How many times have you fucked tonight? You don't even know. It's all a blur. The whole night is a blur.

You're both breathing hard, your chests rising and falling together. He's hot and sticky with sweat and you're not much better. His breath is making your ear burn. You rest your hands against the big muscles in his back as you feel him inhale.

Exhausted, you unwrap your legs from his hips and let them flop onto the bed. He's still inside you, hot and hard as a pole. He grunts, then turns his head to look at you. His eyes are red-rimmed with lazy pleasure. Smiling, he kisses you on the cheek, then on the lips, before kissing you along your left horn. It feels good. Strangely, it's highly sensitive. How can bone be sensitive? You suck in a breath of surprise at the tingle of pleasure as he drags his tongue along it.

'You like that?' he says, stroking your cheek as he kisses you on the mouth.

'What's going to happen now?'

He runs his fingers through your hair. 'You're going to stay with me. We're going to live our lives together, the way it was always meant to be.'

'But what about those I love? What about my life?'

He continues to brush his fingers through your hair. 'You leave it all behind.'

'I can't do that.'

'What are you going to do? How are you going to explain what's happened? Are you going to show them the truth?' He runs his hand along your right horn, making the skin on your arms erupt with goosebumps.

You shiver. 'Maybe. I could-I could call them, write them. My adoptive parents ... I could explain.' You look away as you think of them. They would never understand. 'My sister—she's open-minded; she might be okay ... She's ... She's ...' You stop at the look on Rush's face. Tears swell at the back of your throat. 'I can't just leave them in the lurch. They took care of me when nobody else would. Despite all my ... problems, they loved me no matter what.'

Gently, he drags a finger down your cheek. 'It won't work. You'll terrify them. They'll hunt you down.'

'No. No! They're not like that.'

'They're human—and they hate us.'

'How can you say that? How can you judge them so harshly? They're not all like that.'

'You were—and you only thought you were human.' He stops stroking your cheek and instead braces his forearms into the mattress on either side of your head. 'Coming into my room with a knife.'

'What did you expect?' you snap. 'You kidnapped me!'

His upper lip curls. 'You took one look at me and thought I was a monster.'

You open your mouth, about to protest, before shutting it again.

'Think me a killer, a criminal if you will, but not that. Humans,' he snorts, 'they fear and destroy anything not like them.'

'You eat them!'

'And they eat everything! Consume everything. Destroy everything! By the time they're done there'll be nothing of this world left! Tell me, who's the true monster?'

You glare at each other. You don't answer, you can't answer, but that doesn't mean you're not shaking with rage. 'Get off,' you say in a low voice. You try to slide out from beneath him but his weight keeps you pinned.

You suck in a breath as he pushes his erection more deeply inside you. 'You send them a letter, you call them, even if you lie, you risk our discovery,' he says. 'You risk your discovery. Let them discover the truth and you won't know your family.'

'You don't know anything. All you're filled with his hate. My family's not like that. People are not like that.'

His lips pull away from his teeth as he snarls.

'Now, get off me,' you snarl back.'Get off!'

You rake your nails down his cheek. Finally he pulls back and you manage to slide out from between his legs. As you stand, his hot wet seed dribbles down your leg and onto the floor.

He's on his feet too, on the other side of the bed. And as you gaze at him you're at war with yourself. You hate that he can be so magnificent and yet so dreadful—the epitome of masculinity and yet the greatest of monstrosities. All he needs is the legs of a goat and he really would be the devil. And yet he wants you. You. The reject. The sick one. A woman who can't make a relationship last more than a couple of months. You want to leave as much as you want to stay. You want to hurt him and yet you'd hate to hurt him. Equal degrees of anger and sadness make you rock on your heels.

Should you stay? Should you go?

Finally, you make your decision. You walk towards the door, but he steps in front of you as you attempt to pass him.

You glare at him. 'Get out of my way.'

'You can't go to them.'

'I'm not going to them; I'm going to my room.'

He narrows his eyes. 'I don't trust you.'

'No more than I trust you. Deal with it.'

He bares his teeth at you, and you bare your teeth at him.

'Move,' you say.

'No.'

'Move!'

You try to shove past him but he seizes your arm and twists you around, enfolding you in his embrace. 'Let go!'

You struggle against him, thrashing and bucking, but all he does is clasp you more tightly, pinning your arms to your chest. You might be strong and fierce and angry like you've never been before but you're no match for him. His arms are like chains. His grip is like a vice.

Crushing you to his chest, he lifts you off your feet and hauls you bodily to the bed, where he throws you onto it. You scramble to escape.

'Stay!' he roars. 'Or I'll tie you down.'

You freeze, one foot over the edge. 'You can't keep me here against my will forever.'

'Yes, I can.' He growls in frustration. 'Why can't you move on?! That life is gone. It never was. Accept it. You are a Drona and you belong by my side.'

You don't speak, looking down at your hands. They're so big now, so red. All your wounds from your transformation have now thoroughly healed. You can feel the weight of your horns dragging down your neck.

'It's for your own protection, as well as mine. I will not have you die because your heart is weak.'

You glare at him in fury. 'My heart is not weak!'

'Then accept the truth.'

You turn away to look down at your hands again. You fist them in your lap. 'Where's a mirror? I want to see myself.'