by R. Scarlett
All the blood left my body. I felt cold, numb. Like I couldn’t move.
I’m not weak.
I’m not weak.
I’m not weak.
“I knew you’d come back for more, lovely. But I’m busy now, you see. Wait in the hall for me, and let us finish what we started,” he said, waving me away and his gaze turned back to Molly. “Let me finally have a bite of this daemon’s neck because I’m going to rip it off her creamy shoulders once and for all.”
Molly clenched her jaw and stepped closer. “Don’t fucking touch her.”
“You stupid whore,” he hissed, and then laughed darkly. “Do you know what I’m going to do once I’m done with you? I’ll rip that fiend baby out of your dead womb and I’ll wave it like a limp flag in front of your Tensley.”
Those words were like a thousand daggers to my chest, over and over again. He wouldn’t touch her. I wouldn’t let him. That baby would mean everything to Tensley.
I took a step forward. I wouldn’t allow scum like him to hurt Beau’s family. Or my family.
Then I felt the air change, growing thicker each second and I looked at Molly. Her eyes were glowing, bright and terrifying blue as she stared at him.
The eyes of a daemon.
“You’re going to bend to my will, Fitz,” Molly hissed through her clenched teeth.
Fitz. I had heard of that name and then it clicked. Fitz Senior was the leader of Ares. He had personally attacked the Pit. His white hair, his white perfect smile.
“You will not touch my son,” Molly snapped, letting them feel the air change, the anger filtering in-between them until it would suffocate him, too. I felt the anger boiling from her, tasted it on my tongue.
Molly wavered, but she continued to increase her wrath, her anger seizing Fitz by his throat. The smug smirk he wore a minute ago long gone and his hands clenched beside him.
“Do you have any final words, Fitz?” Molly whispered, staring back at him, unflinching, unwavering.
Because she was the daemon, Dux of Scorpios and married to the king of demons.
“You’ll beg me,” Molly bit out and her eyes flashed bright, but not fast enough as Fitz looked away. “You’ll beg me to end your life.”
He laughed loudly, the sound like nails on a chalkboard.
“Scared to look me in the eye, Fitz?” Molly moved forward, and he took a step back. “I may not know all the answers to what I am,” she whispered, the surge of power pumping through her once again. “But now I know what I’m capable of.”
Just as her hand darted out, he lunged, catching her hand and yanking her into him.
I stiffened, going to help but Molly moved fast.
She jabbed her elbow with all her might in his thorax, cutting off his breathing for a long second, and he let go in surprise.
And then Molly dug her hands into his arms, blood staining his sleeves and before he could act quickly enough and tear his gaze away, she stared straight into his beady eyes.
“Beg me now, Fitz,” Molly hissed. “Beg me to end you.”
Fitz swallowed but didn’t look away from her.
I couldn’t breathe. The air too thick, too tense. She was too powerful, too strong.
He was entrapped in her spell.
“Please, Mrs. Knight,” he started, sounding almost robotic. “End my life, I beg you.”
“This war is over,” Molly said.
The taste of pain that had already been filling the room intensified suddenly, and Molly let out a broken gasp.
“Molly!” I screamed, clutching my own chest at the sight of the knife wedged into her pregnant belly.
No, no, no!
“Naïve little bitch, you thought it worked, didn’t you.” He laughed viciously again. “I’m afraid this is just the beginning, little daemon,” he hissed and struck her.
Molly stumbled back, crashing into the table, but as soon as her body hit it, she straightened, ready to attack once more.
No!
I yanked a knife from my jacket and rushed toward Fitz, stabbing his side, digging it in deep, but it didn’t slow him down. His beady eyes caught mine and he grinned, swinging his arm.
I hit the desk and then stumbled to the ground, the back of my head throbbing in pain. Another dizzy spell took over.
All I could hear was grunts and footsteps. And when I sat up, I saw Molly yanking the knife from his hand and without a moment wasted, she sliced his throat.
