Page 56 of My Monster’s Keeper

He whirls and advances on me. I slam up against the wall, and he bends, lifting me and wedging me between the wall and his body.

“I want you,” Stix growls, and his mouth presses against mine.

I open to him, allowing him to take, to devour, to destroy me. I cling to him and hang on as he shakes my world and remakes it.

He pulls back and rubs his nose against mine. “I would take you on the blood-soaked ground. I would fuck you while our prey screams a lullaby. Here, now, in the den of our enemies, I should make you mine.”

His threat makes my blood heat, and I flex my fingers, moaning and pulling closer.

“We can’t,” I protest and nip his bottom lip.

“We can. We could,” Stix growls. “Tell me you want me to make you mine,” Stix growls into my mouth.

He doesn’t need my words. My kiss is answer enough.

Chapter 16

Stix

She tastes like sunshine. Something new and exciting, and I don’t think I could go the rest of my life without it. I’m so sure that she is my one.

I delve into her mouth again, learning her sounds, her taste, the sexy way she clings to my shoulders. But all good things must end, and, sadly, so must this. I slowly move my hand and then slam it into the wall beside her head. She squeaks but turns and finds Puppy almost cheek-to-cheek with her.

I glower at the Grim. “Get away.”

He bares his teeth at me. The Grims have seldom had to be afraid of the Shadows, not because we fear them, but because we feel no need to interfere. But if he interferes with me, he’s going to find out how I became king.

Puppy growls and flicks his tongue out, tasting her lips, tasting me on her lips. I consider him for a long moment and then let go.

Grims are incorrigible, they are wild and untamable. Violent, unpredictable, but this one, he’s more so. His reputation is worse, but she is his weakness. I can see it, but so can he. As long as he’s all right with it, he can live.

I step back and pull her to my side just as Frost and Wilder appear. They drag three humans with them.

“Briox is dead,” I say calmly.

“Oh, so sad,” Frost murmurs. “I was looking forward to catching up. He jumped me when I first arrived here. I’d been looking forward to rectifying his stupidity.”

Wilder shoves the bigger human forward. He trips and drops to his knees.

“Ey, watch it!”

“Shut up!” Wilder rolls his eyes. “This one is loud.”

“Good, maybe he can speak,” Frost murmurs. “You’re a cop. What are you doing with all the people who come here? There are scents and tracks of hundreds of people going in and none coming out. Where are they?”

The cop laughs and glances at his friends. The woman looks drugged and out of her mind, but the man keeps peeking at the front door like he’s trying to escape.

I snag the other man and drag him across the room. “Do you want to live? Do you want to walk away from this?” I hiss.

The man shakes, and the acrid scent of urine fills the air.

“Tell me.”

“This is just a way station.”

“A what?”

“A place to let the cattle sleep. They stay here for a night or two. We divide them up on where they need to go, and some people come with trucks and take them away. Omegas get picked up by a bus, and the rest go in the back of a truck. Honest.”