by K. A Knight
He left me.
Walked away like I was nothing, the very man destined for me.
“And then you found me again and thought what? Oh, I’ll fuck her and leave again and it won’t matter?”
“No!” He tries to get to his feet, but he can’t, so he slumps forward, pleading for me to understand. “I just wanted to protect you—”
“Oh, you did a great job,” I shout, my chest heaving as I stare at him. “I never needed you to protect me,” I whisper. “I only needed you to be there.”
“Remi—”
“You left me, your mate, at the mercy of others!” I scream.
“I left to save you!” he roars.
“No, you left to save yourself,” I snark, stepping forward. Even my animals are growling, feeling hurt and angry. “All I ever wanted was to not be alone, and there you were, the person made just for me…and you left. You left me to the monsters, and then you wonder why I became one. You abandoned me to their anger and hatred. All I ever wanted was to fit in, to have someone… You are the one person who could have helped, and you didn’t. Don’t you dare say it was to save me, it was to save yourself. You were scared, so fucking scared, and you let it control you. Well, fuck you. I’m done. Save this world yourself the way you never saved me.”
“Amore!” he begs as I turn. “Please! I had to, I had to save you from me and my past. From this darkness inside me.”
With my back to him, I let the tears fill my eyes that I can’t—won’t ever let fall. I hear his quiet tears, but fuck him. “And yet here I am with marks on my soul, living in the darkness myself. You left me once, now it’s my turn to leave you. You didn’t want me then, so you don’t deserve me now. Fuck you and destiny or fate. Fuck being mates. I don’t need anybody.” I look back then, letting him see the hatred and coldness in my red-rimmed eyes. “Least of all you.”
My pain fills me, but I lock it up and hide it behind those walls I should have never let fall. I trusted him, what a fool I was. You would have thought I would have learned by now not to trust anybody. They only end up hurting you because no one can ever measure up to your own expectations.
“I was tortured every day of my childhood. Each day was filled with blinding fucking agony I can’t even describe, yet nothing compared to the pain of walking away from you!” he yells after me as I reach the door and still. “It was like ripping my soul from my chest, like tearing myself in two. I genuinely thought you would be safe. I was wrong, I messed up, amore. Messed up so badly. I only ever wanted to protect you…”
“I was hurt for just being me.” I turn and look at him. “I was beaten, raped, tossed around, and belittled every day for just being born, yet nothing compares to this. To finding out the only person who should have been at my side…to love me…couldn’t and wouldn’t. You hurt me more than they ever could. Congratulations, Khalid, you’re right. You’re the bigger monster here. I could have never done that to you, no matter what, but now you get to watch my back as I walk away, and trust me, you will never see me again. I don’t need your pity or your regrets or even your protection. I’m my own fucking hero, and I’ll be just fine without you.” I rip open the door and storm away. I leave my heart back there with him. I didn’t even know he had it. It’s dark and fucked up like me, but he started to soften it, to steal it.
And then he smashed it into a thousand bloody pieces, and even as a wendigo, I never felt so empty, so utterly angry and numb. I may shift into monsters, but right now, my human side is the one they should fear.
Because with a broken heart, I’m more dangerous than ever before.
I’m sitting in my locker, unsure where to go. I can’t go home, and for some reason, I couldn’t leave the city. I know I still have to stop the necromancer—not for him, but for the city, for the humans. I’m not going back to the council, fuck them. Fuck him. I’m going to stop this shit show and then leave. Hit the road. Find my own fucking destiny, one that doesn’t involve the face god and his many lies.
But first, I need a minute to gather myself.
Why do I care if he let me down? He’s just another person to add to the long list. Closing my eyes, I rest my head against the wall behind me, but something strange happens, and when I open them again, I’m not in the locker, alone and hurting.
No, I’m in the forest. The forest where the attack happened when I was younger, and standing in the same spot where I almost died is a woman. She turns, and there is a long, wicked, jagged scar through half of her face, but she’s beautiful, hauntingly so, with long auburn hair in perfect waves. She’s wearing a long, hooded cape, and her bare feet crunch the leaves as she turns to take me in.
