She was leaving the caravan in the morning and she couldn't stop smiling. In less than a day, she would be at the Puppy Mill. She was scared and excited and terrified at the same time. She desperately hoped that Bass and Sable would forgive her, but she was willing to do anything to beg for their forgiveness.
(Can you imagine Bass ever turning you down?) Tamin was on the far side of the caravan, watching the merchants preparing for the night. His thoughts were amused and anxious as her own, a reflection of her anticipation but also a temper to her fretting.
After so many days on the road, there was a ritual to preparing for the night. The merchants pulled their wagons into concentric circles. The rich were on the inside and the poorer families on the outside. They left enough room between the wagons to keep the horses corralled. In the center and the safest part, they set up three cooking fires and a barrel of both lager and stout.
In less than an hour, the impromptu village would be filled with the smells of roasted food and slightly-drunk laughter. The Guardians wouldn't let anyone get plastered, but a few mugs of beer kept everyone relaxed and tempers where they belonged.
She was fascinated watching Catais. The painter always set up his painting easel by the smaller of the fires and would paint an incredibly detailed picture of someone, usually while making uncomfortably accurate jokes about their past. Almost everyone watched, if not for the painting then to watch the humiliation. It was memorizing how he turned someone slumped in a chair with a mug in their hand into something poignant and emotional. Inevitability, the person being painted would sob pitifully as they carried their painting back to their wagon.
The other constant in her night were the Guardians. Most of them, including Gillette, patrolled outside of the wagons all night, usually in two four-hour shifts. At the end, they got hot food and a large mug of the best beer in the caravan. It was a small price to pay for staying up all night.
Tamin usually joined their patrols with Merrie including herself after her lovers fell asleep. They drifted along the shadows, hidden but vigilant. They were more awake than anyone else at night and both of them could easily see through the darkness. It gave her a rush of power knowing that she was protecting the people like Gillette and she let her mind frequently wander back to his offer.
Three days before, she caught a bunch of men sneaking into the wagons. They were armed with swords and one of them was a mage. She remembered the joy she felt as they spread out to attack, pawing the ground with anticipation of the attack. and then, she and Tamin descended in silent fury. They left nothing behind and not a single scream ripped through the darkness. The excitement set her off and Tamin fucked her three times that night, his teeth breaking skin as he rammed into her.
Gillette had a strange look on his face when he came up to the carnage, but said nothing. The next night, the wagons were pulled tighter to each other and a few more guards patrolled. Otherwise, it was as if nothing had happened.
Her tail wagged as she slipped through the shadows. (Bass will forgive me, that much I know.) She hated that she didn't sound confident.
(As will Borias.)
Her skin tingled for a moment. (Tabitha might take longer?) A heat spread out from her pussy as she thought about Dixie transforming into a deer so she could hunt him. (She might be the first to kill me.)
She warmed at the thought of being hunted and brutally violated. Tamin's biting would be nothing compared to what Tabitha would do to her.
Tamin sent a wave of mock jealousy. (There are many who would fight for the right to be your first killer.) He knew it wouldn't be him, though there was no doubt he would get his chance sooner than later.
Merrie smiled and sent a wave of comfort. (I won't ever forget the first time with you. We'll make it special. A proper chase and kill at the end.)
At his joy, she smiled and let the happiness wash over her. In less than a day, she would finally return. The nervousness fluttered in her stomach and she stopped to lean against a tree as she took a deep breath. (I feel like I'm about to go on a date.)
(How would you remember?)
She rolled her eyes. (I think it feels like… like when Kine was about to propose to Rimmy. And Scorch's struggles with his proposal with Nir. Better?)
(Yes, Alpha,) came the amused reply.
To her side, she heard the crunch of branches as two of the guards walked past. She peered over the dark leaves and when she spotted Fang and another male guard, she smiled. Gathering the darkness around her, she slipped through the tree trunks and came up between the two men. Her paws made no noise as they walked without talking.
The head guardian, Gillette's boss, accepted Fang as a temporary member of the Guardian Guild on Gillette's recommendation. It also added one more armed person in the rotation and made it easier for everyone. The fact that Fang wasn't being paid helped silence any complaints about shares.
