Page 21 of Monsters (Vengeance #3)

Her lashes were closed, like white, almost translucent feathers, and her thick, wavy, white hair was now all over the place.

I swear her hair was heavier than she was.

Her body was a bit too thin but I knew that would change after a time of living off the streets.

After she’d fallen asleep, I’d had the boys do several things.

One, explain to Esme and Marabella the plan regarding having those who weren’t fighting stay in the castle.

I felt awful because that hadn’t even crossed my mind.

Secondly, Luna needed her own room and space.

The girl was smart and way older than her biological age.

I figured that she would enjoy a space with a lot of different shelves and floors so I gave her the east tower.

It would be like her own apartment and, if she shifted, she’d have the ability to climb wherever she wanted.

The boys were arranging for some items as well as plans for the currently unused tower.

I wanted it ready as soon as possible. And, yes, I totally arranged for some cat towers to be randomly stationed throughout our main living spaces and her apartment.

Wasn’t this every cat mom’s dream? I was a legit cat mom.

The boys were still passed out except for Adyen who was up as well.

His eyes moved back and forth from the window to me occasionally.

They strayed to Luna as a brow crease caused him to look very concerned.

I had to assume he was feeling more pressure now that we had even more people to take care of.

My eyes trailed the horizon and I realized I’d need to get ready soon.

I looked back down at Luna and the soft breathing pattern that moved her.

If I didn’t have a reason to kick ass before, I did now.

“Gray,” Marabella spoke softly as she arrived about ten minutes later. Her dark eyes went wide as she saw Luna in person for the first time.

For the record, I’m really fucking glad that Lunatic could be shortened. That would have been so awkward. Am I right? Like, talk about shitty parent of the year award.

“She’s stunning,” Marabella offered. “I heard she’s super funny, Athens was bragging up a storm about her.”

Of course he was.

“I honestly had no idea,” I murmured. “I mean it’s amazing but I wish we’d sworn less. Also, acted a bit more like parents.”

Marabella offered me a hug. “You guys have been great to her. Don’t stress about it too much.”

“You’re right.” I sighed and then grinned. “Let me just worry about this war instead.”

“Wait!” Marabella grinned after a moment. “Does this mean she’s officially the Horde’s Princess?”

Oh man.

“Yeah,” I grinned. “Make sure to freak her out by putting her in a bunch of dresses. Like big, I’m talking massive, cotton candy pink ones. But don’t let her actually go out like that, not that she would. She strikes me more as a…”

“...jeans and t-shirt kind of kid,” Luna mumbled before yawning. Truth. Currently, she was wearing a large hoodie and shorts from Marabella because she was the smallest out of all of us. When she'd shifted I had noticed the wear on her clothes.

“Damn,” I muttered.

“Do I get a princess crown?” She asked looking at my pointy black one. “Because if I do, I want it to be gold and like a warrior head piece around my head instead of on top. Wait, I lied! Can I just have armor instead?”

Adyen grinned. “Gray, I blame you for this.”

I smirked.

Guilty.

Luna sat up and walked towards the other couch before falling asleep curled up like a… cat. Christ. Marabella tugged my hand towards the bathroom as I looked at my exhausted and shaken expression.

Motherhood, man. Anyone else finding this ridiculously funny? I get to make those jokes now.

The serious part of me actually felt super strongly about the prospect of having someone in my care.

I mean I’d had an awful childhood and it sounds like Luna had already been through a lot.

I promised that I would try to make the rest of it amazing.

I liked Luna as a cat, but as a child? My kid?

I fucking loved her. Plus, now I had someone to back me up when the guys were being bossy.

We could be a little badass mother and daughter team. I loved that.

Can we say matching outfits?

Marabella began to pull my hair up as I stared at myself in the mirror. I mean really stared at myself. From my pale skin to my darkening eyes, all of it was me. It was the same person that I’d seen the mirror for years. Well, I looked a bit more ethereal, but still Gray.

