Callista’s chuckle brings me back to the present as her flowery scent twitches my nostrils and sends desire through me as she steps her bare feet on my boot-covered ones. “I’ve heard we have an iguana and a bunny now,” she murmurs, and I pick her up, so she can circle her legs and arms around me while her curves mold against my muscles, and I can breathe a little easier.
“They want it.”
Her emerald eyes soften, and she leans closer, giving me a gentle kiss that’s not enough to satisfy the craving inside me, but the giggles from the garden inform me it’s a long wait before I can fuck my wife hard on a flat surface.
“I love you, Arson,” she whispers, holding my stare as she always does so I get the full impact of these words and the emotions behind them.
I don’t answer her.
The words are still not easy to say, but I try to get better with the years, and hug her closer as she rests her chin on my shoulder.
Besides, the words I love you just can’t describe the amplitude of the emotions I feel toward my wife.
Once upon a time, an angel fell to hell, where a devil found her.
He was so mesmerized with her beauty he trapped her.
But slowly, the angel showed the cynical devil that she could bring a special kind of light to his darkness and opened up possibilities that he thought were long lost to him.
With her in my arms as our daughters play in the garden, their happiness wrapping me in a cocoon so strong that nothing seems capable of breaking it… I, for the first time in my life, thank my fate for all the cruelties I’ve experienced.
All the pain and agony, every choice I’ve made in this life… brought me to my Callista.
My cruel, unfair fate gave me her.
And in such… there is not a happier man on this earth than me.
The End
Turn the page to read an excerpt from Callum’s Hell.
Callum’s Hell Excerpt
Giselle
Fisting the skirt of my red ballroom dress, I run toward the garden, my bare feet barely making a sound in the perfectly cut grass that scratches against my skin.
My brown locks cascade down my spine and blow back from the wind as the veil coronet made of orchids and roses entwined together slides a little, tugging on my hair.
A mark that forever stains me.
I hear him call out behind me, a deep and husky voice that haunts me in my dreams and catches me in my nightmares.
Stifling the groan of pain, I speed up, ignoring the protesting screams from every bone in my body.
Stopping means losing, and losing means dying; those are the rules in his twisted game we’ve been playing for so long I’ve lost count of time.
I pass by various bushes, trees, and lush flowers with scents that surround and slip into my nose, reminding me that my love for them became my ultimate downfall.
It’s a shame something so beautiful is smeared in dirt that no one will be able to clean.
I gaze ahead and finally see the gates, wide open and waiting for me just to fly through them to my freedom. Like the gates of Hades that hide the monster living in the underworld.
Those who stay here burn in the fire of his creation.
My breathing heaves. Drawing on all my self-control, I continue to run, even when he shouts louder behind me, “Giselle.” There is a note lacing his voice that I don’t recognize, yet it sends a shiver down my spine, reminding me that no one goes against his will and lives.
But any freedom, even in death, is better than the prison he has created on earth for me.
A slight smile curves my lips when I reach the concrete, my feet slapping against it while the heat in it burns my skin, but I don’t care.
Not when I’m so close to escaping this hell.
The monster lives in the castle of his own creation after all; he won’t be able to follow me.
My hand is extended, ready to touch the gate, when a gunshot echoes in the night sending the birds flying up in chaos, squawking loudly as they are snapped from their calm.
The air hitches inside my throat, and I freeze on the spot, my raspy breath filling the night. A sharp pain travels from my lower back through my entire system as dizziness overtakes me.
I fall on my knees, groaning in agony while the gates in the distance become blurrier and blurrier, taking me farther and farther away from my escape.
“My back,” I murmur, barely finding the strength to utter those words. I reach behind me and then look at my hand, noticing blood coating it. “He shot me in the back.” The minute the words slip past my lips, I hear his hurried footsteps and he drops beside me, his hand fisting my hair and bringing me closer to him, until his cheek is resting against mine.
“What have you done, Giselle?”
I stifle a whimper and hold back the tears that yearn to slide down my cheeks and wash away the hurt he always inflicts.
Hades caught his Persephone once again.
And just like in the myth, he will lock her away from the world and make her live permanently in his hell.
Or so I think.
Slowly, all my strength leaves me as I slip to the side, right into his arms. I exhale carefully, the pain so strong I’m afraid to even breathe. But in all this craziness, a smile settles on my face, because the nightmare is finally over.
No one won.
No one lost.
In this twisted myth of his creation, no one got what they wanted, and that’s probably the most tragic story of all.
Click here for Callum’s Hell.
Also by V. F. Mason
Dark Romance
Sociopath’s Obsession
Sociopath’s Revenge
Psychopath’s Prey
Lachlan’s Protégé
Micaden’s Madness
Callum’s Hell
Madman’s Method
Madman’s Cure
Mafia Romance
Pakhan’s Rose
Pakhan’s Salvation
Sovietnik’s Fury
Brigadier’s Game
Kaznachei’s Pain
Free Books
His Broken Princess
Coming Soon
The Four Dark Horsemen Series
Acknowledgments
First, I want to thank God and my family for allowing me to write and make this dream possible. The support means so much to me, and I understand that sometimes it drives you crazy, especially when I try to meet my deadlines and seem unavailable to you. But I love you guys and appreciate everything you do for me.
Arson…the handsome guy with blue hair and dark past popped in my head when I was writing Lachlan’s Protégé. I didn’t know much about him besides the fact that his past is really dark and he doesn’t want to share it with me. But then Callista showed up…and I knew they were a match.
I planned to write his book right after Lachlan’s but I was stuck. I wrote prologue for his book last winter yet couldn’t work on it. I just felt like Arson didn’t want to talk to me so I let him be. Then I wrote Callum’s Hell…and I knew he had to be first. I hope you enjoyed reading Arson’s story.
Huge thank you to Hot Tree Editing team for helping me with my editing process. Especially Becky, Donna, Peggy, Kayla and Mandy. Plus beta readers and final eyes, who gave me valuable feedback and made sure I covered any plot holes I had.
Thank you to Sommer Stein, Wander Aguiar and Zack Salaun for the fabulous cover.
Heather Roberts, thank you for being with me during this release every step of the way.
L.Woods PR thank you for hosting my cover reveal and release blitz.
Thank you to my reader group, ladies you are amazing!
Thank you to all the bloggers for spreading the word about Arson’s Captive and leaving reviews.
And finally to all the readers who took a chance on this journey of love between Arson and Callista. Thank you to each one of you.
Contact
Keep in touch with V.F. Mason!
Join Auth
or V.F. Mason’s Intense and Twisted Corner
Sign up to V.F. Mason’s Newsletter
Like V.F. Mason’s Facebook Page
Follow V.F. Mason on Instagram
Follow V.F. Mason on Bookbub
Arson’s Captive Page 38