Page 16 of Monsters in My Bed
I hoped that Mark would forget that part since he's new to being a monster, but he never forgets anything. As we sneak back down the tunnels, I finally confess. “Desire and Humor.”
Mark shoots me a speculative glance. “Desire and humor… I’m curious as to howboththose came to be.”
I squirm a little under his scrutiny. “Well, our daughter was born from all of us laughing. I would have thought it was too pure of an emotion, but she seems perfectly fine. She’s beautiful.”
“And so our son was born of desire, then?”
“Yep… he definitely was.”
Mark gives me a stern look. “Elaborate, Alexis.” His deep voice sends a shiver down my spine.
“Osz and Vizruk made me ride their cocks at the same time until I came!”
I blurt out everything in a rush, embarrassed that Mark's making me say it out loud. He blinks, but doesn't seem overly shocked or appalled. Then again, considering the things that he's learned, I suppose nothing could really surprise him anymore.
“There's no need to feel ashamed. Orgasmic birth is something very well documented in the human world.”
I tip my head back and laugh. “That's what I was thinking! I definitely put a new spin on it, though.”
His sensuous lips mold into a smile. “That you certainly did. Is this when they claimed you?”
I blush, my cheeks heating up even more. “No. After.”
Mark chuckles darkly. “You've been a very busy girl, I see.”
More blood rushes to my face, and I’m sure I resemble a strawberry at this point. “You’ll have to reclaim me, too,” I tell him as casually as possible.
He fake sighs, as if completely put off by the idea. “What a shame.”
I bump his shoulder with mine, rolling my eyes. Now that we're in the safety of the tunnels, Mark transformed back into his human body. Even so, he still towers over my petite form. Once upon a time, it would’ve been awkward to walk side-by-side naked, but I'm getting used to everyone's nudity. Still, it does nothing to dispel the electric charge that zips along my skin at Mark’s nearness—but I also doubt a layer of clothing would, either.
When we reach the door, Mark pauses. “You're going to be in a lot of trouble.”
“I know.”
“You really hurt them when you left.” He speaks as if he knows this for a fact, but to be fair, he just knows how he would feel if I did that to him, and I have a lot to atone for.
The second I step through the door, Vizruk and Osz are on me. They growl and snarl in Vasurian as their two sets of hands caress my body up and down, looking for wounds and checking to see if anything is wrong. Mental images flash in my mind, gone before I can even process them. They're nothing but a blur of color backed by a punch of raw emotion.
My stomach rolls as a wave of nausea overcomes me. “Stop—I'm sorry! I shouldn't have left.”
Mark gently comes between my twin mates and me. “Alexis, are you all right?”
“I'm a little dizzy. Osz and Viz were overwhelming me with their thoughts.”
Instantly contrite, my pink-eyed mate and his twin back off, but the anguish on their faces saddens me. I feel guilty for ever having scared them in the first place. I push past Mark to look them in the eyes.
“I'm sorry, truly. It was wrong of me to leave. I thought you were keeping things from me about the prophecy—trying to protect me from what needed to be done—but I was being foolish. I guess sometimes I do feel like I need to prove myself to you all. But also, there's this fear that you're always going to be saving me. That you’ll put me on the sidelines without consulting me because you always want to put me first and protect me. But I want to do the same for you—I want us to be a team.”
Osz reaches out to cup my cheek. “We understand. Seriq messed up and added a lot of pain on top of what you already have. He's fighting his own demons, too, but understand that we are not him. You were right to a certain extent in that we won't do anything that would allow you to be in harm's way. But it's not because we underestimate you or don't believe in you. It's because we cherish you so very much. You are the very air that we need to breathe to live. And whether you want to admit it or not, you are frail compared to us.”
I purse my lips, knowing my purpley-pink eyed mate is right. I’m no monster and compared to them, I’m a China doll, but I don't know how to verbalize that the sinqol did something. It infused me with its essence, and now I feel completely invincible. Vizruk smirks, picking up on my thoughts.
“Even if that’s true, it's not something we're willing to test.”
I nod and hold up my hand to him, pulling away from Osz to kiss his cheek, too. “Thank you for forgiving me.”
Viz pats my head before tracing a claw down his mark. “There's nothing to forgive, but perhaps later we'll punish you.”
