Page 13 of Captured By the Monsters
AXTON
My lovely mate opened her mouth to answer, but quickly slammed it shut. A pink tint blossomed across her skin, marking her varied emotions. Confusion, arousal, hesitation, and trepidation—but not of us.
Curious that.
I’d heard tales of the other trifectas finding their human mate, only to have her cower in fear. Some were even said to die from the horror.
The thought would make me snort, but who knows what those humans ruling The Above told these women. It was obviously nothing good, probably painting us as monsters—which is exactly what my precious called us. She might think that’s what we were, but she wasn’t afraid. A wry smile curled my lip. She was our perfect match; the one to whom the crystal called.
The cum dumpster to our monster needs, as she so eloquently put it.
“She is mouthy,” Rowen pointed out in delight.
“She is perfect,” I reiterated, and Sylan hummed in agreement. “We need to mark her, though. I would wish to give her time to further accept this, but between the other Specters and our environment, we don’t have that luxury.”
“Fuck the other Specters,” Rowen snarled. “She’s our mate, and we will destroy any that try to touch her.”
His words weren’t met with any argument, just the bewilderment of the woman before us, not understanding our conversation or the vehemence behind the words.
She had no idea just how precious she was to us, truly. But she also could not understand us when we spoke in the native tongue of The Below.
“Forgive us, precious. We’ll teach you our tongue soon enough, but first you must be marked.”
“Why?” she demanded, and Rowen grinned. He liked our feisty mate, and I could tell he was already thinking of ways to punish her obscene mouth.
“As we said, it’s imperative that we mark you so that you can live,” Sylan soothed, the more emotionally intuitive one of our Trifecta.
“But there must be another way—any way!” our mate burst out, the first bubble of fear rising to the surface.
I solidified a shadowy talon to tip her chin up. “What’s your name?” I requested softly.
“Sera,” she breathed out with wide eyes as she tried to glance down at my talon.
“Sera,” Sylan, Rowen, and I all sighed together like a whispered prayer.
“I’m Axton, this is Rowen, and that’s Sylan. Together we form our Trifecta, now complete with you.”
I watched Sera take in my words, linking names to the shadowy wisps and voices before her. So much confusion simmered in her beautiful gray eyes. The humans in charge had done nothing to prepare our mate—or any of the women who came to The Below.
“Why are you afraid?” I quietly prompted, wanting to understand her fears so I could assuage them.
“Why are you sometimes a shadow and sometimes not?” she returned, pulling back enough to look at my now corporeal hand.
“It’s too much to explain right now,” I huffed, my need to claim her growing stronger with every passing second. “Now, tell me why you are so upset about us marking you?”
It was very important to me that this brave woman not fear our coupling. While we intended to breed eventually, her body was a vessel for us to worship—her every pleasure ours.
We lived to serve her.
Sera raised a light blonde brow in challenge. “It’s not too much to explain right now,” she deadpanned, earning a chuckle from Rowen and Sylan and a growl from me.
I shot my Trifecta a dirty look before relenting. “We get energy from the crystal—energy that allows us to become more than just shadows—and the crystal gets energy from you.”
Our mate wrinkled her nose in confusion, the most adorable thing I’d ever seen. “Me? How…do you get energy from me?”
“I promise we’ll explain, but time is of the essence. We can only protect you so much and for so long before your lungs succumb to our air.” The former panic flitted across her face, the one that made me curious. She didn’t fear us, but she feared mating? I whispered this to Sylan and Rowen in our language.
“She is a virgin,” Sylan stated, speaking in our tongue once more.
