Page 71 of Guarded By a Monster

“I’m okay. It’s okay. It’s over.”

I didn’t know if she was telling me or herself. “You’re not injured?”

She shook her head. “No. It was Officer Phillips. He injected me with some kind of sedative.” Tears sprang in her eyes. “He said Luna was… that he’d shot her and she was…”

“Zeus says she’ll be fine.”

She pulled back and looked up at me, so I nodded to reassure her. I watched her face crumple before she buried it in my chest, her shoulders heaving with racking sobs.

“Shh, kitten. You’re okay now. I’ve got you.”

I studied the other creature and then noticed the little girl and another woman. The woman had the girl wrapped in her arms while the creature spoke to them softly.

“Who are you?”

Before I could take Jade home, I needed to ascertain if he was a threat. A threat would not be allowed to leave intact.

“Briggs Stone. I’m a Society Operative. I’ve been undercover with Silver Fang for two years.” He stared at Vale’s corpse and sighed. “We wanted him alive, but I can see there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of that happening.”

“Why would you want the head of a criminal organization alive?”

I didn’t care, but Kragen was ever strategic. The more information, the better, in his opinion.

“The power vacuum left when The Level lost its leadership made the entire region volatile. We’d hoped to avoid a repeat situation.” He smiled, showing off canines just a little too sharp, a little too long to be human. “And he was easy to control.”

He tilted his head at us. “What are you?”

Kragen started talking and I didn’t bother sticking around. Halfway out the door, Jade called over my shoulder, “What about Sophia and Mrs. Calder?”

“They’ll get home safe, I’ll ensure it.”

I still didn’t trust Briggs, but the relief in Jade’s eyes made me reevaluate my opinion of him.

I took her home and settled her on the couch with Sir Purrs-a-lot while I washed off the gore that clung to my forearm. Nanna wrapped her in a blanket and fussed over her until I was done. I scooped her into my arms and held her on my lap while I breathed and satisfied myself she was okay.

After all five of my brothers checked on her (and me), and she’d finished a large mug of hot chocolate with whipped cream, she fell asleep in my arms. I took her to our bed, away from other eyes, and tucked her close to my chest.

“Sleep, kitten.”

Epilogue

If Thurl could sharespleens with me, he would. I knew it would be a while before he let me out of his sight again, but it was getting ridiculous. I couldn’t go to the bathroom without leaving the door open. Showering alone was a thing of the past.

You’d think I would be used to that, since the cats never let me pee in peace either, but it’s different when you’re talking about a seven-foot-tall monster.

“I think I’ll be okay in the living room by myself, Thurl.”

His ears drooped, but I stood my ground. The constant hovering chafed.

“Officer Phillips—“

“Would be an idiot to step foot inside the compound and would be dead before he got to the common.”

He looked around the living room as if he worried the man hid under the couch.

“Seriously, Thurl. I’m going to get cranky if you don’t give me some space.”

He finally retreated into the kitchen with Nanna, who hadn’t been much better than him, but at least she smothered me with food instead of literally smothering me.

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