Monster's Claim Read online

  “No,” she whispered, tears filling her eyes.

  Lara still couldn’t believe this was really happening. She’d die here, a slow and unbearable death, and no one would even miss her. Skip certainly wouldn’t. It might even take the cops years to find her body.

  Calm down, she told herself. Lara couldn’t let panic get the better of her. She swiped at her eyes hastily. Lara needed to think, to try to find a way out of here. She searched for windows, but found none. She touched the wall behind her. Not concrete like the floor but made of some kind of padded material.

  Soundproof, she realized with chilling clarity. Her captor took no chances. Something unnerved her more than seeing that hook and the instruments on the walls. She found the answer a second later. None of them looked rusty or had, she didn’t know, dried blood on them. They looked well-tended and clean.

  Whoever took her was no amateur, and that knowledge only made her situation a thousand times worse.

  Footsteps thudding on the stairs made her back into the wall. She felt like a trapped animal with nowhere to go. That bastard. Did he turn the lights on first, wanting her to see the basement and scare the living daylights out of her, before making his appearance?

  After all, he was the master of this little hellhole. The asshole decided all the rules of the game. He could do anything he wanted to her, and no one would know.

  She fisted her hands by her side, not wanting him to get any satisfaction knowing he’d rattled her, but her entire body began to shake. Her captor looked so much bigger than she remembered, especially when he stood looking down at her position on the floor.

  Lara grabbed the blanket, and he let out that ragged laugh that sounded like steel scraping on concrete.

  “Do you intend to use that piece of cloth as a weapon, Lara?”

  “How do you know my name?” she whispered, remembering he’d called her that when he took her.

  “I’ve been watching you for a while now.”

  She swallowed. Bile rose up in her throat. Fear knotted her insides. She wanted to throw up, but refused to show him any signs of weakness. Maybe this sick bastard did this all the time. Took women the rest of the world wouldn’t miss and expected them to be begging for his mercy right about now.

  Lara refused to yield. She wouldn’t break easily. Part of her mind wondered how long her bravado would last.

  “Why?” she managed to ask.

  “Because you might have information we need.”

  Lara didn’t miss his usage of the word “we”. She forced herself to think, to not be intimidated by him and the contents of this scary room.

  “Who’s we?” He didn’t answer her. She continued, “Lisa and Dan were terrified of you, enough that Lisa didn’t let Dan call the cops.”

  “This city belongs to us. Anyone who thinks they have the balls to defy us, dies.”

  He said the words simply, matter-of-fact. Disturbing. Us. So, it wasn’t just him she was up against. The prospect of escape seemed to be only getting further and further away. Despair welled up inside of her, but she refused to give in to it. Once she gave up, it would be game over.

  He hadn’t hurt her, didn’t threaten her. Yet. If Lara read all the signs right, he seemed to be attracted to her. God help her, if that were true, she could use that to her advantage.

  She took a chance. “Show me your face. I want to know the bastard who’s about to chop me to tiny little pieces.”

  “You’ll scream, like you did before.”

  Was it her imagination, or did he sound a little sad? Why the hell would that matter? She lifted her chin and crossed her arms over her breasts, well aware the movement seemed to capture his pitch-black gaze.

  “Well, when you kidnap someone that’s bound to happen, right? What do you expect me to do? Fall into your arms gratefully?” Those lips curved into a smile.

  “You might as well see the monster who’s about to claim and ruin you in every single way imaginable,” he said.

  His words shook her. How could he sound so confident, so certain of his conquest? Goosebumps appeared across her arms. She rubbed at them, steadying herself at what horror he planned on showing her.

  The captor lowered his hood. Lara gasped, unable to help herself. Under the dim light, the horizontal scars across the left side of his face looked harsh, ragged. The other half on the other hand, was clear save for one scar that bisected cheekbone to jaw, a hint of beauty before the ruin. It really wasn’t so bad.

