Page 26 of My Monster’s Keeper

Becky

T he driver I hired stops in the conservation park entrance and lets us out. Wilder is almost quivering with excitement. As soon as the driver is gone, he starts towards the forest. He stops and looks back.

That he stops and looks back melts my heart.

“Go, we’ll wait here,” I say and wave to him. “I promise, we’ll be fine.”

With a soft smile and a heavy sigh, he turns and walks into the forest, disappearing from view. I sit down on the grass and lay on my back, looking up at the sky.

Puppy shifts shape and shakes his scales. He comes over to me and licks my face, leaving me clenching my thighs.

“Have fun,” I murmur to the Grim.

On that note, he races off, too, in the opposite direction. It’s not often that Puppy can spend this much time playing in his form.

Stix stretches and gives me a guilty look.

“Go. I’ll be fine here.”

“I’ll stay,” Frost says, surprising me.

Stix leans down and kisses my cheek and then races into the dark, disappearing from view.

Frost lays down beside me, but he’s not easy here. I don’t know how I know, I can just feel it.

“What was it like where you lived?”

“Cold, mountains, harsh, lots of deep lakes. Nothing like this.”

I turn so I can watch his face.

“Was there anyone who was kind to you?”

Frost wrinkles his nose. “It’s not like that in the court, and I was not powerful enough to protect myself. I was weak.”

“You aren’t now. ”

“No, I learned how to light the fire so I could stay alive. If I let it out sometimes, I couldn’t bring it back.

There was nothing to burn, so I had to use my energy to fuel it.

I learned all the different types of snow and ice.

There isn’t another Fae like me who can use both fire and ice.

They are opposites. I’m not supposed to exist.”

“And yet, here you are, existing, stronger than anyone ever thought possible, free, and with this most precious mission entrusted into your care. Big step up, don’t you think?”

Frost laughs. The sound is entrancing, and I lean my head on one arm so I can watch him.

“It is a big step up.”

“Do you think you’ll ever find any of these omegas?”

“Everyone seems convinced they are here, and where there’s smoke, there’s normally fire,” he says evasively.

I smirk. “You would know.”

He turns his head towards me and, in the light, with that smile, he is one of the most beautiful men I’ve ever seen. I freeze, my thoughts vanishing in an instant. My eyes drop from his to his lips. What does he taste like?

Frost’s expression sobers, and he inhales sharply.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’m not strong enough,” he murmurs.

It still takes me a few seconds to turn away.

I lick my lips and clear my throat. “So, why are these omegas so important, anyway?”

“You’ve seen how strong our personalities are. This is nothing. Before you came, Puppy and Stix were actively trying to kill each other, and the pressing threat of Wilder had us one step away from destroying this city. An alpha’s rage can be one of the most damaging forces.”

“I’m not an omega,” I whisper.

“You are someone that needed our help. Puppy brought us to you that night. Stix gave us permission, but Puppy is the one who found you. He wasn’t going to listen to Stix.

You didn’t seem like much, but I was so angry that they would have hurt you.

And my anger for you stilled the rage I feel towards the others. ”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that without you, we don’t work. It’s only with you near that we’re able to find calm.”

“I’m not an omega,” I repeat. “You need an omega. ”

“Are you sure?” Frost whispers. “Are you sure you aren’t? Because all signs point towards you being one.”

“That’s not what Diablos said-”

“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He thinks omegas are meek and mild, but the omegas I remember were warriors and queens.”

“You met them?”

“Many, many years ago. Being without an omega is like walking around in life with your senses dulled. It’s not right, you can feel it all the time, this wrongness, this need.”

I sit up and wrap my arms around my knees. “It’d be awful to live the rest of your life like that.”

“Unless you had someone else to live for.”

I turn towards him, startled. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying when we get back home, prepare yourself-”

Crimson smoke explodes into being, and Diablos and Hartley appear. Diablos has a picnic basket and sets it down.

They have the worst timing. I want to scream at them to go away so I can make Frost finish that sentence. Prepare myself for what?

Hartley gives me an apologetic look but spreads out a picnic blanket and sits down.

“This is just lovely.” Diablos puts his hands on his hips and stretches. “Beautiful.”

He turns and smiles at me.

“So, what are we learning?”

I turn my head to glare at him. “Frost is telling me about omegas.”

Diablos’ smug smile fades. He sighs heavily. “They disappeared from our worlds, and no one knew why. There were so many once, and then they were all gone.”

“So, they came from all the different worlds?”

“Oh, yes. Each world had its own. It’s strange, though, the rumours of omegas existing on Earth, where there are no alphas or betas. I keep wondering who found them and revealed them.”

“There aren’t?”

“No. Humans don’t have the capacity to be beta or alpha. It’s something in the biology.”

“You should tell them that. If I have to see another video of an ‘alpha male’, I might scream. ”

Hartley cracks open a beer and passes it across. I take it happily. It’s been ages since I had a beer.

