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

“It wasn’t personal,” Spyder whispered inside my head, and I smirked as the shadows slid around the globes of my breasts. I felt them between my thighs, caressing my slit and my clit, while his gaze grew heavily hooded, filling with desire.

The smell of dark masculinity and spices filled the air as he inspected me, his eyes sparkling with need as mine closed. I exhaled a soft gasp, realizing I was no longer inside the bar. I was untouchable, floating in shadows as his scent erased the chaos we were balls deep in at the moment.

“Good girl, Kitty. Let that shit go and breathe for me. I told Lucian not to tell you. It didn’t do us any good with you learning you were mated to both of us without even knowing how you’d done it. I’m looking for a way to remove the bond. We’re going to be okay. I know you tried, and I won’t ask more of you than you can willingly give me. You’re a good girl, and I’m not a good boy.”

“It isn’t fair,” I admitted. “This is our home, and you’re needed here, too. Come back, and we will find a way to end this bond.”

“Can’t do that,” he chuckled, but it was empty and cold. “Right now, I want to take you from Lucian. I want to run with you and fuck you out of my system. The thing is, we don’t know if that will be enough to break the bond, and with your mating mark on me, it changes things. It changes everything.”

Lucian’s scent fought Spyder’s as warm hands touched my face. Blue fire flickered in the depths of Lucian’s eyes as they slowly moved to where Spyder held his inhuman form. My gaze held his, and my mouth opened. But Lucian simply shook his head, placing a finger to his lips, and then pointed at his ear.

We vanished together, all three of us, and I exhaled the moment we were in the bedroom. Spyder backed up, placing as much distance as possible between him and me without leaving the room. I blinked, free of the shadows that had been slithering all over me, touching me erotically.

“You didn’t need to know,” Lucian grunted, as I fought to gain control of my emotions. “You’re both suffering, and we don’t know how to fix it. You claimed Spyder when you placed that mating mark on me. We’re all fucking mated, and the time we have to fix the bond is coming to an end.”

“What does that mean?” I asked, holding back the tears that burned my eyes.

Fighting the attraction was one thing, but fighting the need to give in to Spyder was a war. My body ached with need as my sex clenched hungrily for him. Magic be damned. I wanted to shed my clothes and inhibitions and take them both until we were nothing more than piles of ash on the floor. Spyder chuckled, forcing my eyes to lock onto his intense gaze.

“What it means, Kitty, is that soon I will lose my shit. I will become unsafe. Lucian will put me down and end it before I can unleash hell, or, you know, a more lethal version of it, into this world. If I lose control, nothing could save this shithole you love so much, not even Lucian. He will take care of it before I get to that point because me destroying this place would hurt you, and I can’t handle that type of guilt.”

“I don’t understand what that means.”

“Lucian will kill me so that I can be reborn without the mating marks on my flesh or soul. I won’t be me, but I will be what I was created to be. I cannot ask you to do what you’re not willing to do, and neither will Lucian. The only other way to stop the curse’s clock is to end the one on my life.”

Pain clenched my heart, and denial rushed through me. I shook my head, certain they were fucking with me. Lucian and Spyder were best friends, and he was Lucian’s right hand. They’d been together long before I’d even come into the equation. I couldn’t lose either of them. I wouldn’t allow that to happen.

“No,” I whispered, shaking my head faster. “No fucking way is that happening. Do you hear yourself? Spyder, there has to be another way. We just have to find it. We will figure this out together.”

“Aw, Kitty. If it was that simple, don’t you think we would have figured it out by now?” He appeared before me without warning, lifting his hand to cup my face, smiling as if he wasn’t talking about ending his life. “Would you die to save me?”

“Yes,” I said without hesitation.

“I’d ask you about Lucian, but you already proved how far you would go to protect him. Only Hecate knows how to end this without us paying a higher price. You tried to free me, and it didn’t work. You did what you could, and I can’t say I regret it, either. I have made my peace, and I’m willing to be reborn to stop this volatile need you create within me. It is my choice and not yours. You will respect my decision and allow me to do this.” His thumb traced over my cheek, wiping away the tears, and before I could reply, he’d vanished from the room.

“You are not letting him die, Lucian.”

“Lena, it isn’t that simple.”

“What do I have to do to free him?” I demanded, unable to hide the tremble in my voice that made his eyes close in response. “Tell me, and I will do it!”

“The only way we found was to give the bond what it wants, and that may not end the mating link, which means he wouldn’t crave you anymore, but we’d still be mated. He’d still carry the curse dictated by the laws of the mating ritual, unable to have sex with anyone else without it ending in their death. He fears he would eventually hate you for claiming him in the mating and would try to harm you. So to protect you from himself, he chooses death.”