Monster's Mark: Monsters in the Mountains, #8

By Leann Ryans

 

She came searching for an alpha to claim her, and who was I to deny the omega her desire?

 

I couldn't take another moment of derision. The alphas of my village had put me down for the last time, their rude comments pushing me to abandon my home in search of a new one.

I'd heard the rumors. The whispers of monsters stealing human omegas to claim as their own. I wasn't foolish enough to think I could survive on my own in the wild, so climbing the mountain had seemed like the best choice.

By the time he found me I had been half convinced I would die alone, but his scent was enough to trigger my heat. One way or another, I would wear the Monster's Mark, and the other alphas would never hurt me again.

 

***This is the eighth book in the Monsters in the Mountains series but it can be read as a standalone.***

• Language: English
• Publisher: Leann Ryans
• Release date: Mar 24, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224433117

Leann Ryans

I'm a wife and mother of four who's been an avid reader since I could pick up a book. It wasn't unusual for me to read a book a day, ignoring the real world as I was sucked into the pages of a great story. I grew up on sci-fi and fantasy books before discovering the world of romance. PNR has always been my go-to, and omegaverse is my addiction of choice. I love writing books featuring heroes who are a bit rough around the edges but aren't overly cruel. My heroines aren't always the take charge type, but neither are all women. They are comfortable in their femininity. If you're looking for a story that has dark themes without leaving you wanting to punch the hero in the face, mine might just be for you.

Book preview

Monster's Mark

Monsters in the Mountains Book 8

Leann Ryans

Copyright © 2024 Leann Ryans

All rights reserved

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Cover design by: GetCovers

Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Epilogue

Thanks

Raider’s Treasure

She came searching for an alpha to mark her, and who was I to deny the omega her desire?

I couldn’t take another moment of derision. The alphas of my village had put me down for the last time, their rude comments pushing me to abandon my home in search of a new one.

I’d heard the rumors. The whispers of monsters stealing human omegas to claim as their own. I wasn’t foolish enough to think I could survive on my own in the wild, so climbing the mountain had seemed like the best choice.

By the time he found me I had been half convinced I would die alone, but his scent was enough to trigger my heat. One way or another, I would wear the Monster’s Mark, and the other alphas would never laugh at me again.

Chapter One

Kaia

Istumbled over another branch, too tired to even complain when bark bit into my palms as I caught myself on the tree I had been passing. Every part of me throbbed with a dull ache, but as miserable as I felt, I still refused to go back.

I’d die alone in the woods before I returned to my village and accepted the life I’d find there.

Being an omega was supposed to be a good thing. We were supposed to get our choice of the alphas in the village, be desired above betas, and be cherished for what we were.

It was all lies.

Sure, we were desired. As a wet hole to fuck, and not much more.

We were cherished, as capable of taking an alpha’s knot, and being able to be claimed, so no other could have us.

People always wanted what was rare, and there were never as many omegas as alphas. Claiming an omega raised their stature in the clan, so we were traded and bartered just like any other resource, our families just as guilty as the alpha who bought us. Having a choice was a joke.

My father had done his best for me, letting me voice my opinion about the alphas who’d approached him about me, but in the end, he’d chosen the one who’d offered the most.

I held onto my anger to bury the guilt and keep my feet moving. With three younger siblings and Mother round with another, I knew he struggled to provide for us, and he needed what he’d been offered to get them through the winter, but there was no way I could let Gabar claim me.

I didn’t know why he had even made an offer for me when he’d done nothing but torment me my entire life. The shade of my skin, the texture of my hair, the shape of my face… He had something negative to say about it all. His opinion of omegas was low enough, but there seemed to be something particular about me he couldn’t stand.

How could I be expected to live, bonded to that?

The only thing he’d approved of was the roundness of my hips and the swell of my breasts. I’d taken to wearing as many layers as I could to hide my body from view, but he’d still made lewd comments whenever he saw me.

And no one had done anything to stop him. Even while I was considered far too young, the villagers looked the other way when he cornered me or made remarks inappropriate towards a child.

I paused to drag in a deep breath, the scent of the forest filling my lungs. It was thick and green, damp beneath the protective canopy above, and laced with traces of too many things to name. It was different than the smell of the woods around my village, where brush was kept cut back, and animals had been hunted enough to stay away. The higher I climbed up the mountainside, the more alive the world seemed.

Yet I was still insignificant.

Small.

Weak.

I tried to swallow, my dry throat sticking and sending needles of pain through the tissue. I’d been walking for three days, and I’d eaten the last of the meager food I’d brought with me at sunrise. I had known streams ran down from the mountaintops, so I hadn’t brought water with me, which had been a huge mistake. The spring thaw was well past, the summer having dried up the water I’d expected to find, and the dampness in the air did nothing to quench my thirst.

Perhaps heading up the mountain had been the real mistake. There was another village three days to the south of mine, according