Page 32 of Minding the Minotaur (Monsters of the Labyrinth #1)

A RLO

Fuck!

By the feel of things, I’ve landed in another dumpster full of trash.

Damn this portal cape and its total lack of direction. You land where you fucking land. But at least I’m in Sparkle somewhere.

I sniff the air. Luckily, no rotting chicken bones this time. But my movements are certainly hampered by something.

I soon realize I’m waist deep in cardboard boxes and paper. And bubble wrap.

Shit, this is bad. I needed to get to the hospital and rescue Sammy, but it seems I’ve ended up in the commercial area.

I peer over the side of the dumpster. I’m in an alleyway, off a bustling street with folks walking past in smart city clothes.

I can see a slice of a tall building. Concrete and glass.

I climb out of the dumpster gingerly and edge toward the busy street, knowing that if the cape gapes, I will be visible to passers-by.

The other problem is, while the cape makes you invisible, it doesn’t make you unfeelable . If anyone bumps into me, they will be fully aware of my huge bulk. And that could bring unwelcome attention.

I have to move carefully. And with so many people around, that’s going to be difficult. Add to that, I don’t have a clue how to get to the hospital from here. Suddenly my mission to find Sammy seems gargantuan.

Maybe Otis was right.

Maybe I should have trusted Jax to get her out.

Yeah, right. Trust that skinny runt of a human? No way.

I take a deep breath and, clasping the cape around me tightly, I move along the wall.

I get to the corner, crouch down low, and pull the cape away from my eyes and snout.

Stockinged legs and dark pants and shiny shoes walk past at speed—so many humans all in a hurry to get somewhere. I squint up at the buildings.

I’ve seen enough of Sparkle now to recognize the weird way they construct their buildings, how they rise up out of the ground, tall, ugly square things with no curves. It’s hard to imagine how they stay up without being hewn into the rock. But they do, somehow.

I’m wondering how to get out of this built-up area when a black car whizzes past and draws up on the curb a few feet further on. I watch intently, my heart speeding up for some reason.

A middle-aged human male gets out. He’s smartly dressed in a suit, his dark hair shot with silver.

He looks innocuous, but something about him makes the fur around my scruff stand on end.

He holds open the passenger door, waits, then jerks his head impatiently, saying something in a clipped manner .

And then a foot appears. I know that foot.

I know those sneakers.

A leg, a beautiful slice of thigh in jeans, and then my Sammy unfolds from the interior.

She looks wan, tired, her cheeks pale. Her golden hair is tied tightly back in a ponytail.

But she’s alive.

I nearly bellow out my joy, but manage to fuse my lips closed. Rescuing Sammy relies on me keeping my cool.

I manage to shuffle forward under cover of the cape, until I’m right there on the main drag. I watch the man hustle Sammy into the front entrance of an imposing building. It’s made up of panels of blue glass, and I jolt as I see the sign above the revolving doors. Fuck. It’s the Human’s Serpent.

Is this a crazy coincidence?

Or something much scarier?

I gather my scattered wits, just in time to watch them disappear through the revolving doors and be swallowed from sight.

All my senses alert, I move out onto the street, dodging passers-by until I am right outside the blue building. People stream past me, and I have to keep jumping sideways while pulling the cape low over my eyes to remain invisible.

Holy fucking gods, this is nerve-racking.

Finally, I get a chance to make a run for it. I shoot through the revolving doors, nearly catching the edge of the cape in the panels, which would have blown everything. I catapult out the other side onto a polished marble floor, and see two big security guards towering over Sammy.

I bunch my fists. If they dare touch a hair on her head, I will be over there in seconds. If I blow my cover, too bad. Luckily, they keep their hands off her as they escort her and the man to an elevator and disappear inside it.

When the coast is clear, I scoot over to the elevator and duck behind a large potted plant. I watch the floor indicator stop at level twenty-two.

I wait for what seems forever as more people gather in the foyer, the elevator comes down one floor at a time, then pings. The humans get in. The door closes. This happens several more times and my impatience is growing.

Finally, there’s a lull in traffic. I’m just about to dart out, when another fucking group of humans arrive and stand, waiting for the elevator.

Damn. How many more of these infernal folks are there?

I peek out from behind the thick foliage.

My gaze fixes on a tall woman in a red suit with very weird sparkly spectacles and very high heels, and a cruel set to her bright red lips. She stalks into the elevator. The others follow her in, then the doors slide shut.

The elevator stops at level twenty-two.

Finally things go quiet around me.

I catapult out from my hiding place, stride over to the lift, and hit the control buttons.

Sammy is in grave danger, I know it now for sure.

And I have to get her out of here.

SAMMY

I try desperately not to lose my shit as Dr Petronis hands Marsha a file.

Marsha perches her glasses on the end of her nose and sifts through it with sharp, red-tipped fingers. She slaps it shut impatiently.

“Explain these figures in plain English.”

“Her bloods show enzyme levels five times higher than we’ve been able to achieve in any of our test subjects, Ma’am. Which means the likelihood of the offspring being able to breathe unfiltered oxygen is high. ”

“Impressive.” She pulls her mouth into that grimace of a smile. “Though it’s highly unfortunate that natural conception has achieved this. We can’t allow humans to be subjected to such debasement.” She shudders.

I want to scream at her. If only humans knew they were missing the best fuck of their lives… the biggest hearted, most considerate lover, the kindest, gentlest… I sit grinding my teeth and pinching my thigh as hard as I can to stop myself from crying.

“It won’t come to that ma’am,” Dr Petronis says in an obsequious tone. “But this at least gives us a chance to study the gestation period and hopefully extract the necessary hormones to mimic the process in our own embryos.”

She expletes under her breath. “And how long is that going to take, for fuck’s sake?”

“I’m not sure, Ma’am. Having not had this happen before… We don’t know exactly.”

“Well, fucking find out,” she snaps. “We don’t want to risk a hybrid in our midst.”

I bunch my fists. How dare they make out that my baby is some kind of freak?

She bends her head toward Petronis and says, close to his ear, “I want this over and done with as soon as possible. No evidence it ever happened, you understand?”

No! No, you will not harm my baby. I’m screaming inside, but I keep my mouth tethered shut.

I look at Marsha. Her red lips are a hard line, her steel gray eyes glint behind her spectacles, bitterly cold. It feels like there is a lake of hatred inside this woman.

What if she’s a malefic?

And while the thought strikes fear into the very marrow of my bones, the need to protect my unborn child, no matter the cost, rises stronger than anything else inside me. I jump to my feet, power surging through my body, the chair clattering to the ground behind me .

“This is all a huge mistake,” I shout. “You must have mixed my results with someone else’s.

You can’t keep me here against my will.” I spin toward the door, which suddenly flies open, but weirdly no-one comes in.

I make a run for it nevertheless, but the two guards yank me back.

I fight and scream and bite, and then I hear Marsha screech, “Sedate the little bitch.”

I snarl and growl and curse and writhe, but already I can see a nurse advancing with a huge hypodermic needle.

The guards pin me down, pulling my hands behind my back as I struggle like a wild animal, and then there’s a sudden blinding flash of light, and the two guards are yanked off me by a pair of huge hands that appear to be floating in space.

Splayed out on the floor, limbs akimbo, my despair suddenly gives way to joy as I recognize those hands.

They belong to my beloved Arlo.

His huge body is hidden by the portal cape, but his beautiful face floats above me, dark eyes blazing, horns gleaming white. He lets out a bellow of rage, and the next moment, I’m scooped off the floor and into his invisible arms.