Brakha’s men were relieved to see us. I suspected that lions didn’t enjoy the cold very much. My son was released and I told him to go far from here. I would find him when things settled down. I took Madame Aveline down to the dungeons beneath the castle. I didn’t trust her or the doors on the cells after all these years. I placed her in the center of the cell, tied down to a chair so she couldn’t move.
I came to bring her food and untied her so she could eat. Every time she saw me she would ask questions. Mostly she would ask what I planned to do with her. I always answered the same: I don’t know.
I had no qualm with her so I didn’t see any reason to kill her. Even so, I had no guarantee if I let her go that she wouldn’t simply find another way to slow down or impede my business. So, she sat in my dungeon while I worked in my lab. Even through the thick walls, I could hear her screaming and yelling. After two weeks, she gave up and remained silent, which I was grateful for.
It was the day before Brakha would come for his Instinct; I was feeling the pressure of making a decision on what to do with her. I wouldn’t admit it to her, but I had grown fond of her presence. I didn’t know it would feel so nice to have a woman living in my halls again. Perhaps, even after a hundred years, my heart was still capable of feeling something.
I brought a tray of food and opened the gate. Aveline regarded me with her dark brown eyes as I set the tray down.
“I have a question for you,” she said.
“I still haven’t decided.”
“No, it’s not that.”
I stood up and looked at her. “Then what is it?”
“A guy like you could have any woman he wanted. Why do you live alone, in the middle of nowhere?”
“I do not seek the pleasures of the flesh. Besides, the only woman I ever loved has been gone for over a hundred years. In my time I’ve made too many enemies and been hurt too many times. This was for the best. I could still make Instinct and save our people without interference,” I said.
“Is that what you think?” Aveline asked, “That you’re helping shifters?”
“Yes, that is why I created it. To protect us from humans who would eradicate our people.”
“We are stronger than them! We can cut them down!”
She spoke with a passion and a fire that was undeniably alluring. I stepped closer to her.
“What would you have me do? This is my life, this is my business!” I said.
“You and I both know that you don’t care about the money, and there’s a part of you that wants something more than this pointless existence!” She said.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I saw the way you looked at me when we first met Sergei. There’s a part of you that knows I’m right. Why do you resist? Together we could free our people. Shifters would no longer live in fear!”
I thought back to the night we first met. The image of her naked body in my mind filled me with desire. I took another step closer to her.
“You want me to join you?” I asked.
“I want you to look into your heart and do what you know is right,”
I reached out and pressed my hand against her face. She tilted her cheek toward me. Her thick lips pressed against my skin. A rush of pleasure ran down my body like a wave. It had been so terribly long since I felt the kiss of a woman.
“Why don’t you let me give you a taste of what you’re missing? Go ahead, get undressed,” she said.
I took off my clothes and stood before her naked and bare. “Come closer, but don’t untie me just yet,” she whispered.
I stood over her and ran my hands through her silky black hair. She leaned forward and pressed her lips against me. Her tongue emerged and traced the length before she kissed the tip.
“I want to taste you,” she said.
I reached down and lifted myself into her open mouth. She eagerly took all of me in. I slid back out and let loose a long sigh. The pleasure was incredible.
“Keep going.”
I leaned forward again and pushed myself into her mouth. Her tongue swirled and slid across me. I threw my head back and felt her lips cling to me. I slowly started thrusting my hips back and forth, relishing in every moment her lips slid across my skin and her tongue danced along my length.
The pleasure was becoming too much, I was going to cum. I reached around behind her head and held her still as I started thrusting into her mouth faster.
I felt it coming, but I was too enthralled in the moment to notice that she had undone her ropes. Before I could react she was out of the chair. She pushed me down onto my back and leaped on top of me. She took the knife from the tray of food I brought her and pressed it to my neck.
“What is this? What are you doing?” I asked.
“Now you make your choice, Sergei. Either you accept what you know is right in your heart, or you refuse my offer and you die here and now. Make your choice!”
I knew she wasn’t bluffing, I could see that plainly in her eyes. She was right, but it took staring into the eyes of certain death for me to see it. Instinct wasn’t the solution; it was part of the problem.
“I accept your terms, on one condition,” I said.
“Name it.”
“You must come with me to my private quarters so we can finish this conversation in a more comfortable setting.”
Aveline threw the knife away and leaned down onto me. She pressed her lips into mine and then pulled away.
“Lead the way,” she said.