“Hello, my child. I wondered when you would find your way back to this place.”
“Who are you?” I demand, stepping closer.
She smiles softly and holds out her hand. “You don’t remember me, but you will.” As if unable to deny her, I step forward and lay my hand in hers, then I gasp as everything goes black.
I’m thrown through time, I feel it, and when I come to, I’m in my own memories.
I’m lying on the forest floor, and the corpse of the man who almost raped me is next to me, but I am dying myself. I know it. Blood covers my body, and every bone is nearly broken, hurt beyond repair. A part of me is relieved this is the end, the end of my suffering, but then she appears. The lady—no, the Fate. She kneels by me, watching me sadly.
“My child, you have given so much, fought for so long…” She touches me, and warmth fills me for a second. “I am here to give you a choice. For so long, we have waited for you, but this life is not easy, it never is.
“If you take my hand, child, you are choosing life, but not as you know it. I can save you, heal you, but you will be different. I have to give you a piece of me to do it. It will hurt, and it will be a constant battle.” She sighs. “I know you’re strong enough, but it is always your choice.”
Blood bubbles on my lips as I start to drown in it, the darkness beginning to claim me, and she smiles sorrowfully. “Choose, my child. Life or death? One will offer peace, one great pain and suffering. Life will not be an easy journey, but it was what you were born to do. It’s why you have these peculiarities, as you call them. The ability to take others’ powers to make them yours. You were born a wolf, my child. The tiger was from a passing feral shifter, don’t you remember?”
And as soon as she says it, I do. He attacked the pack while I had been hiding in the woods. He found me, and I had touched him to get free of his grasp, and the next thing I knew, the tiger faded into a man and I became it.
I wasn’t born with multiple shifts, I stole them like Khalid steals faces…
“Yes, and now you will have another. This one will be darker, but you will need it, need its fury.”
“Yes,” I whisper, half dead. “I choose life, I choose pain… Save me.”
I come back to the present, perched on my knees before her. She sighs and gets to her own, cupping my cheek and brushing away the tears escaping my eyes.
“You chose to live, you chose to be a monster, you remember now. But not all monsters are evil. You are who you were always meant to be, my daughter.
“From suffering and great sacrifice comes the heroes we need. If you never suffered, how would you know right from wrong? How would you be able to understand the darkness and guide into the light? The world is about shades of grey. Nobody is perfect. No one is pure evil or pure goodness. Both can be changed. Remember that those you think may be past redemption always have a shot, a chance, if only you are willing to do what it takes.”
“What?” I ask roughly.
“You will understand much sooner than you think. But for now, forgive the past, it’s the only way to save the future,” she whispers as she stares into my eyes. “You have to give up the pain and move forward.” She looks away for a moment. “I don’t have a lot of time. The end is coming soon, and you must be ready, but for that, you need the truth, all of the truth. It’s t
ime. Share this when you meet them, you will know what I mean.” She leans in and presses a kiss to my forehead. “Remember, we are with you always. One moment in time, one choice, is all it takes to change the future. Since before your birth, these plans have been in motion. You were born to fight, my dear, and fight you will. One last hunt. One last time. Save the world no matter the cost, no matter the pain. This is what you bring to the table, my child.”
Her eyes flash black—the wendigo.
“I gave you that piece of me, the piece you fear so deeply that you call it a monster, but that monster will be your saviour. Embrace it. Embrace every part of you in all your glory and monstrosity. It’s time. I will be with you always. You have never been alone, and you will never be alone.”
Then she fades away, leaving me here in the forest as years and years of visions and truths fill me, making me tumble back with a scream. Agony rips through me again and again as I’m given the vision. The past. The present. The future. I see it all and how it connects. I see what’s coming.
I see our choice.
To save this world, or to let it burn.
