Marked by the Monsters I Created

Maya Cross slowly woke up to the sound of a whip cracking.

The first thing she saw was silver hair hanging down to someone's shoulders.

A man was kneeling on the metal floor. His bronze back was arched tight like a bow ready to snap. Every muscle on his body was tense with suppressed strength, yet whip marks cut across his skin like a road map of pain.

Fresh wounds were still bleeding. Red streams ran down his chest and stomach, gathering at his waist before dripping onto his pants.

When those dark red eyes lifted and locked onto hers, Maya felt as if her heart had been seized by ice-cold claws.

Those eyes were frozen with hate. Pure, undisguised hatred.

He tilted his head and looked at the energy whip in her hand. A cold smile touched his lips.

His voice was rough and low. Each word cut like a knife. "Stopping already? What, did your arm finally get tired?"

Holy shit! What the hell is happening? One second she had been working a double shift at Detroit General Hospital. The next second...

Strange memories crashed into her brain like a freight train.

Starships; Beastmen; Energy whips.

And the man kneeling in front of her.

Caleb Storm.

The youngest commander the Fifth Imperial Legion had ever produced. Snake beastman. Once, he had been one of the most promising A-rank beastman warriors in the Federation.

Then everything collapsed.

During a military operation on the border colonies, Caleb had refused an order to slaughter civilians suspected of hiding rebel forces. That refusal should have made him a hero.

Instead, it ruined him.

His superior framed him for treason, stripped him of command, and watched his mental rank fall from A to C after a brutal interrogation nearly destroyed his neural core.

By the time Marcus Cross found him, Caleb was no longer the shining commander of the Fifth Imperial Legion.

He was damaged property.

A fallen warrior with a broken future.

And Marcus had bought him anyway.

Maya's breath caught as more memories surged through her.

The five beastmen bound to her were all rare high-level warriors in the galaxy. Every one of them had once stood far above ordinary males. Every one of them possessed terrifying potential.

But because of different disasters, betrayals, and injuries, they had all been forced to fall from high rank to low rank.

In this world, beastman warrior ranks went from F to S.

Her father, Marcus Cross, was one of only two S-rank beastman warriors in the entire galaxy.

To make sure his precious daughter would one day possess the most powerful beast-husband legion, Marcus had gathered these five wounded but formidable beastmen-men with limitless potential, men who might rise again if given the chance.

And he had presented them to his daughter as her coming-of-age gift.

This was that trashy sci-fi reverse-harem novel she had stayed up reading last night.

Fuck. She cursed silently.

Oh my God. This face, the silver hair, the red eyes. Every detail matched the book perfectly.

She had actually transmigrated into the story.

And worse, she had transmigrated into the psycho villain everyone wanted dead.

In this world, humans had been forced to genetically modify themselves after the environment collapsed. They mixed human DNA with animal DNA and became beastmen. But the process killed most people.

Female survival rates were terrifyingly low. Less than five percent of the population were Females. To preserve their reproductive ability, Females could not fully transform.

This left them defenseless.

Just when beastman civilization finally stabilized, space bugs called Zerg invaded the galaxy.

They specifically attacked beastman settlements.

This made the already rare Females even more precious.

To keep the species alive, Federal law gave Females the highest status. Each Female could have multiple Male partners for protection, reproduction, and mental stability.

And the previous Maya had treated these former heroes like torture toys.

Maya dropped the energy whip without thinking. Blood drops from the tip splattered across her ankle.

Wait. She remembered this scene!

In the novel, this torture session completely destroyed Caleb's last faith in the law. From this moment on, he stopped believing justice would ever protect him.

And later, when he finally broke free, he would take brutal revenge.

According to the plot, she was totally screwed.

"Just because Zara talked to you, I've been torturing you for three days?" Maya stared at the wounds covering his body. Her voice shook despite her effort to sound steady.

Caleb's eyebrow twitched as he studied Maya's panicked eyes.

What game was she playing now? Three days of torture with that energy whip, then suddenly she dropped it and put on this innocent act like butter would not melt in her mouth.

Did she really think this little performance would make him trust her? Not a chance in hell.

Maya Cross was just waiting for them to let their guard down so she could come back with something even worse.

Caleb figured he had her number. His jaw clenched as he stared at that deceptively sweet face, every muscle in his body coiled tight with suspicion.

"What new trick are you planning..."

Maya froze and stepped back.

"Stop talking." Her voice trembled, but she forced herself to stay calm. "Your wounds need treatment."

Her doctor instincts kicked in immediately.

Maya quickly examined Caleb's injuries. Multiple deep cuts. Clothing stuck to torn flesh. Severe blood loss. Possible infection risk. He needed the bleeding stopped right away.

