Page 25 of The Monsters Within

She wasn’t here. She knew I would follow her. Where the fuck did she go? I checked the closet just to be sure and then left the room.

It was a fool’s errand, but I checked every fucking door on every floor. She was here somewhere, and I’d be damned if I let her hurt herself because I was being an asshole.

When I made it back to the main room, I scanned it twice. Still no Rose. Mimic was sitting on the couch reading to Charlie, Chrissy, and Tabby. That meant Ellie was here. But where?

“She’s outside with Ellie.”

I turned to find Ryder standing behind me. I closed my eyes and let out a long exhale.

“Beck told Ellie about what happened the other night. Makes sense now why she kept going to the bathroom.”

“I need the old ladies not to fucking gossip about her.”

“They aren’t. They’re worried. Ellie especially. She had a friend back home. Someone who was hurting herself. Not in the same way, but doing it, nonetheless. Ellie lost that friend. She doesn’t want to lose another. She really likes Kytten.”

“She won’t lose her.”

I turned to leave, and Ryder caught my arm. “You can’t fix her any more than you could fix Rachel. She has to want the help.”

I didn’t respond. Ryder was right. Rose didn’t want the monsters. That was why she clung to me. She said I made them quiet. Quiet was good, but it meant they were still fucking there.

I walked outside, searching for my woman. I had to apologize and beg her to forgive me. But she also had to understand that there would never be a day that I didn’t worry about her. A day that I wouldn’t fear losing her.

I never thought about losing Rachel. I worried she would lose me. That my life, my position in the club, put a target on my back. One the officers faced that the patched brothers didn’t.

I found them out back. Rose paced back and forth, her hands waving in the air while Ellie sat in a chair, listening to whatever Rose was saying.

I watched her for a few minutes. Her hands never went to her legs. She didn’t scratch; hell, she didn’t even touch them. It had only been a week, and I knew she was far from cured, if she could even be cured. But Mellie underestimated the effect she had on her. Without knowing it, Mellie had helped her.

At least a little.

I caught Ellie’s eye, and I gave her a chin lift. She read my mind and shook her head. Letting me know she had my woman. She would be protected.

Chapter Eight

Kytten

I shouldn’t have punched Cash. I knew that. But he was treating me like a fucking child. I wasn’t a child. I was twenty-one fucking years old.

I stormed down the hallway, intending to go upstairs until I saw the door that led to the backyard. I shoved through it and walked toward the woods.

I was so incredibly angry with him. I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I had been this angry at anyone. And then I stopped in my tracks. Because I did remember.

I remembered everything. I remembered how sad I had been. How forgotten I felt. And how angry it made me when it happened.

Standing in the open field, I stared at the woods. I wanted to run into them and hide. To never come out.

They were coming.

I could hear them.

It was getting harder to hear them, but they were still there.

Still waiting for me to fuck up and call them out. Reach for them so I wouldn’t have to feel any of it.

My hand went to my leg, and I scratched. I knew what I was doing. It was how we communicated.

They began to stir, and I scratched, calling them to the surface.