Page 55 of Secrets & Curses of Fate

“A way to survive,” I answered. “I needed to become a monster to stay alive because the nice part of me would have been killed years ago if I didn’t.”

“So, you have two… personalities inside of you.”

“A good one and an evil one.” I took a step toward her. “Does this side of me scare you?”

Della gave me a big, genuine smile.

“No.”

“It should.” I stepped even closer to her, and she didn’t flinch when I reached out and stroked her face. “Do you like what you see?” Fuck, I needed to rein it in. She couldn’t know that I remembered her and our previous life together when I was like this. Damn it, I could hardly contain myself when she wasclose to me. My eyes dropped to the ring I slipped on her finger centuries ago, and damn, it made me happy to see.

“If I said yes, would that be too forward?” Her starry eyes stared directly into my void ones. I softly gripped her hair and yanked her head back slightly. She let out the prettiest moan. I was fucked.

“Answer me, Della.”

“Yes,” she whispered.

Her one-word answer made something in my cold heart warm up.

“Why?”

Something about my question made her tense. Oh, she wanted to keep secrets. I smiled when her eyes fell to my mouth. I had never kissed a woman, never had the desire to in this life, but I knew her mouth would fucking ruin any other kiss I ever had. My soul knew that she was the only one worthy of getting me intimately.

“You’re more handsome up close,” she confessed before her cheeks heated. I liked that a lot.

Her whole chest flushes like this when she cums.

“Yeah?” I whispered. Della nodded before she lifted her hand and touched my face. I was beaten to hell, and I’m sure I was covered in blood. I felt something warm pass over me, and the throbbing of my wounds disappeared. My voice softened a bit at her touch. “I feel like I’ve known you my whole life.”

Her eyes flashed pure white when they met mine. I had missed her.

“Maybe we knew each other in a past life.” My words made her frown for just a moment. I inched her closer to my mouth, and she didn’t fight me. She was going to let me kiss her, and something about the submission made me feel… possessive over a woman I shouldn’t get involved with again. Della still didn’t know who I really was or that I was her enemy.

She studied me as if I were something precious that she had lost long ago. “I like this side of you,” she whispered.

A noise behind me in the woods made me turn my gaze from her for a split second. But when I turned back, Della was gone. I was confused. Quickly, I turned and looked for her. She was standing in the woods nearby, smiling. How had she left my grip without me feeling it?

“I’ll see you soon.” She promised.

Then she was gone. I could feel the hold of the void letting me go as I smiled. She was going to be mine, and I didn’t think I would ever let her go. The monster inside of me had already claimed her—again.

Chapter 16

Haden

Everyone stared. I heard their whispers as they watched me walk down the path. I heard them call me a freak. I didn’t need more of a reason to feel out of place in this village than I did growing up with the town drunk as a father. Smiling to myself, I walked with my back straight and my head held tall. I didn’t care much about what they thought of me today.

My gaze scanned the crowd to see if she was close by, but I didn’t see her, which made me frown. I hadn’t seen her in a week. The village was bustling today because Barron and his two friends had been found dead in the woods. I smiled when they blamed monsters. They weren’t wrong; a monsterhadkilled them. The void had shared those memories with me. He also shared us flirting with Della.

I could only remember bits and pieces of when I was void. Most of it felt hazy and only came in flashes that didn’t always make sense. But I remembered Della—how damn pretty she was with her big eyes and soft lips, the way she watched me carefullylike I was the most interesting thing she had ever laid her eyes on. Gods, I didn’t know her, but when I looked at her, I felt like I did. My chest ached with something furious as Della took up every thought.

I should've kissed her.

Something hitting my chest pulled me out of my daydreaming. I glanced down to see a giant tomato sitting at my feet. The rotten fruit left a huge stain on one of the only shirts I owned. Damn it, I couldn’t afford another one. Fuck, I couldn’t even afford this one—I stole it. When I turned to see who was laughing, I wasn’t surprised to see it was the young noblemen of the village.

Little fucking pricks.?Would the town notice if I started picking off all these noble bastards one at a time?

Kira was with them, laughing like it was the funniest thing she had ever seen. I was not about to give them a reaction. So, I didn’t say anything as I kept walking toward the woods. There was only one thing on my mind, and that was seeing Della.

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