As an ER doctor, Maya had seen all kinds of injuries. Gunshots. Car crashes. Burn victims. Men and women brought in half-dead under bright hospital lights.

But those wounds had come from accidents, violence, or sickness.

The wounds in front of her were made whip by whip by her.

No. By the previous Maya.

The guilt almost choked her.

Caleb looked at Maya mockingly. When he raised his head, the scorpion mark on his chest became more obvious. "What, want to try pouring acid on the wounds this time?"

Maya's breath caught.

The previous Maya had actually done that before.

She fought down her panic and stiffly walked to the medical kit. She grabbed healing gel with fingers that would not quite stop shaking.

The previous Maya never used medical supplies to heal people.

Only to torture them.

"I didn't mean to..." Maya stammered. Her Detroit accent slipped out.

Her brain was still stuck in the hospital, but her body was on a starship. The confusion made her dizzy as hell.

"Cut the act." Caleb interrupted her. He slowly stood up. His tall shadow loomed over her with crushing pressure.

Maya's hand froze mid-air, holding the healing gel.

She had forgotten.

The previous Maya's cruelty had been burned into these men's bones. Any strange behavior from her would only be seen as a new torture method.

Even though Caleb clearly didn't trust her, Maya still forced herself to treat his wounds.

When she finished with the last roll of bandages, footsteps echoed from the cabin entrance.

Three figures appeared in the doorway. They were all injured.

All of them stared at her with the same ice-cold hatred.

"Let go of Caleb," they said in unison. "If you're pissed, take it out on us."

Sage Thomas walked at the front. He looked exhausted and wounded, his usually neat silver-white hair falling across his face. Plasma burn marks covered his arms and neck, some old, some fresh, as if someone had repeatedly tested how much pain a healer could endure before he finally broke.

Under his furious amber stare, Maya felt completely helpless. "No... I didn't..."

Someone cut her off with a bitter laugh. "You didn't what? Didn't torture Caleb? Didn't make him kneel there for three days? You're nothing but a sick liar."

Maya glanced sideways. This had to be Jasper Davis.

He had that signature Davis family combination of fiery red hair and piercing green eyes. The fox ears on his head stood at full alert, broadcasting his rage to anyone with eyes.

Memories flashed through Maya's mind. Jasper had once been the most promising heir of the Davis Consortium, a fox beastman with a sharp mind, beautiful face, and enough financial talent to make half the galaxy nervous.

But the previous Maya had slashed his face with an energy blade right after they bonded, leaving a scar that destroyed his public image and killed his inheritance dreams in a single night.

"Shut it, Jasper. You'll be taking extra lashes for that mouth," the last beastman said.

He was tall and built like a tank, with messy brown hair, olive skin, and ice-blue eyes that bored into Maya with zero warmth.

"Let's get this over with. We'll take Caleb's punishment." His voice was deep and smooth, but completely stripped of respect.

Hunter Blake pulled off his shirt, revealing a body that looked like a war zone. Whip marks, knife scars, and old blast injuries crisscrossed his muscled frame like some twisted roadmap.

He had once been an elite mercenary captain, a lion beastman who led one of the most feared private squads on the frontier. If his mental grade hadn't collapsed after he lost nearly his entire unit saving his friends, he never would have ended up on Marcus Cross's collection list.

The lion's pride meant he had never truly bowed to the previous Maya, which made him her favorite punching bag.

Maya looked at these three wounded men. She felt conflicted inside. She knew the cruel truth behind every scar. Sage had been a gifted healer from a respected medical family. Jasper had lost an empire before he could inherit it. Hunter had survived battlefields only to become a caged beast. She felt sorry for them. But all their hatred was directed at her now. That made her feel sick.

Maya looked at each of them. She forced herself to stay calm.

There should be five beastmen here. Only four had shown up.

According to the story, everyone should be here by now. The missing person was...

"Where's Finn?" The words slipped out.

That name shifted the whole mood in the room.

Jasper's smile widened, but there was no humor in it. "You forgot already? Yesterday you said you wanted to see what happens when we rip off an Aquatic beastman's scales. You made us put him in the isolation tank."

Maya's blood ran cold.

Finn Williams. Fallen prince of Oceania Star. A water beastman born with a royal bloodline and rare purification abilities. Before the coup destroyed his family, he had been an A-rank candidate with enough influence to shake an entire ocean planet.

Because the previous Maya had made him suffer through scale removal, he would one day remove his scorpion mark and slowly cut up every inch of her skin.

