Page 186 of Monsters in Love: Lost in the Underworld

Hayden stands, wrapped in a blanket pulled from my bed. “You live in a castle?”

She’s safe.

She’s here in my home.

A feeling of contentment so deep, so heavy it drags me down like the gravity of an iron-forged realm settles in my chest. Magic pulses through my shadows, stronger than ever before. I step beside her, gathering her to me, not sure how she came to be here or what she sees when she looks at my world, but reveling in the happiness shining on her face.

“A fortress, but yeah, sure,” I say, not wanting to break whatever peaceful spell this is with a demand for certainty or…gods forbid…anything that might scare her. Not when she stares at my room in astonishment.

Maximus paws at her legs, his tail wagging.

“I thought only the demon could send me here,” she says. “So how did you?”

“I didn’t. I thinkyoudid with whatever magic you got from our mating bond.”

“I have magic?” She smiles. “Epic.”

Terrifying. “You said you wanted to visit my home?—”

“And poof I was here,” she finishes for me. “It’s beautiful. The glass domed ceiling, the arched windows, the view of the night sky—it’s like stepping into a painting. You said once it’s always night here?”

“Yes. We only need enough light to cast the shadows we travel through.”

“I could get used to this,” she whispers, staring at the purple glow my magic casts over the stone floors and heavy drapes—galaxies of color and shade swirling around us. “How did you find me?”

“I sensed you. You saidhome, but when I got here, it felt right. The sensation mirrored the way I found you through your dreams.”

“That’s some advanced stalker shit.”

“Necessary if my mate is going to walk between worlds.” I remember the ghosts, Glenda’s tears. “Your friends are worried about you.” I don’t add thatIwas out of my mind to find her.

Her eyes widen. “I don’t know how to get back.IfI can get back.” Her words come faster, her tone taking on a thread of fear.

No. I don’t want her afraid. “No matter what magic you have, we can face it together.”

“All right. Here goes?—”

She vanishes before finishing the statement.

I travel through shadow again, following her. This time the tie between us tugs me along without any doubt of where she has landed…leading me to my true home. Where she is.

Hayden

A year later…

Closing out a television contract for six episodes ofHaunted Haydenthat brings a sizable donation to several charities, I celebrate with a moonlit party outside a historic ruin in French wine country. No other humans allowed. When the guests are all ghosts, it makes hosting super easy.

Glenda dances atop a stone column in time to music provided by a ghostly band who joined us somewhere outside Madrid.

Maximus prances at my feet, transforming from solid pup to three-headed skeleton when we pass through shadows and slices of silvery moonlight. The dog’s arrival makes my heart soar, not only because of his cute company, but because his presence announces that Wren waits nearby in the darkness.

It’s time to slip away to his soothing world of shadows. Meeting other shadow beings and exploring an entire realm has been a great adventure, but we always come back to our room where night is eternal and myRavished by the Reaperdrawing hangs framed by the doorway.

Tonight, I’ve already said my thanks to all the dead who helped me with historic details for the show. The same ghosts gave me the history of the now un-haunted house since Glenda swears Wren’s presence there cleared the house of hauntings for at least another decade.

Apparently ghosts don’t adore my Render like I do.

But ridding the house of the revenants and having its full history clinched a deal with demon prince Theo for a lifetime supply of healing potions from his alchemist to treat my migraines. It also secured Wren’s demand that we never have to see him again.

I step into the shadows and find myself wrapped in Wren’s darkness.

“Ready to go, love?” he asks.

“With my reaper? Always.”

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