Page 24 of Minding the Minotaur (Monsters of the Labyrinth #1)

S AMMY

I’m perched on a stool in the kitchen, watching Tippy slice and dice vegetables.

“What are you making?” I ask, in an attempt to keep my mind from sliding to the conversation Arlo is having right now with his sister.

It was a shock when she bowled straight into him and announced she was pregnant.

I thought she was an ex-lover for a moment there.

I was so relieved when he introduced her as Clarisse.

But I was not relieved to see Arlo’s horrified expression at her announcement.

Yuck, messy.

Tippy answers, “Chicken and golden vegetable soup. All the goods in this one.”

“Your food is delicious,” I tell her. “I know Arlo complains, but he stays hale and healthy on it.”

“I make sure it’s nutrient dense,” Tippy replies proudly. “I have recipes going way back to my witch ancestors.”

“How long ago was that? ”

“About five generations back. We lost our witch lineage soon after the rebellion.”

“I heard a bit about that. The magic that used to be here, that isn’t anymore. Silas told me when we were at Digger’s last week.”

“Ah, yeah, Silas is a total boffin, not much he doesn’t know.”

“Is it true that your witch forebears were… killed?”

She nods. “Burnt at the stake apparently. Can’t help bad luck.

A few of us escaped by shifting into our fox selves.

” Tippy shrugs. “I can’t practice magic, sadly, but I can use herbs and make medicines.

It gives me a buzz helping folks to stay healthy.

That reminds me—” She goes to the fridge and gets out a bottle of bright yellow liquid. “Try this.”

She grabs a spoon and pours some out. “Go on, it’s not poison.”

I sip gingerly off the spoon, trying not to pull a face at the taste. “It’s a little bitter. What is it?”

“A quit smoking elixir I’ve made for Jax.” Her brows pleat. “He’s going to get really sick if he doesn’t give up smoking.”

“Yeah, I know. His sister Clem worries about him.”

“ I worry about him.” Something in her tone makes me glance at her sharply. She flicks her amber eyes away. “I worry about all my clients.”

“Is Jax one of them?”

“Not willingly. But I’m going to take him on.” Her pretty mouth sets in a determined line. I waggle my brows suggestively. “Do you have a crush…”

“No! Ew—no way!”

“Aw, I don’t know,” I tease, seeing her ears flick. “He’s kind of handsome in a lean and hungry way, don’t you think?”

“ He’s sooo not my type. I mean, yeah, he’s got a weird charisma, I guess, but I’m only interested in a guy who looks after his health. ”

The lady doth protest too much, I think, but I keep that thought to myself. Instead, I ask casually “How long have you known him?”

“Since he first came to work in the Labyrinth. Five or so years, I guess.”

“Do you know how he got all those scars?”

“Only by hearsay. Apparently he got roughed up, big time.”

“By whom?”

“A gang on level three.”

“Gang?”

“Wolf packs hang out in gangs down there. Wouldn’t surprise me if it was Jax’s fault. He probably tried to nick a psychotic wolf’s cigarettes. He walks a fine line.”

“I get that impression.”

“Yeah, well,” Tippy sniffs. “If I’d treated his injuries, they’d hardly show by now.” I fall silent, thinking about those raised welts on his neck. Wolves on level three. They were probably bite marks after all.

Tippy stirs the yellow potion. “I’ll add some johoma nectar to make it taste better, shall I?”

I have no idea what that is, but it sounds okay. “Great idea.”

My ears prick to a low rumbling sound, a kind of bellow crossed with a low moan that makes the door lintels shudder.

It’s certainly not Arlo. I know every sound that guy makes by now.

Tippy rolls her eyes. “There she goes. Such a drama queen, that Clarisse.”

“Just before you joined us, she announced she was pregnant,” I say.

Tippy’s eyes widen. “Not Again. Arlo will be so mad.”

A second later there’s the sound of the door slamming. Then silence .

Soon after, Arlo appears in the kitchen doorway looking fraught, his scruff a mess and his eyes wild.

“She’s gone.”

“We gathered,” Tippy says drily. “Did you agree to fork out for this one?”

He shakes his head and his gaze locks with mine.

“No. No, I didn’t.” We stare at each other and my heart lurches, my pulse quickening with the intensity in Arlo’s dark eyes.

“Sammy, could we have a word?” he husks.

Arlo takes my arm, marches me to the snug and sits me down.

I watch, a little bemused, as he paces up and down, hands in his jeans pockets.

Finally, he bursts out, “The reason I’m not helping my sister is not because I’m callous.”

“I know that,” I say gently. “It must be so frustrating that she doesn’t take responsibility for her kids. Or get the father to.”

