Page 17 of Monster's Obsession

Nothing happened. I was helpless out here, bouncing along like an astronaut walking on the moon, except I wasn’t attached to the ship and I didn’t have a jetpack that would counteract the lack of gravity.

This was why first years weren’t supposed to travel via mirrors, huh?

I was on the verge of panic. No one knew I was out here. I couldn’t wave my hands to pull anyone’s attention through the mirrors. Did that mean I’d stay out here forever? Well, until I starved to death, I supposed.

What a horrible way to die. The next time someone chose to travel this way, would they accidentally bump into my carcass?

Oh yeah, I was in full-blown panic mode now.

Glancing to my left as I floated past yet another mirror in the endless line of them, I spotted someone standing there, looking as though they were searching for something instead of preening.

Asmoday! I’d never been so happy to see someone in my life. And when we made eye contact, I was over the moon.

And when he dove through that mirror, well, I had no words for how buoyant I was.

I watched, helpless, as he flew toward me, his arms open. He wrapped them around me, and I spared a moment to appreciate the hardness of his corded arms, his muscular chest. He felt as beautiful as he looked.

In the next heartbeat, we were jerked toward one of the mirrors. The image in the mirror was of a storage closet, maybe. Or a utility room.

We landed in a heap on a faded, braided rug that smelled like it hadn’t been vacuumed in a couple hundred years.

I sneezed. Asmoday’s arms tightened around me. He was on his back, me sprawled across his body. I could feel a certain part of his body growing, getting thicker and harder, and what happened to the me that didn’t care about sex? Right now, all I wanted to do was get it on, right here, on this dirty floor, in what I now could tell was, in fact, some sort of utility or storage room.

Asmoday rolled his hips and grinned up at me. Mentally, I rolled my eyes even as I lowered my face—

A door crashed open, and a bulky guy with dark skin and a bald head stood over us, hands on hips, a scowl twisting his lips. “What are yeh doin’ in my storage room?” he demanded, which, thank you very much, broke whatever trance I’d been under.

I rolled off Asmoday and stood, brushing dust and frustration off my leggings.

The guy stabbed a stubby finger at the mirror behind us, which reflected our images back at us. No swirling glass, no picture of that weird corridor.

“Yeh gotta pay to use my mirror.”

Asmoday smoothly pulled something out of his pocket and passed it over to the guy, who tucked it away in a pocket inside his coat.

“Do you mind if we slip out the back door?” Asmoday asked him.

He shrugged, then turned and stepped through the doorway, closing it behind him.

“Come on.” Asmoday snagged my hand and pulled me toward a different door. “Let’s get out of here before he wants more payment. My funds are exceedingly limited, and I have plans for what I’ve got left.”

I let him lead me out into an alley. I was still a little shaky from being stuck in stasis and then nearly kissing Asmoday, never mind the grossness of doing so on that dirty rug.

He flung me around and pressed me against the rough stone wall of the building we’d just exited. It probably wasn’t much better than the rug, since we were in an alley, after all.

Yet my mind immediately bounced right back to the kiss.

I grabbed the front of his vest and tried to pull him toward me. With a quick motion I did not see coming, he slashed his arm between us, breaking my hold on his shirt, grabbed both my wrists, and lifted my arms above my head.

Maybe this was why I’d convinced myself I wasn’t really into sex. No one I’d been with had dominated me. They’d never held my hands above my head and looked at me like they had every intention of devouring me on the spot.

I squirmed. Licked my lips.

I could not wait.

CHAPTER7

“You could have died,”I rasped out, still holding Daruka’s wrists, still warring with my body, which wanted to pop the buttons on my pants, shove her leggings down, and fuck her against the side of the Boar’s Nest Inn. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time someone had done exactly that, right here.

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