Winter Spire: Tiny Temptation Read online

  She let her hips sway from side to side in front of him, a half smile set on her lips, eyes flirtatious, making promises on behalf of what her body could do for him. Jesamar lifted a single finger to her lips, slowly ran it across them, and then brought it down to Felix’s cock, touching the tip of it gently.

  Pleasure burst through Felix’s body like a chemical explosion. He understood the true power of lust magic, of what it could do for and to someone. If she wanted to, Jesamar could turn him into her slave, drive him insane, or torture him to his breaking point. It was all in her touch, in how it felt. Comparing it to anything he might experience in regular life was like comparing torchlight to the sun.

  Felix screamed incoherently and thrust forward, trying to feel more of Jesamar against him. Her abilities were different then they had been in any of their previous encounters. She’d taken more from Stella than just her robe, and even though it made him feel furious, Felix couldn’t stop himself from wanting Jesamar, wanting what she could give him.

  “Stop!” cried Dani. “I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you everything!”

  Jesamar pulled back, taking her hand from Felix’s cock. A surge of disappointment and illogical rage toward Dani waved over him, but he forced it down. She was on his side, and Jesamar wasn’t, even if he was desperate to see and feel more of her.

  “Oh?” asked Jesamar. “You’re stopping me right when things were starting to get fun. But perhaps they’ll be more time for that later.”

  She stood over Dani, her glorious, naked body a towering thing of wonder in comparison to the tiny girl. Dani said something that Felix couldn’t make out, and apparently it was also below Jesamar’s threshold of hearing.

  “What’s that?” Jesamar smiled triumphantly and dropped to one knee, lowering her face in close to Dani’s. “You’ll have to speak up, young lady, if you want to be-“

  Dani moved in an instant, almost too fast for Felix to see. She threw both of her hands forward, releasing a torrent of magical energy that whipped the dust around her up and tossed it directly into Jesamar’s eyes.

  Jesamar screamed and lurched back, rubbing at her eyes. Dani moved immediately, tossing aside the restraints that she’d found her way out of and rushing toward Felix.

  “Dani!” he shouted. “Look out!”

  Jesamar managed to get enough of her sight back to make a grab for Dani. She snagged the tiny girl by the legs and tossed her almost lazily toward the central hole. Dani disappeared into the opening, and a sickening feeling took hold of Felix’s stomach as he realized what that meant.

  “Nooo!”

  He gritted his teeth and felt his anger take hold of him, along with something else. By the time Jesamar turned back toward him, he was already glowing, coarse fur sprouting from his limbs, teeth elongating into sharp canines and incisors.

  Felix became half wolf, half man. He stood on legs that brought the best of both worlds to the table, bipedal, but with increased strength and agility. Powerful black claws extended from his half paw, half hands. Grey fur covered his body, and his pointy ears pulled in sounds that would have been far to faint for him to ever hear normally.

  “It won’t help you!” screamed Jesamar. “You’ll tell me in the end!”

  Felix snapped the ropes from the trees and charged forward, dimly aware of Jesamar leveling her hand at him to cast another spell. He feinted left and dodged right, allowing a bolt of concentrated magical lightning to pass through the air near him.

  Jesamar let out a screeching noise and began to transform into an ogre. Felix swung one of his paws at her, catching her in the shoulder and knocking her off balance even as she continued to shift her form.

  He readied what would hopefully be the killing blow, but Jesamar was quick, rolling out of the way and standing to her full, ogress height. She threw a punch at Felix that caught him in his newly from snout and made him see stars.

  A powerful rage boiled inside of him, the lustful thoughts before replaced by a desire to rend flesh and taste blood. As Jesamar descended onto him with her next attack, Felix welcomed it. He wanted her close, wanted a chance for revenge, a chance to feel her body breaking underneath his claws.

