Page 63 of My Monster’s Keeper

My mouth drops open. “Excuse me?”

“Not getting your dicks wet, your cunts creamed, or holes filled. You are not a Choux bun!”

I tense my shoulders and take a warning step in his direction. “Are you seriously telling me, a human woman who lives on this planet, who I can and cannot sleep with?”

Diablos blinks hard enough to flutter his eyelashes in alarm. “I, um-”

He glances at Hartley, who is perched on the edge of a garden bed with his face in his hands.

“Yes?”

“No!” I jab him in the chest. “I can sleep with one human male or a thousand alien monsters, but you do not get a say in who I fuck. No one does. And, further, if I hear of you trying that with any other woman, not only will I kick your ass, but so will he!” I point at Puppy.

“I’m your boss!” Diablos mutters.

“Nowhere in the contract I signed did it say I couldn’t have relations with employees. Next time, get someone to look over your contract better and put it in writing.”

Diablos huffs. “Fine. I won’t tell you who to fuck, but I can tell them.”

I snarl, low and long.

Smokes billows out of his nostrils. “This is my ruling!”

He stomps his foot and disappears with a crack of lightning.

Hartley gets to his feet. “Allow me to escort you out.”

“Should I be sorry?”

Hartley glances at me and smiles slightly. “He will need extra cuddles tonight when we go to bed. I could thank you.”

I snort a laugh that I muffle with a pretend cough.

We get to the front door, and Hartley pulls it open. I glance at it and wonder if there is anyone born on this planet who could move that door.

Hartley is changed.

I didn’t realise he meant physical changes.

Stix puts a hand on the small of my back, the slightest touch leaving my blood pounding in my veins. I peer up at him as he guides me down the steps. He looks out at the world as if watching and preparing for danger. Protective.

He’s protecting me.

On my left, Wilder, flanked by Frost, jog down the steps, catching up to us and keeping pace. They, too, look outwards, but Puppy is looking at me. His eyes are always on me.

I never had a family. Is this what one feels like?

Or is this something more?

What changes?

Why do they need an omega?

Would I be willing to be destroyed by risking it all with them?

It’s a lot. It’s heavy.

The scars on Hartley’s back are burnt into my retinas.