She looked at these four hurt men. Then she thought about Finn with his scales torn off. She shuddered.

In this world, Females had all the power. Maya's cruelty was seen as "domestic affairs." Outsiders couldn't interfere unless she actually killed one of her contracted beastmen.

Caleb saw her zoning out. Mockery flashed in his dark red eyes. "What, cooking up new games?"

He stepped closer. The smell of blood got stronger. "Why don't you just try them all at once? Save yourself the trouble."

Maya looked up quickly to meet his stare.

Her training as an emergency room doctor kicked in. It helped her stay calm during crises.

She knew talking wouldn't help now. But she had to do something.

"Caleb, go get Finn. I need to tell you all something."

Caleb laughed like she had told a joke. "Maya, what scheme are you planning now? Torturing us one by one isn't enough? You want all five of us together so you can watch us crawl?"

Maya took a deep breath. She put the healing gel back in her medical kit. "Let's make a deal. If you agree to what I want, I'll break our bond contracts."

The room went silent as a tomb. You could hear everyone breathing.

The bond contracts meant forever. Once made, the Male had to stay loyal and obedient for life.

Even if a Female got bored with a partner, she would usually just ignore him, replace him, or leave him to rot. She would never end the bond contract willingly.

Breaking contracts meant giving up protection. It also meant losing power, prestige, and control.

Sage's eyelashes trembled. Jasper's smile froze. Hunter's fists made quiet cracking sounds.

Caleb stopped laughing. He stared at her intently. He was trying to figure out if she meant it or if this was only another cruel trick dressed up as mercy.

Right then, the ship's alarm blared.

"Warning! Massive bio-signature detected! Zerg swarm approaching rapidly!"

Maya's heart raced. Damn it, the Zerg were here!

She looked through the viewports. Countless Zerg bioships covered the stars like dark clouds. Their bio-armor glowed with eerie purple light, pulsing as if the swarm itself were breathing.

"Fuck," Caleb's face darkened. "A whole Zerg fleet."

"At least three hundred bioships," Sage quickly analyzed the data, his healer's calm cutting through the alarm. "We're completely surrounded."

Maya spoke coldly. "Now you have two choices. Work with me so we can all escape. Or get thrown off this ship and wait for the Zerg to tear you apart."

All four men's faces changed when she said that.

No beastman wanted to be shredded and eaten by disgusting Zerg.

Caleb and Hunter left to retrieve Finn. Jasper and Sage stayed behind to wait.

Maya turned away from them. She quickly surveyed the ship. High-tech living space, reinforced metal walls, synthetic carpets. All of it was Marcus's work. That S-class beastman warrior took perfect care of his daughter, even if his version of protection had ruined five men's lives.

Maya walked to the water purifier. She looked at her reflection in the clear water.

The reflection showed a Female with wavy purple hair. She had refined features. A straight nose, full lips, sharp cheekbones. Her dark eyes were piercing like black glass.

Maya felt relieved that at least this body looked authoritative and commanding. She wouldn't fumble while acting.

The previous Maya Cross was already mean and cruel. Now she just needed to adjust slightly from that. It wouldn't seem too suspicious.

But honestly, her tough act before was all a facade.

Zerg surrounded them. Five enemies were with her. And she was a powerless Female without even a beast form.

Only her father could really save her. Until she found him, she had to make these future galaxy rulers cooperate with her.

Maya took a deep breath. She tried to maintain her composed exterior.

If she showed any fear, these tortured beastmen would definitely turn on her.

"Plotting something interesting again?" Jasper's voice cut through the air with clear malice.

Maya turned around. He was rubbing the energy blade scar on his face with his fingers. His green eyes gleamed dangerously under the cabin lights.

Sage stood nearby, still looking down. His silver-white hair covered most of his face. Only his white-knuckled fists betrayed the storm beneath his quiet expression.

They both thought she was planning new ways to torture them.

Maya kept her voice light and calculated. "You'll find out soon enough."

Heavy footsteps echoed from the cabin entrance.

Caleb and Hunter returned. They wheeled a mobile isolation tank between them. It held recycled water from the life support system. Finn floated inside.

Maya's face remained impassive.

The Aquatic beastman in the tank had light blue hair and violet eyes. His wet hair stuck to his cheeks. His delicate features were pale as paper from pain. His eyes looked empty and haunting, as if he had already sunk somewhere no one could reach.

His fish tail was the worst part. Where beautiful scales should have covered him, raw flesh showed through. Blood slowly spread through the clear water like broken red ink.

Maya quickly assessed how this damage affected her plan.

She finally understood why these five beastmen would rather risk a ninety percent death rate to remove their beast marks.

