Page 177 of Monsters in Love: Lost in the Underworld

“I don’t need?—”

“Because a mating bond requires full consent, to know that you’ll be with me for the rest of our years—for better or for?—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know the spiel.” I don’t remind him how I’ve literally been with no one else but him in fantasy form for the past decade. “I’ll give you two weeks to figure out I made up my mind years ago.”

“Three weeks,” he counters. “I won’t rush this. Not like I did last time.”

I want to ask him what he means, but he closes off. The purple of his magic goes dim, shrouded entirely in shadows. He is offering to compromise on his timeline. I should probably takethe win even though my body screamsnow,now,now. “Fine. Deal?”

“Deal,” he says solemnly.

My hormones hate me already.

Wren

We’ve only hada half dozen revenant attacks in the tortuously long weeks since I promised to woo my mate. When I arrived, they swarmed a half dozen times a day. These latest assaults have been smaller with fewer beasts to rend. I’m hoping that means I’ve found and destroyed most of them.

I return from wrecking what should be the last necromancer lair to find my mate sitting with her ghost friend in matching lawn chairs on top of the camper van, her feet propped on a cooler with cotton balls between her toes.

Maximus blinks from my side to her lap. Smart dog.

“Happy hunting?” she asks him.

He bounces on his hind paws, trying to lick her face. Okay, not terribly smart since he could leap a few inches when he just magicked his way across the drive and atop a van, but he’s got the right idea.

“What’s this?” She slips the delicate chain from around his neck, holding up the iridescent black crystal attached to it.

“Your next gift,” I tell her. “A charm from my home.”

“In the Shadow Realm?” she asks, twisting the polished stone to inspect it in the moonlight. Happiness and curiosity fill her voice, and I’m pleased that, once again, I’ve picked a perfect gift for my mate.

Her friend floats through the table between them for a closer look. “How’s that work? I mean, if it’s from a realm of shadows, how come it’s solid?”

Hayden smiles. “I know this one. Because it’s a realm inhabited by shadow beings like Wren, not literally made up of shadows. Although the legendary shadow monsters who terrorized the hell dimensions for centuries aren’t allowed to live there, which seems understandable if they’re that scary.”

She remembers everything I’ve told her about my home world. Yet another sign we’re meant to be together.

“Thank you for my gift,” she says to me. “Glenda has kept me company while I redid my polish.” She wiggles her toes. “Purple passion.”

“It sparkles,” Glenda adds.

“We’ve been moon bathing.” Hayden makes it sound fun, light-hearted. Not as though she grieves her inability to enjoy sunlight like other humans.

Or as if she blames me for her light sensitivity along with her headaches.

I haven’t been able to ask her. I’ve tried. I can discuss anything else, except my fear of her not choosing me.

Can I really walk away from her if she decides she doesn’t want to be mated to a monster?

No.

Absolutely not. I’m still the same reaper who couldn’t let her go ten years ago.

I need her to love me. To accept or even forgive the choice I took away from her then by giving her one now.

If she says no and the demon’s matching contract runs out, then I’ll be relegated back to her dream world. That can’t happen. Which is why I’ve used these weeks to keep her safe, bring her gifts, answer her endless questions, and give her multiple orgasms every day.

Also, I’ve made an effort not to protest her weird ghosts wandering the property except when they interrupt my attempts at wooing.

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