How will he find me now? He said he was close...will he give up? Will I ever feel his lips on mine for real like I did in that dream place we met? Only time will tell, but right now I have more to deal with than missing my monsters.
I’m trapped in here with one, after all.
“Minotaur,” I call out, my voice steady. He hasn’t hurt me yet and I’m tired of being afraid. I’ve faced down too much to let it take hold of me. Instead, I’m steady...and curious. Like when I met Nos.
A rumble comes from the corner where even my eyes can’t pierce the black veil surrounding it.
“Hello?” I try again, and this time a louder rumble sounds from the dark.
I slump, almost giving up, but then it moves. Not it, him. Too fast for me to track, he breaks free of the shadows. Towering above me is a monster from my childhood storybooks. Horns protrude from his head, a golden nose ring hangs from his snout, and his legs are splayed and end in hooves. A tail whips the ground behind him. His fur is dark, almost black, and intersected with old scars. He’s huge, almost touching the top of our cell, his body wide and big like, well...a bull. He’s what nightmares are made of, yet I’m not scared. No, something else starts within me, a tug low in my belly, pulling me to him.
Calling me.
I stare at him and he stares right back, his eyes flicking almost red like flames as he takes me in. He moves again, so quickly he becomes a blur, and then he’s so close I can smell him...like fire and ash. He smells delicious.
Getting to my feet, I realise my head barely reaches his chest, and I have to tilt my chin back to meet his eyes, a smile playing around my lips. I’ve met enough monsters now to know this one is something powerful...something special.
“Are you afraid of the dark, Draya?” he asks, his voice like the crashing of two rocks, the clang of shields in war. Blood and pain almost wrap around us from his deep, dark timber. I don’t know what draya means, but the way he says it sounds almost like a prayer. He circles me, the slinking of his chains following him as I stand still, letting him. I don’t even move my head. He doesn’t scare me, no...I want him.
Lust blooms through me, covering the dull ache in my stomach, one that started when I was taken from my other mates. It calls to me, cooing for me to reach out. To touch him, to taste that darkness and pain...and the hate buried inside him. Swathed around every fiber of his being. To find out whether the darkness and animal lingering around me is as strong and as powerful as he feels.
“No, I live in the dark,” I reply, and lick my lips. “I was born in the dark. I died in the dark and I was reborn into it. I’m a monster, just like you. No, I don’t fear the dark... I crave it,” I answer honestly, and a breath blows across my neck, making the hair stand on end. I can feel him behind me, almost close enough to touch. Goosebumps rise from the proximity, my breathing speeding up as my heart races.
“Are you afraid of me?” he whispers. The dark rumbling should send fear through me, but instead I shiver in need. His voice is obviously created to inspire fear, but to me it sounds seductive.
A dare.
A challenge.
And if there is one thing I’ve learned about myself since waking up as this new person, it’s that I always rise to a challenge, and nothing or nobody will ever make me feel weak, like prey, again.
Because I’m not, I’m as much of a predator as this creature. Just in a smaller package. I turn to face him then and move closer until we’re touching. He sucks in a breath, smoke curling from his muzzle to me, but he leans down so his face is almost level with mine.
“If you wanted to play who is the biggest monster, you only had to ask, beast man.” Standing on my tiptoes, I dart my tongue out and lick his nose ring. “I will gladly play.”
My dragon takes over and I let him.
I feel the echo of my mate’s pain, her scream in my head covering the distance between us through our bond, and