Page 100 of An Inheritance of Monsters

He went white as the ghosts. Staggered backwards.

Collapsed in his chair.

Good.

“My Juno, why do you smell of otherMlul’dra?” I asked, gathering her to my chest, where she would be warm. I would not strip her in front of this male. She was for our eyes only. “Where have you been?”

But Juno resisted my grasp, trying to keep her feet on the floor. “Please, Rask, one moment…” Her voice was strained.

I released her and she whirled to stare at the human man, her hands held up. “Please don’t have a heart attack!”

His eyes were on me. He sputtered, wheezed, and sputtered again. “Not… what… the fuck?”

Juno pressed her fingertips to the underside of his neck and winced. “Okay, Porter, keep breathing. Seriously. Your heart rate is scaring me. Calm down, I can explain—well, no I can’t, but it’s okay, he won’t hurt you!”

He batted her hands away, eyes still bugging out of his head. I noted that he looked rather like a fat insect like this.

“WhatIShe?” he finally exploded, hands rising to grip the sides of his head and squeezing hard, looking like a man gone mad.

Juno looked back at me, then turned her wary eyes on Porter. “He’s… aMlul’dra.”

Porter’s mouth opened and closed, gaping like a fish.

“A monster from the Void, which is an alternate dimension in this house,” she added helpfully.

I thought she was explaining herself quite well.

“Another dimension,” the man mouthed to himself. “Monsters.”

Juno wrung her hands. “Okay, I’m going to go now. I’m so sorry. Just… go to sleep, and it’ll all seem like a bad dream when you wake up.”

She started to turn towards me, but the human finally burst from his chair, reaching out to snatch at her shirt.

A snarl ripped out of me, and only Juno throwing her arms out kept me from tearing his head off.

“Don’t go!” Porter shouted. “Don’t go… prove it, Juno. Prove this dimension, this Void exists, and… and…”

“And what?” she asked.

He stared up at her, eyes still bulging, clutching her shirt desperately. “If this is true… my whole life has been a lie.”

Juno stopped, sucking her lower lip in her mouth. Chewing it the way she did when she was thinking deeply.

“I don’t believe that’s such a good idea,” she said in a low voice, but the man got down on his knees.

I growled in warning, letting him know where he stood with me.

He backed off a little, but he still supplicated himself before my mate. “Please. My life’s work is to disprove the paranormal. Youcannottell me no.” He gestured wildly at me. “There is amonsterstandingright there!”

“His name is Rask,” Juno said, still contemplating the male’s request.

He shook his head, laughing. “Rask. Oh my god. The monster has a name.”

I drew myself up, irritated with this round little man. “Rask is a noble name of theMlul’dra,human. I can trace my lineage back through the eons to Rask the Starsmasher, First Conqueror of the Khthaggi Gates. Can you say the same?”

Porter shook his head mutely.

Juno finally sighed. “Fine. But only because we came to this island for a purpose. I don’t know what yours is, but I’m starting to think none of you were invited here by accident.”

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