Page 10 of Monsters in My Bed
I gasp in shock and swivel to face the hazy blob, and to my fascination, a human face peeks out from the darkness. It’s not the face of a newborn by any means, but a child many months older. His chubby, cherub cheeks jiggle as he chortles, showing off a toothless smile. More of his face peeks out, and I spy his halo of dark curls. The only monstrous thing about his visage are his eyes, glowing bright orange.
My hands seek out Osz and Vizruk as my mind scrambles to understand. Xhoshad said that a Vasura’s eye color directly descended from their father, meaning…
“Mark’s the dad?!”
My mates laugh some more at what they knew—and my other mates—all along. Suddenly, everything clicks into place. My trium’s anger. Although Nerazi and Xhoshad weren’t as vocal as Seriq, they made no bones about their dislike of Mark, who impregnated me right before my green-eyed monster stole me away to Vasuriad. A tornado of emotions swirls through me that I valiantly try to keep at bay, unsure if the baby is still feeding off of them.
“Don’t worry, my mate, he’s formed, only just emerging.”
Osz’ words open the flood dams, and I sob from all the secrets kept from me while my twin monsters rush to console me. Their tongues trip up in their haste, distracting me and pulling a watery chuckle from my lips. At this, the baby giggles again, and a lot of my hurt dissolves—I swear the sound is like magic, a balm for my aching soul.
“We’ll get everything sorted, I promise.” I nod at Vizruk, sighing at the clusterfuck of my life. “For now, go to your baby. He’s ready.”
I stumble up from their laps, my legs as shaky as a newborn colt’s.What do I know about being a mom—let alone one of a tiny but cute monster?Not wanting the baby to sense my trepidation, I paste a smile onto my face, reminding myself that he can sense my emotions. No faking it until you make it, and my grin becomes wry.This little guy is really going to make me toe the line.
“Hi, little one. I’m your mom…I’ve been waiting a while to meet you.”
His face lights up with excitement, as if he understands perfectly what I’m saying, but when I reach out to touch him, his baby face scrunches up and he growls like a feral animal. I snatch my hand away in alarm, skittering back toward my mates, who reach out to me. Vizruk tries to tuck me behind him, and I struggle to remain in front. Ultimately, I land across the twins’ lap, their cocks slapping me in the face. Peels of baby giggles echo around us.
Great.
The kid thinks me getting dick smacked is hilarious.
“It kind of was.”
I glare up at Osz, his sharp teeth on display as his lips stretch wide. Scowling, I push off their lap—and away from their ever erect cocks—to try and approach my baby again. With the same results. He’s all smiles and laughter, his sweet face just hovering in midair while the rest of him stays in shadow form, but the second I get close enough to touch the little guy, he acts like a cornered animal. Baffled, I turn back to my mates.
“Did Mark do this?”
“No,” they answer in unison, and the knot in my belly tightens some more.
Is something wrong with my baby?
Although I know the twins pick up on my silent agony, neither say anything now to comfort me. Instead, they stand and begin talking to the baby in the monstrous language of the Vasura. Vizruk tries first, and then Osz, their voices soft and coaxing despite the sibilant sounds. The baby’s head fully emerges, tipped to the side in consideration, before a tiny fist pokes through the shadowy wisps.
A look of concentration mars his brow as he tries to form another, but the limb refuses to form into anything human, staying a smoky tendril instead. Giving up, the baby turns back to my mates, who grin like proud daddies at their son. They continue to talk to him, coaching my little one to become more and more solid, but he refuses to listen after his torso comes into focus.
In fact, the more my mates push, the darker his face grows—literally—until it morphs into the familiar features of a bogeyman. I glance over at the twins, expecting them to be bursting with joy to have brought out my baby’s monster, but their faces reflect an inner agitation that they quickly wipe away when they catch me looking.
“What’s wrong?”
“Noth—”
“Vizruk!”
His lips curl into a shark’s smile. “You’re cute when you’re like urine at me.”
I glare harder to keep from laughing, knowing the evil man is just egging me on. “What’s wrong?”
“We can’t get the baby to shift completely into human form.”
“Oh, um, I don’t mind if he picks his Vasura form.”
“It’s not that, rodzen,” Osz murmurs. “He refuses to change from his shadow self.”
“And?!”
It’s suddenly like pulling teeth trying to get a direct answer from them.
