I suppose they were my monsters.
I wasn’t sure if it was relief or fear that seized me at the reality of that. So far they had done nothing but protect me and show a worshiping reverence for me, but the facts still remained.
We were matched for me to be a breeding machine for them.
As my lids fluttered closed, I saw the crystal’s light fade, and their somewhat solidified forms dissolved until they turned into wispy shadows once more. With my eyes closed, I couldn’t say for sure that they were now surrounding me in their embrace, but I felt it.
I felt it deep in my soul that they had cocooned me between them, forming a protective barrier between me and everything about this strange land that seemed to want me dead.
I drifted in and out of consciousness for who knows how long, but I caught a glimpse of conversation that caused further conflict in my soul.
“She needs to know everything,” the softer of my three shadow men demanded, speaking in English. I wondered why he wasn’t speaking in his native tongue, but perhaps they wanted to practice speaking in mine. Either way, I strained my ears to glean more information.
“It is not her burden to bear, Sylan,” the gruff voice argued. “What happened to our kind is our most kept secret. If they knew just how close to extinction we were, they would send armies after us and make that a reality.”
Tucking that away into the recesses of my mind, I prayed I would remember this when I woke up fully.
“Axton, she is quite literally going to bear our burden if this happens as it has with all previously matched trifectas. She will bear our seed and deserves to know why,” the elusive third voice reasoned, a hint of humor in his words.
It was nice to be able to place names to their voices, giving them more of a presence in my head instead of thinking of them all as shadow blobs.
I felt my mind slipping away as Axton snapped back, “You think I don’t understand the price she is paying to be here with us, Rowen? I would give anything to…”
His sentence faded away, and I was left desperately struggling to hold on, but to no avail.
Why did he sound so broken at the end of that sentence?
“She stirs awake,” Sylan mused, as I felt a tendril of a finger brushing against my cheek. That couldn’t be right, though—he didn’t have fingers.
That thought jolted me from my fog as the memories of what occurred rushed back like a tidal wave of information smashing into me.
I had been captured by the monsters and claimed by one of their Trifectas.
I was to be their breeding machine.
“Precious, can you open your eyes for us?” Axton’s rough voice coaxed, a gentle tone that I was quickly realizing only came out when he was speaking to me.
A part of me truly wasn’t scared of them, and I blame that part of me for what came out of my mouth.
“I could, but why would I? It’s not like I have much to look at besides wisps of shadows,” I sassed, shocking myself at my clear lack of self-preservation.
Rowen answered, a sultry-as-sin purr to his words. “You might not be able to see us well, but we can ensure you will feel us in just the right ways.”
My pussy immediately flooded with heat as I took in the meaning of his words.
There was no way that was possible in their shadow forms. It couldn’t be. So far all I had felt from them was soft caresses or phantom touches that made me question if I had even truly felt the brush of fingers against my skin.
“Your thighs clenched together at his words, precious,” Axton observed, making me freeze and think if that was true. Had my body involuntarily responded? “Tell me, was that in fear or out of pleasure?”
Opening my eyes and seeing swarms of dark tendrils surrounding me like a hug, I snapped back, “Clearly out of fear. Why the hell would any human woman want to be used by your kind?”
For the first time in my life, I felt comfortable enough to speak my true thoughts. Living in The Above and being constantly monitored, even my mind was careful to think certain things. The true Sera was muted, but down here in The Below with these monsters I didn’t even know, I felt like I could be me. They didn’t respond, but I didn’t sense any rancor from my snark. Instead, it seemed as if they were resigned to my answer.
“We cannot hold you between us forever, beauty. Holding you within our shadows can only keep you safe for a brief period of time,” Sylan stated, quickly moving us onto a different subject. “We have to mark you as ours so that the air doesn’t attack you. It perceives anyone without a trace of our kind’s genetics a threat and moves to neutralize it quickly. There are no more safe zones to keep you in right now. The last of the natural structure’s energy was just drained.”
