Page 109 of Mama Si's Paradise

Suddenly, somethinglockedaround me, something invisible in the air, almost pressing against my skin, but I couldn’t focus on it to understand what it was.

It all happened so fast that I had yet to believe the snake was real when it jumped.

A scream finally built up inside me. By some miracle, I moved to the side and I raised my arms to protect myself for when it slammed into me. For when those teeth bit into me and tore me apart. For when I fucking died at the jaws of a goddamn snake.

But…I didn’t.

The snake was maybe two feet away from me, jaws wide open, aimed at my throat. But then something moved to my side fast, almost too fast for the eye to see, and it wentright throughthe snake’s body like a damn bullet. It went through it, and it cut offthe snake’s head like a fucking blade would.

The world could have stopped spinning for all I knew because the snake’s body slammed against the ground, and the head, separate, rolled and rolled to the other side with the jaws still open, the teeth on full display.

Meanwhile the tiny dragon who’d killed it flew forward another few feet like that—arms and wings wrapped around itself tightly, head and tail perfectly straight so that he looked like an arrow as he spun around fast enough to make me dizzy.

Fast enough to cut off a snake’s head.

Then he spread his wings to the sides and stopped in place like he had a parachute on, before he beat them lightly, gently, and turned toward the doors of the castle like nothing at all had happened.

I felt his eyes on me, black and small but his attention big,and I followed him until he landed on the floor near the open door, tail swirling to the side, calm. Perfectly calm.

Meanwhile every inch of my body was covered in goose bumps, my mind chaotic, full of disbelief still.

Eventually, when the world started spinning again, I thought to look at the snake, what was left of it, all over the ground, blood oozing from where its head had been cut off—and the head a few feet away near the tree line, perfectly motionless, almost fading into the muddy ground already.

Don’t throw up, don’t throw up, don’t throw up…

My hands closed around my mouth, but?—

“You’re up early,” said a male voice I’d heard before. “I knew you couldn’t wait to see me, darling. I can’t wait to taste you, either.”

I looked ahead into the darkness between the trees, only able to make out a silhouette as he came closer, slowly, each step steady, until I could see his face. It was one of the Evernight brothers wearing nothing but a pair of jeans that hung low on his hips, blood on his chin and naked chest as he smiled widely at me, fangs in full display.

I was too stunned to even collapse. Sheer terror kept my muscles locked in place and my body upright as I took in the face of the predator prowling toward me slowly, head low and eyes on me, never blinking. I couldn’t even move back, couldn’t look at the tiny dragon by the door, couldn’t ask him for help.

He could kill snakes, apparently, just fine, even really big ones, but this man coming toward me was no snake. In fact, he wasn’t a man at all, even though by the time I could see his face more clearly, the fangs had retreated and his eyes were less red.

Fuck, he was so beautiful that if it wasn’t for that blood, it would have been easy to forget he was a monster, a million times worse than a giant snake.

“What’s the matter, bride? Does the sight of a little blood scare you?” He stopped five feet away from me, then reached for the blood covering his chin, swiped some and licked it off his finger. “I’d have expected you to like me covered in blood. Women like to know their man can protect them against any monster, even if it means getting dirty and bloody, do they not?”

What about whenyou’rethe monster?I wanted to say, but thank God, I had the good sense to bite my tongue. My body was coming back to me slowly. I was moving backward, toward the castle where there were thick stone walls and big doors I could close and lock and keep between this monster and myself.Inside,where it was safe.

Except… “You won’t find a vampire more in love with the sound of his own voice than Emil.”

I turned to the side so fast it was a miracle my neck didn’t snap. Another one of the brothers was standing right by the open door with his arms crossed, fully clothed as he looked at me with a smug smile on his face. He was one of the bigger ones, with the thick dark beard covering half his face, his skin fair and smooth, dark eyes glistening, just as breathtaking as his brother.

“Piss off, Tristian. I found her first,” the other said, taking a step closer, making me move farther to the side, reminding myself to breathe. Reminding myself that these men werenotgoing to tear me apart limb by limb then eat me and lick my blood off their fingers when they were done. They weren’t going to kill me.

So, so hard to trust myself right now…

“Your dragon didn’t pick her. Doesn’t matter if you found her first,” the one by the door said and began to walk toward me slowly. “I haven’t had the chance to introduce myself yet. Tristian Evernight, at your service.” And he actually bowed hishead deeply when he stopped in front of me, as if he couldn’t tell that I was scared shitless.

Get it together!I shouted at myself in my head.

“See? Now you scared her,” the other—Emil—said as he came closer, shaking his head.

“I’m not the one wearing blood, brother,” said Tristian, his eyes scrolling down my body like he was hoping to peel off my clothes and skin and see all of me.

Inside.I needed to get inside, up to the fifth tower, disappear in that room, hide under the bed until the end of times. That’s all I needed to do—get inside.

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