Chapter 3: The First Hunt
The Velvet Room smelled of sandalwood and spilled wine. Salem let the incense wash over her, let the low thrum of bass settle in her bones. She sat at a shadowed table near the back, a glass of something amber untouched before her, and watched the stage through half-lidded blue eyes.
Her disguise was flawless. Golden hair tumbled over bare shoulders, a silk gown the color of sunset clung to her curves, and the magic of her glamour made her look like a merchant's bored widow with coin to burn. No one looked twice at her. No one saw the immortal queen of the Grimm sitting among the flesh peddlers of Mistral.
Kael moved across the stage like smoke.
Grey-furred chest sheened with sweat, muscles rolling under his skin with every step. His hips swung to a slow drumbeat, teasing, deliberate. The wolf faunus was tall, easily over six feet, with ears that twitched at every whistle from the crowd. His cock was half-hard behind the thin fabric of his loincloth, and he knew exactly what he was doing with it.
Salem's thighs pressed together beneath the table.
Three days. Three days since she had discovered that website, since she had touched herself to the images of this creature and a dozen others like him. Three days since her ancient mind had cracked open with a new purpose, a new hunger that had nothing to do with the destruction of kingdoms.
She wanted to breed.
She wanted these beasts inside her.
She watched him drop to his knees at the edge of the stage, watched him crawl toward a woman in the front row with a predator's grin. The woman laughed, pressed a lien note to his chest, and he tucked it into his loincloth with a wink.
Salem's fingers tightened around her glass. The crystal cracked, sharp and sudden.
She let the pieces fall into the shadow of the table and rose. Her heels clicked against the polished wood as she crossed the room, and she did not miss the way Kael's amber eyes tracked her movement. His ears swiveled forward. His grin widened.
He saw a woman. A beautiful, desperate woman with too much money and not enough sense.
He had no idea what he was seeing. Not yet.
The stage veered left into a narrow hallway lined with curtained alcoves. Salem paused at the entrance, turned, and met his gaze across the crowded room. She tilted her head, a clear invitation, then disappeared behind the velvet.
She heard his feet land on the floor of the main hall, heavy and confident. She heard the murmur of disappointment from the crowd as their entertainment departed. She smiled to herself in the dim.
The alcove was small. A padded bench, a low table, more velvet curtains. The air was thick with the scent of previous patrons, perfume and sweat and something muskier underneath. Salem settled onto the bench, crossing her legs, letting the slit in her gown fall open to reveal a long stretch of pale thigh.
Kael pushed the curtain aside and stepped in.
The curtain dropped behind him. His shadow fell over her, broad and tall.
He looked her up and down, openly, unhurried. His amber eyes lingered on her thigh, on the curve of her breasts beneath the silk, on the flush of heat in her cheeks. When his gaze finally returned to her face, his grin was sharp with amusement.
"And what's in it for me, pretty thing?" His voice was a low rumble, gravel and honey together. "Private dances cost extra. And you dragged me off stage mid-act, so you owe me for lost tips too."
Salem let her tongue wet her lips, slow and deliberate.
"Name your price."
Kael laughed, a deep sound that vibrated through her chest. He folded his arms, which made the muscles of his shoulders bunch and shift. His ears flicked.
"Name my price," he repeated, mocking. "You don't even know what my price is yet. But you came dressed like that, with that look in your eye. You already know what you want from me, don't you?"
"I know what I want from many men."
The confession hung between them. Kael's grin flickered, surprise and interest warring across his features.
"That's quite a confession from a woman who just met me."
"Who says we just met?" Salem reached into the small purse at her hip and withdrew her scroll. She tapped the screen, pulled up the page she had bookmarked, and turned it to face him.
His profile. His photos. His cock on full display for the whole of the Dustnet to see.
Kael's eyes went wide. His ears flattened against his skull.
"How did you get that?" His voice dropped to an almost growl.
"I have access to many things, Kael of the Grey Vale pack." Salem set the scroll aside and leaned forward, letting the neckline of her gown dip dangerously low. "Your profile says you're a mercenary. Sell your sword to the highest bidder. But you also sell this, apparently." She gestured to the screen. "So tell me. What does a man like you want in exchange for more than a dance?"
Kael studied her for a long moment. The humor drained from his face, replaced by something cooler and more calculating.
"You want me to fuck you."
"Among other things."
"Such as?"
Salem stood. She had to look up at him now, her face tilted, her breath warm against his chest. She reached out and placed her palm flat against his sternum, feeling the thrum of his heartbeat beneath her fingers.
"I want a husband," she said. "Many husbands, actually. A collection of strong men with strong blood. Men who can give me strong children."
Kael's laugh came again, but it was different now. Ruffled.
"You're desperate," he said, amused and disgusted in equal measure. "A woman so lonely she comes to a place like this looking for a husband. A whole army of husbands, from the sound of it. You want to be filled, don't you? Filled up and bred like a proper little broodmare."
"Perhaps." Salem's fingers curled against his chest. "Does the idea offend you?"
"It does nothing for me one way or another." He caught her wrist, squeezed just short of painful. "But I'm asking what's in it for me. You want me to pack up and leave with you, become your breed stud, that's a big ask. So what are you offering?"
"Freedom."
The word landed. Kael stilled.
"Freedom from whatever debt has you selling your body in a place like this," Salem continued, her voice silk and steel. "Freedom from whoever owns your contract. A life without chains, Kael. All I ask in return is that you service me when I desire it, and that you give me strong children."
