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7

Sev

Someone is making an awful racket at the edge of my wards.

Terribly rude when I am on my back porch, staring into the abyss that I imagine Lake Galen to be.

I am not melancholy.

I refuse to use that label.

I simply lack the motivation to care about anyone or anything in the world at the moment.

Including myself.

The sensation shall pass, as it always does.

But not if that terrible banging continues.

“Seems someone wishes to die today,” I murmur to the cicadas as I push up from my rocking chair.

The wooden seat may appear simple, but the repetitive movement soothes me in a way little can.

My mate could soothe me.

If only I could locate them.

Over two centuries old, and I still have not come across the one I am destined to partner with.

A lesser mythic than me might start to doubt the existence of a fated mate.

But I am a spectacular being.

The gods would not have overlooked me when making destined matches.

They might only wait a stretch of time in order to properly fashion the perfect mate.

Someone who looks …

Someone who is …

Someone who will …

Well, I’m not quite sure exactly what traits the mate of the most powerful monster to exist will possess.

Most likely, they will be in great danger, and I’ll use my wiles and accumulated treasures to rescue them, and they will fall lovingly into my arms to adore me for the rest of their immortal existence.

Immortal.

That. That is the task I should be focusing on.

The preparation I should be making.

After my last plan failed, I should have immediately resumed plotting.

Instead, I’ve been rocking and ruminating.

How dare this interloper interrupt my ruminating?

I stride with fluid grace, my silk robe billowing around my body as I reenter my house and approach the front entrance.

There’s no hesitation as I open the front door, seeing as how my wards will keep any unwanted guests from crossing the threshold.

Especially if they wish me harm.

As the monstrous creature snarling in front of me most surely does.

Even in the dark night, I see him clearly.

Not quite wolf, not quite water creature.

Fur blends with scales—sometimes seamlessly, other places awkwardly.

Paws with elongated toes sport webbing and end in wicked sharp claws.

The face is a terror—a snout sporting fangs that could pierce and tear flesh with ease and a heavy brow over eyes that are dark with promised violence.

I’m almost impressed by the display of fury.

I didn’t think the cowed monster had it in him.

“Ah. Bosephus Folan. You’re looking less stiff than the last time I saw you.”

The monster roars, a deep, rending noise that might make a lesser mythic than me wary.

But I have nothing to fear from this monster.

He is incapable of hurting me.

His surprise arrival is interesting though.

I always suspected that I would know when Bo’s curse was broken.

That there would be a waver in the ether, alerting me to an enemy unlocked from their cage.

Not that Bo had begun as an enemy.

But I’m sure that’s how he views me now.

But there was no doorbell buzz telling me a pissed-off monster was once again free to roam the world and setting his sights on me.

I suppose this makes sense though.

Even though I had sent him on the errand that left him trapped, I didn’t have a hand in the cursing.

“Been a long time.” I stroll out my front door, unconcerned by the slavering beast before me.

One that lets out another tree-shuddering roar at my flippant comment.

In a blink, monster has reverted to man, and I’m proud to realize I recalled close to exactly how Bo had appeared all those years ago.

With as many decades as I have, certain things begin to fade.

“A long time?” He pants while the words come out between low growls.

Sweat slicks his naked body, causing him to glow almost as bright as the moon he’s reflecting.

“Seventeen years!”

“You’re right. Not nearly long enough. Would you like me to send you into an eternal slumber?” I wave my fingers, as if casting a spell.

“At least that way, I could get some peace and quiet.”

It is a jest though.

I have no interest in quieting Bo more than I already have.

This is the most fun I’ve experienced in months.

Maybe years.

“You knew where I was this whole time?”

Of course I did.

I had sent him to Dimitri’s house in the first place.

“You had the power to free me,” he accuses.

I shrug. “Maybe. I’ve never tested myself against dragon hoard protection before.”

False.

The results are … mixed.

“You should have?—”

“Georgiana.” I say the name at a normal volume, cutting him off at the knees.

Bo stumbles back a step and reveals too much vulnerability on his face.

Silly little monster.

“Have you seen her?” I press.

He swallows hard, eyes dropping.

I’ll take that as a soul-crushing yes.

“Your beloved siren is alive. She is well.”

His head gives the barest nods for each of those facts.

“And she never once came to me in seventeen years to ask about you.”

His shoulders bow.

Bo was never a fighter.

Not truly, though that beast form of his could decimate if he ever properly utilized it.

“And in seventeen years, I’ve always considered her debt paid. Despite you failing to uncover what I wanted. An item I have on good authority is no longer in that house.”

His shoulders dip more, likely with the loss of hope.

I savor his reactions.

The monster came to me all those years ago, desperate to save the woman he claimed to love.

His attempt at honor disgusted me.

But more than that, his surety that the siren was his fated mate enraged me.

He thought he had found his mate?

He thought it was her ?

A woman so self-absorbed that I doubt she could’ve picked Bo out in a police lineup.

That is not matehood.

And to hear Bo speak of his one-sided relationship infuriated me.

Still, out of the kindness of my heart, I didn’t kill him.

I simply allowed the monster a few years to consider his actions and those of the people around us.

“Seventeen years of imprisonment for her crime. When you came to me, you said you’d do anything for her. And so you did.” I shrug.

“I am not the one you should be mad at.”

“You would have left me there forever if it wasn’t for the witch breaking my curse,” he snarls.

Interest sparks. “Which witch?”

The man scowls at me.

“Why does it matter?”

“Come now, Bosephus. Share with the class.”

He keeps his lips pressed tight together.

Protecting the mythic who freed him?

How noble.

I roll my eyes.

“I’ll find out on my own then.”

“Leave her out of your trickery,” he snarls.

“I’m not making any more deals with you. If you try to come after any more innocents, you’ll face my claws.”

That earns a chuckle from me.

“My, we are deluded, aren’t we?” I lean toward him, lowering my voice, as if imparting a secret.

“Georgie wasn’t exactly innocent, was she? And no matter what I do, you’ll find you can’t lay a claw on me, Bo Folan.” I tilt my chin toward his hand.

The one he sliced open for a blood vow the night he came to me in supplication.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I have your enchanted loyalty. No attacking me. And”—this time, I grin wide—“no slandering me.”

“Slander?”

“No telling anyone about our little deal. About how you ended up as a yard decoration.”

“It’s not slander if it’s true!”

I shrug.

“No shit-talking then. Label the binding however you wish. Only know that, unless I decide otherwise, you cannot speak or write a word against me.”

All wrath drains from the monster’s face, leaving behind a blank look of hopelessness.

As I said, not a fighter.

“Come now, Bosephus. Don’t be so glum.” I wave a hand back toward Folk Haven.

“The world is new. You’re no longer tied down by that shrew. The way I see it, I did you a favor.”

“You took everything from me,” he whispers.

I grit my teeth, a flare of fury rising in the face of his self-pity.

The jovial tone I’ve effected drips away as I hold his eyes with mine.

“You do not know what it means to have all taken from you, Bosephus Folan. But if you do not leave my territory, I will gladly show you.”

Uncertainty flicks across his eyes as he hears the dark truth in my words.

Then the monster turns his back and shifts into his beast form before stalking away to lick his emotional wounds.

I feel no pity.

For I know what it is like to lose all.