“Say we find this omega. What then?”

“Well, we keep her safe. Introduce her to some alphas to see if she or he hits it off with her. And let love bloom.”

I grunt.

“What in fuck’s name is that?” Diablos whispers in a voice I almost don’t recognise.

I turn to look in the direction he’s staring in and see Puppy bounding through the grass, looking for all intents and purposes like an overgrown deer.

He’s even got his tongue hanging out and his tail held high. We all track his path from one side of the glade to the other. He crosses the grassy area and then disappears back into the forest.

I get the giggles.

“Oh, I’m glad you find it funny! That is the most terrifying creature in all the world’s right there, hopping around a meadow like, like-”

“Bambi?”

“Yes! Like a Bambi!” Diablos pauses and turns to Hartley. “What’s a Bambi?”

“A deer.”

“A deer?” Diablos’ brows furrow. “Reduced to a harmless deer.”

“Oh, the deer aren’t harmless. Haven’t you seen their razor teeth and killer hooves?”

Diablos glares at me. “Haha.”

“No, seriously, they are very territorial and hunt in complete silence. They pound their prey to death and then eat the brain matter.”

“Zombie deer? You’re seriously saying there’s a zombie deer?” Diablos gets up on his knees, shooting a look at the forest.

I shrug. “Everyone knows about zombie deer, and if you go to Australia, they have a crazy bear that drops off trees onto your face.”

He stills and glances left and right. “They do?”

I can’t hold in the laugh.

“Oh! F you!”

“F me?”

“Yes, you! Frost, control your mate.”

The slip falls into the air between us. Frost sits up, his hand accidentally touching mine.

Mate? Is that what we are ?

Am I willing to risk it now?

I feel like it’s inevitable.

I glance sideways at the Fae beside me.

“I don’t control her,” Frost says slowly, with a tiny lift of the corner of his lips.

I smile back. A secret, understanding smile.

Puppy goes bounding past us again. This time, he’s got an actual deer following him, and the thing…well, it kinda does look like a zombie deer. It lets out this horrible bleeping sound.

“Everyone just saw that, right? I’m not imagining it?” Diablos whispers.

“Oh, no, we saw it,” Hartley says and pulls out another beer. “Every minute I spend around you guys gives me another grey hair.”

Diablos sits down heavily. “This world is crazy. It’s just packaged with insane. Why is the deer playing with the Grim? What’s wrong with the deer?”

“Puppy made a friend.” I shrug, but it has me thinking. He gets along with animals so much better than he does people. Maybe…that’s how I reach him.

Frost’s fingers are still on mine. I feel like we’re doing something illicit. Secretive, something that’s just ours. I want to kiss him.

Fuck.

Diablos downs three beers, and, within minutes, it’s clear that was a grievous error.

He stands up and starts spinning, turning into his other form and stomping around.

“Oh. My. God.”

They all look at me.

“Our infamous leader, the demon from his hellscape, is actually a secret lightweight who can’t handle his brew.”

“Shhh,” Diablos splutters, spitting all over himself. “I’m great at brew.” He bursts into giggles and looks at Hartley. “I brew you, too.”

UGH.

“Uh?”

Hartley sighs. “Things are hard at the moment. There are a lot of people here needing him, and he’s feeling overwhelmed. I keep trying to teach him about this planet, but everytime I start more of them come over needing help. He’s not stupid, not by a long shot. He’s doing the best he can.”

For a long second, I feel sorry for him, but then I realise the implications. The single horrifying thought that has me feeling like the world just shifted beneath my feet .

You can’t be serious!

“Are we his friends?” I ask aghast.

Hartley smirks. “You have won a demon friend for life. Lucky you.”

“Warn a girl before you spring that on her.”

Diablos shouts for Puppy, and when he sees the Grim, he bounds after him, leaping through the forest on all fours. And he, too, has a tail he holds high in the air.

“Oh, that’s, yeah, he’s going to hear about this,” I whisper.

Frost chuckles darkly and rubs his thumb over my hand.

Diablos reappears, sobbing, and starts to sing a loud ballad of love and loss. It’s so mournful and truly ear-shatteringly awful. The demon has no musical ability whatsoever.

For a couple of hours, we hang out, and it’s not so bad. Diablos is funny when he’s not dictating to us and really cares about this place. I can see how much he and Hartley love each other.

I guess I can be a demon friend.

And it’s nice to have someone like Hartley who knows where I’m coming from, who gets me. Seeing how he’s done this all alone, I have a lot of respect for him.

Diablos continues to chatter until Hartley stands up and insists to his drunken demon mate that they need to go home.

It takes four attempts, and I just have enough sense to shout to Hartley to text me to let me know they got home safe before they disappear.

When the sun sets, Stix, Wilder, and Puppy walk out of the trees. I lift my head from Frost’s chest and watch them come.

Now, it feels right again.

Why isn’t that scary anymore?