“Well, this time, I’ve thrown that back on her. And him. Whoever he is.” He keeps striding up and down, his tail swishing. Finally, he stops and turns to me, his eyes full of passion.

“I should have put my foot down years ago. But I had no reason to. Now I do.” He pauses and hauls in a ragged breath. “You, Sammy.”

Before I can say anything, he rushes on. “The moment I first set eyes on you in that parking lot, I knew you were the one for me. I fell head over horns in love with you Sammy. And I, er, wondered if you… felt, in any way, something similar?”

My heart bursting with joy, I jump up, throw my arms around his neck and hold on tight. “Oh yes, yes, yes, Arlo. I thought that was obvious.”

“Well, I’m kind of not great on seeing the obvious,” he says, swinging me round as we both laugh.

“There’s a special place I want to take you to, tomorrow,” he says when he finally places me back on the ground. “My favorite place from when I was a kid.”

“Is that where you can see the light from Earth?”

He nods. “Yeah. It’s called One Moonbeam Lake because at this time of year, a single moonbeam hits a large rock in the center of the lake, and it illuminates the water around it. We call it midsummer.”

“As in like real summer?” I ask.

“Yep. Real summer, when everything on Earth becomes green and lush and beautiful.”

“That would be so nice,” I sigh, trying to imagine it for real.

“Sometimes, I think it might be possible for our kind to live above ground, the way we used to.” Arlo’s brown eyes take on a faraway look. “I feel it in my blood, the memory of running across vast expanses of grass, with blue skies overhead.”

“Arlo, your imagination is blowing my brain cells.”

“It’s not just my imagination, Sammy. I’ve read about it all in our ancient texts. And yeah, I’m a dreamer. Because with you by my side, I dare to dream.”

He kisses me again. And for the first time in my life, I dare to dream too. That maybe the world isn’t a polluted husk out there. That I could share it with Arlo.

As if reading my mind, Arlo whispers into my hair, “I want us to have younglings together, Sammy.”

I stare up at him, my eyes shining. “You think it’s even possible?”

“Why not? If my enzymes help humans conceive, then why not make one special human conceive with the whole brew, so to speak.” We both laugh.

Then he sobers. “I’m going to give up on the clinic appointments very soon.

I am not wasting my precious come on them when I could be giving it to you. Us. Our younglings.”

“But… can you afford to, Arlo?”

“If I’m not forking out for Clarisse, yeah. I’ll get an ordinary job, like other monsters.”

“I guess I could try and get a job here in the Labyrinth, after this. Jax works here, so why not me?”

“Sure,” Arlo says. “But let’s not talk about that now. Let’s talk about tomorrow. It’s a long day’s walk to the lake, but I can carry you if you get tired. I’ll—” He looks shy suddenly. “I’ll bring lube. And I promise to go slow, not to hurt you.”

“I know you won’t hurt me.” I stroke around his cheek, down to his scruff. “I’m so ready to take all of you, Arlo.”

For the next half hour we snuggle on the sofa and make plans for our big adventure—what food we’ll take, whether we can let Tippy in on the secret or not. In the end we decide to leave her a note before we leave.

For the rest of the day, I think about all the things out there on Earth that Arlo described so eloquently.

It’s hard to believe, after all the crap we’ve been fed, that Earth could be a safe, beautiful place.

In fact, it’s hard to believe I’m not dreaming.

That after all the years struggling to fit into a city purported to be paradise, it’s in the tunnels of the Labyrinth that I have found love.

Tomorrow night, I will take my minotaur’s cock deep inside me, feel him come inside me, in a celebration of our love for each other.

And who knows what will follow…

I spend the rest of the day in a daze of happiness.

I know Arlo feels the same way. We touch, in a gentle, leisurely way as we go about our usual routine. He works out in the gym, then we play cards, reveling in the anticipation.

Because anticipation is part of the foreplay .

And I am a strong woman.

I can wait until tomorrow.

ARLO

I tiptoe down the corridor to wake Sammy early. It really makes no difference down here in terms of the light, but somehow I have a body clock that always tells me it’s morning.

It’s going to be a long day to get to One Moonbeam Lake from here. I hope Sammy is up for it, but if she isn’t, I will carry her. And then I will run through the Labyrinth like I’m possessed.

Because I know what awaits us at the end.

Yesterday, I made sure my finances were in order.

That all the nieces’ and nephews’ school fees were paid up.

Braces, too, and family medical insurance for the next year for Mom and Dad, which will also cover Clarisse’s medical care while giving birth.

Checking on my finances made me realize I can afford to quit the clinic completely, not worry about work for a few months even if I’m careful.

