God of Monsters (Juniper Unraveling #4) - Keri Lake Page 0,1
A woman ill-equipped to handle Alpha impregnation suffered excruciating pain before death. The only known cure to enable survival of the pregnancy lay deep in the tunnels of Calico and Titus wouldn’t be heading back inside the abandoned facility again. Not after having watched his Alpha brother, Cadmus, succumb to the grotesque mutations kept there.
A part of him had died alongside Cadmus that day. Even now, he still hadn’t forgiven himself for letting his Alpha brother singularly hold the gate that ultimately trapped him. Still suffered the nightmares of his final moments, hearing Cadmus in those agonizing seconds before the nightshade kicked in. Titus had damned God and the heavens for such an excruciating demise.
That day would haunt him all the way to his own grave.
Atticus had made for decent company since then, but the world had become bleaker without the brothers he’d known most of his life.
Reaching around the flame, Atticus handed off one of the rabbits with a shit-eating grin. “Tell me that isn’t the most beautiful piece of meat you’ve ever laid eyes on.”
“One I’ll shove up your ass, if you don’t shut up.” With a frown, Titus bit into the rabbit meat. It was so tender and delicious, he had to school his reaction, or the prick would gloat for a week straight. “Not bad.”
“Not bad. That is the best damn meat you’ve ever had in your mouth. Admit it.”
“If you don’t quit with that shit, I’m going cram this skewer down your throat.”
Atticus chuckled around the meat he set to his mouth, before tearing away another bite. “Relax. A little meat gazing never hurt anyone. Almost time for another run to the hive, don’t you think?” Words garbled by a mouthful of food, he pointed his skewer toward Titus. “Complete isolation isn’t good for the mind. Trust me. I know.” Having been trapped in Calico, alongside Valdys, for months, Atticus had told him a number of times how maddening the darkness of that place could be, at times. How he’d once hallucinated Valdys as a mutation and attacked his fellow Alpha. A death wish, perhaps, considering Valdys was one of the most skilled fighters Titus’d ever met.
Titus missed his brother, but if the stories were true about the place to where they’d ventured after Calico, Valdys had found paradise in an east coast community that was said to mirror Szolen, just without all the corruption.
Titus could’ve joined them there, but he preferred the open desert, the freedom of sleeping beneath the stars and hunting. Living in a community like that felt like living a lie.
“I’m not your shackles,” Titus said. “You’re free to go whenever you like.” If it were up to Titus, he would’ve been perfectly fine being on his own, but the bastard insisted on him tagging along every trip to the hive.
“C’mon, Brother. Tell me the sight of those women in their tight shirts, nipples sticking through the cotton just begging to be bitten …” He ground his teeth for emphasis, and curled his hand into a tight fist. “I could have all of them to myself, and it still wouldn’t be enough.”
“And you’ll have doomed every one of them to a painful death.”
Lowering his hand, Atticus stared into the flame, seemingly thoughtful for a moment. “It’s not that I want that for any woman. But are we supposed to remain celibate for the rest of our lives? Fuck the animals we hunt, like filthy marauders?”
Titus couldn’t answer that. The frustration chipped away at him every day, so much that he feared that he might eventually crack. The insatiable appetite of an Alpha could prove dangerous for a female, if he didn’t reign it in. Hardened skin was all that kept the beast inside of him from ripping through and taking what it craved.
“We should go tonight. Before the rain hits. We’ve got plenty of venison to trade.”
“So I stand out in the pouring rain, while you stow away with a woman for an hour.”
“First, it won’t take an hour. Not if I take the redhead tonight. Second, you’re going to partake, my friend. Or, God help me, I will take a knife to your throat myself.”
Titus groaned into another bite of meat, hiding his appreciation for the savory flavor against his tongue.
Licking the grease from his fingers, Atticus tossed the scarce remains of his dinner into the flames and pulled his knees up. “I won’t take no for an answer.”
“Is it an audience you’re looking for? I’m certain the girl’s father