Page 2 of The Monster’s Obsession (A Monstrous World #5)

Chapter Two

Saber

T he Monster’s Den has a certain undeniable energy.

You step inside and time starts to lose all meaning.

There are multiple options for how a customer can spend their night.

They can head over to Venom if they’d like to dance and drink, or they can stick around The Den if they want a little more action.

They can gamble away their paycheck in the public or private betting rooms or watch the live performances. If they don’t find anyone to spend the night with, they can try out one of the paid companions.

No one is forced to be here.

All the employees are here of their own free will, and that’s why I can stomach working at The Den. My sentinel DNA is especially sensitive to anything it views as injustice, but I long ago came to terms with who I am.

My mother was a literal angel, and she still dropped me off with my father when I was only three days old. She disappeared in a shimmery cloud of smoke, and he never saw her again.

Or that was his version of events.

It is what it is.

Not everyone is meant to be a parent.

I still struggle with understanding how angels are supposed to be the morally superior species, but that’s life.

Watching the debauchery that plays out on a nightly basis at The Den means I’m not in a place to judge anyone.

My origin species are both judgy fuckers, though. So, it’s something I battle against regularly.

Nadia and Aline love to tell me I have resting bitch face, but I know I’m a sexy motherfucker.

Vivie saunters by, tossing her strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder. Fine, it’s a little more pink than red, but it’s the closest color I can think to compare it to in the human realm.

That siren has curves like no other.

She’s beautiful, no doubt about that.

She’s also a spoiled pain in the ass.

No matter what my sphinx says, there’s no way she could be my mate. I appreciate understated grace and elegance. If I was to permanently tie myself to another living being, I would need there to be an understanding that I’m in charge.

That’s not something she would ever agree to.

Vivie is loud, chaotic, and dramatic. The first two, I could handle, but the last grates on my nerves. She’s a brat through and through, and Lazarus doesn’t have the constitution necessary to put that fae in her place.

I know where I’d put her if it was up to me—directly over my lap with a bare ass that’s burning hot from my palm bouncing against it.

If she took her punishment like a good girl, I could be generous, especially if she learned to apologize for her abhorrent behavior. A little cock worship could go a long way…

Then again, there’s that whole dramatic thing, making it easier to just leave her to Laz.

The universe’s favorite pastime is tormenting me, but it’s part of my job as lower management to monitor the sexy shows. So, I plaster myself to the wall and cross my arms, watching with as much indifference as I can manage with a hard-on.

No other performances torment me the way watching Vivie on stage does.

Laz keeps his shifted lower half in the aquatic tank, but his top half is mostly the man.

He rests his forearms on the padded barrier at the top of the tank and watches intently as two of the other performers have their way with Vivie.

Although the glass distorts it a little, I can still make out the way one of his tentacles wraps around his shaft, jerking slowly as he observes the show.

Laz and Vivie have been together for a while, and I’m baffled how the man can watch her being railed six ways to Sunday.

Sure, he gets to participate, but he also has to watch her with other monsters. I guess it’s better than if she were taking clients. There are a few workers that are in long-term relationships, and that could never be me.

There’s no way I could be in a committed relationship and watch them fuck other people—whether I was involved or not. Let alone knowing they went to work every night to see clients.

Then again, I can’t even seem to fathom how some of the monsters around here share their mate.

Maybe it’s the curse of being an only child. I never had to share my toys, so being in a pack holds no appeal.

If my mother hadn’t abandoned me shortly after she gave birth, I would have asked her more about angel culture.

Something in my gut says they must be monogamous by nature because sphinx sure aren’t.

My father is a manwhore to this day. He might be pushing two thousand, but he keeps up with his harem like he’s my age. Most residents of Haven who are in polyamorous relationships have one female at the center of several, or more, male monsters.

My father’s harem is the opposite, with him at the center of many human female admirers. It’s something in his sphinx genetics that makes it practically impossible for him to settle down with one woman.

I’ve often wondered if that was what pushed my mother over the edge. Even if it was her final straw, abandoning her own child was an extreme reaction to my father’s philandering ways.

My head tilts.

While I was lost in thought, the configuration on stage changed. It’s only Laz and Vivie, which is how they end most of their shows.

Laz stretches his tentacles, causing Vivie to lie flat seven or eight feet off the ground. I’m sure she feels secure enough with the massive appendages wrapped around her tall, willowy frame.

Laz is head over dick in love with her. He would never drop her, and whether she wants to admit it to herself or not, she knows as much. How she can stand to ignore his feelings is beyond me, but if I was him, I would have said enough was enough ages ago.

She must have a magic pussy or something.

A thick tentacle coils around her breasts, and Laz buries another in her ass. He chuckles and leans over her, wrapping his arms under hers and locking his hands on her shoulders.

It’s quite the erotic image as her long hair fans toward the ground, and she squirms, begging mindlessly. His tentacles don’t prevent her from moving her arms. She wraps them around Laz’s shoulders and pulls him closer with her bright pink nails digging into his skin.

I step to the side, staying hidden from the audience, but getting a little closer. His cock is sticky and leaking, bouncing around her ass as she squirms. Her feet flail, and Laz uses a tentacle to tuck them around his ass.

“Please,” she sobs. “I ache for you, Lazarus.”

She’s busting out his full name. That must mean she’s desperate.

He hisses, shoving his mouth to hers as he pulls his tentacle from her ass. The one caressing her tits and the other between them continue teasing.