  Stop it, Lara, she chided herself. If she started feeling even some semblance of pity for her captor, this would lead to nowhere good. She’d watched a couple of crime documentaries online. She certainly didn’t want to end up like one of those poor brainwashed former captives with Stockholm Syndrome.

  He laughed, and the sound startled her. Lara realized she was staring. He didn’t get mad though, didn’t so much as a lift a hand towards her. For some reason, that only elevated her fear. Intelligence and cunning stared back at her from those black eyes.

  “Most people would flinch, seeing what I look like underneath the hood. Then again, the poor fuckers who find themselves in my special little lair, start panicking and screaming by now.”

  “You expect me to do the same?”

  “No, I knew you’d be different. Brave. Fiery, like how you fought me tooth and nail in that alleyway. That makes everything so much sweeter.”

  She clutched at the blanket, wondering just what kind of monster she was dealing with. Lara couldn’t speak or formulate a sassy reply. She’d spent her entire life struggling. To pay the bills, her rent, her mother’s hospital bills. An endless rat race.

  Lara thought she was tough. Sure, she let herself become weak when it came to Skip. Lara really thought he loved her, that she couldn’t do any better for herself. Just when she finally got free of that rat bastard, she ended up here.

  Nothing in the world had prepared her for this kind of situation.

  “What’s your name?” she finally had the courage to ask.

  “Matthias Severin.”

  Only then did Lara truly understand the meaning of his earlier words. Hopelessness filled her heart. She slumped against the wall, finally tasting defeat for the first time.

  This city belongs to us.

  Chapter Four

  Lara jerked, sitting up upright the moment Matthias revealed his name. So, she knew about the Familia. Good. This would make things so much easier. Brownie points to her for not screaming at the sight of his messed-up face. Instead, she stared him down, not something even grown men could do after realizing who they were up against.

  “What do you want with me?” she whispered.

  Lara looked pale under the basement lights, bleached out of color, of life. He yearned to see her smile again, like the photos he took of her during his surveillance. On her way to work, she’d cut through the local park and bumped into a friend with a baby. Matthias could never forget her smile, so carefree, so out of this world.

  Matthias bet she’d taste heavenly, like life itself. He, on the other hand, was a creature who thrived in the dark, and he wanted to devour every inch of her. Corrupt her.

  It took him a second to realize she’d repeated her question.

  “Answers,” he replied.

  “To what?” She blurted, “I’m no one important.”

  “You’re of no interest to the rest of the Familia,” Matthias agreed. He shrugged. “After I get what I want from you, they told me I can do whatever I want with you.

  She shivered, clutched the blanket at the floor and wrapped it around her shoulders, like armor. As if that little piece of cloth could protect her from him. He could take what little comfort she had, strip her naked if he wanted to.

  Down here, he was the king who wrote and changed the rules all the time. Matthias could use the same old technique. Break his prisoners down with cruelty and pain, and they’d beg for his kindness later on.

  She kept stealing glances over his shoulder, to the hook and
the assortment of toys on the wall. Matthias didn’t intend to use them on her, of course. Not as a last resort. She didn’t know that however.

  “Please, you’ve must’ve made some kind of mistake,” she blurted.

  “No, I think not. One question,” he said, raising one scarred finger. “What are you to Skip Diaz?”

  She widened her eyes, mouth hanging slightly open. Lara’s chest heaved, and fuck, but he couldn’t take his eyes from the swell of her generous breasts. He’d taken her on her day off, so she wasn’t in that drab and ugly pink waitress uniform. Lara wore a thin white tee, pink bra underneath. A pair of skinny jeans topped off her simple outfit, black denim that hugged every luscious curve and those killer legs of hers.

  “Skip?” She spat out that name like it was venom. “This is all about that bastard?”

  Hearing the anger in her voice, he forced himself to ignore his dick, to study the tight lines around her face. Genuine rage. For some reason, seeing her riled up made him happy. Matthias did wonder how someone like her wound up with scum like Skip.