I won’t sell my sperm anymore.

That’s all going to be reserved for my girl.

Outside Sammy’s bedroom door, I steel myself, brace my shoulders. Today is the day we consummate our love.

I knock, but there’s no answer, and when I walk in I find her snoring gently, her mouth slightly open, her arms splayed and one juicy breast just falling out of her nightdress.

I salivate, and my cock obligingly does what it always does around Sammy.

It sits up and begs.

I try to ignore the tug in my groin.

I’m prepared. Enough lube to drown us both. Water, food. (I raided the pantry and found a stash of sweet chili and sour cream potato chips, which made me wonder if Tippy had a secret little junk food stash of her own.)

I also have a bottle of bubbles made from grapes grown in our market gardens. It’s a bit rough, but better than nothing to celebrate with.

So yep. We have it all.

Gently, I lay a kiss on Sammy’s brow, nuzzle my snout around the shell of her ear, trace a big digit across her jaw, over her sweet, round cheeks.

Her eyes spring open.

She smiles. Stretches. Reaches for me.

“Arlo,” she sighs. I imagine enjoying this greeting every morning for the rest of my life.

She sits up and I go to kiss her, but she clamps a hand over her mouth, mumbles between her fingers, “Morning breath.”

“Don’t care.” I prise her fingers away gently and kiss her on the lips. Her breath tastes like I imagine summer would.

“Get dressed, babe. We need to leave before Tippy realizes we’re not here.

Or Otis decides to do an early check-in.

” Otis hasn’t been over for several days, but knowing Otis, today will be the day he does.

He won’t be happy if he finds we’ve absconded together, but one thing I know, if Sammy and I are fully mate-bonded, he’ll not be able to send her away.

I will claim my right to keep her here by my side.

Mate bonds are considered sacred even between species.

Just because it hasn’t happened between a monster and a human in recorded history, in my mind it makes no difference.

If anything it makes our situation even more sacred and magical.

I watch her with longing as she dresses in the spare clothes she brought with her. A cute dress covered in tiny flowers, a sweet cardigan, and little flat pumps.

She looks so freakin’ adorable. She ties her hair in two bunches. “Just so you can pull it out when we get there.” She smiles. It’s virginal and definitely designed to make me horny as hell. It works—I have to readjust myself to avoid my dick being strangled.

And then we tiptoe down the corridor to the front door, and out into the laneway at the front of my house, skirting along the rock wall and avoiding the early morning traffic areas. We pass the street where the clinic stands, a pale blue, luminous box.

I gaze at the sign of the Human’s Serpent lit up above the door.

“Good riddance,” I mutter under my breath

Taking her hand, we continue on through the trade area, and out into darker places, where there’s only the occasional wall sconce. Monsters lurk, doing jobs, tidying up the rock walls, sweeping the paths.

We pass the huge metal elevators that take shift workers down to other levels. Already, a crowd is forming ready to descend for their day shift, but we skirt past in the shadows of the rock wall and no-one notices us.

After this the tunnels are deserted, bare and dank scented.

After about an hour more, I sense Sammy lagging.

“You okay?”

“It seems a bit interminable.” She glances along the expanse of empty tunnels, the lighting dimmer here.

“That’s the outer Labyrinth for you. Nothing much happens here.”

Her shoulders droop a little and her steps flag.

Shit. This is what I was worried about. The last thing I need is for Sammy to run out of puff.

To be too exhausted to enjoy our first time together.

“Let me piggyback you,” I suggest.

She pins back her shoulders. “I’m fine, really. How much further?”

“About three hours.”

Her face falls. “Of just this rock? ”

“Yeah, doesn’t change much. Until we get to the lake. Here, have a drink and a snack.”

I rummage about in my pack, get out the potato chips and a bottle of water. We eat while leaning against the rock wall.

“Okay, all good, got my second wind.” Her lips quirk and we get going again, my little human trotting valiantly beside me.

But after another half hour, she gives in. “Okay then, piggyback me.”

I hoist my pack around onto my chest then bend down, and she jumps onto my back.

“Aren’t I heavy?” she asks as I adjust her.

“Piece of cake,” I reassure her.

And then I’m off, clumsy at first, but I soon pick up speed, my hooves clunking on the hard stone. I let out a bellow of sheer pleasure as I get into my running rhythm, until finally, I’m charging through those fucking tunnels like the wind is at my heels.

“Woohoo!” Sammy squeals. “This is fun.”

That just makes me run even faster. I might not have wings on my hooves, but right now, I feel like I’m flying, speeding along these tunnels to get to the special place where I will finally claim my little human as mine.