I froze, unable to look away as he gasped, and redness gushed from the deep cut, soaking his white dress shirt. Slowly, so slowly, he collapsed to his knees, then sagged onto his side, gaping at her bare feet.
Molly took even deep breaths, watching the last breath seep from his mouth until he stilled completely.
Then she collapsed to her knees too and fell over onto her side.
I crawled to her, bringing her onto my lap and watched as she lifted her own hands, gawking at them covered in blood.
Wetness burnt the back of my eyes and I held back a cry. I rubbed her arms up and down, hoping to calm her. She was too quiet, too silent as she stared at her bloody hands.
She couldn’t lose the baby. Tensley...Beau...
“Molly,” I whispered, but her eyes were glazed over. “Molly!” Her eyes drifted up to my expression and her bottom lip trembled.
And then it came like a tidal wave.
Molly choked, her eyes growing wet and red, her hands patting her stomach, her white nightgown soaked in blood.
“My baby, my—” She put pressure on her side and leaned against me as I hushed her, tried to speak to her, but it didn’t matter. Molly was out of reach. She was panicking, struggling to stand.
“Daph—” Molly whispered, and my gaze snapped to Mrs. Knight across the room. She saw Daphne’s brown eyes flutter open, tired and weak, but she was alive. Relief flooded my chest.
“It’s okay,” I whispered again, my hands shaking as I combed her hair.
I didn’t know if it was.
I didn’t know if the baby was still alive.
If Molly was dying.
A roar tore through the room like a great darkness had suddenly walked in and engulfed them all. I jerked at the sound to find Beau, his entire body shaking as he saw me.
“Alexandra,” he murmured, relief filling his dark brown eyes for only a moment until he saw Molly clutched in my lap.
Tears rolled down my cheeks as I stared at him, gripping Molly as if death would take her away. “I don’t know how bad it is…the baby.”
Beau’s features hardened, and he marched over, bending down in front of us. In one careful movement, he pressed a hand to her bloody round belly. His nostrils flared, his mouth a straight line of concentration.
Molly looked at him through half-open lids. “Tensley?” Her voice was too weak, too soft.
“Molly,” Beau whispered, his eyes trying to catch her gaze. When she didn’t respond and let her head flop against my chest, he moved closer, his brow furrowing. He looked at me, those deep brown eyes filled with worry, fear. It took my breath away. “We need to get her help.”
I nodded, clenching her to me.
Beau’s dark features were warped into a frown and he shook with rage.
“Stay with us,” he snapped, his fear coming out in anger.
Molly shook her head weakly. “He needs help.”
I froze at her words.
He…her son needed help.
Beau wrapped his arms underneath Molly’s legs and picked her up, a groan of pain escaping her mouth. “I got you,” he whispered to her and my heart thudded deeply in my chest, realizing right then that if Molly lost this baby, Beau would completely shatter again.
I paced back and forth in front of the room Molly lay in. Lex and Daphne, along with other women, were inside the room, caring for Molly as best as they could. Lex had looked at me, her eyes wet and wide with worry.
My chest felt heavy and my throat thick with emotions I truly wanted to forget. A baby. Ano
ther innocent child could be lost.
If Molly lost the baby, Tensley…
I ran a hand down my face and shook my head, growling. My brother would lose it. My brother would collapse and cave, just like me. He had it all, as I once had, and I knew first-hand how everything could vanish in a heartbeat.
I hadn’t felt the baby stirring in her stomach when I touched her. I had felt the warmth of her blood, the stillness, and Molly’s warring heart.
She couldn’t die. They couldn’t die.
I thought of Valentina’s wide smile with one crooked tooth and her round, small belly. And then her lifeless face, no smile existing on her full mouth, her lips pale and relaxed.
I gripped the wall, my breathing intensifying. I needed to stay here, in the present, but I kept thinking back to my past. To what I had lost.
