Page 65 of The HalloQueen

She followed my steps, “Ah yes, love stories. Let us discuss those, shall we? Because in those five minutes in your home, I scented my husband all over you. I feel as though that is a conversation we need to have.”

I flinched in surprise, “Wait, what the fuck, your husband? No, you left, he’s not your husband. And if he was why didn’t you say anything on Friday? You said he was a dear friend of yours.”

“He is mine,” she snarled, “he and Yusuf are mine. They belong to me- not some pathetic mortal girl.”

I scrunched my face, assessing the unhinged creature before me. This was not the same female I’d seen only days before. Her impossibly straight posture was hunched into a pouncing stance, and she looked gaunt. She looked…sick. “Okay, cool, so take him. Legit girl, I had no idea you were still legally married, if I’d known I would never have-”

“You are a disgusting cow and you will never deserve him!” Her voice became shrill, with an underlying rumble that made my skin break out in goosebumps.

“Whoa, dude, no need to be mean, I just said you can have him. This is clearly a conversation the two of you need to have together. I was just an uninformed third party - I knew nothing about this.”Run, run, run. Get somewhere and call Thomas.Every part of my body tensed as my anxiety and adrenaline rose. This woman was fucking crazy and if Thomas didn’t know it yet he was going to hear it from me. He’d told me he went to their like…tribunal or whatever about her and that they were done. He’d never once called her his ex-wife though. Had I been some kind of homewrecking mortal hussy? “I…I really didn’t know, Monique. If I overstepped I apologize. I’ll get out of your hair and head home. Have a good night.”

The beach had become shrouded in darkness. The trees hadn’t shed many leaves yet so the streetlights were blocked from view, leaving us covered in shadows. I couldn’t hear anything past the beating of my heart in my ears. If Thomas sicked his ex-wife on me I was going to re-kill him myself.

In a flash, the outlined figure of Monique was by my side, “You can not have him.”

“Dude, I said I don’t want him! What the fuck is your problem?”Get to the Jeep. I kept moving, glancing sideways to the parking lot, and took off running without warning. Or I would have been running if she hadn’t caught me within ten feet of where we’d been standing.

She grabbed my arm roughly, her nails digging in enough to puncture my skin. I felt her ram into my mind, sucking my energy like a vacuum. She didn’t feed like Thomas - she felt like she was assaulting my senses, crippling me with my own emotions, not slowly dragging a fishing line through my mind or caressing against my walls.

“Fucking hell, um, ouch, Monique, let me go!”

She growled, a low snarling noise, and dragged her nails down from where they’d implanted into my arm, leaving long streaks of blood welling up on my forearm. Then she grabbed my wrist and forced it to her face, locking her dark eyes with mine, and ran her tongue along the blood, humming appreciatively. The bitch had taken my blood, Thomas had never - would never.

“You can’t just do this, Monique. Thomas is going to-” I tried to take my arm back, screaming when she snapped the bone at my elbow with one swipe of her arm. Blinding pain ripped through my body, feeling as though each atom that made up my body was splitting and trying to form back into something that wasn’t me.

“Thomas is never going to find you again, you insolent creature. And if somehow, he does, you will be such a shred of who you are now that he will regret ever even speaking to you.”

My blood pounded and my throat closed, anxiety taking over as my fight or flight instincts imploded. I knew I wasn’t going to escape and my body froze at it as if roots grew out of the bottom of my feet. My limbs shook as I stood rooted to the spot, my mind screaming at my body to wake up and run, and my breaths stuttered. My stomach churned from the pain and for a brief moment, I considered throwing up all over her perfect clothes in hopes that with her vanity, she’d let me go in disgust.

“Please don’t do this. Please,” my voice wobbled in desperation as her other hand shot behind my neck, fisting my hair and continuing to lick the wound she’d inflicted at an unnatural angle. “Thomas will never forgive you if something happens to me, if you’re doing this for him you’re doing this wrong. Please stop. Please. I’ll do anything, just stop.” Tears soaked my cheeks and I was cursing myself for hiding in the small copse of elm trees, “I’ll never talk to him again. I promise. I promise. Please.”

“No.” Her tone was flat. Dead. And in the darkness, I could see the discoloration on her chin where my blood was dribbling out of her mouth.

“No? What - you can’t just say no. Please - Thomas will kill you.”

“I said no, mortal. Your begging means nothing to me. You are nothing to us, and you never will be anything to him again,” She snarled again, slamming her fangs into the crook of my now limp elbow, sucking deep and injecting fire into my blood.

28

THOMAS

“That went well,” Yusuf groaned, pulling himself up off the floor and looking at the broken door behind him, “she’s strong.”

“Too strong,” I replied, staring at the ceiling waiting for the stars to clear, “I haven’t eaten in days, Yus, I am going to be of no help to you.”

He scoffed and walked to me, extending his hand to help lift me, “Yes, but she is going after your new mate so if anything, I’m helping you.”

“If she lays one finger on Bels, I will kill her, and I will not apologize.”

“If you hurt Monique while there’s still a chance of saving her, I will kill you - so make your moves cautiously, my friend.”

“The sun is coming up, if she’s changed she will be underground for hours until she feels safe enough to find Annabel. We won’t find her until closer to dusk; we need a plan.” I stretched and twisted, cracking my back, and nodded at Yusuf to follow me back to my bedroom. I needed blood. He trailed behind me wordlessly and I opened the minifridge to remove a medical bag, waving one at him, “you need one?”

Nodding with a sigh, his shoulders slumped, “Yes, that would be great.”

I opened two bags, dumping them into disposable foam cups, and handed him one, “Yus, I don’t want to hurt her, you have to know that but-”

“But with the bond broken, you don’t feel compelled to save her.”

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