Page 69 of Monsters Within (The Creatures We Crave 1)
Alexandra
When I’d gotten back to the dorm, Alora and my monsters were waiting, practically pouncing when I stepped through the door. I swear I heard Lucien hiss like a cat when Alora elbowed them out of the way to throw her arms around my neck in a hug before she stepped back and fretted over me to make sure the nurse had healed me completely.
After convincing her I was perfectly fine, we all settled onto the couch, with Lucien making me sit on his lap for the duration of me filling them in on what had happened with Professor Potestas, Carter, and then Alina in detention.
“I hate that fucker,” Lucien grumbled as he nuzzled into my neck.
“Oh, you don’t say?” Kylo teased before clueing me into the joke that had everyone else laughing. “When you left his office to head to the pavilion, Lucien tried to run after you, but Potestas used one of his runes to constrain him to the corner and told him that he couldn’t come out until he calmed down.”
I laughed so hard my stomach hurt until I managed to wheeze out, “So, I’m assuming that wasn’t until the end of the class?”
Lucien’s growl was answer enough, and I patted his arm that was wrapped around me.
“Time to get ready for the party!” Alora announced, jumping off the couch and running towards my room. “I’m borrowing something, Alexandra!”
I wasn’t sure what exactly she needed to do to get ready for the party, seeing as she somehow still looked immaculate, even after a full day of classes and combat.
“Come on,” she pleaded after emerging from my room and shooting a puppy dog look my way. “I need to start doing your hair and makeup now!”
Oh, she meant it was time to get me ready for the party after she changed. That made a lot more sense.
Lucien’s stomach growled, and he suggested that they cook dinner while we got ready. And by ‘they’ he meant Elwin, who seemed to enjoy cooking. They had already gone back to the guest house and were in varying dark shades of jeans and shirts, so they didn’t need to leave, thankfully.
While I enjoyed spending time with Alora and I didn’t want to be that girl that was attached to her boyfriends’ hips, sometimes I just wanted to feel their presence. If I was being honest, each time they were gone for an extended period of time, a little voice in my head tried to convince me there was a chance they’d disappear back into my fantasy world.
Two hours later, I was grumbling in the chair that Alora had dragged in for me to sit on in her bathroom, and she finally whispered the words I was dying to hear. “Alright, you’re done!”
I was never going to let her turn me into her personal barbie doll ever again. Somehow she convinced me to wash my hair so she could blow dry it the way she wanted for volume before she even started styling it. It was becoming clear that I was terrible at saying no to her, but in my defense, she had a wicked set of puppy dog eyes. I would bet on my life that it got her everything she wanted with her dads growing up.
Pushing from the chair, I groaned at my tight muscles and stretched out before turning to look in the mirror. My jaw dropped at the woman staring back at me. That couldn’t be me. Smokey dark makeup covered my lids, somehow illuminating my purple eyes, and thick, dark lashes that I swore couldn’t be mine drew my focus immediately. Dark purple lipstick that I had tried to fight her on, saying I couldn’t pull it off, stained my lips, and damn, she had been right.
To top it all off, she had parted my hair down the middle, which I thought would look weird on me, but it had so much volume at the top and fell down in soft waves, framing my face perfectly. Reaching up, I felt a small braid she’d done with a piece at the front of my hair and tied off with a clear rubber band near my jaw to let the rest of it flow into my hair.
“You look stunning!” she squealed and clapped excitedly before running to her bedroom, grabbing the clothes she’d chosen for me and shoving them into my hands. “Now for the cherry on top of that sexy sundae.”
Normally I would have pushed back on her dressing me, but I was too in shock with my appearance to do anything other than change into what she gave me. When I’d pulled on the black jeans and corset style bra top, I called out to her as she waited in her bedroom. “Where’s the rest of the top?”
A wicked laugh answered before she popped her head in and waggled her drawn brows. “That is the top. But fret not, bestie boo, I have one of your black hoodies out here for you to take with you to put on if you get uncomfortable.”
I would definitely be throwing that on, but I wanted to see my monsters’ reactions to this look before I did. At least she’d given me my black converse. Thank god for small acts of mercy.
Tugging her into a tight hug, I took a moment to appreciate this friendship blossoming between us. I was so damn grateful for her and the words, “You can call me Alex,” tumbled out of my mouth in my mushy moment.
She didn’t understand the depth of what that meant to me, but she didn’t pry as she pulled back to look at me with a gentle smile. “Okay, Alex. Now go show off to your men,” she encouraged with a playful swat to my ass.
Lucien threatened to eat me for dinner instead of the food they had ready for us, while Kylo was too tongue-tied to make a comment, and Elwin drank me in before coming to my side and whispering, “Don’t think I’ve forgotten about your punishment. I can’t wait to see that lipstick smeared on my cock.”
With Kylo and Lucien watching me, I made sure to smile and act like their brother hadn’t just managed to make my pussy slick in five seconds.
Sounds of music began to blast outside the dorm, signaling the party was getting started. We quickly ate the fettucine alfredo Elwin made before making our way to the heart of the forest where the party was being held.
We grabbed some cups of fae wine and enjoyed ourselves on the dance floor for a bit until Alina popped into my mind, and I announced I was going to look around to see if she’d shown up. They all, of course, wanted to tag along, but I protested enough until they promised to stay put so I’d know where they were when I came back, hopefully with Alina.
I didn’t want to intimidate her or scare her away with a large group of unknown people, and a large part of my argument that I would be okay alone was that I wasn’t leaving the forest. It would just be a quick scan, and then I’d be back.
But it literally only took a few steps until trouble found me. A shoulder knocked into me, hard, almost knocking me on my ass with the unexpected force. “Ow,” I hissed, reflexively rubbing my arm as I turned to find a tall, slender woman with black hair and blue eyes glowering down at me. From her appearance, I couldn’t tell what type of supernatural she was, which was dangerous, but I wasn’t going to keep my mouth shut after it was so obvious she had targeted me.
Before I could say anything, she was lowering her face and hissing, “You think you’re such hot shit?”
