𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐄𝐍✔️

TWENTYTHREE|MONSTER

"TELL ME ABOUT him," I whispered, pulling away, looking the beast dead in the eyes.

Kaden furrowed his brow, absentmindedly playing with strands of my hair, "About who?"

"Elijah."

The effect was instant and the shock that swept Kaden's face was dark; tainted with betrayal and anger. His hand dropped from my hair lowering his head to the crook of my neck. I knew what he was feeling, though he hid it well behind a rugged countenance and strong words. I knew that Elijah was a risky topic, but I had to know more about him, something about theat strangely illusive man was intriguing to me.

My wolf was on edge whenever he was the topic of conversation, but she was just as confused as I was. More than likely she was just feeding off of Kaden's own apprehension.

But it was also something more than that... Something deeper. Something wasn't right. Something was wrong.

I could feel it deep in my gut. That familiar weight dropping into the pit of my stomach like an anchor whenever I got anxious.

When Kaden pulled away altogether, his eyes swirled with untold agony, looking at me hesitantly before asking, "What do you want to know?"

Staring down, ashamed of my own interest, I fiddled with the hem of my shirt. I knew Kaden would never hurt me for my curiosity, but my fear was so deeply ingrained that I worried it would never leave, as much a part of me as the physical scars.

"How was he before he left?" My voice was quiet, barely recognisable as my own. It sounded disconnected from reality.

Kaden shook his head sadly, "He was never exactly good, even on his best days he was still bad, but before he left... He was the worst he had ever been — manically obsessive. He was a madman, Arden, completely infatuated with a young girl from another pack. I told her she was too young for him to possibly know, but he wouldn't hear it, he was convinced from the start that she was his mate. We all believed him, I mean why wouldn't we? It's not like any of us ever actually met the girl, so for all we knew she very well could have been." He clenched and unclenched his fists repeatedly, knuckles paling.

"What happened?" I asked gently, if he didn't want to answer I wouldn't press the subject.

"I'm not quite sure to be honest, as soon as he turned twenty-two he left Grey Winter to be with her, they moved far away up north, and none of us heard from him again until two years ago. He said his mate had run away and left him, but can you blame her?"

Kaden shuddered at the memory, and I placed a reassuring hand on his arm, which seemed to calm his tense wolf slightly.

"It was bad Arden, the night he called me to tell me she was gone... He was — incoherent, rambling on about how she had left him." He shook his head again, "I'll never forget what that sick bastard said..."

I remained silent, waiting patiently for his answer.

"He said, 'I only wanted to see her cry.'"

"Cry for me, Arden." The monster's leering voice echoed in my mind, thick fingers closing around my throat. I couldn't breathe, he left me panicking, gasping for breath as the world turned black.

I was brought back to reality by Kaden's sonorous voice.

"— I mean what kind of twisted Son-of-a-Bitch enjoys watching their mate cry? It kills me when you cry, Arden. But he enjoyed it! Watching her cry, gave him pleasure." He growled, slamming his fist on the desk.

Once upon a time I knew a man who sought pleasure in the misery of others, except he wasn't a man. He was a monster. He enjoyed destroying pure and innocent things. It gave him pleasure to stamp all the goodness and kindness out of a meek and eager soul. I never learnt the name of my captor throughout all the three years I spent with him, he had always just been a monster to me. Nothing more, nothing less.

He didn't deserve the title of a living breathing, caring creature, for he didn't care. He felt no compassion. He wasn't living, he simply existed.

How can you live when only darkness resides in your heart? Much less an all-encompassing darkness that smothered all the light in its deadly embrace. Playing with the darkness was deadly, and addictive. And I guess that's how monsters became, a small taste of carnal pleasure can quickly turn gluttonous.

"He was a monster..." I murmur out loud, unsure whether I was talking about Elijah or not.

Very few on this earth deserve the title of a true monster, but Elijah was one of them.

"He was — is, and he's back."