Page 77 of Monster's Melody

“Let’s get home, shall we?”Yukiko hooked her arms in mine and Ember’s and started down the boardwalk, leaving Vorzak and The Hissies to follow.

I felt a gentle touch on my head and glanced back.

The Hissies were hovering behind Yukiko and me, dividing their pets between the two of us.

Yukiko giggled.“I’ve missed you guys so much.”She turned her head and kissed one of The Hissies who was hovering.

Of course, that instigated an entire round of Hissies demanding kisses, with the lot of them darting between the two of us, basking in the attention (and kisses) we lavished upon them while Ember snickered and Vorzak sighed in exasperation at our backs.

CHAPTER13

The following months were amazing.

Vorzak’s family welcomed me with open arms.

Even his mother, whom Vorzak had warned was often harsh and cold, had been nothing but kind to me from the moment I arrived.

If I had to guess, I would bet Vorzak had ordered them to accept me, maybe even told them about my parents dying when I was five.If so, their initial kindness was probably given out of compassion, but it didn’t take long for true acceptance to come.

In the end, I fell in love with his entire family.

With his snow beast father, who had a boisterous laugh and an innate kindness that soothed my wounded soul.

With his gorgon mother, who was a predator through and through, and who watched me closely in the beginning, but then expanded her protective nature to shield me as well.

And especially with Yukiko, who had a fierce temper that could call a blizzard in the middle of the hottest days of the year, and who could make my mate laugh with an abandon I’d never seen in him before.

For that alone, I absolutely adored her.

Even if she did have the bad habit of freezing my mate when he made her mad.

“He’s the only one I can safely lose my temper with,” she confided in me, “since he’s a snow beast too and can handle being in a frozen state, even though The Hissies hate it.”

And they really did.

The funniest part, though, was their reaction when Vorzak finally managed to break free of being frozen.Instead of blaming Yukiko, they always whipped around to hiss at Vorzak.

Bad.

Zak.

Make.

Kiko.

Mad.

Of course, Vorzak couldn’t understand them and didn’t appreciate it when I told him what The Hissies were saying.

He’d always yell back at them that it was Yukiko’s fault they’d just been frozen and why didn’t they go torment her for a while.

Instead, as if they wanted to punish Vorzak even more, if Yukiko was still in the room, they would immediately go to her and start petting her.

Zak.

Sorry.

Hissies.