AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I begin walking, so many things running through my mind. We can't stay here. Anyone in my village would know to look here first. It's a well-known access point to their world. I need to move Leah and get her all the things she'll need when she inevitably wakes up. I have nothing here. Nothing prepared like I would have if she were drafted.
There's only one place I know we can reach from here without having to go above ground again. It's a cavern one of the Grounders had begun to build and furnish, but his mate died before she could be drafted. I shiver, feeling like going there is some bad omen, but it's somewhere I feel no one would come looking for me. More importantly, for us. Another couple of minutes and we're there. There're two finished rooms, the sitting area and the room any of us would carve out first, the hot spring. It will have to be enough for now. There are two couches and I lay Leah on the larger one. I get sticks, making a small fire in case she wakes up while I'm gone and needs light. I know she'll be afraid, but hopefully a little less if she doesn't awaken to utter darkness.
Then, I'm gone, rushing back to the hole I came down here through, climbing up and carefully breaking the surface once more. I run through the forest to the closest cluster of houses, looking for one that's empty and dark. There's one on the end of the street. I break in through the back door and hurry to get what I need, collecting any foods I've seen Leah eat before from the kitchen. As I go up the stairs, I catch my reflection in the framed photos that line the wall. I’m still covered in blood and that’s not what I want Leah to see the moment she wakes up. I find the bathroom and clean myself as best as I can in the sink, then head to the bedroom at the end of the hall, hoping to find women's clothing.
In the closet, dresses are hanging up, but they’re for a much older woman. I'll settle for it if there's nothing else, but I go to the other bedroom, hoping there's another option. There is. I'm tempted to take everything hanging in the closet, but I only take five shirts, four dresses, and six pair of pants. I grab some candles from the dresser, a blanket from the end of the bed, and a large black bag off a hook on the wall before hurrying back downstairs, and putting everything into the black bag. Then, I walk towards the back door again, but pause when I hear the television from what is probably the house next door. It's an emergency alert, telling people to lock their doors because a monster has gone against the truce we have and come above ground to kill threeinnocentmen. They don't mention that I did it because they were holding a woman hostage.
My woman.
"The footage you're about to see isn't suitable for young viewers," a woman intones.
A video plays, and even though I can only hear it, I can tell it's of me. The sound of the knife cutting, sword slashing, my growl of pure rage. People are told again to stay indoors and lock their doors, as if a door could ever stop any of us. But I need to get out of this house, and back underground right now. If they're willing to tell people a monster did the killing, and show them a video of a monster they like to pretend doesn't exist except when the draft comes around, then it's because they expect it to help them root me out.
I run back to the forest, the thoughts hitting me that if they're showing this video to humans, they have surely shown it to my father, trying to condemn me in his eyes. Will he believe the video or who he knows me to be? I get back to the hole, moving the cover aside and dropping the bag in as I check to make sure I wasn't followed. I jump down, taking off as soon as I land, hoping Leah isn't awake and afraid. A few more minutes and I begin to hear Leah's thoughts again. I damn near stumble when I see myself in her dream. I'm not covered in blood in her mind, although my claws and fangs are still out. She's not afraid in her dream though, reaching forward to touch my face, stepping closer to me until our bodies are flush against each other's. Just seeing it makes a violent shudder rake through me. I can still feel the way she moved on me, her wetness covering me more and more as she arched her hips forward. I thought her voice was my favorite sound in this world. I was wrong. Her moan is. I'd damn near dropped her when I heard it, but then I'd slowed down and the shame rushed through her, embarrassment. How I wanted to kiss every single thing running through her mind away, but I know that I need to be careful. Not to scare her more, to get her to believe everything I still have to tell her.
I can't go about this the usual way, spending my days trying to woo her to want to stay. There's really no point in any of that now. I will have to tell too many truths to explain all of this.
I set the bag down, quietly unpacking the contents, and then I go about lighting the candles to provide Leah with more visibility when she awakens. I'm putting the last of the food on the other couch when she begins to blink her eyes open. My chest stills, trapping the breath inside as I watch her, as I wait for what her reaction to seeing me will be. Her eyes open, adjusting to the small amount of light as she looks around. She's trying to piece everything together as she slowly sits up, then her eyes lock with mine and she gasps. I watch the visions and listen to her thoughts as it all comes flooding back. I growl at the story of how she ended up there becoming more complete to me.
Me, covered in blood, tossing the man's throat to the ground has her pressing her back closer to the couch, but then she tilts her head, squinting her eyes at me.
"You...savedme," she says low.
"I will always save you."
Her brows furrow, but then her eyes widen, looking down at her naked body. Her hands are quick to cover herself. I take a dress from the couch and slowly extend it to her. She takes it, pulls it over her head, but her thoughts are all lies.
I'm so dirty. I haven't showered since before me and Keri ran. He must think I'm so disgusting.
"I could never find you disgusting," I say before I can stop myself.
She freezes, head slowly rising until her eyes meet mine.
"How did you—"
I swallow and figure I don't really have a choice but to tell her now. "I can hear your thoughts."
Her head snaps back in surprise. "Can monsters hear everyone's thoughts?
I shake my head. "No. We can only hear the thoughts..." I swallow again to push down the nerves trying to choke me. "Of our mate."
I thought she was still before. She's like a rock now, not even breathing as she watches me. My last word echoes in her mind, over and over.
"Your...mate? Are you saying that I'm your..."
She drifts off, so I finish for her. "My mate, yes."
"And other monsters have human mates?"
"They do."
A hope that she desperately tries to smother fills her. In smothering it, it becomes anger, suspicion. "That doesn't make sense. How can humans be your mates, but you kill them?
"We don't kill them. No sacrifice has ever met her death at the hands of a monster."
"But...my sisters—"
"Are alive," I interrupt her.
