Page 5 of The Minotaur's Motivation

"Oh gods, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize. You are my first minotaur client, and I didn't think. I'll make sure that next time we meet in a place that has a more direct route. I won't make you come this way again."

The words fell out of me in a hurry, and my stomach clenched. This was a horrible situation for him to have been put in. It’s not like it was a secret that minotaurs lost their minds in mazes. It was the curse of their heritage. The prison was a large circular building with curving corridors connected at weird points. I had even called it a maze when I first arrived.

"Half minotaur."

He punctuated this by leaning forward and giving his ears a slight perk up before letting them flop back down again. Yet again I was being an idiot.

"Yes, sorry. Sorry."

His face was impassive, and I was crumbling under the weight of this disaster of a first session together.

"I didn't mean to offend you, Cam."

"I'm not offended. I'm proud of my heritage."

His whole body straightened when he said this. I latched on to this with a slight desperation to make something go right today.

"Oh! Yes? I'd be interested to hear about it."

He cocked his head slightly, regarding me as though I'd said something strange. His eyes softened as though this made him happy. Those brown eyes again, holding mine.

"Would you?"

His voice was almost a full growl now, and it sent a shiver up my spine. But it didn't feel like fear or anxiety. I pushed it away.

"Yes, of course. Please tell me!"

Chapter 4

Cam

I could barely focus on my own words. The woman sitting in front of me had thrown me for a loop. Her eyes were gentle and kind, but they still pinned me to my seat. There was an intensity there, but it wasn't the sort that I craved. I wanted them to burn with lust for me. Then to lose focus as she bucked under me, crying my name. To look at me with the warmth of someone who can let themselves go completely, because they are safe with their mate. Instead, I got a look which I assumed was pity. I was, in her eyes, a raging beast with no control. I had already failed in front of her. She was sitting silently again. Talking about myself wasn’t something I did much of. But I craved her attention. I needed to connect with her. I needed her so strongly I felt off balance. So I talked.

"My mother’s ancestors were Mayan bat gods. She was monster royalty in her province."

"Oh, wow."

I could see a glint of genuine curiosity in her face, and she leaned forward, so I kept talking.

"My father was a minotaur who worked as a messenger. They had a secret affair. He was her fated mate. Her family couldn’t believe that. He was of low birth, so it was impossible to them. Mother and Father ran away together. But Mother's family hunted them down and killed my father when I was a child. They would have killed me too if they’d known I existed. Mother hid me under the floorboards, but I heard everything."

"I'm so sorry, Cam. That must have been terrible."

"I hunted them down once I was old enough and paid them back in kind."

I was proud of this, but I noticed her sit back in her chair, moving further away.

"And that's why I am here. For killing the ones responsible."

"I see."

Silence again. She looked me up and down. Assessing me with this new view of me as a murderer. An out-of-control beast.

"I watched my mother fade away after he died. Trying to raise a wild young minotaur-blooded child without her mate. She deserved justice."

I sat tall in my seat. I did what had to be done for those that I cared about. She squirmed slightly as she looked away thoughtfully. She knew me now. In the ways that mattered. Something so far from human that she could never understand me. She would have rejected me, anyway. This small, perfect woman could never love a monster. But she might as well reject me knowing the full truth. Despite that I still yearned for her approval. Still wanted her with a need that I had never encountered before. I took a deep breath while she sat quietly, turning this information over in her mind. I couldn't smell any fear pheromones anymore, despite everything I had said.

"Your file says that you left most of the household alive though. And before challenging those three men to a fight, you made sure the women and children were taken away to where they couldn't see or hear what was happening. And you only killed those who didn't have families of their own."

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