Revealing the Monster by Amelia Hutchins
Chapter Thirty-Nine
He’d saved us. Lucian was the master at games, and while I’d been trying to find my footing, he’d been saving me from the things trying to consume me. He’d rescued our son and freed me from what I’d done. He’d kept his word and given me everything I wanted. ~Lena
I’d never expected to escape death a second time. I saved Makenna from Asmodeus, knowing that the dagger he held could kill me, but it didn’t. Instead, it had broken the hold the furies had on me. Lucian knew Asmodeus was the only one who could remove the furies from within me. He’d freed him from Erie’s mansion and ensured he gained access to Lucifer.
Lucian had been plotting to get my soul from Thanatos this whole time. He’d used the debts owed to him by other gods, making sure everything was in order. Lucian even had my coven here, minus Kat and Dexter, to do the spell to bring me back from the brink of death.
Lucian saved and protected our son and never let on that he had him back, even when I’d grieved for Harbinger in his arms. He hadn’t been able to save Kendra, but he had ensured her soul would be reborn, and no longer cursed from what Katarina had done to it for her to be free of the spell that was bound to her.
The man seriously knew how to keep a secret, which was honestly refreshing and terrifying at the same time. When I’d fallen in love with him and whispered those words out loud, I’d unraveled a curse that had started to play out. One Lucian realized would end with my life, only it wasn’t by his hand, but mine.
I’d thought I’d won Lucian and Katarina’s game, but he hadn’t quit playing it, ever. While I’d been adjusting to my new life, he’d been fighting to get my old one back. I’d come to terms with what I’d become and rolled with the punches, but he’d never accepted it.
I peered over at Lucian, where he was settling Benjamin into his bed. We had our son with us, and I had my life back. We were together, and he loved me. Lucian Blackstone loved me, with all my flaws and insecurities. He didn’t judge who I was or that I’d always wanted to remain a witch.
I no longer had wings.
I didn’t have American Horror Story eyeliner anymore.
I was whole.
“You’re sure this isn’t a dream?” I asked for the hundredth time in the last hour we’d been holed up in the nursery. “It seems too good to be true, and that usually means it is.”
“Does this feel real?” He leaned over to grip my chin before his mouth crushed against my lips.
I moaned at the delicious taste of his lips. His other hand went around my back, yanking me up until I was pressed against his warmth. Lucian’s tongue slipped between my lips, claiming mine in a loud, urgent-sounding growl that had my core tightening with need.
He pulled away, pressing his forehead against my brow before he swooped down, picking me up into his arms. Lucian didn’t ask if I was ready to leave our son before he marched to the connecting door.
He held me close instead of placing me onto my unsteady feet, stopping at the entrance of the nursery to whisper words in a strangely soothing language that had runes dancing over the pastel walls of the babe’s chamber. Closing the door, he walked me toward a large, marbled room that had a splendid tub in the middle of it.
“This is beautiful,” I whispered thickly.
“It’s the one you dreamed of fucking me in once. I plucked the details from your mind, knowing that one day you’d be here to make good on that fantasy you were having inside your pretty head,” he admitted, placing me gently onto the counter.
He lifted my gown off and over my head, tossing it aside. His large hands cupped my breasts as he peered into my gaze. Leaning forward, I chased his lips, but he refused to allow me a taste of them. I winced slightly at the movement, and he smirked, slowly running his fingertips down my belly.
“I wasn’t willing to lose you, Magdalena. I couldn’t let that happen. So I freed Asmodeus, knowing that his greed and his need to rule would lead him to Lucifer. He needed you there to open Pandora’s Box, but I removed her from the coffin where you left her and placed her somewhere safe. I hated that you would be in pain, but I wanted to give you back everything you had lost.”
I held his face between my palms, smiling at him. “Thank you, Lucian. You’re a good man, even though you’re not really a man at all.”
“I am a monster,” he confirmed.
“Yeah, but you’re my monster. I’m not concerned about what you are or that some great force created you to house the evil beings threatening gods and humans. I only care that you’re mine and that I love you.”
He leaned closer to me, brushing my lips in a feather-soft kiss that sent a shiver rushing through me. I hadn’t noticed how the furies inside me had numbed my emotions and senses. In this form, I could smell the heady scent of masculinity that clung to him better. I could see every speck of impurities and perfection in his gaze.
Lucian had eyes that sparkled with actual galaxies in their depths. I saw the souls within them as well. He was unguarded, and yet he never completely allowed his shields to drop. I’d learn to accept that he wasn’t human, and he’d never be fully able to lower his defenses.
“I wanted to tell you so many times about Benjamin, Magdalena. Every time I came here, I imagined what it would be like when you learned he lived. Your family, if I’d said anything to you about them the others would have known what I intended to do, they’d have ruined my plans before they had begun. What I did for you is not allowed. You cannot bring back the dead, and I intended to do so.”
“I wasn’t dead, though, not really.”
“You were. You were simply a body that the furies were consuming. When you slumbered, I fed you parts of the souls I’d captured to keep the furies from completely devouring what was left of your soul. That was why I trapped you in our bedroom at the club. The thought of you being away from me and them eating your soul and leaving your corpse—it would have been the end. The furies cannot remain inside someone without a soul to consume. Once they had finished feeding on you, they would have moved on to another soul. Hades and Nyx, they didn’t realize how much the three furies would devour.”
“I was dying?” I swallowed past the lump that formed in my throat. “They were killing me to escape the hold I held on them?”
