. Hungry eyes that want to eat her flesh or consume it with power. That’s all she is. Something pretty, something to be used and abused.

So far she is left untouched but for how long? With Gryffen circling like a shark in blood infested waters, it’s only a matter of time. Someone will try to ravage her body with teeth or magic. She shudders involuntarily, unable to keep Lion from her thoughts. Her heart thunders in her chest, remembering the way she had relaxed into Offspring’s heat. Those images play in and out with that of Lion’s abuse and she clenches every muscle as if that will keep off an assault.

How could this have happened?

That night with Offspring had been everything to her. The way he had filled her with pleasure, his heat and desire cleansing every nook and cranny of her soul from the grit and sludge that had filled her since the day Lion had destroyed her world. The way she had clung to him, the rare moment of raw weakness, crying into his chest. He had not spurned her, had not diminished her tears and her vulnerability.

It had been real. How did that go to this?

Captive. Alone. Bait.

Where was he?

Not all the eyes are unkind. Suddenly she realizes someone is watching her. Raising her head slightly, fierce gold meeting that of the feathered mare with wary uncertainty. The scent of honeyed flowers makes her stomach turn but she can’t reject them or shake them free from her hair. Jaguar-Paw. That’s what the stranger calls her, lips kissing her supple skin with sadness. She can’t help but recoil, a flash in the depths of gold at such intrusive touch. She can’t defend herself, for all she knows, it’s one of Gryffen’s tricks.

The sadness seems real, genuine. Hesitant, she finally responds. ”Paying for my father’s mistakes.”

@[Jah-Lilah]