  Jesamar howled and threw a kick. Felix caught her foot under his arm and twisted in a circle, breaking her leg in several placed. He whirled and snapped his fangs, intent on ripping her stomach open and freeing her entrails, but she was already stumbling back, tripping over rocks, rolling toward the hole in the center of the caldera.

  The sound she made as she slipped on the loose, dusty rocks and down into the magma below was the sound of a nightmare manifested in reality. A flash of orange light went up as she hit the molten rock, more light than Felix had expected, enough to make him consider a magical source.

  He sat back, lowering to all fours as a dog, or more appropriately, a wolf, would do naturally. Grief hit him like a slap in the face. Dani was gone, and it was due to his inability to control his own stupid, primal urges.

  Felix slowly sank down to the hard rock, feeling tears form in his eyes. It was hard to think straight in his wolf form, even as a half transformed hybrid. He took a deep breath and tried not to picture Stella, if she was even still alive, reacting to the loss of her daughter.

  “Who’s a good boy?” said a quiet, familiar voice. “Who’s a good boy?”

  Felix slapped a tail he hadn’t realized he had against the rock and quickly pulled himself to all fours. Dani sat on the edge of the caldera’s hole less than fifteen feet away from him, looking very pleased with herself. Her dress was singed along the bottom hem, turning it into more of a one piece mini suit. Felix took a deep breath and felt himself emit more light as he transformed back into his regular human form.

  “Dani…” he said, still in a state of disbelief. “Dani!”

  He ran over to her and scooped her up in his hands. His first instinct was to kiss her, but he shied away from it as he pulled her in close to his face and experienced the size differential between them.

  “You’re welcome,” said Dani. She leaned her face in and kissed him on the nose.

  CHAPTER 19

  Felix carefully set Dani back down on the rocky ground, allowing her to walk around on her own and examine the area. Even small as she was, he could tell from her body language and demeanor that something was clearly wrong.

  “What is it?” asked Felix. Dani looked up at him, shaking her head slowly from side to side.

  “My mom,” she said, her voice faint and emotional. “She didn’t send us here to find a magic stone. There’s no magic here, Felix.”

  “But, the volcano, and the plants,” he said. “Dani, even I can tell that there is more to this place than what meets the eye.”

  “Nothing we can use,” said Dani. “Nothing that’s going to help me.”

  “That… doesn’t make sense,” said Felix.

  “It does, if you think about it.” Dani folded her arms. “She wanted to get us to safety, and give herself a chance to take on Jesamar, one on one.”

  “But Jesamar came after us,” said Felix.

  “Exactly,” whispered Dani. “We have to get back to the tower. It… might already be too late.”

  Felix saw Dani turn her face away from him and felt her vulnerability. He wasted no time, immediately packing their stuff away and pulling his winter clothing back on. He returned to where she was and scooped her up in his hands.

  “Ready?” he asked. Dani nodded and took a deep breath.

  “I saw an easier way for us to head down around the back, opposite the way we came up,” said Dani. “It probably won’t be quite as harrowing.”

  “Nice,” he said. “Come on, let’s move.”

  Compared to the trip up, heading down the back of the mountain was practically a walk in the park. The warmth of the volcano faded as the two of them descended down a rocky, gradual path, and soon enough, Dani was back in his jacket and Felix was fighting to keep his teeth from chattering.

  It took them a coupl
e of hours of hard hiking to reach the bottom, and they didn’t encounter any hazards nearly as dangerous as the ice cliffs had been. Felix felt a little irritated that they hadn’t taken the time to circle around to begin with, but their circumstances had been different on the way up.

  The sun was high on the horizon, and he set out at a breakneck pace. The original plan had called for him to take a day for the return to North Spire, but Felix was fairly confident that he could do it in the time they had left before nightfall, especially with Dani urging him on.

  Snowflakes fell lightly, giving the afternoon a serene quality. The tower came into view on the horizon with light left to spare, and the sight of it spurred Felix on to walk even faster. As they drew in on the last mile or two, Dani gave his neck a flick from her position on his shoulder.

