Page 17 of Monsters Within (The Creatures We Crave 1)
Kylo
Holding Alexandra in my arms for the first time while she slept was like nothing I’d experienced before. She fit so snugly in my grip, and despite Lucien leaning against me and her, it was the most comfortable I could ever remember being.
Gazing down at her serene face while she slept might have been a little creepy if she saw me, but I couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t look away.
I had so many damn questions running through my mind. She had claimed we had been figments of her imagination from stories she’d written, but how was that possible after all the time we had spent together? The memories we had shared with her had clearly been real from the emotional response they evoked when we spoke of them.
“How’re you holding up?” Elwin whispered, as to not wake up sleeping beauty and the beast.
They had both quickly dozed off, but it seemed Elwin and I had too much on our minds to do the same.
“I’m just so confused. How could we have been figments of her imagination, but to us, we’ve lived our lives?”
Silence ensued as he mulled it over. I wasn’t going to push him to answer; I knew he would when he truly had something to say. He wasn’t a man of many words, but when he did speak, there was a reason for it.
Soon enough, he sighed and offered, “Think of where we go when she hasn’t been with us in our reality.”
Easy question. We went into our respective rooms and fell asleep.
“Now think about where our rooms are in that world and how we get to them when she leaves.”
My brows scrunched together as I tried to do as he said, but my brain was coming up completely empty. How was that possible?
“I can’t,” I admitted on a frustrated sigh. “I just know my room is there and I’m in it when she isn’t with us.”
He hummed in response before asking, “What’s going on in the world outside of our bedroom while we sleep? How does it operate, and how many people or creatures are out there?”
Wracking my brain for an answer, I grunted as I came up blank once more. Alexandra shifted her head and mumbled something incomprehensible at my sound. Holding my breath, I waited to see if I had woken her, but thankfully she stilled, and soon enough her breathing was even against my chest again.
Brushing a stray strand of hair that had fallen across her eyes back behind her ear, I felt my dimples deepen as I smiled.
“Everything we know lines up with what she knows,” Elwin whispered. “If she says we are from stories she wrote, what if we only remember what’s written in them? Nothing less and nothing more?”
The concept was making my brain hurt. Elwin had always been the logical one amongst us, and if this is where his brain was heading in terms of understanding our situation, I was going to believe it. It was fucking crazy, but this was the first time Alexandra hadn’t blinked out of existence.
Never before had we spent a night together like this, let alone slept together. With Lucien asleep, it was another indicator that this was unlike any other time. When we slept, we never dreamed the same dream, and we did not share rooms.
“If all of that is true,” I hedged, still a bit shell-shocked but trying to process his words, “why do we have thoughts and memories like real, breathing creatures, and how did we somehow meld with her true reality now?”
Sighing, he rubbed his hands against his face. “I have those same questions, brother, and unfortunately no answers. Time will tell all, though.”
He had so much faith that everything would always work out the way it should. I wished I shared his same belief. Perhaps I used to a long time ago, but it felt like every time I sucked the negative traits from a human’s soul, my own outlook on life was tainted a bit more.
The only thing I believed in was my love for Alexandra and my brothers, but now I couldn’t help but question if even that was real. The way my body ached for her and my need to see a smile on her face felt so damn real, though.
We fell into companionable silence until the soft glow from the rising sun began to stream through her windows.
A heavy thud sounded at her door, jolting Lucien awake, meanwhile Alexandra somehow still snoozed on my chest. As I looked at her, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the scowl on her face. She was asleep and still pissed off at whoever was banging. It was adorable.
Lucien swiftly jumped off of the bed, strolling to the door like he owned the place as he ran a hand through his black messy hair. Undoing her locks, I watched as he yanked the door open, revealing a woman at the door.
Her jaw dropped as she glanced at Lucien, but then her face really expressed her shock as she stared at us on the bed. As Lucien followed her gaze and understood where she was looking, he yanked the door half closed behind him as he stepped into the hall.
I was appreciative of that, because it felt wrong to let someone outside of our group see her sleeping. The primitive and animalistic side of me despised the thought of her being in a vulnerable situation with an intruder.
I’d have to wake her up soon if this stranger didn’t go away shortly.
Their voices carried through clearly, and I groaned as Lucien purred, “You wouldn’t happen to be Chloe, would you?”
