How to Tame Your Tikbalang Ch. 09

A splash dunked her under again as Buhawi's huge (and absolutely delicious) body followed into the water. Tala was shrieking as she surfaced and hurled every invective she knew in Tagalog, English, Spanish and Ilonggo at the Tikbalang.

"Oooooh, I can't wait to tame you, you beast!" She turned on her side and began swimming away, only to be caught up against Buhawi's hard, sexy chest.

"Oh, I don't know about that. I was just thinking that you would appreciate a cold dip," he said as she bit her lush lower lip and glared at him, not appreciative in the least. "You still need to take the third hair before we go on the fuck-fest to end all fuck-fests."

"Really? Now? I'm sore and I'm hungry and I am damn pissed about being thrown like so much baggage into cold water—which I frigging hate—mmmppppffff!"

Buhawi shut Tala up the best way he knew how. Tongue in mouth is an effective way of shutting a sexy, naked, angry female up in his book.

They struggled for dominance in the water, sinking and rising for air as their tongues clashed. The kiss was war and Buhawi kept battling until he felt her body soften and mold against his, just the slightest bit, before he released Tala's bruised, red lips.

"Listen to me a bit, will you?" His dimples peeped out and mesmerized Tala, who was all for watching his mouth move, even if his words sounded serious.

"Seriously, woman, listen to me," he demanded, holding her body above the deep water as he spoke and scissored his legs to keep them afloat. "We are at the finish line. We can breast the tape if we keep on this path. Stay with me now."

Buhawi maneuvered Tala onto his back and swam for shore in long, sure strokes and set her down where the water was shallow enough for her to stand.

"You read the Bestiario, right? You read about what to expect when you pull the third hair?" His eyes were on hers, hypnotic and dark, intense as twin lasers in their effort to read the thoughts she hadn't even formed yet.

"I did, yes, but Beatriz was so vague all of a sudden," Tala said as she bit yet again on her lower lip. "I understand she was unable to complete the ritual and it seemed as if she didn't know how to."

"Bloody hell," Buhawi said, casting his eyes skyward on a deep, exasperated breath. "So this means we need to talk to my mother about what comes next."

"What? No!" Tala's shock and all-too-human embarassment rang loud and strident in her two-syllable yell.

"Do you know a better way to find out how to do this right? Because getting it wrong would be just plain catastrophic on every level, woman." Buhawi's post-coital good mood faded in that instant and he shook his head in disbelief. "You'll be miserable. Catastrophes will be set loose on your world and I'm going to go insane if we get this wrong."

He strode out of the water and shook himself, spraying Tala with cold droplets that matched the fear rising in her chest, suffocating her.

"We have to work together. We passed the point of no return when you took the first hair," he said as he turned to her, hands wide and open to the sky. "We cannot stop what we set in motion."

"Look, I don't know about you people, but, in my world, you don't go telling your parents about the freaky, kinky sex you have, you know," Tala said, her anger starting to overwhelm her control. "Cut me some slack here. There has to be another way."

"I'm not telling you to spill the kinky details to my mother," Buhawi said after a few deep breaths to get his temper in check. He sat on his bed and pulled Tala down beside him. "We just need to ask her how the last part of this damn ritual goes because she tamed her tikbalang, okay? And, no, I don't want to know about her and my dad doing whooppee, either, you know."

"So tell me, how are we supposed to do that," Tala asked on a shrill, sarcastic note. "Hi, Mrs. Batumbakal, do you have wild monkey sex before, or after, you pull the tail hair? Does it involve more kinky stuff, like fisting and such? Yes, that would go down really well with your mom. I'm sure disrespect would."

"Don't you roll your eyes at me, Tala Maria Urduja Fernandez Bienvenido," Buhawi said, his voice stern and cold. "Just consider what options we have and how we should solve the damn problem."

Tala's mouth fell open as she heard Buhawi utter her full baptismal name. Then she put her head in her hands and muttered "why the fuck am I not surprised you know my full name?"

Looking at her curled up body, seeing the defeat that stood out in every slump of shoulders and head, Buhawi felt the strangest things gnawing at his chest: Remorse, something he'd rarely ever felt, and a growing tenderness that had absolutely no business anywhere near him, let alone inside him.

He gentled his voice as he reached out to pull her into his arms and warm her shivering body. "Hey, princess, don't cry. Just. Don't. Fucking. Cry. I don't know what the hell to do with crying people. Shush. Shush. We'll think of something.

Tala, who had held up under all the pressure of this strange twist of her fate, finally gave up holding her walls up and stalwart and cried long and hard against Buhawi's chest.

Buhawi felt another new emotion. He felt panic.

Casting his eyes about for something, anything to use to stop the Baylan's crying jag, he held her tighter and called on the Old Gods. Make her stop crying. It's painful to watch. What the hell did I do wrong now? By the Old Ones, I don't understand humans at all. Help, please, help. Losing it here.

Twenty exhausting minutes later, Buhawi felt Tala's stream of tears slow and her chest expand as she took deep, steadying breaths. Praise the Old Gods, she's stopping. Haynaku.

Tala finally raised her face off his chest and Buhawi was dumbstruck by this new facet of her beauty. Her eyes were limpid and back to their clear, light amber, her lashes were bejeweled with diamond tears and her cheeks flushed with heat. Tala's mouth was slightly open, as if she were about to ask for a kiss and her nose was an adorable shade of red. Not to mention the heaving breaths she was drawing were making her breasts rise and fall in a manner that was making him hot and bothered all over again.

This is so not the time to be turned on, asshole. She's just stopped crying. Comfort now, fuck later, Buhawi chided himself, trying his level best to make his erection subside.

A few more deep breaths later, Tala finally spoke.

"I'm sorry to turn the taps on," she said, her smile shaky and unsure. "I've just been through so much mind-bending ewan over the last few weeks. It's enough to make a girl cry."

Buhawi closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I know, sweetness. But now I know that your crying breaks me. Please don't do that to me again. Are you ready to work with me on solving this puzzle of what to do? We do not have much time to waste, even here where time is slower."

"Does your mom keep a diary or a journal of some sort? Maybe we can ask her to lend that to us instead of ask her point-blank about matters better kept between her and your dad," Tala said looking up at Buhawi with a firmer, more confident smile. "If Beatriz kept a journal, perhaps she did, too."

"You thought of that while crying?" Buhawi asked, the incedulity in his voice drawing a chuckle from Tala. "Maybe I shouldn't stop you from crying next time. That's a brilliant idea. We'll find out after I feed you."