Merrie reached out for him. (Ready to leave in the morning?)
Fang stumbled. “B-Bitch?”
The other guard spun around. “What?”
“Sorry, Bitch was talking to me.” He looked around, his eyes sliding over Merrie.
She felt a thrill surging through her veins as both men tried to find her. After a few seconds, she drew their attention to her just to watch them jump in surprise.
“Bad girl!” snapped Fang.
She moaned at the words. Her friends all knew how to turn her on with those two words. The only other words that would get such a strong response was her name, but no one in the caravan knew her by anything but a label.
The other guard stared at her with half-hidden lust. His eyes remained fixed on her breasts and tail. He was a younger man, in his early twenties, and she could tell his nights were spent stroking his cock guiltily. It wasn't hard, since most of the caravan did the same thing when they got a look at her, but it felt good to have the attention on her. It gave her a feeling of comfort. She didn't charge for her frequent fucking, but somehow her lovers noticed the Whore's Guild seal in her hair and left enough to pay her share to the guild.
(Kirin will be amused that you actually collected some payment.)
Her tail wagged with her amusement.
“Oh, sorry. Bitch, this is Darrin. He's a…”
“How many times do I have to say it? I'm a Lesser Spear Darrin and you know it. I think that wouldn't be hard to remember,” he said as he gave a pointed look at Fang, “Truste.”
Fang rolled his eyes. “At least the guard's ranking makes sense. You Guardians have it too complicated: Sword, Spear, Shields. Greater and Lesser. And then you get into the whole diamond, ruby, and emerald. How many ranks do you need?”
“Every one that gets me another share of the job. Lesser Sword,” he poked Fang, “gets me three shares of this contract. And that's a pretty nice pile of marks.”
Batting Darrin's hand away. “So, what do you think about Gillette's share?”
The smile dropped from Darrin's face. “Drop it, Fang.”
Fang winked at Merrie. “He's bitter because a probationary guardian is getting—”
“I said drop it!” Darrin' face purpled with anger.
Fang held up his hands. “Sorry, sorry.”
The anger faded almost instantly and Darrin smirked. “At least I'm not some naked woman's bitch.”
Merrie grinned as she watched the two men. They had an easy playfulness with each other, no doubt from the hours of working together. They liked each other, not as lovers but as quickly-growing friends.
“Hey,” Fang smirked, “there are advantages of being Bitch's bitch.”
With a grin, Merrie ducked her head and repeated the comment to Tamin.
Amusement rippled through their connection.
“Name one, Fang-boy.”
“Have you seen her?” He gestured down at Merrie. “Those tits and tail?”
“Yeah, if you like something furry smacking your head when you go down.”
“Dar, you've never gone down on a girl in your life.” Fang smirked. “Probably some guy though. I've seen you how look at Gillette.”
Darrin's face darkened. “Don't you ever suggest I want to fuck that cock-sucker! Just because he wanders in and acts like he's in charge of everything, they throw a ton of shares at him and give him second lead. He's been with the guild three fucking days! Just because—”
Merrie reached up and pressed her arm against his thigh. With her touch, she sent out a calming wave that silenced Darrin instantly.
Darrin gasped and slumped back. Shaking, he stared down at her arm and she watched his eyes glance up to her nipples.
She lifted her body and arched her back. Her nipples lifted so he could get a better look at them. At his lustful gaze, the tips crinkled with her growing excitement. (Do you like?)
The young man jerked and stumbled back. “Oh, fuck. D-Did I just…” He stared at Fang helplessly. “Did I just hear…”
Fang was bent over, laughing so hard that tears streamed down his face. “She's talking to you, isn't she?”
“I-I hear her in my head!”
“Well, have you ever heard her talk?”
Darrin gulped and glanced down at her, his face pale. “N-No.”
Fang patted him on the shoulder. “Then, my good friend, it's time to find out what it feels like to have a tail smacking your face when you go down.” He laughed and headed off. “Good thing you're coming off duty now, isn't it?”
