A Werewolf Fantasy
Chapter 34

"There you are!" exclaimed Nikjin excitedly as Erin entered his chambers in the longhouse.

He was reclining on a crude version of a chaise lounge made out of wood, straw, and animal hide. His domain was densely decorated with a variety of artsy fittings that were at odds with this era but made the space warm and inviting. "Do you like my lair?" he asked with a dashing grin.

If he wasn't such an evil creature, Erin would have found him quite attractive. "It's nice," she said plainly.

"Nice is such a basic word to describe this phenomenal place. It definitely beats that drab home you lived with your mate. Oh, and speaking of which, would you like to see him?" Erin's eyes expanded in surprise. "Is he here?"

"No, but I know where he is and I can show you if you do as I say," he said with a catty grin. He looked like a predator who had successfully cornered his prey.

Erin had a bad feeling about his tone and she knew that whatever he was going to say next would probably make her sick.

"First of all, let me just say that you look extremely ravishing in your new outfit," he said silkily.

"This suits you better than those ugly drabs my brother and his son made you and the other females wear in Denai' Vena. We are progressive here."

"You call this progressive?" Erin scoffed. "I am practically naked!"

"Not quite, and that is what makes you even more alluring. I must commend Cheyenne for doing such an impressive job with you."

"Thank you, my lord," said Cheyenne from the doorway where she stood.

She found his compliment revolting so she chose to ignore it. "Are you going to let me see Danshak now?"

"Oh, I nearly forgot that we were talking about him before," said Nikjin with that predatory smile that made Erin's skin crawl. "Do you truly want to see him?" "Is that a trick question?"

Nikjin laughed heartily. "I love your sense of humor, my Luna! If you are not careful, you might soon replace Cheyenne as my favorite."

Erin stole a glance at the woman who was standing behind her rigidly like a statue but her expression was blank and betrayed no emotion.

"Do not bother about her," said Nikjin, dismissively. "She knows that I am a male who desires many women. So, are you ready to do as I say before you can see your former mate?" "He is still my mate," said Erin sharply. "Are you going to let me see him or not?"

Nikjin shrugged. "That depends..."

"On what?"

"On you falling to your knees before me and sucking my manhood until I spill my seed inside your mouth."

Erin gasped in horror. "What?"

"You must have done it before, have you not?" he asked with a wicked smile dancing across his lips. "Cheyenne can show you how it is done if you do not know, but I doubt that very much."

His audacity was unnerving and she felt like bashing his skull in with one of the wooden stools in the room. "What is wrong with you, Nikjin? Why are you doing this? Why do you hate everyone so much?" "In this place, you shall refer to me as 'my lord,' not Nikjin," he said icily, his smile completely gone now.

"You are not my lord!"

"Is that so?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. His smile came back but this time around, it was more of a smirk. It was as if he was privy to a big secret that nobody else knew. "We shall see about that then." "I have already told you that I will not be your lover no matter what you do. I am married to your nephew and I refuse to defile myself and ruin my marriage by sleeping with you. That will never happen." "Is that a dare?"

"It's a fact. I will not be your sex slave, Nikjin Whitehound. Never!"

He chuckled. "I like females like you because your type is usually the sweetest after they have been broken, and I will surely enjoy breaking you to pieces and molding you back to my taste.

"You should have returned to your world with that dream stone when you had the chance to, and let Edvana deal with this time. This is beyond you, Erin, but it is too late to turn back now. You wanted to witness the war, did you not? Well, now you will because you presently have a front-row seat to watch everything happen in real-time before your beautiful eyes."

Her spine tingled with fear at his words. How did this person know such much about her and her reason for still being here? Was he Nikjin Whitehound of Vomani or Darren White of Fairbanks?

"I am not the one you assume me to be," he said pointedly as if he was reading her mind. "However, I have been with him and been him and now I wish to change history for his sake and mine too."

Erin may not like this guy but she was inclined to agree with one of his observations and that was that she was way in over her head here. She needed to go back to Denai' Vena, retrieve the dream stone, and the hell out of this place! "Listen, please... my lord," she said, hating the taste of those words in her mouth.

"All of this has nothing to do with me. You are right, I should leave and let Edvana continue with her life here. This is her era, not mine. Please, allow me to return to Denai' Vena so that I can go back to where I came from."

Nikjin laughed so hard that he had to clutch his sides from the effort. "It is not even one hour yet, and you are already broken! No, my dear Luna. You shall not go back home. Where is the fun in that? Stay here with me and live the remaining days of your life to the fullest."

