A Ride of Peril(71)

"She has a point," Bijarki finally replied. "Only you and Eva can know where the mansion is. It's what you agreed to."

Tamara shook her head, pursing her lips, then snapped her fingers.

I felt the hidden Lamias' sudden departure. The silhouettes moved back, and the woods went almost silent. Once again, we were on our own, trotting through the jungle with our eyes peeled open, listening for any strange sound. 

A while later, Tamara broke the quietude, her gaze fixed on me.

"You know, I have never seen a wolf-boy before," she smiled. "Are there many like you where you come from, Jovi?"

I shrugged, noncommittally. I didn't want to talk about my world with this woman.

"You're quite a joy to look at," Tamara said. "Not that you'd make a good mate, given our species' difficulty to procreate, but I would certainly take you for a spin. You're far too attractive to waste yourself on an inexperienced succubus."

Anjani's eyes grew wide, watching Tamara in disbelief.

I was stunned.

Bijarki and Eva tried hard to contain their smirks.

"Excuse me?" I managed to ask, feeling strangely insulted.

I could only imagine what Anjani was going through and the amount of strength it took for her not to rip Tamara's throat out right then and there.

"I'm just saying, and don't take this the wrong way," Tamara kept a friendly tone, "you are far too young and green to be with such a fierce wolf, darling. You can barely control your succubus nature, and, by the looks of you, you've barely got a couple of centuries in this world. You're simply too inexperienced to handle him, whereas I or Eva, on the other hand, would know exactly how to make Jovi tick. Over. And. Over. Again."

The tension was rising as Tamara had seen fit to retaliate for Anjani's earlier statements. She'd spotted her weak point-her age-and had gone straight for the kill. On the one hand, I resented her and was eager to tell her that I wouldn't touch her or her daughter with a ten-foot pole but, at the same time, I couldn't help but applaud internally at how swiftly she'd managed to rattle Anjani.

Tamara was wrong, though. I wasn't all that fierce. I couldn't even turn. But that was not for Tamara to know.

"Perhaps you should mind your own business," Anjani shot back. "Which includes killing and eating innocent incubi and succubi. Let's not forget that. I can assure you that your diet alone cancels any interest a wolf-man like Jovi would ever show toward your species."

The fact that she'd acknowledged me as a wolf-man and not a wolf-boy like Tamara had called me earned Anjani some massive brownie points with me. I instantly made it my mission to take this succubus into my arms the first chance I got and thank her for that.

But, yet again, I was also amused by the exchange, watching it like a heated tennis match. So far, it was one to one between two very strong and intelligent creatures. I waited for round three.

Tamara laughed lightly, an undertone of mockery oozing forth.

"You're still fixated on that, aren't you?" she replied. "Lamias have come a long way from stealing incubi from their mothers' arms to feed. Those were cruel and ancient times. We only resort to eating a little bit of incubus and succubus flesh when we are young and still growing, and our mothers fetch this for us from the recently deceased only. We do not kill them ourselves. It's the same when we are pregnant. Our babies need the nutrients. Otherwise they cannot survive outside the womb. We don't snatch incubi, darling. Those are old folk tales."

Anjani scoffed, kicking her heels enough to give her horse a few yards' advance on our group.

"Besides, succubus flesh is far too stringy for our tastes. We'd rather chew the bark off a tree," Tamara added with a smirk.

And so, the score settled at an unpleasant 1 to 2 in the Lamia's favor. I'd have to do something to lift Anjani's spirits later. My mind tingled with ideas. I looked forward to being alone with her again.

At the same time, I'd completely lost any interest in Lamias. As gorgeous as they were, I just couldn't wrap my head around their diet tendencies. Eating incubus flesh simply didn't sound okay, no matter the context.


      ///
       
         
       
        

I moved forward, bringing my horse closer to Anjani and giving her a gentle sideways glance. She smiled and looked ahead. Despite Tamara's burns, Anjani seemed focused on other, more positive things. Like me.





Serena





We made it out of the river and ran the rest of the distance to Mount Zur on foot. We kept a low profile, sprinting through the jungle and jumping over thick roots, occasionally looking over our shoulders.