Page 28 of Monster Mistake

“I know, right?” Justine said, incredulous.

“It should’ve worked,” the werewolf whispered. “I felt it as soon as I saw her. Why didn’t she feel it?”

Riordan snorted. “Human women don’t operate like monsters, idiot. Not even fate can make them do something they don’t want to do. And clearly, she didnotwant to do you.”

David went limp in Riordan’s grip, raising sad eyes to Justine. “I-I’m sorry.” He swallowed hard. “I made ahugemistake.” His gaze shifted over to Khill for a moment. “Areallyhuge mistake.”

Khill glared at him. “I don’t care. You kidnapped my wife andbither. You deserve to die.”

His head fell forward. “You’re right.”

Viktor cleared his throat. “Am I the only one who thinks deathmightbe an overreaction here?”

“Yes,” Riordan and Khill said in stereo.

Justine rolled her eyes. “No. Death is an overreaction. I’m fine! OK, I have a little headache, but that might be because I haven’t eaten?—”

“You didn’t feed her?!” Khill roared, baring his teeth at the werewolf, who flinched and closed his eyes, clearly waiting for a death blow.

Justine grabbed Khill’s chin, forcing him to look down at her instead of at her kidnapper. “He tried, OK? I’m just saying that other than the bite, I’m fine. It’s definitely not worth murdering anyone over.”

“But…but…” Khill sputtered. “He terrified you! For that alone, he should die.”

She shrugged. “Honestly, once I realized who it was, I was more annoyed than terrified. Then I was just pissed about the bite. And the Thai food he threw at the wall and wasted.”

Riordan sighed, dropping David on the concrete. “I guess killing him doesn’t seem especially fair if all he did was annoy her while she was already hangry anyway.”

Justine nodded. “I am a little hangry.”

Khill let out a sigh of the damned and set her on her feet. “Fine. Let’s wrap this shit up and get you fed.”

Viktor grabbed the werewolf by the collar. “Excellent. Riordan, if you wouldn’t mind dropping us at the police station, I’d appreciate it. This one will confess to what he’s done. I’ll let them know Justine will be by tomorrow morning to give her statement.”

Riordan nodded. “Sure.” He turned to Khill and Justine. “Do you mind waiting here for a second? I can come back for you and take you wherever you want to go eat right after I drop them off.”

Khill opened his mouth to object, but Justine answered, “Yes, that’s fine. And thank you both so much for coming to my rescue. That means a lot to me.”

Riordan gave her a nod and Viktor offered her a warm smile and said, “You’re family. Of course we came for you.”

Tears sprang to her eyes. “Well, shit. That’s really sweet.”

Khill made a shoo-ing motion. “Yes, you’re both sweet. Now get out of here so I can feed my wife faster.”

After the werewolf muttered yet another stupid apology and Khill’s quasi-friends/quasi-family disappeared, Justine locked her arms around his neck and said, “I like the sound of that.”

“I’m not surprised. If you haven’t eaten anything since breakfast, you must be starving. I’m honestly surprised you didn’t let me kill that motherfucker.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m not talking about food. I mean you calling me yourwife.”

Warmth the likes of which he’d never felt before bubbled up inside him. Was this…happiness? Like, true happiness?

As he stared down at his hangry-but-gorgeous, smiling-but-generally-grumpy wife, he knew what he was feeling was without a doubt true love and pure happiness. “I love calling you my wife, too,” he murmured.

“You realize we’re going to have to repeat that ceremony, right?” she asked with a crooked grin. “Nothing fancy, but definitely with less Elvis and tequila?”

“Baby, I’ll marry you in whatever kind of ceremony you want, as many times as you want. You can invite the whole town if that makes you happy.”

She grimaced. “That’s way too much people-ing. Maybe a nice, brief-but-official visit to city hall?”

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