Cruel Devotion (Monsters of Darkness #1)

Woods

With each step, a sickening squelching sound followed us down the hall. A lamp lay blinking on the ground and claw marks ran over furniture. Blood splattered the walls, and there was a sign of a struggle. I felt a sick sense of relief as we stepped over my father’s severed arm. His hand still held tight to the shotgun. Red soaked the floors. The monster had been walking in his blood. He hadn’t been much of a parent. Never validated my feelings, decided my future for me, and planned to use me to fill his already deep pockets. But he was my dad. Seeing his lifeless body sprawled across the floor not far from my bedroom meant he’d come for me. And now he was dead. Guilt filled me. At being thankful it had been him and not Archie.

The monster didn’t stop to let me grieve, and I watched until my father was out of view. There was no sign of his mistress, but just like she didn’t care about our family, I didn’t care about her. The living room came into view, and I searched it for my mom. This was the last place I’d seen her. She’d called out to me and I ignored her. The room tilted when I found her. Half her face was missing and I couldn’t look away from her unseeing eye. Bile filled my mouth and I retched before emptying my stomach. Her body was a mangled mess only feet away from where her head lay. Her perfect living room was now stained with her blood.

The same mouth that did that had been inside me.

Disgust and pure horror rendered me speechless. He kicked the door right off its hinges and she disappeared as he lurched forward. But I knew the memory would haunt me for the rest of my life. The wind whirled around us, but I barely felt the cold as a surge of adrenaline shot through me. I yanked, pinched and twisted his ears, and slammed my fists into his back. Useless, but it was all I could do. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I thought the worst.

Did he make it quick?

Or had my brother suffered?

“Damn you! I hope your balls explode and your cocks fall off. If I don’t kill you first, I pray whoever is watching damns your soul, and you rot for an eternity. You’ll regret letting me live instead of killing me!” I screamed as we entered the woods.

“Wait, I can’t go in there.” A new panic filled me. If he was real, so were the stories. He ignored me.

“Please. Humans go in but can’t come out.” While that’s probably because the monsters don’t leave their victims alive, it could also be that the barrier keeps us out. The monster chuckled. Actually chuckled.

“Nothing about this situation is funny,” I spat.

Still, he ignored me. My surroundings blurred as we slammed into and pushed through an invisible wall. Nausea hit me but he kept on like it was nothing.

“The boy, did you kill the little boy? He was in the room next to mine,” I whispered. The wind tossed my hair, but I knew he heard me with his wolfish ears.

“Please,” I begged. The monster chuffed.

“As long as they stay out of my way, I don’t kill children.” I didn’t care if he was offended. He killed my family.

“And did he?” I held my breath as I waited for his answer. When he nodded, I felt it against my side. His large furry head bobbed once. A sob of relief wracked my body and I choked on tears as the weight pushing down on my chest lifted. When I saw what he’d done to my parents, I was sure there was no way he could have survived.

Archie was alive.

“I can’t leave him there alone. If yo—”

“Is this the part where you beg me to free you?” the monster growled. His question was almost human. Up to this point he’d given short answers that seemed to be broken and strung together.

Of course I want to get away from you.

“No. I just want to make sure he’s okay. If you could just let m—” He snarled at my words.

“I’m no fool. We aren’t turning around.”

I should be afraid of scaring the monster who could tear me to shreds. But now that I knew Archie was alive, all I felt was anger. Our parents were dead and I was abandoning him. He wouldn’t understand that I was kidnapped. He’d wake up and find what no child should see. Tears filled my eyes as I thought of him calling out for me. He’d be traumatized and alone. And I would become another person in his life who didn’t take care of him.

“Let me go. My fiance has connections to the other side. Once he finds out what happened, everyone will know it was the paranormal realm. He’ll come for me. He’ll make you pay,” I threatened. I was lying through my teeth but if Cohen’s family had connections to his realm, maybe this would scare him.

“No.” One word was all I got. He feared nothing. As the monster threw his head back and laughed, I couldn’t stand it.

I need to get the hell away from him.

He has to have a weak spot.

And I am going to find it.

I scratched, tore, and ripped hair. Digging my nails into his neck, I finally got a reaction out of him. He cried out. His hold loosened, and I rolled off him, throwing myself to the ground. I hit it running and didn’t bother glancing back at him. He’d come after me. I didn’t make it five feet before a flash of black fur materialized in front of me. Slamming into his abdomen face first, he caught me as I stumbled back. I trembled in his grasp as he leaned down. His blood soaked fur was matted and stiff, dark in patches where it had dried. The coppery scent hit my nose as I stared into the face of a monster.

