Page 47 of Monster's Melody

Vorzak shot up to a sitting position and stared down at me.

The Hissies earned their name, hissing their displeasure at the way his sudden movement had dislodged them from where they’d been petting me.

“What?”I asked, startled at the incredulous expression on his face.

He just stared at me for a long moment, then exploded, “Why do The Hissies continually talk to the women in my life, but notme?”

“What?”I lunged to my feet, causing another round of hisses as his snakes were dislodged once more.I glared down at him.“What otherwomenare in your life?”Even as I demanded the question, I knew.

The woman I’d seen on the pier.Bracing myself to have my heart broken, yet again, I was startled when Vorzak just grinned at me.

“You think this is funny?”I hissed.

“Of course not, love.I just like that you’re as possessive of me as I am of you.”

My heart wanted to melt at that declaration, but I couldn’t risk it.Not yet.“Who is she?”

“My twin sister, Yukiko,” he said.

Suddenly, I could breathe again.

He held out a hand and I allowed him to pull me back into his arms.He settled us back on the bed and with his arms and snakes wrapped around me, explained.“Normally, a gorgon can communicate with their own snakes, but somehow the powers got muddled when my sister and I were born, and I got the snakes while she got the ability to communicate with them.”

“That sounds awful,” I said.

“It’s even worse when your snakes tell your twin sister that you’ve been ignoring your mate for years.”

Ha!I’d been right all along.The snakesdidknow I was his mate and theyhadbeen flirting with me.

“How could you have missed how they were constantly flirting with me?”I pulled up to a sitting position, so I could see his face.

He grimaced.“Ithoughtthey were talking with Yukiko.That’s what they do when talking to her.Only they’re not flirting, they’re just excited and full of energy.Probably because she can understand them and I can’t.”

“Oh.”Shit, wasthatwhy they’d been dancing?Not because they were excited to see me, but because they’d been talking to his sister?

“Turns out she can’t actually hear them from thousands of miles away.”

“Really?”

“Yep.Go figure.And no one thought to tell me this, so I had no idea they’d suddenly spotted our mate across the cafeteria.I still don’t get why they didn’t just drag me to you.They could have, you know.”

Hissies.

Time.

Flirt.

Vorzak.

Later.

I snorted.

“What?”

“I think they’re saying it was their time, not yours.”

“Why those selfish little bastards.”