Page 45 of Hated By the Gargoyle

I hated this.

I hated this, but I could not stop it from overtaking me.

I looked at Lucero and seeing the tears in her eyes broke me. I wanted to unchain her, but the thought of her leaving me did not allow me to step forward and rip the magic apart with my bare hands.

She stared at me like she had when I had first taken her.

Like she despised me.

But what she did not know was that I hated myself even more.

“Qanek!”

“I must leave.” I stepped backwards towards the entrance. “I… I must leave.”

I needed to unleash this violence somehow. I needed to tear apart cities. Let blood rain down on my hands.

It always came back to this.

I was the third of my brothers.

The one nobody wanted.

The one always alone.

Too brutal. Too wild. Too beastly.

And not even my wife wanted me.

She wanted to leave me all alone in this world all over again.

“You will never leave me, Lucero,” I vowed. “You promised you would stay, and I will not release you from that promise.”

“Qanek, please–”

But I could not hear what she had to say. I was already flying out of our den.

And her screams followed after me, haunting my very soul.

He left me.

He truly left me chained up in a fucking cave.

I screamed his name until my throat was fucking hoarse, and when it obvious he wasn’t coming back any time soon, I tried freeing myself of my chains.

It did little good.

I wasn’t sure what the fuck type of magic he had that made shadows turn solid, but the restraints were tight along my wrists, and no matter how hard I tugged, they wouldn’t budge. I yanked and yanked, rubbing my wrists raw until they began to bleed.

I tried to use the slickness of my own blood to release my wrists, but it did little good. It seemed the more I struggled, the tighter they choked. When it didn’t work, I tried to pull the chain from the wall, but that did nothing.

When I got nowhere, I slumped onto the nest in resignation, the tears salty on my lips.

I shivered against my own nudity, and my body ached everywhere from my mating with Qanek.

How could something so sweet have turned so fucking sour within a single instant?

Fear gripped me tightly. I knew Qanek wouldn’t leave me here alone, but I was hurt, betrayed.