  “Felix!” she said. “Something’s coming!”

  She swung her arm out into Felix’s field of view, pointing at a large wolf running across the snow in the distance, headed toward them. Felix nodded and turned to face it, still not allowing himself to relax completely.

  The wolf burst into a glow of white light as it closed the last few feet, and Gwen stood in the place of it, her winter jacket’s hood pulled up over her head and pulled tight enough to expose only her pretty face and blue eyes. She folded her arms and frowned at Felix.

  “Are you willing to hear me out yet?” she asked, without preamble.

  Felix hesitated, and then shook his head.

  “Look, Gwen, I’m sorry, but I’m in the middle of something right now,” he said. “If you’re just here to ask me to join up with you again, then-“

  “You don’t understand!” said Gwen. “They’ll be here in a couple of hours, by morning for sure.”

  Felix frowned, admitting internally that no, he clearly didn’t understand.

  “Who?” he asked. “Gwen, just explain it to me.”

  “The Gathering,” said Gwen. She paused to look over her shoulder. Another wolf stood behind her, almost hidden by the falling snow. It was probably Nalya, or possibly one of the twins.

  “We don’t have time for this,” said Dani, in an urgent voice. “Felix, my mom needs us.”

  Felix nodded and turned to continue on to the tower. Gwen moved to intercept him, holding both of her hands up in a passive gesture.

  “Please!” she said. “Felix, you don’t know what you’re doing!”

  “I’m helping my friends, Gwen,” said Felix. “And that’s exactly what I need to be doing right now.”

  He brushed his shoulder into hers as he passed by, and Gwen made an irritated noise. Felix half expected her to grab his hand, or even attack him, but she made no move to, and when he finally looked back, she and the other wolf were heading back in the direction of their den.

  Felix practically sprinted the last few hundred feet to the door of the tower. The sun was on its way down over the horizon, but the entrance inside was still unlocked. As soon as he was in the lobby, he unzipped his jacket and let out a sigh of relief. His body was far more exhausted than he’d realized, the weight of the pack having sapped his energy away during the trip.

  “Let’s go, let’s go!” said Dani.

  “Easy,” he replied. “You’re not the one carrying everything.”

  He mumbled hellos to the townspeople he passed by and headed straight up to Stella’s apartment. Dani jumped down to the ground before he’d gotten the door all the way open, rushing into the apartment and calling for her mother.

  “Mom?” Dani looked from left to right, making a beeline for Stella’s room. “Mom?”

  Felix followed behind her, which took deliberate restraint on his part. Stella was in her room, on her bed, wearing her underwear and tied down to the bed frame at her hands and legs. She slowly began to stir as Dani climbed onto the bed next to her and shook her with tiny hands.

  “…Dani?” whispered Stella. She blinked several times, looked at Felix, and frowned.

  “It’s over, mom,” said Dani. “Jesamar followed us, and we fought her, and… and…”

  “I’m sorry,” whispered Stella. She closed her eyes, apparently exhausted from her ordeal.

  Felix went to work untying the ropes while Dani sat next to her mom’s head, gently stroking her face. He did a quick check to make sure she didn’t have any visible injuries, and then tucked her under the sheets, feeling slightly numb from the experience.

  “She’ll be okay,” he said, to Dani. “I think she just needs to get some rest.”

  “I’ll stay with her,” said Dani. She looked exhausted in her own right, and the dress she had on was ruined by the heat of the volcano. Felix wanted to tell her to get some rest, too, but stopped short of it when he saw the concern in her eyes as she watched Stella resting.

  Felix headed out into the living room, feeling tired, and frustrated by the events of the past few days. He’d failed to find anything to help Dani in the end, and put Stella at risk in the search. And now he was back in the tower with nothing to show for it.

