Page 83 of My Monster’s Keeper

“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.