AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She’s mine…yet he’s the one getting to spend what is one of our last nights with her, all because he got legs and can’t use them. He’s a hinderance at the moment and a part of me wants to leave him here.
Julie won’t let me because she likes him. The memory of her riding him in the cave having spent the night with him sours my mood further. I carried her all day; I should get something more than sitting guard.
The ache in my feet only adds to the darkness of my mood. There’s blood around my toenails and my arm hasn’t healed up the way it once would’ve. If I can’t heal fast, then the next fight could be my last.
Yet I’m sitting here listening to them fuck.
I close my eyes, but it doesn’t help.
The spike from the dead monster is solid in my hand. It’s dark, and serrated on one side. A ferocious weapon to grow. A dangerous monster that we were lucky to survive a fight with. If not for Theo, we might have lost.
This spike could slit a throat or stab a heart. It would be kinder to kill him than leave him to fight and die or be eaten alive. Yeah, I nod. I have almost convinced myself that it is the best thing to do. Kill him so he doesn’t slow us down.
“You don’t want to use that on your friend,” Theo says like he can read my thoughts. He reaches out a hand as if to take it from me.
Was Joe ever my friend? I helped him because he needed it…because I needed it. He stuck around because he lusted after me, then stayed even when he forgot why he was there. And I convinced myself that it was safer having someone at my back.
Julie’s right, I made a home. I found the cave and filled it with scraps of a life.
Theo plucks the spike out of my hand, and I don’t stop him. If I fight him, he’ll eat me. For a moment, that doesn’t seem too bad. My body aches in ways I can’t remember ever feeling.
I do remember the feeling of not being able to have what I want, of having to make do. This is no different. I want her, but she’s with someone else. The same as always. Why am I second best?
I fist my hand, watching the two clawed fingers and the two human one curl until the claws and nails dig into by palm. “I hate him.”
“You don’t.”
“How can you not hate him? Don’t you want to be in there?”
He moves, and I’m sure that he’s now staring at me. Though for all I know, he could be watching them. He likes that. Maybe he’s used to watching and is more than happy to sneak around.
“I do. But she is human and I am too monstrous. Too big. And I saw the look on her face when she saw me. She will not come near me looking like this. So I will do what I can to be less of what she hates. And perhaps I will become more human in the process.”
I glare at him. “That’s your plan?”
“Do you have a better one that doesn’t involve killing your friend and becoming more of a monster?”
He’s there trying to be less of a monster and I’m thinking about sating my jealousy with Joe’s blood. If I kill Joe and take Julie, will Theo kill me? I need to find Theo’s weakness.
“You were the one who suggested sharing her because you couldn’t protect her. Or have you forgotten?”
I had forgotten. Why should I share her when I found her? She should be mine.
A groan drifts toward us and jealousy seethes in my guts. I want to go over and tear them apart. If I do, will Theo stop me?
I get to my knees, testing him. “You’re wrong. She prefers monsters to men.”
She never wanted me. She just used me.
I to turn to see Julie dressed and on her knees, while Joe is twisted in agony. My lips curl, enjoying his pain and her panic.
I want them to suffer.
If she wants him, she can have him. Why should I make the effort to be something that she wants? I’m better off without her. I always have been.
Heat bursts across my chest, stealing my breath. I clutch my heart as it seems to stop. Beneath my fingers, my skin hardens. I watch as it spreads, creeping over my chest in thick, scaly plates. I gasp, “make it stop.”
“I can’t,” Theo says. “You did this.”
