Page 32 of Monster's Obsession

In front of the castle gates, a crowd was protesting, calling for an explanation, wanting us punished for starving them. Guards held them at bay for now, but for how long?

I could feel a thin layer of the feeding energy I’d generated with her. I’d drawn it inside of me. Except…normally after sex, our power rippled thickly in the air, and now it was barely enough to keep people from dying.

It did my head in because it made no damn sense.

The hours we’d spent fucking, her orgasms alone, should have fed the entire city two times over. So, what in the world was going on?

Smoke rose across the city in the distance where the Wyld residents were burning buildings in protest over the past day. My army was dealing with them, but my stomach hardened with worry that nothing I did was enough.

I’d been struggling with keeping them well-fed since we lost our queen, but I honestly believed we had a solution with Blake. For a while there, the energy we supplied had been bountiful, but then overnight it seemed to have faded.

I gripped the railing of the balcony, my knuckles turning white as my thoughts tumbled over one another. My heart broke to hear the cries from my people. I felt fucking useless.

Someone had done something to block the energy. That was the only explanation I had.

It seemed to start after a certain unexpected asshole returned to Wyld. I didn’t believe in coincidences, and I sure as fuck wasn’t going to let him get away with it. He’d killed our queen, attempting to starve us back then, so it wasn’t a stretch to assume he was back to finish us off.

I twisted around, fury on my mind as Ash and Seven appeared, both in human form and looking disgruntled.

“It’s not working,” Ash pointed out the obvious. “It was barely a taste, let alone to satisfy the people. How long before they revolt by storming into the castle, demanding our heads?”

Seven stood there, wearing all black as normal, saying nothing. He’d been distant lately, which was unlike him, but with every muscle in my body coiled with stress, I had to focus on our major problem first.

“I suspect Steele's responsible,” I stated, already marching back inside and heading to the elevator.

Ash and Seven followed on my heels.

“Then we kill him,” Seven murmured without hesitation. “He’s killed our queen, and he’s back to do it again? Fuck that. He needs to die.” His words echoed off the walls, mimicking my own thoughts.

Inside the elevator, I growled, “Prison.” We started descending, and I turned to my men. Ash said nothing, but his brow furrowed, and rage ignited behind Seven’s gaze.

“It adds up,” I stated. “He came back for Blake, hating that we claimed her every night for years, while he tried to steal her back on earth. What better way to achieve this than distract us with the city going into total bedlam.”

Fury thickened in the elevator, but I could still smell the sugary sweet scent of Blake’s slick, fogging my head to a state of utter madness. I was desperate to fix what the fuck was going on because I wasn’t giving her up, now or ever.

Once we reached the basement, we stormed into the underground tunnels.

Heat poured upward from the stone floor, as we had built the dungeon as low to the lava pit as possible to ensure our enemies suffered. Each breath stung my nose and dried the back of my throat.

Darkness rose around us as we left behind the lights. Down here, there was nothing but shadows.

We passed a single lit torch cradled in a metal basket on the wall, and Seven snatched it, carving through the dark with it. The heavy stench of sulfur deepened, and sweat trickled down my back, bubbling across my forehead from the heat alone.

Thick chains hung off the walls, bugs scuttling out of our way

It was unbearable at the best of times, but today, it felt oppressive.

The light from the torch stole the darkness, revealing a cell built into the wall, and inside, Steele hung from the ceiling by chains around his wrists. Seven set the torch in a metal basket near the cell.

The floor trembled, and I glanced over to a monstrous beast, round as ten barrels, over eight feet tall, with four arms, each grasping an ax, and a plaited beard that reached halfway down his belly.

“My king,” he rasped, his voice darkening. “I wasn’t expecting you today.”

“Neither was I,” I answered truthfully, prepared to leave the fucker down here for as long as possible. “Open the door,” I commanded.

He gave a slight bow of his head, drew out an oversized skeleton key, and unlocked the door. Then he retreated into the shadows, watching just in case Steele broke free. Not that he’d get past the three of us.

My boot kicked the door open right as a creature with three horns the size of my fist scurried across the floor in front of us.

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