Page 98 of Monster's Obsession

“Fuck, listen to me,” Tempest pleaded. “She was having an affair with Kurden. I saw them, heard them plotting to take over Wyld. She’d set up explosives around the city as a distraction for when she snuck the enemy into our home to take us over. Kurden promised to murder each one of us.” He gasped for air. “I freaked out because we were going to die, so I eradicated the problem.”

I tried to process it all, but it was hard to picture the life they’d once led. The queen they’d once loved. Anxiety flowed like a river untapped through me.

“Let’s test him to see if he’s telling the truth,” Steele declared bitterly, still hacking at shaving his head, never ceasing. “Lethimfight an undead.”

Creed stepped up to Tempest, snatching the patch of hair he had left and dragging him up to his feet. Tempest appeared pitiful, blood and tears covering his face. A soft groan in his throat was him being submissive to Creed.

That wasn’t the Tempest I knew, but someone completely ruined.

“Why the fuck didn’t you come and tell me?” Creed roared, his voice echoing, booming off the walls.

Tempest was shaking, his arms tight by his side, hands in fists. “Because you wouldn’t have believed me! You were so fucking angry at her death, and I felt like no one would listen to me. You knew how much she hated me and tortured me, so you’d have blamed my action on wanting revenge. Fuck, Creed, you were all so infatuated with her, you were blind to the truth. She did nothing wrong in your eyes.” He spoke quickly, sounding panicked.

A snarl rumbled in Creed’s chest.

The other men watching Tempest appeared ready to throw themselves forward and finish him.

“The enemy was attacking the next day. I didn’t have time to waste trying to convince you or have you alert her that we knew of her plans. So, I took care of business, wanting to show everyone that I wasn’t fucking useless.”

Listening to it all, I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, but when Seven snatched Tempest by the throat to shove him back down to his knees, I noticed a red mark on the back of his head where there’d once been hair.

“Wait. What’s that?” I stepped closer to Tempest.

Creed and Steele doing the same.

“You have a mark on the back of your head, did you know that?” I continued.

He was reaching for the back of his head, fingers running over a symbol I recognized instantly.

It was the red crown mark I’d seen in random places around the city.

“Wait!” I murmured, the wheels spinning in my wheels with all the information I’d just learned. “Tempest, you said the queen set up explosives around the city. Did they ever go off?”

Creed shook his head. “Definitely not.”

“I’ve seen that crown mark from Tempest’s head in the Cliff of Doom cavern, in the town square, in caves. That’s too much of a coincidence, wouldn’t you think? What if they’re the locations of her explosive spells?”

Creed blinked down at me, his forehead furrowed. Everyone fell silent, only the raspy sound of quickened breaths sounded.

They were finally realizing that Tempest might be telling the truth.

“I don’t feel the mark, but I shouldn’t have anything there. What the fuck is it?” Tempest groaned, still rubbing his fingers across the back of his head frantically.

My heart broke for him, tears gathering in my eyes, because if my theory was right, he was telling the truth and the queen made him one of her explosives. Her death must have deactivated the bombs, otherwise they would have gone off already. I embraced the small miracle amid the chaos.

Moving towards Tempest, I reached up to his arm. “She marked you with her crown symbol.”

Tempest trembled, a cruel, sorrowful mask slid over his face. One of vulnerability. “That fucking bitch was going to blow me up.”

I choked on a breath, but right then the front doors to the room burst open, coming off their hinges.

I screamed, recoiling.

Creed grabbed my arm and threw me behind him, shielding me from the rain of splintering wood.

A dozen monsters all wearing a red sash around their arm charged into the throne room. Most were huge as though they’d been lifting weights with tree trunks. Solid, muscular beasts who were sneering at us.

“What the fuck’s going on?” spit Creed, stepping forward, Steele taking his place in keeping me covered behind him.