Page 13

Harlow

Friday Afternoon

Dark Haven Cafeteria

“ A lright, Drake,” I said with a smirk. He narrowed his eyes and Hiro, Layne, and Crew focused on us. “So, tell me how you landed here. From group therapy it sounds like a hell of a story. I want details.”

“No.” His answer was so abrupt and blunt that I burst into laughter. He glared at me before picking up his tray and stalking off.

“He’s never going to eat with us again,” Layne declared. “It’s only because of you that he’s bothered lately.”

“Really?” I asked, a bit shocked that this was the first time I’d heard this. I assumed he had been eating with them from the start.

“There’s a lot that’s changed,” Hiro agreed. “He’s not as harsh as he was.”

“To you,” Crew offered with a shrug. His voice was sharp, and I knew something was wrong. I just couldn’t figure out why his anger was aimed at me.

Did he realize Roman, Hiro, and Drake were my mates?

“What’s going on?” I murmured. Crew looked up and shrugged again. He seemed to be fighting with himself to find the right words.

“Why am I not good enough for you but Hiro and Drake are? Drake’s a dick,” he said, almost shouting it.

I dropped my fork, the metal clattering against the table startling me as much as his tone.

“She can’t date the whole damn floor,” Layne deadpanned. “Technically none of us are supposed to date but you’ve fucked me in the boiler room.”

His eyes snapped up to meet hers at the sharp ending to her statement. “Layne...”

“You told me you didn’t want anything serious, that us being a scent match didn’t mean forever,” she said, voice breaking. “Yet you want that with her?”

“No, that’s not it,” he argued weakly.

“So, what, she’s better than me?” Layne got up and walked away, tears brimming in her eyes.

She was a bit quiet today, so I had a feeling this hurt more today. Then again, with what she just said, I imagined it was a continual pain she faced quietly.

“Layne,” I said, leaving my own tray and going after her. She was quick, already depositing her tray and racing for the door. I shoved my way through the crowd, but she was long gone by the time I got to the front of the cafeteria.

“Looks like you’re the whore of the third floor,” a girl snarked as I rushed after my friend. Apparently, they’d all heard the scene from the way everyone’s eyes were on me.

“Fuck you,” I bit out, but someone stepped between us, back to me. Dark chocolate and spice filled my senses.

Drake.

“Don’t fucking talk to her like that,” he warned. His voice was low and deep, and the girl stuttered out a string of words that didn’t make sense before rushing off.

“I didn’t need you to defend me,” I told him. It was embarrassment that had the words falling from my mouth. He just turned around and bent down so our faces almost touched.

“Let me make one thing very clear, Harlow. You chose to come to my room, offered yourself up like a fine wine, and now you want to back away? That’s not how this works. You’re mine now, simple as that. So, pack up whatever attitude you intend to throw my way. I’ll fuck it out of you later, regardless,” he said in a slow, purposeful tone before turning and walking away.

He was making it clear I was his now and there was no going back.

The lunchroom was silent as I stood there, stunned. Every set of eyes in the room was watching me, seeing what drama would come from me next.

Yet what could I say? We were mates, bonded ones at that, and we were avoiding the topic. However he was very clear on his intentions and I liked it more than I should. I wanted him to mark me, claim me, and not regret me like everyone always had.

As if on fucking cue, Nurse Drew walked back in. She scanned the room with a purpose before landing on me. She gestured me over, adding yet more fuel to the dumpster fire that was my existence here.

“Do you need us?” It wasn’t Hiro that approached then, but Roman. His voice was hard, concerned, subtle differences I was able to use to tell them apart.

I wondered briefly if it was me who triggered the change in him.

“Harlow, Doctor Vane would like to speak with you. It seems you didn’t read that sneaking out at night was prohibited, as well as visiting the sixth floor,” she seethed.

I’d never heard her so mad, and I felt the blood drain from my face. Not only was I in trouble, possibly got her in trouble, but now I was going back to that office.

How the hell did she even find out I ‘snuck’ out. Not that I could remember anything except waking up on the roof. Panic rose with each thought, and I didn’t know how I would get out of this, just that I had to.

