Chapter 93: 93. Transitioning X
Maisie
I was hungry.
Not the usual bone-deep hunger for sex that had been devouring me for days. This was different. This was a ravaging, stomach-eating monster that made even my constant need for sex feel secondary.
When I tried to stand, the chains snapped like brittle twigs against my wrists. The moment I put weight on my legs, they buckled. I crashed face-first onto the marble floor with a loud smack.
I caught my reflection on the polished surface and mindless as I was, I knew something was definitely wrong.
My lashes were ridiculously long and thick, my eyebrows perfectly arched like I’d spent hours in front of a mirror. My legs looked longer, leaner, and unnaturally toned. My skin was smoother, paler, almost glowing.
Even my hands looked delicate and elegant, like they belonged to a woman who had never done a day of hard work in her life.
The pang of hunger slammed into me again and I tried to get up, only to fall again. The bones in my legs snapped and straightened. There was a twinge of pain but it was gone in a second.
I stuck out my foot and tried to stand. My legs shook, but held. I reached for the locked door.
It tore off its hinges.
I blinked. Cocked my head at the wood in my hands that stood inches taller than me and should’ve weighed just as much. But it felt like holding parchment. I threw it to the side and stepped out into the corridor.
The lights burned my sensitive eyes. I hissed, shielding my face as I stumbled forward, one hand dragging along the wall for balance. Past the empty living room area. Into the kitchen.
There was a girl in there. She looked familiar. Blue eyes. Blonde hair. Didn’t care about her or what she was saying. Didn’t understand words. Words... too loud. Something about the men being called to Court, but they’d be back soon, as even the Queen knew it was against protocol to have them separated from me in this time.
I didn’t care.
My eyes were fixed on the roasted duck she’d just pulled out of the oven. It smelled like heaven.
One second I was across the room. The next, I had the scorching pan in my bare hands.
"Maisie! You’ll burn yourself!" she shrieked.
I stared at the point where the pan was sizzling against my skin. Charring it. In the same sexond, new, healed skin covered the burn.
Hm.
I dropped to the floor, crossed my legs, and began tearing into the duck with my bare hands like a starving animal.
"Maisie, let me—"
I snarled when she tried to take my food away. I couldn’t help or stop myself as I tore into it, ravaging it, even as I coughed and choked. The girl brought me water but I had to—had to eat. It was like the pit inside my stomach was expanding, demanding more.
There was nothing left of the duck soon and I was still hungry. I turned to the fridge and yanked at the handle.
The girl—was it Juliette?—yelped when the fridge’s door went flying over her head.
There were cans after cans of milk, juices, stored and refrigerated pastries and fruits. My fingers dug into the chocolate cake and I inhaled it. Next went the pie. The tarts. The fruits. My jaw started to ache, but I was so hungry...
I couldn’t tell how long I spent there.
But when they returned and found me, I’d eaten everything. And I was surrounded and covered in carnage, empty containers, torn packaging, and crumbs everywhere. I was licking the last bit of banana off my fingers, chocolate smeared across my cheek like war paint.
They froze in the doorway.
"Well, fuck," Mercer said, startled laughter rumbling out of him.
***
They were finally letting me out of the bedroom.
There was just one small condition.
I had to wear clothes.
I hated it. The soft cotton shirt chafed against my skin like sandpaper. I kept trying to rip it off, but Mercer was annoyingly persistent.
"You are not an animal, Adams," he growled, pulling yet another shirt over my head after I’d destroyed the last eight. "Stop acting like one."
He buttoned it with surprising patience, then reached for a pair of mint green shorts. "This stays on," he ordered when I began to growl. "The examination won’t take long, I promise."
Examination. Examination. He’d been saying for the last half an hour.
"Examination?" I repeated.
He nodded, holding the shorts open for me to step into. There was something strained about the way he said it. "You’re halfway through the transition. We need to make sure your body is handling it perfectly."
I grunted. Clothes were stupid. They only got in the way of easy access. I didn’t see how he could be inside me if I wore something so obstructive.
"Come here," Mercer ordered.
My feet began moving before I realized what I’d done. I stopped. Scowled. Something in me knew I didn’t like this man ordering me around.
When I refused to move, Mercer simply closed the distance, wrapped a strong arm around my waist, and lifted me off the ground like I weighed nothing. I dug my nails into his shoulders and kicked as he slid the shorts up my legs.
He sat on the edge of the bed and settled me between his parted thighs, fixing the shorts in place with firm, efficient hands. When he looked at me, his green eyes were soft.
"The examination might be a little... intrusive," he said softly, green eyes tracking mine. "But Memah will be as respectful as she can be. We’ve made it excruciatingly clear that she’ll leave here in a box if she upsets you..."
I cupped his lovely face and pressed my lips to his firm, sensual ones.
He groaned into my mouth, nails biting into my hip for a second as as he pulled me closer for one heated second, Then, like always, he pulled back.
He’d been doing that since he’d picked me off the kitchen floor and cleaned me up in the shower. Kissing me like he was starving, then stopping just when it got good.
It was grating on my nerves.
Last night, he had slipped into bed behind me and it didn’t matter how many times I pushed my ass back into his hard cock, he wouldn’t fuck me.
Instead, he’d buried his face in my hair and whispered, "The lines between right and wrong blur so easily... and though this is normal for our kind, it doesn’t stop it from feeling..." he had tracked off for so long, I had begun to doze off. Then he’d added quietly, "Taking you like this makes me feel too much like my father. I never want you to look at me that way."
Something aware inside my chest had warmed at that, but in the end, I was starving and he was dangling food right in front of my nose.
