Revealing the Monster by Amelia Hutchins

Chapter Forty-One

Some people want flowery endings, but us? We just wanted a moment to enjoy that our struggles and pains were over and that we’d found our perfect ending. ~Magdalena Blackstone

We watched the people mingling, celebrating life. It felt surreal, returning from death and having everyone come back, or most everyone. I was losing my Joshua to Nyx, who had knowingly created the soulless to handle the coming apocalypse simply because she didn’t want heaven falling.

I didn’t know why she hadn’t wanted that to happen. Once her furies consumed Joshua’s soul, it would go to Lucifer. Somehow, knowing that he had my brother’s soul instead of Nyx gave me some bit of comfort.

Eris had been returned to her mother, Nyx, with the condition that she stayed away from Faery, the human realm, and Lucian’s world. By the time Lucian was finished telling her who she couldn’t come into contact with, it had ended up being pretty much everyone.

As expected, Eris threw a fit when she found out that Lucian would not be handing over her Apple of Discord. He chose to keep it hidden for the time being, but my instincts told me he had plans involving this spelled fruit.

Synthia was dancing with Erie, even though I was fairly certain that what Erie was doing couldn’t be considered dancing at all. Synthia would pause every few minutes to laugh, shaking her head and holding her belly. Ryder, on the other hand, watched, his eyes glowing every so often. The love they shared was the shit of legends.

Alden was inside Faery, hidden from their world in the cells below the High Fae Castle. He’d been supplied with ample food, if that’s what you called the willing changelings. My mother couldn’t leave the club or Lucian’s world, and had finally accepted that she wouldn’t get an ending with him. Alden couldn’t enter Lucian’s work in his current state, either.

He was transitioning to become fae, an Unseelie prince to be exact, and Synthia and Ryder had been tight-lipped on what would happen. Zahruk was handling it a lot better if you considered his endless brooding an improvement. Ryder was worried about him as well, but there wasn’t much anyone could do to stop what was happening.

Lucian had agreed to search through his library, which surpassed all others. I’d decided to assist him, because I was curious about what I’d find inside a never-ending library. All the pieces seemed to be falling into place, yet there was a lot still coming apart.

Everyone here was going through something, but no one showed it outwardly. We’d all become accustomed to shielding our emotions, so if you walked in and looked at someone here, you’d never know what they were feeling.

You wouldn’t realize Erie’s ex-lovers were hunting her and that the survival of an entire race rested on her producing a child.

You wouldn’t see the pain in Ryder and Synthia’s eyes or the worries they held for the daughter taken from them that they had yet to find.

Zahruk, though. You’d know something was up with, but you wouldn’t see that he’d been altered by magical goo in a dark alleyway that had spread, changing him into an Unseelie prince. I wondered how that will work out with him being the King of the Horde.

Lucifer was a sad kid, rejected by the father he loved, but by looking at him, you wouldn’t know that all he wanted was to love someone. You wouldn’t know that he had a child that was his moon and stars, and she was, too.

Lucifer loved his daughter and had every intention of protecting her with his dying breath, but I doubt he could ever die. He loved Makenna enough to allow us to take her, because he feared what would happen to her if he failed to protect her.

We were all misfits, and not a single one of us allowed it to show. We hid the pain and the proof of the hell we’d been through with fake smiles and kind words—well, most of us. Some merely grunted and walked away.

“What are you worrying over, Witch?” Lucian asked, wrapping his arms around me, pulling me back against his silent strength.

“That life happens, and that it did so during the small moments. Those small things had ended up being bigger than any of us had assumed they’d become. It was the instances you never notice until it’s too late to hold on to them. My grandfather once said that everything happens on its own time. It’s up to you to grab hold and know that it is important. I think I finally understand what he meant.”

“He sounds like he was wise and taught you to be like him,” Lucian murmured against my ear.

“He was, but he died early. I wish I had more time with him before he moved on to his next life,” I admitted.

The music changed, forcing my attention to where everyone else was looking. Bob Seger’s Old Time Rock & Roll started, and Spyder was on the floor, dancing. I laughed when he waved his arms in the air as the others joined him.

He held his hand out for me, and I scrunched my nose up in reply. Lucian grumbled, and Ryder echoed the sound beside us. I slid from the chair, walking to Spyder, as Synthia and Erie joined him. By the time I got to the dancefloor, I almost had to fight my way through to Spyder. He had a smile on his mouth and a wicked twinkle in his stare. Grabbing my hand, he twirled me as I quickly found the beat, dancing with him as Ristan joined in, spinning Synthia around us. Erie grabbed Zahruk, who dug his feet in, shaking his head while she forced him onto the floor.

Spyder was singing to the song, and before I could say otherwise, we were dancing in a line, with hands on each other’s hips, moving through the dancefloor. I laughed as I peered down the line, finding Hades, Persephone, the Fates, and my coven dancing with us while the men at the bar watched, glaring at Spyder, who’d gotten everyone up and having fun during the catchy song.

When it wound down and changed to Bob Seger’s Night Moves, Spyder grabbed my retreating form and pulled me back out onto the floor with him.

He scanned the crowd before settling his icy-blue gaze on me. “Hey, Kitten,” he whispered, leaning his forehead against mine.

“Spyder,” I replied, and yet I’d known it was coming. My stomach sank and my heart cracked.

“I have to leave for a while. Not forever, and this isn’t a goodbye. I have things from my past that I have to deal with and shit I need to do on my own.”

“The furies?” I asked, swallowing past the lump forming in my throat.

He didn’t reply, but he hadn’t needed to. Lucian had told me that Spyder and I were still connected, but not on the level we’d been when the furies had added to it. It was more of a magical connection now. One we’d chosen to keep. That hadn’t saved Spyder from what the furies did to him. I nodded, letting him know I understood what was happening as I felt tears welling up.