And then to Alexandra.
Of how bloody and bruised she looked when I had entered the room. I thought I had lost her when I turned around after killing a few Ares soldiers and she wasn’t there. My beast had taken control and roared in pain at her disappearance.
My beast had attached itself to her so strongly. When she wasn’t there, I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t think.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
I couldn’t lose her. I couldn’t risk letting her slip through my fingers. I had to keep her safe. I had to protect her.
And then I heard my brother’s sharp voice. I looked up to see him standing at the end of the hallway, holding a soldier’s sleeve, glaring at him. “Where’s my wife?”
The heartless king had arrived at last.
Straightening, taking a deep breath, I marched toward him.
“Tensley,” I called to him and his vicious eyes swung to me. He scanned me and I knew what he saw. The bruises running up my cheekbone and the nasty black eye, tangled hair.
“Take me to her,” Tensley demanded, walking toward me.
I glared at him, but I wasn’t going to argue now. I knew how anxious and scared he was at this very moment. Unsure of how his wife and their unborn child was.
Son.
She had said it was a ‘he.’
We both moved together down the hallway and each soldier stepped back, bowing their heads in respect.
I stopped at a bedroom door and glanced back at him, watching him take a deep breath. “Mother was harmed in the attack,” I said, my voice low, but still holding an edge of anger. The bastards who harmed my family were long dead now, but their deaths hadn’t been satisfying. They should’ve suffered longer than they did. “They managed to heal her, but she’s still recovering. She refused to leave Molly’s side.”
Tensley swallowed. Both his mother and his wife and his child had been attacked and he hadn’t been there to protect them.
To protect Scorpios.
I had filled that role while he was away and I couldn’t let it go. I wanted to protect my family. Protect his wife and his unborn child. Protect Alexandra.
To make up for my sins. To allow my brother the chance at happiness. To never experience loss as horrible as mine.
Tensley opened the door and stepped into the room, darkened by the heavy curtains, pulled tight so no light would shine through.
It looked like a fucking dungeon in there.
I watched as he went straight to the bed, watching Molly’s legs moving frantically and her breathing heavy and irregular.
Just as I went to shut the door, I caught Lex standing on the other side, her eyes focused on me.
Her eyes held mine, in them a longing, a thank you. At the sight of her, so torn and tired, I wanted to cradle her. I wanted to take her far away from all of this.
I had shoved it aside for the last month, but after tonight, my beast wanted to claim her. He wanted to mark her as mine and to protect her with everything I had.
Everything I could give her in the most basic, animalistic ways of our race.
I shut the door and leaned against the wall, rubbing my chest, where my heart burned at the thought of what I almost lost tonight.
When the door opened again, my mother and brother both reappeared. I straightened and watched them.
“She killed him,” his mother spoke after a stretched moment.
I folded my arms and shook my head, still angered by how close that bastard had been to killing my mother, my brother’s wife and unborn child, and my Alexandra. “He could have killed you both. He could have killed Lex.”
My mother looked at both of us, taking her time scanning our features. “Your father would be proud of you.” Her eyes found mine again, shiny with tears. “Both of you.”
I stiffened, biting the inside of my cheek and stared back at her. I could see it clearly, the way they stared at me. My mother, my brother, all of Scorpios, Alexandra. They stared at me like they were searching for the man and the beast within me. If I had returned finally from years of horror and terror.
“I should have been here,” Tensley said, shaking his head.
“You’re the king now,” his mother said, touching his shoulder. “You have other duties.”
Tensley glared at the floor. “My duty is to her. To protect my family. To protect Scorpios. A crown means nothing.”
My throat grew tight at his words. Nothing mattered. Nothing else other than the people who we cared about.
Alexandra.
“She’s my crown, my court, my queen. Nothing matters without her,” Tensley spoke firmly.
