31 Chapter Sixteen - A Passionate Truce (Part 1)

Come morning, Castelis returned with his apothecary kit of freshly plucked herbs, ground pungent paste and other nameless equipment. He set up a make-shift shed in the village centre, instructing Akila and Zagan to gather the sick as he dispensed a round of medicine starting with the children.

"I want everyone present to drink this," he instructed gravely and loudly. "Even if you aren't afflicted, this is a necessary precaution to ensure that you won't be infected. After that, I'll require the sick to be relocated to a clean and sizeable environment while those who are able will be tasked to clean the village. Burn everything that came in contact with the infected — the sheets, mattresses, clothing, footwear, even old utensils, children's toys, and any other objects. Make sure you leave no trace behind. We need to disinfect the whole area and clear out the grounds of the deceased."

The crowd began murmuring amongst themselves, casting hesitant looks, and dodging glances, doubting Castelis's identity and authority.

"Do as he tells you to." Jarrach stepped forth from the mass, his stature and boldness lending him an air of natural charisma and unresisting command. "This man is here with good intentions, and he's here to save our lives. We need to ensure the village is rid of this illness for good, and I won't allow it to take any more lives. Our village has suffered enough loss."

It didn't escape Zagan how easily the villagers acquiesced to Jarrach's dominance, acknowledging the demon's superiority — even outranking Zagan if circumstances were different. All his warriors and the uninfected set out to work accordingly, dividing into groups assigned to tackle specific tasks from cleaning out the huts, burying the dead and shifting the patients to the village hall. After that, they created a large bonfire and burned every sullied possession as instructed.

Zagan oversaw the village reparations with Jarrach while Akila assisted Castelis to care and treat the patients. After that, she helped the women bathed the children with barrels of fresh water from the castle and nursed the invalids and wiped their sore bodies.

Everyone toiled until daylight was gone, blending in with the dusky hues of twilight. By the time she was done, her bones were weary, and her skin was sticky with sweat and yet, she felt refreshingly invigorated and useful. It made her smile. No longer was she an ornamentation like the title she used to carry. Now, her actions could help make a change in lives no matter how small.

"Akila, come. A bath has been prepared for you," Zagan called out to her while she checked on the children one last time.

"I'm coming!" she exclaimed, hastening back to their shared tent. Inside, she removed her clammy clothes and stepped into the steaming barrel bath laced with scented rose petals. A sigh escaped her lips as she dunked her head below, scrubbing away the day's hard work of sweat and grime. When she emerged, the sight of Zagan staring down at her made her squeak.

"What are you doing?" she demanded, plunging back into the waters with her arms shielding her breasts.

Zagan pinned her with a dry look. "It's too late for modesty now. I've already seen every inch of you." He shrugged off the robe around his broad shoulders, bringing twin flames to her cheeks. "I'm coming in."

"What? No! It's too small to fit the both of us!" She attempted to back away but only succeeded to create a space big enough for his body. "And I'm still angry at you to share a bath."

He raised an arrogant brow. "Oh? Then it seems you need to be punished."

"Have you been listening to a word I'm saying?" Frustration gnawed at her voice. "I—am—angry—with—you!" Although, staring at him now she couldn't quite remember the reason for her anger. The damned demon appeared deliciously dishevelled from a hard day's work, with a boyish lock falling over his eye and his skin stained with blood and mud. She had surreptitiously stolen glances at him throughout the day, noticing how he wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty or that he wasn't too proud to care for the sick. This benevolent side of his took her completely off guard. There was no trace of the tyrant she had encountered, and it made her wonder if it was because the villagers were mostly demons.

She didn't know why she found herself comparing him to Ywain who held himself apart from the commoners. There was a time he snapped at a poor man for dirtying his boots, and Akila wondered why she was blinded to her ex-betrothed's faults.

"I am listening," Zagan murmured, moving closer at an alarming speed. Her breath stuttered at the sight of his smooth, rippling muscles. "I only don't care."

She sputtered when he climbed in beside her, the water sloshing over the rim. "You're wasting water!" Truly, it was the last thing she cared about but, she felt the need to say something to conceal her racing heart. It was silly. This wasn't their first time seeing each other naked. The desire to bolt was strong but, she knew it would only incite him to chase her.