With a pale face, Darrin let out a soft whimper. His cock tented his pants as he shifted to the side, trying to discretely adjust himself.
(Relax,) she said and sent a comforting wave.
Darrin took a deep breath. “Y-You have a pretty voice.”
Merrie smiled and lifted herself on her knees. As her breasts rose and fell, she felt a rush when his eyes following the movement. (You can get a better look, if you want. And touch, if you want.)
“I-I,” his eyes rose to her guild seal, “I don't really have money for that. And I've never… you know, with a whore.”
She nestled closer, inching on her knees. She rested her arms on his thighs and her mouth was inches away from his straining cock. (Fang's paying for it.)
Darrin gasped. “He is?”
(He just doesn't know it yet.) She let a playful amusement fill her thoughts.
“Oh.” He let out a little laugh. “Oh! In that case, let me sign out for the night. Follow me to my tent?” He gulped. “Sorry, you should know that since you've been, um… I'm in the same tent as Fang.”
(I'll meet you there,) she projected with a comforting wave.
Darrin gave out a nervous chuckle as he ran off.
Merrie felt the heat boiling inside her as she draped the shade back around her and crawled underneath the wagon as she headed for his tent. (Tamin, watch over Fang.)
(Already here, Alpha. He thinks he's going to get laid tonight from the smell of it.)
Merrie smiled. (He probably is. There are advantages of being Bitch's bitch.)
(Yes,) came the wistful response, (there is. Does that mean I have to wait?)
Her tail thumped against the wagon as she came out the other side. She wound her way around some horses before crawling underneath another set of wagons and then out next to the tents.
In the caravan, those who didn't sleep in wagons slept in tents. The guards were on the outer edges of the tents, with Gillette's on one side and Darrin's on the other. She wrapped the shade tight around her body and flitted along the darkness, shifting in the shadows of the wagons until she came up to the musty canvas tent. She used a short burst of power to stepped across and appear inside. She breathed in the familiar smells of the tent; she had spent more than a few nights fucking Fang with the shade shielding both of them from Darrin's attention.
This time, it was Darrin's turn. She let her cloak slip away and crawled up on his sleeping bag. Her hips rose and her tail curled up. With a familiar movement, she spread her knees and presented herself to the first person who entered the tent.
It didn't take long before she heard Darrin at the opening of the tent.
“Are you in—” His whisper stopped with a gasp as he stared at her. His attention felt like a brand against her skin.
She rocked her hips back and forth slowly.
“Gods above, you're beautiful.” He crawled inside the tent and frantically tied it shut.
Merrie lifted her head to look over her shoulder. Her collar bumped against her breasts and she squeezed down with anticipation. (Thank you.)
Nervousness radiated from him. “Um, you know… I've never actually gone down on someone.”
(Do you want to?)
“Will it smell, or you know, taste bad?”
She wagged her tail. (Just take a little sniff if you want.)
Trembling, he reached out with his fingers and stroked her pussy. The tips ran along her slick folds.
Merrie panted hard, her body shivering at the touch. She sent a wave of encouragement as he explored her sex.
It was a virgin's touch, hesitant and curious. She could feel the newness in his actions as he added a second finger and then a third. “Is it okay if I put it… inside?”
(Please.)
Gingerly, he slid one finger into her sex. He started with short strokes along her tunnel. “It's so hot… and slick.”
She moaned and sent a wave of encouragement.
He responded by adding a second finger and then a third, pumping until her nether lips clung to his fingers and the smell of her excitement filled the tent. He breathed deeply as he pumped harder.
(Grab my tail,) she suggested.
He did with a moan. His fingers wrapped around the base and she shivered at the feeling of being caught. Gulping, he thrust harder into her sex, pumping into her with short strokes that filled the tiny tent with the sounds of slurping and the impact of wet knuckles against flesh.
She lowered her head and pushed into his fingers, her body meeting each thrust with a gasping moan. She dug her arms into the sleeping roll and buried her face into it as she came.
Darrin slowed as she grew liquid around his fingers, sloshing with every stroke. “Did you just come?”
With a soft moan, she wiggled her hips around his fingers. The sounds of her excitement, wet and slurping, filled the tent.
