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We were supposed to have a happy life together, yet here we stand, with a field between us and a lifetime of hurt.
I’m hurt, I realize, staring into his familiar eyes. Hurt and angry.
He didn’t try to stop the king. He didn’t try to save me. I know it would have been pointless, but the truth is he never even tried to save me, protect me, or get me back. Despite me being his “one true love” and future wife, he never fought for me. He let me be taken away and tortured and tormented without lifting afinger, and now here he stands, looking at me like everything is perfect and right again.
Nothing will ever be right again, not after what I went through.
My body was defiled, my soul was scarred, and my heart turned cold, yet here he stands, well and happy, fed and clothed. He thrives while I died inside, crying every night for him, wishing on a star that he would come and rescue me and we would ride away together into our happily ever after.
Fairy tales are for children, though, and I am not a child.
I don’t want a hero. I want a monster.
It’s then that I comprehend whom he’s with—hunters.
He is with the humans who are trapping and killing monsters—monsters like the ones I care for, who saved me . . . monsters like me.
“Kai, come here.” He holds out his hand, oblivious to the anger darkening my expression. “I’ll protect you.”
“Why? You never did before,” I mutter.
Dade steps before me, and Merryl’s hand drops. I peek around Dade, my hand going to his back. There are so many of them watching.
“You know this chick, Merryl?” one burly man asks.
“Yeah, sh-he’s my . . . mine,” he stutters, his eyes wide as he tries to make sense of everything.
“She’s your nothing,” Dade snarls, making all the hunters jerk.
I can almost see Dade stomping his feet in anger and roaring his claim on me, and my body heats at the realization. He protects and owns me, and he’s not afraid to show it or stand up to a greater force.
“Move, monster, before I make you,”Merrylsnarls, fury in his tone alongside hatred. I have never experienced either fromhim before. He was always so calm, so kind. It’s why I liked him. He was nothing like my father.
I guess we have both changed after all.
“You won’t get anywhere near her, not even over my dead body,” Dade snarls, backing me up to the forest.
“Then over your dead body it is!” someone cheers.
“Dade,” I whisper worriedly.
These are monster hunters, and we are monsters. I can’t lose him, not when I just found him.
Before he can respond, though, there’s a howl. It’s echoed by growls and calls from within the trees, and I watch in awe as monsters pour from the shadows within. With a loud battle cry, they charge the hunters.
There are so many monsters, all working together to attack.
Grabbing Dade’s hand, I tug until he looks at me. “We must go,” I tell him.
He glances back but sees the monsters have it handled, so with a sharp nod, he holds my hand tighter and we slip into the woods, escaping the hunters and my past.
Chapter
Thirty-Nine
DADE
Idon’t speak. I can’t. We run as fast as we can, and I make sure to zigzag and look behind us in case they are following. Kai is quiet at my side, her hand in mine, but she feels so far away.
