Chapter Four
I’m frustrated that I want to save the creature in the car that decided to swerve off the road instead of hitting me.
Humans.
I can’t believe I used to be one. She was going the speed limit—like a responsible adult—and taking too long to get home, so I decided to stop her. If she had risked my life, hit me, and driven away, none of this would have happened. I wouldn’t have to save her life from ceasing to exist.
That bothers me.
I don’t give a shit about anyone else. Why do I give a fuck about her? Even angry, I can’t stop myself from being curious. I lower her vehicle to the ground as gently as I can.
When she was in the alley and Lula was close enough for her scent to spread across my taste buds for me to taste, every beast gripped onto my skeleton like prison bars, shaking to be set free.
Mark her.
Claim her.
Fuck her.
Kill her.
Bring her back to life.
Mine. Mine. Mine.
It’s all that I could hear.
Curious, I drop to all fours and walk to the side of the car, where I smell her scent drowning the air I breathe in.
She’s bleeding.
Forgetting my own strength, I rip the driver’s side door from the hinges and throw the metal into the woods. The glass belonging to the window shatters when the door crashes into a nearby tree.
I stare at her unconscious form, tilting my head left to right as I examine this creature.
“You know what I find interesting about you, Little Dream?” I drag my claw across her face, leaving a slight scratch as I tuck her long, dark, wavy hair behind her ear.
She’s so beautiful. Too beautiful for a world that’s so dark. I dislike that I’m drawn to her light.
It annoys me.
She has a small nose that slightly curves at the tip. Her lashes are thick and curl so much that they almost reach her eyebrows. Lula’s cheekbones are high with a defined jaw.
I rub my claw across the plump clouds of her lips, my cock stirring behind the anglerfish teeth. My eyes drift down her body, her clothes still soaked and forming to her every curve.
“You are delectable, aren’t you?” I growl, licking the edge of my teeth when my claw rips a button from her blouse. Her cleavage shows, tempting me to do more than stare. “You are beautiful. I never thought I’d find anything beautiful again besides death.”
Leaning closer, I inhale her, allowing the aroma naturally pouring from her into my body. Underneath the citrus warmth of her unconscious, something else lingers. It’s the same scent from the alley, and I remember it surprising me.
“You were so afraid, Lula, and yet while you searched for me in the night, you were aroused. By the smell of it,” I inhale again, “You still are. What am I supposed to do with you now? You’re out here, in the open, vulnerable, and for the taking.
” I lean in closer, my tongue flattening against her cheek, then lick up to her forehead to gather the blood dripping from the cut on her temple.
The anglerfish’s mouth opens, my cock hardening from how good she tastes.
“You taste better than fear, Little Dream.” I haven’t been able to stomach anything except the singular drop of blood from Lula that I just stole.
My hunger has been slightly curbed, but I need more.
I need so. much. more.
“I’m so hungry for you, Lula. You’ve been haunting me for days, taking my attention away from the matter at hand, and that isn’t fair to me.
You have interrupted my plans. I’m angry at you for that because I don’t understand why I seem to want you more than the destruction I want to cause,” I growl, wanting her to hear in her subconscious just how much she annoys me.
“You captivate me too.” My gaze falls to her breasts, the lace edges of her bra showing from where a button plucked free.
My mouth waters, wondering what she’s hiding under all those clothes. Her white blouse is sheer from how wet she is from the rain. I’m able to see the deep olive of her skin peeking through the damp material.
Temptation to strip her bare and see how much she can take has seeded itself in my mind.
“Hey, what’s going on over here?”
A deep snarl vibrates in my throat, the nightmare singing to enter the intruder’s head.
“I’ll be back, Lula.” I lick the wound on her head again, wanting more blood, humming in approval from how delightful she tastes.
“Don’t even think about going anywhere,” I whisper into her ear.
“Lula-lala-la-la-la.” I can’t help but sing, needing her to know how haunted she is going to be for the rest of her life.
A light bounces off the side of the car until it lands on me, the hulking form curling over a woman’s body.
Mate.
Mine.
Beloved.
The three words are thundering in my thoughts, shouting into the void of my heart.
“Holy shit. The Devil has come,” the stranger’s voice shakes, the light becoming erratic as it lands on me.
