Page 73 of My Monster's Keeper
Wilder is silent for a moment.
“Tell me about all the wild places.”
Relief fills me, and I focus on the subject and lean into it so I can stop worrying about Puppy.
“There are so many I have wanted to go to,” I say wistfully. “There’s an ocean that’s so salty you float on the surface. Islands with waterfalls, and caves with their own ecosystems. Forests with trees that are so big you can’t even fathom their trunks. Beaches, deserts, mountains.”
“Why didn’t you ever travel?”
“I never had the money, and Grant was here, and it was just home. I know this city, I know what to expect, and all the streets were familiar.”
Wilder nods.
“One day, though.” I frown. “I should have been dead a thousand times, but this is different. This time, I’m going to really live. I’m not going to be afraid.”
I lean my head on Wilder’s shoulder, smiling slightly when he inhales and sighs.
“Are you afraid of anything, Wilder?”
“Yes,” he says slowly. “I’m afraid I’ll end up back in the Unseelie Court, chained like a dog.”
“I wouldn’t let that happen. We’d come rescue you, wouldn’t we, Puppy?”
When had the Grim come back? And how did I know?
“And eat them, yes!”
He lets out a hiss and then sits down in his human form in front of us.
“Thank you,” Wilder says.
The warmth in my chest grows, and I feel happy.
“You have your hooks in me, deep, soul deep now. There’s no escaping you, Becky Dawson,” Wilder murmurs.
“We’d come for you, too, Puppy,” I whisper.
He pauses, cocking his head. “Why?”
“Because. We’re friends now, I guess.”
He considers this. “Friends?”
“Yep. And friends get friends chicken.”
Puppy sits up straighter. “Chicken?”
“Yep. Fried chicken.”
Five minutes later, Stix and Frost show up with four buckets of chicken and a bag of fries.
We sit in peace, eating in silence, when I get an idea.
“Hey, Puppy, have you seen a zoo before?”
Chapter 21
Becky
