Page 12 of Monsters Within (The Creatures We Crave 1)
Alexandra
Despite not seeing any tampering in my room from Chloe with my quick scan, I couldn’t shake the notion that she’d done something. My head was full of possibilities: poisonous plants rubbed against my bedding or clothes, drugs planted somewhere I couldn’t see so she could report me, or a camera hidden somewhere to watch me.
The last one was the reason I refused to change clothes or take the hoodie off before I went to bed. No way would I give her or anyone the satisfaction of having me naked on a recording to use against me.
The invasion of privacy was a violation I couldn’t forgive. Making me uncomfortable in my own room was likely the worst thing someone could do to me.
Talk all the shit you want about me. Make up a terrible rumor with me at the center of it. No problem. They could say I slaughtered all the puppies of the world in one night while smiling in delight, and I’d ignore it just fine.
But to take away my only safe haven in this world? I felt like I was coming apart at the seams mentally.
Needless to say, sleep was not coming to me easily tonight. Tossing onto my right side for what felt like the hundredth time, I let my eyes open, done trying to force sleep to come when it was so adamant on eluding me. Glancing at my alarm clock on my nightstand, I groaned when I saw it was just a minute past midnight.
Happy birthday to me. No sleep was my present.
A tingling sensation ran down my spine, causing me to shiver in anticipation, but of what I wasn’t sure.
Until three shadowy figures came into view, slowly but surely.
My knee-jerk reaction was fear, because shit like this didn’t happen here in the human realm. At least it had never happened to me or anyone I knew.
I was paralyzed with fear, unable to move as my wide eyes stayed fixated on the apparitions forming. What could they be? Demons?
Shit, I was so out of my league here. Despite soaking up all the information that I could on the supernatural species and their realms, nothing could prepare me for facing off with any of them.
“There’s no need to be scared, love,” a gentle voice soothed, and recognition sparked in my mind. That was Elwin’s voice, and only he called me love.
But how…how was that possible? My mind had to be playing tricks on me, deceiving me into thinking I was hearing what I wanted to.
“We’re here, darling,” Kylo’s voice rumbled from the right side of the shadowed group.
My heart rate spiked at the second confirmation it was really my monsters. My gaze dropped as their colored chests and network of veins up to their eyes came into view.
Blood red eyes stared back at me, and instantly my mind and body seemed to come alive at the memory of the last time we had been together in my story. Our first time being intimate with one another, and it had been so rudely interrupted just as it was getting good.
“Hey, angel,” the deep and sensual voice of Lucien breathed.
Pushing up from my bed, I stared at them, completely gobsmacked. This couldn’t be real. It literally was impossible for the creatures I had spent my life drawing and writing stories about to be here with me in reality.
With the wine buzzing through my head before bed, it was likely my fantasy of them being in my room had followed me into my unconscious state.
I had to be dreaming. A lucid dream, to be specific.
When my nerves settled down enough for me to form words, I blinked rapidly at them before whispering, “Fuck me sideways.”
That’s what had to come out of my mouth? Of course it was.
I wanted to face-palm at the awkwardness, but then I reminded myself it was a dream, so who cared? I was in absolute shock and couldn’t be held responsible for the nonsense that streamed from my mouth.
Trying again, I asked, “Why are you three here?”
Lucien growled, the sound rumbling through the small room as Kylo answered, “Because you called us to you, darling. That’s how it always works with us, right?”
Man, this was such a weird dream, but it was absolutely one I wanted to make the most of, considering I didn’t know when I’d have it again. These dreams had never felt so tangible and real before, and I’d had a terrible night, so this was exactly what I needed.
“Yeah, sure,” I hedged before nibbling on my bottom lip and saying, “I’d offer for you guys to sit or lay down, but I don’t think my bed is big enough for all of us.”
“Wrong,” Lucien snarled before suddenly changing into his human form, appearing with only black joggers on, and lunged for me. Sweeping me up into his arms and pulling me against him, he whirled around until he was sitting at the top end of my bed and laid back until he rested against the wall.
