Page 56 of Charming Her Monsters

“Fine. Keep your eye on the room, but we should move down a bit and keep our voices low so she isn’t disturbed,” I suggest.

Arran stands and shifts, walking down the hallway without letting his eyes leave the door. “I gave up the search, since I needed to be here, protecting Jade. But when I returned, she said she needed her space to work. She doesn’t want me spying and reading her stuff anymore.”

I grunt, indifferent to his need to read her books before she’s ready to share. I have a whole set of books I grabbed from the stack at her house so I could read what turns this woman on. I’ll share my stash with him when the time is right.

“Anything else going on?” I prompt, nodding toward the rest of the house.

“Calder has been searching through the house just in case Floofer doubled back.”

“Smart.”

“Oh,” Arran lowers his voice and gets excited. “Flint touched Jade. He spontaneously grabbed her so she wouldn’t fall down the stairs. After that, he was able to somewhat un-stone himself—for the most part. When I circled back to the house to make sure we didn’t leave Jade open to attack in our frantic state, they were actually holding hands without him freezing up.”

“He freed himself from his hangup?”

I didn’t believe that the gargoyle would ever evenattemptto break his self-inflicted curse. Jade really is something else. I grin, realizing she is becoming more entrenched in our pack. If only Calder would let his walls fall down, we could be a proper pack with a loving heart in the center.

Osen liked to believe he was the nexus of the group, holding us all together, but he was just as much of a divider as any sort of unifier. He was too obsessed with revenge, war, and sex to be a true center. If he’s no longer inside Jade, I’d be okay with that. I worry he would only corrupt her and coerce her to risk her life for answers again.

I want answers too, but we need to be smart. His sneaking around almost cost my mate her life. If he’s still with her, I’m going to demand he make a promise on his soul to include us in any plans. Or I will find a way to drive him out of Jade for good.

I hope the male I love is still whole enough to remember how amazing we once were when we acted as a team. Could being around Jade’s energy balance him? I fucking hope so. He isn’t so bad when he isn’t obsessed.

We all need Jade. Osen would see it too, if he just took a moment. I dare say she is someone he would fall madly in love with as well. Too bad he’s dead. Yet, it doesn’t sound like that stopped him from enjoying her sexually in the shadowscape.

Once Calder lets go of his righteous anger, then he will be able to heal… likely with her love.

“I’m going to investigate the creatures and see what they have to say about all this,” I tell Arran as I squeeze his shoulder. “Keep up your protection detail. We don’t know if we are safe here now.”

He places his warm hand over mine and smiles. Although his grin has melancholy behind it. Without needing to probe his mind, I sense he is a tornado of emotion—his love for Jade, his worry about her safety, their future, and how we will share the love of our woman.

He’s also worried that we have drifted too far from each other since his curse. What he doesn’t realize is that it feels too good to have my companion back, and I won’t let him slip from my grasp so easily next time. Besides, even his beast seems to have been tamed by Jade.

I head upstairs to deal with our possible spy situation. I growl, first at myself, then at Calder for not suspecting something could be off with the “fur babies” before now.

In my defense, they didn’t radiate anything but magical creature vibes and brain waves. But if I’m to keep my mate safe, I need to do better.

I knock on the phoenix’s door. “It’s me.”

“Come in,” Calder bites out. He isn’t happy. Well, join the damned fucking club.

I slip in and shut the door behind me.

The magical creatures sit huddled together on Calder’s bed. Wide eyed watching their interrogator pace the room, they look adorable and nervous.

“How long ago did Floofers join your group?” he asks.

Trouble answers, sounding irritated.

Calder interprets for me, “He said maybe fifty years ago? You know how animals are with time, but it’s probably been a while.” The phoenix rolls his eyes and sighs, falling onto a wooden desk chair with exhaustion.

“May I?” I wave my hand toward the little tufts of fur.

“You won’t explode their brains?” he asks.

The guinea pig squeaks and runs under Calder’s pillow.

“I won’t,” I assure him, then add, “… probably.”

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