It all comes down to us. Seven gods and their mates—the chosen ones. Our decisions brought us to this very moment, but the future isn’t set in stone, and we have a chance. A chance to change it, to stop what’s coming.
But we can only do it together. They tried to stop this once before. They gave the power to a human, one human, and it ripped her apart from the inside out until she died, and now she is the one we must stop. That power still echoes within her, and the darkness, the evil, is using it to reach its end goal—destroying the world.
To save the world…
To stop the world from burning, we have to kill Lilith.
In turn, that will kill her mate.
Atlas.
He will die, for the greater good takes a sacrifice, and their love was doomed since the moment they fell. They were never meant to be, but if they die, they will finally be together and the world will be safe.
If we are strong enough to do it.
If he is strong enough to kill his mate and follow her into the void.
To give up everything he has ever wanted.
If we can stand by and help him.
If the seven gods…can become six.
KHALID
It took me so fucking long to heal. Too fucking long. I couldn’t even stop her or go after her, and really, what would I have said to make it better?
She’s right, I left her. No matter my reasons, I messed up. I hurt the one person I was never meant to, but I’m not letting that be the end. She doesn’t get to walk away from me so easily, because one thing I’ve learned since meeting my mate is that she’s worth fighting for. More than that, she deserves someone to fight for her, to peel back that armour, get inside her heart, and show her they are being real and true. Remi deserves for someone to have her back and walk at her side. A partner is what she needs, and I wasn’t ready, but I am now.
If this world is going to end, I will only let it when I’m at her side.
We were made for each other. That means she was made to handle my demons and darkness. My own issues stopped me from seeing that. She’s stronger than anyone I have ever met, and if I’d given her a chance, she would have shown me, but I can’t change the past, only the future. Remi has my heart and soul, has since she was a child, and I’m going to take hers.
Make her mine.
Fuck, I’ll chain her to me if have to. Let her stab and beat me up until she forgives me, and she will one day, because I won’t let anything else happen. In this world filled with billions of people, I found the one who is perfect for me. You don’t get that every day.
When I have the strength, I leave the basement she carried me to. I don’t put on a face, since my mate likes me just the way I am, and it’s time I started embracing that. Even if I feel raw and vulnerable, like everyone knows and is staring. She’s right, after all, I can’t let fear and the past control me anymore. It’s strange to be so open and defenceless, wearing my own skin, but I refuse to cover up or change.
My mate may be a hunter, but I’m going to hunt her now.
She’s mine, she just doesn’t know it yet.
I’m walking past the warehouse she brought me to when it happens. They whoop and cheer as they leave it, the misfits. I spot Dominic, and he grins at me as the others pass by, heading towards the city without fear. “Did you hear?”
“Hear what?” I ask, confused.
“The council has fallen, killed by some blonde monster and her mates. It’s a mess. The sleeping council is involved as well. Apparently, they have been up to some very bad things. We’re going to celebrate!” he tells me before he’s dragged away. I watch him go, gaping.
The council fell?
Well shit, I guess that’s one job off my list. Though after I’ve gotten my mate back and stopped the necromancer, I need to check in on the new woman to make sure she can take control and actually save our races. Us gods have been out of the game for far too long.
I’m putting myself back in it.
Their demise means they should stop hunting Remi and me now though, which is one less thing to worry about.
I let that pull inside of me lead me to my mate. I end up outside of her locker where we had an argument. Sighing, I rap my knuckles on the door. I hear her inside, but she ignores me, so I roll my eyes.
“Let me in, amore,” I yell.
“Go fuck yourself,” she calls back, making me grin at the sass in her voice. How did I ever think I could walk away, never mind kill her if need be?
“I’d rather fuck you,” I tease. A moment later, the door rolls up and there’s a gun pointed at my head. Her eyes are narrowed and angry. Fuck, my mate is beautiful.
“Never again, so why don’t you run away like you clearly always do?” she snarls, pressing the gun firmer against my temple as I arch my head down so she can reach better. Her eye twitches at me being helpful. “At least I can look into your actual face while I shoot you,” she taunts.
