Revealing the Monster (Playing with Monsters #4) by Amelia Hutchins

“Where is who?” Lucian asked. His tone held a silent threat. One meant only for her ears, yet, I caught it easily. He folded his arms over his chest, staring her down without a sliver of fear. But Lucian didn’t fear many things, and I was almost sure he could easily wipe the floor with Nyx should the need arise.

“Where is Eris? Where is my daughter?” Nyx screamed, losing any composure she’d held. Her face contorted, darkness spread across it, and her eyes turned obsidian.

My lips twisted into a smile as she mirrored how I looked with the darkness unleashed. I no longer had to wonder where I’d gotten my soulless appearance. As my new mother, I’d apparently taken after her in the dark and creepy-as-fuck department. Nyx’s eyes slid in my direction, and she shot through the air at me but never reached me.

She was yanked back and slammed into the bar. Spyder’s hand was wrapped around her throat, his chest heaving with anger burning through him. He pinned her there; his shadows unleashed to drift about him in wispy tendrils of inky smoke.

“You don’t touch my Kitty, you stupid, psychotic bitch. Threaten her again, and I’ll end you. Do you hear me?” he warned, his tone clear and even as if he wasn’t threatening to murder a goddess.

“You took her. I know you did!” she hissed vehemently. “You either release Eris, or I’ll tell Lust that his little creatures and keys are alive and in play again. Do you understand me, asshole?” she snarled while holding onto his hand, still wrapped around her throat.

“Eris is here, Nyx. She’s being held in a dreamless sleep. She is unharmed, which is more than she deserves, and if that continues, well, that will depend on you. Eris assisted the enemies of the fae, intending to murder a newly born goddess. Do you recall what the crime is for murdering one of your own? Final death, wasn’t it, Lucian?” Spyder asked, peering over his shoulder, meeting my stare instead of to whom he spoke.

Ice-blue eyes slid down my body with a naked hunger that Spyder didn’t bother to hide. It took everything within me not to rush to him. My bosom rose and fell as I held his stare, whispering his name so silently that I wasn’t even sure I’d said it out loud. Neither of us looked away, uncaring that it was wrong. I swallowed the lump that grew in my throat as he released Nyx, turning to look at me again.

Spyder was shirtless, and his facade for the outside world was missing. His eyes held mine, and I felt as though if I looked away, I’d cease to exist. His dark hair had turned white, a startling contrast to the dark shadows that slid over his body and around him in smokey wisps. I lowered my gaze to the curvature of his stomach, sliding hungrily over the rippling muscles covered in the inky shadows. My lips trembled as my attention traveled lower, and my heart stopped beating, taking in the inviting V-line that vanished into his pants. I ran my eyes over it, sliding them up to his hip as my blood ceased running in my veins.

I lifted my head and gaped with shock and dismay at the bonding marks on Spyder that both Lucian and I also carried. My mouth opened, but his chin jerked, stopping the words from escaping. Tears swam in my eyes, and I turned to Lucian in horror. My heartbeat thundered with the reality of what I’d done to Spyder, to us.

“Not the place or the time, Lena,” Lucian stated, his eyes never meeting mine. “Nyx, your daughter, Eris, was causing strife and angst toward a child goddess. One she fully intended to deliver to another god to be murdered. You know the law and what the price would have been if she succeeded. Eris owed a blood-debt, and couldn’t refuse to pay it. So I took her out of play and saved her life. You’re fucking welcome.”

“I don’t believe she would be that stupid,” Nyx snarled back, her power smothering the room. “I want her and the Golden Apple of Discord, Lucian. You have no right to hold her.”

“Don’t I?” Lucian snorted, folding his arms over his chest, pinning Nyx to the spot with a glare.

I only thought Nyx’s magic had been smothering. The moment Lucian and his men released their power back at her, my chest threatened to cave. I gasped for air loudly, knowing that Spyder held the ability to suck the air from the room. Shadows rushed forward, entering me before I could process what was happening. My wide, horrified eyes slid to Spyder, noting the smirk that twisted his mouth. Heat sparkled intensely in his gaze as his shadows caressed me, feeding me air. It was like having a live power line shoved down my throat and then fed ecstasy pills on top of it.

Shadows continually rushed over my skin, kissing it with dark, seductive magic that held me in its thrall while Lucian’s men moved toward Nyx, threateningly. Spyder, on the other hand, was watching me as his shadows held my body upright. He didn’t look away from me. Instead, he stepped closer as the other men took his place beside Nyx.

“Aw, Kitty,” he uttered from inside my head. “Be a good pussycat and breathe for me.”

Spyder stopped in front of me, his head tilting as he watched his magic fondle me. The shadows weren’t only feeding oxygen to my lungs; they were inside of my body, in my mind. They stroked the bond we shared, making arousal coat my thighs, drenching my sex. The heated look burning in his stare told me he was the one controlling them. Spyder was keeping me breathing and using it as an excuse to touch me where he’d never dared to before.

I was fighting the attraction. The lust was tearing me apart, and I knew it was worse for him. Unlike Lucian and me, Spyder had no release. Those bonding marks meant that if he was sleeping around, he was leaving dead bodies in his wake when he’d finished. It pissed me off that they’d known and chosen to hide it from me. Didn’t they trust me? Why hide something that I’d done without knowing?