Desires of a Monster - Roe Horvat Page 0,35

away. His skin looked almost translucent. If I couldn’t heal him, he’d die soon.

The monster howled inside me.

I warmed Rees up and fed him. He barely managed to stay upright during the meal. He slept then for the whole night and most of the day. I spent hours watching him sleep, and my fear only grew. How much time did he have left?

In the afternoon, he finally woke up. A little color had returned to his cheeks, and I was ready to pray to all the imaginary gods when he ate the late lunch I’d brought him, and smiled, his lips pink again. I put the tray away, and he curled up in my arms on the bed.

“Cariad.” His voice held more strength. It was the nature of his illness. Some days were worse, some better, until the good days grew shorter and farther in between…

“Yes, my darling boy?”

“I’m sorry.” He sighed and pressed a gentle kiss to my chest. “I should’ve stayed at home. I only wanted to say hello to Troll, but then I grew tired and couldn’t return.”

“Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault.”

“I’m dying.”

The way he casually said it… He might as well have stabbed me.

Before I could find words to contradict him, he continued. “I know you worry you can’t heal me. Maybe you can’t.”

“Rees—”

“Let me finish. I need you to listen to me, Cariad.” He paused, leveling his gaze at me as if making sure I wouldn’t interrupt him again. I waited. His eyes smoldered, reminding me of his spirited expression from the first day I met him. “I dream about you every night. During the day, I can’t wait for you to come home and let me touch you. I want to make love. I want to know how it feels. Soon, I won’t have the strength anymore. I wish to make love while I can still savor it. I want to feel you inside me.”

From the moment he’d come to me, I had decided for him. I had ordered him to show me his naked body, to wait for me every night and suck my cock and sleep in my bed so I could touch him and smell him. I’d used him.

And now I refused to give him what he wanted because I was afraid he’d steal my nonexistent heart. His anguish gnawed at me, and I knew it was too late.

I’d already fallen.

Was there a way to torture myself and take the pain away from him? I wished I could suffer for his liking like he was willing to suffer for mine.

I needed him to see the truth. He had to meet the monster inside me before he decided to give himself to me.

I cupped his cheek and kissed his forehead, then searched his eyes.

“You truly want me, my darling?”

He held my gaze. “Yes, my Lord.”

I dragged the covers off, exposing his naked form. Climbing off the bed, I let my robe slide to the floor. I stared at his beauty and gathered all my passion for him. I let it burst out, changing my body into what I truly was inside.

I snarled, allowing my tongue to grow out fully, thick and long, and the split tips, blood-red, twisted in the air like snakes. My muscles bulged, and the veins on my arms glowed with fire. The thorns on my shoulders and elbows tore through my skin while my horns broke out and curved to the ceiling, casting dark shadows on the wall above the bed. My cock pulsed and lengthened, clear liquid gushing out of the wide slit.

Rees’s eyes widened as he took me in, his gaze darting from my shoulders to my cock and back up to my forehead, rising to the sharp tips of my silver horns. His lips parted, and his breath shortened.

As always, he was unafraid. Only a shudder ran through his body as he canted his hips up and curved his spine.

“You are beautiful, Cariad,” he said breathlessly.

Oh, I liked hearing the word on his lips. He poured his emotions into the name he’d given me. Even though I didn’t know what it meant—and I’d promised him I wouldn’t ask—I felt it from the way he said it.

“What you see is my desire for you, Rees.” My voice turned darker, sinister. The monster paced, impatient.

Rees only licked his lips, his pupils blown. “Take me,” he whispered. “Take me, Cariad.”

I crawled over his spread-out body. My tongue slid into his mouth, stealing his breath for a few