Page 4

The tallest of the men steps closer to the first’s back, his dark eyes almost evil in appearance and filled with malice. His face is sharp and beautiful despite his towering size, and his form is slim and lithe but defined. He is undeniably beautiful in a way that would draw gazes in every room, though that seems to almost annoy him. I meet his eyes boldly as his beautiful lips twist in a sneer like a wild gorgon brandishing their teeth when threatened.

A slightly red scar crosses his nose, and he has another on his cheek. His hair looks black in this light and lies messily across his face, hanging to just above his ears and covering his forehead. I see gilded ornaments along his ears and some scattered in his hair.

He almost seems to glow in the dark chamber.

“Not possible,” another man adds, and I look at him.

Their words are mocking, as if for me and not for them. I wonder how much that bastard is paying them to have such conviction to not only travel to Gehenna, but to kill me, and especially now when faced with this unexpected mate bond. Regardless, I was wrong. This last man who spoke is the biggest of them all. He is pure muscle, his golden skin swathed in little more than leather skirts and silver gauntlets on his arms, as if he cannot find clothes or does not want to. His chest is the size of the dragon I once slayed down here, and just as wide and impressive. He has ink on his right shoulder that seems to move as I look, unable to make out the details. His beard and moustache are trimmed, and his dark eyebrows slant down over glowing orange eyes. His hair is clipped tightly on the sides and spikey in the middle, framing two twisting horns.

He’s some sort of animal, but I’m not sure what.

I glance from him to the one at his side who remains silent, watching me with a disinterested expression. His eyes are pure black, no pupils at all, and his hair is the same, the matching black tipped in red and messily falling around his head. He’s narrow, almost slim compared to the others, but I see muscles beneath his loose clothing. He’s dressed almost like a cowboy, with a belt holding weapons around his hips, but it’s the scars that catch my eye. They mar all the skin I can see, but rather than detract from his appeal, they enhance it, making him look dangerously beautiful.

“I say we kill her anyway,” the final man remarks as he leans casually into one of the rock formations that line the entrance to my chamber. When my eyes meet his, he pushes away from the rock with a show of graceful agility and prowls towards me. His hair is mostly blue, but I swear I see flashes of silver throughout it. It’s long, past his shoulders, with some on top pulled back haphazardly so strands fall over his pale face.

He is exquisite, prettier than any woman or man I have ever seen. I’ve never beheld someone so clean or handsome. His lips are perfect and pouty on his angular face. His straight eyebrows, which are blue at the ends, sit perfectly above his eyes, one of which is brown, the other a glowing blue. When he stops in front of me, he waves his hand over me, and I see his skin light up blue inside, like glowing veins.

What is he? I’ve never encountered anything like him before, and I’ve met a lot of different monsters.

“You’re not even my type,” the man scoffs, looking me over, his voice dark and seductive, like the softest clothing sliding across my body.

I try to remain as unaffected as I can. They are all beautiful in different ways and deadly, not just due to the weapons they carry, but the way they hold themselves. I also know what it takes to survive down here, and no normal monster would be able to. I have seen legends of old fall and die within seconds of arrival. Monsters I read about as a child have begged for their lives, yet here these men stand, unscathed and calm.

I should not underestimate them, as many did with me. For the first few years while I made my place here, I knew how deadly that mistake could be.

My usual mocking grin flirts at my lips as I run my fingers across his chest. “Mating bonds don’t care. You think you’re mine?” I look him over before meeting his eyes again. “You’re too breakable for me.”

He blinks incredulously before a laugh bursts from him. “Me? Breakable?” He glances at the others.

“Look at you, I’d snap you like a twig,” I taunt as I step back. “So, you are here to kill me, but now you can’t because of this pesky mate bond.”

“Let’s test it, shall we?” the scarred cowboy says, and I watch as he raises his gun. My instincts scream at me to attack, the feral animal inside me wanting to tear out his throat, but I simply wait. Even if he can, I won’t die, and if I do? Well, I won’t stay dead—a nice, little trick I learned all those years ago.

His hand shakes on the gun, and his eyes narrow as he raises his other hand and covers it, steadying his grip as he tries to pull the trigger. Sweat breaks out on his forehead, and just when he manages to squeeze hard enough, his wrist jerks to the side, causing the rock behind me to explode. His soul won’t let him hurt me. His nostrils flare as he spins the gun back into his holster.

“See?” I chuckle. “Mate bonds do that to you. It’s not personal. It won’t allow you to harm the other half of your soul, even if it’s not fully formed. You can’t exactly kill your mate, can you?” I can’t help but laugh. “Tell me, what’s your way out? I have things to do outside this prison, and I have been biding my time. What are your names?” I ask. I don’t really care, but I can’t keep calling them cowboy and big guy in my head.

“You do not need to know our names,” the big man with the amber eyes begins.

“You won’t be alive long enough to need them,” the icy-haired man finishes without a pause between their words. They are so in sync, it’s freaky.

“It’s cute how you finish each other’s sentences,” I taunt. “Fine, so you can’t kill me, but you need to finish your contract, so that means breaking the mating bond. Trust me, I’m not any happier about this than you. We’ll stick together, then you can figure out how to break the mating bond, but to do that, we need to get out of here, no? Then we can go back to killing each other. Sound good?”

They don’t even exchange glances, but they have this faraway look in their eyes before they blink in unison and stare at me. It’s fucking freaky, and I’ve seen a blob with a hundred eyes that look at you at the same time, but still. This is definitely weirder.

“Fine. We must move, as the way out closes soon,” one of them says. “You will not need to bring anything, since you’ll be dead shortly.”

“Your way of flirting needs work, mate,” I retort as I slap his cheek as I saunter past him. “I have nothing I need to bring. I’m out for blood, not life.”

I walk from my chamber without a backwards glance. This has been my home for ten years. It was hard to track time down here, but I managed to as best I could. I was just a girl when I was thrown away. No one thought I would survive, including me, but I did, and I grew stronger. I became the biggest monster down here, one the others feared until they stopped trying to come after me. I have no friends or family, only thoughts of vengeance, and these men stand in my way. I do not need a mate bond nor the reminder of the life I was torn from. When they break the bond, and I know they will, I will kill them just like everyone else who wronged me.

The man I kissed moves past me with the huge guy, leaving the others behind me, but I’m not worried. I let them surround me, since those are the most likely positions they’ll die in and their bodies will be fodder for any desperate beasts trying to eat or survive. Craning my head around the bigger guy, I watch the man I kissed as he eyes something on his wrist before turning left.

Technology doesn’t work down here, and Gehenna constantly changes. I tried to map it once, but I gave up when I realised this entire place is magic. Spike told me it was built by a god who was so tired with the world and evil infecting him that he sealed himself in the middle of it and became its heart, and now his magic keeps it going. I don’t know how correct that is, but Spike has been here longer than anyone else, so I guess he would know better than most.

“What’s that?” I ask, but they don’t answer, not that I expect them to, and the scarred cowboy kicks my legs from behind, forcing me to keep up with the men in front. The hair on my arms rises, and I feel the locks on my head floating. When I glance back, the pretty man is glowing and he has blue sparks in his hands, no doubt causing the ozone.

Lightning, cool, but the fool just showed me his hand.