There was no hope for me here.
When Lucian opened the concrete roof above my head, he peered inside and started to laugh. "Now, you are truly mine."
Lilly
"My father needs me," I whimpered.
I was covered in soot, and I curled up in a ball underneath the floor. Tears streamed down my cheeks. I was at my least decent, but as the beast lent me his hand, he looked at me like I was his everything.
It didn't make any fucking sense. His help coupled with his intense lust messed with my head. I didn't believe any of it, of course. How could I? I got lost for a second in his size, but that didn't mean I felt for him.
No, I couldn't feel for someone like him. He was as bad as they came. And no amount of time spent with the beast would get me to think otherwise. Love did not live inside these walls, nor did it live within the forest. Not on my side. Not on his.
Realizing my escape was still in his hands, I reached up and l
et him pull me out of his hiding place. He walked past his father's lifeless body. Was he dead? He sure looked like it, but I didn't gaze for too long.
Kahn, his brother sat with rage in his eyes, watching as Lucian started to walk up the old staircase. I shut my eyes and held onto his rock solid arms, leaning my head against his shoulder, inhaling his masculine and oddly alluring scent. It reminded me of my father, and that was exactly why I couldn't leave him—he knew more about what happened to my family. He had been involved.
"If you leave, they will find us, brother," Kahn called out from below.
Lucian paused at the doorway and looked back. He sighed but ultimately turned back to the exit. Their relationship seemed complicated. "You are free to wander now. You don't have to see me again."
That was the extent of their goodbye. No hugs. No tearful exchanges. There was only brute force and the disintegration of the familial bond. I couldn't believe it, but I was too fearful to speak up about anything. I merely closed my eyes and let him carry me.
He held me for miles through the forest until we reached a great cliff that looked over an endless amount of trees and mountain ranges. I had never ventured this far away from home, and it was, by far, the most beautiful image that I had seen. The stars seemed to sparkle in the sky, and the full moon shone brightly over our heads. I wished I could have seen it with my mother, wished we could have all witnessed it together as a family. Instead, I was with him.
"Please, set me down. We've moved far enough, haven't we?" I asked.
He lowered me to my knees but held me close in case I decided to run. "He didn't tell you who she was," he said, staring into the distance with what looked to be a sad truth buried deep in his eyes. "Have you ever wondered why?"
I swallowed and felt my body turn stiff. Keeping silent, I looked away, but he brought my attention to something in his other hand. It was my Walkman. He pressed play and listened to my mom's voice. "…There's a sanctuary for all of us. Eyes on the prize, kiddo. You're almost there…"
He pressed stop and handed me the device. "I believe this was yours," he said.
I pocketed it and forced a thin smile. "Um, thanks," I muttered and took a deep breath.
Behind us was a large boulder. Taking my hand, he forced me to sit with him, but he did not harm me. Instead, he was gentle but distant. "What do you think she meant by those words?"
Sighing, I kept my mind focused on my mother and who she was. She was an overworked scientist working for some corporation called Onyx Labs, or something. I didn't know anything about them, and the more I asked my father, the angrier he grew. He told me he despised their existence, and the people who controlled them should have been taken out and shot.
He said they were the reason for the mess the world was currently trying to tackle. His shallow and irritated responses didn't answer any of my questions. I was always kept in the dark, so I stopped asking.
"I don't know. I never got the chance to know my mother," I said, frowning.
He nodded knowingly. "I knew mine, but only for a few years. Kahn had less time with her than I did," he said.
Though I wanted to know more, a part of me still didn't want to talk about any of it. It hurt to think I would never see her again. "Well, you're lucky," I said.
He shook his head and seemed to look inward for a moment. "Sometimes, I wish I never knew what life was like before the change."
"The change?" I asked.
He looked at me and raised his hand in front of his eyes. He moved each massive finger individually, examining himself. "The change in my body," he said.
"You…" I hesitated before speaking. I didn't want to anger him, but he seemed open to the conversation. Strangely, I was too. "You were a—"
"Human? Yes," he said. "But now, I am a monster. I am someone who lives on the outside in shame. Eternally, I bear the weight of my mutation."