35. Solon

35

SOLON

Solon frowned at Abbey's abrupt departure. Something was wrong—terribly wrong—and he had an idea it had something to do with the human male still standing beside him, holding a bottle of alcohol and grinning stupidly.

"Huh—she must have had to take a leak. You know women—the only organ smaller than their bladder is their brain," the male said and then laughed uproariously, as though he'd made an extremely funny joke.

"I don't find that to be true at all," Solon said coldly. "Why do you find denigrating women amusing?"

"Well, fuck—excuse me, Mr. Serious," the male threw out his arms in an exaggerated apology, tipping the bottle he was holding in the process. Some of the alcohol sloshed out onto the dance floor but he didn't seem to notice.

"Who are you, anyway?" Solon asked. "And how do you know my mate-to-be?"

"I'm Chris Brander!" the male exclaimed, as though Solon ought to know him. "I'm surprised Abbey hasn't talked about me. I was kind of the big man on campus back in the day, ya know? Go Lions! Speaking of which, you look kind of like our mascot. I mean, except for the horns."

This meant nothing to Solon, but he still wanted to know why Abbey had run so quickly as soon as the human male showed up.

"How do you know Abbey?" he asked again, trying to get to the point.

"Oh, well your lady and I had a little ‘fun' one time after football practice, if you know what I mean." The male winked broadly and nudged Solon with his elbow, spilling more alcohol on the floor. "You wouldn't think it to look at her back then, because she was this shy, mousy little thing with these big Coke bottle glasses, but she was actually pretty wild in the sack! Or maybe I should say under the bleachers, ‘cause that's where we got it on."

Solon frowned. This male seemed to be insinuating that he and Abbey had engaged in a sexual encounter when they went to school together. Had she run away simply because she was embarrassed for Solon to meet an old partner?

But no—embarrassment wasn't the feeling he'd gotten from her before she tore herself away and left the dance floor. Her face had gone pale and her lovely eyes were wide. Fear, anger, disgust, horror…those were the emotions he'd picked up the moment she heard this Chris Brander's voice.

He suddenly remembered that Abbey had told her someone had sexually assaulted her while she was in school. She had claimed that she "didn't even think about it anymore" but that was clearly not the case. She had overcome her Shadowed Past, but it had definitely left a mark on her.

"Tell me," he said to the human male. "This ‘fun' that you and Abbey had under the bleachers—who exactly initiated the encounter?"

"Wow, man—you talk like fucking Spock or something," Chris Brander muttered. "I don't know who, uh, initiated it—it just kind of happened, you know? I mean, there she was, bending over. She said she was looking for something but I could tell she was just trying to show me that juicy ass of hers." He made a kissing sound. "I fucking love a woman with a heart-shaped ass, you know?"

"So she was bending over and you took that as an invitation to have sex with her?" Solon demanded.

He was beginning to get a clearer picture of what had happened between Abbey and this Chris Brander and it wasn't good. Already, the edges of his vision were red and his blood was getting hot as the Rage crept up on him, but he wanted to be sure he was understanding correctly before it overtook him.

"You just decided to take her because she was bent over?" he asked again, since Brander hadn't answered before.

"Well, I mean, it was obviously a come-on, you know? You have to understand, man—I have this kind of animal magnetism. Even back then, the girls were all over me." He shrugged. "Abbey wanted me—I could tell."

"How could you tell? Did she ask you to have sex with her?" Solon growled. "Did she invite you to continue once you started?"

"What? No. I mean, she wiggled and struggled some—girls love playing hard to get, you know? But she enjoyed it—don't you worry about that." He laughed coarsely. "Man, I fucked her so good she was crying by the end of it!"

A mental image presented itself to Solon—one he didn't want to see but couldn't avoid. He was picturing a younger, Abbey—barely more than a girl and still innocent, with thick oculars on her face to help her use what little vision she'd had left at that time. He saw her bending over looking for something…and then saw the large, beefy human male grabbing her and forcing himself on her. He saw the younger Abbey crying out, begging him to stop while he laughed and kept on hurting her…

The mental picture was too much to bear and the Rage overcame him. A blood-red curtain dropped over his eyes and his hands curled into fists as a deep, rumbling roar came throbbing up from his chest to erupt from his mouth.

