Page 19 of Monster's Heart

How the fuck was I supposed to know?

I never did anything like that before. Never cared about another person’s well-being, physical and emotional.

But with Amrin, I cared. I cared a whole fucking lot, and I don’t know if that made me stupid or crazy or both, but the gods themselves could not help the person who tried to hurt her. I would destroy anyone who touched one hair on her precious head.

For over a week, I’d walked in the shadows, silently following her. Pretty little butterfly that she was, my Luna was rarely aware of her surroundings. Something that should have angered me, but only made me want to protect her even more. She flitted from here to there, her eyes on shiny things, her brain likely filled with so many thoughts, I could hardly keep track of them. So, yep. That was my new designation—protector. And really, I did not mind it.

Welcome to the stalker life, Sten.

Besides, it wasn’t like anyone saw me. One of my powers was blending into the night. I had the ability to cloak myself in the dark, hide from whoever might be afoot. The faculty would have an issue with me skulking around the dorms, especially after I’d gone to such lengths to ensure I did not have to live in them.

Whatever.

No one could see me, and I was not giving up my post. I didn’t really like that Amrin’s room was on the third floor. Any of the Monsters attending Blackthorn could leap right up there with hardly any effort at all.

Shit.

There was no fucking way I was leaving now.

Growling audibly, I startled a group of Witches walking together before I cut the sound.

Oops.

Forgot they couldn’t see me.

Oh well.

I found a tree with a sturdy enough looking branch and jumped on, making myself comfortable as I staked out my—fuck, what did I call her?

She was nothing as mundane as a girlfriend, but it was way too soon to call her mate. Well, for her, anyway. For me, I was sort of getting used to the feeling. I’d been walking around in an angry haze for so long, it was positively life altering discovering you were wrong.

I mean, how did I ever think anyone other than my Luna was the woman for me?

Her soft, curvy figure, pale moonbeam eyes, and daydreamy ways were nothing at all like Ingrid. When I had walked in on my brother Erik and Ingrid fucking, I thought my life was over. Our Clan blessed them with a mating ceremony, and Mani himself seemed to shine down on their union. It was like another nail in my coffin at the time.

I was the future Menon Blau, but Bjorn had stolen the woman I thought would complete me and my circle of powers. Only, it seemed, in my youth and anger, I’d been horribly wrong.

I watched intently as Amrin moved toward the window, her gaze studying the shadows below.

Was she looking for me?

The thought our kiss had affected her as much as it had affected me was satisfying. Like a balm to my Monster’s heart. I craved the Witch. Wanted her with me, but I had to give her some time. I’d been wrong before about a woman, but everything inside me seemed to light up around Amrin, and I knew, I just fucking knew she was the one for me.

I thought about the chart she was working on for our Astronomy class, and I exhaled slowly. I didn’t necessarily think Professor McEwan’s belief in charting true love could actually be true, but suddenly I was curious.

I pulled my tablet from my pocket and opened the app I’d developed. Making a copy of Amrin’s files, I started adding what I knew about us both. Charting our astrological signs, GPS coordinates, and a number of other things the professor’s instructions had asked for.

My heart was thudding in my chest, and breathing became difficult. Sure, I’d broken some rules, hacking into records to find facts like Amrin’s date of birth and the latitude and longitude of where she’d been born, the placement of the stars during that time. I cross-referenced it with my own statistics that I already had in the app in my saved profile when I’d been testing its functionality.

After a few hours of inputting as many numbers and variables as I could find, I clicked the button that would run our information. My mouth went dry as the tiny spinning hourglass moved, a sign the app was working on the task. Finally, a button appeared, the words read report blinking in the center of it. I clicked it, waiting for the multi-layer map to be generated right in front of my eyes.

I knew magic existed. I mean, duh. I was a creature from a realm Amrin had never seen and likely never heard of, save for some pretty funny movies made back on Earth.

Triumph filled me as I stared down at the screen. The chart showed our stars, and yes, they fucking aligned. I knew it. With or without the map, I knew it. Amrin was mine. She’d been made for me. Our futures were entwined. I just had to convince her we belonged together. Even the Fates and the stars thought so.

“Mine,” I growled softly, looking up at her window and wishing I could see inside.

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