He pulled out his dripping fingers. She could feel the curiosity rising as he brought the digits up to his nose. He made a soft sniff while trying to be subtle.
“I want you, Darrin, right now.” She was leaning against the door frame of his parent's kitchen, staring at him with a silent, hungry lust. Brown hair cascaded over her smoldering brown eyes. She arched away from the frame with his fingers caught in her shorts. She was hot around his fingers, hot and slick and wet.
He stepped into her as he pulled his fingers out. His digits glistened with her excitement. He wanted to taste it, but she pushed his hand out of the way and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Fuck me, Dar. Right now."
Over her perfume, he caught a whiff of her sex. It was sweet and tangy. He didn't think he would ever forget it, but then he was being propelled into the kitchen table. Her lips were hot and suffocating.
It wasn't the first time Merrie had picked up on a lover's thoughts, nor was it the clarity of the image that surprised her. It was the kitchen that Darrin remembered making out that caught her attention. It seemed familiar to her, a tickle in the back of her mind.
One of the battered kitchen chairs fell over as they ripped at each other's clothing. Her shirt flew across the room and landed on the counter before slipping off.
Her fingernails tore at his skin as she yanked open his pants. Her breath washed over his cock as it popped out of the seam of his jeans, harder than it had ever been before.
He sank to the ground, rapping his head on the edge, and landed on the patterned floor. He stared up at the bottom of the table, at a poorly carved “MG” scraped into the bottom. And then her mouth was on his cock and his eyes crossed.
She had seen the carving before. Some hidden memory, deep in the world before the mill, bubbled up.
Merrie was kneeling on the ground with a knife in her hand. Her grandfather was humming to himself as he cooked a pie. She peeked out from the tablecloth at his legs before reaching up the finish scraping out the “G” in Golddother. A little thrill of being naughty mixed in with the joy of finally being able to write her initials.
Merrie froze and ice ran through her veins. She remembered the kitchen. It was the same one she grew up in, the same one that she visited repeatedly from Haviston's tortures. She knew the patterns on the walls and the tiles on the floor.
Wondering if she was somehow wrong, she let her mind sink back to Haviston's lessons. She had long since completed them and released the memory of her grandfather, but the images came up clear and sharp.
She stood in her grandfather's kitchen as a little girl but looked out as a woman who saw through darkness and felt it beating in her chest. The familiar faded walls surrounded her as did the smells that she grew up with.
Heart pounding in her chest, she ran over to the table. Tendrils of shadow burst out from around her body and flipped it over, ripping the tablecloth out of the way so she could inspect the bottom. She knew where to look as she focused on the “MG” she carved into it so many years ago.
She gasped for breath. Was she the girl on table in Darrin's memories? She didn't know, not with her memories lost from her bonding with Kine. She knew that she had blonde hair and blue eyes, but could they have changed since?
There was only one way to find out. Rolling over, she pulled away. (Come here.)
“D-Don't you want me to lick you?” His voice cracked, “I'm willing, you don't smell bad. Kind of fruity, actually.”
She beckoned to him. (No, I want you. Now.)
As he tore off his clothes, Merrie stared at him and struggled with her emotions. She knew the kitchen that he remembered, but she didn't remember him. He was less than eight years younger than her and there was no way that she could have missed him, if it wasn't for her missing memories.
When he crawled on his sleeping roll, his cock bobbing with excitement, she flipped him over on his back and crawled up his body. She smiled and hoped he didn't notice that it never reached her eyes. She caught his hands and pulled them to her breasts, letting out a fake moan when his fingers caressed her nipples.
Rising up, she shifted her hips until his aching shaft was poised at her sex. The rounded head slipped against her heated opening and she hesitated, afraid of the answers.
She sank down on his cock and felt the familiar pleasure of having a hard cock buried in her head. But the pleasure was ash in her mouth as she leaned into it, rocking her hips and sliding the slick shaft in and out of her pussy.
“Oh, fuck,” gasped Darrin. His fingers mauled her breasts as he held on to her.