“No, I can’t go in there,” I protested, panic filling me at the prospect of seeing that monster again. “I just woke up on the roof, tried to find my way back, I didn’t sneak out.”

“The roof?” she gasped, looking even more startled than before. “You don’t get to dictate where you go. After this stunt, you’ll be lucky to have privileges like eating in here or doing anything without supervision. I won’t lose my job over some careless girl.”

“That’s not what I was trying to do. I didn’t do anything wrong,” I protested again but it was weak this time as she nodded at an orderly who clamped his hand on my arm and started to drag me to the door.

“Nurse Drew ...” Drake tried to step in, but two orderlies put themselves between us, blocking him from coming after me.

“Monty!” I screamed as they dragged me down the hall, kicking and screaming the whole way. “Help me. I can’t let him touch me again. Monty!”

“Stop this or we will sedate you!” Nurse Drew thundered, stopping so abruptly we almost ran right into her. I glanced past her to the shadow figures looming behind her.

“Fuck you, there’s no way you don’t know what that monster does to us. How do you sleep at night?”

If I had liked her before, it was obviously misguided. She was heartless. And from the way her eyes shadowed and she turned with a huff, she fucking knew every bit of vile bullshit he put people through.

Coldhearted bitch.

My fight waned as we went into the elevator, their fingers digging into my skin and likely leaving bruises. The less I fought, the less it hurt, but the idea of just allowing them to take me to him wasn’t even a fucking option.

When they finally dragged me off the elevator and into his office, I expected everyone to leave but Nurse Drew stuck by me.

Each step we took was followed by shadow figures, the dark beings filling the halls and closing in around us increased as my panic rose.

I screamed out for Monty or anyone who would listen, anything to not have to do this.

My name being screamed from the hall cut through the internal freakout, and I glanced over to see Monty slamming blue fire at the doorway as if an invisible barrier stood there. Suddenly it made sense why he never came before.

He couldn’t.

The moment he saw I made the connection he stopped, standing there looming just out of reach.

The idea that this place was untouchable for him, that I was truly alone, unprotected, terrified the fuck out of me.

At this point, I was shoved in front of Vane, who looked less than amused by my behavior.

“She’s having a bad day,” Nurse Drew announced dryly when the doctor didn’t acknowledge our entrance.

Vane turned around to face me, and I almost gasped at the difference in his appearance. His once handsome face was so pale it looked like he had black eyes.

Despite that, his veins looked wrong, as if someone had mixed ink with his blood, darkening them significantly. Any emotion he’d pretended to have the first time was gone, he was a void of a human now, and I questioned if he was even that.

Drake seemed so sure that Vane wasn’t a demon. But he was wrong, he had to be, Vane had to be one of them.

“Harlow!” Vane’s bellowed words had me startling out of my head. I realized he must have been talking to me and I hadn’t heard a word.

“How did you get on the roof? That door is locked,” he demanded. His voice shook with barely suppressed anger and I knew no matter what I said I’d be punished.

“I didn’t go up to the roof,” I insisted as if he’d ever hear me out. “I woke up there.”

“Don’t lie to me.” His lips formed a thin line as he stared me down. I went to give Nurse Drew a frantic look only to find she was gone. My chest tightened with fear, and it took everything in me to turn back to the enemy. He noticed the change in me and a cold smile curled his lips.

“I’m not,” I said slowly, as if he simply wasn’t understanding me. “That’s what happened.”

He tapped away at his computer for a moment before turning his screen to the side so we could both see. I watched a security cam in the hallway of the third floor show me leaving my room. My eyes weren’t closed, but I looked off. Something about this wasn’t right.

He hit a key and the camera shifted to a view of the stairwell.

Again, I walked right up the stairs, like I was on a fucking mission. I tugged once on the door, then twice, with no luck. Then I froze for a few seconds and it swung open.

“I don’t remember any of this.” It was impossible to argue against hard evidence, yet it changed nothing, this was like watching a stranger. I had no flashes of memory, nothing from the night other than going right to bed.

“It doesn’t matter if you do. You broke protocol, and one more incident like this will land you on our high-security floor. Judging from the scene you caused in the lunchroom today, I’d say that’s the worst-case scenario for you.”

“What the fuck, do you just watch me?” I said with a horrified gasp.