“And by mark you mean…breed me?”
Their silence confirmed my question.
My mouth flapped open and quickly slammed shut as I processed that. So, they had to fuck me for me to be safe? I’d have to give my virginity up just to have a chance at getting home. There had to be another way.
“I am to be a monster cum dumpster. That is my fate. Fucking exactly what I had imagined for myself. Couldn’t ask for anything more for my life!” I sarcastically exclaimed. “And why the fuck can’t I even fucking see anything around here?!”
Vibrations of laughter made my skin pebble as if I could feel their chests surrounding me and scraping against me.
“Such a foul mouth. I can’t wait to see what other sinful things you can do with it,” Rowen teased, making me narrow my eyes in defiance.
“Fuck you,” I seethed.
“Yes, please,” he purred.
“I prefer to call you ‘precious,’ but if you prefer ‘cum dumpster,’ who am I to deny your wants and needs?” Axton tossed out, sounding way too serious for me to be able to discern whether he was joking or not.
Throwing my hands in the air, I shrieked, “I do NOT want to be called that!”
I jumped as I felt a soft tickle in my ear, and suddenly the deep rumbling of Axton’s voice was there, like his lips were touching me. “I will give you whatever you want, precious. Just say the words.”
My first response should have been that I wanted to go the fuck home, but instead what popped into my head was wanting to know how the hell they’d ever be able to physically touch me.
And, suddenly, I realized no part of me feared them.
Chapter Five
AXTON
My lovely mate opened her mouth to answer, but quickly slammed it shut. A pink tint blossomed across her skin, marking her varied emotions. Confusion, arousal, hesitation, and trepidation—but not of us.
Curious that.
I’d heard tales of the other trifectas finding their human mate, only to have her cower in fear. Some were even said to die from the horror.
The thought would make me snort, but who knows what those humans ruling The Above told these women. It was obviously nothing good, probably painting us as monsters—which is exactly what my precious called us. She might think that’s what we were, but she wasn’t afraid. A wry smile curled my lip. She was our perfect match; the one to whom the crystal called.
The cum dumpster to our monster needs, as she so eloquently put it.
“She is mouthy,” Rowen pointed out in delight.
“She is perfect,” I reiterated, and Sylan hummed in agreement. “We need to mark her, though. I would wish to give her time to further accept this, but between the other Specters and our environment, we don’t have that luxury.”
“Fuck the other Specters,” Rowen snarled. “She’s our mate, and we will destroy any that try to touch her.”
His words weren’t met with any argument, just the bewilderment of the woman before us, not understanding our conversation or the vehemence behind the words.
She had no idea just how precious she was to us, truly. But she also could not understand us when we spoke in the native tongue of The Below.
“Forgive us, precious. We’ll teach you our tongue soon en
ough, but first you must be marked.”
“Why?” she demanded, and Rowen grinned. He liked our feisty mate, and I could tell he was already thinking of ways to punish her obscene mouth.
“As we said, it’s imperative that we mark you so that you can live,” Sylan soothed, the more emotionally intuitive one of our Trifecta.
“But there must be another way—any way!” our mate burst out, the first bubble of fear rising to the surface.
I solidified a shadowy talon to tip her chin up. “What’s your name?” I requested softly.
“Sera,” she breathed out with wide eyes as she tried to glance down at my talon.
“Sera,” Sylan, Rowen, and I all sighed together like a whispered prayer.
“I’m Axton, this is Rowen, and that’s Sylan. Together we form our Trifecta, now complete with you.”
I watched Sera take in my words, linking names to the shadowy wisps and voices before her. So much confusion simmered in her beautiful gray eyes. The humans in charge had done nothing to prepare our mate—or any of the women who came to The Below.
“Why are you afraid?” I quietly prompted, wanting to understand her fears so I could assuage them.
“Why are you sometimes a shadow and sometimes not?” she returned, pulling back enough to look at my now corporeal hand.
