Page 41 of My Monster’s Keeper

Becky

F rost is sitting on the other side of Stix for good reason, I haven’t decided if I’ve forgiven him or not. Yet.

Marriage was never on my cards. A magical permanent marriage less so. After the explosion that was my temper snapping, I said some words, which offended him, and it turns out Frost has a hot temper, not cold, and he started yelling back.

By the end, I was so entranced with his long hair floating around and the ivory skin that I couldn’t even muster up the strength to stay angry. I wanted him again. As soon as he let slip that I was his first. I did advance on my poor, confused little princeling and made him mine. Thrice.

Diablos lifts his chin and scowls over the room.

The hall is long with elaborate scroll designs on the wall.

I think it used to be an old theater, but now it’s a community space.

It’s currently packed. I recognise almost no one.

But there are five guys who look similar to each other and sport the same attitude of contrived obedience.

“Who are they?” I lean in to ask Wilder on my left.

He follows my gaze and scowls. “The Sirens.”

As one, they lift their gazes, locking in on us. I count to the beat of three before they turn away again.

“They kill anyone and everyone. The only beings they have any allegiance to are themselves. No one can control them, it's why they gave them entire oceans to play in.”

“They didn’t let us play. They imprisoned us.” The voice speaks from just behind me. “Threw us into the oceans between worlds to be guard dogs.”

Stix snorts.

“Something funny, Shadow man?” Another voice asks.

They have pretty voices, and all five have thick auburn hair in varying lengths.

“We have our own guard dog,” Stix says coolly .

A moment later, I feel a dark presence rise out of the shadows. And how can I feel that? I push the question aside.

“You will remove yourselves from my mate,” Puppy growls with glowing eyes.

The two behind me sit back on the chairs, joining their brothers. I don’t know how they crossed the room so fast, but I add space jumping to the list of things I know about them.

A heavy weight leans against my ankle, and when I look down, I find Song with his mouth open, exposing a huge pink mouth in a happy smile.

Puppy blinks. “I told you to stay,” he grumbles unhappily.

“What is that doing here?” A voice behind us hisses. I turn and spot black fur. No way? I lean around Stix and find Pitch staring at the Sirens, her fur on end.

I lean into Stix. “I know you four can bounce around, but I wasn’t aware animals on Earth could do so.”

“Cats are from my world, originally. They have always had the ability to move between worlds. They are born with the knowledge of where everything is and how to get to it. Have you ever seen a cat, and it’s there one minute, gone the next, and just when you convince yourself it wasn’t there, it reappears behind you?

That’s cats traversing worlds. It’s why most cultures honor them.

We personally keep food and water bowls filled for any that might choose to visit.

I believe the Fae may do similar. It’s said that cats used to be guides to lost travellers.

” He pauses and looks down at the dog. “Dogs, not so much. The only conclusion I can come to is the cat has decided to help him cross. Dogs here are very much Earth creatures, with no ability to touch our magics. But they have always been honoured companions to the Fae.”

“Help him cross?” I echo, my head doing a horrible little spin.

“Indeed, the cat seems to be quite fond of the dog,” Stix murmurs. “Strange pairing.”

I study the side of Stix’s face, wondering if he’s really as unworried about this as he’s pretending. There’s a bemused tug of a smile on his lips, and then he returns his eyes to the front of the room.

Pitch lets out a low growl, and, out of the corner of my eye, I see all five Sirens lean back in their chairs.

Fascinating. I make another mental note.

“Welcome, all teams of Earth’s Defense,” Diablos says out loud. My mouth parts, and I stare at the huge demon because he sounds so different, formal and tense.

“What’s wrong with you?” Stix murmurs .

“Such a stupid name,” I mutter evasively.

Stix turns and gives me his full attention. “You are adorable.”

“Today, I have some troubling news. It has come to my attention that we are finding a disturbing trend of criminal activities occurring.” Diablos narrows his eyes and glares in a sweep across the room. “It may mean hard times ahead and deeply penetrating investigations.”

The room gets quiet but not in a nice safe way.

“But no matter how hard this situation may seem, we will take it and come out on top.”

I spot Hartley in the corner of the room with a red face half hidden behind a clipboard. I almost wish he wasn’t here. There are far too many creatures taking note of him.

“We have over one thousand reports of humans who have been kidnapped and killed or sold. One thousand. In just a few weeks. This is unacceptable. We are guests in this world. I want to know who is doing this, who is behind it. I want them stopped. Does anyone have any information they wish to share?”

