Unwanted (Men and Monsters, #1)

by Mia Sheridan

The feeling was so strong that if the rules of nature were the rules of humans, he would have claimed her right that minute, fought a battle against other males for her. And won. Whatever he needed to do so he could call her his. She’s the one I choose, he wanted to tell all the other males. That one.

Not just once, but over and over again until he was full and satisfied like the days when he stole a hive from the bees and stuffed himself with golden honey, his lips sweet and his fingers sticky.

Now…she’d found the car, would be able to bury her parents, and yet she still felt as empty as ever. As lost as ever. As alone. Because what she’d really been attempting to reclaim would not be found in the places she searched.

“I wanted you to know that…I visited them. I…talked to them too. They weren’t alone.”

And because the woman standing at his stove was heating soup for them to share, he felt confusion, but the one thing he didn’t feel was alone.

In her heart of hearts, she still felt like the little girl no one wanted.

Sparta, Greece, was a warrior society centered around military service. Apparently, it began in infancy when children were inspected for strength, and then, at age seven, soldiers came and took the children from the caretakers, whose gentle and affectionate influence was considered a negative, and housed them in a dormitory with other boy soldiers.

Sometimes miracles—like love—arrived gently. Softly. Without fanfare. Without a lightning strike. For true miracles needed no such thing.

“You make me see beauty where I didn’t see it before, Jak,” she said, turning her face and closing her eyes as she kissed his palm. “You make everything new. Even me.”

His eyes met hers, vulnerability filling his expression. “Everyone gave me away. No one kept me.” Her heart stuttered, squeezed. “I’ll keep you,” she whispered, the words that had spilled from her lips making her feel shy suddenly. She looked down. He nudged her chin up with his hand, so her eyes met his once more. “Promise?” he asked. She nodded, their gazes holding. And she knew she would. No matter what the future held.

“This fills my soul. You…you fill my soul.”

“Well, help yourself to any of these. Lord knows no one around here reads them.”

who else lives here?

Her eyes moved all over him, and he got that same feeling he used to get when he thought someone was watching him. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. “Hello,” she purred like a fox when it was eating its kill. “Look at you. You’re just everything I thought you’d be.”

her nails were long and sharp and bright pink. She used one of them to tickle his palm as he was pulling his hand away.

ewwww

“Speaking of your father, Jak, his downfall began because of a woman.” He seemed angry. “I would hate to see the same thing happen to you.”

oh no. fuck you!

He looked different than all of them. Strange. Wild. And that’s because he was.

“Good,” she said one more time, the intensity she felt wavering in her voice. “I want wild. I want you. All of you. The best and the worst and everything in between.”

“You gave this to me,” he said softly, incredulously. “You put it in my hand.” “I…what? I don’t understand.” “It was you. You went over that cliff with me.”

In that split-second decision…he’d saved the love of his life.

“That if we can hang on—survive—through the hard times in life, there is something better waiting for us. There’s a purpose we can’t always see. There’s an…order.”