Page 14 of My Monster’s Keeper

Becky

T he smell of the ocean is a smell that I can’t get used to.

I both love it and hate it. It reminds me of freedom and beaches and also of decay and my own human frailty.

The docks don’t remind me of anything good about the ocean.

It’s dark here, and there’s no sand, just this stinky wood and a huge drop into murky waters.

To my left is a massive container ship, it’s so much bigger than the television shows it. Behind me is a massive length of vast buildings. And to my right, sitting in the water, is another couple of boats, but these have some netted pots on board.

“They shouldn’t be here, should they? I would have thought they’d be out trawling by now.” I peer up at the sky. It’s mid-morning.

But then again, what do I know about fishing?

Stix sniffs the air. “I don’t know. Three are empty, but one is still full of ocean pests.”

Ocean pests? I mouth to myself and bite back a smile.

Stix doesn’t notice my amusement and leans over the pier, looking down at the water.

“There’s something down there, attached to the pylons.” He frowns, then steps off the edge.

I cry out and jerk forward, peering over the edge so I can see if I can find him. Thankfully there are no splashes, and it appears he’s survived the drop.

“Stix!”

I scan the water first, but I don’t see him there. I don’t know if these guys can swim or not, but I don’t want to rescue anyone.

“What are we eating?” Puppy says from beside me.

I clamp my mouth shut on a shriek and glance at Puppy out of the corner of my eye. “Stix saw something down there.”

In a second, he slithers over the side of the pier and vanishes.

I stand up and glower. “Fine, I’ll just stay up here alone and look for my own things to eat! ”

They don’t answer me, so I turn and look around. I don’t want to go into the huge buildings alone, and the fishing boats…just no. I’ve had way too many dreams about dying in the ocean to feel comfortable. Which leaves walking the very long dock alone or checking the container ship.

“Come on, Becky, you’re a damn cop.”

I force myself to march towards the container ship, scanning it to see how the hell one even gets on. Once I get past its massive balk, I find another long jetty with wooden walkways connected to the deck.

“Frost?” I call out. “Wilder?”

They don’t answer me, but there is something about the silence that is increasingly unnerving me.

I get to the walkway and look around. There’s no one else, so I step onto it, and, with a tight grip on the rope, I pull myself up onto the giant ship.

The ship is just as empty. It’s not anything I can put my finger on, it’s a feeling in the air. The silence is deafening. I ease through the maze of containers. I find one that’s opened and peer in.

I don’t know why I expect there to be a monster, but it’s almost disappointing when it’s empty.

“I hate the ocean,” I say out loud. “Actually, I dislike the mystery of not being able to see how deep the water is. I dislike the cold, and I hate the way my hair feels after I’ve been swimming. I detest sand. The bugs, crabs, lice, fish. All of it.”

My voice trails off. The uneasy feeling grows, and I turn and start back. The ship jolts, and, with a start, I realise it’s moving.

“STIX!” I shriek.

I explode into a run, throwing myself around the corners of these containers. How did I come so far in such a short time? I’m not going to make it!

“PUPPY!” I stop to put everything into the scream.

But when I get to the side of the ship, I find them standing on the jetty. Puppy races along it, his spines fully extended, looking more fearsome than I’ve ever seen him. Stix has gone into his nightmare shape. He’s standing on the very edge of the jetty, reaching out, but he can’t touch the metal.

Fog suddenly rolls through, hiding them both. I let out a cry and race along the side of the ship, trying to stay as close to the shore as I can. Fuck, why did I come onto this stupid thing? Why did I think this was smart ?

It gets cold all of a sudden, a punch of icy air that turns my breath to clouds of white. I tuck my arms in and wheeze.

The ship jolts to a stop, and I hit the side and drop to my knees. I’m so cold I can barely think.

“I’m sorry,” I murmur.

I whimper, and then I feel something in the air, like movement. I turn my head and find Frost standing there.

“Frost,” I murmur.

He bends down and cradles me in his arms. He puts a hand to my chest, and a heat fills me, making me gasp. I arch my back as it flows through me, burning and warming me. Yet, I can’t look away from those white iris’.

“You came for me?”

He frowns slightly. “Bewitching human.”

I’m confused, and I open my mouth to ask him when he swoops down, his tongue sweeping into my mouth. He tastes like berries, rich and wonderful. I could get drunk on his kiss. I wrap my arm around his neck, pulling myself tight against him.

He nips my bottom lip, and I open even more, allowing him all and everything. He’s consuming and compelling. It’s a kiss of pure seduction, and, in one second, I know that I don’t stand a chance.

He pulls back with a frown and a searching glance.

“Princeling, you will bring our human back to the land at once.”

I cock my head to the side. “Stix is calling.”

“The nightmare can wait.”

He leans in, his lips a mere whisper from mine. I’m frozen, torn between closing the distance and not when he pulls back.

“Let’s go, then.”

I’ve disappointed him, and although I feel deeply guilty, I need space to think.

“Okay.”

He carries me effortlessly back down to the jetty, and it’s only when we’re down that I realise what he’s done.

“Did you freeze the ocean to save me?” I ask the Unseelie Prince.

He shrugs. “Even the ocean will not take from us what is ours.”

