Unnatural Instinct: Wish
20

The day is bright. The light shines through the windows, so blinding that you have to cover your eyes. The sky is so blue it almost doesn’t seem real. White, fluffy clouds drift across it like lily-pads upon the surface of a quiet pond.

Even the marshes look dazzling, the murky water peeking out through the long, green grass like the twinkling of diamonds. The mountains are as astonishing as ever but not so threatening as they once were. You can’t keep from staring up at them. The way they seem to pierce through the clouds. The way they seem to keep going and going and going, as though they finish beyond the Earth’s atmosphere.

‘It doesn’t seem real.’ You tighten your fingers around the railing of your balcony. It’s a warm day and yet you shiver.

‘Cold?’

You turn. The Dark Prince is dressed in only his robe, his bare chest gleaming against the light, his white-blonde hair sitting like a glittering crown upon his gorgeous head. He’s left his robe hanging open and your eyes can’t help but dart appreciatively over his hard abdomen and muscular thighs and his well hung shaft hanging between his legs.

Wrapping his arms around your waist, he braces his chin upon your shoulder, staring at the mountains.

‘Marvellous, aren’t they?’

‘Indeed,’ you say. ‘Only, they make me feel strange. Like they shouldn’t exist at all.’ You look down over the railing to the marshes beneath. ‘Why can’t I smell the marshes from here? Why is the land so empty?’

‘So many questions,’ he says, tightening his embrace. ‘You’ll make yourself ill, my love. Just live in the moment.’

Before you can ask anything more, he kisses you on the sensitive part of your neck, making you shriek and shrug your shoulders. Sliding his hands to your front, he slips them beneath your robe, taking hold of your breasts. He massages them.

‘Mmm …’ You lean back into him.

He strokes your belly, then moves his hand down lower where he strokes you some more. It seems like all you’ve been doing for the past several days is making love. Over and over and over again.

‘Let me clear your head,’ he murmurs. ‘Rid you of dark thoughts. They do not belong here.’

He sweeps your robe off your shoulders. With a gasp, you grab at your chest as you stand naked on the balcony.

‘Why so embarrassed? There’s no one here to see.’

You glance once towards the mountains before realising his logic. Dropping your arms away, you reach out for his robe and do the same thing. It puddles at his feet.

Standing in all his delicious nakedness, he laughs, a sexy masculine laugh that makes your heart beat fast. Unable to help yourself, driven by an urge that should come from someone much braver than yourself, you grab onto him and draw him close. Pressing your face into his chest, you kiss him on that tasty strip of skin between his nipples.

His laughter silences as he holds you back, his face buried in your hair.

‘You’re going to fit in just fine here,’ he murmurs.

‘I …’ You grimace, clutching at your abdomen.

‘What is it?’

‘Hungry. I’m suddenly so hungry.’

You can’t remember when you’ve eaten last. It’s hard to remember anything beyond the present, as though your entire life is right here, right now, and nothing else has ever existed. It’s a thought that should trouble you—and yet somehow doesn’t. You grimace again at a stab of hunger so fierce it feels like a knife is gouging into your belly, making you double over with a groan.

Taking your hand, he pulls you into his bedroom. You smell the food before you see it: bacon, sausages, eggs, and so much more. You jerk your head up. Platefuls of steaming food are sitting on the little table in the corner, as though they’ve always been there.

Taking a seat, you try to eat slowly; you don’t want to look like a slob, but you’re just so damn hungry! You’ve never been so hungry in your whole life. It’s like you’re actually starving. Like you’re dying! Mouthful after mouthful of egg and hash brown and sausage disappear into the cavernous hole that is your stomach. You pick up a long, thick rasher of bacon and fold it into your mouth like a child. You barely chew before you swallow.

You can feel him watching you eat. You can feel his eyes like a light prickling against your skin. He doesn’t say anything. In fact, he doesn’t do much at all.

You give an embarrassed laugh as tomato sauce drips onto your bare breast. You go to swipe it away but the Dark Prince is already upon you, kneeling beside you as he prises the fork out of your hand and swivels you towards him. He spreads your legs as he looks up at you, hands gripping your knees.

Knowing what he wants, you lower your chest towards him. He licks the sauce away, his remarkable eyes gripping yours like magnets. He sucks in your nipple, followed by the rest of your breast. Over and over he sucks you. You grab his head with a groan, your food forgotten, suddenly feeling much less hungry.

He licks his lips. ‘Divine.’

Sliding his hands up your thighs, he presses his face between your breasts. You run your fingers down his bare back as the light shines against his long hair. Next, he lowers his face into your belly, kissing your belly button. He sags his head into your lap with a sigh.

‘I love you,’ he says.

Leaning over, you kiss him on the back of the neck. ‘I love you too.’

After your warm moment, he gets up and you continue with your breakfast. The plates are full again, the food hot and fresh, as though you haven’t eaten at all.

‘How did I become so lucky?’ you say as you bite into your buttered bread.

‘I could say the same for myself.’

You look down at his barely touched plate. ‘You’re not eating?’

‘I don’t need to eat.’

You move onto your sausage. You wolf it down. And all the while he watches you. You pause to stare at your plate, gripping hard onto your knife and fork as you struggle to remember. How much have you eaten? So much! And yet …

‘Something’s wrong,’ you say.

‘What?’

’I’m still hungry. At least, I think I am.’ You wince. If truth be told, you’re more than hungry. In fact, you’re still starving.

‘Perhaps I can take your mind off it.’

He stands. He comes over. Smiling, he removes your knife and fork from your grip and places them gently on the table.

You grimace again at the ache in your belly. Now you’re starting to feel nauseated. You could almost throw up. Shaking your head, you pick up your glass of juice and try to swallow the vomit away. It doesn’t help. You look up at the sound of muttering.

‘What?’ you say.

‘What?’

‘You said something.’

‘Did I?’

‘A name.’

‘No, I didn’t.’

’My name.’ You remember it now. How could you forget it? It’s your name! You twist in your seat, knocking over your juice. ‘What’s that?’

‘What?’

‘Someone’s calling my name.’

You strain your ears but hear nothing more. The room is empty.

‘There is no one here,’ he says.

Your spilled juice trickles down the table cloth and drips onto the floor. The Dark Prince is frowning. He doesn’t look happy.

‘Why …?’ you begin, only to stand at the sound of a shout. You look around the room, certain there must be someone here. You heard it clearly. “Wake up”, it said.

‘I don’t feel so good.’ An inexplicable fear clutches at your heart, sucking the warmth right out of you. Your knees buckle. You stagger backwards. The Dark Prince catches you before you fall.

‘Let me take your mind off it,’ he says, and he sweeps you into his arms.