Page 12 of Monsters in Love

We land in a heap. It is not the back alley of the club nor are we surrounded by Bronn’s men or the freed hostages.

Instead, a blanket of stars stretches over us. The sky is so black that it looks solid. “Where are we?” I ask.

Bronn looks around. “We are still inside of what we call the Minotaur’s Labyrinth. This section is closer to where we need to be, with more stability to open a portal, so that is good. This portion also lacks the emergency defense mechanism present in the Hollow.”

“You mean the one that goat man kept threatening about the House swallowing anyone who steps out of line?”

“Yes, that’s the one.”

I can feel the other shoe about to drop. “That’s good, huh? Then what’s the bad?”

His forehead crinkles, and his mouth quirks as if he’s about to say something, but changes his mind. “Since we are still in the labyrinth, they can still track our location.”

Of course. “How are they able to track us when we were spit out at some random location?” I ask.

He spares me a look. “I will answer your question, but we must be on the move.” Before I can ask what he means, he hauls me over his shoulder.

“Yeah, I’m not in love with this position. I feel like I might get sick all down your back.”

With barely a grunt, he shifts my body so that I’m slung in front of him. Bronn picks up the thread of our conversation, as if picking up lost girls and trampling through an overgrown forest is an everyday occurrence that is not worth remarking upon. “You asked how they can track us, though we were transported to some random place,” he says. “The Taurine guards can guide the satyr and his minions the same way that I know where we are in this labyrinth.”

The way he holds me, and the cadence of his speech, is comforting. For the moment, I can forget that there are flesh traffickers after me and I’m in this surreal underworld where myths like a Minotaur’s Labyrinth is an actual place.

“Taurines are native to the winding ways of the labyrinth. It used to be a portion of our home world that’s since been destroyed. This was the only bit that our ancestors could save. It has since grown to be an underbelly of sorts, where only the exiles and outcasts of society go.”

“Great,” I say. “Sounds homey.”

The corner of Bronn’s mouth lifts into a charming half-smile. His entire demeanor changes with just that slight change. Gone is the dour, no-nonsense authority figure—though if I’m honest with myself, is still kinda hot—instead, he looks younger and more approachable. And the way his hair curls over his forehead and into his eyes, tempting me to brush it away for him as his hands are currently fully occupied…

““The leftover bits of the labyrinth, what’s cobbled together today, were originally meant for prisoners; it is not meant to support a full on colony. There are too many of us to be housed on one colony, so we are scattered throughout the galaxy. A central station that we call the Nexus monitors a truly stable wormhole that allows us to travel to each hub. I lead the hub of House Nighthold.”

It’s a good thing he can’t see me. My face is a dead giveaway for my moods, and right now it’s an embarrassing beacon for how attracted I am to Bronn right now. “And where is that hub located?” I ask.

Focus on the nice rescuer’s words. Stop trying to calculate how much he weighs, or approximating girth based on palm sizes…

“Partly on the Nexus, partly in Terra Prime, and another part…elsewhere. It balances between three or four worlds depending on the time of year.”

“That seems so hard to navigate. I can barely keep up with Daylight Saving and multiple time zones.”

Bronn laughs, a warm, inviting sound that makes me melt. “For Taurines, it is natural to navigate their own territories. Especially here, on what was once our home world.”

I desperately scour my short-term memory to piece together what he had been saying. Flipping past the torrid mental images of riding him or being railed by him, I settle on the last thing I recall. “So basically, any native, regardless of the generational gap, can sense their way around here because it’s their native soil. It’s how you instinctively know where you are? And how the Taurine guards can track me?”

“Not track you, per se. Just know where you are. Which is why, if we cross paths with them, the Taurines need to be taken out first. It won’t be easy, since the labyrinth will want to protect them as much as us.”

“If it were up to me, I’d take out goat man and his little rape-y cronies.” I nestle into Bronn, seeking his warmth. God, he smells so good. He is all my favorite things wrapped up in one powerful body. With him, I forget to be scared. “Most of the guards were doped up. That Cyril you killed was one of the few exceptions. Most of the rest I saw were empty dolls. Like they were nothing more than robots. Cut the goat man off, and whoever he serves, and maybe those guards become less zombie, more normal.”

Bronn’s chest rumbles as he ruminates on my words. They may be silly thoughts, but he doesn’t trivialize them. “You may be right, Karis. I did not think about the probability that the guards could be victims. Your perspective is wise.”

My heart soars at his praise. “Will your team be able to pinpoint our location, too?”

“Unfortunately, no. I left my communication device in the Viper’s Nest. There is an old transportation hub in one of the temples. It was one of the original gateways. There are only a select few that can activate it. The problem is, the location is not exactly secret, so it will be logical of a hunting party to assume that is a potential exit point.”

Knowing my luck, they would already be there, waiting for us. “Is that where we’re going now?”

“No, we are going in the opposite direction. At least for a little while.”

“And then what?” I ask, not sure if I really want to know the answer.

---