Page 35 of Monsters Within (The Creatures We Crave 1)
Lucien just hissed at Kylo. Fates, these monsters were something else.
A huge beige sectional lay sprawling in front of me on a plush black rug, and I quickly kicked my sandals off, walking over it and groaning at the soft material. It was like walking on a cloud. Spying a remote on the coffee table, I turned around and saw a massive flat-screen tv mounted to the wall. Above me was a golden chandelier that I wanted to see light up the room when it was dark tonight.
I felt eyes watching me, and was confused when I saw all three of them staring at me. Taking a glance behind each of my shoulders, I tried to figure out what they were staring at. When I found nothing, I raised my brows and tilted my head. “What?”
Elwin’s cheeks quickly tinted, but he was the first to respond. “It’s just…with the window letting all the light stream against you, you look angelic. Beautiful.”
I hadn’t realized I was standing in a beam of light until he said it, but as I took a step forward to move out of it, feeling slightly awkward with the intensity of their looks, Kylo walked forward and commanded, “No. Step back into the light.”
Without hesitation I did, waiting to see what he was going to do. As he stood in the shadows in front of me, I nibbled on my bottom lip nervously.
“Why did you move when Elwin explained how beautiful you look?” he asked, crossing his arms and causing his biceps to flex with the movement. I really needed to get them shirts. It was getting ridiculous how often I found myself zoning out as I stared at their chiseled bodies.
“I…I, uhm,” I stammered, trying to find the answer myself. Shifting my weight from foot to foot, I offered the only thing I could think of. “I’m not used to being the center of attention, and my natural inclination is to stay under the radar.”
Shaking his head, his dimples deepened as he smiled at me. “Darling, it doesn’t matter whether you’re in the light or in the shadows of the night. You’re the most exquisite woman we’ve ever seen. Nothing will change that, and I want you to see what we see when we look at you.”
“Besides,” Elwin cut in as he floated over, letting go of his hold on his human form and pulling me into his embrace with his bottom hands while cupping my cheek with his top hands, brushing delicately against my skin so as to not nick me with his talons. “We were meant to be in the shadows. But you, love…” he trailed off. “I know in my soul that you were meant to shine.”
I really wasn’t an emotional woman… Or perhaps I was, and I had just suppressed it for so long that it was all catching up to me now that my monsters had found me. As my eyes heated with tears that fell down my face at his sweet sentiment, he brushed them away softly.
As he pulled my body into him, I leaned my face against the green glow in the center of his chest and gasped as an inferno of heat roared through me. I tried to pull back, needing to get as far as possible from whatever was happening, but I couldn't; it was like my face had melded to his body.
The intensity of his color brightened as I saw Kylo and Lucien shifting, flashing over to me with ease, trapping me between them. Before I could ask what they were doing or what was happening, darkness stole me away.
