Page 39 of Grotesque Love

“What. The. Fuck?” a soft feminine voice whispers, but it may well have been a shout.

My heart leaps into my throat at the sound of her voice, a melodic tone that sends shivers down my spine despite the circumstances. I struggle against Sax’s grip, my entire being yearning to reach out to her, to hold her close and never let go.

Mine.

“We have company…” Jas says quietly, stating the fucking obvious, yet carrying the weight of the world in his tone. Or maybe that’s just how I feel, like this moment is monumental.

Sax loosens his grip on me, but he doesn’t let go. His gazeremains fixed on Ari, his expression unreadable yet tinged with a hint of concern.

“So I am certifiable. Good to know, I guess.” Ari tilts her head, her blue eyes wide as she lifts a hand and taps her bottom lip anxiously with her pointer finger. Her voice cuts through the tension like a knife, and for a moment, I find myself lost in the depths of her gaze. Despite the chaos swirling around us, there’s a sense of calm in her presence, a grounding force that steadies my racing heart. I glance at Sax, his expression hardening with resolve, I know that the battle is far from over. We may have company, but he’s not about to let me get away with this. And it looks like we have more pressing issues to deal with.

“So what now?”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

ARIANWEN

“Now, we take you to your room and ravish you like the thirsty girl you are after you spent the afternoon rubbing yourself all over my friend here.”

This comes from the perverted gargoyle who lurks outside my bathroom window.

I know it’s him because the shape of his smooth horns is the same, as is the wolfish way he looks at me, even though he looks a little more human like this. He has dark, intense eyes, and dark hair which is short on the sides and longer on top.

He stares at me like he wants to devour me, and given the way I’m finally accepting my missing sanity, I might just let him…

His words earn him a slap across the back of the head from the biggest gargoyle, the massive one from the herb garden. Even without the cheeky one’s words alluding to my afternoon activities, I’d know it was him. His size is incomparable to the other two. He’s enormous. Built and so muscular. There’s something so commanding about his presence, and when his dark gaze lands on mine, I fall under his spell, willing to do whatever he commands with a single look.

That only leaves the smaller, but by no means small, gargoyle lingering near the back. He seems more hesitant, waiting with wide, light eyes to see what happens next while the other two tussle. This must be my mysterious hair braider, the softer one from the graveyard whose edges are smoother, his skin tone lighter, his hair paler.

For a moment I’m mildly impressed with my subconscious, for creating these larger than life monsters with bulging arms, tails, thick horns and wings.Who doesn’t love wings?A protector, a caregiver and a…pervert?

The mind is a mysterious thing.

“Well, I suppose I have some free time,” I joke, ignoring the bitter edge lacing my words. “You may as well come on in.”

I have nothing but time. Endless loops of time, pockets of clarity combined with hours that vanish like grains of sand slipping through my fingers.

Stepping away and back into my room, I crawl onto my bed and sit waiting for them to enter.

For a moment, none of them move, and then suddenly the pervy one is rushing through my bedroom door and clambering onto my bed like a feral, starving animal.

Sharp claws wrap around my ankles, tips biting into my skin as he yanks me down the bed. I yelp, my nightgown riding up around my waist as I fall onto my back.

Forcing my thighs apart, he crawls up my body, and when he opens his mouth I just know he’s going to bite me, but seconds before his mouth closes over my sensitive skin, he’s pulled away.

“When will you listen, little gargoyle?” The largest monster growls, his large hand clamped on the back of the pervy one’s neck as he pins him face down at the foot of my bed.

“Fuck you, Sax. You heard her. She invited me.”

“You know better than that, Malachite.”

“But, uh… Sax? He’s right. Wewereinvited in. That means she’s ours now, right?” the smallest one asks quietly as he creeps closer.

Carefully, he places his knee on the bed beside me as his wings seem to retract and vanish. Tilting my head, I say nothing as he kneels beside me, hands on his thighs, just watching.

His tail sways side to side, dipping close to me before pulling away again, as if he’s trying to stop himself from reaching out and touching me.

The pervy one – Malachite did he call him? – grunts and thrashes against the large, in charge, one called Sax.

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