Except this Gray wasn’t weak or beaten.

This Gray wasn’t scared of a group of men revealing her identity .

This Gray wasn’t scared of assuming her rightful place in the Horde.

This Gray was about to kill the one man who’d taken and changed everything in her life.

It was odd reaching the point that I had been reaching for and dreaming about for years. I know most little girls didn’t daydream about murdering their parents’ murderer. But. I wasn’t most little girls and the bastard deserved it. Anyone who’d do that to a family deserved it.

While I’d always wondered if it was my place to decide and play God when it came to Mario, I’d realized the question no longer mattered. He needed to die and if I had that stain on my soul forever then I would gladly carry it.

My crown sat proudly on top of my head and I slipped into my custom made armor. Armor I had created quite a bit ago. I was still bitter that I didn’t get to have silk on it.

Could I have a cape though? That would be cool.

The suit was silver and covered my body like a second skin, from the neck down to the laced-up solid boots.

I nodded to myself in the mirror before walking back into the bedroom, the early dawn light was a pale grey spreading across my luxurious suite.

I could hear my men outside but my eyes strayed to where Marabella sat tucking Luna into bed.

I really hoped that this wasn’t the last time I’d see both of them.

I mean it wouldn’t be, right?

I couldn’t think like that.

“Luna,” I whispered, sitting on the edge of the bed. A pair of bright golden eyes met mine and she offered me a hug. I tucked her head under my chin as my eyes met Marabella’s tense gaze. After a shaky breath, I stood up and gave my friend one as well .

I left the room before I decided this was all too risky. That this could hurt my kingdom too much.

“Esme?” I asked as I stepped into the hallway. My friend looked at me with a small smile, her body wrapped in a robe as she talked quietly to Bobby. Palo spoke quietly to my boys, everyone seemed to have this quiet tension that was making me twitchy.

“Hey.” Esme offered a smile.

“Take care of her,” I spoke quietly and then looked to Bobby.

Hadn’t it been two months ago that I’d been saying goodbye to them?

Bobby squeezed my shoulder and I breathed in as determination filled me.

Without another thought, I turned and met Rhodes's gaze. Those eyes were a stunning gold and I knew he was close to shifting already. I nodded and, after a nod to Palo, we began to walk down the hall away from my little makeshift family. I couldn’t help but look back to where Marabella stood in the doorway of the room where Luna slumbered.

Palo and Bobby both were talking quietly to her as Esme offered me a worried look.

I hoped her worries were unfounded.

Our team was silent and my men were dressed in armor of their own as we silently moved through the halls of the castle. I could see families making their way through the gates and it seemed the migration had started late last night. I stopped one of the soldiers at the main gate.

“I want the city swept twice,” I ordered sharply. “I don’t care if they don’t want inside the castle walls. You bring them anyway. I want this door and the outer gates shut. Do you understand?”

The commander nodded as Rhodes offered him a warning look. I trusted it would be taken care of. Midnight stood waiting for me with a silver saddle. My leg easily swung over as I mounted her and looked over the parade of military men making their way towards the clearing.

Without warning my men, I nudged Midnight and we began to move quickly through the hundreds of SE guards that were marching in perfect lines like toy soldiers.

The commanders watched as the five of us galloped through their center lines and I noted there was a new commander that I hadn’t seen before.

He wasn’t SE and neither was his unit.

Marcellus.

The emerald colored Pixie offered me a head nod and I felt hope pulse through me. I knew Mario had more land but our army was more cohesive and larger in size. My people had something to fight for where Mario’s men were simply oppressed.

I hoped to save some of their families.

I didn’t want to have to rid the world of the Dark Fae or kill unnecessarily.

Honestly, the only person I wanted to kill was Mario.

The dawn was barely at its start and the air was misty, I moved faster than I probably needed to but there had been soldiers stationed over night at the clearing. I felt as though I should be there as well. If we were going to have a war then I was sure as hell going to be part of it.

