Page 48 of Captured By the Monsters
ROWEN
The presence of other Specter Trifectas in the presentation room was palpable chaos. They were like wild animals salivating at the thought of getting a mate of their own, and I hated it.
I hated this.
I hated what we’d become.
The usurpers who betrayed us and those from The Above that started the war had turned us against one another, made us nothing more than rabid animals. I wanted to sweep Sera up, run from this place and take her away from the ugliness of it all. But I couldn’t.
I wouldn’t do anything that would bring our claim into question. We would take her to the crystal and then get her back home where she would be safe.
Standing as close to her as she would allow, I sensed her unease as well as her need as she leaned into me. I had to admit that I loved the small gesture of faith the movement provided. She knew I was safe and dependable.
Taking in the three other claimed women, I could see one woman was not likely to make it based on the way she seemed like an empty shell already. There was no light to her eyes and no fight within her body. She was dissociated from her surroundings, like her mind had drifted to another world. I felt a true agony for that Trifecta, knowing that when their mate perished, they would too.
Trifectas were intrinsically tied to their human mate once claimed. You couldn’t have one without the other. And while I knew they would do everything to try to keep her alive, you could see it on her face that she had already lost the will to live. Her fear of our world and us as creatures was too much for her to overcome.
It broke my heart to think of Sera in her shoes.
It made my heart hammer in my chest in anger at how the relations between our kind had dwindled so far. In another time, she would have felt cherished and loved. Safe in knowing that her Trifecta would do anything for her.
That was my deepest fear, the dread of what would happen to Sera if we couldn’t restore Paratiisi. That one day the ugliness of this world would overshadow the feelings we provided her. That she wouldn’t want to be a part of this world anymore.
If the True Queen was never found, would she become like this woman? Alive but dead on the inside for being stuck in this land until we died along with her? Or would it be the other way around? Would we slowly perish because our land was sick? And then our mate would follow.
I wanted to be optimistic. To believe that only the best would happen to us, but that wasn’t how life worked. Just because you wanted something so badly you could fucking taste it, didn’t mean that you could attain it.
I turned my attention away from the red-headed to the other Selected whose gaze bothered Sera so much. So much so that I nearly stepped in front of her to shield her from it.
That woman stared at my mate with such seething hatred that I narrowed my eyes in warning at her Trifecta. This could get messy quickly if she didn’t back off of Sera.
If she tried to attack our mate, we would be forced to defend her in any way: including hurting their mate if it came to it. We knew how rare finding our mates was, so that was the last thing we wanted to do, but the three Rumilus didn’t pay me any attention when I tried to catch their notice. They were focused only on their mate, who stood apart from them and refused to be touched. You could tell in their eyes that they thought she hung the damn stars and were just waiting for one ounce of her attention.
As much as I pitied the other Trifecta with their dying mate, I felt worse for this one. We had all heard the rumors about mates like her who fought their Trifecta tooth and nail. These women were the most dangerous, inciting violence and trying to turn other Selected against us.
Seeing as this woman had been claimed, I could only imagine what she said about her mates from the nasty, violent glare she sent them. I couldn’t imagine with the looks of absolute adoration on their faces that they would ever force or harm her, just like we would never have with Sera.
I wanted to say that without a doubt her Trifecta tried everything to prove that she was loved and cherished, worshiped, and that she gave into the claiming of her own will. However, looks could be deceiving, and despite wanting to believe the best in my kind, we had fallen far from the species we once were.
Whatever had occurred between them, it was obvious she’d never wanted to give in to this bond and that she wanted to take as many people down with her as possible.
Sera was truly rare in her understanding and caring nature. She had provided us the opportunity to explain so that we could clear up any lies she had been fed. Without that side of her, we probably would be in the exact same place as that Trifecta.
I did notice that the black-haired woman and Sera had shared a smile, and I hoped that perhaps they could become friends. She seemed to have a similar relationship with her Trifecta from the way they interacted with her—a brush of a hand over her shoulder, the hand in the small of her back, and the way their eyes kept shifting around to search for any danger to their mate.
While my kind still kept to themselves, it might help Sera to have a friend, someone in a similar situation that she could lean on and talk to. As much as I wanted to keep Sera’s company only for myself and my brothers, I understood that Sera would need someone other than her Trifecta.
Humans were a social species, and we would never want her to feel trapped or controlled. The only thing that we were controlling over was how many orgasms she’d have.
The Rumilus leader in the middle suddenly stood up, addressing everyone once more in the tongue of my species, riling those in attendance. “The fifth Trifecta has been spotted. They will be here soon. This final mate has been unclaimed. Do I hear anyone who wishes to challenge them?”
From the opposite side of the room, growls and roars of approval met these words, making my heart beat faster. There were no words to describe how glad I was that Sera had allowed us to mark and claim her, because what would happen now would show the true savage nature of our Specter forms.
The Trifectas gathered would fight the one coming with their unclaimed mate. It was a brutal and deadly show, one I really didn't want Sera to see.
I whispered my concerns to Axton in our tongue. Thankfully he nodded to me in agreement, stepping up once more to be in front of the Paratiisi rulers. Bowing his head in respect of the leaders, he waited for a nod of acknowledgement before proceeding.
“I do not wish for my mate to see the other Specters fight for the unclaimed mate. Is there a room we can wait in?”
Sera grumbled from our side about how rude it was to speak in a tongue she couldn’t understand, but she would know soon enough. Knowing our fiery little mate, she would be pissed that we were planning on putting her in a room for her own protection.
She was damn strong and faced challenges head-on, so the thought of being babied in this manner was likely not going to sit well with her. I’d be the villain in this scenario, though, if it meant her being safe and not having to see such savagery.
The council conferred amongst themselves before the middle one spoke up. “We agree. We do not want these women to see any more hostility, but your Trifecta and the others must stay here to witness. We can put the human women in another room where they can wait with guards protecting them.”
I looked over at Sylan, not liking the idea of leaving Sera by herself with the three other women alone, but I disliked the idea of her watching the fight even more.