"I'll get someone to refill it," he suggested mildly, wetting his hair.

And let them see her naked? "N-No, that's not necessary." She flattened herself to the edge, maintaining a stubborn distance between their bodies. From here she could feel the heat coming off his body in waves. "This is ridiculous. There's barely enough room for us to wash. I'm getting out."

Zagan reeled his prickly lamb into his arms before she could escape. He easily overpowered her muscled resistance and nuzzled her wet ear. "I'm tired, little lamb and it's been a long day. We've both worked hard and deserve some rest. Why don't I make a suggestion? Let us call on a temporary truce for the evening. Although, I'm still uncertain of the source of your outrage."

He sensed her retort and promptly cut her off. "But whatever it is, you can be angry with me tomorrow. Right now, let us enjoy the moment." His arm tightened around her, yanking her bottom against his lower torso.

Her face coloured at the proof of his arousal rubbing against her back.

"Z-Zagan...?" It was anxiety — and not anticipation — that rendered her breathless.

The heat of his body was a lush stroke against hers — invisible, inescapable. It took effort to breathe and to speak when he started kissing her neck. "What are you doing? You know how I feel about being manipulated with sex." Involuntarily, she arched to allow him more room, shivering when his fang traced over her skittering pulse.

He hummed seductively. His little lamb enjoyed his touch, and he would be damned if she didn't admit it. "It's not manipulation. Don't you like it when I play with your body?"

She gasped when he bit her ear, nibbling on her earlobe. "You know I-I do."

"Then why not just enjoy this?"

"B-because..."

"Because what?" He continued tormenting her with his tongue, a hand snaking up to cup her breast, rolling a nipple between his fingers.

Her body arched against his, the friction of their wet skin unbearably hot. "Because when we have sex, I can never think straight. I get lost in the sensation and forget why I'm angry with you."

The admission startled them both but, he was pleased with her honesty. Gripping her jaw, he brought her golden eyes to his. "Good. I want you to focus only on me when we're together." His lips covered hers, fingers threading in her hair to imprison her for his kiss.

Akila's senses splintered, her own hand clenching his in a silent plea — of what — she didn't know. Too new to the pleasures of the flesh, she only knew that Zagan would provide. Twisting around, she wrapped her legs around his lean torso, taking that beautiful, cruel mouth with her own. The kiss was wild, full of fury of her need, the savage possession of his. One male hand fell to her hip as the other continued its unrelenting grip, refusing to let her bolt.

But she wouldn't. It was too late for her to escape.

Her breasts were crushed against his muscled chest, the texture deliciously – almost painfully – abrasive against her sensitized nipples. She bit his lip in revenge for what he'd done to her. He bit her back, but he held that bite, releasing her flesh with a slow concentration that had her thighs squeezing him, a burst of damp heat between her legs.

The beast growled in response to her scent, its energy soaked into her very pores. Zagan kissed her with the merciless skill of a man who'd kissed many women across the decades, he'd likely forgotten their faces by now. It was a direct, unmistakable display of the ruthless heart that beat within his chest.

His hands finally released her, stroking down to her rib cage before closing over her breasts. Breathy shake with want, she pushed into him, her nipples aching for a rougher touch. "More." A brazen demand.

"As you command, little lamb."

Her thoughts fractured as he pinched her nipples, sending a sudden, sharp ache straight through to the heat between her thighs. This was what she'd wanted since the last time he pleasured her. Akila moved, restless, wanting something only he could give her. "Zagan." His lips met hers as she angled her head to reach him, his hands soothing the ache he'd aroused with slow, easy movements. He was intensity contained; passion leashed. Breaking the kiss, she met the bright silver of his eyes. "I think you're going to kill me with this torture."

The slightest of smiles, Zagan's hand left her breast to slide down her body and over the sensitive plane of her stomach to circle her belly button. She wiggled, giggling. "Tickles." Her bottom rubbed over the jutting hardness of his arousal, turning the heat between her legs liquid.

