Page 29 of The Cries of Monsters

In any case, I was smart enough to scoot my ass off the bed entirely when the gold flared brighter again in Kade’s eyes, and he pulled his lips away from the siren’s.

“Darian!” Kade roared, his face turning red. “You know the fucking rules! We don’t use our magic or abilities on each other.”

Darian raised his hands in mock innocence, but a smirk twisted his devilish lips, which were now swollen from Kade’s kiss. “Your wolf was going to eat the girl. I agreed I’d help keep her safe from you.”

Kade’s gaze shot to me, panic flaring briefly until he noticed I was free of any bite marks, and then he rounded back on Darian. “No one told you to use your magic,” he growled.

Darian opened his mouth to protest again, and Kade lifted his fist to slam it into the side of the siren’s face. Before it connected, Darian maneuvered gracefully backward off the side of the bed, out of reach.

I moved in front of Darian before Kade could advance again. “Stop! We asked him to intervene.”

“I didn’t ask him to stick his fucking tongue in my mouth,” Kade snarled. “Do you have any idea how many monsters he’s been with? I could have caught a fucking disease.”

“Funny, I seem to recall it was you who was the one sticking your tongue inmymouth,” Darian said with a smug smile. Before Kade could push past me, I smacked Darian’s chest with the back of my hand.

“Do youwanthim to pummel you?” I scolded. Of course—because like Kade’s, Darian’s chest was as hard as steel—it hurt like hell, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. Pulling my hand away, I forced myself not to grimace.

“He could try,” Darian said with a confident shrug.

Kade went to spit out another retort, but a crashing sounded in the common room, and we all fell silent. As if the sound was some kind of alarm, Kade and Darian charged from the room, not caring that they were naked.

“Fuck! Would you put those away?” I heard Asher say, and I stifled a laugh as I imagined the demon getting an eyeful of Darian’s and Kade’s raging erections.

Sliding on Kade’s shirt that I’d discarded on the floor, I followed after the others into the common room.

“What the hell are you doing, Ash?” Kade asked, and I looked over to see Asher was collecting blades from the ground near the shelf of weapons, which was tilted toward the floor.

“Of course the fucking thing breaks on my watch,” Asher grumbled.

Kade pinched the bridge of his nose. “Locke just had that new shelf installed. What did you do to it?”

“Nothin’. I went to grab my axes,” Asher defended.

Darian shook his head and turned to me with a lazy smile. “Shall we get back to it, lovely?”

I turned to him and smirked before striding past him into the washroom. I could feel his eyes on me as I left him there, and I only felt a little guilty that he was going to have a serious case of blue balls.

CHAPTER 14

~ Raine ~

BythetimeIfinished bathing away Kade’s and Darian’s scents from my skin, my stomach was a mess of knots. It was the first night of the Week of Orash, and the first time since the choosing that I’d get to see the others from my village. Not only that, but monsters from all the houses of Katakin would be attending to watch the fights, and if I were lucky, I’d learn information about Cara.

I didn’t want to think about the fact that Cara herself might be there. The idea that my sister might attend sounded too easy, and I didn’t want to get my hopes up. But there was definitely the chance that somebody else might know what happened to her, and just admitting that small shred of hope had my fingers shaking with nerves.

I’d just wrapped a towel around myself when there was a light rap of knuckles on the washroom door. “You’d better come out here, Raine,” came Kade’s voice. “She’s already waiting.”

She? They never told me we were expecting company.I hastily finished toweling myself and dressed in a clean leather outfit I’d left neatly folded on the bench.

When I exited the washroom, the shifter Lyr, whom I had met only nights ago, was sitting across from a now-clothed Darian. Like the last time I’d seen her, a long white braid was draped over her shoulder, but this time, pink peony flowers were weaved among her strands, and a different male was standing beside her with his arms crossed.

His body was as wide as Kade’s, and his serious, no-bullshit expression made him seem like he was her personal guard. Thick, wiry muscle covered the monster’s arms, and his skin was a pale gray, almost translucent. He peered at me as though I was a threat who had just walked into the room, and I had the distinct feeling that he wasn’t someone I should be messing with.

Lyr peered up at my entrance, her blue eyes lighting with curiosity, and she lifted from her sitting position on a settee and moved closer to me as if she was analyzing everything about me. Standing still, I waited as she circled me and then stopped in front of me. Instinctively, one of my hands clenched by my side, but from the relaxed postures of Kade, Darian, and Asher, who watched nearby, I had the sense that I didn’t need to worry.

“So this is the newblood you all won’t tell me anything about,” she purred. Her gaze dropped to my clenched fist, and her lush pink lips twitched upward.

“Lyr is here to help you get ready for the party,” Kade said, coming closer to my side.