Page 32 of Ravaging Red (Monsters of the Hollow Realm #1)

Red

M onths later

The Hollow had always held secrets, and this one was no different.

The woods were once a safe haven, but now they grew still. We knew they were waiting for the darkness to appear, and so were we. It was an unnerving feeling that brought chills down my spine. The child growing inside me was all that mattered now.

I stood in the wild moss just beyond the arched stone gates of the High Fang’s family home. It wasn’t a simple den that Rael had carved from the earth, nor was it the cozy cabin where I’d first fallen to my knees for the Wolf who had changed my life.

This was a castle swallowed by the trees, and built deep into the Hollow’s heart.

It was protected by magic older than his bloodline.

Spires towered over the canopies, half-devoured by ivy and time, and the entire place thrummed with unseen energy.

A citadel fit for a monster. Built for a High Fang. And now it was mine too.

Rael had brought me here the day we left the High Veil. We left the Council behind and without an explanation he took us there, simply telling me this place would shield me from what was coming. I believed him.

He let me travel back through the Veil when I wanted to visit Grandmother, though it pained him.

He never said it, but I knew. His scent lingered on my cloaks even when I was gone for just a few hours, his presence always curled around my skin like armor.

But I would always return, because this was where I belonged.

Here, surrounded by walls carved with his family’s crest, in a bed lined with the furs of beasts long extinct, I had found something I didn’t know I was allowed to want.

Peace.

But peace was always temporary in a place like this.

The cold wind curled around me as I rested my palm against the curve of my belly, heavy and full of his seed. She kicked again, wild and sharp, as if she could feel the shadows tightening around us.

“She’s restless again,” I murmured, my voice soft against the wind.

“I know,” came his voice behind me.

Rael was never far, not when I carried his blood.

I felt his heat before I saw him, his presence strong and comforting.

He was bare from the waist up, streaks of blood smudged across his torso, the aftermath of his morning patrol.

Even painted in violence, he moved like a god.

His shoulders broad, golden eyes glowing with that feral predatory promise that made my knees weak.

Rael wrapped his arms around me from behind, pulling me into the heat of him. One clawed hand slid over the crest of my belly and settled there, firm and protective. His other hand rose to my throat, his fingers resting over the pulse that beat for him alone.

“She feels it,” he said darkly. “The Hollow is shifting again.”

I leaned into his strength, into the warmth of him, anchoring myself to the only thing that made sense anymore.

“I’ve had dreams again,” I whispered. “He's watching us. Craving what he can't have.”

Rael growled. “Watching is all he can do. Because if he comes near, he knows I will twist his soul apart.”

My heart still ached for the one friend I hadn’t been able to find. “Dulce’s still missing, Rael.”

His body tensed behind me. “I know.”

“It’s been months,” I continued. “Not a single trace of her. Nothing in the Veil. No messages through the markets. Are you sure you haven't heard anything? It’s like she vanished.”

“She didn’t vanish,” he said, keeping his voice low. “We both know she was taken, Red.”

Tears burned behind my eyes as I nodded.

“She was scared the last time we talked,” I whispered. “She promised me she wouldn't go into those woods. She told me…”

“Red, you cannot control the Blood Moon. If it calls for you, there is no stopping what it wants.”

“What if she's dead? What if a monster took her and she died fighting?”

“I doubt that's how it works,” he murmured again my neck.

“Rael!” I swatted him away, but he kept me in his arms, his nose buried in my neck.

“Don't you want her to feel what you do? The pleasure and pain you relish in.”

“Well, yes, but not at the cost of her life, or of not seeing her again. She’s still gone, Rael. I don’t get to tell her I’m carrying your daughter. That she made me believe I could survive this world.”

Rael turned me to face him, cradling my jaw in hands that had torn beasts apart, but only ever held me like I was this precious, fragile thing.

“Then I’ll find her,” he growled, a promise soaked in vengeance. “And whoever took her will wish the Hollow swallowed them whole before I did.”

I brushed my fingers along the bridge of his nose, feeling the shift in him, the rising rage. He stirred behind me, his cock swelled with need, pressing against the curve of my lower back. I shivered, not from fear, but from what I knew would come next.

He stepped closer, his claws dragging down my spine, slow and possessive. He spun me in his grip, massive hands spreading over my hips, forcing me against the cold stone wall of the tower as his mouth claimed the side of my neck with a growl.

“This Hollow will burn before anything touches what’s mine,” he snarled into my skin, his voice dropping a menacing octave, sending a thrill to me. “And you, my pet, are mine.”

