I mouthed, Sebastian, but was too afraid to turn around, to even move.
I imagined it was another one of those tentacle creatures, but then I heard a set of footsteps. One after the other. Heavy. Solidifying that whatever was there was huge.
“Ada, come here, baby.” There was a tightness to his voice. I realized he was afraid for me, that it was fear. “Come here. Come over to me.”
His anger was paramount, tangible as it swirled around him. His eyes were blood red, his teeth bared, fangs longer than I’d ever seen.
“Calm down,” I whispered. I knew I had to get him under control. I knew if I didn’t, he’d react purely on primal instinct to attack. And right now, we had to be level-headed if we had any chance of getting out of this.
Sebastian held his hand out, his claws long and black and so sharp. And … gods… was it slightly shaking?
My mate took a step closer.
“You can try and get to her,” the creature—clearly a male with a voice that deep and horrific—said. “Your kind is fast as hell, but not faster or stronger than I am.”
I could hear the amusement in his voice.
“So if you want to risk her safety thinking you can get to her before I can…” The beast did chuckle then.
“I’m going to fucking kill you, mutilate your body until it’s unrecognizable. I’m going to do all of this because you dared look at my mate. Dragging your pain out is going to be purely for my amusement because I’m a sadistic motherfucker, and you’ve now made a new fucking—ruthless—enemy.”
More laughing from behind me.
“Sebastian,” I whispered again. Please. Calm. Down.” I was trying to hold it together, not just for myself, but for my mate, too. If I acted as terrified as I felt, I knew Sebastian would go full-on psycho mode.
Sebastian stilled. Although he looked fierce right now, so angry that he could spit nails, his focus was trained on whatever was the creature behind me.
And I was still frozen in place, unable to move.
I could practically see Sebastian’s body growing bigger, his muscles thickening, the violence in him exploding forth with whatever threat was stalking closer.
I heard this deep rumble from behind me, so serrated that I felt the vibrations moving along my skin.
Instantly goose bumps popped out on my arms and legs, and I shivered, finally feeling something snap inside of me as I looked over my shoulder and peered into the darkness.
It was only a second before the creature emerged into the moonlight. I felt my eyes widen in shock and absolute horror at what I was looking at.
He was monstrously large, taller than seven feet, with horns curving up and back around his head, upper fangs that went past his bottom lip, and scars that littered his entire upper body.
His eyes flashed from completely black to a glowing red.
I slowly turned to face him, the survival instinct in me screaming out that I couldn’t have my back to him.
He had his focus on me, as if he didn’t even care that my mate was right behind me making the most primal sounds of warning.
But then again, this… this thing was the biggest creature I’d ever seen in my life. He was clearly from the Otherworld, and although I hadn’t met a lot of the different species—far too many to even count—I’d at least heard of them.
But this one? No, never ever heard a whisper of what he was.
He had to be from this plane, some fucked-up creature that kind of looked human but then totally didn’t.
When he was free of the tree line, he stopped, the moonlight washing over his face. He glanced over my head to stare at Sebastian.
I could hear my mate growling continuously, but I didn’t dare take my focus off the creature in front of me. A horrified sound left me when he slowly grinned, showing off his sharp teeth and fangs longer than anything I’d ever seen.
He was a literal monster, and I stumbled back, the boulder stopping my retreat. I covered my mouth and cried out when he unfurled his wings, the boning visible through the black membranes, the wind picking up as he flapped them.
Gods… the wingspan was massive.
My heart was thundering now, and all I could keep thinking about was getting to Sebastian.
The creature looked at me as if he were hungry, and given the size of him, he probably needed a few of me just to have his appetite sated.
I started making my way around the boulder, keeping my focus on the monster, moving slowly.
He just chuckled low and inhumanly, the sound just as terrifying as the rest of him. And when he slowly moved forward and took an attack stance, I went into action.
I turned, ready to dart toward Sebastian, although the reality was I knew I couldn’t escape something like this.