Fangs and Fur- Beta Read Along
All rights reserved. Copyright © 2025 by LA Magill. All distribution rights reserved for the exclusive use of Wicked Women LLC.
Dili refused to notice anymore of the sculpted torso flush against her, held apart by a mere cloak that did nothing to keep the cold from seeping through and frosting over her skin. She shoved, kicked, and wriggled as hard as she could to get away from those thick arms—she didn’t bite him. She would not stoop to his level—but again, her efforts were for naught. She’d expected as much, especially since the vampire had just fed, but she still had to try.
“Release me!” she forced out between gritted teeth, though she didn’t expect him to listen anymore than she thought he’d let go.
The vampire sighed a rapturous sound full of contentment and heedless of her concern.
His complete disregard annoyed her. Quite a bit, but still not enough to bite him. She thrashed her one free arm around them, hoping to find a rock or a stick to hit him with.
“Don’t ruin the moment.”
Dili almost didn’t catch the whispered words. “Don’t hold me against my will!”
But the vampire seemed to go unresponsive again, his eyes as unfocused as his grip was secure. She struggled anyway for several seconds, to no avail, before giving in to the edge of her frustration.
“Unhand me right now, or I’ll blast the both of us without a second thought,” she said in her most threatening tone.
The vampire made a contemplative sound deep in his throat, then the world blurred. One moment Dili was forced up against him, too close to his chest, too close to his face, too close to his everything. The next, it was worse.
She blinked up at the picturesque sky, ringed by leaves and glowing with sunshine. There was a distinct cat-shaped gap in the emerald canopy to her left. The beams of—
She should not have been staring at the sky. Her arms should not have been pinned against her sides. Her legs shouldn’t have been clamped together.
She should not feel cold against her back.
She should not feel fingers kneading into the soft of her stomach like—
Exactly like her black cat before he snuggled into his favorite blanket. He always pushed harder with his left paw, holding on a smidge longer.
It was all she could do to keep her calm and gently lift her head enough to glance down, taking in both the startling sight and the bulk of the arms caging her body.
“I can feel you.”
The dulcet murmur soothed Dili’s ears, but the words made her think about slamming her head backward into the vampire’s firm jaw.
“Through him,” the vampire said gently. “I… I’m with him. He’s with me. Should have been from the first moment, but you…”
The whisper trailed off. Dili paused for several breaths, but when Hadrian didn’t continue, she eventually lay back against him: not submitting, not straining, just thinking. She didn’t have the muscles to hold herself up for long, anyway.
She focused on the dazed sound of his voice. She wanted to believe what he’d said, and knew she shouldn’t. He was a vampire. Perhaps he didn’t want to do Toad or Dili direct harm, but he’d manipulated her from the start.
“You should feel him, too.”
“What?” Dili blurted.
Hadrian let out a long, sated sigh.
“What do you mean I should feel him too?”
“Close your eyes, Dili. Come with us.”
“Where? You won’t let me go,” she snapped.
The vampire didn’t answer.
“Hadrian!” All she heard was steady breathing, and all she felt were those strong fingers. She tried to elbow him. “Answer me, vampire!”
He didn’t. Dili fumed in his arms, stuck, frustrated, and feeling more and more foolish by the second. Before she could figure out what to do, though, the vampire started… humming.
Dili’s breath caught in her throat. The melody was a bittersweet tune, as old as secrets and nostalgic as sunsets. She had always sung it at her patients’ bedsides. Hadrian couldn’t possibly know it—but Toad did.
The sound spun magic in Dili’s ears, and she couldn’t stop herself from going limp and closing her eyes
“You found us.” The voice was soft and slow. “Isn’t the sunshine wonderful? The feel of the grass—”
The words filtered through, but Dili wasn’t listening. When she’d closed her eyes, she found only what she’d hidden. Ash over a blood-stained harbor. Haunting wails echoed through burned halls. Curses followed her every step.
“You’re crying.”
The witch didn’t know why those words cut through when everything else the vampire had been saying didn’t, but she was grateful to snap back to her senses. She jerked away from him instinctively, and to her utter shock, she rolled off his body onto the ground with a soft thud. She scrambled to put more distance between them, scooting backward as quickly as she could, before stumbling to stand.
When Dili finally faced the vampire again, he was kneeling, as he’d been when he’d fed, reaching out toward her.
“Are you alright?” he asked hesitantly.
Dili pulled the back of her hand across her face, realizing her cheeks were quite wet. She hadn’t noticed she’d started crying at all.
“That shouldn’t have hurt you. I’m not sure—”
“You held me hostage,” Dili snapped at him.
Hadrian cocked his head, confused rather than contrite. “My deepest apologies. It’s been some time since my last feed, and—”
“That doesn’t give you the right to manhandle me. Is this what Toad has to look forward to? Losing control at the mere sight of blood?”
Hadrian’s expression shifted, a streak of arrogance glinting in his darker green eyes. “You liked it, didn’t you?”
“W-what?” Dili spluttered.
“When you linked with Toad and me. It’s natural. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Hadrian frowned. “Just now. We were mind-linked with Toad while he was high.”
“I certainly wasn’t. He was high? Is he alright now?”
“Yes, he’ll be fine. You didn’t…” Hadrian’s brow dropped over narrowed eyes. “… But I felt you.”
“Of course you did! You had me pinned against you in the most indecent of ways.”
Hadrian at least had the common sense to glance away, abashed. “I am sorry. I did not intend to touch you so intimately.”
Dili snorted. “Then why didn’t you let me go?”
“I thought you just needed some help to accept the blood magic. It can be disorienting the first time, but it’s safe,” Hadrian said, a plaintive note in his voice.
“The only thing I accepted was that I couldn’t move, you feeble-minded brute!” Dili exclaimed.
The vampire’s expression drained from his face. “Then… you just let me hold you like that? It wasn’t the magic?”
Dili froze. “No. No! I didn’t.”
Hadrian stared at her, his eyes growing rounder by the second. Dili crossed her arms over her chest defensively.
“I didn’t let you,” she insisted.
The vampire just nodded, his unreadable expression disturbing Dili almost as much as his insinuation.
The witch was too on edge, and she knew she wouldn’t settle as long as that insufferable vampire kept ogling her. She wished she could retreat to the comfort of her cottage with just Toad.
“I think I should go after Toad,” Hadrian said awkwardly. “He’s sleeping it off now, and I don’t want him to wake up alone.”
“Uh… alright.” Dili wanted to be there when Toad woke up, but she felt self-conscious about making a request that would keep her close to the vampire. “I’ll just… uh…”
“Meet here at sundown?” he offered.
“Agreed,” Dili said.
Before there was time for any further tension to develop, the vampire disappeared with a blurry flare of his cloak and a whoosh of sound.
Next chapter on Friday, October 10.