Chapter 27 Run
Run
Bolting out the door into the night, the cold air hits my lungs and body like a bucket of ice water, stealing my breath even. My heart pounds in my ears in time to my pace as I sprint unevenly across snow in shoes that aren’t properly tied.
Panic floods my veins. As I race through the quiet streets, I realize I’ve lost before I ever started. There is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide from my monster.
"I'm coming for you, Evie." His voice is a husky growl that echoes in my ears. His words send shivers down my spine. They’re laced with a dark, sensual promise—a predatory claim.
He’s toying with me before he ends me.
Whoever that is, it’s not my Shadow. This is a different monster, and one I’ve never met before.
"Run, run, run little monster, you’ll only taste sweeter when I catch you," he taunts. I feel his presence encroach on me as he closes the distance with hungry grunts and growls.
My legs pump harder, propelling me forward. He's faster, stronger, a predator designed for this very chase. The thought that this pursuit might be heightening his enjoyment sends a thrill of terror mixed with a strange, dark excitement through me.
"You smell so good, Evie. Will I devour you whole? Or take you in pieces?"
I realize with a sinking heart that running has incited the hunter within him. The monster that cares for me thought he was saving me by giving me a head start, but I know now this chase is only intensifying his desire to catch me.
I am his prey, and he is relishing the chase.
Of course I’m still prey. I’m still weak, still human. Still nothing but a bleeding heart in a monster’s world.
I turn a corner sharply, my breath ragged, my chest burning.
The streets are empty, the city asleep, oblivious to the nightmare unfolding in its midst. My only thought is to lead him away from others, away from potential harm.
I may not survive, but I can get him away from other people.
If I were to run into a crowd, who knows how his hunger will lash out with so many beating hearts in reach. I can't let him hurt anyone else.
"You are mine."
His words, so possessive and filled with hunger, terrify me.
But for a girl who has been unwanted her entire life, his words and pursuit reaches a tiny fist down into my chest where it grips me in a way I’ve always needed. The danger is real, but so is the underlying current of desire, a connection that binds us beyond the physical chase.
Am I so pathetic that I would prefer being devoured by a creature fixated on me, rather than living and being ignored by all of humanity?
Unfortunately, there is no time to yet again go over how much therapy I can’t afford right now.
My foot catches on an uneven patch of pavement and I stumble, falling hard onto the icy ground. Pain lances through my knee as I scrape against the concrete and shred the fabric of my jeans. I ignore the sharp sting as I scramble to my feet. I've lost precious seconds.
He is almost upon me now, the press of his shadows at my back.
I can almost feel his breath on my neck, the heat of his monstrous form bearing down on me.
Adrenaline courses through me and I push my body to its limits, but it's not enough.
Nails of pain drive through my lungs, keeping them from getting enough oxygen.
I dart through an alley, my heart pounding. The sweat pouring off me instantly cools as soon as it hits the air.
As I emerge into the open expanse of the park, my lungs burn with exertion and my knee throbs with pain. The trees looming over me are unmoved by the twisted game of cat and mouse I’m about to lose. I glance back and see him, the dark figure gaining on me.
"There's nowhere to hide, Evie," he calls out, his voice a blend of dark desire and imminent threat. "I will catch you. I will have you, my little monster."
His words are a terrifying affirmation of my fate. I am his.
I’m slammed face forward onto the snowy ground of the park. Clothes and skin rip on the hard unforgiving terrain. The pain of the impact is secondary to my desperation to get up.
My fingers dig in the ice and dead grass as I try to scramble away, but with a swift yank, I’m overpowered. My short nails score the earth as I'm dragged across the dirt. A yelp of surprise and fear escapes me, but I don’t mean to draw the attention of anyone.
No one can help me. If anyone tries, they’ll likely die too. So I dig my teeth into my lower lip.
In a blink, I find myself on my back, the breath knocked out of me, staring up at my captor.
Shadow hovers over me, his form massive and terrifying in the moonlight. Eyes, coal black and feral, lock onto mine with a predatory intensity. His body pins me so there is no hope of getting away.
"You're mine, Evie," he whispers harshly, his breath hot against my cheek. He inhales deeply as if smelling the most heavenly of scents before his hand grips around my throat, squeezing a squeak out of me.
Still holding me by the neck, his head dips down to my folded-up leg.
He licks at the torn knee that’s exposed to the icy air through my ripped sweatpants.
His tongue is hot as it slides up and down my wound, too much for my sensitive, ravaged skin.
I whimper at the pain even as a rush of endorphins follows hot on its heels.
Shadow shudders in open pleasure, and I can’t help but close my eyes as warmth pools at my center.
I’m about to die, but my desire outweighs my fear.
‘Cause I’m an idiot. A pathetic little idiot who would rather die at the hands of her own personal monster than live a safe and normal life.
My eyes squeeze shut tighter. I deserve this. I deserve to die like this.
