Page 19 of Ravaging Red (Monsters of the Hollow Realm #1)

I shook my head as we both looked up into the sky. “No. That moon is cursed by something evil.”

“Can it hurt us?” She wondered, staring up at it.

I shook my head. “Not in the way you think.”

I kept my thoughts private because I didn’t know what that moon could do to us. It brought me my mate, but it could just as easily rip her away, causing a pain so powerful it may just kill us.

“To the North,” I continued, taking her mind off the moon. “Where the trees grow gnarled and hunched down like ancient sentinels, there hides the Grove, and it belongs to the Fae.”

“Faeries?”

“Yes, faeries. But not the Tinkerbell kind that are whispered about in human books.”

She threw her head back and laughed, the sound doing something to my heart. I pushed that light way down and concentrated.

“What on earth do you know about Tinkerbell?”

“A lot more than you think. Many of us have studied humanity very closely. Who wouldn’t study the monsters that share a border with us.”

“We’re not monsters.”

“That’s what you think, little mate. There is a lot more evil lurking in your world than there is in mine. Your kind are just more susceptible to it.”

I watched her grow solemn as I continued.

“Faeries here are cruel, beautiful, ageless creatures. Their skin shimmers like moonlight off bone. Their eyes are like dark pools of obsidian. And their court was built on bargains, lies, and eternal hunger. The Grove is always blooming, beautiful but always deadly. There is poison and pleasure braided in the petals of every blossom that grows there. They are known to tempt humans by using that beauty, so you stay close, little mate.”

“You see there,” I pointed far off into the distance, where the sea was barely seen.

She nodded. “There the land sharpens into jagged black rock. There lie the Black Cliffs. It is said that there’s an old Centaur who has made his home there.

Kaelith . A solitary, brutal monster, born of fire and war.

He’s kept watch over the ocean’s edge for centuries.

No one dares to enter since the journey itself has killed many.

The cliffs are said to be cursed, their stones scorched from when dragons once bled fire into the sea.

“Have you met Kaelith?”

“You ask too many questions.”

She shrugged. “I’m a curious kitten.”

I grunted, somewhat loving the idea of having her stretched out somewhere as I fed her warm milk right from my cock. It twitched beneath her and her eyes met mine as she shifted on my lap.

Clearing my throat, I tried to ignore her movements as best I could.

“To the West, buried beneath moss and bone, the Ogres roam the Mirelands. It’s a sinking world of bogs, caves, and twisted wood.

Their dens are carved into the mountains.

There are hollowed-out pits lined with stone, furs, and the broken remains of things they’ve stolen.

Most of them are smugglers and hoarders.

Black-market kings. No laws reign for the Ogres, just dominance and greed.

“I guess that’s why they’re green,” she murmured, and I let out a bark of laughter, shocking her. Before she could say anything, I kept going.

“Deep in the woods there’s a cottage of Bear Shifters that lies hidden.

You wouldn’t find it unless you are meant to.

It smells like pine sap and marked flesh.

Those brothers don’t speak of their past. They don’t need to.

Rumors say that they were once princes of some golden realm.

Now they are monsters hiding from crowns and curses. ”

My eyes turned upward. Looming over us, carved into the mountains sat a cathedral made of crystals and stained glass.

Highstone Hollow was the domain of the Council and their Dragons.

The dragons themselves didn’t crawl at the Council’s feet.

They were massive, winged immortals who ruled by their side.

Their perch was a kingdom made of fire and steel.

Their chamber was rimmed with thrones too large for men, with runes etched into every stone block to hold back any black magic or curses sent their way.

They watched everything. Claimed to protect everything.

But even they were afraid of what lived beneath their reach.

We were what the Council had named us, the Veilborn. But in truth we were the Veilbound. Bound to be slaves to this cursed eternity.

“Be careful, Red.” I warned her. “These monsters aren’t what they seem.

They were exiled for a reason. Traitorous, carnal beasts, who are former gods and failed kings.

Some ran, some rebelled, and some of us were hunters who became hunted.

Others are simply too wild to chain. Every creature in the Hollow has a story carved in darkness.

None of us are pure. Some came here to hide, others came to feast.

And some of us…Some of us came looking for solitude and found something we didn’t realize we had lost. For the one thing no magic, no mark, no curse could take away from us.”

“What’s that?” She asked innocently.

I looked at her, curling a fiery strand of hair around my claw. “A mate.”

I watched as her cheeks grew red, and my cock stirred beneath her. Her eyes widened and she looked up at me, a look of shock and arousal encompassing her pretty features.

“The Hollow may seem like a solace where no desire goes unpunished. But with the Blood Moon rising again, and the old magic awakening, the barrier between our world and yours is as thin and delicate as a soft breath.”

I looked out into the distance, suddenly overwhelmed with a presence of evil. I had a gut feeling that something ancient was coming, and we were all going to bleed for it.