I look over my shoulder, smirking at the man who has no idea that he is about to die. If he hadn’t been a good person to stop and check on a sweet, innocent woman who was unconscious in the car, his death could have been prevented.
The rain is steady, the flashlight capturing how hard the drops are falling from the onyx clouds.
I stand to my natural height, towering over the small human who calls himself a man. He tilts his head all the way back, mouth open in shock, and the flashlight points up to my face.
He drops the flashlight, the hard plastic clattering to the ground. The bulb bursts, casting us in the night with the hiss of rain.
A dark chuckle escapes as I watch him tremble in fear. He surprises me, though. I expect him to remain frozen in place, like most do when they see me. He backs away, then steps to the side to round the front of his car.
“I won’t…say…a word,” he stammers, his teeth clattering together. “Your secret is safe with me.” He opens the driver’s side door and slips inside.
The windshield wipers squeak from left to right.
He doesn’t even shut the door before he slams on the gas.
The tires spin against the wet pavement, smoke billowing from his back tires.
In four large strides, I’m behind the vehicle and grip the bumper with one hand, lifting the backend off the ground.
His eyes meet mine in the rearview mirror, the rain unable to drown the scent of his fear. Lifting the car into the air completely, he screams at the top of his lungs, and I swing the car over my head as if it were a baseball bat, then slam it onto the ground.
The road cracks from the force, and large chunks fly into the air, making the road impossible to drive on. His head smashes against the steering wheel, causing the horn to blare through the night.
I walk around the car, punch through the driver’s side window. The glass tries to cut into me, but the tough hide of my rhino skin prevents it. Gripping him by the back of the neck, I yank him outside, dragging his face along the broken, jagged edge of the window.
He screams, his fear an unexpected, tasty treat, and yet his scent doesn’t even compare to Lula’s. While his is bitter and sharp, hers is sweet and smooth—a dessert that’s a guilty pleasure.
“Please,” he begs, bloody drool dripping from his mouth. “Please, don’t. Please. I’ll leave you alone. I won’t say anything. I won’t tell anyone. I promise. I swear. No one will believe me anyway.”
I smell his truth. He isn’t lying.
But I don’t care.
His good-intentioned soul means nothing to me.
I lift him by his throat, his feet dangling off the ground. His eyes are level with mine. Shards of glass are embedded in the right side of his face. Blood drips, flowing down his jaw onto my hand.
Before I smelled Lula’s blood, I would have drunk him dry. No blood would have gone to waste. Now, I curl my lip in disgust. The only red nectar I want belongs to the lovely little dream in the other vehicle.
“You’ve interrupted me with my mate. That is unforgivable. She is mine. No one interrupts me with what is mine.” I take my other hand and dig my claws into his lower back, igniting loud cries of help from him.
Roots grow over my body, then stretch across to his chest, slithering up his face. Nightshade berries bloom, forcing him to inhale the poison on his next breath.
His body becomes deadweight, but his eyes remain alive, round and wild.
“What do you fear the most?” I tilt my head, wanting nothing more than to turn his sweetest fantasies into a nightmare that would kill him.
A whimper sounds, but it doesn’t come from the man in my grasp. I turn my head, listening to Lula’s breathing to make sure she’s still unconscious.
She settles a few seconds later, the whimpering easing to silence.
“I don’t have time to play with you like I want,” I sneer, the roots swirling around his neck to replace my hand.
He gurgles something, but I don’t care enough to figure out the words. His face is red, the blood trapped in his face from how tightly the roots are squeezing him.
If I had a camera, I’d take a picture so I could remember this moment forever.
My claws dig into his lower back, and I rip the skin, tearing it in half. I bury my hand inside and wrap it around his spine, the bones having no clue they are about to be pulled from their home.
He is still attempting to yell, but only a mouse could hear the small, little yips escaping him.
“Wrong place. Wrong time. That’s all.” A fresh new wave of fear feeds me. “It will be over before you know it.” I flex my claws into the side of his face and drag them down, ripping his flesh open so much, I can see his molars and jawbone.
“La-lala-la-la-laaa.”
“Ignore that.” The nightmare emerges from me, stretching over me, which has this stranger peer up to the black, ominous clouds.
“He’s hungry for more of your terror.” I lean in, brushing my lips against his cheek as I speak.
“But your terror isn’t good enough for me.
” My eyes slide to Lula’s car. “My standards have changed.”