Gypsy Truths (All The Pretty Monsters #6)

by Kristy Cunning

She’s too submissive and compliant right now. Does she not realize the things that does to a man’s volatile monster. Free me.

Surely she feels the pheromones that are leaking from me by now. My monster is slipping. How do I convince her to be okay with this? My monster is coming, and I know I can’t push her away, or it’ll break free too easily. This is going to end in disaster if that happens. Free me.

“You wanted confessions of love, right?” I ask her, noticing how she blushes that much more. “Stop making me feel like an idiot for that,” she says on a frustrated huff. “A simple ‘I love you’ would suffice,” she adds, clearly mortified by this point. I do enjoy her finally understanding things a little better. My smile slips when I realize how terrifying and humbling that all must have been for her. Claim her. Mark her. Free me.

Sometimes you have to break something in order to fix it.

My mind continues to slip into the fog, as I revel in the feel of having her. My Violet. My Flame. Once I have her firmly lying underneath me, I pin her down, enjoying how very tempting she looks when she’s vulnerable like this. It sings to the predator in me, because I want to possess every inch of her.

The monster breaks free and finally surfaces, and I fight to stay alert enough to try and ease Violet into this, keeping a firm grip on the reins. This could end badly if I don’t keep at least this much control. Her breath catches as she stares up at me, and I give her a dark grin as a laugh bubbles out of me. We’ll claim her. We’ll claim every inch of her.

“Don’t be scared, Violet,” he says, still laughing. “I’m only going to claim you.” He shakes his head, the laughter cutting out, his smile falling and turning into worry. Then his smile returns, and his eyes are a little whiter.

The pheromones are so potent that I’m immediately crying out, my arms going around his neck. A hiss breaks free from him when I move too suddenly, and a growl bubbles in his chest until I lower my arms back to my sides. He stares me down, ensuring I’m submitting, as he thrusts deep inside me again.

cry of pleasure. I love every inch of Damien. Even this part of him seems to turn me on in ways that should be considered morally reprehensible. But I do love his monster. And even though I should fear it, I turn my neck to the side, exposing it. He shoves his nose along my cheek, inhaling deeply, as I lie still, feeling the slightest tremor run up my spine when he makes that weird, muffled rattlesnake sound.

“Oh, momma’s gonna need some popcorn for this,” Anna, the voyeuristic nuisance, says from somewhere in the room.

Maybe this is why I love their monsters so much. I think their monsters loved me before they did.

“If I could die, again, this would be the monster I chose to kill me,” Anna states from somewhere overhead.

It’s a red mark that slowly begins stretching over my wrist, almost as though it’s being burned in place. It’s wavy, not creating a pattern of any sort, as it haphazardly grows and expands across my wrist. Realization dawns on me that this is Damien’s monster claiming me.

“It took the wolf three days to fully claim you,” Anna says like she’s enjoying this too much. “I wonder how long it takes a sexual deviant. By the way, this is my new favorite show. It has way more sex than Idun TV. That’s what that show is missing.”

The scent of sex hits me so hard that I damn near fly into a jealous rage. I’ve never had to work so bloody hard to impress a woman. I am impressive. Women throw themselves at my feet. Even Idun worked tirelessly to draw me in. Violet? Violet is a maddening ball of frustration who confounds my bloody mind more with each passing day.

Emit’s mated to her. She’s clearly hurling herself right back at Arion, already caving to him once. Damien’s had her numerous times, possibly more than her own mate. Why does she always reward bad behavior?

I attempt to take a few calming breaths. Nope. Not working. I still want to stab Damien Morpheous right in his magical dick.

Because I’m much too distracted by the fact I’m still on the outs with the woman I was planning to propose to before I knew Idun ever even rose from her undead bitch grave. I’m just going to put it all out there and let Violet decide—

He starts to lunge, and she grapples for him, as I slam the door and stalk down the stairs, growing increasingly furious. I just walked in on Damien Morpheous laying claim to his Flame.

“You’d better be glad I love the two of you. Otherwise, my vagina would protest right now. First it went neglected, and now I’m getting so much action that I can’t keep up,” she says back, almost as though she’s prickly and excited about his arrival. But I’m more focused on the first part. The part where she casually told him she loved them, as if it’s not a huge confession of any sort. He blinks, and in that instant, as he stares down at her with a hungry, possessive, and humbled look, while she turns and kisses Damien to soothe the restless monster, I realize it’s the first time she’s said it to him.

where the extremely oversized Flame mark is. Usually it’s just a dull red mark on the inner wrist. Damien’s stretches across her wrist like blood-red, poorly sharpened bracelet. That alone is surprising, since I’ve never seen one that size. What surprises me more than that is there’s another one that is just as large on her other wrist. There’s only ever one mark. He’s claimed her so deeply that he’s left two impossibly large ones.

I genuinely hate him more than he’s ever hated me. In this moment, if I could be Damien Morpheous, I would trade places.

I shut the door on the sex that starts turning violent, since I want to stab them both and steal her away before they break her. That damn girl acts like she enjoys every second of it. Probably because of the sexual deviant fogging up her mind.