Slick drips from her core, spilling down Laz’s pelvis and coating the base of his shaft.

Tonight must be one of the nights when she wasn’t allowed to come until she was with him. It’s part of their dynamic the audience loves. Who the hell knows why, but we’re monsters. I suppose we all have a bit of a sadistic side.

Laz pulls away from the kiss, murmuring something close to her ear that’s too quiet for me to hear.

Vivie nods, and her hair bounces and obstructs some of the killer view.

I normally stay out of sight of the audience to keep up the illusion, but my nostrils flare, catching Vivie’s sweet scent.

Fuck.

She’s potent as hell tonight.

My cock throbs, and my body drags me closer.

“Say it, precious,” Laz coos, pulling the tentacle off her clit and wrapping it around his shaft.

“Please,” she begs, writhing in his hold.

In shifted form, Laz takes up quite a bit of space. His tentacles easily can raise him eight to ten feet off the ground, but he drops closer to the stage. “Please, what?”

“Fuck me! Own me! Make me yours!”

Laz doesn’t hesitate to move his crown to her pussy and slam inside.

The noise Vivie releases sends a groan throughout the audience, and I turn, scanning the crowd.

The benches near the stage are covered in monsters all engaged in their own intimate activities. Farther back, there are chairs and small couches, some filled with single viewers and others with couples.

“That’s my good girl,” Laz coos, brushing his hand over her forehead as he pecks a kiss on her lips. He pulls one of his tentacles between them and once again works her swollen nub. “More begging, sweetness. Give me more of that sweet begging.”

“Please? Claim me!” She still lies parallel to the ground, suspended in front of his cock.

“You already know you’re mine.” Laz uses his tentacles to tug her away before pulling her back. He stays stationary, continually moving her rather than thrusting. “All. Fucking. Mine.”

The size difference between Laz in his kraken form and Vivie is staggering, but at least sexually, they are fully compatible.

It’s almost obscene how full she looks.

My teeth grind together as my sphinx urges me to join in. He’s convinced that she’s our mate. He doesn’t believe she would turn us away.

“I am yours,” she sobs. “Breed me! I want you to own me completely. Give me your eggs.”

My jaw falls.

Fuck.

I didn’t see that coming.

“Is that right?” Laz chuckles darkly.

I’m almost impressed at how predatory his face becomes. He transforms fully into his beast. He retains his arms as his torso changes to teal to match the suckers and underside of his tentacles.

The facial tentacles kinda creep me out, but Vivie only moans louder.

Her entire body thrashes, and I’m guessing his cock transformed fully too. In full monster form, kraken have five flaps of skin that cover the tip of their crown. Those flaps open to allow their stinger to gain access to a partner’s womb by bypassing the cervix.

The stinger releases a numbing agent to prevent the experience from being painful, but a shiver still runs down my spine.

“Please…” Vivie continues begging, and eventually her words slur as they turn to commands.

Laz’s suckers tease over her breasts, and he smirks, showing off his mouthful of razor-sharp teeth. “I don’t know. How about you just come on my cock instead?”

Her long hair whips from side to side as her head shakes. “Now, Laz! I want you to breed me!”

“As you wish.” His aquamarine eyes flash, and he stretches down, covering her body with his. “Make sure you scream loud enough to turn the crowd green with envy.”

And she does.

The audience gets obnoxiously loud, but I’m still frozen in shock.

What the fuck?

Things go from questionable to downright disastrous as Vivie comes off stage.

Poor Laz slithers along behind her, and his horror is palpable.

“I want him removed from The Den…” Vivie comes to a stop in front of me, completely nude. “I can’t see him right now.” Her head shakes, and her nose turns bright red as her eyes glimmer.

I quirk an eyebrow.

There’s the dramatics she’s so famous for.

“There was consent,” I say, crossing my arms. “You can take it back mid-act, but sweetheart, you can’t change your mind and cry foul once the scene is over .”

That’s just straight up fucked up.

You can’t consent to something and pull the consent back after the fact for an event that’s already occurred.

I mean, you can deny consent for any future happenings, but…

This is a fucking disaster.

Tears well in her eyes, and I take a step back.

Did I push too hard?

She and I bicker.

It’s what we do.

My beast paces my mind, urging me to make it better. And it’s not like I enjoy seeing her genuinely upset. Everything in me aches to pull her into my arms and hold her until she calms down.

At the same time, I don’t think I can take her side in this.

Not when it could ruin Laz’s life.

If he had broken the rules, I’d be ripping him apart tentacle by tentacle, but I heard her repeatedly verbalize consent.

She wasn’t coerced.

Not outside of a little playful teasing, but that’s always part of their dynamic when they’re on stage.

She continually spurred him on while he was laying his eggs. It’s only once she stepped off the stage that she freaked out.

Maybe I’m the wrong person to handle this?

I’m trying to be understanding, but if I was Laz, I would have taken her at her word too.

“You need to make a complaint with Aline if you feel Laz did something wrong,” I tell her, keeping my voice low.

A part of me feels for her, but I also can’t lie and say he broke the rules. From where I was standing, this went down by the book.

“Fine,” she says, sniffling. “I will.”

She takes off.

I dart my gaze around, looking for Laz.

He’s gone.

I curse under my breath.

I don’t even particularly like the guy, but my stomach still tightens when I put myself in his shoes.

What a fucking mess.