Chapter 14 – Marcus
MARCUS
Well, fuck me. There appears to be one monster in these woods, and for the first time in my life, I’m pretty sure it’s me. Not the crying woman I hit.
I mean, she could be lying. She could be a really good liar.
Most monsters are. But I’ve killed dozens of monsters in my lifetime, males and females, and I’ve never fallen for their tears or pleas before.
I think I’m usually a really good judge of character, and this Medusa…
nothing about her screams that she’s a liar.
“Did she really purposely not turn you guys to stone?” I ask, crossing my arms over my chest.
Harold nods enthusiastically. “And Byron was threatening to… hurt her.” He shoots Byron a look.
The other gargoyle looks like he’s going to be sick.
There’s more going on here. But I just don’t have time to dive into everything this second.
“Fine, until we know what she is or isn’t, we’ll be a little more gentle.” I reluctantly agree.
Forrest shoots me a dirty look. “And no more hitting her.”
“Or using the cuffs to hurt her,” Harold adds.
A second later, Byron says softly. “And we can’t make her go into the temple.”
I’ve never seen them like this before. It’s like… like…
I look at each of them a little more carefully. “Are you guys in love with her?”
My question is met with silence, which says more than their words ever could.
My head feels light for a second. I’m their alpha.
The four us are meant to share a woman. Gargoyles choose their Brotherhood of Stone, knowing how few female gargoyles there are, and how hard it is for us to breed.
Not every brotherhood has an alpha, but I’m without a doubt theirs.
And yet, I’ve never felt on the outskirts of our group before.
But right now I do.
They’ve fallen in love with a woman… a monster we’re supposed to use and kill. And I’ve become their enemy. I'm the voice of reason telling them this is stupid, even if my words don’t say that exactly.
I’m going to have to fix this. After we’ve accomplished what we came here to do.
“We still have to get into the temple,” I tell them. “How do we expect to do that without her?”
“Force our way in,” Byron says with a shrug.
I raise a brow. “So basically unleash a bunch of bloodshed in a goddess’s temple? The goddess of war? Seems like a bad idea to me.”
Byron gives me his stubborn-as-fuck look. “Well, we aren’t sending her in there.”
“Then tell me another solution that won’t end in us all getting cursed or killed.”
“I’ll do it.”
I whirl to see Medusa standing near us. She looks surprisingly small and vulnerable. And the gargoyle in me has an innate need to offer her my protection. But I don’t. Not until I know who we’re dealing with.
“You’re not going in there,” Byron says, and there’s no room for argument when he speaks.
She draws herself up as tall as her tiny frame can manage. “I decide what I can handle, and I can handle it.”
“Medusa,” Harold’s voice is gentle. “You just had a breakdown at the idea of it.”
“I did not!” And there’s some fire in her voice. “I just needed time to wrap my mind around it. You guys sprang it on me!”
“That was not just about being surprised,” Forrest says. His tone is light, but his body language is screaming that he’s upset.
She marches up to us. “So basically, you’re all going to get yourself killed fighting in Athena’s temple rather than have me deal with a little emotional baggage? You guys aren’t being logical.”
For some reason, her words hit me as strange. “You’re our prisoner. If we all get ourselves killed, isn’t that a good thing for you? Why are you volunteering to help us?”
She turns toward me. I wish I could see her eyes beneath the shadows of her sunglasses. But the shades of the tree are too much. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to look a gift horse in the mouth?”
“I like to know the reasons behind a person’s actions,” I tell her.
“I’m sure you would, asshole, but you’re not going to. So decide what you want to do.”
It’s strange how much nothing is going the way I planned.
And I planned everything, down to the smallest detail.
Each of us had a role to play in order to return in time to save our people.
It was a risk assuming that a monster would help us inside this temple, but I’d had plans on how to force her to.
Mostly they were plans involving torturing her until she obeyed.
But I didn’t plan on this place being so upsetting to her. I didn’t know that anyone would care about her feelings, and I never thought a monster would volunteer to help us.
Sending her in feels like a liability. In my mind, I ran through each scenario on how we could get the necklace, like sliding chess pieces into place. We had to trust her. It was the only way any of this would work. Even though I didn’t like it.
“Alright, we send her in.”
All three of the gargoyles speak at once, varying degrees of anger and shock.
I raise a hand. “She can do it. Trust her.”
That silences them for a moment, and then Byron says, very slowly, “What if she breaks down? What if she gets caught?”
We’d abandon her to the goddess’s wrath.
“We’ll cross that bridge if we reach it.”
None of them look happy, but Medusa gives a little nod and spins on her heel toward the temple. “Let’s get this done.”
We follow after her, my gaze sliding between my men and her. This woman, and their relationship, is a puzzle I haven’t yet figured out. But I will figure it out.
Mark my words.
And if she’s using them, playing us, I’ll kill her without hesitation.