Page 36 of Monsters Within (The Creatures We Crave 1)
Alexandra
My head throbbed, a steady thrum of pain slamming against the walls of my mind. Groaning, I opened my eyes and found myself lying on my back, staring up at a vaulted ceiling with dark, exposed wooden beams. I didn’t recognize where I was, but I knew I was safe with all three of my monsters staring down at me.
Gasps came from all three of them, concerning the hell out of me, and I quickly asked, “What the fuck happened?”
Even though it had been clear they were involved, I never once thought it was malicious or intentional on their part.
As I waited for one of them to respond, I pushed myself up from the bed gingerly, causing them to fall back enough to let me move. We were in a beautiful, bright room with white walls, crown molding, and a dull glow passing through the windows on the wall to the right of the bed.
In front of the windows lay two beige oversized chairs with a table between them. It was the perfect reading nook, and I attempted to push from the bed to check it out, but found my arms giving out quickly.
Damn, my body was seriously sore all over.
“Take it easy, love,” Elwin cooed as he steadied me, settling me back against the headboard gently. “You knocked out after something fused us all together.”
The memory of feeling stuck to his glowing chest came back as the grogginess began to wear off. "What do you mean all of us? It was just with you.”
They exchanged silent looks that I couldn’t understand, frustrating me to no end. “Just tell me,” I demanded softly. “Keeping me in the dark won’t do any of us any good, I promise.”
Kylo was quick to take over the conversation as he reached out and gently tugged on a strand of my hair. “How do you feel?”
I didn’t want to argue with them to tell me what happened, but it was still simmering inside of my mind that he was once again avoiding what I wanted from this conversation. The little energy I had was going into keeping my eyes open and my body awake, though, so I didn’t fight him.
“Like I got hit by a bus,” I admitted, leaning forward to fluff up the pillows that were behind me, but Elwin was quick to do it for me. I had a feeling that this bed would normally feel incredible, given that it appeared no expense had been spared in these homes, but as it was, it could have been uneven rocks beneath my back and I wouldn’t have known the difference.
My skin began to tingle and a heat flushed my face, but I ignored it, remembering how warm the climate in this sector was. The weather combined with passing out was probably what was making my skin prick uncomfortably.
Lucien hadn’t spoken yet, which was really odd, given his usual chatterbox ways. Glancing down at him closer to the foot of the bed, I cocked my head. “What’s wrong?”
The air was full of uneasy energy, and it was making me anxious as hell.
His usual playful mirth was gone as his blood-red eyes stared back at me, slightly narrowed. His voice shook as he spoke, like he barely had a handle of his anger. “We were incapable of stopping whatever happened to you. We didn’t do our job to protect you. We weren’t strong enough.”
“No—” I began to rebut, hating the way he was putting himself and the others down as if they were at fault or that they’d hurt me, but I was cut off by Kylo.
“Darling, you don’t understand.”
Frustration welled up from within me until the bubble of emotion burst. “So explain it to me!”
A knock sounded, echoing through the house, drawing their attention. Elwin was the only one seemingly not on high alert, for he looked quickly back to me and took my hand in his large one and squeezed. “I’ll stay here and explain it to her,” he announced. “I’m sure that’s Victoria with our supplies if you guys want to go help her.”
Lucien growled, eyes narrowing as his face whipped back to us at the same time Kylo protested, but I held my hand up, done with the tense energy and their inability to explain what happened to me. “Please, go help Victoria. I want to talk to Elwin, and my head is throbbing, so, please don’t argue.”
I saw the moment Kylo deflated, and he grabbed a snarling Lucien and shoved him out of the room as he went, closing the door shut behind them. My body must have tensed without me realizing, because my shoulders sagged in relief. I was immensely grateful that they hadn’t fought me too hard.
“Can I hold you?” Elwin asked, a welcome change in the dominating masculinity that had been suffocating me previously.
Patting the bed beside me in welcome, I smiled up at him. “You never have to ask to touch me, Elwin.”
Despite the heat I felt, I didn’t want to rebuff his show of affection.
Uncertainty flashed in his emerald eyes. “Which form would you prefer me to be in when I lay with you?”
The question confused me, and honestly wounded me, until I realized where it was coming from. They’d been in their human forms so much recently, but that was because it was the safest way to ensure they weren’t outed for not being human while in the Ordinarius plane with me.. I mean, that was before the magical bounty hunters found us anyways.
This wasn’t about my preference though. I wanted him to feel comfortable, so I turned the question around on him. “Which would you prefer to be in?”
He took a few moments to answer, as if giving it serious consideration before he turned back into his golden boy human form. Honestly, I was shocked at his decision, and I needed to ensure he hadn’t chosen that because of me.
