Page 1 of Fated to Monsters

1

Wren

My head throbs with a force that makes my vision blur more than it already was.

I scrape my fingers along the ground, desperate for any indication of my location. The air is cool and fresh as I suck in each gasping lungful, and despite it making no sense at all, gravity itself seems to have changed, too.

I blink once, twice, three times. My chest heaves, matching the same frantic energy as every other ounce of myself.

“Wes!” I call out into the abyss. “Bo!” I pause. “Dash!”

Slowly, I rise to my feet with my hands out.

“Where the fuck am I?” I whisper into the nothingness around me.

So, help me Angels, I will murder Tremont if he betrayed us.

The last thing I remember is holding on for dear life while being shoved into a vacuum of darkness. I’m not certain how much time has passed, or if we all made it out alive, let alone to the same place.

I close my eyes and steady my breath before opening them again. This time, my surroundings come into focus, and the ringing in my ears fades to a dull murmur.

A writhing body draws my attention from a few feet away, and I rush over to it without another thought.

“Wr-Wren, is that you?” Jade squints at me and sits upright. “Where’s—” She glances around and I watch as her eyes widen. If I had to guess the same panic I’m feeling is now coursing through her. “Everest?” She scrambles to her feet. “Where are we?”

Clenching my jaw, I scan the vicinity and try to make an educated guess. But it’s too dark. Too different. Too unfamiliar to state a conclusion.

“I don’t know.” I swallow harshly and beg the Angels help me locate any of the men we came here with.

“There.” Jade points ahead and takes off toward another lump of a person littered in this desolate forest.

I run past her and skid to a halt beside the body. Gripping the collars of his shirt, I shake him harder than I probably should. “What the fuck have you done?”

Tremont snaps his gaze up at me. “It worked.”

Within a split second, I slide a small knife out of my waistband and press it to his throat. “Where are they? Tell me what you did to them or I’ll gut you right here and now.”

He wiggles under my grasp but it’s no use, not when I’ve already made up my mind.

“You have five fucking seconds…four…” I push the blade deeper into his skin without fully penetrating the soft flesh.

Jade reaches for my shoulder, but I shrug her off.

“Where are they?” I yell at him. “Where arewe?”

A sly grin eases its way across his face.

“Arthlia.” But it isn’t Tremont’s voice, instead, it’s that of my fated mate.

My sights dart from the man I was poised to kill and up at the man who appears from the shadows ahead.

“Wes.” His name is barely a whisper lingering on my lips. I drop Tremont with a thud, and rise to my feet once again, rushing over to throw my arms around Wes.

His strong grip catches and drags me toward him. “My girl.” Wes inhales deeply and hugs me tighter. “We did it.”

It’s then that Dash and Bo come into my line of sight behind Wes, and Everest follows up the rear.

“Did I hear you threaten to kill someone, Birdie?” Bo says as he approaches. “Not going to wait for me?”

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