A Werewolf Fantasy
Chapter 55

They had sex again and again until they lost track of time. At some point, Erin fell asleep. When she woke up, it was dark and Nikjin was gone.

Panic gripped her. Had she managed to go out and carry out his mission after all? Had she failed to save Vak and his family from his maniac of a brother? What had she done? And why were Devon and the others here yet? She got up from the bed and put on her sarong quickly. She wished she had something decent to wear but there were no clothes inside the hut.

As soon as she stepped outside, she saw him coming. He was holding a dead goat in one hand and a basket of fruits in the other.

"Sleeping Beauty finally awakens," he said when he saw her.

She rolled her eyes. "Which one are you now? Nikjin or Darren?"

"Which one do you want me to be?"

"Neither," she replied dryly.

He laughed. "Come, let me treat you to an ancient feast. All you have to do is to sit back and enjoy."

She wished he wasn't such an evil person. He would have been really likeable.

"Thanks," she said and sat beside the pot of water.

True to his words, he cleaned the meat by himself and set up a fire to roast it. When he was done, he garnished it with sliced fruits and served it to her.

"Impressive," she remarked as she ate. "I see you can actually be a good guy when you want to be."

"Good guys don't win," he replied.

"But they do. Vak Smallchief is a good guy and he won the -

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The rest of her commentary dissolved in her throat when she saw how his expression had turned deadly.

"Don't ruin the mood," he told her. "Eat your food quietly or go inside and lie down!"

She was immediately sorry. She had spoiled the tiny spark of friendship that she had managed to ignite between them. Her time here would be bearable if she remained on his good side. She must never forget that. "I'm sorry," she said in a small voice. "I didn't mean to offend you."

He said nothing. They finished their dinner and silence and went back into the hut together afterward.

"Thanks to you, I didn't go out to carry out my original mission for today," he said gruffly. "Your beloved Vak and his annoying sons should be dead by now."

She didn't know what to say to that, so she remained quiet.

"What? Cat got your tongue?" he asked her.

"What do you want me to say?" she replied. "Your mind is made up. What else can I do besides waiting here and accepting my fate?"

He snorted. "I don't trust you. I have a sneaky feeling that you might be up to something. What is it?"

"What do you mean?" she asked innocently. "Weren't you the one that brought me here?"

He watched her through narrowed eyes. "This isn't going to be lacking the last time when you tricked me into falling in love with you, Edvana. This time around, I am alert and all of my senses are intact." Her eyes widened with surprise. "You were in love with me?"

He looked away quickly but she caught the look of embarrassment in his eyes before he did. He was ashamed to admit that he had fallen for her during their first encounter in Vomani.

How was that even possible? He had been so mean to her the whole time and always treated her like trash.

"I didn't know," she said softly.

"How would you know?" he retorted. "Lord Nikjin was too stone-hearted to fall in love, right?"

"You didn't try to make yourself lovable, did you?"

"Maybe that's because love is a weakness. And don't you dare say that it's not. Look where it got me in the end. I could have killed you before you had the chance to betray me." "But you couldn't bring yourself to do it," she added.

It made sense. He could have killed her when Zokman first speculated that she would ruin his mission. He could have killed her when Cheyenne snitched on her and tried to implicate Rowana. He could have killed her when Mizzah told him that she was trying to poison him. He could have also killed her after she killed Zokman.

He let her live and kept giving her second chances over and over again. She had thought that she was merely lucky but in truth, he kept sparing her because he was in love with her.

He had been such a brute that she never suspected his real reasons for letting her get away with multiple accusations in his territory.

Erin didn't know how to feel. A part of her felt sorry for this man who had done everything in his power to make everyone hate him. Here he was again, plotting to do more harm to innocent people. Yet... she pitied him. "I don't even know what to say," she confessed.

"Then don't say anything," he said. "Let's pretend tonight that we are not on opposite sides of the line."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, I want you to be mine tonight," he said, looking deeply into her eyes.

"But... I already belong to someone else," she said.

"Not yet. Not at this time in history. You don't belong to anyone yet."

He was right, of course. According to history, Edvana and Danshak were mated when she was in her mid-twenties. That's still a couple of years down the line, assuming Nikjin didn't succeed with his current mission.

It wasn't such a bad thing, wasn't it? It was only pretending. Besides, who knew? The outcome of their time together tonight might change his mind tomorrow. It was an unlikely possibility but it wouldn't hurt to hope, would it? "Just for tonight," she whispered.

"Just for tonight," he replied.

She joined him on the makeshift couch where he was sitting and she hugged him. He reached up and embraced her too. She could feel the tension easing off his body as he held her.

All he wanted was to experience what it felt like to be loved. She broke the embrace and ran her fingertips over his handsomely chiseled face. He would have been such an adorable partner if not for that evil streak inside of him. She kissed him tenderly while running her fingers through his long hair. They touched each other lovingly as they kissed. This time around, when they made love, it was slow and deliberate. It wasn't hurried and they were not in a haste to reach orgasm.

Erin hoped that she had succeeded in buying enough time for Devon and the others to replace their way here. If not, they were all doomed and this sacrifice that she had made with her body would have been for nothing.