Page 19 of Unwanted
Monnie never looked away from Fen. “I don’t recommend zapping out of here. All it takes is one more little squeeze, and he’s gone.”
Fen tried rushing toward Kyrie. He froze in his tracks as if hitting an invisible wall.
Monnie clicked his tongue and shook his head. “There’ll be none of that. I don’t see why the three of us can’t work this out.”
“Release my mate.” Fen growled the words between clenched teeth, looking more furious than Kyrie had ever seen him.
The pressure released from his body. Kyrie wanted it back the moment Monnie opened his mouth.
“Mate? You think this mutt right here is your mate?” A cruel smile twisted Monnie’s lips. “Oh, yeah.” He waved his hand and Kyrie’s mating marks disappeared. “I forgot. There’s no need for those any longer. One of my favorite tricks, if I might add.”
Fen looked confused and enraged as fuck.
Go, Fen! Right now. Don’t look back.
Monnie’s vile gaze locked on Kyrie. A demonic-sounding chuckle filled the air. “He can’t hear you. You’re not real mates. You know this. It was part of our plan.”
Tears flowed freely from Kyrie’s eyes, mixing with the blood that wouldn’t stop flowing. This was worse than death. Kyrie should have accepted that fate long before Fen got hurt. His only excuse was he was a coward.
“What’s going on? Seriously, what is happening right now?”
Fen’s anger, hurt and confusion were choking him. Even with Monnie stealing his powers, Kyrie felt the way Fen didn’t know what to do. He swallowed past the lump in his throat. “Go.Please go.” His voice cracked hard, but there was no way Fen didn’t hear.
The squeezing pain returned. “You’ll have only his corpse if you try.”
A cry tore from Kyrie. The taste of blood felt permanent, but he refused to look away from Fen. “Remember what I said about dreams. You have to go.” This was as real as it got. Fen wasn’t dreaming, but he needed Fen to believe and leave him behind. A final lie to save Fen from a million others, Kyrie had told. “Go.” It was barely a whisper, but it worked. Fen vanished.
The angry roar Monnie released made Kyrie smile.
“Bring him back!”
Kyrie coughed. More blood filled his mouth. His broken bones shifted, nearly knocking him unconscious from the pain, but he wouldn’t give Monnie the satisfaction of winning. “I can’t.” Kyrie laughed. It barely came out as a chuckle and gargled with blood. “You took away my mating marks. He is Celeste’s now.” He wished like hell there was enough room for him to lie down. His head swam and death’s rattle vibrated in his throat.
The way Monnie stormed toward the cage said everything. Kyrie knew he was dead, but he would die knowing he was brave in the end. Better than late than never, he supposed. There were worse fates.
Chapter Ten
TearsblurredKyrie’svision.The pain of having his bones crushed combined with having Fen ripped away from him broke him. It was never ending. He prayed for death. Kyrie should have known Monnie would keep him trapped on the edge, refusing to let him die. Each time Kyrie thought he reached the end, Monnie healed him just enough to start all over again. His mind flitted from one painful event to another. Every life-shattering moment he suffered could have been avoided if Kyrie had been braver. All of this was because he was weak. When he had realized he could escape his life in dreams, the relief had been massive. No way could he have seen this end. Loneliness was a hell of a thing. It drove desperate people to do desperate things. When he had met Monnie, it had been so fucking nice to have his attention. They had spent ages talking. How could he have known Monnie had only sought to know more about Yuri? Yuri was a wolf from town mated to a hellhound. Not just any hellhound, butthehellhound—Lucifer’s pet. There was nothing Monnie wanted more in the world than to destroy Lucifer. Hewould go through whoever it took to get to him, but Celeste was a problem. Monnie needed someone free to move between worlds unnoticed. Kyrie would say he was damn unlucky to have Monnie choose him. Unfortunately, it was no accident. He had been groomed for this day.
At first, things hadn’t seemed that bad. All he had to do was flirt with Yuri—lure him into the woods and get him alone. Kyrie hadn’t known Yuri was already mated. In fact, he hadn’t even known the story of Lucifer. Kyrie had only been doing a favor for his new friend. He hadn’t realized he was a pawn until he failed. Monnie’s fury had been epic. At first, Kyrie had refused to return to Monnie’s domain for a while. He had nearly killed himself by staying awake for days. Then the episodes began.
The moment Monnie realized he could take Kyrie’s soul without alerting any gods, his life had been over. Monnie had tried the same trick with Fen countless times, only to have Celeste snatch Fen away within minutes. More than that, the longer he tried, the shorter he had him. That game lured Monnie into a new obsession: Fen. Just as it had been with Lucifer, his crazed fixation had never been about love. It was about alleviating the boredom of an endless existence—one he spent in the dreaming, banned—every bit as much as Lucifer had been—from the heavens he used to call home
Not only did Celeste keep him on his toes, constantly forcing him to become more and more creative to see his obsession, somehow Fen resisted him too. No one turned down Monnie’s blood and bed while also shaking off his mind control. It was terrifying the lengths Monnie would go to when he wanted something. Nothing was too convoluted or too far. All it hadtaken was a chance meeting between Kyrie and Fen for Monnie to see a new path: Kyrie.
Kyrie swallowed past the sharp shards of cartilage in his throat. The tears kept flowing. Monnie had sworn once Fen’s soul belonged to Kyrie, he would set Kyrie free. After all, he had gotten bored with Kyrie a long time ago. Monnie would create the illusion of mating marks and manipulate Fen’s emotions. All Kyrie had to do was make Fen actually love him, stealing him from Celeste’s sight. Kyrie would snort if he had the ability any longer. The bargain had seemed like a zero-risk venture on his part. No one ever loved him. The theory of his soul passing to Kyrie with his love and devotion seemed weak to him. With months passing, and no Monnie in sight, Kyrie had started to believe Monnie had lost interest, and maybe, just maybe, Fen somehow was his real mate. Monnie had stopped stealing away with Kyrie’s soul, and he had stopped taunting Fen with whispered demands to drive him mad. No way could he have known that Fen saying those three little words would be like throwing the final ingredient into a cauldron, sealing their fate.
His chest stuttered with each painful breath.Fen.The tears wouldn’t stop. If Kyrie had been smarter, he would have realized how easily he would fall the moment anyone gave him the smallest attention. He hadn’t known how amazing Fen would be. Kyrie hadn’t known how badly this would hurt. He took another shallow and shaky breath. Kyrie would endure this punishment he had more than earned. Not for Monnie’s enjoyment, but as penance for his betrayal. Then maybe he could pass in peace.
The sound of Monnie’s pacing beat at his brain. The air crackled with power and rage. Kyrie couldn’t even flinch any longer.His torture had turned boring. Now Monnie simply waited. Unfortunately, Kyrie knew for what: for him to heal enough to start all over again. Kyrie kind of wanted to laugh. Physical pain meant nothing anymore. His spirit was broken. He had nothing left to give.
A bright light burst through the room between Monnie and him, temporarily blinding him. The deadly growl that assaulted his ears had Kyrie trying harder to see.
“You dare touch my son! Mine?”
“Freyr. I—”
Monnie’s body lifted from the ground—like he was no more than a child. Kyrie’s vision faded, but not before he heard Monnie’s pained screams along with the wet and popping noises of limbs being ripped away. Everything went black.
