Page 48 of Claimed By Her Monsters

My archangels…

My dark gods…

I’d have Athena alive, well, and back in my life as my Mother instead of mentor, and the opportunity to know more of my Father, Lucifer.

Life would be renewed in a way I’d never expect it to blossom into, and that’s what made this all so important.

“Time to face this,” I whispered to myself, noticing the slight tremble in my voice.

“Always trying to do shit alone without asking for help.”

My eyes widened and I immediately turned expecting to see the dark god in question at the entrance of the cave, but I crashed right into him.

His physical body is of stone and onyx.

I looked right up to see the scolding god, and how I couldn’t fathom words because I earnestly didn’t expect him to be here.

Why…

"Did you expect me to find out the truth and let you come do this bullshit all by yourself?” he questioned angrily. “You had no hope in me, did you?”

“Well…no,” I voiced and purposely rolled my eyes. "You’re not the type to come through when a girl needs him the most so don’t try to act like you’re some kind of saint now.”

“You and that stubborn attitude of yours.”

“Says the man who’s distracting me with his anger management issues,” I huffed and turned around. “I’m busy doing rituals to save mankind so if you can go away and stop being a distraction, that would be gre—”

His hand pressed against the front side of my neck, pulling me right against him while forcing me to look up and get lost in his eyes of black that didn’t hold a pinch of anger.

It was frightening because I’d never seen this man show emotion like he was at this very moment, leaving me speechless as I looked up at him.

“Regis?”

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

There was the question I always wondered myself. Why did I take all of this burden on my own?

I could have told them, even if they rejected me or said I was lying, but I didn’t even give them the chance to prove whether they would listen to a child like me or not.

That wasn’t fair.

It was crazy how we allowed our bodies the pleasure they desired, but we didn’t use our words to communicate our needs. I’d rather shoulder the burden on my own if it meant not admitting I was too weak to deal with something so grand at the time of age when I was forced into this cycle of torture.

"Because admitting I couldn’t handle this anymore made me feel like I’d lose you three,” I decided to reveal the truth. “That you wouldn’t want a bride who couldn’t survive the torturous actions of their own worshippers.”

With a sad smile, I slightly shrugged.

“I didn’t want them to steal you away from me…so I ran away. From it all,” I confessed. “If it meant you guys hated me, so be it. At least your hate would keep you alive. That your annoyance with me would keep my name on your lips and the thought of me in your minds. As long as I still became a symbol of your attention, whether positive or negative, it didn’t matter. As long as it forced you guys to not disappear and be stolen from me.”

He bit his bottom lip hard, and I could see from his glassy eyes all the various emotions and things he wanted to say.

He held his tongue though, knowing well that we couldn’t have this conversation here.

That time was of the essence.

So he did what I didn’t expect.

He laid his lips upon my forehead.

---