Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 106107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
I know I shouldn’t stare at him like this—I came here to hear what he had to say, not to ogle him.
But my cunt still pulses with need, my arousal picking up where I left off, and I have to admit, it feels good to be on the receiving end of this for once.
“You like what you see,” he comments, his voice thicker now, throaty. He can smell my lust, and I can hear it in him, see it in him, even. His cock is no longer hanging heavily between his thighs—now, it’s darkened with blood and standing at full attention, twitching with the movement of his breath, which is getting more labored by the minute. There’s already arousal gathered on his tip, glistening in the flickering light.
“I do like what I see,” I say, slowly walking over to him until I’m just out of reach. “I like being on this side of the game.”
“Game?” he says, frowning. “None of this is a game, Larimar.”
“You treated it like a game,” I tell him, willing myself not to stare at his cock for a second longer. I keep focused on his eyes, although they are just as hypnotic. “You let me loose to see if I would run, and when I did, you tried to hunt me down.”
“That wasn’t me,” he growls, moving for me, but the shackles pull on his wrists, keeping him in place.
“You say that,” I say. “And I know. I saw the monster with my own eyes. But how do I know you didn’t invite him in? How do I know you didn’t enjoy the transformation?”
“Because the monster is a killer, and I am not!”
I stare at him for a moment. “Is that what happened to your family? You killed them?”
He swallows hard and gives a solemn nod, his eyes burning with shame, enough that it loosens a thread around my fractured heart. “I did. I killed them. I don’t remember it all, but…I did.”
I feel the weight of his confession, the air thickening with his regret. I suspected that’s what happened to his wife and children, since he wouldn’t talk about it, but it’s still a lot to hear.
And yet, I’m not looking at him any differently. I don’t think he’s more of a monster. I just know now what drove him to this constant struggle for salvation, what has driven him to make up for the man he lost.
“But you are a killer,” I say quietly. “It’s your nature. You have to kill others to survive. We all do.”
“You and I do,” he says, straining against the chains. “The rest of the world seems to do just fine.”
“Do they?” I ask, raising my brow. “We’re the monsters but the humans aren’t? You know that’s not true. You heard what happened to me on that ship, what happened to my friend. Do you think they aren’t part beast as well?”
He doesn’t say anything to that. Finally, he sighs. “I killed my family. I’ve killed countless others since, hundreds. I suppose it doesn’t really matter why I did it in the end.”
“Were you going to kill me?” I ask, my voice dropping to a whisper, my heart high in my chest.
He stares at me, searching my face before he blinks. “I don’t know.”
“Oh,” I say, looking down. I had really wanted to hear a definite no.
“But I didn’t want to,” he says. “And I wasn’t in control. You have to believe me. If I was…I never would have hurt you.” His gaze drops to my legs.
I turn around, looking at the backs of my calves. The reminder is there; the scarring where he sliced off my skin transferred to my Syren’s tail and back to my human body, leaving ugly marks behind.
A reminder I’ll always have.
“Larimar,” he says.
I look back at him.
A muscle ticks at his jaw as he blinks at me, like he’s trying not to say something. Emotions swirl in his eyes, tugging another thread loose.
“I’m sorry,” he says in a low, rough voice. “I’m sorry for what I did, for all of it. From the moment I found you in the ocean, I’m sorry I ever subjected you to a heathen like myself, a sinner masquerading as a saint, a killer in sheep’s clothing. I am a monster, little fish, in every meaning of the word, and I never should have brought you into my world. I should have been a safe harbor, but instead, I brought you the storm. My church was a sanctuary to everyone but you.”
I want to tell him that it was only a nightmare at the end, that even when he tortured me, I found some perverse pleasure in it, a sick thrill at his possession, at how he desired and coveted me, so much so that he had to keep me by any means necessary. Perhaps a human wouldn’t find such solace in his wanton and deranged desires, but my monster side only wanted more.