Page 6 of Monster Daddies

A converted watchtower where the ceiling arches high and narrow windows looking out over the grounds.

I step inside and drop into my usual seat, finally letting out the breath I've been holding since I first saw her in the gentle firelight.

Viraat remains near the window, arms crossed, wings folded close to his frame.

"So?" I urge.

He stares out at the night. "So? Again, this changes nothing."

"Of course it does, brother! She's our mate."

He turns his contempt-filled gaze to me."And what of it,brother?Did fate ask me if I wanted this? Did it ask me when I was dragged from my homeland, cursed to stone and bound to this manor for all eternity?"

"You chose to stay after Avaline freed us," I remind him.

"I stayed because you did." His voice is a low growl now. "Don't mistake duty for anything else."

I look at him for a long time. "And what if I do desire this, Viraat? Would you doom me to forsaking my one chance at love?"

Viraat's jaw clenches. "She's human. Fragile. Short-lived. Just more proof of fate's cruel nature. What kind of future could we possibly have with her?"

"I don't know," I admit, standing slowly. The weight of centuries hangs off my shoulders, but for the first time in what feels like an age, I don’t feeltired. "But I want to find out."

Silence falls between us, thick and heavy.

"I won't stop you, Jodrick. But know this... You'll only get yourself hurt."

"Maybe," I concede. "But maybe, this time, fate is showing us a kindness."

Chapter Three

Avalon

I've never lived in a place thatbreathesbefore. That's the only way I can describe it—like the manor has a heartbeat I can’t quite hear but can feel humming through the walls. Stonebound Manor isn’t just an old house—it’salive. I feel it from the moment I step foot inside.

It is more than creaking wood and whispering wind. There’s intention behind the way certain doors swing open a second before I reach for them. How the lights in the library always seem to glow a little brighter when I step through its threshold. The way the fire always seems to catch without effort, even when I’m sure I didn’t stack it properly.

And... I always feel watched.

Not in a creepy way. Not like something hiding behind a curtain, or waiting around a corner. It’s more like...someone caring. Someonecurious. Protective.

I don’t mind it. And Sparrow has taken to the house with such ease, I can’t find it within myself to be scared or worried about it. It’s just… new.Different.

The first week, I write it off as my imagination. I’m alone in a massive, ancient house with far too much silence and notenough phone signal. But when I lose my favorite scarf and find it two days later, neatly folded on the end of my bed? Or when I leave the back door open and come back to find it closed and locked?

Yeah. I’m not imagining things.

"Thank you," I whisper once, after I narrowly miss tripping down the grand staircase. I'd caught myself just in time—only to realize that the runner rug had somehow shifted back under my feet, where I swear it hadn't been a moment before.

The cleaning crew comes in twice a week. There are three of them—Doris, the stern matriarch of the bunch with arms like a wrestler and the gentlest heart, her niece Mabel, who always has a different-colored stripe through her hair, and Rick, a grumpy ex-biker who vacuums like it is a personal vendetta. I adore them.

"You shouldn't be helping, sweetheart," Doris scolds as I help her polish the old wooden banisters. "You're payingusto do this."

"I know," I say with a smile. "But I like keeping busy. And this place deserves all the extra love I have to give. I want to be part of that."

They don’t argue much after that. Even Rick just grunts and hands me the dust mop with a grumble that might even be approval.

The groundskeepers—Manny and Ty—are just as sweet. Older, both of them, with sun-lined faces and more stories than I can ever hope to hear. About the manor, the town and the people that inhabited it. They also enjoy showing me their work and the ancient greenhouse—overgrown but just as magical as the rest of the grounds and house. The grounds also contain a stable that hasn’t seen a horse in decades, and a sprawling stone maze on the west lawn that I vow to explore when it isn’t so rainy.