He was on the table, his feet planted on the surface and his hips rising up with every thrust. The thick patch of their pubic hairs meshed together, matted by the flood of juices that splattered every time they met each other. It was a frantic mating, two teenagers losing their self-control while their parents were farming.
Merrie reached into his mind, slipping into his thoughts as he concentrated on her body. She drove down hard with her mental thrust, impaling herself on his throbbing cock.
His memories were bright and sharp instead of the haze of often remembered fantasies. She felt the richness in them, a depth that almost stole her breath away. She pushed deeper into his mind and spread out, looking for any hints of herself or her family.
Flashes of other memories, a staccato of half-remembered scenes, flashed through her mind and she focused on each one. He remembered stealing cookies off the kitchen counter as a little boy. Another time when he was balancing on the beam in the barn, the same barn that Merrie fell off and broke her arm. Each one was bright as if it happened weeks ago.
(Tamin, take these.) She gathered his memories and sent them to Tamin. The hound hid in the shadows as he assembled them, turning the flashes into a coherent history of the man she was fucking.
(Yes, Alpha,) came the hard response. There was no joy or playfulness in his thoughts, only the need to obey. She felt him sorting through them, looking for some pattern in the two minds. He took the flashes and sorted them together, building up a liner history of the man she was fucking.
As soon as he has Darrin's life in his mind, she added her own memories, hazy from her bonding with Kine. Like Darrin, they were just flashes of sex and times with her grandfather, but the hound took them and brought order to the chaos.
Merrie focused on Darrin. She braced her arms on his chest and pumped her body harder against him, keeping him right at the edge of orgasm but never letting him come.
Unaware of her concerns, Darrin cupped her breasts and rose to meet her thrusts with his hips. Sweat prickled his skin and she felt the need to orgasm rising up inside him. “Fuck, oh, fuck. I'm about to come.”
(Alpha,) Tamin projected along with a condense image. It was Darrin's life pulled apart and broken into abstract information. It was interspersed with her own life, showing how both of them overlapped in the same kitchen and yet somehow completely missed each other. Everything changed between the two separate streams. There were different decorations on the walls, different scratches and scrapes on the floor, and even different curtains.
It was the same kitchen, but one of them was fake. For a moment, Merrie felt like her life was a life. The dimly remembered past gave her a doubt, but then near the end, they began to converge. Details in the later part of Merrie's memories were present throughout Darrin's life. The “MG” carved into the bottom of the table happened when she was twelve, but it was always there in Darrin's life. A crack in the floor, a scratch on the door frame. Each one appeared during life, but was there from the beginning of Darrin's. There were other changes, though, in Darrin's, as the kitchen aged twenty years again.
But, Darrin's childhood started when hers ended.
For a moment, Merrie felt like a stranger to her own memories, but she knew it couldn't be true. Darrin's life was somehow false, but she didn't know how.
She tapped the lust inside her collar and let it seep into her mind. Energy poured through her and she let it pool inside her. It filled her with liquid energy and she let it spread out until her body vibrated with excitement from the inside.
Darrin shuddered with his orgasm. Hot splatters filled her sex and she felt the memories burning into his mind. He wouldn't forget this moment for the rest of his life.
Merrie was going to ensure that. She gathered up her lust, the pleasure and ecstasy she felt with every orgasm, and poured it into him. It was the pleasure that she took for an orgasm and far more than he had ever experienced in his life.
His body shuddered and his cock surged to full height, jetting cum hard inside her womb. “Fuck!” He gripped tight on her breasts, holding to her with all his might.
No longer worrying about subtlety, Merrie froze his throat and dove into his mind. His body shuddered as he was overwhelmed with ecstasy. His mind focused on his cock and she used the distraction to tear into his memories, shredding them as she tried to find the source of the false history.
Darrin's eyes bulged out as he jerked violently. His cock continued to shoot inside her and she kept pumping more of her ecstasy into him. She felt his heart beating faster, pounding with an intensity that reminded her of the day she was cropped. The veins in his neck throbbed with every beat.
His memories began to melt around her. It started with the kitchen and she watched as the teenage girl's body liquefy and pour away, separating into bright colors like paint. Underneath, there was nothing but white.
