Page 6 of Catching His Eye (Monsters of Moonvale)

REN

She saw me. I came so hard I almost blacked out watching the woman of my dreams stuffing herself with an enormous cock, and then she saw me. I literally got caught with my pants down, but my dick being out wasn’t the issue. A human saw my real form.

I can’t even blame Mango for it this time.

It was all me. How the hell did I even switch the webcam on?

Why don’t I keep that thing covered up? Can’t people turn it on remotely and spy on you?

I think I remember Susan mentioning that at one of our monster group meetings, but she loves to fuck with me, so I ignored her.

Dammit, the one time I wasn’t gullible was the thing I should’ve listened to! What do I do now? I’ve never had my glamor down around a human who didn’t know monsters exist. Is there some kind of protocol?

What if Tiffany tells someone? What if she got a screenshot, and she shares it on the dark web and monster hunters use it to track me down?

I’ve got a bunch of nerdy shit around my room, and—I look around to see what would’ve been on screen behind me—fuck, my diploma with my whole damn name is on it.

Shit, I’m spiraling. I need to calm down and think .

I shut my eye and try to slow my breathing, but all I can see is the image of Tiffany’s gorgeous, curvy body struggling to take the giant dildo. All I can hear is her gasp as she came.

I can’t believe I was given a chance to witness the most amazing thing on earth, and fucked it up by being clumsy and careless.

I don’t sleep at all that night. I try, but as I lie in bed, my mind tortures me with a mixture of all the different scenarios that might happen now that Tiffany saw what I am, and Mango’s usual gentle warmth feels like a furnace.

I’m sweat-soaked and even more on edge by the time I decide to give up and get ready for work.

Showering and eating does little to help, especially when I accidentally pour orange juice instead of creamer into my coffee.

My frayed nerves plus sleep deprivation make work torturous.

My eye can barely focus on the lines of code as I spend hours trying to find a bug in the program I’m working on.

A task that should’ve taken me fifteen minutes max to figure out.

The one thing that gets me through the day without completely breaking down is that tonight is a monster support group meeting. I get together once a week with some other monsters in town to hang out and discuss various issues we’re encountering. They’ll know what to do.

But when I show up at the house of our part-succubus host for the evening, no one else’s cars are in the driveway. I make it up onto Max’s porch before I realize why.

Dammit, I forgot! We’re skipping this week because half of the group is out of town. I groan and palm my face, fighting back tears of defeat and exhaustion. I sink down to sit on the steps, my body suddenly too heavy with the weight of my worries to move.

I’ll get up in a minute. I just need to have a cry and then compose myself. I blink and liquid spills down my cheeks, the sensation of crying in my glamor always surreal since I’m used to my tears sliding down the bridge of my nose.

After a minute, I’m no closer to finding the strength to get up. I silently leak tears that I can’t figure out how to stop until I hear the door creak open behind me.

“Ren?”

Max’s smooth, gentle voice calling my name has me startling and hurriedly wiping away my tears. “M-max! Sorry, I was just uh…”

How do I explain that I was having a mental breakdown on his porch without making myself even lamer in this cool succubus’ eyes?

Everyone in the group already thinks I’m clueless.

They don’t say it, but I can tell. Shit, if Max tells Susan I was crying on his porch like a total weirdo, I’ll never live it down.

I’ll have to move, and I don’t know of any other monster-friendly communities like Moonvale, so I’d have to always be in my glamor.

Or worse, I’d have to move back home with my family.

Shit, don’t cry again!

“Please don’t tell Susan,” I croak, sniffing and swiping at the fresh tears welling in my eyes.

I can’t even look at him as I say it because I’m too embarrassed.

Max and I haven’t spent much time interacting because he’s pretty quiet at our meetings, but I can tell how much cooler than me he is.

He’s so handsome, he works as a badass private investigator, and to top it off, he’s a damn succubus and a witch. Of course he’s cooler than me!

Max approaches and slides in to sit next to me, reaching up to place a hand on my shoulder because even with my glamor, I’m still a very tall guy. “Hey, Ren, it’s okay. Whatever is going on, I won’t tell Susan. You don’t have to worry about that.”

“Thanks,” I say with a sniff, his touch a surprising balm to my nerves. No one touches me beyond an occasional accidental brush or a handshake. It’s sad how much my body soaks up this small contact. Would it be weird to ask him for a hug? Or is that too pathetic?

“Do you, uh, do you want to talk about it?” Max asks hesitantly, his brow furrowing in concern.

“That’s okay, I…” I want to be cool and brush off the weirdness of me being here crying outside his house. Act tough and be a paragon of stoic strength, like a giant should be. Instead, I wipe at my nose and turn to look at Max pleadingly. “I fucked up.”

Max squeezes my shoulder, the furrow on his brow deepening. “What happened?”

How do I explain? I’m a loser that can’t get a partner and paid a woman to pretend to be interested in me. He’s a literal sex demon! Giving details would be way too embarrassing. I’ll just tell him that a human saw me. Keep it simple.

But wait, he’s worked with the paranormal council in the area. What if he tells them and I get spirited away to some kind of irresponsible monster prison?

“I can’t go to jail!” I blurt.

Max pulls his hand back in shock at my outburst, his brows shooting up in alarm. “Whoa, what ? Why would you go to jail?”