I gasped when his fangs grazed my bond mark, a flash of pain turned to heat between my legs. My thighs clenched. My body arched. And he didn’t wait.

The cotton of my gown tore beneath his claws, fabric ripped aside until I stood bare in the cold, shivering beneath the hunger of his gaze.

He quickly turned me around, my hands pressing against the stone as I was bent forward.

He knelt behind me, fingers brushing over the swell of my belly before his tongue dipped lower.

He groaned at the scent of me, his mate ripe with child.

His tongue lashed over my core once, twice, and I cried out, the sound snatched away by the wind rushing through the trees.

My nipples pebbled in the cold, the breeze licking at them like a whispered touch, but it was nothing compared to the heat of his mouth as he buried his snout between my thighs.

The contrast was dizzying, winter’s bite across my bare skin, while Rael’s tongue caused a wildfire as it flicked over my clit, incessantly drooling from hunger.

My hips jerked as his fingers gripped me tighter, holding me in place as if he could anchor me to the stone while dragging me into madness.

Every stroke, every wet circle of his tongue sent sparks up my spine, my toes curled, my body vibrated in his hands.

I was split open and claimed, taken and worshipped, and the primal sound vibrating from his throat told me he would not stop until I was wrecked for him completely.

Then he stood, a savage glint in his glowing eyes as he leaned in close, the heat of his breath licking across the shell of my ear. His thick calloused fingers dipped against my core, and I whimpered for him.

"So slick for me, even with my pup inside you," he snarled, his voice low and dripping with sex. "The mark makes you ache, doesn’t it? Makes your sweet little cunt obey, made to be filled by your monster."

He dragged the thick head of his cock through the wet heat of my folds, teasing the swollen, sensitive entrance.

My body trembled, hypersensitive, and pregnancy made every touch feel like lightning licking over my bare skin.

I whimpered again for him, back arching as I reached behind me, needing him, desperate to be full.

But he didn’t give in. He pressed against me, slow and deliberate, just the tip, grinding it against the pulsing heat of my drenched opening, then pulling away. My cry of frustration made him growl darkly, a sound that vibrated against my spine.

"Beg for it," he demanded, the hand at my throat tightening just enough to make my breath catch. "Beg your mate to ruin you again."

"Please, Rael," I whispered, wrecked and trembling. "I need you. I need you inside me."

His snarl was a reward, and then he thrust into me with one brutal stroke that stole the breath from my lungs and scattered every thought.

"That's it, my human pet," he groaned, voice thick with possession. "Take your monster's cock. Take what’s mine."

My palms slapped against the stone. My cry echoed through the Hollow.

He fucked me like a beast starving. Every movement was savage. Every snap of his hips dragged me deeper into that primal place only he could take me to. One hand clutched my hip tight enough to bruise. The other held my throat, grounding me as he took what belonged to him.

“Say it,” he growled, voice fractured with restraint.

“Yours,” I cried. “I’m yours, Rael. Always.”

He snarled, hips pounding harder, faster, deeper, until the world broke apart around me and my orgasm exploded like lightning in my blood.

He came with a roar, fangs deep in my neck, his seed flooding me all over again, claiming me even with our pup already blooming inside.

He stayed pressed to me, his knot throbbing inside me while his mouth still on my skin, his breath hot and jagged.

“We’ll find her,” he said again. “I swear it.”

And in the Hollow where monsters whispered and the darkness prowled, ready to pounce on those of us who were weak. I believed him.

Because Rael wasn’t just the High Fang. He was my mate. My monster. He woke up powers in me I didn’t know existed. And soon, he would be my daughter’s first nightmare, and her fiercest protector.

He cradled me in his arms, lifting me gently, careful not to hurt the pup or breaking the knot between us. He curled behind me in bed.

“The Council is stirring,” Rael whispered. “Dragons. Wraith Kings. The damned fae. All of them are scrambling now.”

“They’re afraid,” I said.

“They should be.”

His gaze shifted toward the window, to the far mountains. Toward the ruins where whispers of the old creature had surfaced again. The one who hated love. Who hunted bond mates. Who had once tried to break us and failed.

“They think they can leash it,” he growled. “Control it. But that thing doesn’t want power. It wants devastation. And it’s not coming for thrones; it’s coming for hearts.”

I swallowed against the ache in my throat.

“What will we do, Rael?”

He paused for a minute, tightening his hold on me. “Fight. It’s all we can do.”