Secret Heart: Other Realm, Frost Family Series, Book 3

Lock 29

Lying in the bed, tears streaming down her face, Melody sobbed. For the first time in what felt like forever, Girl began to surface. Melody was long use to pain, to having no control over her life. But holding that baby...the baby it was just now beginning to hit her was hers...

Melody let out a broken sob, raising a shaking hand to muffle the sound. T-they took...H-he took...he let them take my baby...M-m-my b-baby! she sobbed in her mind. She used her free hand to pull the blanket around her, covering up her body once more, shaking her head back and forth as her mind began to spin. Is that what was wrong with me? I-is that what Nick meant when he said I was going to give him a p-present? The present was my baby?! she realized in disbelief.

Unbidden, Darvey's mocking voice filled her head. You really are just a stupid girl.

Letting out another broken sob, she raised her hands to cover her face. I-I didn't know...

"Why are you crying?" A very soft voice spoke up in the darkness.

Jerking with a start, Melody's head whipped to the window of the bedroom. Standing in front of it, body partially shadowed with the moonlight coming in through the open window and the curtain billowing out in the breeze, was a stranger...

No, not a stranger. Not exactly. Melody frowned. The man looked a little familiar, just slightly. And the twisting, almost screaming feeling that was beginning to overcome her was familiar as well.

"Why are you crying?" the man asked again. Despite what Melody had come to expect from men, his voice wasn't harsh, mocking, or annoyed. In fact, it was quite soft...gentle even.

At the thought, she stiffened, pulling the blankets closer around her. The only other man who talked to her like that, who's voice wasn't filled with distaste all the time was her husband. Nick often liked to hold her close after touching her, after coming inside her, after she drove him to those limits that he loved to push beyond. He'd never hurt her as badly as the first time though. There had been a few times, especially at first, when she'd been really sore and stiff afterwards. But he'd never pulled her arm out wrong or made her bleed as badly down there as the first time. Even so...

"I-I already have s-someone," she whispered. "I can't be with you. I can't have another," she explained softly.

The man's voice was quite confused. "I...what? What are you talking about, kid?"

She swallowed. "I-I can't..."

He was silent for a few seconds. "Alright. Are you saying you can't tell me what's wrong?"

She nodded her head. "I can't. Can't talk to strangers. I can't be around other people. Y-you have to leave. Y-you'll become a demon of you stay around me..."

There was another pause before the man's soft chuckle filled the silence between them. "I hate to break it to you, but I already am a demon."

Melody blinked, eyes going wide. "You...you don't look like it," she murmured.

The man stared at her for five long heartbeats. Slowly, he stepped further into the moonlight. Moving even slower, he took off his white t-shirt, face expressionless. Melody's eyes took in the sight of his naked chest. There wasn't a whole lot of hair on it, just like there wasn't a lot on Nick's. But it was covered in numerous cuts and scars, all over.

As she watched, the man began to change. His skin began to grow both lighter and darker, until he appeared to be made out of darkness itself. Dozens of varying shades of black and gray, his body began to change into something no longer completely solid. Around him, the shadows began to grow and almost...solidify. A sweeping cloak of shadows formed over his body, the hood down so that she could see his face.