My filter was gone in light of this news. My skin felt like it was crawling, and I wanted to run from the room and save myself. Yet we both knew who held the power here, and it wasn’t me.

Him knowing I had mates and protectors wasn’t good.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have cameras in the patients’ rooms, but otherwise, yes. Every single moment of every single day, just know that my eyes are on you, Harlow.”

“Why? That’s fucking creepy, even for a monster like you,” I said.

He simply laughed and waved me out. Because I highly doubted he was just watching other patients like this.

Why did I get the extra attention?

“If one more incident like this happens, you know the outcome.” It was a thinly veiled threat, and I didn’t bother to argue this time as I stood and ran from the room.

My feet barely left the threshold to the hallway when I was surrounded by shadows.

My stomach flipped as if I were on a rollercoaster and my scream of shock was cut off before it even left my lips.

As suddenly as I was surrounded, it all faded and I was standing in an empty patient room with Monty frantically pacing. I’d seen him pop in and out of existence, but this time, he’d taken me along for the ride.

“Did he touch you?” We never talked again after he found me with Drake. I also hadn’t realized how little I called for him now that I’d found friends and settled in here.

He seemed to be feeling the effects, his words intense as he checked me over for marks.

“I’m fine, no,” I reassured him, but I could feel the distance between us.

I hated it.

But the moment I fully took in my monster, I couldn’t shake Drake’s words. He said Monty wasn’t a hallucination, and I needed to hear Monty admit it himself.

“Are you a demon?” I asked him.

“Yes,” he said after a few beats.

This was the first moment I was acknowledging he wasn’t just in my head. I wondered if he thought it would change things.

Then again, Dark Haven had already changed me, and us, in the process.

“Why? You’ve never asked me before.” He sounded almost panicked. I’d never seen Monty anything less than calm and collected even if he was furious.

“Why are you banned from Vane’s office?” I demanded. “I need to know why you didn’t save me if you care.”

“If ?” he seethed. “Don’t fucking talk down to me, Harlow. I care more than I ever should.”

“Yet...” I trailed off, letting the silence hang between us. It was full of every unsaid accusation I had. I’d gone through a lot of fucking shit in my life, and he’d only been present for half of it, even if I called.

“My obligations are none of your concern, little human. Again, I ask. Did he touch you?”

“No, I told you. And what does it fucking matter if he did, Monty?!” I screamed back. “You pop in and out on me, including when I was fucking Drake, and now you demand I tell you things while giving me half-assed answers? You don’t own me, Monty.”

At the mention of Drake, he froze; clearly, I’d struck a nerve.

His laughter was cruel and grating, creeping down my spine like ice. I backed away from him, swallowing my fear as he stalked forward until I was pinned between him and the bed.

“You are mine,” he corrected me. “I own every inch of you, Harlow, do not forget that.”

“Fuck you,” I said, my voice trembling as his scent of storms and icy rain wrapped around me. I shivered, but it wasn’t the cold, it was all him.

“Who did you call for when you were scared?” he demanded.

We both knew I couldn’t lie my way through this one, it had been him.

Always Monty.

But he was preying on these poor people. Or at least others of his kind were. Would he truly be any different?

The image of that terrified woman still haunted me. She meant nothing to the demon that taunted her.

Did I mean anything to my own personal demon? Was I stupid for how much I cared about him? Even now I was hating myself for possibly hurting him by fucking Drake.

If the others were my mates, their scents calling to me, then so was he. Did that change anything?

“Stop doubting me, Harlow. I never said I was good for you, or that I could be with you every moment you demand me to be,” he gritted out. “I’m not a fucking guardian angel and even they are less reliable than us demons, we just won’t lie to you about it.”

“I’m not yours, Monty,” I said again, but weaker this time. I was his and we both knew it. He was my constant, my protector, even if not in the most wholesome ways.

He was also right. Monty was always honest. It was me who didn’t ask him the right questions.

Yet, he was a demon.

My heart pounded as he slid his hands up my arms. I couldn’t see his actual arms or legs thanks to the shadows and robes that he wore, but he felt solid.

Real.

