Wild Dreams [Story Collection]
The elders had spoken the sacred words at the last full moon gathering, their aged voices trembling with reverence and fear:
Once every hundred years the Black Beast rises from the shadow veil. He comes seeking his eternal mate. Offer him seven pure maidens, and he shall claim only one. The rest will return to their families untouched, their homes blessed with wealth, fertility, and protection for generations.
The other girls had listened with flushed cheeks and bright, hungry eyes. I had heard them gossiping by the washing stream only two days past, their voices low and breathy, hands moving dreamily over their own bodies as they spoke.