"I can smell you, Evie. Even as I’m about to eat your heart, your cunt quivers, begging me to fuck you. Is it dripping, Evie?"
My internal muscles clench and he growls, fangs snapping mere inches from my face.
Shadow makes a strange sound, cursing in a language I don’t understand. "I want to suck all the blood from your body, consume your heart as I fuck you to death."
The words he’s saying are horrifying, but my life has been a horror show and to me it is as sweet as a lover’s poem.
Then he is over me again, drinking me in with his merciless black eyes. The clear night sky expands out behind him, a deep blue in contrast to his utter darkness.
His claws rake down my chest, splitting my sweater and bra.
I cry out as he makes shallow cuts between my breasts.
My blood leaves a hot line down my sternum.
He folds back the cut fabric on either side as if opening double doors to my heart.
The freezing temperatures assault my bared flesh without mercy, causing my nipples to tighten so hard, I groan in pain.
I expect him to slash through my chest, to sink his claws right into me until he wraps his fingers around my heart and yanks it out before consuming it in front of my eyes.
It’s okay. Even if he rips it out, at least it will have been wanted.
"Fuck," he curses in English this time. "Evie, I can’t fucking stop myself."
At first, I thought it was just me shivering in the cold, drenched in adrenaline, fear, and arousal, but Shadow trembles above me. As if he is using every bit of willpower he has not to do the very thing he’s promised to.
"I trust you," I say through shaking teeth.
My hips buck up, and his hardness meets my needy liquid center. Another groan escapes me as I find myself aroused beyond measure, trapped under my monster, about to be literally devoured.
Maybe if I ask nicely, he’ll fuck me like he said, before he rips my heart out?
"It’s yours. It was always yours anyway." He cocks his head slightly, letting me know he doesn’t understand. "My h-heart," I stutter through chattering teeth. "It was always yours."
This isn’t healthy. This is a toxic, depraved monster romance that is built on blood, bone and perversion. But I’m done pretending it’s not what I want.
He growls and captures my mouth in his. For a monster, his mouth is so human.
His lips are the perfect combination of form and softness that has them instantly molding against mine.
He moans, his forked tongue sweeping across the lip I ravaged with my teeth, tasting my blood.
His fangs pierce into them next, causing the metallic taste to intensify in our kisses.
He claims my mouth the way he grabbed and pulled my body to him.
With utter dominance and single-minded obsession.
Growls of either hunger or arousal punctuate the night around us.
When he breaks away, he roars as if in agony. A monster crossing the point of no return.
"I've always been drawn to you," he growls. "Obsessed with you. I can't help myself. I need to consume you, to make you a part of me."
I lie there under him, my body aching, my heart racing with a mixture of fear and a dangerous fascination. I want it. I want all of this. His desire, his obsession. I could cry from relief that it’s not just me.
"It’s okay," I assure him.
I only regret that I won’t be around after to comfort him when he comes to his senses.
Then his tongue laves over the scratches up the center of my chest. I don’t know when he released my throat, but I'm able to throw my head back and moan as my hips buck into him.
My hands grip his shoulders. He rubs his hardness into my sweatpants, creating friction right at my clit.
I gasp at the hot rush of pleasure as my need triples.
He switches to the other breast, leaving the first to cool at a painful temp. Fangs cut through my skin this time even as he sucks at my straining tip.
Holy shit, he really is going to fuck me before he kills me. Or as he kills me.
Then his hand is on my sweatpants. He rips them down, panties and all, his claws scratching my skin again, leaving a fiery burn in their wake. I bite my fingers to keep from screaming in pain and pleasure.
"Mine."
Under my frozen skin, my blood runs hot as lava.
His hand finds my sex, and I mewl as he pushes a clawed digit into me. I can’t understand how he isn’t tearing me up from the inside with his talons, but the question flees as his thumb slides over my clit. I jerk at the sharp tug of pleasure.
"Oh, fuck," I moan. I press myself into his hand. I’m bared before him, torn and vulnerable.
Even the blood dripping down my chest isn’t enough to distract from the pleasure of his hand. A second clawed finger joins the first, stretching me almost past my limit. I squawk in protest at the tight burn, but he doesn’t stop.
I drag my eyes open to see the moonlit sky above me. The stars barely wink behind his form. I can see every curve, every indent of his muscles. The absence of his shadows makes him more monstrous and more surreal.
My last moments might be my best.
He pulls out to lick and suckle my wetness off his fingers.
"So wet," he articulates each word as if it were the sharp edge of a piece of glass. "So soft. So delicious."
"Please," I beg. I shouldn’t say that. It abounds like I’m begging for death, but I’m molten at my core and it’s hard to think. Pain, fear, and pleasure are all melting into a hot blur.
Then something large and bumpy pushes at my lower lips.
I barely have time to react to what’s happening, but I don’t need to. I just need to surrender to Shadow and a death I could never regret. A death that was always mine.