Page 31 of Held By a Monster

Before any of us could react, Roul slid his claws down the man’s side leaving behind four neat trails of blood. The cuts were superficial, but they got the intended effect.

He jerked against the ropes holding him with a hissed, “Fuck!”

Roul leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “Better to face the beasts than hide, idiot.”

Kragen tilted his head. “So, Bill…”

The man’s—Bill’s, apparently—skin drained of color, his saucer eyes stuck on Kragen’s jaw. “You’re … real?” The simple words strangled out of him.

Kendal pushed herself between me and Kragen and stood her ground despite my best efforts to shove her back.

“What, you thought they were men in fursuits or something?” She rolled her eyes. “You’re smart enough tosnatch women off the street with no one noticing, but you didn’t figure that out? Didn’t you see your friend get ripped in half?”

“I thought … masks … blades…”

“Swords only slice through people in movies, dumbass. Unless you’re talking a two-handed broadsword and that was more of a”—she flattened her hand and dropped it from shoulder height—“downward swing type thing.”

Bill wasn’t the only one looking askance at her.

She shrugged. “I went through a sword phase.”

I turned my attention back to Bill. “Now that our existence is cleared up, can we get on with it?” I cocked an eyebrow at Kragen.

Quin bounced on his paws. “I don’t know. It’s kind of amusing to see a normal learn of our existence. I thought there’d be more screaming and running, though.”

Thurl punched him in the shoulder. “Where is he going to run, dumbass? We’re in a cave. And he was unconscious until a minute ago. I’m sure the screaming would have happened if he knew from the get go that we were real.”

“I can scream if you want me to.”

A surge of anger hit me. He was already entering the bargaining phase, which meant I wouldn’t get to hurt him asmuch as I wanted. This man had hunted Kendal. Scared her.Put his hands on her.I wanted to make him suffer before he died.

“He was at the house?” I ran the back of a finger down Kendal’s soft cheek. I wasn’t sure if I was grounding her or myself.

“Yeah. He was one of the ones who took me. Then he was one of the regular ones who brought us food and water in the basement.”

I growled and my arm drew back, determined to mimic Roul’s earlier move only deeper and aimed at his neck.

Kragen caught my wrist before I could connect.

“Answers first, brother.”

Three shaky inhales later I was able to step back. Kendal wrapped her right arm around my waist and her scent settled me. I did my best to ignore Bill and shoved my nose into her hair.

“What are the names of the men who were present at the house?” Cavi took over the questioning from where he stood at the long table, an open laptop in front of him.

Bill shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“Bullshit!” Kendal spit.

His eyes big as saucers, Bill scanned the monsters surrounding him. “I swear! I didn’t ask questions.”

“How were you paid?” Kragen moved to stand in front of him.

“In cash. Look, they were careful and paranoid. They never used real names, only code names. Always wore masks while the hired help was around. Never arrived in the same car, never brought anything personal with them.”

“That’s a lot of detail for someone who never asked questions.” Roul snapped his teeth close to Bill’s neck.

A dark stain bloomed over the man’s crotch. The smell of urine flooded the cavern. I dragged Kendal back a step in disgust.

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