Page 27 of Guarded By a Monster

I went to rub the back of my neck but realized my hands were full of luggage and a cat. “Thank you.”

“Where is the kitchen?”

“Umm…” I looked at Jade, who seemed resigned to whatever was coming next. “It’s just through that door.” I twitched my muzzle to indicate the correct one. Nanna shuffled in that direction while I made my way to the bedrooms.

Jade stepped into the guest room behind me.

“Thank you for letting us stay. Especially Nanna. She can be overwhelming, but she means well.”

“She wants to protect you. I respect that.” I set her suitcase on the dresser. “Will this be okay?”

Jade nodded. "All I really need is a bed and a bathroom. I can be fancy, but it doesn’t happen often, if that makes sense.”

It didn’t, but I nodded anyway. “The bathroom is here.” I opened the door to show her. “There are towels and things in the cabinet. Kendal helped me furnish and stock my house, but if anything is missing let me know.”

She turned and looked up at me. “Does she do all the shopping for you?”

There was a note in her voice. Something I couldn’t pinpoint. I shook my head. “No, only the items that need to be purchased in person. Most of the time, I order what I need online and they deliver it to the common hall.”

“Common hall?”

“It is a shared structure where my brothers and I gather.”

“You have more than one?”

I nodded. “There are six of us.” I turned and made my way to the next bedroom down the hall. She hadn’t pushed me that first night we met, but I knew the questions were coming. Who was I? How was I made? What happened to my eye? All of which would lead to our escape from the laboratory that created us. It was not a tale I relished telling.

I didn’t want her curiosity to turn to horror.

“Is this room acceptable for you? It also has its own bathroom, just there.”

“Oh.”

My ears flattened against my head. I had disappointed her somehow. “I can rearrange the furniture. Change the wall color?”

“It’s not that. I’d just…” She sucked in a huge breath. “I’d hoped to stay with you. In your room.”

I wasn’t normally a chatty creature, but I rarely lacked for words. Until Jade. Every other minute, she rendered me speechless.

I picked up her suitcase and the large orange cat up and strode to my room. It was the largest of the four to accommodate my size, with a custom-built bed. I’d opted for soft sheets and colors, not wanting anything to remind me of the lab. Nothing was stark white. No sharp corners or harsh lights.

Jade gasped beside me. Before I could ask her what was wrong, she’d set down both the bags she carried and taken a flying leap onto the bed. She squealed with delight as she sank into the softness and my heart lit up like a bolt of lightning against a dark sky.

That joy was chased by a wonderful scent hitting my nose. “What is that?” I lifted my muzzle and tried to decipher what I smelled.

Jade sighed happily. “Snickerdoodles.”

nineteen

Thurl’s kitchen was achef’s dream. Not that I was a great cook, but Nanna was clearly in her element.

It was hard to pry myself from Thurl’s bed. It was as comfortable as the sweatshirt I’d stolen from an ex-boyfriend in college. I wouldn’t even need covers with Thurl to keep me warm.

Sir Purrs-a-lot’s irritatedmeowbroke the bed’s trance. I set up water and a litterbox before releasing him and Catzilla. They both took up their mission of thoroughly inspecting Thurl’s bedroom while we made our way to the kitchen.

Nanna stood in front of the open pantry door, a dreamy look on her face. From what I could tell, both ovens were stuffed full of cookie trays. Apparently, she decided Thurl’s size meant he needed three dozen cookies alone.

“How many cookies are you making?” Visions of going door-to-door with buckets of cookies gave me goosebumps.

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