Page 68 of Monster's Obsession

Steele seemed to be weighing his options, but finally, he gave a tight nod, slipping out of the bed, not bothering to hide his nakedness.

"We can leave as soon as she's ready."

Creed nodded again, obviously displeased that he was having to take orders from Steele, but it must've been some sort of true mate hierarchy thing, because he disappeared out of the room without another word.

"Come on, baby. Let's get you some clothes. You can clean up once you get back to the castle,” Steele soothed. I gave him a tentative smile and slipped from the bed, allowing him to pull a black silk robe around me.

Wait a minute… "Who's is this?" I asked, venom in my voice. Creed appeared in the doorway again. "Something I got for you," he said cautiously, like I was a feral monster he'd encountered in the wilderness.

The red haze that had begun to descend over my vision slowly flickered away, and I took a deep breath.

"Sorry about that," I said sheepishly, and Creed and Steele exchanged another loaded stare.

"Come on, Pet. The others will be relieved to see you." Creed held out his hand for me, and it kind of felt like a test, like he was really wondering if there was still room for him after my mate bond with Steele

I didn't hesitate though. I grabbed Steele’s hand in one grip, and then I took Creed’s hand in my other. And we both walked out of the room.

As we made our way through the other cavern to the wall I’d first come through, something made me look back. And as I glanced up to the ceiling, I saw a strange, red symbol.

And the pain began again in my head.

CHAPTER 15

ASH

"Where is she?" I growled to Seven, pacing the room as we waited for Creed’s return. Tempest was out scouring the city somewhere. I’d been searching the city as well, but I'd found myself in Blake’s room like a lovesick fool, just hoping she would walk through the door any minute now.

Seven was seated in an armchair by the window, staring out into the ashy landscape of the city.

His face was perfectly placid, like he didn’t have a worry in the world. But I was spiraling.

"Did we do something wrong? Were we too rough with her? Did we scare her away?" My mind was filled with a million different things that we could have done differently. We always had guards around the outside of the castle, and somehow, none of them had seen her leave. I thought about Steele’s continued absence. Did he have something to do with this?

I was a relatively easy-going monster despite my fierce appearance, but losing my obsession, my everything… It was going to push me over the edge.

"How can you be so calm about this?" I snarled at my brother. The whole blasé attitude he had going was too much for me...

"It's probably better that she's gone," he finally said after a long moment, his morose attitude making me want to punch him in his stupid fucking face.

I stomped over to him.

"How can you say that? How can you be such a fucking asshole that you can't see what's right in front of you?”

It was the same argument we’d been having day after day, and I wasn't getting anywhere with it. But for some reason, it seemed imperative that Ididget somewhere. Like the fact that we all weren’t united together in a single-minded purpose to keep Blake with us forever and make her happy beyond her wildest dreams…my brain kept thinking that was why she left. I felt desperate to get my brother to pull his head out of his ass. I knew he'd experienced trauma. Trauma that I couldn't comprehend, and I'd always done my best to be patient with him, to help him, to love his most damaged self.

But Blake wasn't just my salvation. I believed with all of my heart that she was Seven’s salvation as well. And to watch my brother give up on that…well, it was another thing I was having a lot of trouble with. It felt like I wouldn't be allowed to keep her if Seven didn't keep her as well. So it felt necessary to not only his happiness, butmyhappiness as well that he not drive Blake away.

The desperation had messed with my head, and when Seven just huffed, I lost it. I lunged forward and punched him in the face, shocking us both. But when he recovered from the hit, it wasn't Seven who was there, it washim.

I’d actually had a lot more interaction with Seven’s other selves than he knew about. He wasn't always aware when he came to the surface, especially whenhecame to the surface. Although he had never given me his name, I referred to him as George in my head. It made him a little bit less fierce and terrifying. Have you ever met a mean George? I mean, the humans had that one king that they didn't like, but besides that, I thought George was a pretty friendly name.

Hestared at me, a low growl building in his throat, and I made sure to stay perfectly still and not take my eyes from his.

George was a predator through and through, an alpha male that could probably challenge Creed for dominance. The fact that he'd come out when I'd hit him wasn't a good thing. It meant that Seven was breaking more than I was aware of.

Maybe that meant he cared more about Blake than he was letting on.

That was the other fear I had. I feared that Seven would let Blake slip from his grasp, but I also feared that maybe I'd read the whole situation wrong, and that he was so broken he wasn't able to fall in love with her like I had. That to me was worse, because it meant there wasn’t a chance of being able to fix him.

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