In the Shadow of the Beast

By Astra Rose

In a ravaged future, human survival depends on staying hidden from brutal alien predators. Reduced to small settlements, humans cling to strict moral and conservative values as they try to wrest order from chaos.

Rebellious Willa can't seem to adhere to the rules, though. If they have to spend their lives in hiding, she figures, why can't they have a little fun?

But after a shocking discovery in the woods, Willa's definition of "a little fun" becomes a darker, twisted fixation, driving her into dangerous exploration as she seeks to fulfill the fantasy that has obsessed her... and satisfy her forbidden desires.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Astra Rose
• Release date: Aug 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005541293

Astra Rose

Powerful men... who are powerless against their desires.Astra Rose writes stories that explore taboos and power imbalances, including age gap and daddy kink. She is the author of Off Limits and Haven.Hailing from Canada, Astra needs to write hot erotic fiction in order to survive the brutal, Planet Hoth-like winters. That's also why her words contain so many extra vowels. She's proud to write stories that make you feel something and believes that smut is (actually, physiologically) good for you.

Book preview

IN THE SHADOW OF THE BEAST

By Astra Rose

Copyright © 2021 Astra Rose

The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.

All rights reserved.

astraroseromance.com

CHAPTER ONE

WILLA! THE BUSHES behind me shook violently as Finian tried to get my attention. As if I alone would notice them shaking.

In front of me, the Sisters shot sharp glances towards the rustling bush. We were sitting in a quiet circle, doing our basket-weaving. It was not an approved time to receive male visitors, although fraternizing wasn’t strictly forbidden.

At my age, eighteen by the lunar calendar, girls were supposed to get married. There were certain accepted courtship rituals to facilitate this, and trying to sneak me away so Finian could have me to himself wasn’t one of them. I looked up to see the Head Sister frowning at me.

Tell Finian you’ll see him at the dance tonight, she glowered.

You heard her, I hissed at him. I didn’t appreciate being humiliated in front of the group like this. Although Finian’s family was wealthy and respected, making him a coveted mate, I had a bad reputation among the Sisters, due to a certain… incident that was still fresh in their minds. I was trying to repair my tarnished reputation, and Finian wasn’t helping.

In our village, unmarried girls were educated by the Sisters, and unmarried boys were educated by the Brothers. The High Brethren were celibate men and women of faith who dedicated their lives to teaching the village youth stealth, safety, and the strict rules of our society until we got married - usually at eighteen. We were taught that adherence to the rules ensured safety for all, so breaking any of them was taken very seriously. People who committed crimes in our society were liable to be punished by shunning - being forced to leave the village on their own - or through physical punishment by a small, anonymous vigilante group. The vigilante group was comprised of male volunteers who wore masks to disguise their identity. While I understood that we had to fight for our survival - that had been drilled into me since birth - I nonetheless had trouble adhering to so many of our societal rules. I just didn’t see how kissing and feeling good were supposed to expose our village to danger. I mean, if we were going to skulk around all the time, always staying in groups for safety, we might as well have a little fun, right?

There was something different about me, though, and I knew it… I just didn’t know why I couldn’t just be more like everyone else. I used to try to fit in, but eventually I’d given up. The other girls would hiss insults at me when the Head Sister wasn’t looking, and I was pretty sure they were accurate. "Slut, they whispered as I walked past them, or Whore." It seemed every girl in the village was chaste and pure - except me.

The real reason Finian was pursuing me was because I was the only girl who gave him what he really wanted.

It had started the year before during one of the courtship dances, when Finian asked me to dance. He was only the third boy I’d ever even been physically close to, and the other two had been that very same night - previous dances. But Finian felt different. He was taller and broader than the other boys, and holding my hands to swoop me around the room, he pressed me closer towards him. I could feel his body brushing lightly against mine.

The smell of him was doing something to me, and before I knew it I was breathing softly against his ear. He gave a low groan and pulled me closer, wrapping one arm around my back. Closer than we were supposed to be, but I guess the Head Sister didn’t notice. I felt his hardness then. He pressed it against me and I gasped as my whole body responded. Wetness flooded between my legs.

When the song ended he let me go but whispered, Meet me under the willow tonight. 

Okay, I responded. When?

As soon as you can. He winked and walked off.

I didn’t know exactly what I was agreeing to, but I felt helpless against the heat that was coursing through my blood. I made a show of talking to some other Sisters for a while, before telling Head Sister I was feeling faint and needed to return home.

Have a guard escort you, she ordered, and although I had no intention of being escorted anywhere, I agreed.

Of course.

I hurried to the willow tree alone, treading soundlessly as we were taught to do since childhood. I could see Finian outlined by the moonlight, and my heart beat nervously in my chest. Would it be what I was expecting? What I was looking for? 

I approached Finian, greeting him shyly, and he wrapped his arms around me, holding me close. I liked how you breathed on my ear while we were dancing, he murmured. It really made me feel good.

He pressed me close, grinding his hardness against me again and I felt my pussy swell in response.

We were taught that a man and a woman must never lie together before they are married. That sex, while not exactly wrong - between a man and his wife, that is - was also not exactly right.

But where other girls seemed happy to accept this, and