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The words repeat in my head. This monster, a leader of a tribe, as Cato called it, has my friend. I know Aria can look after herself, she’s the strongest person I know and is more comfortable over this wall than anyone else, but it doesn’t mean she’s indestructible or immortal. She was bleeding and hurt, and then a monster kidnapped her.
Please be okay.
I know I get attached too easily, something my exes always told me, but when I see the good in someone and get to know them, I don’t hold back. Life is too short not to love and bond with other people, and Aria is loyal, strong, and funny. It was very hard not to like her, and despite the fact that we came from very different walks of life, I find myself missing her and her quick wit.
She would know what to do, but it seems that it’s up to me to save her this time. Right now, though, fear and exhaustion are taking its toll on me. My brain is shutting down, and I can’t fight it, even as much as I need to.
I fall asleep hunched over my research, a protest on my lips.
* * *
I wake suddenly, my head jerking up before I let out a groan at the crick in my neck. My entire body is aching and still exhausted, and my brain is slow to process as I rub my neck, wondering where the hell I am.
Did I fall asleep at the lab again?
Everything comes rushing back, and my eyes slam open as I turn my head to find the monster who kidnapped me…or saved me, depending on how you look at it. When I see him, I relax slightly. He didn’t touch me or hurt me. In fact, there is a blanket draped over me, and I’m clearly on his bed, whereas he is hunched uncomfortably over his table. His horns dig into the workbench, which is slightly scarred as if he does that a lot. His arms pillow his head, and his face is turned towards me as if to watch me, even in sleep.
Yesterday, he just watched me for hours. It was unnerving. One look into those black eyes, and I knew he could see down to my very soul, so I looked away, not wanting him to find me lacking like everyone else does.
I find myself drifting to my feet and moving closer to inspect him. While he’s asleep, he seems almost peaceful, softer, and less scary. His lips are curled in a small smile I ache to trace. His nose is strong, his eyes are like almonds, and his lashes look like crescents on his red cheeks. His features are all sharp angles—sharp enough to cut me. Even with horns, he’s truly beautiful. If he were a human, he would have been a model. My eyes drift to his wide shoulders, which are so muscular, my mouth dries for a moment, and then to his flexing back that I study for an embarrassing amount of time before my eyes roam down his arms.
His huge biceps and veiny forearms flex as he sleeps, making me swallow as my perusal finally ends on his huge hands, tipped with black claws. Everything about this monster, Cato, screams danger, yet he looked at me with kindness. He covered me to keep me warm, looked for my friend, and hasn’t hurt me.
Yet I know he will. After all, I’m a human and he’s a monster, and we are enemies, but why does that thought fill me with nausea? Shaking my head at my foolishness, I look around. It must be dawn. I know enough about monsters from Aria to know they sleep during the day.
Now is my shot.
I find myself hesitating before I force myself to ignore that madness. I hurry to my bag and strap it on and then hesitate again. Snarling at my idiocy, I drag the blanket with me and softly drape it over his back. I freeze when he stops snoring, but then he sighs softly.
“Talia,” he murmurs, the sleepy sound of my name on his lips doing something to my insides I don’t want to ponder. When he starts to snore again, I relax and quickly hurry back a few steps. Sucking in soft breaths and ignoring my screaming heart, I move to the door.
It’s now or never.
As I open the door, my eyes go back to the monster. He looks so lonely, the room empty, bar research and notes. I ache for some reason before I turn and hurry downstairs. It doesn’t matter that he intrigues me, that I have so many questions my head aches, nor does it matter that he helped me or that he was kind.
He will turn on me. They are monsters, after all.
I need to save myself and my friend.
I freeze when I’m through the door. We are at the end of some stone steps, and when I peer over the rail, I groan. My thighs cramp at the idea of descending them, but I have no choice. I hurry down them, keeping my footsteps as light as I can, trying to remember how Aria moved. By the time I’m down two flights, though, I’m panting loudly and sweat drips down my body, but I still push on. Four more flights down and my thighs cramp, but after one more flight, I reach a set of double doors.
Looking left and right, I move quickly to them, but when I open them, wincing at the creak, there is some kind of metal shutter covering my exit, and despite how much I try, it won’t move. I know it’s useless, so I shut the door and look around.
There has to be another way out.
Fear fills me at the idea of exploring a building filled with sleeping monsters, but I have no other choice, so I randomly pick right and move through the corridors. I start to relax when I don’t run into anyone, getting cocky. It’s why I don’t see them until it’s too late.
The corridor breaks into a room, and in that room are hundreds of sleeping monsters curled around each other. Furs and pillows lie everywhere like a giant nest. I just gawk, my foot held mid-air above the tail of one sleeping in the doorway.
The chorus of snores and growls makes me pale as I stumble back. I’m about to turn and run when I see stairs leading down to another door.
It has to be a way out.
Fuck.
I’m so fucked.
Logically, I know there has to be another way out, but I don’t have time to find it. One of them could wake up at any minute, even Cato, so I infuse steel into my spine. Channelling Aria, I step over the sleeping giant. I slowly make a path across the room, spotting the best route, but unfortunately, it also takes me through a dense section where I have no choice but to practically crawl across them. After slow going and sweating through my clothes, I finally reach the other side and do a happy dance before turning and sprinting down the stairs. The door is metal and unlocked, and I yank it open, hurry in, and shut it before letting out a loud puff of air as I lean against it.