Merrie gasped and bore down, squeezing around the cock spurting inside her. (Tamin! The paintings in Catais' wagon! See if there is one that matches his memory. Or the farm I grew up.)
He was already moving, dodging between horses' legs as he raced around the central area of the wagons to locate the painter before invading the wagon. As he dove underneath a wagon, he noticed that Catais was still at the fire, painting as he told a story that had everyone laughing.
He growled silently as he stepped into the Shadows and back again, landing in the wagon. It was dark in the back, but that was no hindrance to creatures of the darkness. He scanned the shelves looking for any painting from the county that she grew up in and Darrin thought he did.
Seconds later, he found it near the top. With a snarl, he jumped up and tore it from its shelf, snapping the wooden latch. Landing on the floor, he tossed it to his feet.
It was her grandfather's kitchen. Painted just as she remembered, with a thin haze of age. Her grandfather leaned against the counter, eating as he stared at a small painting of his wife. Merrie remembered everything in that room except for Darrin.
It was her home, the only home she still remembered before she bonded.
(Destroy it and any painting of you, me, and Fang,) she commanded as the hatred rose up in her thoughts. Her body began to waver with darkness as she gathered power around her.
Power surged through their connection and she felt the darkness pour out of her and into Tamin. Around him, the shadows bulged out and tentacles burst out from the gaps of the shelves. They punched into the painting and tore it apart. More tendrils searched for the paintings he made of her.
In Darrin's mind, the images suddenly fractured as the shadows poured into his mind. Tentacles tore his mental body apart and shattered the history. The canvas beneath corroded and burned away in black flames.
Darrin fought back, straining to keep his sanity. His body shuddered violently as he continued to thrash underneath her. His mouth opened to scream, but no noise came out. His cock, caught in the pleasure she was using to break him, pulsed violently again and again until the liquid heat in her pussy grew thick and searing.
Merrie snarled and threw all of her gathered pleasure into his mind. He screamed out wordlessly as his heart beat faster and his cock kept spurting. The smell of blood filled the air as his hips drove into her, moving with primal need though every thrust pushed him closer to death.
He tore long gouges in her breasts, his fingernails breaking the skin. His feet kicked out, scuffing the tent but doing nothing more than bucking his swollen cock deeper into her sex.
She bore down with her will, pounding against his mind. His shields were in shatters, but she needed more. She had to break into the very core of his being, the most secret places in his mind. She used her pleasure as a ram, filling him with the ecstasy she experienced almost every day. But, she was an Alpha and he was not. The intensity of her pleasure was more than anyone else could take.
His heart skipped a beat. And then another. It pounded inside her sex and the power of each beat felt like his cock would explode inside her. The beats pounded rapidly and the skipped rhythm became more pronounced.
Merrie kept pouring it into him, filling him with pleasures that no moral man could ever survive. And then, there was a painful silence as his heart tore in half. He stopped moving with his rock-hard shaft buried deep inside her.
A hundred warriors of Lemetri sat on benches in the middle of the Guardian Guild. They were dressed in the rags of farmers and merchants in preparation of the most dangerous mission they would ever take. Fredric, soon to be known as Darrin, had just became ordained by the paladins of Lemetri. He could feel the holy power burning inside him. And he had a target, an evil man who needed to be purged from the world.
The Grand Paladin of Lemetri, Golid, stood in front of all of them. It was one of the few times when he was standing as a paladin instead of the disguised he used for the last three years. His war scythe shone in brilliant white, sparkling as if it wasn't bathed in the blood of a thousand shadow creatures.
It was Gillette, but it wasn't. The eyes were the different. Golid's eyes were burning with righteous fury and anger.
"There is no room for mistakes in this mission and I will tolerate no one ruining this for me. Our attack on Bassimar failed because of Merrie Golddother. But, Bassimar trusts her and she is the only way we'll lure him into a trap."
She shuddered with the realization that the man she knew was a fake. He was just like Darrin and the others in the caravan. Every guard, every merchant, every farmer, was a paladin in disguise. They were hiding underneath an almost perfect painting of an idyllic life.