When he moved his hand further south, she didn't resist, letting him part her with stark intimacy. He toyed with her, flicking his thumb over the ultrasensitive bundle of nerve endings at the top, but not giving her the hard pressure that she needed. Shuddering, she moved her body against him, tempting, arousing...teasing.

He grazed his teeth along her neck. "Doing that will get you punished."

"I'm counting on it," she gasped with unrestrained passion.

He pinched her clit. Pleasure short-circuited her system, her body tightening into a bow, ready, so ready...but the pressure eased a moment too soon. "Zagan!" A sensual complaint, her skin shimmering with a fine layer of sweat despite being submerged in water.

"I warned you." It was an intimate reminder as he thrust two fingers inside her, pumping hard and deep. She rode him, rode those wicked fingers, her breath coming in harsh little pants, her body moving with a will of its own. "I've always known that your unleashed passion will turn you into a wildcat." On her breast, his other hand was a possessive brand, moulding and shaping. His mouth touched her neck, her shoulder, his lips marking her without hesitation, without any attempt to hide that that was exactly what he was doing.

"Mine." His tone guttural. Blatantly possessive, hotly male.

Her bottom rubbed against him with every undulation of her body, driving her to a fever pitch. "I need more."

"Not yet."

She trembled, tried to find her mind. "Why not? I'm ready, I want you inside of me."

That got her another punishing brush across her clit. Sparks flared behind her eyelids, and she barely heard him through the buzz in her head.

"I need you out of your mind." His hot murmur was sensual against her skin.

Half insane with need, she rode him harder, faster. "I'm already out of my mind!"

"Are you sure?" An explicit sexual question.

"Yes!"

She cried out as he spread his fingers inside her, making room for a third. The extreme fullness threw her to the edge.

"You'll have to be quiet unless you wish for the entire village to know what we're doing." He sounded smug. "Of course, I wouldn't mind. I want every male in the vicinity to know that you're mine."

Then he pressed down on her clit with his thumb, and she fell over the edge. The orgasm rocked through her, a hard, almost violent release that left her limp in his arms.

Zagan drew in the scent of Akila's satisfaction, holding back the urge to bite her within him by the narrowest of margins, hunger that wrenched at the restraints, to take her with a fury he wasn't certain she'd survive in her mortal state. He withdrew his fingers from the tight slickness of her body, that need kicked him hard, making his cock throb harder.

Her body spasmed and he realized that she was ready once more. Taking advantage, he slid a single finger back into her tightness, the second no longer able to inch in now that she was so lushly swollen with pleasure.

"Soon I'll spread your legs, make you hold them open for me."

A slow, lingering thrust.

"Zagan." Her voice was husky from her orgasm.

"Then, I'll take my time tasting the sweet, plump flesh between your thighs." Another thrust, another stab of pleasure-pain.

Moving up a hand, he pulled her back with his fingers on her jaw and took her mouth as he gave her a final, exquisitely intimate caress that forced her into another orgasm. Her sexuality was earthy, wild, honest. It sang a siren song that hazed his brain, threatened to make him lose all control. That never happened before, not with any of the females he had fucked.

Holding her up when she finally tumbled down from the peak, he removed his finger and maneuvered her until his cock lined with her opening. With a single hard thrust he slid into her. Akila sank her teeth into his shoulder, muffling her scream, a scream that held equal parts demand and need. Gripping her hips tight, he pulled out almost fully, then slammed back in, the water splashing violently around them. There was no mercy in him any longer, the beast had come out to play.

She met him stroke for stroke, her hips rising in welcome, in demand. Akila trailed her mouth over his cheek, his jaw, and his neck. At the end, she buried her head in his neck and simply held on for the ride, letting him hold her as they both careened into primal bliss.

Still soaking in the water, they recovered from their intense love-making. Languid from pleasure, Akila lay against his chest, his maleness throbbing inside of her. The hotness of his cum still lingered in her womb. "You didn't feed from me tonight."

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Author Announcement :

Hello dear readers, Killing Me Softly Demon will be taking a hiatus. Thank you for your support thus far, I'll be back soon. Feel free to check out my other stories that are available and completed on my page. I'll see you soon for the new season release!

Nessawrites.