13. Monster

13

MONSTER

Keeping myself from fucking her was the hardest thing I’d ever done.

But the rage I felt towards the dead human overrode the need to touch her. I couldn’t right now. Not after what he’d attempted. As twisted as I was, I would never harm her the way he had tried to.

She was too precious to me already.

I’d been too late to help her, but I would make up for that by taking care of the rest. I would place the body in a way that would draw attention away from the blood on her hands. So long as she followed my instructions and burned the clothing, I didn’t believe they would find anything connected to her.

Never had I wanted to protect someone else in this way. But I was obsessed with her, obsessed with keeping her out of harm’s way and ensuring that she was safe.

I moved through the hedge maze quickly until I came to the body. I let out a dark chuckle, thinking about how ferocious she had been. Full of so much anger.

She was a killer, but not because she enjoyed it. I understood how she felt. I didn’t enjoy it either, even if it was a necessity at times.

I was glad that I was stalking her. Or else, I wasn’t sure I would have heard her or scented her fear.

A low growl left me.

Blood wet the ground, his eyes still open. I knelt down, studying the stab wounds.

She’d been so steady with each stab, her cries full of rage and pain.

“You’re lucky,” I whispered to the corpse. “If you were still alive, I would have made it slow. I would have made every moment an eternity in hell for touching her. She’s mine .”

I wished that he was still alive, if only barely. I wished that I could watch the life leave his eyes as I ripped him apart limb by limb. I would have made him regret the day he ever even looked at her.

My breaths had become harsher. I closed my eyes, trying to calm myself. I needed to take care of this before someone stumbled through the maze. I couldn’t give into the frenzy, even if it called on me now.

His death was a good thing. What happened to Nora wasn’t. He was vile and disgusting and now, more than ever, I knew that it was good that I always kept her within my sights.

I would rip him apart and make a show of it.

A growl left me as I sunk my claws into his chest and tore him open. The fabric of his clothes ripped with ease, his skin flaying apart into thick ribbons. Bone snapped as I tore open his chest cavity, breaking ribs and his collarbone. I ripped his arms from their sockets, his legs from his hips.

Organs spilled out, the filth covering the ground.

For Nora. I would do anything for her.

The liver would be where I would start. I held the organ to my mouth and bit into it, my anger fueling my hunger. I devoured it, consuming the bastard that had dared to do something so terrible tonight. I enjoyed every bite, even if he tasted bitter.

I ate all of his insides until nothing but a shell was left. I licked my lips, fuller than I’d been in a long time.

I thought about her holding on to me as I carried her back to her tower. Her warmth, her touch, her . She wasn’t scared of me. She didn’t cower in front of me.

For so long, I’d felt nothing. The years had gone by with the same routine, with the same cold nights. The same darkness.

She was the sunrise I never got to see.

Until now.

I picked up the husk of his body and carried it to the field outside of the maze, spreading it out in a circle.

They would not suspect her.

Once the body was spread out, I went back into the maze to where his blood had spilled. I uprooted the earth, using my vines to turn over the soil until it was less noticeable.

I looked up at the sky, wishing that it would rain. That would help significantly.

The last item to dispose of was the knife. I picked it up from the ground and turned it over, noting the sigil. I scoffed. Of course it belonged to The Hunt.

I wove through the maze, slowing as I came to the conservatory. I waited, but signs of the botanist were nowhere to be found. The front door pushed open with ease and I went down the path, ignoring the flutter of moths that scattered, searching for their light.

Hiding the knife here would be best for now. No one ever came into the greenhouse, the botanist ensured that. I wove my way through the greenhouse until I was at the back where there was a bed of poison oak. I uprooted some of the dirt and covered the blade, ensuring that it was surrounded by the green leaves.

None of the faculty ever came here and I doubted the students would stick their hand in a bed of poison oak.

It would have to do for now.

Nora may have killed the Dean’s son, but he would never know it was her.

She would be safe as long as I could protect her.