  “Skip used to work for us. You didn’t know that despite having lived with him?”

  She shook her head, a vehement expression on her face. Lara bit on her bottom lip. So tempting. He knelt. The chain on her ankle made a clinking noise as she backed away—into nothing but the wall.

  She grimaced, but he did nothing but run his fingers up the length of the chain, to the band of metal around her calf. The gesture felt strangely intimate. In better circumstances, Matthias would relish tying her down in bed, putting his mouth to her pussy and making her scream out his name.

  Better circumstances, he reminded himself. Still, Lara was here, and each second he had to put up with this charade killed him. Matthias would rather be doing something else than playing the role of torturer. He wanted her to crave his touch, not be repulsed by it.

  “I thought all he did was hang around sports bars. His breath smelled of alcohol every time he came home,” she said bitterly, drawing her knees to her chest. A sob tore out of her chest. She began rocking back and forth. The urge to comfort her arose, but that would be sending the wrong message.

  A weakness. Matthias knew that the moment he’d been assigned the task of surveilling her and eventually capturing her. He’d known right from the start that she’d be his most difficult job yet. Matthias didn’t completely understand why she seemed to possess the ability to mow down all his defenses.

  “Don’t cry, little bird.”

  She jerked her head and stared up at him. “What did you call me?”

  “Little bird. That’s what you remind me of right now. Sing me the right song, and I might just let you out of this cage.”

  “That’s what my mother used to call me, back when she was alive,” she whispered, looking spooked.

  “Focus, Lara.”

  She clenched and unclenched her hands on her knees. Matthias wondered if she’d try to lash out at him again, dig her little claws into his skin the way she did in the alleyway. This time, Lara seemed to take the wiser route.

  She took deep breaths and met his gaze. “I’ll tell you everything you want to know about Skip.”

  “I’ll know if you lie to me.”

  A little laugh rattled out of her trembling body. “What are you, a priest?”

  “No. I’m just someone who’s been doing this a very long time.”

  She shuddered at those words. “Why? Do you like it?”

  “Because this,” Matthias waved towards the rest of the basement. “Is the only thing I’m good for. I don’t necessarily enjoy it, but I sleep well enough at night.”

  She swallowed, probably at the last bit of his confession.

  He had no idea why he told her that, why he broke off-script the moment he lowered his hood. Lara beheld him and didn’t flinch away. His physical scars didn’t just make him a monster, the darkness in him did.

  “That sounds a little sad.” Lara eyed him up and down.

  So bold. He wanted to chuckle but kept his expression neutral. Then again, he didn’t correct her behavior. He wanted to see what else she’d do. Let her believe she was slowly whittling away at his defenses, convince herself that she could somehow convince him to let her go.

  “How did you get those scars?”

  No prisoner ever asked Matthias that question. None dared.

  “Changing the topic now, little bird?”

  A distant expression crossed her face. “Other kids always laughed when my mom called me that. I hated it. Little. I was never that. I’d always been a chubby kid growing up.”

  Matthias risked a touch. He lifted her chin with his fingers, thumbed her bottom lip. “Kids can be cruel and stupid. You’re fine the way you are. Perfect even.”

  Lara darted her tongue out, licking at his fingers when he traced the shape of her lip. He smiled. His dick thickened in his jeans. It would be so easy to kiss her now. Make her think she was slowly gaining control of the situation. Two can play at this game.

  Matthias stole his first kiss from her, quick, wet, and fleeting. Fuck. Matthias always felt like a beast shared his skin, and he let it out when he killed, when he wrung answers out of his prisoners. It surged to the surface now, hungry, possessive, and impatient to corrupt Lara. Mark her. Make her his.

  His cock pressed up against the zipper of his jeans. So sweet. So much better than he imagined. He wanted so much more, to have her bared for him, to explore every inch of her, to taste that honey between her legs. In the end, he’d make her cunt ache and crave his dick.