  When he woke up, the light of early morning was leaking in through the windows. Felix let out a yawn and leaned up on the couch to find Dani sleeping on one of his legs. She hopped to her feet, startled and groggy.

  “Sorry,” said Felix. “I didn’t realize that you were there.”

  “I was in my mom’s room for a while,” said Dani. “She must have used up almost all of her magic. Nothing else would put her out like that.”

  Felix frowned.

  “But she will be okay, though?” he asked. Dani nodded slowly, a far off look in her eye.

  “She will be,” she said. “In time.”

  Felix watched her for a couple more seconds, feeling the vulnerability in her expression.

  “We’ll find a way to get you back to normal, Dani,” said Felix. “Once your mom is back to strength, I doubt it will take very long.”

  Dani smiled at him, but she closed her eyes and sank her head forward slightly at the same time.

  “I know,” she said. “Of course… of course we will.”

  There was an edge to her voice that cut deep into Felix’s chest and made him ache for her. She’d lost who she was, and was living in a new world, nearly powerless against it. And yet still, she kept going, kept strong.

  Dani turned to look away from Felix did something weird. The living room’s window looked out over the horizon to the east, and Dani was staring at something in the distance.

  “Do you… do you see that?” she whispered, pointing with a tiny hand.

  Felix stood up and walked over to the window slowly, squinting into the distance. It was hard to make out against the white of the snow, but he could see movement. A lot of movement.

  A massive pack of at least a thousand wolves was waiting in the distance, no more than a mile or two from the tower. Gwen’s words suddenly returned to the forefront of his mind.

  They were waiting for him.

  THE END

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  Also, check out my Tumblr for some visual aids to go along with choice excerpts from the book.

  Anya Merchant

  For other stories by the same author, check out

  After the Fall: Close and Confined (Taboo Erotica)

  Coming Home (Taboo Erotica)

  Depths of Desire: Complete and Uncut (Taboo Erotica)

  Last Man Alive: Complete and Uncut (Taboo Erotica)

  Illicit Inheritance: The Complete Collection (Taboo Erotica)

  Temptation Island: The Complete Collection (Taboo Erotica)

  Taboo MILF Mega Collection (Taboo Erotica 13 Book Collection)

  FREE EXCERPT FROM FORBIDDEN MAGIC

  CHAPTER 1

&n
bsp; The bus lurched over a large pothole as it took the last turn into the station. Victor jerked out of sleep, kicking the seat in front of him as his body snapped into wakefulness. The man sitting next to him gave him an odd look, but Victor’s eyes didn’t waver from the scene outside his window.

  Undercliff City. It’s been so long, I barely even remember it.

  It was a particularly dark night, with enough cloud cover to block out the nearly full moon. In downtown Undercliff, amidst the corridor of skyscrapers, bars, and clubs, the city always felt alive. The bus was dropping Victor off on the outskirts, near the eponymous cliffs, where most of the houses and buildings were either condemned or well on their way.

  Victor ran a hand through his dark, curly hair as the station came into view. He was tall and lanky, to the extent that the bus’s undersized seat was a bit uncomfortable for his legs. A sharp chin and dark eyes made his features look brooding and a bit mysterious, or at least, he liked to think.

  The bus doors opened with a vacuum sealed whoosh. Victor's fellow passengers began standing up and politely queuing for their turn to get off. Most of them were shabby, people that looked like they were coming home, rather than just visiting.

  Am I just visiting? I don’t have a home anymore.

  He stood up when it was his turn to join the line running down the aisle and felt a hot flash hit him like a stiff slap in the face. Victor coughed into the crook of his arm and managed a few unsteady steps forward as his stomach twisted, and cold sweat pooled on his forehead.

  It was why he was there, and what it all came back to. Victor was sick in a way that no doctor could help with, in a way that no nineteen-year-old should be dealing with on their own. The one person who held the clue to his treatment lived here, in Undercliff City, the diamond that never fully escaped the rough.