Page 68 of Guarded By a Monster

Roul’s steady voice calmed me, and Drym helped further.

“You would feel if she was hurt.”

I nodded and scanned my body for the minutest twinge of pain. The inside of my elbow stung, but aside from that, she seemed whole.

I focused when Kragen started strategizing. Every second that ticked by was an eternity, but when Roul finally said, “Let’s go,” we were ready.

Hold on, kitten. I will tear the world apart to find you.

thirty-seven

I tracked the sunthrough the small window in the front door as it set. Vale allowed me to sit on the couch, and I held Sophia’s hand as we both watched her mother try to save a dead man.

Vale didn’t pace or fidget. He looked like he was at a business dinner, ready to make a high-powered deal.

I wanted to vomit.

Officer Phillips had left without a backward glance, but from the look Vale gave Wall of Muscle, I suspected he wasn’t long for this world.

Every few minutes, Vale tried to get a rise out of me, gaging my reaction as he asked about different aspects of my life. I knew he was probing for weaknesses, and I kept my face as neutral as possible as I answered the innocuous questions and ignored some randomly to throw him off.

I knew Thurl would come. Our bond danced out the door like a hiker who’d just run face first into a spiderweb. I tried to send calming vibes down the tether, but I didn’t think it worked that way.

I looked up at the slab of beef in front of me. “What’s your name?”

He just grunted.

Vale’s curiosity was piqued. “Why do you want to know?”

I snorted. “Because I’m tired of calling him Wall of Muscle in my head.”

Vale laughed. Even that was a controlled, calculated sound. He nodded and waved his hand at the man.

“Briggs.” He didn’t look like he was hungover, but his voice sure sounded like he’d been drinking rotgut since he was five.

The politeness ingrained in me since birth kicked in. “Nice to meet you, Briggs.”

The corner of his mouth quirked. I figured that was the most emotion a giant rock was capable of.

Tension ratcheted to an impossible level as Mrs. Calder failed to create a zombie.

She screamed in frustration, and her hands dropped limp to her sides. “He’s past saving, Mr. Vale.”

Adrian got closer to the table than I expected, but he didn’t seem to have a problem getting his clothes or hands bloody. He poked at the corpse and sighed with a click of his tongue. “I’m disappointed, Mrs. Calder.”

“Please don’t hurt her.”

The tremble in her voice made my heart ache. Sophia stiffened next to me, her fingers tightening around mine.

Briggs didn’t move, but his hands flexed at his sides, the faintest shift of tension rolling across his boulder-like shoulders. I stared up at him in horror but found him looking at Vale instead. Weird.

A wolf’s howl sent chills down my spine. A slow grin spread across my lips. Darkness had fallen.

“What the fuck was that?”

It was the first time I’d seen Vale’s composure crack. He looked at Briggs, who shrugged. With his bodyguard unconcerned, the mask fell back into place. He sighed dramatically.

“My compatriot is dead. There is no longer a reason to stay here.” He turned to me. “Miss Massey, would you like to reconsider your position?”

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