“You’re lucky I’ve fed, or I would have hunted you.”

The warning was clear and I shivered. I’d seen what he was capable of. That one word is popular in the book community. But it was actually fucking scary knowing my life was on the line.

I don’t want to be hunted by him.

“I can’t leave him. You don’t understand. He’s my baby brother,” I begged.

Something like understanding flashed in his eyes.

“Legends and stories originate from truth. Only pure virgins were sent to the forest. And I’m no virgin.”

My body flew back as I was thrown to the ground. I cried out as he flipped me around, face down in the grass. A monstrous paw pinned me down by the neck. My flailing confined by his large, heavy body as it pressed down on me.

“What did you say?” His jaws snapped by my ear. I was scared out of my mind. One bite and I’d die.

“I’m not a virgin.”

He threw his head back and howled. The trees shook as birds scattered. Monster or man, they were all the same—dramatic when it came to women not being pure. Entitlement didn’t discriminate between species. It was one of life’s greatest disappointments.

As if they had a right to it. As if I was his to claim. His snout pressed against my back, his forehead pushing into my head. The only sound in the woods was his heavy breathing.

“I’m the reason the stupid legend exists. There is no spell on the forest, no black storm that will swoop in and crunch your bones to dust. I am the nightmare humans fear. The reason they lock their doors and hide their daughters.”

“I don’t—”

“Silence. You were to remain pure!” he roared.

The feminine urge to tell him I didn’t have to do anything was on the top of my tongue. But survival came first—I had to get back to Archie. A sharp tearing sound cut through the air as what was left of my shorts fell away. Panic pricked my chest, the realization hitting hard: survival wasn’t the issue anymore.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing? Get off!” I screeched. His hot breath fanned my exposed back. I fought as he gripped my backside with his free hand. Attempting to land a blow, I kicked my feet back, but knees pinned them down.

“Claiming what’s mine,” he snarled as he mounted me.

“I don’t belong to anyone!” I yelled, grunting as I fought to break free of the hand on my neck.

“You gave away what’s mine. This hole is mine. You. Are. Mine.”

I haven’t been with anyone in awhile.

This can’t be happening.

Dirt clumped beneath my nails as I clawed at the ground. I jerked my hips and thighs. Twisting, turning, doing everything I could to break free.

“No, no, no,” I wheezed. He spread my cheeks with claws and I stilled as they pricked me. Whimpering when I felt one wet tip pressed against my sex.

“Fuck yo-ah!” He speared me.

My eyes rolled into the back of my head as my body tightened from the intrusion. My jaw fell as he hit places that no man has ever been able to reach. I rubbed my face into the earth as he stretched me as wide as possible and then more. I whimpered when he withdrew, only to slam into me so hard my body thrust forward, but with his weight holding me down, I had nowhere to go. Something round and hard pushed against me. Wetness seeped down my thighs.

Rushed thrusts crossed my eyes. Fur brushed my back as he leaned down. I cried in agony as his teeth pierced my shoulder, back, and neck. Every bite felt like thick needles stabbing me repeatedly. Blood ran and drenched my flimsy cami.

“You’ll take me. Every inch as I paint your walls so everyone knows you are mine. You will take it and say, yes, my king.” I shook my head, and he snapped his jaws so close the rush of air brushed my face.

“Be good for me or I’ll have to finish off the rest of your family.”

My body fell slack at his words. I screamed out in pain and anger as he pulled out of me and speared into me over and over again. The bulge hitting me with each thrust of his hips. Saliva rolled down my lips and chin as he plowed deep. There’s nothing for me to do but take it. The sound of his balls slapping against me echoed in the woods. Pleasure started building low in my belly and I hated how my body responded. I was pushed off the edge and clenched around him as I came.

“That’s right. Squeeze my cock like a good little whore.”

Shame and guilt washed over me as my body twitched around him. But he didn’t stop. He slammed into me as I spasmed. Growling, snarling, snapping as he chased it, my body sliding back and forth beneath his.

“Take my knot,” he panted as he thrust once, twice, three times, and I realized what he was doing. He’s trying to push the bulge inside. Moaning as he finally did briefly. Then he pulled out of me. Warmth dripped from my pussy. He released my neck as splash after splash hit my back. I tensed, assuming it’d sting, but sighed when the warmth hit my cuts. It was soothing, and before I could thank the gods, a monstrous claw grabbed my ankle.

And this time I didn’t fight as I was dragged deeper into the woods.