One touch from him had my body begging for more, craving the knot I knew he hid. Every nerve ending was on fire, my skin heating as lust surged within me.

“I knew you’d be intoxicating, little human, from the moment I decided you’d be mine this way.”

With a tremor in my voice, I asked, “Why haven’t you touched me like this before?” It was probably stupid to ask, and I was going to hurt my own feelings, but I needed to hear it.

“You weren’t ready to take me,” he said simply. “I couldn’t be your first. I’m not the take-care-of-you type, I’m the cause-pain-and-revel-in-it type. Can you handle me, Harlow? Because I want to take you as hard as I possibly can, make you feel like my cock is splitting you in half, and drink down your screams of agony. Then when you feel like you can’t take anymore, only then will I show you mercy. If you’ve earned it.”

My jaw dropped at his crude words. Part of me was terrified, knowing he’d break me in ways I didn’t know I could be broken. But the other side of me, the dark and twisted side, needed to know what it felt like to be taken by him.

I wondered if I was possibly hurting my chances with Drake, Roman, or Hiro. But at the moment, I didn’t care.

“Are we mates, Monty?”

“Not like they are. I’m more,” he said with a growl that rattled through me, heightening everything I was feeling. It healed some of the hurt that had wedged between us.

“I can take you, Monty,” I lied through my teeth, desperately needing to know if I could, and damn the consequences.

We’d find out if I could be what he needed.

I had a feeling there weren’t safe words with a demon.

Monty’s skull mask fell away, revealing his true face. Or rather, another face.

I couldn’t really call it human. His features were sharp, chiseled, and I could now make out features like his glowing eyes, a sharp nose, and a wide mouth.

He was breathtaking, in a terrifyingly beautiful way.

His teeth were pointed and gleaming white, stretching across his pale-bluish gray face. It felt like his depthless black eyes were tearing into me, revealing everything I was to the demon who claimed to own me.

Even though to most he’d be an abomination, to me he was Monty. He was terrifying, yet sexy, and I wanted him more than I ever thought possible.

His robes fell away, revealing a muscular body. A tail swayed back and forth behind him, and his horns even seemed bigger, curling upward menacingly now that he stood before me in all his glory.

His cock jutted out proudly, twice the size it was last time he taunted me. There was no way it would truly fit, not without literally tearing me apart.

Somehow, I don’t think that would be an issue for my demon.

He held up a clawed finger, letting it glint in the soft lighting, before dragging it down my cheek, then my chest, marking a path down my entire body. The sting it caused hurt enough that I cried out as he scratched his way down to my pussy, cutting my clothes in half in the process.

He tossed them away like mere rags, but I couldn’t utter a complaint. My words had escaped me. More and more I felt like a buffet for this creature, and I could only hope I’d have something left of myself when he was done.

I was shaking with need the more he studied me, touched me, and was almost to the point of begging for more.

Even as his claws marked me, Icy tendrils of shadows trailed over my exposed body. Each touch left a tingling behind. It was hard to focus on one at a time.

A shadow teased around my nipple with ghostly cool brushes, swirling and stinging in tandem. Then another was moving lightly over my skin causing me to arch into the touch. A third was ghosting over my thighs, touching everywhere but where I needed.

Without warning he slammed one of the tendrils into my core. It was thick and punishing, stretching me painfully even as the others teased around my clit, drowning me in pleasure and pain.

I cried out, knees buckling and falling back on the bed. His cold laughter echoed in the small space as he loomed over me, fucking me with his shadows as he stood tall, watching me suffer for him.

The feeling was almost indescribable. It felt like he was fucking me with ice, almost too cold to bear, but my body arched into each thrust, craving more of what he was willing to give. My fingers tightened in the sheet beside me, and I writhed under the attention.

The other tendrils swept over me, touching and possessing every inch of my body, ghost touches that only amplified the needy lust that was thrumming through me more intensely with each moment he tortured me.

At some point, as I lost myself to feeling the sharp sting of cold and the sinful touches. He’d bound my wrist and arms with more shadows, spreading me wide for him. I was helpless, forced to endure and survive my monster’s brand of primal lust.

My chest heaved with labored breaths, mind panicking at being bound, but I wasn’t truly afraid.

Monty might hurt me, but he also kept me safe.