The previous Maya's systematic torture had not just destroyed their bodies.

It had shattered their dignity.

"Bio-acid bombardment intensifying! Hull integrity down to seventy percent!" The alarms grew louder.

Caleb set down the isolation tank. His voice was ice cold. "Satisfied now?"

Hunter stood beside him. Fury rolled in his ice-blue eyes, but the beast mark kept him from acting on it.

His fists made cracking sounds. Old wounds on his arms split open from the strain and bled again.

Sage's eyelashes trembled. He and Finn were closest. They were both the previous Maya's favorite targets.

When Jasper saw Finn, his mocking smile froze. His fingers traced the energy blade scar on his face unconsciously. He looked at the isolation tank with complicated emotions, as if Finn's ruined scales reminded him exactly what Maya Cross had taken from all of them.

Maya took a deep breath. She looked at Finn clinging to life in the tank.

Crushing guilt almost suffocated her. But she had to suppress it.

Now was not the time to look soft.

If she looked soft, they would suspect a trap.

If she looked weak, they might tear her apart the second the beast marks allowed it.

"The situation has changed," Maya said, looking around at everyone. She made her voice cold and heartless. "With the Zerg surrounding us, I need your full cooperation, not passive resistance. Instead of letting hatred drag us all down, I'll give you a real incentive worth fighting for."

She paused.

"Protect me while I find my father, and I'll give you freedom gradually. Whoever performs well gets one blood drop."

The cabin went still.

For one terrible second, even the alarms seemed distant.

In this society, a Female could dissolve a bond contract through a blood release ritual. Ten drops of her blood, offered willingly onto the beast mark, once per day. After the tenth drop, the Bio-Neural Contract would disappear completely.

No pain. No backlash. No death.

But no Female ever did it.

A contracted Male meant protection, status, obedience, and power. To voluntarily release one was almost unheard of.

For these five men, however, those blood drops meant something more dangerous than mercy.

They meant a future.

Maya's words hit the cabin like thunder. All five beastmen froze. Their pupils dilated.

"You said..." Caleb's voice was rougher than before. His fingers touched the scorpion mark on his chest instinctively. "Blood drops?"

Sage looked up suddenly. Hope flashed in his eyes, but it disappeared almost immediately. "Since when are you so generous? What is this? Another experiment?"

Jasper started breathing harder. Complex emotions burned in his green eyes. "Blood drops... You're not just screwing with us?"

Finn, barely conscious, opened his eyes. For the first time, a weak light appeared in his violet gaze.

Hunter stared at her. "In Beastman history, no Female has ever voluntarily released her contracted males."

Maya smiled coldly. "Then I'll be the first."

She looked at Caleb first, then at the others.

"We can't stand each other anyway, right?"

Caleb's voice was hoarse. "Ten blood drops. One per day. You know what that means."

"It means letting go completely," Maya nodded. "It also means real freedom for you."

Sage's voice trembled despite his attempt to sound calm. "And if you stop after the first few drops?"

Maya glanced at him. "Then you'll still be closer to freedom than you were yesterday."

Jasper laughed once, but the sound was strained. "How generous. Give us a taste of hope, then yank it away when you get bored?"

"If I wanted you hopeless, I would have kept the whip," Maya said.

That shut him up.

Hunter's jaw flexed. "What if this is another one of your mind games?"

Maya's gaze swept over the torn metal walls, flashing warning panels, and Finn's blood-stained water.

"This is the only way you can escape the Bio-Neural Contract without tearing the marks out of your own bodies," she said calmly. "And right now, this is the only way I survive long enough to find my father."

Outside the cabin, the Zerg attacks got louder. The sharp sound of metal being eaten through made everyone tense.

"Hull breach in sixty seconds!" the AI system warned.

Maya looked at five pairs of eyes filled with hatred, disbelief, and something dangerously close to hope.

"We don't have time to deliberate," she said. "Either trust the deal, or we all die here together."

Maya cleared her throat with a cough, her eyes fixed determinedly on the five beastmen who would shake the galaxy in the future.

"If you want to live, accept my offer."

No one spoke.

But this time, no one laughed either.

Caleb's dark red eyes stayed locked on her face, sharp enough to cut through bone.

Jasper's fox ears twitched once, his usual mockery cracking at the edges.

Sage looked toward Finn, then back at Maya, his healer's instincts clearly warring with his hatred.

Hunter's fists loosened slightly.

And inside the isolation tank, Finn pressed one bloodless hand against the glass.

For the first time since Maya had awakened in this nightmare, the five men were no longer looking at her only as their tormentor.

They were looking at her as a possible way out.