“From the moment of your rebirth, yes. Luckily, you were resurrected with a large portion of your soul, or larger than you’ve held since. You’re missing the portion they consumed. It isn’t something I can get back.”
“And we don’t know what part it was, either. Do we?” I questioned carefully.
His dark head shook as my hands dropped into my lap. So, I was missing parts of myself. Was I upset about it? No. Because losing it didn’t change how I felt about Lucian or our son. To me, those were the things that mattered most.
“Are you going to miss it?” I asked as he stepped back to start the bathwater.
“No, but you will. Souls are important, and without knowing what it was you lost, I can’t foresee what will transpire. I should have acted sooner since I was aware of what was happening within you.”
“Are you asking for forgiveness?”
“I don’t know, Lena. I have never had to admit that I screwed up, and here I fucking am, telling you I fucked up.” He turned around, peering across the room to where I sat.
I slid from the counter, smirking while he watched me walk toward him slowly. I still didn’t have full control of all my limbs, but I had enough to reach him. Pretending to wobble, he rushed forward, steadying me on my feet. I chuckled, watching his gaze narrowing on me as I recited the spell in my head.
One minute we were in the bathroom, and the next, we were inside a masculine bedroom that smelled delicious, like him. I slipped my hand beneath his shirt, skimming over the hard, chiseled muscles of his chest. Then, lifting on my toes, I claimed his lips gently.
“I can’t miss what I don’t know is gone, Blackstone. I have my family and my son back because of you, and of course, I have you, Lucian. Makenna is here with us, and Lucifer is healing in the cell where you placed him. I have all that I want and need. I am alive because of you, and so what if you set shit into motion? You gave me everything I’ve lost. We can have lots of pretty babies. We can live.”
“Lena,” he started to argue, but I shoved him onto the bed, shaking my head.
“Don’t you Lena me, Blackstone. You don’t get to regret anything that’s happened. What you can do right now is fuck me like you hate me. Show me how rough you can be, and make it hurt so good for me,” I murmured, sliding the panties off over my hips, exposing how wet he’d already made me.
“You’re barely healed, woman.”
“And? I want to feel you inside of me, and I want to start making babies, because we’re going to create so many pretty children, asshole. I want them all.”
I snapped my fingers in the air, and Lana Del Rey’s Gods and Monsters started playing through speakers around the room. Lucian watched me stalking him to the bed. A wicked smirk played on my mouth as I snapped again, and his pants vanished, revealing his hard cock.
“Mine,” I growled huskily, watching the way his eyes grew hooded at the sentiment.
“Mine,” he mirrored it. “Fuck this,” he snarled, slamming into my body.
His hand gripped both wrists, holding them to the wall above my head. Lucian’s mouth slammed against mine as his other hand cupped my ass, lifting me.
I felt him against my opening, sliding through the slick mess he’d created. He entered my pussy hard and fast, and his cock stretched and filled me until I gasped against his kiss.
“Lucian!” I screamed, fighting to get my hands freed of his grip to touch him.
“Louder,” he demanded, slamming into my sex as it clamped down around him, hungrily taking what he was offering. “Fucking hell,” he moaned, not letting go of me as he continued pumping into my body with urgency.
Our muffled moans and cries echoed off the walls as I heard water splashing onto the floor from the bathroom. I didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was getting him deeper, taking him into my soul that cried out in bliss at him being within me.
“I can feel you.”
“I’m fucking you,” he growled, moving us toward the bed without missing a beat.
“No, I feel you in my soul again,” I whispered, barely above a breath.
I could feel him further inside me than he’d ever been before. It was as if he’d replaced the furies, but he hadn’t. He’d freed me, and in doing so, my soul was singing with his presence inside of me. He spread my legs apart, slowly rolling his hips while he studied me.
“You’re mine forever, Lena.”
“And you’re mine. Now give me what we both need, asshole,” I groaned, gasping as he slammed to his hilt in my cunt. “Fuck yes!” I moaned, whimpering as he let loose, fucking me hard and without mercy.
He held my hips, peering into my soul as he fucked me until the muscles in his chest tightened, and he snarled his release while I shattered into a million pieces beneath him. Lucian dropped on top of me, claiming my lips as he exhaled.
“I think the dead heard us that time,” I grunted, shoving him up and off of me. “Do you intend to carry me to the tub and wash my hair?” I questioned.
“Get your sexy magical ass into that tub, Lena. I have someone to deal with while you are freshening up,” he stated, pushing up from the bed.
I watched his firm ass moving across the room to push open a large closet that revealed rows of suits. The man was an enigma who enjoyed the finer things in life—a life we would be sharing. I fell back on the mattress, staring up at the galaxies of stars that were visible through the ceiling. Time passed, and yet I didn’t do as I’d been told.
“This is beautiful.”
“Not as beautiful as you are to me,” he whispered, forcing my attention to the closet door, where he leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his naked chest. “Bathe, because your mother and grandmother have been driving me bug fuck crazy to get to you. There’s also another surprise for you waiting below. He can’t stay long. This world doesn’t want him here. Not any more than he wants to be here.”
“Joshua?” I asked, sitting up to look at Lucian with hope flaring within me.
His dark head nodded, causing uneasiness to fill my chest. I’d changed, but he hadn’t. I turned, eyeing Lucian as he saw me putting the pieces together.
“He’s dying, isn’t he?”
Once again, he nodded. “They’re soulless, Lena. Not endless. Once the soul left within is consumed, they cease to exist. Joshua’s soul isn’t salvageable. He remained hidden for too long, and the fury inside of him has fed well. Once it’s gone, you’ll lose him forever.”