“It’s too much to explain right now,” I huffed, my need to claim her growing stronger with every passing second. “Now, tell me why you are so upset about us marking you?”
It was very important to me that this brave woman not fear our coupling. While we intended to breed eventually, her body was a vessel for us to worship—her every pleasure ours.
We lived to serve her.
Sera raised a light blonde brow in challenge. “It’s not too much to explain right now,” she deadpanned, earning a chuckle from Rowen and Sylan and a growl from me.
I shot my Trifecta a dirty look before relenting. “We get energy from the crystal—energy that allows us to become more than just shadows—and the crystal gets energy from you.”
Our mate wrinkled her nose in confusion, the most adorable thing I’d ever seen. “Me? How…do you get energy from me?”
“I promise we’ll explain, but time is of the essence. We can only protect you so much and for so long before your lungs succumb to our air.” The former panic flitted across her face, the one that made me curious. She didn’t fear us, but she feared mating? I whispered this to Sylan and Rowen in our language.
“She is a virgin,” Sylan stated, speaking in our tongue once more.
“You’re doing it again,” Sera cut in, a deep scowl on her beautiful face.
“We’re discussing your dread of mating and concluded it must be because you’re a virgin,” Rowen told her bluntly.
Sera’s jaw dropped open.
“What? No! That’s not it!” she spluttered, and something feral formed inside of me at her announcement.
“You’re not a virgin?” I demanded in a low, dangerous voice. I’d go to The Above as soon as I’d materialized enough and rip out the heart of whoever dared touch our precious mate. I knew that no one else was anywhere near worthy of being graced with that piece of her.
It also made me wonder how she could be our mate if she wasn’t. That just isn’t how our matches worked.
“Of course I’m a virgin!” Sera spat vehemently. “The Selected have no choice! Everything is taken from us—our freedom, our right to choose, to fall in love, form a family…” She trailed off as tears welled up in her eyes. “Everything,” she repeated in a sad whisper, making my savage inner beast die down. “I’m not afraid of you, but I-I don’t want to give you that last piece of me. Everything has been taken from me—I should choose who gets that most special part,” she ended, her voice cracking as tears spilled down her smooth skin.
I understood the sentiment of heartbreak for the first time then, for surely my heart lay at her feet in tattered shreds. Yes, we had an agreement with the human leaders, but never to treat these women as they had obviously done. To hear Sera say this made me want to start another war with the humans and punish them for hurting my mate.
“We’re so sorry that you’ve suffered for so long,” Sylan murmured, snaking a shadow tendril in a soft caress down Sera’s long blonde hair. “Our kind never intended for you to be treated that way.”
“So we don’t have to be virgins?” she wondered, making us wince.
“Yes,” Rowen finally answered. “We need pure women to breed—to ensure our seed takes hold within you—but we never told your leaders to cut off your choices! It should have been up to you whether you saved yourself or not. I know none of this probably makes you feel any better, but the three of us would do anything for you.”
“Anything?” Sera breathed, her voice hitching, making me anxious to mark her.
“Anything,” I confirmed, if only to speed this conversation along.
“Then I choose when to give my V-Card,” she declared triumphantly, her sniffles subsiding as she wiped her eyes.
“V-Card?” Sylan echoed.
“My virginity,” she clarified, her head tilted up with determination. Rowen groaned, but Sylan and I nodded in understanding. So much had been stolen from my beautiful mate; the least we could do is give her a semblance of control.
“Don’t worry,” I told Rowen once more in our tongue. “We can all sense her arousal. Soon she’ll be begging for us to take her. It is nothing to give her this. It will be a delight to open her eyes to all the pleasure we can give her if she but lets us.” I turned back to Sera, addressing her in her human language. “Your ‘V-Card’ is yours to give—but we must mark you. It is vital for your survival.”
