Page 24 of Captured By the Monsters
Shit, I hadn’t even thought of that. How could I have forgotten? That complicated things greatly.
I snorted. “We don't even know if it will happen.”
“It’ll happen,” Sylan urged. “Her body craves ours. She needs our touch, and she needs our love.” I felt like the last part was directed more to me, but I held my smart remark back.
“I don’t want to go to the capital without her being marked,” Axton reiterated, his anger boiling to the surface clear as day. “Others might challenge us on our claim to Sera.”
At this, I nodded. Axton was right—to go before the council without our mate fully marked was foolish. It was an open invitation for another Trifecta to fight us and potentially claim her as their mate. We were fated, which was made clear by our crystal, and Sera could only be ours, but our kind was desperate.
Desperation was a nasty trait to have. It had allowed for loopholes in our ways of life that we had thought permanent and sacred—such as the crystal choosing our match—but with the decline of our population, it was clear our makeshift leaders would try anything to keep us alive.
Haste was of the utmost importance, but it had also led to very grim relations between a chosen and her Trifecta, we had heard. Forcing a female to complete the bond was something we would never do with Sera, but it also placed her in a very dangerous situation if we went without it being complete.
“We need to wait till we mark her,” I agreed with him.
“Besides, we’re only as strong as our mate allows us to be,” Axton chimed in. “Once she’s fully marked, we can draw enough energy and become corporeal again. We will be one of the very few Trifectas in all of society who’s not a Specter any longer, but right now we are not in any condition to fight and be certain we will win. Not until Sera is fully marked and claimed.”
I ran a wispy hand over my shadowed head in agitation.
We were damned if we did, and damned if we didn’t.
“Perhaps we could persuade–”
“We said we’d give her the opportunity to choose, which means the time to become comfortable with us, the time to–”
“We don’t have the luxury of time!” I snapped, and I sensed him flinching. “So, how do we keep her safe?”
Axton sighed, a noise that sounded extremely close to admitting defeat. “Rowen’s right. We don’t have the time to woo her like she wants—like we want. So what do we do?”
“Obviously we won’t be forcing her,” Sylan scoffed. “This is her heart—her trust in us—that’s on the line. We cannot abuse that when we’ve given her this promise. Even if she says yes right now, it’d be the ‘yes’ of her body, not the ‘yes’ of her heart, and that’s what we want.”
His words caused a dull ache to unfurl inside my chest because I knew he was right. Deep down, even if it was a forced feeling, the thing that I longed for was Sera’s heart, but I didn’t deserve it. I couldn’t give her mine, so I shouldn’t—couldn’t—demand hers…right?
“How long do you think before we’re officially expected to report to the capital?” I wondered, mind whirling, desperately trying to come up with a plan.
“Three days tops,” Axton grumbled, upset with that timeline.
I pursed my lips, the only solid thing on me, wondering how to woo our human mate. Logic dictated this would take time. Sera was smart and cautious. I wondered if she couldn’t give us her heart, if maybe she could offer her trust instead.
As if Sylan could read my mind, he murmured, “Maybe if we explained this to Sera…”
I felt a shift in Axton. He didn’t want to tell Sera anything, didn’t want to burden her with our past, but eventually she would have to know, much to my displeasure.
“Perhaps you’re right,” Axton conceded to Sylan.
Unlike me, Sylan softly hummed his happiness with the decision to tell our mate more. He preferred to be transparent, whereas I preferred to be more secretive.
It was dangerous to tell Sera everything. She could flee and tell everything to the rulers of her land. How we were perilously close to becoming an extinct species with the power of crystals dimming more and more. They would send their armies down here to crush us once and for all.
Unless we somehow persuaded her to be on our side and stay here. But what could Sylan, Axton, and I offer her down here, except our undying love? And could I even offer her that?
We claimed she deserved to be pampered like a princess, but with our land failing, what could we really offer her? The truth was, eventually Paratiisi wouldn’t be inhabitable by anyone. If we didn’t find our True Queen and restore the crystal to its former glory, everything would crumble into dust around us.
And this was my deepest fear—that we would lose Sera, someway, somehow.
Our leaders wouldn’t let that happen though. We all knew what would occur as a last resort. The humans would face their greatest fear—monsters invading once more, seeking out our Queen.
But we weren’t the bad guys; we never were. We were just a dying race trying to make a compromise with the only other species that could offer us what we truly needed.
