~ three hours later (7pm) ~
Grumbling softly, I stretched my bruised and battered body, moaning when the tender areas were forced into action. I craned my neck back into the soft pillows of my bed, my fingers gripping the soft sheets. It took me a whole ten seconds of stretching to realize that I never made it to my bed last night, and that my bed was never this soft.
I shot up into a sitting position, hastily running my hands down my body in order to check for clothing. I found only an over sized shirt and cotton panties. Sadly, this was better than some nights that I've done these 'checks'.
Feeling dirty all over, I surveyed around the room, finding nothing but a plain bedroom, a double bed, a chest of drawers and a mirror. I looked god awful, with bruises covering my face and a few ugly red welts across my neck. I was just about to get up, until a low growl made me freeze. I knew that growl from somewhere...
I saw Thaddeus' reflection in the mirror, looking both concerned and very, very angry. I gulped and fell back into the bed, wrapping the blanket around me as a sort of barrier. I felt a sudden wetness on my fingers, which were now embedding their chipped nails into the blanket that I had bunched up to my chest. Tears.
A calloused hand reached across the double bed and I started thinking of all the different things he could have done to me when I was unconscious, as well as thinking about if my tired and injured body could carry me to the door before he found me. Probably not.
"I'll see them eventually, it might as well be now." Were the words that roused me from my thoughts. I looked up, biting my lip as his eyes seemed to just get darker and darker, and angry red bags under his eyes displayed how he'd probably been mad before I awoke too.
What the hell did that mean? Was he talking about my... chest? Oh god, I hope it was just my chest he wanted to see! I held the sheets tighter around me, even as Thaddeus seemed to start tugging the sheets lower.
Of course he won the tug of war, adding a little snarl which made me squeal and roll to the other side of the bed, wrapping the bed sheet around my body and curling away from him. This didn't deter him, as he just sighed loudly and walked to my side of the bed. The errant thought of how I could be kidnapped right now entered my head and I bit back a whimper of fear, settling for a flinch, which he definitely noticed.
He crouched in front of me, seeking eye contact as I darted my eyes anywhere on his face but his pupils. He motioned for me to move over. As I complied, he sat on the edge of the bed, cooing how I was safe and all that, as if he expected me to believe him. When I rolled my eyes, he pinned me down with a stare.
"I killed him, you know." He said dully, as if discussing the weather. "It was painful for him and I bashed his skull into the tiles as I watched the life drain from his body. All I need to do now is see what he did to you..."
I felt the wind become knocked out of me, which forced him into action. He held my sheet-swaddled body against his, slowly rocking me back and forth as I let out startled noises of shock. I didn't know what that meant for me now, and I leaned against him, as if he were a rock in my ocean of despair and mourning. I also felt an insane amount of freedom and relief, which was met with guilt and self-disgust for thinking of happiness after a human being (even a horrible monster of a human being as he was) had died.
"Please show them to me, Liliana. I need to see them." He pleaded, gripping my face lightly with one massive, calloused hand. The other held my waist with an iron clasp. I whimpered.
I had never let anyone see them, nobody but the monster who put them there, as he refused to let me cover myself. To him, I was an animal, a sheep to the slaughter. He was the predator and I was the unlucky prey.
I had deemed my scars too personal a subject to share.
"B-but why? W-why do you need to see them? What g-good with it do?" I stammered weakly, inhaling the comforting scent of the man holding me. His whole aura seemed to drown in sorrow and shame. How could I say no to him?
"I need to count how many times you've needed me and I wasn't there, only for you to be met with crushing disappointment. I need to know how many times I let you down. But, most of all, I need to see what that bastard did to you, so that I know how much I need to hate myself for ever getting distracted from finding you." He replied, sadness bleeding into self-hatred in his eyes as he begged me.
The cold, dark, lifeless eyes of a killer.
Why does he care so much? Searching his face for a hint of caution. Finding none, I steeled my resolve to the knowledge that this stubborn man wouldn't stop until he got what he wanted. I stifled a grimace as I climbed off of Thaddeus, breathing deep as I dropped the bed sheet.
At first, there was a roaring silence, as I felt his mind ticking away. I closed m eyes and sighed. Then I lifted my shirt, until it was just below my breasts, so that Thaddeus could see the damage he craved to know about.
~ Thaddeus' POV: ~
The first thought I had was that he had died too easily, too painlessly.
The second thought I had was to cover my crotch with the fallen bed sheet, as scaring off my delicate beauty wouldn't do me much good currently.
But by the Goddess she was fucking perfect. Curves to rival any models, skin which seemed smoother than marble and her legs seemed god-damned endless when she was clad in just her panties. I had to clench my hands into fists in order to keep them away from her.
It took the rest of my restraint to hold back my wolf, which was snarling, howling and hurling against his cage, in order to wreak havoc and bloodshed against anyone who dared harm her. He also agreed on how we let the abomination die too soon.
I felt my control slip as m nails elongated into claws and my ears started to point. I breathed deeply as I felt my canines dig into my lip far enough to draw blood. Before I knew it, I had shifted like a prepubescent puppy. Full of shame, I tried to hide my hulking form behind the bed.
I felt the Bond contract before I heard my mate's whimper of discovering she had been left alone. I almost came out of hiding, before I remembered what form I was in. When Liliana sobbed and hurled her body into my bed, I couldn't stop my wolf from taking over and leaping onto the bed.
She squeaked as he panted over her hair, nudging her head to the side so he could lick her cheek. She giggled and reached up to pet our head, igniting a content rumble to come out of our chest. We let out a purr as we felt her scratch behind our ear.
"Silly dog, what're you doing in here? Thaddeus left out that..." She trailed off, her teary eyes going wide when she realized that the door had stayed closed the whole time.
Oh shit.
YOU ARE READING
Eyes of a Killer
Người sóiLiliana's story is a difficult one. Orphaned at the young age of 5, she's uprooted her whole life so many times that she's stopped expecting any sort of permanency besides her abusive "father's" behavior. Until she meets Thaddeus.