"No, please. Let me go," she said, trying to infuse as much emotion into her voice as she could muster. "I don't want to die here."

Nikjin was silent for a while. "Leave us, Cheyenne," he said eventually. As soon as the woman left, he rose to his feet and covered the distance between them with three steps, towering over her.

"If you stay on the right side of history, you will not die in this war," he said quietly.

"And where is the right side?"

"Right here, beside me. This is the winning side as you can see, Luna. If you stay with me and please me, you will walk out of this unscathed and be free to return to your reality when it is all over."

His words were moving but something inside of her gut distrusted him. Villains never play fair and she knew Nikjin was no different. He would say whatever he felt he needed to say just to get her on his side, but when this was all over, he would discard her like a piece of trash.

"I do not want to be a part of this at all. I just want to go back home," she appealed to him.

"What about your beloved mate? Will you leave him here?"

Erin's heart broke when she thought about the possibility of leaving Danshak here to be tortured by Nikjin. She imagined her mate dying a slow, painful and agonizing death at the hands of his heartless uncle.

Wasn't there any way she could save him? Was it even possible to strike a bargain with Nikjin to let Danshak go? But where does that leave her?

"I can see that you have a lot to think about and I believe that it is unwise to make decisions on an empty stomach. So, let us eat for now and when you have a full stomach, you can think clearly and let me know what you have decided." His offer seemed reasonable enough and Erin couldn't object to it, not when she was indeed starving and her brain seemed muddled up.

"Very well, I will eat with you and then think about what you have said."

"Good," he said, satisfied with her response. "Come and sit with me."

She obeyed him without any argument because she felt drained and too tired to put up any resistance. Nikjin clapped his hands three times and within seconds, another set of women whom she hadn't seen before filed into the room. They carried trays containing all kinds of food including meat, vegetables, grains, and fruits. Everything smelled divine and Erin's stomach growled loudly as soon as the trays were laid down on the table in front of them. "Somebody is very hungry," laughed Nikjin. "Go ahead, eat."

She didn't need to be told twice. She started with the juicy steak directly in front of her and was surprised to replace that it was perfectly seasoned and had the right amount of spices in it. It was so good that she could probably sell her soul to eat this kind of delicacy every day.

She moved on to the bowl of steamed vegetables and combined them with boiled potatoes. Erin knew she was eating like a cave woman and that Nikjin was watching her, but she didn't care. She was way too hungry and the food was too delicious for her to be bothered by what he thought of her.

"I like how you eat," he said. "I like a female with a healthy appetite."

"This is not a healthy appetite. I haven't eaten in 24 hours," she replied and popped two green grapes into her mouth.

Nikjin laughed. "May I join you?" he asked politely.

She shrugged. "It's your food."

He ate pickily, watching her the entire time as her gusto began to reduce because her stomach was already filling up. When she was done eating, she leaned back on the chaise and rested her head on it.

She hadn't eaten a meal that tasted so great as this one in a very long time and she had probably undone it. She felt lethargic from all that eating and the only thing she wanted to do right now was to sleep. Her eyes were already becoming heavy and she was practically struggling to stay awake.

"You can sleep if you want," Nikjin said soothingly beside her. "You have nothing to fear, my Luna. You are safe with me."

"Safe? Do you even know the meaning of that word?" she asked drowsily.

"Indeed, I do,” he replied. "If I wanted you dead, I would have killed you in the mirage forest earlier today. But here you are, bathed, clothe, and fed."

"Maybe you are fattening me up to kill me later," she said and yawned.

"That would be correct if you were a cow or a goat, but you are neither of those. Now, close your eyes and sleep. When you awake, we shall speak of our bargain and your decision."

As she gradually slid into slumber, the word that kept swirling around her head was 'bargain'. She knew Nikjin could not be trusted but whether she liked to admit it or not, he held all of the cards right now.

Besides, if she was ever going to come out of this nightmare alive and with her dignity intact, she would have to comprise somehow and also think of a clever way to outsmart Nikjin and win him at his own game. She needed to strike a deal with her captor that involved rescuing her mate and maybe her brother-in-law as well.

If they could agree not to challenge their uncle after he killed their father, maybe he would let them go. But was that even possible?

They'd come here mainly to avenge their mother, so how would they not do the same for their father if Nikjin succeeded in assassinating the Prime Alpha?

What am I going to do now? She asked inside her subconscious even as the strong hand of sleep finally dragged her into oblivion.