Page 97 of Monster's Obsession
After all, it was his word against mine. Yet he was accepting his fate.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured lowly at me, two words that suffocated me, because he’d never said them before.
An uncomfortable silence fell over the room as Creed moved to stand in front of Tempest and flicked his hand for Ash and Seven to lift him to his feet. Steele took his place by Creed’s side, and I remained close to them. I trembled, unsure what to expect.
Creed cleared his throat. “Confess your sins against the kingdom of Wyld.”
I was frozen, watching, breaking apart on the inside, but also furious at Tempest.
He raised his head towards his king. “You don’t need to do formalities, Creed, I’ll openly confess. I killed the bitch queen, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.” The truth that finally spilled from his mouth completely stunned the rest of the circle.
“You fucking asshole.” Steele lunged at Tempest, slamming a fist into his face, then another and another. Everyone stood back.
“Get it out of your system. Hurt me,” Tempest groaned, bleeding from his nose, a bruise already forming under an eye. “Make me bleed more if that’s going to make you feel better. I deserve it. I get it. I’m nothing but dirt, a worm.”
The way he said that “worm,” it made me sick. Because he said it like he believed that’s what he was.
Tempest flung his arms out on either side of him, blood dripping over his chin. “I never intended for you to get blamed. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The few times I tried to tell Creed, he was too busy for me, grieving for his queen. He didn’t speak to anyone for months. But that doesn’t excuse me, so for that, I don’t expect you to forgive me.”
Steele roared and threw his fist out, clipping him so hard across the head that it sent Tempest flat onto his back. He groaned, giving way to agony raging across his face.
I winced but watched every strike, preparing for the storm to come. Tempest deserved it all, and he took it. Not fighting back, not doing a fucking thing.
And it felt wrong. If he spent all these years concealing his crime, cursing me just the same, why wasn’t he fighting back?
“Why did you do it?” I asked, needing to understand what was going on in his head.
“Fuck that, let’s finish this. I can’t stand looking at his face a second longer.” Steele's shoulders rose and fell with how heavily he breathed; I could feel his pain, and the betrayal he felt, pulsing in our bond. It was enough to almost knock me over.
Tempest got to his feet without a word, running the back of his hand across the bleeding cut across his brow.
“Agreed,” Creed boomed, taking me off guard. “Shave his head and get him prepared for the sword.”
I stilled, my heart hammering, breath sawing out of my lungs. “Wait, shouldn’t we hear his side first?” I didn’t even understand why I was standing up for Tempest when he’d betrayed my mate, and then tried to kill me. Sure, he’d then saved me, but that didn’t make him any less of a villain.
Tempest’s eyes widened in response. “Creed, it isn’t what you think.”
“Then fucking talk,” he snapped, while Ash and Seven snatched his arms, kicking his legs out from under him so he fell to his hands and knees.
My throat tightened, and I moved forward, a sense of urgency warning me this was escalating too quickly.
“I had no choice but to kill her,” he finally groaned, and I could feel his agony pulsing around the room like a living, breathing thing.
I grabbed Creed’s sleeve. “Don’t do anything rash. Hear him out completely, please, for me. A guilty man fights back, but Tempest isn’t.”
Creed didn't even glance at me, and the truth of his fury was a cold reality. I understood his anger, but like with Steele’s alleged guilt, something didn’t feel right.
“There’s so much you don’t understand, Creed, so much I’d kept from you because I knew you wouldn’t believe me. You were so fucking infatuated with the queen while she led you by your dick. But behind your back, we were nothing to her, she hated our touch.”
The air thickened at his words, those he once called friends lingering closer, ready to rip him to shreds.
“You’re lying,” Seven roared and grabbed the back of Tempest’s neck, shoving his head to the ground while collecting a blade from his pocket. “He fucking dies now!”
I flinched, convinced he’d stab him in the head.
The men were beside themselves at hearing the queen never wanted them. Jealousy whipped up inside me, but I didn’t say a thing. I kept my green monster inside. This wasn’t about me.
Seven grabbed Tempest’s hair and shaved it all off. Ash and Steele held him down, and I felt sick to my stomach.