Immediately I sensed her despair and went to soothe her, knowing it would just be a faint feeling of a hand rubbing her back, but I hoped it would bring her some comfort. “This doesn’t have to be internal. We can mark your skin, but the effects wear off quicker and will need to be reapplied.”
By the fiery look in her eyes, my touch and words did not have their intended effect.
“Ah, so you can just jizz all over me and rub it into my skin like lotion and I’m supposed to what…thank you for your kind generosity?” she quipped.
“Such a foul mouth,” Rowen muttered, more to himself, “and that’s exactly what we need to do if you don’t wish to go further.”
Sylan stifled a laugh at the absurdity of it, but I couldn’t say I didn’t love the thought of our mate naked, coated in a layer of our cum. Although I didn’t have enough energy to currently solidify my dick for her to see, it didn’t mean it wasn’t hard for her.
Sera’s heart hammered faster in her heaving chest, drawing my eyes to her perfect breasts. Clearly she wasn’t opposed to the idea. I expected her to fight us more, but to my surprise, she stepped further into our shadowy embrace.
“You promise it’s my choice?”
“We promise,” the three of us answered in unison.
“Then you can mark me,” she declared, finality shining in her eyes. I was so damn proud of her. She was beautiful and courageous, and even if she was uncertain or afraid, she tackled the problem head-on.
Her words sent a thrill down my spine; even though she didn’t choose this, she also wasn’t running. Yet. If she had a mind to leave, she would—so we needed to give her every reason not to, starting with this marking. If she knew how much we planned to pamper her, cherish her, love her, I was certain Sera would want to remain at our side.
We swore her virginity was hers to gift, and I’d maintain that vow if it killed me. Keeping our word might be the only thing we could do to prove ourselves as trustworthy to our mate.
Besides, it was no skin off my back to mark her lovely flesh often.
Rowen, Sylan, and I swarmed closer around Sera until I could tell she couldn’t tell us apart. Her bright gray eyes squinted into the darkness, trying to pierce it. With the energy from The Choosing that the crystal initially gave us, Rowen solidified a pair o
f dark lips that were tipped up in a wicked grin.
Next to him, Sylan chose his tongue to make corporeal, and I kept my claw-tipped finger, but channeled enough of the energy to make the claws retractable like they normally would be in our full form. These little pieces were all we could maintain for now since we’d used much of our energy to fight off other Specters, but it would be enough to mark Sera and give her the pleasure she deserved.
I caressed my mate’s back, wrapping my shadowy form around her tightly before asking, “May I disrobe you?”
She didn’t say anything, but gave a nervous nod of assent. Using the sharp tip of my claw I shredded the fabric from her soft body. I despised human clothing, meant to conceal the perfection of the woman before me. We would dress her in silk spun from the mists of our land—delicate and lucent, exactly what our queen should wear.
Forever on display for our greedy eyes.
Sera gasped as the scraps of material fell away from her, revealing all the curves and dips of her pale, glowing skin. I drank in the sight, an insatiable lust blossoming inside of me. Only Sera could ever appease it, of that I was certain.
Carefully, I reached out to touch her with my long fingers after retracting my claw. Her flesh broke out in goose bumps at the contact, her dusky nipples pebbling into hard nubs that beckoned to be touched. As if on cue, Rowen leaned in, kissing one while Sylan swirled the other with his tongue. Our mate moaned, tipping her head back in offering.
Like a pack of ravenous wolves, we descended upon the exposed area, licking and stroking her into a frenzy. Every gasp and groan was a victorious sound to my ears. Sera might not want to be here, but she craved our touch just as much as we craved hers. Soon enough, she would be able to touch us as we were now touching her.
Slowly, we moved in tandem down the length of her body, stopping once we reached the apex of her legs. There, nestled between her silky thighs, was what I sought. Running a finger up and down the seam of her pussy, I could already feel how wet she was. I wished I had a nose to nuzzle her there, but I could still inhale her scent, thankfully.
Captured by the Monsters Page 4
