Page 163 of Evil Hearts

Chapter Two

Beast

I salivate with need as my howl echoes through the night, piercing the very fabric of reality. The pretty and pleasantly plump girl with honeyed-hazel eyes and a long, flaming braid of red trailing down her back has awoken a part of me I thought long dead. My realm is that of the twilight, accessible only between one heartbeat and the next, when the shadows stretch and the sun sets; when the light of day dies, succumbing to the touch of the encroaching dark.

My realm is one of monsters. With claws, tails, wings, and teeth, some are as ugly as the evil within, while others enjoy the game, masquerading in fair form, they hide the wickedness inside with a sinister and breathtaking beauty. Regardless of whether the danger is apparent or cloaked, one truth remains. All the monsters that call this place home are outcasts, creatures cast from the Light; doomed to dwell in the in-between.

We are denied all that comes with the Light. Soft meat is rare, safety is a word without meaning, and finding a mate in this nightmarish landscape? It would be far easier to count the stars in the sky, blinded. In all my long years here, the countless, stretching centuries, I have become the most feared beast—the King of the Twilight—but the decadent, sinful luxury of a female to fuck and mate with has eluded me. Until now.

I will claim this mortal for myself and slaughter any other monster foolish enough to dare stand in my way. Inhaling deeply, a low groan rumbles through my fur-covered chest, and I sigh with deep satisfaction. I can smell her on the wind. The scent of her fear is divine, and the tang of her blood is like nothing I’ve ever tasted. It’s the Light that’s been denied me for so long and I will make it mine, no matter the cost.

Faster than most would believe possible, I lumber through the dark, on the leaf-strewn earth one moment, my claws digging into the dirt, and swinging through the gnarled and deformed trees the next. My nocturnal vision is perfect. I see as clearly as I once did… when I could bask in the sun’s warmth countless ages ago. My eyes pick up each and every disturbance my pretty prey has caused in her panicked attempt to escape me. Her footprints show me the way, but even more strongly, the scent of her blood spread over the woods is like a red ribbon trail leading directly to her.

She is a gift coming unraveled and she doesn’t even know it. Trailing my dark tongues over my enlarged fangs, I see her heat emanating from behind a tree. Not even the cool, swirling, ghostly mist that swamps the woods with its eerie touch cannot hide her from me. She glows like a beacon in the night, like a precious jewel filled with sunlight. The ancient trees groan under my weight, but the woods are so old that they creak and moan all on their own.

My future mate sits huddled at the base of the tree, nestled within the embrace of its large, above-ground roots. Her breathing is uneven, and her pale flesh a canvas marred with bleeding scratches. Damp earth covers her hands and knees and as I draw ever nearer, I can smell the sweet salt of her tears. Without warning I drop down from the branches above her hiding place, shaking the earth where I land. My hulking shadows falls across her, blocking out the strange, orange light of the moon.

She raises her face, her lovely eyes wide and bloodshot, her rosy cheeks smeared with dirt, lacerated, and streaked with her blood. A deep primal fear swells inside her and she trembles anew at my presence. She’s like a fragile butterfly, despite her mouth-watering curves.

I dwarf her, a true beast compared to her short, mortal stature. I stand at least twice her height, and her entire body would not even compare to one of my muscular arms. She is all things soft, breakable, and sweet. And despite the lust-filled, hungry soul raging within me, my dark, broken heart pangs with pity. This mortal is the most beautiful creature I’ve ever laid eyes on and a gut-deep instinct to protect her washes over me, like water extinguishing a blazing fire to smoldering flames and glowing, red coals.

“Are you going to eat me?” she stammers, her heart in her throat, her pulse racing as she waits with bated breath for my answer.

I hunker down low, my great shoulders hunching to get nearer to my pretty little prey. My treasure. My mate. I reach out with an impossibly large, clawed, finger and trail it along her wounded cheek. She tries to turn her face away, but I turn it back to me, guiding her chin with my curved claw. “I’m afraid I am, pretty girl,” I tell her, a ghastly grin stretching my lips back over my maw of fangs.

A fresh river of tears flow and a strangled sound escapes her. “Please,” she whispers. “I don’t want to die.”

I reach down and pick her up by her waist, holding her in one immense hand, my fingers wrapping around her. “I’m going to eat you alive,” I assure my unwilling mate, stroking her red hair with a single, curious finger. “I will not let you die.”

Sheer terror reflects back at me as my honey-eyed, plump morsel gasps, her eyes rolling back in her head before she slumps in my grasp, going limp.

With a knowing smile, I hold her carefully, folding in my arm to cradle her against my giant, furry chest. My poor sweet thing thinks I’m going to eat her alive, literally; no doubt she just imagined me tearing her limb from limb as she rends the night with her blood-curdling screams. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m going to eat her, but not like that. Oh, yes. Not like that, my pretty little prey… but you will scream. I’ll make sure of it.