Page 107 of My Monster’s Keeper

Wilder spins, stabbing low and then sweeping upwards. I drink in the sight of him performing what looks like a savage dance of elegant grace.

“Are you happy living like this?” Wilder asks again and has the audacity not to be even slightly winded.

“Yes,” I admit. “There is so much I want to see and know. I don’t want to go back to living how I was before.”

“And bringing justice to people not of your kind?” Wilder growls.

“Yes, I want to do that. I want to fight and run and be scared. I want to feel it all, and I want to be there with you.”

Wilder throws his sword, aiming it for the earth. It stabs deep into the ground, but he’s already moving in my direction, lifting me up and slamming my back against a tree.

“Be careful what you wish for,” Wilder says against my lips.

“I am. But it doesn’t change the fact I want you. Nothing will,” I say back.

He spins me around and growls as his hands cup my ass over the tight jean shorts I’m wearing. The heat comes back whenever I’m with them, but it’s not been as constant or urgent, but when Wilder touches, it’s like an inferno inside, just under the skin.

“You should wear more clothes around the human males.”

“Why? Jealous?”

“Yes,” Wilder says starkly.

I melt and thrust my hips towards him, feeling that huge bulge in his pants. He traces the contours of my hip and waist, exploring slowly, and then dips down, letting his fingers slide in between my thighs. He grazes the junction of my thighs with just a slightest touch.

I whimper.

“Tell me your favourite day,” he whispers.

“But…” I glance down at his hand and back up to his face.

“Multitask,” Wilder soothes. “You talk, and I’ll make you feel good.”

I humph and take a second. “There are two days,” I say and glance sharply to my left. A vine coils around my wrist and pulls until my arms are pinned to the tree. “I was twelve, I think. Grant and I had run away from yet another foster home. We’d worked for three days prior and got paid cash in hand. Some dodgy bastard getting kids to do labour instead of actually hiring someone.”

Vines slide into the waistband of my pants, and my brain stops dead. Wilder smiles a little bit wider.

“You worked the day before,” Wilder prompts.

“And…” I take another moment to remember. “We had this money and no reason to go home. So we went to the cinema and watched a movie. We were the only ones, and we got popcorn and soft drinks and ate until we felt we’d burst. It was warm, and it was safe. It was a good day.”

Wilder’s hand captures my jaw, tilting my head back.

“And the other day?”

“Every day since I met you,” I whisper honestly. “It’s been wild and crazy and scary, but I feel alive with you four. Like I woke up from a bad dream.”

Wilder clucks his tongue, and, suddenly, the vines pull outwards. There’s pressure, and then the material shreds. He grips my t-shirt in one hand and balls it into his fist and then yanks.

It tears off me, leaving me deliciously naked. In the sun. In our backyard. Fuck.

Wilder’s eyes flicker. “I want to show you something. It’s something only my mate would ever see.”

I wait as he steps back. All the vines drop away, allowing me my freedom. Wilder turns away, walking further away from me, but when he turns back, he’s changed. His eyes are green, but they glow like an animal’s eyes in the dark. His horns are back, rising out of histeal…fur. Oh. I take a harder look. His teal hair is thick and long, but it’s really not hair, it's fur. His cheekbones are high. When he smiles, I get a glimpse of long canines and a forked tongue.

He lifts his hands, showing me talons on the tips of each finger, and then he shrugs his shoulders, and two black wings with teal flecks of colour explode from his shoulders.

I stare. How can I not? He’s beautiful.