Page 5 of Feral Monsters
Wraith smirked. “No?”
I shook my head and rubbed at my gritty eyes. “No. Ike lacks any kind of emotion in his eyes. It’s easy to pinpoint who he is. And he’s much more blunt, and I’m pretty sure he has conversations in his head that sometimes get said out loud.”
Wraith chuckled. “Picked up on that, did you?” He walked over to a dresser and opened it. “Ike is the least… human, you could say, out of the four of us. He’s more of a textbook psychopath, and he’s the hardest for our parents to keep in line. But he and I are the closest. He uses me to pick up on social cues, to know how he should act, when he should mask…” Turning, he held out clothes to me. “These should fit you. Why don’t you shower? If you don’t like these, this whole dresser is full of things for you.”
I pushed myself off the bed, my chest tightening. I actually had my own things? I hadn’t had that in years. “For me?” I croaked, staring at the dresser he was standing in front of as I made my way closer.
Wraith nodded. “We knew you were going to be ours the moment we laid our eyes on you. So, we began preparing to have you live with us, and we made sure you had everything you may need.”
Ike burst into the room at that moment, lowering his phone from his ear. “Pops is growing impatient.”
Wraith rolled his eyes. “He’ll live.” Looking at me, he pointed to a door off to the right. “That’s the bathroom. Use whatever. When you’re done, just come downstairs, and I’ll have breakfast ready.”
“I…” I didn’t know what to say. Clean clothes that would actually fit? Privacy in the bathroom? Fucking breakfast?
“Not that big of a deal,” Ike grunted, peering at me with those unnerving dark eyes.
I scowled at him. “It is a big deal,” I snapped, feeling defensive. “Do you know the hell I’ve fucking gone through? Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve been able to shower alone? I’ve never had clothes that actually fit, and they certainly weren’t new, Ike. And breakfast? Fuck, I probably haven’t had actual breakfast since I was allowed to be in school before I was sold.”
During my speech, Ike had erased the distance between us, and his hand snapped around my throat. I sucked in a sharp breath of air, trepidation skittering along my spine. His hold wasn’t punishing though. He was merely asserting his dominance over me, and trust me, he was getting his fucking point across. My pulse was hammering against his fingertips.
“Watch your mouth with me,” Ike warned, his voice a mere growl. But a fire burned in his eyes, the first hint of real emotion I’d seen from him. The fire wasn’t anger either. It was a need to own me, and goddammit, part of me wanted to let him. “I know what you’ve been through. But I’m telling you breakfast is not that big of a deal because it’s not. It’s a basic human need. Eating is normal. Being able to bathe on your own is normal. Having your own clothes is also normal, and Wraith and I will make sure that it becomes normal for you as well.”
He loosened his hold and rubbed his thumb over my pulse point. Cocking his head to the side the slightest bit, he smirked, and my stomach swooped. That smile was both deadly and enticing. “You like my hand around your throat, don’t you, little killer?”
Jesus.
I parted my lips to answer, to say something, but I couldn’t get the words out. Wraith suddenly wrapped his arms around me from behind and pressed a kiss to my jaw. I shivered, my defenses falling like a stack of cards. “In time, Merit, we will own you. Together. But you need a little more time to heal and come to terms with what’s happening.” He kissed the shell of my ear next, then both men released me at the same time. “Shower. Dress. Then, come eat.”
With that, they both left the room, quietly shutting the door behind them with a slight shnick.
And if I had to sit on the bed until my knees stopped wobbling… Who could fucking blame me?
Four
Ike
Pops was pissed, and poor Dad was doing his best to keep him calm. Pops hated it when we stepped out of line, and not only had we stepped out of line, but we’d taken our time getting to the house. But fuck him because Merit had been through enough, and he deserved to take life at his own pace now. If he wanted to take a long shower and eat enough food to feed a small army, who the hell were Wraith and I to stop him?
“You two sure took your time,” Pops growled at us.
“He needed a shower and to eat,” I told him. “Did you expect us to rush him?”
“Why don’t we all move to the living room?” Dad suggested, ever the mediator. He tugged on Pops’s arm, urging him to move along. Pops looked at him and blew out a harsh breath, letting Dad lead him away.
Merit grunted, his arms crossed over his chest. I recognized it as a defensive gesture. “Don’t think he likes me all that much.”
I pressed my hand to his lower back and led him toward the living room, Wraith falling into step on the other side of him. “Pops doesn’t really like anyone,” Wraith told him. “He’s a psychopath like us, though he was forced to regulate his own urges rather than having someone really help him. He didn’t get help until he was a teenager. Dad is the only person he really likes. And well, Sabbath.”
“He pretty much only tolerates the rest of us, but because we’re family, he’d still drop bodies if it meant protecting us,” I explained further.
“Sounds shitty,” Merit grumbled, casting me a confused look.
“Nah,” I assured him. “It doesn’t bother us. We’re not capable of loving, and we get Pops on a deeper level than most do. We let him reserve all his attention for Sabbath, who’s neurotypical—or well, as neurotypical as he can be in a house full of psychopaths.”
“Talking about me is rude, you know,” Sabbath griped from his position on a beanbag chair. He had a controller in his hand and was busy playing?—
“Is that Farming Simulator?” Wraith asked, laughter in his voice. “Bro, out of all the games…”
