Page 8 of Monstrous Urges

“You should have used them.”

He rolls his neck as he leers coldly at me.

“Too late now.”

It happens so fast that I freeze to the spot. One second, he’s just standing there, radiating malice and wrath as his cold eyes stab across the darkness into my soul.

The next, he’s exploding toward me.

Ready to take me.

To catch me.

To devour me whole and spit out the bones.

The scream strangles in my throat, and I turn, and run.

2

TAYLOR

Get to the trees. Just get to the trees.

For some reason, that’s what my brain hooks onto. As if we’re children playing games, and the tree line is “home”. As if the branches and shadows will save me from whatever terror is bolting after me through the darkness.

But even as I try to run, wobbling in my heels, I know how vain a hope it is.

Shadows won’t stop something that’s just melted out of them.

Regardless, I don’t make it to the trees at all. I take all of four steps before the scream strangles in my throat as a powerful hand roughly grabs a handful of my hair. I choke on another scream as hot pain explodes through my scalp. He yanks hard with a deft grunt, spiking my adrenaline as I go faltering backward.

A muscled, ripping arm wraps around my chest, yanking me against his hard, unyielding chest. My feet kick at the dirt, as if I’m still running.

But I’m not going anywhere.

I know this was planned. I know I chose to be here. But it doesn’t stop the sheer terror of the violent flight instinct from exploding through my system as my mouth opens in a scream of pure survival.

A rough, powerful hand slams over my mouth. My eyes bulge when I feel the iron chest behind me rumble with a dark, gravelly chuckle.

“No no no, little prey,” he rasps darkly into my ear. His lips and the scruff on his jaw beneath the terrifying mask brush against the lobe, sending shivers of fear and adrenaline chasing down my spine.

“You’re mine now.”

Something deep inside me snaps to life. The last shred of my fight or flight instinct erupts. I jab my heel back, catching him in the shin.

It’s like kicking a tree trunk. He barely grunts. But his grip loosens just a hint, and that’s all I need.

I jab an elbow back, catching him in the ribs before I explode forward out of his grip. My heart lurches up into the back of my throat as I bolt for the trees again.

This time, I only make it two steps.

I cry out when his sheer size slams into me from behind so hard that my legs give out. I whimper as I crash to my knees in the dirt, his enormous frame dropping with me and enveloping me. His huge arm wrapping around my body. His hand coiling around my throat.

And squeezing.

It’s not with murderous intent, just enough to spike my pulse and send ripples of something vicious and captivating dancing across my skin. Every sense becomes more alive. A ringing fills my ears as his thumb drags slowly up my jugular.

“Caught you, my little slut.”

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