“I don’t know!” I groan, placing my face in my hands.

“Ren, you’re making me really nervous. The emotions I’m getting off of you right now are all over the place. Please tell me what happened. I can’t help you if I don’t understand what’s going on.”

I sigh and look up at the handsome redhead through watery eyes.

“A human saw me. With my glamor down. And my dick out, but I don’t think that part matters as much because she saw me and now I’m going to have to go on the run so the paranormal council won’t punish me.

But I’m finally happy here, and I don’t want to go.

Sure, I’m lonely and I’d really love to find my mate like you, Tomas and Wesley did, but I’m still happy.

Please don’t turn me in and make me go to monster jail! ”

Max blinks at me. “Uh… wow.”

“It’s bad, isn’t it?” I ask, my hands starting to shake from the fear coursing through my body.

“No!” Max shakes his head adamantly. “No, man, you’re not in trouble and there’s no monster jail.”

“Are you sure?”

He nods, a lock of his messy red hair falling into his eyes. “I mean, it’s possible there is a monster jail, but if they locked up every paranormal who accidentally revealed themselves to a human, all of us would be there. I’m honestly impressed that it’s never happened to you before.”

Max smiles, the expression warm and comforting. It’s a little surprising how sweet he’s being to me, considering how quiet and sometimes sullen he is at meetings. Maybe we’re not so different, both of us dealing with the incorrect assumptions of our peers because of what we’re “supposed” to be.

“That makes sense. Sorry for being ridiculous. I don’t spend much time with humans,” I say with a wistful sigh. “They… they wouldn’t like me if they knew what I am.”

He cocks a brow. “Why would you think that?”

“I’m not one of the attractive monsters,” I sigh, waving a hand at him. “I’m not sexy or cool. I’m weird-looking and way too big.”

I expect a sympathetic nod, but Max shakes his head and laughs.

“You’d be surprised what humans are into.

Being big and weird isn’t always a bad thing.

Besides, you’re being really hard on yourself.

Looks aren’t everything. You have so much to offer to a partner of any kind.

We keep trying to tell you that in group meetings, but it doesn’t seem to get through your thick giant skull. ”

His slight jab at me catches me off guard, and I snort despite my morose thoughts. “It is pretty thick. Has to be to have survived all the sparring and bullying growing up.”

Max gives me a considering look. “Well, if you let one thing through, I hope it’s what I’m going to say now.

You’re enough. You can spend a lifetime trying to hide or fight who and what you are, but the people who you want in your life are the ones who will love you because of who you are, not in spite of it.

” He lets out a wry chuckle. “Trust me, I know from experience.”

Right. He’s mentioned that in our meetings before. He almost lost his mate because he wasn’t honest about his nature. And here I am, blubbering because some woman I’ll never meet saw my cyclops form and didn’t even say anything beyond being surprised.

I didn’t give her a chance.

Dammit. I assumed she’d hate me, like I always do when I’m interested in someone. I’ve had nice conversations with plenty of humans on dating apps, and they weren’t the ones who stopped messaging. It was me. I get scared, and I cut things off before they have a chance to reject me.

What if I hadn’t run away? What if she’d had a moment to get past the shock, take in the sight of my big, dopey eye and gargantuan dick, and actually liked me?

“Well…shit,” I mumble, a surge of frustration with myself flooding my mind. “You think someone would like me? Susan’s always saying?—”

“Susan’s an asshole,” Max says dismissively. “I know I’m not supposed to say things like that about a fellow group member, but she is. She’d be the first person to admit it. She fucks with you the most because you don’t fight back.”

“Story of my life,” I grumble. “I don’t like to fight. I don’t want to be hurtful to the people that are supposed to be my friends.”

Max smiles. “And that’s one of the reasons why you’ll find someone.

You’re the most generous, gentle person I’ve ever met.

You go out of your way to help people without asking for anything in return.

Like when Nic had surgery, and you brought him food and kept him company for weeks.

Or when Susan’s car broke down in the middle of the night and you hauled it all the way to a mechanic with your bare hands.

You’re a great guy. Anyone would be lucky to have you as a partner. ”

I’m tearing up yet again. “Thanks, Max. I hope you’re right.”

“I have to admit, I’m a little confused. If you don’t go out with humans, how did one end up seeing your true form and your…” His eyes dart down to my crotch and his cheeks flush slightly.

“Oh. That. I, uh… the thing is, I get lonely and, um, there’s this girl I watch… and she was showing things to me and I accidentally turned on my webcam.” I feel my face burn, no doubt turning as red as Max’s hair.

“Right. Well…” I can tell he’s struggling to come up with something reassuring to say, but I’m too embarrassed to help contribute to making the conversation less awkward.

Max clears his throat. “Wanna go get a beer? Mona is hanging out with friends tonight, so I was going to go run some errands, bu t they can wait.”

I can count the number of times I’ve had a beer in my life on one hand since I’m not a fan of the way alcohol makes me feel, but I immediately nod. I’m not giving up the chance to become better friends with this cool as hell demon witch. “Yeah. Sounds good.”

I’m still mortified and slightly heartbroken about what happened with Tiffany, but at least the fiasco has shown me that maybe I’m not as alone as I thought.