Page 2 of Untamed Monster

I was so fucking annoyed.

Vargas Dean was really pushing every damn button I had and even finding the ones I didn’t know existed. For months, I’d successfully stalked him. Watched him take out disgusting individuals who’d lost every right to breathe the same air as the rest of humanity. I’d tracked every move he made, learned what made him tick, what he looked like when he didn’t have to fake his humanity, and how he looked when he was pretending so he could blend in with the rest of society.

But lately, he’d been acting… out of character. His burner phone, which never got turned off, was suddenly getting turned off at odd times—never long enough for his father to figure out he was unavailable, but long enough that I lost track of him. And then, he’d turn his device back on, forcing me to hurry to catch back up to him again.

And now, here we were at a fucking Halloween frat party, when neither of us currently attended college. Hell, Vargas had graduated a couple of years ago, so I had no idea why he’d come here tonight. This was one of those out of character experiences that were confusing me.

And on top of that… his fucking phone was off. Again. Which meant I had to walk through all these crammed, sweaty bodies while hiding beneath this hot mask to get my eyes on him again.

Vargas was… slippery. If I didn’t have that tracker on him, it was extremely difficult to keep my eyes on him. He was good at what he did—remaining under the radar.

In a world full of monsters, Vargas was a fucking demon. Anyone who happened to find themselves in his presence just got the innate sense that they were prey and Vargas was one hundred percent the predator. He could be smiling and acting friendly, but he had an air about him that made others wary.

Growling low in my throat when I didn’t find him anywhere downstairs, I made my way upstairs, my muscles coiling tight with tension. If I found him in a room with some other fucking person, I was going to slit their throat. Vargas was mine. He belonged only to me, and no one got to put their filthy fucking hands on him.

I pushed open the first door I came to, only to find a couple making out on the bed. Ignoring the guy angrily shouting at me to learn to knock, I just shut the door and continued down the hall, getting more and more amped up with each door I opened, only to not find the target of my obsession.

My eyes widened in surprise when a hand suddenly clamped over my mouth and a strong arm banded around my waist, yanking me into a closet in the hallway. It was spacious enough to give me and my captor room, but it was pitch fucking black, which meant I couldn’t see a goddamn thing.

I kicked back, but the other person easily evaded me, making my foot hit nothing but air. A low, husky chuckle met my ears, and my heart slammed against my chest bone, my heart lurching into my throat. I went still, unsure but still excited at being in this predicament, despite who I was in the predicament with.

Vargas fucking Dean—the serial killer with a moral code of bad people only. The same serial killer I’d been stalking the past few months.

“Looking for me, raindrop?” he murmured against my ear. Shivers rolled down my spine. His voice was somehow threatening and taunting while still somehow erotic. And he had a nickname for me. I was fucking giddy.

“Surely you didn’t think you somehow had the upper hand in all this. A true stalker never lets his presence known.”

A true stalker never lets his presence known…

Had Vargas been stalking me, too? And I’d never fucking known…

“How?” I managed, somehow speaking past my heart in my damn throat.

“I caught you the very first day you painted me as your latest obsession, raindrop. You were wearing black jeans and a plain black hoodie, head down and strawberry blonde hair hiding these pretty eyes.” His finger came up, stroking the skin right beneath my eye. I shivered, swallowing thickly. “I let you think you had the upper hand. Even let you close enough to plant a tracker on me. But the whole time, you were merely playing right into my hands.”

I shouldn’t have been excited that Vargas had been stalking me the entire time. I should have been upset, maybe even a little afraid because Vargas unalived people like me nearly fucking daily. But this was what I’d wanted for so long—his attention, his hands on me…

His obsession.

“So… what now?” I asked.

He loosened his hold on me—not letting me go though—and I turned to face him. Now that my eyes had adjusted a little, I could see part of his face through the glow of the lights seeping through the cracks around the door. He was wearing a plain white mask with a top hat. I wanted both offending items off so I could finally see his face up close.

“Now… Well, now we play my game, raindrop.” Another little thrill shot through me. “Think you can handle it?” he taunted. He took a step closer, and I took one back, my heart jackhammering against my chest. When my back hit the wall, Vargas released a low growl and planted his hands on either side of my head, blocking me in. Leaning in, he rasped, “Men like me stalk for one of two reasons, my little raindrop.” I sucked in a sharp breath at him calling me his. “One, we stalk to kill.” My heart damn near stopped on a dime. I wasn’t prepared to die… but maybe dying at his hands wouldn’t be too terrible.

“Two, we stalk to claim.” He cocked his head to the side. “Which do you think you’re getting stalked for, Rain?”

My fingers trembled at my sides. “T-to kill?” I croaked.

Vargas shook his head. “Wrong.” His hand suddenly snapped around my throat, cutting off my air supply, but surprisingly, I found I really didn’t mind if he choked me to death. My dick was throbbing at the idea. “You’re mine, and now…” He leaned in and pressed his cool mask to my heated skin. “Well, now, raindrop, I’m claiming. Breeding.”

Christ.

He leaned back up and loosened his grip just enough that I managed to suck in a tiny bit of air. His thumb stroked over my pulse point, and a low, pleased rumble sounded from his chest when he felt how fast my heart was beating.

“I’m going to own you.”

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