“Hey,” he whispered, tipping my chin to peer down into my eyes. “None of that, Kitty. You’re immortal, and we’re forever. It won’t seem like very long, but until we learn where the furies have gone and what they’re planning for me, I can’t take a chance on them getting inside that palace. Not with the babies there now. You and I both know that they’re easy targets, and the furies don’t care about who or what is in their way. They don’t include themselves in their own rules, the selfish bitches. I’ll be back the moment I can do so safely.”

“That’s what was happening in the hallway, wasn’t it?” I asked softly.

He nodded once more, sliding away from me as Lucian slipped in, taking his place. I rushed to Spyder, hugging him tightly.

“Come home to us when you’re finished with them. Promise me you will be okay,” I demanded, peering up at him. Spyder kissed my forehead and untangled himself from my hold.

“I can’t do that, Kitty. I won’t make you a promise that I don’t know for sure that I can keep. Keep them safe, brother,” he said, leaving us to watch him dissolving into shadows before he vanished.

“He’ll be okay. He’s a drama queen about this shit,” Lucian stated, kissing my neck. “Your son wants you, and Makenna needs you as well. Lucifer snuck out when the dancing started, and I don’t think he’s coming back for her anytime soon.”

“I need a moment,” I said, turning to wrap my arms around him. “Did Lucifer say anything about the Hell Gates?” I asked.

“They’re closing, but it won’t be quickly. He said they’ve been shutting for a while. He just chose to keep that to himself until now. The demons will still be here for quite a while, given how many escaped. We’ll help the surviving enforcers at the guild hunt them down and end their time on earth.”

“You did this for me. Everything you’ve done since I returned. Why? I mean, I get the whole saving my life, but Vlad could have easily brought me back as he is.”

“Because I wanted that girl who got in my face and refused to back down,” he stated. “I wanted you as you were born to be. I wanted the hurricane that walked into my world and knocked me on my ass. You’re the first woman ever to look beyond my face and see inside of my mind. You, Lena, were an unknown, and by the time I’d started figuring out the puzzle that is you, I needed all the pieces. I wished to hold them together, but I broke them. I did that even though I never intended to hurt you. So answering your question, I wanted the girl I’d met, and I didn’t want her to lose any part of who she was because of me. You taught me what was possible, and I am never giving you up now. You looked me in the eye, and you didn’t blink. No other creature alive has ever managed that, not even Spyder. You’re the part of me I didn’t know was missing until I lost you. I never want to feel that emptiness again.”

“Thank you for loving me as you do, Lucian. I don’t need you to say it, not when everything you do to show me how much you care for me.”

Theory of a Deadman’s Wicked Games rendition came on, and he smiled. “I do believe that this is our song, Lena. No.” He interrupted when I opened my mouth to argue the meaning of the song. “It’s about what happens when you have an attraction that isn’t good for you. I knew I was bad for you, yet nothing could have stopped us from being together. Eventually, we’ll find another song that fits us as our family grows. Music is important to you, and you need us to have that connection. I personally prefer FMLYHM’s Seether, but if I played it right now, you’d end up bent over that bar while I made that song have an entirely new significance for you.”

“Is that so?” I asked, smiling as I clung to his suit jacket. “Maybe I’m into that.”

He laughed, shaking his head as he grabbed my hand, leading me to his office. “Kinky, woman. You’re no longer on display for others, because I’m a selfish prick that intends to keep you for myself.” I smiled at the jealousy of his tone, allowing him to pull me into the room before he closed the door behind us. “Do not strip. Place your hands on that desk, and do not fucking move.”

I bit my lip, turning to smile at him as the memories of the last time I’d been in this room in this position came back. “I don’t think so, Blackstone. You may own everything inside this world, but you don’t own me.”

His eyes narrowed as I crossed my arms over my breasts and gave him a pointed look. My hair was done up in the same style I’d worn that night. My heels were also the exact shoes as well. He wanted his fantasy, and he’d dressed me to play the part. I’d play it alright, but he’d get that Lena, and he would fucking love it.

“Witch, unless you want that pretty ass of yours to be too sore to sit, I’d follow my instructions.” He slowly began to unbutton his shirt, freeing the wealth of muscles there. Next, he undid his belt, watching me through the slits of his eyes. “I’m going to enjoy this, Fitzgerald.”

“You can try, but you’re the most conceited asshole inside this town.”

“I own your town, woman.”

“Everything but me,” I whispered.

“Oh, but you’re the reason I fucking bought this city. I only wanted one thing in it, and that was your gorgeous ass, on your knees, begging me for mercy.”

“But you don’t have any mercy.”

“Didn’t say you’d get it, Witch,” he chuckled, letting his belt fall from his hand. “I only said you’d beg me for it.”

“You wish, but here’s the thing, asshole, I don’t beg. Not unless it is to get something I want, and I don’t want you…”

His hand curled around the back of my neck, and he yanked me to his mouth. I moaned against it, whimpering when he broke the kiss after only a moment of connecting me to it.

“That’s what I thought. You’re wet, aren’t you? I haven’t touched that naked pussy, and it’s already weeping to be fucked, isn’t it?”

“Not at all,” I lied, slowly moving back.

“Show me how not wet you are, Witch.”

I shivered, smiling as he tilted his head, studying me. He was the predator, and I was his prey. This man had moved the world to free me from what I’d done to myself—to us. I’d taken his choice away, and he’d never damned me for doing that.

Instead, he’d done all that he could to get everything back to the way that it was and to fix what had happened to me because of his and Katarina’s game.

He’d loved me selflessly, and I returned it to him without caring what he was or that he wasn’t even a man.

This creature was my world, and I’d finally found my place here, in his arms.