“Careful, I’m going to think you care. ”

“Don’t be deceived by my goodwill. When you run out of food, your allure will wear out, and I shall give you to the Grim to consume.”

I don’t even bother listening to his threats. Puppy slams into me, sniffing my hair and my arms, down my chest, my freaking crotch.

I struggle to hold the Grim back as he anxiously snuffs at me and inspects every part of my person. My cheeks are on fire, and I can’t help but hope that I smell okay. And, also, why am I getting all hot and bothered by him sniffing me?

“I’m fine,” I manage to stutter out.

He switches to his man form and pulls me into a hard hug. I’m so surprised that I don’t even complain about the fact that he’s making my ribs creak.

“My turn.” Stix easily removes the Grim and picks me up with a gentleness that reaches inside me and melts my brain. His long fingers hold me easily as he leans in so he can rest his face against my neck.

It’s only then that I realise the Shadow King is trembling. For me. I reach up hesitantly and then throw my arms around him, pulling myself tight against him.

He stiffens and then relaxes in my hold.

“Water is our one weakness, especially salt water.”

“It’s okay, I’m okay!”

“Where is Wilder?” I ask when he puts me down.

I peer up and down the jetty until I finally spot the black steed in the warehouse.

“What is he doing?” I ask and jog towards him.

The answer is much more disturbing than my brain could come up with. Wilder is standing inside the huge doors, staring upwards.

“Wilder?”

He points to the roof, where we find the dangling feet of dozens and dozens of workers.

“Oh. My. God.” I don’t want to step under them, but I need more light and a better view. “Are they hung or just tied up there?”

Puppy scurries up and drops a body down. Wilder catches it and lays it on the floor.

They are not hanging by ropes, they are hanging by hooks that go through their backs and come out under their ribs.

“How did they die?” I brush back the hair off the man’s forehead and find he’s just a guy about my age. He had a life and a family, and now he doesn’t.

“Smells like toxins,” Puppy sneezes. “Not for eating.”

I frown. “Is this…bait? ”

“Doubtful,” Frost murmurs. “It is most likely a creature storing food for another season.”

“Storing food? Like a squirrel?” My brain just won’t let me see this.

Wilder crouches beside me. “Breathe, little Becky, we won’t allow you to become one of the dead.”

I peer up at him. This world is so much bigger and darker than I’d thought. No, my world is bigger and darker, too.

“What kind of creature is it?”

Wilder stands up. “It smells like one of my kind.”

I peer up at him. “Your kind does things like that?”

“Oh, yes.” Wilder’s eyes flicker down to me.

“How do we stop it?”

“We need to find it first. Capture it, and then render it magicless.”

“How?” I repeat with a slight rise in my voice.

Wilder doesn’t answer. He paces away from me, investigating the floor under the corpses.

“Is it cold in here?”

“It’s colder up there,” Frost points. He peers up and then leaps straight up into the air and lands on a tall pillar of ice that has appeared.

As he walks, more ice appears, forming a walkway so that he can inspect the bodies at his leisure.

He picks one up and carefully cradles her as he comes back down. “This was the omega.”

“How can you tell?”

“She smells sweet and fragrant. A scent that makes alphas hungry.”

She is pretty in death, much as I imagine she would have been in life. I wish I’d been able to help her.

“We’re going to stop these people!”

Stix wraps his long arms around me and makes a grumbling sound of discontent.

“Puppy? What should we do?”

He looks at me, and, with all the eyeliner and piercings, his expression looks undeniably sad.

“We should eat.”

So simple .

Stix laughs. It’s a cruel laugh, but maybe I’m getting used to it because I find myself soothed by the sound.

“Fine, you can eat who did this,” Stix says like a decree.

Puppy gives me a wide smile that kicks something hard inside me. I find my air has evaporated, and my thoughts scatter to the seven winds.

Stix helps me up, leaving a trail of sensitive skin wherever he’s touched.

I turn in his arms and peer up at him. “How do you hunt a Fae?”

He scowls. “You need bait and to get them mad.”

“What kind of bait?”

Stix looks past me to the man on the floor and then refocuses on me.

I don’t like what he’s thinking, but I want this asshole caught and gone.

“Okay. I’ll be the bait.”

“It will be back with the dawn,” Wilder says, “when it has found more humans to store for its feast.”

“Wonderful,” I say. “How long until dawn?”

“Hours,” Stix murmurs. “The shadows are everywhere right now, strong, thick, dark. They will weaken as the sun gets closer.”

I look up at him and then, on instinct and because I need to, I press my lips to his.

He freezes. I draw back and look away.

“So, uh, thanks for being so cool.”

“Cool? I am not cold,” Stix murmurs in amusement and brushes back my hair. The desire to lean into his touch, much like a cat, is strong.

“I mean nice, cool is nice. I just don’t understand why.”

“It is really quite simple. In worlds full of all that they have, you are the only thing that has made my heart move. It is not a matter of nice, it is a matter of mine.”

I peer up at him, unsure of what he means but knowing it’s important.

Puppy drops off the ceiling and crouches beside us. “If you stay, the innards will splatter you.”

I let out a squeak.

But Stix just sighs, picks me up, and carries me outside.

The clouds have hidden the sun. Which is just as well. It doesn’t feel like a day that should have the sun shining. It feels like tonight will be a night for hunting.