“You do not talk about it. You do not think about your mission. It takes one mistake, one missed thing to ruin it. And I,” he slammed his fist against his chest, "do not tolerate these mistakes. Bassimar must die and I will sacrifice you, me, and even my oaths to Lemetri herself to make sure he no longer poisons this world!"
A cheer rocked the inside of the hall. Fredric joined in, confident that he would be the one to give Bassimar the killing blow.
His lips pressed into a thin line. "I've already sacrificed one of my oaths to Lemetri in this battle. But, I had to choose between ruining everything and keeping my oath of celibacy. It was a sacrifice I'll feel for the rest of my life."
To Fredric's right, he heard someone whimper softly.
"I will not ask the same of the others. We will use those who have not taking the oath to become her lovers, to occupy her nights. We will pretend to be normal farmers and craftsmen, weak and corrupted. But, it will take a master's skill to keep her unaware that we are manipulating her choices until the time we strike."
A cheer rose up.
“I want to introduce you to Catais.” He gestured for a paint-stained, old man who stepped up. "He is one of our secret weapons in the fight against evil. Since we are up against a telepath, your lives will be bare to her probing."
Fredric tensed at the thought of evil touching his mind.
"To help you hide, he will create a new history for each one of you. You won't remember this life until we release you, but when you remember who you are, who you really are, be prepared to fight. There will be disorientation but it passed. Trust him. I've worn the man he's created for four years now and I trust him with my very soul."
The old man bowed. "I serve Lemetri."
The entire room echoed his words. "I serve Lemetri."
Merrie gasped as the memory faded. Sweat trickled down her breasts and side as she looked down at the corpse underneath her.
Cum and blood pooled at the junction of their bodies and a trickle of it ran out of the corner of Darrin's mouth from where he bit his tongue. The only movement were the shudders as the death throes wracked his body.
She felt sick to her stomach, but furious. Gillette was a lie. The rejection and hesitation wasn't because of a tragic history of a murdered brother and lost wives, but something else. Gillette couldn't bond to her because he was the enemy. He was the man hunting Bass and he was using her. She remembered the name Golid from the day she was rescued from her cage. The paladin sent in to clean up the mess. Years of trusting him and he ended up being the enemy.
And little things about Catais made sense. He knew more about everyone's life than even themselves. He was the one who told her about Gillette's past and told uncomfortably detailed stories about everyone in the caravan. He knew every single thing about every living being in the caravan except for her and Tamin.
(Tamin, can you find Fang there?)
With a growl, she pulled herself off Darrin's cock. Blood and cum poured out of her sex. Crimson stained his rock-hard length. He had come so much that he tore something inside and the froth from their sex with bright red with his death.
(No alpha, nothing from Franome City.) Tamin's thoughts were tense and angry. (All of these are from farms, like the men in this caravan.)
Merrie wondered if Fang was part of the deception, but she knew the memories from Sama that Fang's own head confirmed his history. There was no way that they could have faked everything for five years and before she was kidnapped.
She panted for breath and made a decision. (Tamin, fetch Fang. We need to escape.)
(What about the other paintings?)
(Leave them, if we destroy them, they'll know. We need to run, not fight. We can't win if they're all paladins.) She couldn't take on a hundred by herself.
(Yes, Alpha.) He directed the darkness around him to swallow the painting and crossed over with it. As he walked away, the torn canvas began to corrode and burn away. Sparks of Catais' spell burst and faded, the color leaching out as the Shadows consumed the false memories.
Merrie transformed into a hound and crossed over into the darkness herself. She caught him with Tamin in a few steps.
(Alpha, can we trust Fang?)
(Yes.) There was no doubt, no hesitation in her mind when it came to Fang. (I owe it to Sama to bring him back.)
Tamin's agreement washed over her. (And the man walking next to him?)
(He's a threat to my pack,) she projected in a hard, humorless tone. It was the same thing that Kirin said about her own guild.
No response was needed as they both stepped out of the Shadows, one on each side of the man walking next to Fang. It was an older gentleman that she knew joined the Guardian Guild years ago with a need to serve.
