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

In a world filled with darkness, you are the light that I seek. There is no sun without your smile, nor night without you in it, Magdalena. I know you won’t understand why I must do this, but I cannot fathom the thought of a world in which you are harmed because of me. I’d rather set you free than live knowing you’re no longer alive. Forgive me. I never expected a creature like you, and now that I have you, I cannot bear the knowledge that I have to take away everything you love. You will hate me for this. But once the pieces were set into motion, they could not be undone. Please know that with the darkness, you were the most beautiful light that shone from within. ~LB

I wrinkled my forehead, exhaling slowly as my chest puffed out. What the fuck? How had I not remembered to read his note, one I’d known he had placed into Luna’s collar? Luna chased a feather in front of me, and her collar jangled as she rushed by, pursuing it blindly.

I kneeled on the floor before Luna, where she had caught and was playing with her prey, and I stared at her diamond-studded collar. The asshole really was spoiling my cat. I undid the clasp, watching as she gave chase to the next feather in line. Opening the charm that dangled from the collar, another note appeared. It, too, had been spelled and was glowing as it enlarged to its normal size. I slid my gaze over the writing, swallowing past tears that ran from my eyes.

You are my home in which I wish to plant roots and grow. You were a surprise that somehow snuck up on me. You sunk your talons into my heart, melting the ice that encased it, protecting it from those who had hurt me. You are my warmth. You are a storm that threatens to upturn my world and leave me in tattered ashes. When you’re with me, I am grounded, and that terrifies me the most. When you’re in my arms, my world is right. No one has ever made me feel the things I do with you. One day, you will see beyond the walls of your mortal limitations that still hold you captive, realizing that words are nothing. Sentiments and promises can easily be whispered, but what I feel for you isn’t something that can be said out loud. It’s wordless, selfless, and so much deeper than words could ever reach. You are my world and my everything. ~LB

I read the messages together and then read them several more times. Tears blinded my sight, blurring the words while I fought the sobs threatening to escape.

He loved me. Lucian Blackstone loved me and had felt that way before I’d ever whispered those words to him inside that bedroom, which seemed like centuries ago.

That sadistic prick loved me, and he’d forced me to realize it on my own! He’d expected me to take the subtle hints and see beyond the mortal way I’d been raised. The idiot had left me flopping on the ground, trying to grasp on to a lifeline when he’d loved me the whole time!

I’d been forced to watch memories of Lucian telling Katarina that he loved her, and that had told my subconscious that he was capable of saying it.

In those dreams, though, he whispered those words while murdering her. There’d always been a catch in his voice past the first initial time he’d killed her. In that one lifetime, he’d loved her. He had been returning to tell her how he felt, and she’d been running away because she’d betrayed him to the coven.

The sound of the doorknob turning captured my attention, ripping me from my mind. I stood, staring at the doorway as Lucian stepped through it, silently peering around at my wreckage. The temperature inside the room dropped noticeably, and Luna bounced into the closet, drawing his attention to his wardrobe, which lay shredded in a pile.

“Woman,” he snarled.

“You’re an asshole!” I shouted, grabbing the nearest object to throw at his head. He moved, ducking seconds before it would have hit him. He stepped closer, his face not giving away the anger he felt. The tic in his jaw hammered, alerting me to his fury even though nothing else screamed danger. I grabbed the leather pouch, throwing it at him, and he reached up, catching it before he roared.

“You ruined my suits?” he snapped, his chest heaving as he tossed the bag aside, stalking toward me. The look in his pretty stare was almost comical, if there wasn’t pure rage burning inside them.

“Every single fucking one of them!” I screamed back, smiling as I folded my arms across my chest. “You chained me to the fucking bed, dick!”

His attention moved from the pile of ruined clothes to my body. Silently, he took in my sheer nude panties and the tight camisole top I’d tied on the side where his stupid chain was attached.

I hadn’t bothered putting anything on while in lockdown inside a room that no one else even bothered to enter.

I grabbed for the next item, but he lunged, snatching the chain fastened to the cuff. The tic in his jaw hammered again, and the room erupted in raw, unfiltered power, causing my skin to prickle with awareness.

“You want to do this, little one?” He yanked the chain, sending my body forward without warning. “Let’s fucking do it, witch,” he grumbled in a multi-layered voice that made my thighs clench together.

The tracker embedded in the door hummed, and I grinned as Lucian followed the sound with his eyes, then growled. “I didn’t give you permission to remove the device.”

“Well, I wasn’t going to keep it inside me for days while you left me locked in a room. It’s unsanitary.” He watched me through a heated stare that slid to my panties as I snatched the clock that he’d tossed aside and sent it sailing for his head. It impaled the wall beside him, causing his anger to spike.