Page 4 of Wishing Upon a Monster (Monster Brides Romance #40)

Aurora

“WE NEED BACKUP!” Kenny yelled into his walkie, his sword gripped in his other hand as he leapt over a downed tree. “There are like fifty red caps, we need Rocio!”

Had they not been trying to eat us, the red caps could have been cute.

They looked like three-foot-tall red cap mushrooms, with little chubby arms and legs.

But unlike with actual mushrooms, the brim of the cap opened up, revealing an unnecessarily large mouth, filled with rows of sharp teeth.

Don’t even get me started on the venom. They enjoyed flesh and weren't picky about what kind they got.

“She’s too big, Kenny!” I yelled, my legs pumping while my hands gripped two small stiletto daggers that might as well have been pea shooters for all the good they would do me with this mob. “She can’t get through the trees. We need water, or at least some place to defend!”

Selene let out a terrifying yowl, her black panther fur dappled by errant sunbeams as she charged ahead, taking a sharp right with Cece holding on for dear life on her back.

I had faith that Selene could smell one of the many bodies of water that dotted the one hundred and fifty-six-acre monster preserve that surrounded the Eastwood River.

Or, if not, that she knew of a place we could mount a defense until help arrived.

We were all equipped with trackers, so it wasn’t a matter of being found; it was a matter of being found in time.

As we ran, I cursed my inability to live a normal life.

I’d signed up for it, sure, but times like this, I wondered if I’d made the right choice.

As a magicless child of two Magic Users, I always had something to prove.

The Talentless , they call us. So, being the amazing beam of sunshine my name suggests, I burst my way into spaces I had no business being in.

Aurora, the new dawn of absolute stupidity.

I could have quietly left the magical world, married a nonmagical being, and had a few kids by now.

But no. I had to show everyone—who, in hindsight, didn’t matter—my worth, and thirteen years later, here I was running for my life.

All because I woke up one day when I was twenty-seven and said, “I’d like to fight monsters, that seems safe. ”

I’ve gotten out of worse scrapes than this before; surely, some more of that fool’s luck will pop up.

I grimaced as I ducked under large branches, uncaring when the little ones tugged on my forest camo printed uniform or grabbed some of my golden hair from my bun.

Who am I kidding? Most days, I fucking love my job.

I let loose a tongue trill.

“There’s something WRONG with you, Rorie!” Kenny hollered, his blond head dipping under a branch.

“My therapist can confirm!” I volleyed back as we burst into a clearing filled with shaggy grass, overgrown bushes, and a pond. Goddess, please let that pond be deep and free of flesh-eating monsters!

Cece leapt off Selene’s back, her snakes rioting around her head, blue and gold scaled beauties, biting and hissing at the approaching threat.

Cece was one of the many daughters of Medusa, having chosen to take up the mantel to punish not just men but any being that threatened the peace of her home and people.

I skidded to a stop next to them just as Cece threw off her sunglasses, her silver eyes flashing.

It was a common misconception that Medusas couldn’t control who they turned into stone.

With practice, they could control their powers.

Cece was certainly old enough, but old habits die hard.

And I had to admit, the gold-tone aviators were badass.

“Are we going to do this?” I asked the others while Kenny shoved the walkie close to his ear.

“––Weller’s Pond,” Yari’s voice crackled over the speaker, “It’s deep enough to drown them in should you need to retreat. I’m sending Rocio and, hopefully, Isla to your location.”

Which is all well and good, but we were sent to clean out the infestation. We are going to have to face them at some point, backup or not. Might as well get this done!

Selene roared as the first of the red caps barreled through the foliage.

Kenny started muttering, focusing on the black obsidian stones embedded in the hilt of his sword. Magic arched of the blade, cutting into three red caps. They exploded in a cloud of flaming spores that landed harmlessly on nearby plant life.

I flipped my daggers into attack position and went to work slashing and stabbing the beasties with glee.

I wouldn't say I was a berserker like the ones in the old ballads, but I did slip into a headspace where the fighting just flowed and the pain wasn’t as urgent.

I almost felt like this was what I was made for; this was my purpose.

And then something knocked me off my high horse.

“INCOMING!” Cece yelled, turning another red cap to stone.

The sky darkened, and the red caps, being creatures of very little brain, stopped moving, which allowed us to get in a few more hits as Rocio, in her Cuélebre form, descended from the sky.

Her wingspan was magnificent. She was technically a dragon, but she looked more like a serpent with massive wings, violet scales shining as she shot fire from her maw.

Strangely, the red caps did not falter or retreat; they met her as she landed, stupidly abandoning us for the possibility of a bigger meal. She roasted the red caps in front with her fire while the rest of us gathered at the rear, cutting them down from behind.

We moved like a well-oiled machine, as we should, with the amount of training we put in.

Perhaps that thought made me overconfident.

Because on my next thrust, I overshot, and my wrist, unprotected by my uniform, slid sickeningly slowly along the sharp edge of a red cap’s teeth.

I sucked in a painful breath, the sting of the venom throwing me out of the zone and causing me to stumble.

I was too close to Rocio’s tail, and I knew better.

Gods, I knew better, but for some reason, I didn’t drop my weapon when I fell forward.

My dagger found just the right gap in her scales, piercing her hide.

With a bellow, she snapped her tail, and I, still attached to my dagger, went flying through the air.

I had, in fact, not trained for this.

This is going to fucking suck, I thought, trying in midair to curl myself into a loose ball as protection against whatever topographical feature decided to stop my current motion–– a tree, the ground, rocks, red caps––this was going to hurt.

But my special brand of luck kicked in like it always did, not quite as good as real luck, but a passable imitation of it, and I cannonballed right into the pond.