He would be willing to give everything up…for her. Shock washed over me. Even after losing his heart, he had gained it back. He hadn’t given up hope, he hadn’t given up on her or his child.
Our mother stared up at Tensley, her eyes wide with shock.
“She truly did curse you,” I muttered, regarding him closely. I could remember him before Molly. How he seemed just as father desired. How he acted as if he learned from my mistakes. But here he was. Willing to throw everything away to have her.
Tensley clenched his jaw and turned away. “I need to speak to my soldiers.”
He continued to walk down the stairs and I followed, tracing his every movement.
The soldiers gathered in the meeting room, faces drawn in exhaustion and anger, their stances stiffening as soon as he walked into the room.
Each man bowed, dropping low and he stood, watching them.
“Rise,” Tensley commanded, his voice like whiplash.
The men rose, silence spreading through the crowd. I folded my arms.
He stood in front of them, studying each man slowly.
“I stand before you,” he began, his voice clear and even. “Not as your king, but as your Dux.”
At that, the men straightened farther.
Tensley fisted his hands. “Ares has been defeated. By the hands of my wife and Scorpios.” He paused, collecting his anger in a breath. “Scorpios has survived this hell and will prosper. We are made from ashes and acid and thorns. We do not beg. We do not give up. We fight, we conquer, we destroy. We are savages that cannot be tamed and will not be tamed. Scorpios—will forever stay in our society. They will speak of this dark time as a time of rebirth. A time of beasts conquering. I will bleed for each and every one of you until I have nothing more inside of me.”
Rebirth.
I fisted my hands.
I wanted to be reborn. I wanted to forget the past.
“She’s in labor, I won’t leave her side,” Tensley told me and he walked away, going back to her bedroom.
I spent the rest of the night outside of the bedroom, pacing, waiting to see if Molly would survive. If the baby would survive.
I bit into my knuckles and shut my eyes.
And then I heard the door open.
Alexandra stood there, dark bags under her baby blue eyes and a soft smile warming her mouth.
“Alive and well. Both of them,” she whispered, taking a deep breath. “He’s so precious. Tensley won’t leave their side.” She laughed at that and moved closer.
The baby and
Molly were fine. They were alive.
My hands itched at my side to grab Lex.
She paused, staring up at me. “What’s wrong?”
I reached out for her, gripping her hand and slowly, pulled her into my chest, holding her hips.
Her eyes fluttered up at me, her head tilted in question.
“Beau,” Lex said, pressing into me, rubbing up and down my bulging arms. “Calm down.” Her breasts pressed against me, her soft voice was my undoing. Her touch alone could calm the beast.
I grabbed her wrist, moving down the hallway and entered a spare bedroom. I slammed the door and turned to face Lex.
Her chest heaved visibly in her t-shirt, torn and bloody, her ample breasts catching my attention.
“What’s wrong?” she asked again, furrowing her brows in concern.
“I could have lost you tonight,” I whispered, my voice too thick, too raw with too many emotions spilling into me at once.
Her eyes softened at that. “I’m fine, Beau.”
I shook my head and moved closer. “I turned around and you weren’t there. I lost it. I thought if you were gone…if anyone hurt you, I would be destroyed.”
The silence stretched between us, my words hanging in the air.
Lex bit her bottom lip nervously. “Beau…”
“I kept thinking of Valentina and my child, if Molly…and how Tensley would be destroyed,” I hissed, staring at my shaking hands. I fisted them, but that didn’t stop the trembling of anger and fear inside of me. “Tonight, I realized deep inside of me, deep in my blood and bones, I can’t lose you. I want to protect you. The way I can.”
My eyes finally found hers. I let my words sink in and she blinked slowly, her mouth dropping open.
I took slow, cautious steps toward her, like approaching a tiger and stood directly in front of her. She breathed out shakily. Carefully, I leaned down, taking her mouth in a soft kiss.
A kiss of promise.
A kiss so tender she would forget I was a beast.