Kael's grip on her wrist loosened. He stared down at her, amber eyes searching her fake blue gaze for some sign of deception.
"You expect me to believe a woman like you can make all my troubles disappear with one call?"
Salem smiled. It was not a kind smile.
"Let me show you."
She pulled her wrist free and reached for her scroll. Kael watched her, wary and curious, as she opened the device and pressed a single contact. The call connected on the second ring.
Watts' voice crackled through the speaker, harried and sycophantic.
"Madam? This is unexpected. I wasn't aware you'd willingly left the fortress without preparation. May I ask—"
"I have need of a debt clearance," Salem interrupted, her voice suddenly cold and imperious. "A faunus named Kael of the Grey Vale pack. He owes money to someone in Mistral, likely through a brothel contract. Make it disappear."
A pause. A rustle of papers.
"Of course, Madam. I'll have it done within the hour. Is there anything else?"
"Also have transport arranged to bring him and his belongings to the fortress by nightfall. Discreetly."
"Consider it handled."
Salem ended the call. The silence in the alcove was thick as she turned the scroll toward Kael, showing him the ended call screen.
"Your debts are gone," she said simply. "Or they will be. Within the hour."
Kael stared at the screen. Then at her. Then at the screen again.
"Who are you?"
"No one. Someone. A woman who wants to be bred." Salem stepped closer to him, pressing her body against his, letting him feel the heat of her through the thin silk of her gown. She reached down and cupped his stiffening cock through his loincloth. "And a woman who gets what she wants."
His breath hitched. His cock twitched against her palm.
"Fuck," he muttered, half to himself. "You're not just desperate. You're insane."
"Perhaps. But I'm also the woman who just freed you."
She squeezed, and a low groan rumbled from his chest. His hands came up to grip her shoulders, claws pressing against the silk of her gown.
"And if I agree," he said, voice rough, "you'll have me father your children, then? Spread your legs for a beast like me? Let me fill that tight little cunt with my seed until it takes?"
Salem's thighs pressed tight together. Heat flooded her core.
"Yes," she breathed. "Exactly that."
"And what does a woman get out of giving herself to a pack of animals?"
"The world," she said. "My children will inherit it."
Kael stared at her for another long moment. Then he laughed, low and wondering, and pulled her hard against him.
"Fine, woman. I'll come to your fortress. I'll fuck you until you scream. I'll put a pup in your belly if you can take what I've got to give." He leaned down, his breath hot against her ear. "But you ever lie to me about my freedom, and I'll tear your throat out before you can blink."
Salem smiled up at him, and for a moment her glamour flickered, just a hair, just a breath. He saw something ancient in her eyes, something dark and endless.
"I never lie," she said. "That's part of why I'm so bored."
Kael's grip tightened on her shoulders. The heat between them was electric and thick, pressing through the velvet darkness of the alcove.
He moved fast. One moment he was standing over her. The next he had spun her around and pushed her face-down onto the padded bench, his body covering hers, the weight of him pressing her into the cushions. His hands tore at the silk of her gown, ripping it away from her hips to expose the pale curve of her ass.
"You want this before we even leave?" he growled. "You want to see what you're getting yourself into?"
Salem pushed her hips back against him, arching her spine, offering herself up without shame.
"Show me," she demanded, voice wrecked. "Show me what I'll be riding for the rest of my life."
Kael shoved the loincloth aside. His cock surged free, thick and heavy and obscene, hard enough to strain his entire body. Saliva pooled in her mouth with anticipation. The head pressed against her wet slit, and she groaned at the pressure, at the stretch as he pushed forward just a little.
"Look at that," he purred, tracing the head of his cock along her slick folds. "Look at this desperate little cunt, soaking wet already. You really are a greedy thing, aren't you, pretty woman?"
"Stop teasing and fuck me," Salem snarled.
Kael laughed, and then he pushed.
The sensation was overwhelming. His thickness split her open, inch after inch sinking into her slick, aching depths. The stretch was delicious, the burn of being filled so completely that she cried out, her fingers digging into the velvet bench beneath her. He gave her a moment before he pulled back and slammed forward again to the hilt.
Salem's head spun. Her cunt gripped him tight, fluttering and clenching around his thick shaft as though trying to drink him deeper. Kael pulled out then thrust in.
"Fuck," he grunted. "You're tight. Fuck, you're so tight, woman. You ever been filled before or am I the first?"
"Just shut up and fuck me," Salem snarled.
But Kael didn't shut up. He kept talking as he drove into her in a brutal, steady rhythm, his voice low and filthy in her ear.
"You want me to breed you? Want my pups in your belly? I'll fill this cunt up, drown your womb with my load. Gonna make you beg for it, and when you're sobbing and full of my seed, then I'll know you're mine." He punctuated each word with a snap of his hips, each impact driving a broken sound from her throat. His hand came down hard on her ass, and she cried out, pain melting into pleasure and becoming something else entirely.
"That's right, take it all, you greedy little bitch."
Her climax rose like a tide, explosive and unstoppable. She squeezed his cock, and with a guttural groan, he thrust deep, spilling hot and thick inside her. She pushed back against him, riding out the wave of her orgasm, feeling his release fill her up and dribble down her thighs.
He held himself there, panting against her neck.
"When will you be ready to be filled again?"
He was still hard inside her, still twitching. Salem laughed, breathless, and pushed her hips back against him.
"As soon as you can manage," she said. "I have a lot of catching up to do."