Page 100 of Monster Daddies

He chuckled. “Something like that.”

It did make her wonder though, what the original plan had been. “So howwouldit have gone?”

“You mean… if I hadn’t accidentally kidnapped you?”

“Right. That.” It was hard to believe they were joking about the most terrifying moment of her life, but somewhere along the way it had become hilarious. The giggle that escaped her wasn’t from nerves or anxiety, but because it was just so funny.

Someday she was going to have to write a book and name itAccidentally Kidnapped by the Mothman. It would be a bestseller for sure, and that set off the giggles again. He laughed along with her, and then suddenly his hand was touching her cheek, cupping her chin, and tilting her head back.

“I would have introduced myself, asked you out, gotten to know you. Let you knowme. Who I really am, I mean, and not what I look like. I would slowly have introduced our shared history, so you could?—”

She frowned. “Wait. Hold up. Did you just saysharedhistory? How can we have a shared history when I’ve never met you?”

He hesitated, his thumb brushed over her bottom lip and then he let her go and sat back on the stool. “Ellie, you know the bond we talked about? The mating bond that we both feel?”

She rolled her eyes. Just because she felt something weird when she was near him, and she trusted him way more than she should, didn’t mean she was going to accept that there was some metaphysical bond tying them together. “I remember you mentioning it.”

“We can be with any human—the act of mating, the procreation, it all works on a physical level. But when it comes to the mate bond, well, that only works with someone who is one of us.”

“Are you trying to say that I’m a Mothman now?” She blew out an exasperated breath, shaking her head. “Are you crazy? Do I look like I have wings? Or any of this—” She waved a hand at him.

He caught her hand and held it. “I’m saying you’re Muinntir leòmainn, but I did tell you that we didn’t all look like this, and that some of us seem entirely human.”

She wasn’t even upset. It was just too absurd. “Lium, I know who my parents are, and I definitely wasn’t adopted. It’s not possible.”

“It is if your mother was dispersed.”

He explained it all so calmly, as if she should just naturally believe what he was saying. “It’s not possible,” she repeated. “My mother would have told me.”

“Would she? I’m guessing there was a lot she never told you,” he said with a careful, patient tone.

Ellie couldn’t deny that. With a sinking sensation in her middle, she remembered the way her mother had refused tospeak about her aunt. The way they had no extended family and Sally would never explain what had happened to them. The fit she’d pitched about the house and Ellie moving.

His hand tightened around hers, somehow knowing she needed comfort. “It’s common for those who look completely human to disperse. They have the freedom of the whole human world, with no fear of getting caught. And of course, they keep their past hidden.”

It couldn’t be possible. It just couldn’t. But it did explain a few things. “And… my aunt? She?—”

“She was one of us, yes. I told you we favor natural names.”

Natural names like Rose, of course. That would explain why Rose had studied lepidoptery. Ellie had assumed it was a hobby, but maybe she was trying to make sense of her lineage. Or maybe her mother had simply used the word as a euphemism in case she was overheard. She’d known how nosey her daughter was.

If he was a monster, then it appeared she might be one too. Ellie was angry and upset, but not at him, and she had enough to deal with at the moment, so she put all of that aside for another day. She was going to have words with her mother about all of this, but it could wait.

There were a million questions to be asked, and she had some deep thinking to do about what all of this meant for her, and her life. But the questions that came out surprised both of them. “So, how does this mate bond work? What does it mean to be your mate? Do we get married now?”

“Get married? Is that some kind of proposal?” She had startled him. His face didn’t show much expression, or at least she hadn’t learned how to interpret his strange features enough to see it, but his voice was very expressive. “It’s awfully early to be talking marriage, but I wouldn’t say no to you.”

Ellie rolled her eyes. “I’m just trying to figure out how it all works. Do I have a choice? Do you?”

“We both have choices. We can separate and let the mate bond die. There will be some lingering effects, but it will eventually fade. Part of being bonded is getting a sense of each other’s emotions. Keeping someone who is unwilling would be distasteful, and I would be painfully aware of how you really felt.”

She didn’t feel any sense of relief that the arrangement was optional and that would be something else to unpack later. Instead, she searched for some sign of this bond he talked about. “I don’t think I’m feeling your emotions.”

“You will. It takes time for it to kick in. The important thing is that we avoid too much, uh, touching until you decide. The closer we are, the tighter the bond will get.”

Her glance shifted down to where he continued to hold her hand. “Uh?”

He looked down and then released the hold with clear reluctance. “Sorry. It’s hard not to touch you.” He scooted the stool back a couple of feet, as though putting temptation out of reach.