Mated to the Monster

The ruins of Sinterra stood quiet at dawn, cloaked in ash and a silence that never belonged to the living. Broken buildings clawed at the sky, their bones jutting like forgotten relics from a war no one dared speak of. This was the world I knew-cold, broken, and merciless.

Humans were no longer rulers of the Earth. That title had long been seized by those who were once mere myths in bedtime stories-werewolves, vampires, sirens, dragons, and the fae. Creatures who'd lived in the shadows now walked in daylight, our nightmares given flesh and power.

I adjusted the straps of the satchel across my chest, trying to ignore the ache in my legs as I trudged across what used to be a city square. My boots crunched on scorched stone, and soot clung to my skin like a second layer. The healing herbs I'd collected earlier today were safe in the pouch, though my fingers still stung from the nettles. Worth it, if it saved someone else.

"Aria!" a voice called.

I turned just in time to catch Mara sprinting toward me, her red braid flying like a banner. She skidded to a stop, breathing heavily, eyes wide. "You're late. Again."

"I was foraging," I said, brushing ash from my coat. "The east ruins still had yarrow."

"You're going to get yourself caught, or worse. What if a patrol found you?" Her voice lowered. "You know what they do to humans who wander too far."

I knew. We all knew.

"I didn't get caught."

"That's not the point!"

Her voice trembled, and guilt prickled under my skin. She cared. I didn't deserve it, not when I kept tempting fate, not when I-

"You hear?" she whispered, glancing around before leaning in. "They say the Alpha King is passing through Dagger Hollow. Tonight."

My stomach twisted. I knew that name. Everyone did.

Lucien Draxus. The Monster King.

The one who tore down cities with a smile. The one whose eyes were rumored to glow crimson when blood was spilled. The one whose mate had been killed decades ago, and whose vengeance had not ended since.

"No one's safe when he's near," Mara said, voice barely above a breath. "He doesn't just take lands-he takes people."

I didn't say anything. I couldn't.

Because part of me... part of me wanted to see him. Just once.

The thought terrified me more than his name ever could.

I walked beside Mara through the narrow paths between shattered buildings, my eyes flicking to every shifting shadow. Even the wind felt like a predator these days-sharp and watching.

Dagger Hollow wasn't a real town, not anymore. It was a scattering of humans who had survived too much and trusted too little. We lived in the cracks of a crumbling world, hidden beneath the eyes of monsters who'd claimed dominion over us. There were no street signs, no light posts, no laughter. Only ash, rusted metal, and the distant sound of patrols-thudding footsteps that didn't belong to men.

Still, somehow, it was home.

When we reached the edge of the safe zone, Mara grabbed my arm. "You should go underground for the night. With him coming, it's not worth the risk. He doesn't need a reason to take someone."

I nodded, but I didn't move.

Her eyes softened, knowing me too well. "You're still having the dreams, aren't you?"

I blinked, caught. "They're just dreams."

"No, Aria. They're not. They started the night you turned seventeen, and they haven't stopped. That means something."

I didn't want to talk about it-not here, not now, not ever. Because those dreams didn't feel like dreams. They felt like memories from another life.

A forest of silver trees. A man cloaked in shadows. Blood on snow. A whisper of my name in a voice too deep to be human.

I didn't tell Mara that sometimes I woke up with his voice in my head.

That I felt him watching me in the silence.

That I sometimes felt like I belonged to someone I'd never met.

"I'll be fine," I said instead. "I have to drop these herbs at the infirmary."

She gave me a look that said she didn't believe me, but she let go.

I made my way to the underground medical station-a former subway tunnel repurposed into a healing ward. Humans didn't have access to high-tech meds or magical cures anymore. We survived with roots, salves, and whispered prayers. And even then, not all of us made it.

When I stepped inside, the air was thick with herbs and desperation.

Elder Reyna sat hunched over a boy with a fever, murmuring a chant under her breath. She looked up as I entered and gave a nod of relief. "You found the yarrow."

"I also brought marigold, sage, and mugwort," I said, kneeling to lay the bundle on a cracked wooden table.

Her weathered hands reached for mine. "You're brave, child."

"No," I whispered. "Just tired of losing people."

She gave a soft smile, one filled with too much sorrow. "Same thing, sometimes."

I stayed until dusk, grinding herbs into paste, checking bandages, pretending the world above wasn't waiting to devour us. But when night fell, I felt it.

The shift.

It started with a tremor in the ground, faint but insistent.

Then came the silence. Not the normal stillness of twilight, but a dense, unnatural quiet, as if the world itself had paused to hold its breath.

Then... the scent.

Not blood. Not ash.

Power.

It crept into my lungs like smoke, thick and ancient, prickling every inch of my skin.

He was here.

Lucien Draxus. The Alpha King.

I stood frozen as whispers spread through the tunnels like wildfire. People huddled deeper into the shadows. Mothers clutched children. Healers stopped mid-motion. Even the flames in the lanterns seemed to flicker nervously.

Someone sobbed softly.

I walked up the stairs before anyone could stop me.

The streets were darker than they had any right to be, as if the moon refused to shine on what now stood above us.

And then I saw them.

Rows of soldiers in dark armor, not just werewolves but shadow-walkers, fae hybrids with glowing eyes and jagged wings, standing guard along the main street.

And him.

He wasn't riding a beast, like some stories said. He didn't wear a crown or a cloak of bones.

He walked.

Slow, purposeful.

Every step was a threat wrapped in elegance. His broad shoulders cut through the gloom, a long black coat fluttering around his tall frame like smoke. His hair was raven-black, tousled by the wind, and his skin looked carved from winter.

But it was his eyes that stopped the world.

Red.

Not just glowing-but pulsing, like embers from a dying star. And they locked onto mine from across the street as if the universe had just stopped moving.

My heart slammed into my ribs. I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe.

He tilted his head slightly. Curious. Intrigued.

And then... he smiled.

Not kind. Not cruel. Just knowing.

Like he'd been waiting.

Like he'd found what he came for.

A low growl rumbled from somewhere behind him, and I stumbled backward, breath caught in my throat.

Mara's voice echoed in my head-He doesn't need a reason to take someone.

But I knew.

He had a reason now.

Me.