Despite everything he said he was, everything I knew he was, Monty was mine.

I wanted to please him.

Then came the pain.

It was nothing like the little bursts of it he’d given me so far. It was visceral, cutting through the haze and refusing to let me ignore it.

The first was a slap to my clit, sharp and powerful, making me scream out. He never stopped fucking me. The incessant pounding rhythm beat in time with my heart, making it all-consuming.

The second was a shock of electricity. It zapped through the shadows, striking whenever he saw fit. The jolt was jarring each time, and he followed it by swirling a claw gently over my clit, successfully giving me pleasure to soothe away the pain until I realized I wanted more of it, more of both.

“More,” I begged, sobbing out the words. My body was oversensitive, and my brain was completely blank. Slick was coating my pussy, thighs, and likely the mattress underneath, filling the air with my scent. He knew I was loving it and I could hear his heaving breaths as he savored the scent.

My emotions were riding just under the surface like he was trying to break me, exposing me for everything I locked away and letting no part of me be out of his reach.

I’d underestimated him when he said he owned me. He clearly did.

“More of what, little human?” he asked with a smirk. “Ready to be fucked by a real demon, to be stretched and knotted until you can’t take anymore?”

“Yes,” I breathed out. “Take me.”

Listening to my pleas, he amped it up, each shock more intense. The shadow he fucked me with widened, stretching me more than any man had so far.

Then he added another, the two dueling, moving in and out of me in tandem while buzzing with energy.

My first orgasm was ripped out of me like he was demanding a sacrifice. My voice was hoarse and broken as I cried out against it.

Each wave that washed through me had my body shaking and hands tugging my unrelenting restraints.

He didn’t stop as I fought and writhed on the bed, one quickly turning to two as he doubled his efforts. I couldn’t tell what was pleasure and what was pain any longer, it all melded in my mind to one entity.

Again, with no warning, it was all gone, except my restraints. My body still pulsed with feeling, my pussy aching from the torture. My breath came out in short, shuddering gasps, body twitching with the aftershocks.

“I went easy on you this time, Harlow,” Monty mocked me as he leaned in closer.

My laughter pealed out, and I sounded crazed.

“Easy?”

He nodded once as if that much was obvious.

Monty stretched himself over me, pinning me to the mattress and settling his hips against mine as his mouth pressed to my lips. It was strange kissing him, his lips thin and icy, teeth sharp and grazing me.

Yet it was hot as hell, possessive, intense, and overwhelming like everything he did to me so far. He was proving that no matter who I held, who fucked me, that I’d never forget that he owned me.

As Monty pulled away, I tried to reach for him, longing to touch him back, but he simply tightened the shadowed restraints in response.

I noticed his chest puff out in pride that I’d needed more of him still. It was nice to know he was just as gone for me as I was him. Even if he hid it.

When he leaned back on his knees, he towered over me. My eyes raked over him hungrily, taking in every bulge of muscle and every inch of him I could see through the shadows.

His chest rose and fell rapidly as he lazily stroked his cock. It was too big, impossibly so, and I knew I might not live through this.

Was it wrong that I was ready to face that inevitability?

Then he thrust into me.

My screams went on long enough that my voice gave out. Tears tracking down my face as blinding pain pulled at my senses.

My cunt was burning as if he truly had split me in two, and I couldn’t look down through the tears. No amount of slick would lessen this pain.

“I told you, you’d take all of me, Harlow, one way or another,” Monty called out as he started to fuck me, not caring that I could barely fit his cock inside of me, that each push felt as if I were tearing in half with no hope of saving myself. “Take me, little human. Give into the pain, let it free you.”

A whimper was all I had to give him in response.

My mind soared as he consumed me, every worry and fear gone as all I knew now was the feel of Monty breaking me.

A sharp shock to my nipples brought my brain back online, Monty grinning down at me as he fucked me without mercy.

“Come back to me, little human, I want you to come on my cock, show me that you like me filling you more than should be possible. Pushing you to your limits will be my favorite game.”

Now that I was back in my own head, I let out a sob, the pain almost overwhelming, but as he swirled the tip of his spiked tail over my clit, something more started to form.

