Chapter 75 MONTY'S DARKNESS

Chapter 75 MONTY'S DARKNESS
Monty's POV

The whispers started three days ago, and they will not stop.

I cannot tell where my consciousness ends, and theirs begins. Sometimes the voices sound like Morrison speaking directly into my skull, other times they sound like nothing human at all.

Kill them. They are weak. You are strong now.

I press my palms against my temples, trying to crush the whispers into silence, but they only grow louder.

"Monty?" Kai's voice cuts through the noise. "You okay?"

I drop my hands and force my face into normal. "Fine. Just tired."

I feel bad for lying, but I'm unable to tell him the truth.  Kai already looks at me with too much worry, and adding more weight to that burden feels cruel.

He does not believe me. I see doubt cross his face before he turns back to the ancient texts spread across the table. "You should rest. I can take your guard shift."

"I do not need rest." The words come out harsher than intended, and Kai flinches. "I do not need anything."

You are more than human now.

I shake my head, trying to dislodge the voice, but it clings. My vision blurs, and when it clears, I am staring at Alicia across the shelter.

The thought terrifies me enough that I step backwards into the shadow where Alicia cannot see my face. Whatever is happening to me is getting worse, and I do not trust myself around Luna anymore.

"Monty." Kai appears beside me holding one of Logan's books. "I found something."

"Not now." I cannot look at him. Cannot let him see whatever my eyes might be showing. "I need air."

"There is no air. We are trapped in a shelter surrounded by Morrison's army." Kai grabs my arm and his touch feels distant like he is touching me through layers of fabric. "Talk to me. What is wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong." I pull free and immediately regret the harshness. "I am fine Kai. Just leave it alone."

"You are not fine." He moves to block my path and his expression shifts from worry to fear. "Your eyes just flashed red."

The words hit like ice water. Red eyes mean corruption. Mean Morrison's influence spreading through supernatural bodies like disease. Mean I am becoming exactly what we are fighting against.

"That is impossible." But even as I say it I know it is true. Feel the wrongness coiled in my chest spreading outward with every heartbeat that should not be happening.

Kai pulls me further into the corner away from the other pack members. "When did this start?"

"Three days ago." The admission comes out broken. "I hear whispers and feel things I should not feel."

"What do you want?"

"I want to hurt them." The truth tastes like poison. "Not because I want to, but because something inside me does. It whispers that they are weak. That I am strong now. That I should take what I need and destroy anything that gets in my way."

Kai goes pale. "That is Morrison's corruption talking."

"I know." I lean against the wall and feel stone against my back that should be cold, but registers as nothing. "Morrison's essence was still in my body when Luna brought me back to life. I think she accidentally bound me to his power instead of her own."

"Can we break the binding?"

"I do not know." The whispers grow louder, and I bite down on the inside of my cheek hard enough to taste blood. "It is getting stronger. Every day I feel less like myself."

"Monty, this is serious. If Morrison is corrupting you from the inside, you could become a threat to everyone here."

"I know." The admission hurts worse than anything I have felt since dying. "That is why you need to promise me something."

"What?"

"If I lose control completely, you kill me." I hold his gaze. "Do not hesitate. Do not try to save me. Just end it before I can hurt anyone."

"I cannot do that."

"You have to." My fingers dig into his shoulder. "Promise me Kai, please."

He looks away and I see tears building in his eyes. "I promise."

The relief is overwhelming. At least now, if the worst happens, someone will be ready to stop me. Someone I trust to follow through even when it breaks him.

A commotion near the entrance pulls our attention. One of the resistance members is arguing with Elara about supply distribution, and voices are rising. The man is human and scared, and pushing boundaries he should not push.

He is weak. Eliminate him. Show them what real strength looks like.

The whisper hits harder than before. My vision blurs until all I see is the human's throat exposed and vulnerable. My body moves without conscious decision, and suddenly I am across the room with my hand wrapped around his neck.

"Monty!" Multiple voices shout my name, but they sound distant and unimportant.

The human's pulse beats against my palm. The thought fills me with satisfaction that tastes wrong but feels right.

Yes. Kill him. Prove your dominance.

My fingers tighten, and the human makes a choking sound. His face turns red, and his hands claw at my arm, trying to break free, but my grip tightens.

Kai slams into me hard enough to knock my grip loose and pins me against the wall with supernatural strength that matches my own.

"Monty, stop!" His face is close to mine, and I see genuine fear there. "Fight it. You are stronger than this."

"I am not." The words come out of my throat. "The whispers are too loud."

"Then listen to my voice instead." He presses his forehead against mine, and the contact grounds me somehow. "You are Monty. You do not hurt pack"

The human scrambles away coughing and gasping. I hear murmurs starting among the other resistance members. They saw what I almost did and now they are afraid.

They should be afraid.

You are dangerous. You are powerful. You are everything they fear and more.

"Get him out of here." Elara snaps the order at Kai. "Now."

Kai pulls me toward the back chambers meant for wounded wolves too injured to help with defence. He shoves me inside and closes the door behind us.

"What is happening to you?" His voice shakes. "That was not you back there."

"I know." I slide down the wall until I am sitting on cold stone. "It is getting worse faster than I thought it would."

"We have to tell someone. Logan or Elara or Alicia. Someone who might know how to fix this."

"There is no fix." I drop my head into my hands. "Morrison's corruption is permanent. Everyone he touches either dies or becomes one of his puppets. I am just dying slower."

"You are not dying." Kai kneels in front of me. "You are already dead, remember? Luna brought you back, which means there has to be a way to keep you here properly."

"She brought back a body. The thing wearing it is becoming something else."

Kai grabs my face and forces me to meet his eyes. "Listen to me. You are still in there. I can see you fighting. That means we have time to find a solution."

"What solution? How do you fix someone who should not exist?"

"I do not know yet." He releases me and pulls out the book he was carrying earlier. "But I am going to figure it out. That is a promise."

I want to believe him, but the whispers are so loud now, and they are promising things that sound better than they should.

Power, freedom, strength, and dominance and everything you deserve.

“We’ll find another way." Kai's voice turns hard. "We capture Morrison and force him to remove whatever he put in you."

The suggestion is insane. Capturing Morrison is impossible when he can jump between bodies and has an army of corrupted wolves protecting him. But the desperation in Kai's eyes tells me he needs this hope even if it is unrealistic.

"Okay." I lie because it is kinder than the truth. "We will try to capture Morrison."

Kai relaxes slightly. "Logan thinks there might be a way to trap his consciousness if we can isolate one of his host bodies. Something about binding circles and True Luna magic working together."

"That would require Alicia's cooperation."

"Then we tell her. Not about the corruption but about needing Morrison captured alive." Kai grabs my arm. "We can do this, Monty. We can fix you."

I want to believe him, but the whispers are laughing now, and they sound exactly like Morrison.

You cannot be fixed. You were broken the moment you died. Now you are mine.

My vision blurs red, and when it clears, I am staring at Kai's throat. At the pulse jumping beneath skin that would be so easy to tear open. The hunger surges stronger than before, and this time, I do not think I can fight it.

"Kai." My voice comes out wrong. "Run."

"What?"

"Run now." I can feel my control shattering. "Before I kill you."

Kai sees something in my expression that terrifies him, because he backs toward the door. But he is not fast enough. The corruption takes over completely, and I lunge forward with speed that should not be possible.

My hands close around Kai's throat, and the whispers scream in triumph.