Raising The SSS-Risk Beast That Only Pretends To Be Tame Chapter 08

Raising The SSS-Risk Beast That Only Pretends To Be Tame Chapter 08

We made it to the house.

Seventeen knocked on the door.

It opened.

Mom stood there in her apron, staring up at the man who was over six feet tall on her doorstep.

“What in the-”

“Hello, Mom,” Seventeen said, his voice perfectly polite. “I’m Chloe’s husband.”

I shot Mom a look.

She knew some things about Seventeen. Not everything.

She just thought I’d been making it up before.

Mom was a better actress than me.

“Come in,” she said, smiling, her voice as steady as if monsters showed up to claim family ties

every day.

Then she turned and walked into the kitchen. She came back with a bowl of cut fruit and some small

pastries.

“Here,” she said. “Have a little something. Take the edge off.”

Seventeen sat at the table. His eyes landed on the chunks of dragon fruit. He licked his lips like a kid

in a candy store.

“Chloe,” he said. “I want these blood cubes.”

[In his mind, anything red and textured that bleeds when you bite it-is a corpse.]

Me: “”

I sighed. What else could I do? I picked up a piece of dragon fruit with a fork and brought it to his mouth.

He chewed twice, swallowed, and opened his mouth again.

“Ahhh-”

More.

I kept feeding him.

He ate happily, his eyes curving into crescents, his long hair brushing against his shoulders as he

bobbed his head side to side.

Like a big, satisfied pet.

[Girl, don’t worry about Morgan. He got to the hospital. His arms were reattached. He’s out of

danger.]

[The lab’s medical tech can reattach limbs like it’s nothing. But nerve damage takes time. He might

never have fine motor control again.]

[Hey, at least he’s alive.]

I stared at the live chat. My hand shook.

A piece of dragon fruit slipped off my fork, fell onto the table, rolled twice, and stopped right next to

Seventeen’s hand.

“Oh dear,” he said. “Chloe is so clumsy. Time for punishment.”

He reached his long, slender fingers toward my face-one by one, like needles.

His fingers found my earlobe. He tugged it upward.

Gently.

Nothing like before. Nothing like when he’d nearly crushed it.

He let go.

“There,” he said. “Punishment’s over.”

He looked at the remaining dragon fruit. “I want more sweet blood cubes.”

[Okay, the monster is kind of cute now.]

[Ha. Your morals are clearly driven by his face.]

[But don’t you think? He learned to control his strength. He learned to control himself so he

…

wouldn’t hurt her.]

[He didn’t just learn to control his strength. He learned to control himself. For her.]

[He chose not to hurt her.]

I watched Seventeen sitting there, behaving himself. I gathered my courage and asked, “When… are

you leaving?”

He looked at me like he was reciting a vow. “Chloe, we’re never leaving each other.”

“Are you going to hurt me for the rest of my life?”

“Chloe,” he said. “I’ve never hurt you.”

I blinked. I raised my hand and pointed at my ear.

“Liar,” I said. “You hurt me.”

Then I pointed at the scar on my finger.

“You bit me. I bled.”

His voice took on a small, defensive edge-like a child caught doing something wrong. “That was payback. You hurt me first. That’s not the same. I’m good. I don’t hurt people.”

I forced myself to ask, “The people at the lab… you killed them.”

“Because they wouldn’t let me find you,” he said, completely unashamed. “They locked me up.

Chained me. Shocked me.”

I asked, “And Morgan?”

His voice dropped half an octave. “He was in my way. And he called you ‘Chloe.’ I didn’t like that.”

[Hey, guys. I feel like we kind of caused this.]

[If we hadn’t been spamming the chat, warning her, hyping up the fear-maybe she wouldn’t have been so scared.]

[So… we’re the reason she ran? We’re the reason he went crazy?]

[Don’t sympathize with the monster. Monsters always find excuses to be monsters.]

[He doesn’t have morals. He just has instincts.]

….

[And his instinct is-]

[To go back to her.]

I closed my eyes. “Seventeen,” I said. “You can’t hurt anyone else.”

“Okay,” he said, obediently. “As long as you behave.”

Behave.

He told me to behave.

The roles had reversed.

He was the one holding the whip and the candy now.

And I was his experiment.

I nodded, my voice hollow. “Okay. Then let’s go. You and me. Together. Forever.”

I didn’t want Mom to see me like this.

I couldn’t bring danger to her door.

“Okay,” Seventeen said, still perfectly obedient. He walked over to me and took my hand. “Chloe,” he said. “Now you have to teach me. How to have sex.”

Me: “???”

[Congratulations, girl. You got yourself a husband.]

[Are you insane??? This isn’t a wedding. This is a hostage situation!!!]

[But he’s so hot… I’m blinded by his face… I’m so sorry, girl…]

[Does the monster love her?]

[Who knows. He’s definitely attached, though.]

[This isn’t love.]

[This is ownership.]