“Then pull the trigger, amore.” Her lips tip into a snarl at the endearment, her eyes flashing black for a second. We still need to talk about that last shift of hers, but not right now. “You can’t, can you?” I goad, and she presses it harder into my head, no doubt leaving a mark, but the pain of it has me groaning. “I think you like me too much to, even as much as you hate me right now.”
“Shut the fuck up!” she yells, and with a growl, she rips the gun away and storms inside. Chuckling, I follow after her, pulling the door down and plunging us into the blue LED lit room. She tosses the gun onto the table, her back to me. Deciding to just get this over with, I stop behind her.
“We need to talk,” I start, but she just laughs and starts to grab weapons.
Snarling myself now, because I need her to understand, to listen, I grab her throat and pin her between me and the table, pressing my mouth to her ear. “If I have to fucking tie you up so you will listen, I’ll do it, amore. So listen.”
Without missing a beat, her elbow swings back right into my stomach. I grunt but don’t move as she wraps her leg around mine and twirls, breaking free of my grip and stepping away. Her other eye fades to black, her monsters coming out to play. “Fucking make me.”
Oh, she wants to play it like that, does she? Fine.
Rolling my shoulders, I face off with her. My mate is more into actions than words. She’s a fighter, and right now, she needs to fight to get that pain out. Like she said, we’re too much alike. Pain is our outlet, and combat is the only way we know how to stay in control in a lawless world. “Fine, let’s fight and get this out of your system, and then I’ll fuck you into submission until you listen and scream for me again. All pretty like, with my blood staining your skin and my cum dripping from your pussy,” I growl.
Her lips flatten, and she glares before she leaps at me, her nails turning into claws. She isn’t playing. She’s genuinely pissed and wants to hurt and
maybe kill me. It has my already hard cock jerking. I, on the other hand, don’t want to do either, but I will defend myself and let her get this all out of her system.
I slide to the left and let her sail pass me, and it only infuriates her more. She spins with a snarl and jumps onto the table, then onto me. Her legs wrap around my waist from behind, and her claws dig into my shoulders until I feel the sweet ecstasy of them cutting my skin as the scent of my blood hits the air.
Her teeth come down on my neck, and with a groan, I lean back into her, clutching her legs and holding on so she doesn’t fall backward and hurt herself. “You know I like the pain, amore. Is that all you have?”
With a frustrated yell, her head rises and slams back down again, her fangs slicing into my neck as she whips her head from side to side, ripping my neck open. Moaning, I lean into her as I feel my blood pump from the wound. She lifts her head again, so I quickly spin, drop her on the table, and rip her shirt away. She kicks me, and I fall backwards to the floor. She is on me in a second, hovering over my body as her nails slice away my shirt before I shove her backwards and leap to my feet.
My own darkness is coming out to play now as both of us fight our bloodlust and urge to kill. I see it in her eyes—the anger tinted by desire. Chemistry sparks between us, that mate pull unrelenting, like a fire left unchecked. She’s the fucking acid to my alkaline, the blade to my handle. That pull demands we finally become one.
We stand opposite each other, our black eyes locked tight. Her bra is the only thing she’s wearing, and that anger morphs even further, changing to fucking need. She’s not just fighting to hurt me now, she’s fighting her own desire.
“Ready to suck my cock again, amore?” I lick my lips as I grab myself through my trousers, squeezing to the point of pain. “I know you liked tasting me, feeling my hard length spear that pretty little mouth…”
Her eyes flare, but a moment later with a frustrated yell, she turns, runs to the back wall, and starts to throw blades at me. Grinning, I duck the onslaught, all the while walking towards her. When I catch her this time, she won’t be getting away. Finally, I stop before her. There is another blade in her hand, but I grasp it, groaning when it cuts my palm, and we both watch as the blood slowly drips down my wrist and arm as I smirk at her. “Finished, amore? If you’re good, I’ll let you lick it clean.”