“Violet barely wears makeup, usually forgets to put on her shoes, and often ends up stitched inside whatever tapestry or sheet is closest by,” he notes. My lips curve in a grin as I look away, rapping my fingers on the steering wheel. “She’s also very imaginative when it comes to living life a different way, only she does it far differently from Idun. She cares about people, hoards random things, and has some disturbing tastes in collections. She’ll wear a sheet because she doesn’t care about being the prettiest girl in a room. She’s just trying to figure out what’s going on inside the room.

She dares to be openly curious, in a world that mocks you for not already having all the answers.”

“Damien is claiming her as his Flame, while her mate fucks her from any angle he can find,” I state, admittedly sounding entirely too bitter about that. “I’m starting to feel like not even I have any clue what’s going on anymore,” Arion confesses.

An unkillable girlfriend with a death wish. Idun TV. Floggings against our girlfriend. New laws we absently passed. A mated Wolf. A Flamed Morpheous. An angry Vampyre and Van Helsing.

“I’m on a short leash,” he tells me like I’m not already aware. “She’s one step from having my balls completely in her purse, and they’ll be there next Tuesday at this rate.” I have no idea why I almost smile. He narrows his eyes when I struggle with the surprise reaction.

“You’re giving me that look that suggests you think I’m being deliberately obtuse.” “Not deliberately, but stupidly,” I state in correction.

“Couldn’t confess how hard it is for you to learn new things?” I ask, smirking in his direction. His eyes turn red, and I take a step back. Seriously? He’s this easy to provoke right now?

“I clearly pushed all the wrong buttons the last time I tried to rein her in a bit. She was flogged by Idun moments after.” Fair point. He pissed her right the hell off, and she’s still likely holding it against him.

She’s barefoot and in a sheet again. It’s becoming entirely too normal for such an abnormal thing.

“They wore her out. Again. Interesting how Damien’s monster recognized Emit as her mate, huh?” I have no bloody idea what she’s talking about.

“She just ended her relationship with the four of you, and the wolf claimed her. As if that’s not bad enough, now you’ve gone and done the same thing! We’re speaking of all eternity, Damien Morpheous,” she bites out, hissing his name. Right then. I’ve found both my targets at once. That should save me some time.

“We’re discussing you and that rotten wolf binding my daughter to you with marks so much more substantially larger than the norm. I will find a way to reverse—”

Start answering my questions, because there are too many more questions piling up. I’m not standing still right now, Marta. I’m not turning a blind eye anymore. She’s my Flame now.” “And my mate,” comes Emit’s voice,

Damien doesn’t seem overly concerned with the intrusion, as Emit stands on Damien’s side like the two of them are a team. What’s this new development? See? Watching and listening does do some good. I wish I could turn invisible. Damn Damien Morpheous for having that edge.

I’ve been mated and flamed very recently, even though I still have no idea what exactly that means. I’m also running a sanctuary I have no idea how to run, and ghosts are trying to possess my body to fuck the vampire of their choice.

Nope! Not today, satan. Not today.”

The universe has no mercy on me. “What have you gone and done now?” Anna asks in a mildly amused tone. The triplets grin wickedly. “You manipulative little bitches. I fell for that puppy-dog face and had a brief moment of hesitation. The emotion changed the entire contents of the vial that required that anger!”

No one listens to me. Ever. I don’t know why I bother making demands.

“I’ve been doing so much sort of right that I forgot what a colossal fuck-up I am,” I state entirely to myself. “This is an excellent reminder.”

I whirl around to pretend I’m not an idiot, who has just made yet another problem a bigger problem.

Nothing would have gone this smoothly if you’d been involved. I’m glad you were stupid. That’s right. I said it,” I confess on a long sigh. He blinks as if he’s surprised. “I feel both insulted and complimented,” he says, bristling as he straightens his tie. “That’s because it was an insulting compliment. You can’t complain about those, since they’re almost the only sort of compliment you dole out on the regular.”

I hate it when he looks playful. Vance in playful mode is damn near tempting, and my vagina is still on cool-down mode.

“You really do zag just to cause a man to trip over his premeditated path, don’t you?” he asks, sounding slightly irritated, as he pinches the bridge of his nose. “I came in here ready to argue my case, and now I’m left with pointless adrenaline.” I’m not sure why it always seems to piss him off when I agree with him about something.

The road to hell is paved with the best of intentions.”

The monster who can’t lay claim to a woman by any other means than a title and a ring,” he says, pulling a very suspicious looking box up beside my head. There’s suddenly a knot in my throat to accompany the abrupt ring he’s revealing. Clearly it’s a diamond. It’s a very classy diamond. It’s nothing at all like I’d pick for myself, but it’s certainly something Vance would choose for me. My head is officially in ramble mode, because that’s decidedly an engagement ring he’s chosen for me.

This one has the most interesting story attached to it that you’ll appreciate, and it’s the most attractive, so I can appreciate it. See? I can compromise.”

he slides the ringer closer to me. “I’ll leave it with you. When I see you wearing it, I’ll know your answer. I’ll be a patient man, Violet.”