I tumbled underwater, the breath knocked out of me as the venom made my responses in the murky water sluggish.

I thrashed, trying to figure out which way was up, resisting the urge to take a breath, to succumb to the panic flooding my veins.

For once in my godsdamned life, I wish the gods would take pity on me and save my ass!

I felt a shockwave move through the water, and my body stilled, as if it were anchored to the muddy ground below. My lungs no longer felt tight, the need to breathe halting unnaturally.

“Very well, golden one, I accept you as the balance owed,” a dark rusty voice said from below.

Something large and black rose from the deep, red lights glinting from two points within the mass like eyes.

Inky tendrils wrapped around me, blocking out what little light there was.

I was enfolded in darkness, the need to breathe returning as I gasped in air instead of water.

The taste of petrichor filled my nose, that damp smell of the earth, of fall.

What in the everloving fuck?! I struggled against the obsidian bands.

“I am, as you wished, saving your ass,” The voice whispered in my ear, “but I am reluctant to return you to the surface. Do you care for the beings above? ”

“Yes! How are you in my head?”

“It’s best not to ask the gods why they do what they do, min guldklump, you just thank them for doing it,” he said, his voice rough in my ear. “You seem to be the sort of human who would throw yourself back into battle. Shall I end it for you?”

“That would be great,” I responded, my mind fuzzy.

“You are injured,” he tsked, the sound echoing in the darkness, “I will have to do this quickly so I may heal you. Let us rise.”

We ascended, and for all intents and purposes, I felt like I was going up in an elevator.

The darkness surrounding me receded, and the sounds of fighting became clearer.

The shadowy tendrils solidified, and an overly long arm appeared, banding around my waist. I felt myself slipping and wrapped my legs around what was now a torso––a large torso, aligned so my eyes were parallel to a nipple–– that I shouldn’t be staring at!

I could feel the blood draining from my face as I looked up and up and up, casting my gaze over a grin accentuated with many sharp, triangular teeth, past a flat place where a nose would be, and finally staring into a pair of ruby red eyes.

He had no hair, no ears, nothing a human face would have, and everything that would make a rational being pee themselves.

I squeaked, clutching onto the Eldritch horror that saved my life.

He chuckled, “ Min guldklump, you surprise me.” He pointed with his free hand, a thick flaxen rope with gold threaded throughout on his inky-black wrist.

Shadows stretched from the underbrush, the trees, my team, and every blade of grass, swarming the red caps. They opened their mouths in silent screams before they dissolved into nothingness. Soon, only the stone red caps transmuted by Cece were left .

Oh hell. I swallowed, my throat feeling thick, my injured hand throbbing.

“Not quite, we’ve no time for the afterlife.” He muttered, pulling my hand to his mouth.

I didn’t even think to pull away as he placed my wrist up to his lips—did he even have lips?—and began to suck on my wound.

I stared numbly as he drew out the poison, heat invading my system with each draw. I don’t even… is this sanitary?

The horror chuckled, the sound corroded and unnatural to my ears. I shivered.

We floated across the lake to where my team stood, worse for wear. Rocio towered over the group protectively, still shifted, with Selene standing guardedly in front of Kenny and Cece, their weapons still drawn as they noted our approach.

“Who are you?” Cece demanded when we settled in front of the group, stepping up to us as if she were the same height as my Stygian savior and not roughly at his waist.

He lowered my wrist from his lips, licking the wound one last time. “I am none of your concern,” he paused, “you are welcome, if my––what is the word?” he looked down at me, his crimson eyes locking with mine, “contracted? Perhaps. If she had not wished so broadly, you would have died.”

“Contracted?” Kenny looked bewildered as I felt.

Selene’s fur rippled before she released her shift. She snapped back into her human form, her enchanted uniform, specially crafted to shift with her, covering most of her tawny skin.

“Contracted, you have made a trade?” she asked, her arms crossed, her chin stubbornly forward. “What did she offer?”

He grinned down at her, his bright white teeth stark against his raven-colored skin, “Trade is such a crude word. She wished. ”

“What did she wish for then, shadow man?”

“’For once in my godsdamned life, I wish the gods would take pity on me and save my ass.’ There just happened to be a god close by, and she had payment.”

“Oh, for fucksake, Aurora!” Cece hissed, her snakes flat against her head, “You wished to save your life!”

“I didn’t know that was taboo!” I whisper-yelled back.

He gently took my chin between his thumb and forefinger and turned my face upwards towards his ruby gaze, “As a god of wishes, if you have payment, I am bound to grant that wish. I took all the gold you had on you: your necklaces, the earrings, even some of your hair.”

I pulled my chin away from his grip, my hands going to my scalp, then to my bun.

My hair was barely wrapped in my elastic, and with a pull and a shake, I gasped at my now shoulder-length golden hair.

“Your wrist,” I grabbed his massive hand with both of mine to get a better look.

What I had mistaken for rope earlier was my hair, woven into a bracelet; the bits of gold flattened into little tubes along the band.

“Your wrist as well, min guldklump. Though I have all of the gold you possess, your wish was priceless, so you became the rest of the payment.”

Rocio’s form shimmered with golden light before she solidified in her human form, golden-skinned, with a dusting of shimmery violet scales around her golden eyes, cheekbones, and down the sides of her neck.

Her navy-blue pajamas, so out of place among the camo combat uniforms, reminded me we had woken her up to save our asses.

“You’ve made her your bride,” she sighed, kneading her temples.

I stared at the onyx bracelet with gold beads that wrapped around my previously unadorned wrist. “I’m his––WHAT?!” I screeched.