The council representatives would be set up in a base camp further back and Laurena waved at me as I passed.

The soldiers all stood and bowed their heads as we rode past. I wanted to tell them to stop but figured now wasn’t the time to explain that modern politicians didn’t require bowing so why should I?

The clearing was massive and I stopped around fifty feet back from the wards as my eyes traced the forested landscape opposite me .

Nothing yet.

“The Red Masques are here.” Taylor stated.

I looked over the massive army behind me as my gaze was drawn towards the east where a massive unit of men entered in a unified position, all completely in black.

I felt a smile break across my face as I caught sight of Vegas in the center of it all looking wide-eyed but not scared.

I felt bad because I’m positive this was overwhelming for her.

When she met my eyes, her determination shone through and I nodded her over. If she was the only one in this kingdom that could match me blow to blow than I wanted her right fucking next to me. I was surprised when her men didn’t try to stop her. Maybe they had expected it?

As she approached I heard Edwin shout an order as the Red Masques covered the outside lines of my army. It was a very telling move and I realized just how dedicated this group was towards the Horde. They had no reason to be really, yet they were, and I would never forget that.

“Morning,” Vegas offered me a small smile.

“I didn’t sleep last night,” I admitted quietly.

She agreed with a nod. “Neither did I. I can’t believe I’m here.”

“What do you mean?” I asked as she looked over the ward and forested area ahead.

“I mean, this past Halloween, I was just a college kid. Now, I’m here.” She whispered and then shot me a smile. “It is pretty fucking cool.”

“Vegas!” A voice shouted and I turned to see a group of eight making their way down the rows of soldiers. My trained professional men all paled and stepped out of the way. Then again, a lot seemed to fucking scare them.

“Tamara!” Vegas grinned. “Gray, this is Tamara.”

Oh. This was the infamous Tamara and her men ?

Then their power hit me and I whistled openly. Holy crap. Can we say demons?

“You must be Queen Gray,” Tamara flashed a wicked grin. “I like you far better than Silas.”

Silas. Fuck I hadn’t said goodbye to him.

Not goodbye! Not a fucking goodbye. I would be back.

Still, I should have given him a hug or some shit.

“Nice to meet you,” I smiled at the woman. Her bubblegum pink hair was in two pigtails on top of her head. The woman was wearing, and for the record this is not a joke, a cheerleading uniform. The skirt and top were black and in bold cursive letters was the word “Psycho.”

The bitch had gotten that from Pinterest.

“These are my boys,” she threw a thumb over her shoulder while chewing gum. I totally loved her. I mean she was wearing combat boots and had daggers strapped to her thighs. The bitch was cool.

Was that an upside down cross tattoo? All right. It was official. I loved her.

“Hi, Tamara’s men,” I nodded and all of them offered greetings but they were bickering about something internally. Their power not matching their bitching.

One of them spoke. “Tamara, you need to give me that list.”

He was a smaller man with eerie dark eyes. Tamara produced the said list and offered it to him. He smirked and she rolled her eyes. They were sort of cute in a totally weird fucked up way.

“So the list…” I drew.

“He can’t kill without it,” she explained, “so I made a list.”

“Of every single Dark Fae?” I tilted my head.

“Nah,” She sighed, “I made it very specific. It was: 1) any Dark Fae that directly was threatening a member of the Horde 2) anyone that tried to hurt one of my friends 3) Mario. I know he is totally your kill, but I figured I’d throw it on there just in case the opportunity presents itself.”

“Thanks,” I nodded appreciatively.

“Is it weird I’m excited?” Vegas murmured.

I understood that though, I was fluctuating between hyped up and serious.

It was an odd mix. When I went to respond, a pulse of power made me look back towards base camp.

Vegas paled at something behind me. My eyes followed towards the forest border, the pulse of odd power forgotten, because he was here.

Fury sizzled in my veins as that motherfucker walked out from the trees on his white horse.

Mario.