The pain was still strong enough that I couldn’t call it pleasant, that was impossible. The release was sluggish, each tease of his tail had me teetering on the edge, having to war with the pain.

Monty wasn’t allowing my body to be slow, letting out a guttural growl and pulling out of me. The absence was almost as painful as fucking him, but I forgot it all as he latched his mouth on my clit and sucked hard, forcing the orgasm to slam into me harsh enough my vision faltered for a moment before he put a hand on my throat.

With his touch came a wave of lust so intense that the last effects of the pain were chased away, replaced with a heady need that thrummed through me. He didn’t need to bite me for our bond to form. I was his, it was just a fact that existed without the need for a physical representation. He was on me, in me, owned me on a level no other could.

Monty stood over me then, letting his tail move from my clit to my cunt, taking over for his cock as he stroked himself with a hand. His gaze devoured me whole, and I was enraptured seeing him lose a semblance of his control and indifference.

For once, I could read his face, see the possessive adoration and hunger there plainly.

With a low, feral growl he came. Ropes of cum painted my chest, stomach, then my face. I licked over my lips, the salty taste had me humming in approval.

“Mine,” he reminded me in case I didn’t get the message during all that. “Now let me soothe you... a bit. Walking is important.”

I laughed at his joking demeanor, a far cry different after claiming me, until he spread my legs farther and licked his tongue over me, the iciness calming the sharp ache.

Each flick or thrust of his tongue had a tingling relief spreading through me, the aches diminishing but not completely. My poor pussy was still throbbing but at least now it was manageable.

I wouldn’t be healed completely for days, feeling him every time I took a step or sat down.

It was intentional, and if he could, I had a feeling he’d have left me in full pain, healing at his mercy.

He didn’t make me come this time, simply pulling away when I was breathing normally again.

My hand shifted to my chest and right into a sticky line of cum. He watched as my fingers trailed through it, my omega purring at the knowledge of being so thoroughly owned.

Until it was sticky and I was shivering at the cold. He’d ruined my clothes.

“Uh, Monty. I’m covered in your cum and naked,” I pointed out.

He chuckled before disappearing. “Good luck with that,” were his parting words that echoed in the room after he’d gone.

“You son of a bitch!” I cried out in disbelief. “I don’t even fucking know where I am.”

He popped back in with fresh clothes and wrapped the shadows around me as he pulled me to the showers. I expected him to pop out again when I was safely inside, but he surprised me by standing vigil as I cleaned myself off and pulled my clothes on.

I figured every gasp of pain or discomfort was fueling his pride, yet he was far from gloating.

“What’s wrong?” I asked as soon as I stepped out to see him slightly slumped in on himself like something was weighing him down.

It was odd to see him vulnerable, and it startled me more than anything had at Dark Haven so far. He was my unshakable monster.

“I get it now,” he said. “Why you need them. Normally, I’d have just left you there. I’m not kindhearted, I’m a demon, Harlow. I can’t snuggle you or any of that bullshit.”

“You mean Hiro, and Roman, and Drake?” I asked without hesitation. We didn’t have secrets between us.

At least I didn’t, Monty likely had many.

“Yes,” he agreed. “Hel said you would need them.”

“You are enough for me, but so are they.” I asked, “Also, Hell? Is that where you’re from?” I knew the answer, Drake had mentioned her. But again, I needed that confirmation from him.

“Hel, as in the ruler of Helheim,” he corrected me. “She’s our creator, our queen. The one I answer to.”

Monty didn’t seem the type to answer to anyone, and it had me wondering just who this Hel was and how scary she might be.

I already knew, even before I asked.

The flashes, Drake’s words, it was all falling into place.

“So, not only did I stumble into Dark Haven and demons, but a mythological place as well,” I deadpanned. “That tracks.”

“It’s not a myth, it’s reality. At least another reality, my reality,” he said. “I have to go. You should go find Hiro. He’s softer than any of us.”

“Why?” The suggestion was completely out of left field.

“Aftercare. I hear you humans need it, and that’s not something I can provide.”

With that, he left me again, standing dumbfounded as I processed everything that had happened today.

Why did it feel like every day at Dark Haven was one giant mindfuck after another?

And it was only the beginning.