Page 6 of Monster's Obsession

Green blood spurted from its eye, and my nose scrunched up as the scent of rotten food assaulted my nostrils.

Gagging at the smell, I wrenched my blade back with a sloshing wet sound, then hurled myself off the creature just as it slumped onto its side, convulsing. In order to kill these fuckers, you needed to destroy its brain, or gut it, and I wasn’t in the mood for getting putrid intestines all over me. So I let it die slowly.

The moment I hit the sand, Blake rushed into my arms, her small body curling around my middle, her beautiful silvery eyes crammed with fear behind them as she stared up at me like I was what humans called guardian angels.

I hated myself for saving her. But…I couldn’t kill her. Apparently, my emotions and cock had taken over. What the fuck was I supposed to do now? Play loving boyfriend like the rest of them? Fuck that!

Her body radiated heat, and she was so soft that I curled around her, embracing the curves of her body against me. Her chest rose and fell quickly. I should let her go and get the fuck out of there, but something about having her in my arms when she was hurt and vulnerable had my insides roaring with a primal need to protect her.

“You saved me,” she murmured, her cheeks still wet from tears. “I was positive I was going to die today.” She trembled in my arms as I kept her tightly against me, and I followed her gaze to the Gazen.

The hideous thing had stopped having seizures and lay dead. It wouldn’t remain there too long as those on the black market from the city always found a way to sneak past the walls and collect the dead creatures for healing potions, for selling, for whatever the fuck they wanted. We turned a blind eye to it for the single reason that we didn’t want the dead reptilian things.

Blake whimpered against me.

“Hush now.” I curled my hand gently across the back of her head, my other hand still gripping the blade. The thought crossed my mind that, out here, I could easily finish the job I started.

But when I glanced down at her terrified face, I felt something deeper stir within me–a raw obsession I detested.

“I don’t even remember how I got out here.” She breathed heavily, while a terrible urge came over me to kiss her, to settle her nerves, which I resisted. There were things she brought out of me that no one else had ever done…not even the Red Queen. Though to be fair, the queen had been a sadistic bitch.

“I want to get out of here,” she mumbled under her breath.

I tightened my arms around her, and she moaned.

“Fine.” I collected her hand, my gaze falling to the blood dripping down her arm, the torn fabric of her dress revealing an open gash from where the Gazen must have got her with its teeth. She stumbled, and I knew she wouldn’t make it far. In truth, her time was running out fast.

The worms carried venom in their saliva, and a small cut was all you needed to get infected. Then death came knocking pretty damn fast after that.

“I know you may not trust me, but I need you to, okay?” I’d never been the nice guy to her, never wanted her to see me as anything but the monster I was. She was our meal ticket. But fucking someone every night for years did something to my head. It twisted me, made me crave her as though she’d become part of my soul, and I didn’t need that in my life.

She blinked at me, the color in her face already fading. “I never said I didn’t trust you.”

I wasn’t a fool and understood when I was being placated. I’d been nothing but a jerk to her.

“Tempest, I’m not feeling too well.” Her voice came out hoarse, and a weird sensation hit me right in the chest at her words. Her body slackened against me, and I caught her.

“You’ve been poisoned by the Gazen and you won’t last much longer.” The venom of a Gazen was deadly. I’d seen a few survive with healing, but the method was like tossing a coin–she might survive or she might not.

With shaky hands, she held onto me. “I’ve got you.” The venom was claiming her fast.

Her eyes widened, her vulnerability like a whisper across my skin.

Tucking the blade into the sheath on my belt, I released my monster. It rushed over me, stealing my human form, while a mixture of regret, anxiety, and anger lashed at my insides.

One second I’d tried to kill her, and now I raced against the clock to save her from the venom… because if she was going to die, I wanted it to be by my hands.

The world around me seemed to shrink as I grew in size until I was at least three feet taller than my human form, my jawline buzzing from the razor-sharp teeth extending, a tightness across my head intensifying as horns emerged. My body lengthened into shadows, bits of me stretching outward, darkening the land around us.

Blake gasped, but the brave human didn’t back away. She’d seen me many times this way, especially in her dreams.

I extended my long arm, my clawed fingers unfurling toward her as wisps of darkness whipped around my hand.

“Come to me,” I rasped the words with a growl.

She surprised me by quickly accepting my offer and curling against me. The rational part of my brain twinged that I’d finally done the right thing. At least for now.

I swept her into my arms, and she wrapped her arms around my neck just as the booming sound of another approaching Gazen made itself known.

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