Page 11 of Land of Monsters

“These people will torture and murder your whole family for looking at them wrong,” he exclaimed.

“But you knew Nikolay was after me.”

“Yes, but I didn’t realize how severe the connection was! This isn’t a little insult. You slaughtered hisonlyson.”

“Yes. I know.” I struggled enough to come to terms with what I did.

“Ó, hogy bassza meg egy talicska apró majom!”

“Did you just tell me to fuck a wheelbarrow of small monkeys?”

“It’s a Birdie expression.” Ash walked the floor.

“Who’s Birdie?”

“Someone who’d be kicking my ass for getting myself into this shit.” He swung to me. “So let me get this right, we most likely have the king and queen of the Unified Nations looking for you with a pack of killer dark dwellers at the same time the Russian leader has his Mafia out hunting for you, while I have the entire Romanian army searching for me?”

“Yes.” I dipped my head, feeling overwhelmed. “Plus, I think the Druid here really hates me and wants to see me dead too.”

“Szar.” Ash rubbed at his face. “I think the wheelbarrow of monkeys just fuckedme.”

Chapter 3

Ash

?

The strong?uicaburned down my throat, my head buzzing from the alcohol. Tipping back in the chair, I continued to stare at the curled-up figure sleeping soundly on the mattress just a few feet from me.

Her silky brown hair, knotted and tipped in dried blood, had slipped over her eyes like a shield. The urge to lean over and brush it out of her face was strong, making me wrap my fingers tighter around my cup.

Fatigue finally took her down, the need to sleep overpowering everything else, including jumping in the shower. I should’ve been sleeping too. Healing. I couldn’t.

I scoured my head, a small grunt forming in my chest. The last twenty-four hours were slowly sinking in, my brain acknowledging everything that came to light. And how utterly fucked I was.

Of all people in the world, my path had to cross with the princess of the Unified Nations at the bar a month ago. If I had only known, I would’ve run from that place so fast. Or I would have handed her over to the UFN without hesitation. Her family was far scarier than any Mafia out there.

Looking at her, I struggled to see the rich co-ed I first assumed she was, running off with me for shits and giggles. I’d thought her life boring and sheltered, figured she needed a thrill.

Fuck.

She might be young, but she’d already gone through so much. It was a lot to take in.

There was stress enough with her being with me before I knew the truth; now it was like carrying a fragile bomb, and with any bump, it might go off. My mission was to deliver the bomb back to the parents before they arrested me for kidnapping the niece of the Unseelie demon king and the only daughter of the queen and her consort, the hired assassin, Lorcan Dragen.

And with Lorcan came his brother Eli and all her other uncles and aunts, who could string my guts up before I could even make a sound.

I was so fucked.

My eyes trailed over the shape of her face, the way she tucked in on herself, looking so vulnerable. I couldn’t deny she was stunning. That had never been the issue, but now I could so clearly see the resemblance to her mother and father. Lorcan had the same color eyes and a similar mouth, but most everything else was her mother. Raven was a blend of both with her own uniqueness.

Uniqueness… yeah, this girl had it in spades. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d ever come across a Druid and a dark dweller. The rarity of her and her twin was up there with dragons still existing. Yet, here she was, all five foot three of her, teeming with powers no one could fathom or understand. And when people don’t understand something, they fear it, hate it, want itdestroyed or controlled.

I downed my last swig on that thought, rising from the chair, my body and mind restless. I needed air. I needed to think without her in my face, making me doubt everything I knew I had to do.

Stepping outside, I fell against the side of the dome. Snow darkened the sky, the day already winding down. As I took a deep breath, the sudden craving for fairy dust sprang up, causing my lids to shut with agony.Just a little, just enough to take the edge off.The weak-willed part of me nibbled at my thoughts.I had been so good, but the craving would always be there—the need to forget, to not feel.

But this time, it wasn’t from the raw pain of losing Kek and Lukas. It was the thought of losingher. Either to one of the many groups after us or… myself.

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