Page 46 of Minding the Minotaur
She turns and mock glares at me. “Never. You are the most beautiful of all of them.”
I smirk. “Okay, I’ll admit it, I was fishing for that.”
As the road widens out to the central market zone, Tippy has to dodge trikes and other small vehicles. Sammy’s mouth gapes as she stares at the different stalls hawking their wares. The food markets are full of bright colors, and lush-looking fruit and vegetables. She places her palm against the window, as if she’d like to push right through it and get out into the colorful throng.
“It’s incredible, I—I would never have known.” She turns to me, wide eyed. “Where do you grow your fruit and veggies?”
“Under lights in vast market gardens on the edge of level one.”
“That’s just like in Sparkle. They have massive market gardens to the south of the city too, near where my parents live.”
When I don’t answer, she looks at me sharply. “Don’t tell me, monsters taught humans how to grow fruit and vegetables too.”
“Pretty much.”
She growls vehemently. “I hate Sparkle.”
I shake my head. “Your mom and dad and your friends are there.”
“But I’m so much happier here. And if I could bring Clem and Mom and Dad down here, then I’d betotallyhappy.”
“You would?” I ask, racking my brains for ways to bring three other humans into the Labyrinth with no good reason.
“How could I not be? Just look at this place,” she says, smiling. “It’s so vibrant and alive.”
“But not nearly as pretty as Sparkle,” I grumble.
“It’s so much more interesting here. And if all that prettiness is fake, what’s it worth?” she says sadly. “Oh, Arlo.” Her eyes well up. “We humans don’t deserve your sperm.”
“I know one whodoes,” I reply pointedly, and she presses a kiss to her finger and lays it on my lips. My heart almost turns to liquid at how much tenderness there is in that tiny gesture. Truth is, I still don’t quite believe I deserve her. This beautiful human I met by chance in a parking lot, who fate has brought here to guard me. Guardian angel, more like. Sammy is everything I’ve ever wanted in a mate—kind, sexy, giving, funny. The list just goes on and on.
She makes me want to be the best minotaur I can be.
To earn her love. Her respect.
To be the best father to our younglings… Gods, dare I even dream?
I realize suddenly that we’ve stopped moving. Tippy has parked the car round the back of Digger’s Diner.
Happiness fills my heart. Sammy is about to meet my three closest friends. It feels like this is really the beginning of our future together. And while I won’t be able to introduce her as my mate—yet—I’ll take a punt on them guessing.
“C’mon,” I say, flinging open the car door, my snout already twitching to the delectable smell of fried chicken, Digger style. “Let me introduce you to my best buddies.”
CHAPTER 15
SAMMY
Our drive through the center of the Labyrinth has blown me away. I can’t believe how different this place is to Sparkle: vibrant and chaotic, the shops built into the rock walls, lit up with sconces and brimming with all kinds of species, bargaining, gossiping, laughing. Now, as Tippy pulls up the jeep in a side alley and Arlo and I alight, I take in the array of sounds drifting through from the market square, languages that combine squeaks and growls with words I can understand. The smells of spices and delicious food make my nostrils quiver, and I literally jump sideways as a small dragon-like creature flies low over my head.
“Did it see me?” I ask Arlo, worried that word might get back to Otis that we’re out and about.
Arlo shakes his head. “Miniature wyverns are blind as bats. Might have scented you, but humans do come here, so it won’t think anything’s amiss.”
“Like Jax?”
“Yeah, him,” Arlo grunts. I get the sense Arlo still thinks Jax has the hots for me. He’s wrong, of course.
Arlo leads me to a battered black door in a painted black brick façade, barely visible until he pushes it open, and we’re suddenly in a glowing interior with red walls and a round table in the center. Seated at the table are three human-looking guys, which is a surprise—I hadn’t expected Arlo’s friends to be humans. They’re playing cards. Only when Arlo shouts a greeting do they look up.