There were gasps all around him as his roar drowned out the music and people clapped their hands over their ears and stared at him. Solon didn't care—his only thought at the moment was for vengeance. This male had hurt his bride—he had taken what she wasn't willing to give and forced her against her will.

He must be punished!

"What the fuck, man?" Chris Brander exclaimed, staring at him. "Why are your eyes all red? Is that a Monstrum thing or something?"

"You hurt my female!" The voice coming from Solon's throat was deep and bestial—completely enraged. "You forced her! Now you're going to pay."

Grabbing the other male by the belt, he dragged him forward and jammed his other hand down his trousers. Then he gripped the human's genitals in one hand and began to squeeze.

"What the fuck are you doing? Fuck!" Chris Brander shouted. He swung the half full bottle of alcohol clumsily at Solon's head, but Solon ducked easily. He squeezed harder.

"I'm going to give you a choice," he growled, glaring down at the human male. "You can either keep your shaft or your balls—you can't keep both. So which will it be?"

"What? What are you talking about? Hey, man—that fucking hurts!" Brander winced as Solon squeezed the small, squishy package gripped in his palm even harder.

"I'll ask you again—which do you want to keep?" he demanded. "Because you're losing one tonight—it's a fitting punishment for what you did to Abbey."

"The fuck is wrong with you? Ow—ow!" Brander gasped. "Somebody help me—he's crazy!"

"Admit what you did," Solon said, ignoring the shocked stares they were getting from all directions. "Admit that you forced Abbey that day. She never invited what you did—you took her against her will! Admit it!"

"Okay, all right!" Brander was doubled over and nearly crying now. "She didn't exactly ask for it. But I figured she ought to be happy—a nerdy chick like her getting some attention from a popular guy like me!"

"Right—she was happy to have you rape her." Solon was so angry now that it felt like his whole body was on fire with the Rage. He couldn't stand this any longer—if he didn't act soon he would go too far and kill the male and he knew that would entail a lot of legal problems for the Monstrum of the Mother Ship.

"Hey man—that's a strong word!" Brander protested. "I was just having a little fun—that's all."

"If that's your idea of fun, then you're going to love this," Solon told him. "Since you refused to choose between your shaft and balls, you're going to lose them both."

With a conscious effort, he extended the razor-sharp claws at the tips of his fingers which he almost always kept carefully sheathed. They pierced the fragile skin around the attacker's groin and, when Solon tightened his grip, sliced easily through the skin and flesh.

"No! Noooo!" Chris Brander howled and writhed in pain.

Again, Solon ignored him. He also ignored the other human males advancing on him, their eyes wide as they muttered to each other.

"What the fuck is he doing to Chris?"

"What's his problem?"

"Fucking animal!"

They were just about to jump on him when Solon twisted his hand, letting his claws do their work. The handful of the flesh he was holding was sliced neatly away and he pulled his hand out of Brander's trousers, bringing his limp and bloody genitals with it.

There was another audible gasp as all the humans in the room stared in horror and surprise at what Solon had done. Brander collapsed on the floor, howling and clutching his bloody groin—his gray trousers were soaked through and there was a puddle of red rapidly spreading across the floor.

"The fuck did he do? Did he just rip Chris's nutsack off?" one of the human males who had been advancing on Solon demanded.

"Not just that…I also took his shaft." Solon dropped the bloody mess on the floor for all of them to see and wiped his hand on his shirt.

"Oh my God!" one of the human women gasped and prompted fainted.

"I think I'm going to be sick!" another one gasped and raced for the edge of the crowd with one hand over her mouth.

"Fuck, man—are you crazy or what?" one of the human males asked Solon.

"I am not insane—I took vengeance for my female," he growled in return. "That male forced himself on her back when you all attended school together." He jerked his chin contemptuously at Brander, who still lay mewling on the floor. "Now he'll never force himself on a female again." He glared at the human males. "Tell me, did any of you hurt my bride, Abbey? Do I need to punish anyone else tonight?"

"No—huh-uh!"

"No way, man!"

They all backed away, holding up their hands in a "don't shoot" gesture. Solon let them go. He had punished the one responsible for the attack. Abbey hadn't mentioned anyone else hurting her while she was in school, so he felt fairly certain he had served justice to the one who needed it.

He just hoped that Abbey would understand what he had done and why he had done it.