  She clutched at his shoulder. He expected her to curl her hands into fists, trying to hurt him again, but it never happened.

  Matthias pulled back, restraining himself. The shock that rippled across her features seemed genuine. She touched her mouth with two fingers.

  “Trying to seduce me won’t work, little bird,” he simply said.

  She drew away, and he smiled and rose to his feet. Color rose to her cheeks and neck. That, she definitely couldn’t fake. Fucking adorable.

  “We’ll be spending some quality time here together. I’m getting you something to drink. Will you eat?”

  She glared at him, stubborn look on her face. “I know how this works.”

  He raised one scarred eyebrow. “You do?”

  Lara took a deep breath. “I’m not stupid. I watched a couple of crime documentaries. There’ll be poison or drugs in the food and water.”

  “Crime shows, huh?” he smirked. She refused to look at him.

  Matthias laughed, unable to help himself. “I’ll be right back, little bird.”

  Chapter Five

  What just happened? Lara kept touching her lip, wondering if that kiss had been real. She didn’t know what possessed him to do that. Worse, she’d kissed him back, responding to him in a way she never did to any other man.

  Growing up, she devoured romances in her free time. Lara had loved to read since she was a little kid. While her mom worked late shifts at the diner, she’d curled up in her own corner of their trailer, always with a book in hand. She could lose herself in those different worlds for hours, imagining herself in the position of the heroine, swept away by some handsome prince. Part of her always knew it was nothing but fiction. Real life didn’t work like that.

  Lara didn’t even know one kiss could feel that amazing, had the power to make her forget, even for a second, where she was. Who she was with. A monster. Except now that she knew his name and saw the hidden depths under that merciless gaze, Matthias Severin couldn’t be just defined by that one label.

  Damn Matthias for taking her by surprise like that. For making her have doubts. For making her feel something other than fear and hate towards him.

  Little bird.

  Lara shivered, wrapping her arms around herself, unable to forget how sensual those two words sounded on his lips.

  How did he know? A lucky guess, maybe?

  We own this city.

  It wasn’t an arrogant claim
. Rumor has it that the Severin Familia swept the city clean of its competitors years ago, rival gangs and cartels included. Now, local politicians, police enforcement, and reputable business owners answer to them.

  Matthias would have access to resources. Maybe he had access to her file. Perhaps he was just that good at his job. After all, he’d been doing this for a long time, or so he claimed. A dangerous man to tangle with.

  He could have strung her up on that hook or threatened her with any of the bladed implements hanging on the wall. Matthias had done none of those things, simply put his mouth on hers, giving her a taste, the promise of something, before pulling away. God. Even now, she remembered wanting, silently daring him to do more.

  “What’s wrong with me?” she whispered.

  Matthias was a master at this, she realized. He probably manipulated women all the time. Once he found the weak link in their armor, he zoned in for the kill. She blew out a breath. What the hell had Skip gotten himself into?

  What was that bastard thinking, when he decided to cross the Severin Familia? Of course, they’d come for those closest to Skip, assuming she was still that rat bastard’s girlfriend or something. It wouldn’t surprise her that Skip didn’t think about her safety at all. She ran her fingers through her now cropped hair, pissed.

  “Why did you cut your hair?”

  Matthias’s voice startled her.

  He reappeared in front of her, holding out a water bottle. “See? Sealed. No tampering. Drink up.”

  Matthias set it by her feet, along with generic energy bars local supermarkets stocked up. She tentatively picked up the bottle and examined it closely. “What kind of game is this?”

  “No game. I want you to be comfortable. Answer the question.”

  “I used to like my hair long, until he—” She trailed off. Lara looked at him. A dark expression crossed Matthias’s face, not because she didn’t answer him. It was as if he knew. Lara let out a laugh, changing topic. “If you want me to feel comfortable, then take this off.”

  She pointed to the chain connected to her ankle cuff.