Page 18 of Becoming Monsterous

"Oh?" I bite my lower lip. "Did you like the old Ellie more?"

Aleron blinks suddenly, drawing back from me. "We should go—"

Frustrated, I reach out, grab his collared shirt, and draw him towards me. "Did you? Like me, I mean. Do you still?"

"You know that I do."

"You always say it resentfully," I point out. "To be blunt as fuck, you're downright mean. You act like it's a burden to like me."

He stares down at me with those red-green eyes. A long moment of silence passes, until I think he might never say anything at all.

Finally, quietly, he admits, "It frustrated me to no end, as do you, Ellie Blackburn. Because you're not who I imagined. You're not who I pursued. But somehow, you just... fit. Every moment with you is a revelation, and you never do or say what I expect. So yes, you immature mortal-turned-deity, Ilikelike you. Satisfied?"

"Absolutely." I grin, smoothing his collar and plopping a kiss on his cheek. "Glad you're finally admitting things out loud. Maybe next we'll get you to start therapy."

He growls. "Not on your life."

Chapter15

Ellie

"Alright... this, over here, should be long enough." Aleron throws a black top into my arms and tugs me along behind him. "Here's a nice pair of pants for long legs. This will stretch well if you have to transform back and forth. These... and these..."

I have to say, I've never gone shopping with a man who picked out my clothes before.

Usually it's the other way around: the guy shows absolutely no interest in clothing (down to wearing underwear with holes in it and pants that don't zip up). When I was with Aaron, he didn't even notice that I bought new lingerie.

Lingerie that, of course, was shredded the night he tried to murder me to receive unlimited power. Should've been a sign, looking back.

Aleron is completely different. He's using his powers to shift time and space around us so that we can zip around the outlet store. Every item he picks out for me is carefully held up, tutted over, and thrown into my arms only if it passes muster.

So it's not much of a surprise that I wind up with two arms full of black clothing, much of it leather, some of it stretchy athletic material or thin cotton with lace accents.

"This way." Aleron steps towards me, folds his wings around my body, and tugs me against his chest. "We'll need to see if it fits."

I blink, and we're in a changing room. His body is warm against mine, his hands tightly fitted against my lower back. Unfolding his wings, he draws them against his body and stares at me expectantly.

"Are you... wanting me to undress in front of you?"

He huffs. "I thought we were official now. Isn't this what mortals do with their significant others?"

Sometimes I forget that he's not exactly, well, normal.

Reddening, I point out, "It's kinda weird and gross to have sex for the first time in a department store changing room."

"Sex? Here?" Aleron sounds belligerent and outraged. "Not on your life. We don't have the time for the kind of sex my monstrous side desires—even if I create a time anomaly around us, it will last maybe an hour or two at most."

"Okay. So, no sex." Needing something to do with my hands, I sort through the hangers in my arms and slide them onto the hooks on the wall. "Why are you in the changing room with me then? I can do this all alone without any help, I promise."

"I just want to make sure that the clothing fits you." He's scowling at me now, his eyes mostly green but his brows drawn close together, his expression cross. "I've seen your naked body before. There's no reason to expect that I won't be able to control myself around you."

"Still, can you... turn around? Keep the mystery alive a little?" His scowl deepens. "Just humor me."

"Fine," he snaps, more than a little churlish. "But don't expect to remain this chaste forever. Especially if you continue to stroke my feathers and put your tongue in my mouth."

He sounds disappointed, which makes me think that he reallywaslooking forward to seducing me. I wonder what would've happened if I'd stayed at Occult House instead of running away.

Maybe everything would've turned out differently.

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