He was also sitting next to Fredric as Golid described the mission.
Moving in perfect silence, Merrie's cloak ripped out his throat as Tamin tore his stomach open from sternum to groin. He didn't have a chance to cry out as he collapsed. His body landed on Tamin's back and the hound lowered him to the ground. Not even a splatter of blood interrupted the buzz of insects.
Merrie shook her head and padded after Fang. (Fang, we're leaving.)
Fang smiled and turned around. “Already done with…” The smile dropped from his face. “What happened to—”
Merrie drew his attention to her as Tamin padded up. (We're leaving, now.) Her thoughts were brimming with tense hatred.
“W-Why?” Fang clutched his sword as he continued to look around. “What is going on?”
(I just found out that Gillette is trying to kill Bass. And the farmers here are actually paladins in disguise in an attempt to ambush Bass.)
“Oh, fuck me. Everyone?”
(Even Catais. We have to get out before they realize we know.)
Fear burned bright in Fang's mind. He struggled to comprehend the idea of the entire caravan being a trap. He started to back away from her. Just as frustration began to bubble up inside Merrie, he stopped. With a long, deep breath, he nodded. “Tell me what to do.”
Gillette would be hunting her soon. And she knew that, as a paladin, he would stop at nothing to kill her and Bass. (Please, I need you to trust me. And I need to trust you.)
“I do trust you, but—”
Merrie's cloak snapped out and wrapped around him. Tamin chomped down on the black cloth from the other side. Together, they yanked and pulled Fang into the Shadows. As soon as they were across, she yanked him along with a leash, covering distances far faster than they could over run. She had to put as much distance between her and Gillette before anyone found the corpse.
Fang's mind exploded in pain and he began to scream. She turned with surprise and shock. The shadows were plucking at his body, turning the edges of his ears and tips of his fingers black as the life was drawn out of him.
(Alpha, he isn't of the shadows, he can't survive here.)
Swearing violently and burning with guilt, she threw him back across into reality.
They landed on a scree of gravel. Tamin landed first, catching Fang to protect him from the sharp rocks.
Merrie landed on her side and the sharp edges tore at her sides and breasts and shoulder. She flipped over and transformed into a human and then back into a hound.
Fang's scream echoed shrilly across the land until her cloak snapped around to muffle him.
She panted as he slumped to the ground. (Tamin, how far did we get?)
(Half kilometer.)
Fang clawed at the cloak, ripping it off. His screams had died in his throat and she let the cloak slip away. “Never do that again!”
Merrie raised her cloak as a warning. (Please be silent.)
Fang clamped his hand over his mouth as his face paled. It was dark except for the full moon. His eyes were pits of darkness as he stared at her. Shifting his fingers aside, he whispered softly. “I'm sorry.”
Merrie whimpered and crawled over to him, her ears flattened against his chest. (It was my fault, I panicked. I forgot what the Shadows do. Please forgive me.)
Shuddering, Fang reached out and patted her head. “What was that?”
(The Shadows. It's how I normally travel.)
“It felt like,” he let out a shuddering breath, “like the world was sucking the life out of me.”
Her ears flattened on her head. (It was. I'm sorry. You probably lost a few minutes of your life.)
“Oh, nothing years of drinking and despair haven't already done.” He groaned as he pushed himself to his feet. “We're running, right?”
Merrie transformed into a hound. (Yes.)
“Great.” He took another deep breath. “Lead the way, Bitch.”
Her cloak rippled out and formed into a black leash. (Follow me.)
He gripped it with both hands. “Okay. Just remember I'm taller than you, k? No low branches or rocks. I can't see in the dark.”
She smiled mirthlessly and headed forward, moving without the speed and grace of the darkness. Her heart pounded in her chest as she realized how close she got to killing Fang, from leading Gillette to Bass, and risking everything she had finally gained.
And now, there was an army of paladins coming for Bass.
She had to warn him. It was the only thing she could do. She tried to give Fang strength and speed, but he couldn't accept her spell. He wasn't one of hers like Tamin. (Please? Fang, we need to move.)
He grunted and struggled forward, blind to everything but the two hounds that led them.