fanmtl Chapter 113 - 113: Clawing at the Enclosure
Chapter 113 - 113: Clawing at the Enclosure
Hades
"Ellen—" I started, my voice low and gravelly. The contact burned, not because it was painful, but because it broke through every wall I'd hastily tried to rebuild. Her warmth seeped into my skin, her heartbeat a steady rhythm against my chest. The beast was not appeased; it only sought to escape from its enclosure and claim her.
"Hades," she muttered my name with a softness that made me shudder. My name on her lips was a weapon, disarming and dangerous all at once. It struck deep, brushing against the reinforced cage that the contamination clawed at. "I am sorry," she said, her voice small. "I really am. I might not agree with you on a plethora of things, but this time I wish I had seen it the way you did. But I refused to see outside the boundaries I had set for myself," she continued, her voice trembling but steady. "I didn't want to admit that you might be right because I thought it would mean losing to you."
Her words dug into me like claws, ripping away the remains of my resolve. The beast inside me howled, not in anger, but in something deeper—something raw and unfamiliar. It wanted her, not just to claim, to mark her and devour her in ways I had never allowed myself to imagine.
I gritted my teeth against the surge, my body vibrating with the effort of trying to keep the creeping contamination at bay. I clenched my hands into fists, my claws piercing my palms and letting the scent of blood fill the air.
I felt her stiffen against me, and she pulled away, but only slightly. She looked up at me, her eyes wide before looking down at my injured hand and the blood already dripping onto the marble tile. "Hades—" her voice was high with horror. She had seen the black claws.
I grabbed her by the face so that she would look back up at me. She swallowed when our eyes met again, her skin suddenly pale. "Hades—"
"Sh-sh-sh," I whispered, trying to keep the growl from my voice. "I won't hurt you." But the contamination had other intentions as it continued to thrash against my skin like a living firestorm trying to consume us both. The corruption clawed its way through me, trying to get to her to claim her in every atrocious way possible.
My grip on her face inadvertently tightened with every onslaught of the corruption. Luckily, not enough to hurt her, but enough to keep her eyes on me.
"Red," I rasped, my voice wavering slightly under the strain of trying to keep the curse contained. Her scent was intoxicating, a blend of everything forbidden that made the beast crave her all the more. "You don't know what you are doing to me."
She blinked, those auburn lashes of hers fluttering. "Am I doing this?" she gasped, stunned.
"I won't hurt you." The last bit came out as a growl. As if my body knew that I was feeding her lies.
I could have reeled back from shock when she only came closer, her good hand coming to cradle my face tenderly. "What about you? Am I doing this to you?" Her horror had morphed into fear. Not fear of me, but fear for me. "Let me..." she murmured, her watery eyes earnest as she
"Fight it," she ordered me.
But my talons suddenly craved flesh and blood and came for her face. It was pure instinct as my jaw snapped faster, catching my arm between my teeth and biting down.
Bones cracked, but I felt nothing, my eyes on hers, black blood dripping from my arm to her chest. "Hades," a horrified whisper slipped past her trembling lips.
Mine. Mine. Mine. It growled.
My mate. It snarled in my head.
I froze for a moment at the pronouncement. I had to have been hearing things, yet the word echoed in my head. Mate. It had called her its mate.
I lost track for a moment, distracted by the realization. In that split second, the corruption struck at her—but before it could reach, a sharp prick of a needle in my neck made me stiffen.
Kael. Finally.