The room is strangely silent, and the skin on the back of my neck prickles with unease. Diablos scowls and paces the front of the room. He casts a look at Hartley, and I can almost feel the concern.

Something is wrong.

I lean back, stroking a finger down Puppy’s calf to get his attention. “Can you get the demon’s mate and bring him to our home?”

Puppy narrows his eyes, unhappy about my request, but he squeezes my hand and vanishes.

A moment later, Hartley is plucked out of the space by a shadow and vanishes.

I don’t miss the relief on Diablos’ face a moment before he refocuses on the group in front of him.

There is a surge of violence in the air. Stix puts a hand on my thigh. While Wilder discreetly threads a vine around the tubby stomach of the blue and white pit sitting on my foot.

The tension is there, and then it’s gone and people lean back, almost bored. Like a silent message was sent through the crowd that we all missed.

“So, no one has seen anything? No one else has seen a thing?” Diablos roars. “No omegas have been stolen and killed? Really, you want to go down this path?”

My heart thuds against my chest.

The room stays silent .

The stare down is powerful, but they don’t budge, and neither does he. I can see why he’s the right guy for this job. He brought us all here to test a theory.

“Well, then. Be on your way.” Diablos stares at them.

They stay sitting for a moment until a huge muscled guy with a ring of horns on his skull gets up and stomps out of the room. People abruptly scrape back their chairs and exit the room. There’s no friendly conversation, no chatter. They just leave.

Ninety percent of the room just walks out. The other ten percent look confused as fuck.

I’m not confused, though. I’ve been the person looking around the room full of bad guys trying to work out who was safe and who wasn’t.

From the back, I can watch as a few of them exchange discreet glances. The Siren’s stand up, but two of them that appear to be twins pause and look down at me.

“Her filthy presence is all over your person, human.”

I sigh. “My name is Becks or Becky. Or Dawson, even, but do not call me human, Siren.”

The twin with the intimidating glower narrows his eyes. “You’re lucky we’re choosing to forgive your ignorance in allowing that monstrosity to walk on the same dimension as us.”

I grind my molars and lean back in my chair, folding my arms over my chest.

“Puppy, don’t eat him,” I say evenly. “The Healer,” I stress, “saved my life. Which is currently, at this moment, saving yours.”

The twin with a less severe frown stiffens and turns slowly, finding Puppy right behind him.

“He wants to be eaten. I can hear it in his insolent words. Eat me. Eat me. Blah, blah, blah.” Puppy smiles, one of his terrifying expressions that makes my heart clench.

He’s adorable.

I laugh, and Song wags her tail. Pitch, on the other hand, keeps her eyes on the oldest of the five, who is pretending like none of us exist.

“Still, I think we should talk to the boss man. Goodbye, Sirens. It was nice meeting you,” I purr with over the top politeness.

Wilder, Frost, Stix, and I stand at the same time. The Sirens back off, and, without concern, we turn our backs on the five and walk away.

Diablos watches us come towards him, and his lips twitch. “It’s funny, no?”

“You’re doing a good job, Di,” I admit, and he elbows me .

“Don’t get soft on me now, Becky Dawson.”

He looks stressed and unhappy. I don’t blame him.

Diablos clears his throat. “Can I please have my Hart back?”

“He’s at home.”

Diablos vanishes, and, before any of us can think it, Pitch yowls and tears us through an ice-cold blackness. When I open my eyes again, I’m clutching my heaving stomach, and I’m standing in my kitchen.

“That was the single most unpleasant thing I’ve ever experienced. Way worse than the horse.”

“That cat should not be able to do that,” Stix grumbles. He advances on Frost and Pitch, but the cat hisses and takes off into the house. Song warbles a defensive argument and then trots after the cat.

“Well, you sure got told,” Wilder teases.

Stix looks at him with hooded eyes and moves into his space.

Okay, this blossoming relationship between the two of them is fascinating to watch.

And hot. Wilder takes Stix’s long fingers and lifts them to his mouth.

The soft kiss is ignored by everyone but me and Diablos, who has been herded into the kitchen by the hissing cat.

“Interesting,” Our boss says evenly. He shakes his head and turns back to me. “What was your take on that? The meeting, that is? For note, I have no interest in knowing about the mating behaviour of Fae, Demon, Shadow, or human, so keep that information to yourself.”

I snort a laugh and pull out a chair.