Page 101 of Their Pretty Little Monster

I love the calmness it creates.

As I cross the room, a flicker of movement catches my eye by the door.

I freeze, my heart picking up its pace, but I see nothing there.

It’s probably nothing, just the shadows playing tricks. But as I reach for the towel to dry my hair, I see it again—a definite shift in the darkness. Spinning around, I’m met with nothing but the empty room.

“You’re being ridiculous,” I mutter to myself.

As I drop the towel from my hair onto the dressing table, there it is again—the unmistakable outline of a dark form, its green eyes gleaming at me.

Panic strikes me in the chest.

“Help!” My scream shatters the silence, and I’m expecting the guard to burst in any second, but the door remains shockingly still.

The figure advances, blending with the shadows.

I recoil, heart pounding out of my chest, and I’m frantically trying to recall how I summoned my power with the snake. With it comes the terror that I’ll cripple Nyko again. And I can’t live with myself if I knock him unconscious. What if, this time, I kill him?

The shadow disappears as quickly as it came.

Breathless, I scan the dimly lit room, needing to get out of here and see where the hell the guard is. Just as I take several steps forward, a force slams into my back, driving me up against the wall, face-first.

My scream turns muffled as all the air from my lungs swooshes out from the impact, from the fright. In a flash, a cool breath tickles my cheek, and a large, powerful body presses closer, with a ridiculously thick erection against my ass.

Dread engulfs me, and I push against them, but they’re unmovable.

“Get off me,” I shout.

“You wanted to see my monster form? Well, here I am, princess,” a familiar, deep, husky voice whispers next to my ear.

My mind races, fear mixing with confusion.

“Nyko? Is that you?” I manage to gasp out.

He pulls back just a smidgen, chuckling.

I turn to face him and gasp at the sight.

A tall, shadowy monster, almost translucent, stands in front of me. I can still make out the curves of his muscles, even in this form. However, it’s impossible to see his facial features except for those spectacular jade eyes.

He’s overwhelming.

Intoxicating.

Dangerous.

Obsessive.

And he’s smiling—that much I can tell from his jade eyes squinting at the edges. They seem to sometimes turn into shadows and vanish, too, as if he has complete control of when he shows them.

With my surprise comes anger at the way he decided to surprise me.

“You asshole,” I spit out. “You scared the hell out of me.”

“My monster likes to play,” he growls. There’s something so much darker about him like this; even his tone has deepened. “He’s been dying to meet you.”

“Why are you talking about yourself in the third person? You’re a bit frightening, you know. A bit much at times.”

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