Page 144 of My Monster’s Keeper

Any hope I had of getting out of this, the smugness I feel fades until I’m left staring at the children, knowing I can’t do it.

I can’t hold out any longer.

This is going to end today. Now. I can’t kill children. There’s a line. I have morals. Oh, god, how am I going to do this? I’d rather be dead. I need to figure this out, and I have minutes.

“You’ll kill them, anyway.”

Grant smiles, and three of the children start to cry. “I won’t. I promise.”

I look around helplessly. I don’t know why, perhaps hoping that something would come out and save me. Give me any other option.

“You are the omega queen. You have powers you have no idea about. So do the queenly thing and protect your realm.”

I open my mouth, but, still, I hesitate. This is so final. So wrong. Once I say it, I can’t take it back. I will lose them forever. They will be abandoned, and they will think I gave up on them.

No, there has to be a better way.

He’s going to kill these children. I can see it in his face. He’s forgotten that I know him.

What to do? What to do?

The kids are crying, but they are almost without hope. They remind me of how I was when I was a child. Already burned by the world, no longer believing in miracles.

I catch a movement of black. A different kind of black.

Stix’s voice comes back to me. Loud and clear.

Cats can travel between worlds, they are revered.Why haven’t I seen cats? You always see cats in this area.

As suddenly as I think about it, I can see them. Dozens of them sitting there. Cats belong in all the worlds, but, on Earth, they found a place that could perhaps be home, part of our families, part of our households. Maybe our protectors? Guardians?

Everywhere I look, I see more cats looking at children and being completely unnoticed by everything else.

Oh, please, let this work.

I stare down at the dirty factory floor.

“Hurry up, Becky,” Grant growls.

“I’m thinking!” I shout at him.

The cats are gathering around the children.

I’m different. I’ve changed.

Remember who I am?

I am Becky Dawson. A cop and an omega queen. I’m part of their murder. They are my bonded alphas, and I am part of them, just as they are part of me.

I reach out, trying to touch the shadows and feel them come alive for me. Like they’ve been waiting for me all this time.

“Do you want to know something odd, Grant?”

He raises his brow. “Sure, I’ll play.”

“I knew those guys, Stix, Wilder, Frost, and Puppy, would burn the worlds down for me. I knew it. There was never a question in my mind. I just,” I pause to laugh, “I didn’t know that I would burn down the world for them.” I grin maliciously.

The children vanish, leaving a heavy chain to drop to the ground.