Page 166 of My Monster’s Keeper

Puppy mutters something and then appears beside me. “Fine. Music and I will catch up later.”

“Oh, thank god,” I mutter.

“I have a job for you.”

“Diablos, where am I?” Hartley interrupts loudly. His voice is deep with suspicion.

Diablos’ eyes widen, and he shoos us away. Stix grabs us and catapults us into the shadows. Two seconds later, we’re standing inside our new modern home, on top of the cliff that overlooks the city. There’s a huge forest for our backyard and heaps of privacy.

Well, sort of.

Being the Omega Queen is bringing all sorts of interesting events, like people from all the worlds coming to ask permission and showing their respect before they travel here.

Everyone is terrified of the five of us. Even my cat and dog are treated with wary deference. What we did left our mark on the world. It declared in no uncertain terms that we would tolerate no mischief, no menace, we would defend this world, united in a way that’s never been seen before.

The might of the courts of Fae cannot stop us, and the armies of Shadows have no hope.

This is our world, and we are its defenders.

Which means absolutely nothing in the scheme of things when I have this simmering heat burning me alive from the inside out. Stix pulled rank that night and demanded an extra two weeks.

When I woke up this morning, I understood why.

I sneak away from the guys and shove another weapon under the enormous pillow I ordered. That fire I’ve been trying like hell to ignore is coming, and nothing is going to stop it.

The memories of how close I came to being assaulted still give me nightmares.

I’ve chosen a room that is central in our house. There are plenty of ways out. Someone has to have been watching me because, this morning, a bed appeared. A big, huge, round thing that I thought was hideous, but then it grew on me as the day progressed.

I’ve stashed weapons everywhere. I don’t need them, but I have them. I’ve got food under the sofa and in cupboards.

Anything I might need, but it’s still not perfect. Or it wasn’t until I did my same day delivery purchase.

I look at my choice of pillows and grab the three largest ones, arranging them on the bed. The blankets are weird, and I don’t want them, so I take them to the door and toss them out.

Nothing smells right.

I grumble and walk to the bed, crawling on it and rolling around. I scrape my face on the pillows until all I can smell is a spicy floral scent that is me.

“Ridiculous,” I mutter to myself, but I can’t stop.

I get up and walk to the door frame. Several seconds pass of me rubbing my face on the frame before I pull away and burst into tears.

“Poppet?”

Stix wraps his arms around me and pulls me onto our massive back porch. The cool air helps clear my head a little, but it does nothing to stop the throb between my legs.

“What’s going on, poppet? Talk to me.”

“It’s like being drugged. I don’t feel in control, I feel out of control. Stix, I don’t like it.”

Long fingers take my chin and turn my face until we’re nose-to-nose.

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you. No one will touch you but us. It would be an inter-world war if someone even tried. You will still be you.”

My hands shake, so I curl them in his shirt. “I, when it happened before-”

“You were thrust into a heat you weren’t prepared for, and you protected yourself.”