Page 54 of Enticing Monsters

Gage takes deep, long breaths, his face angled at the floor as he hides from Sera’s gaze and the judgmental noises coming from her family. I squeeze his shoulder in an offer of support, but he flinches away from my touch.

“That’s who you’re so protective of, skinwalker. A murderer. A baku. At thirteen years old, he murdered his father in cold blood, melting his mind until there was nothing left, draining him bit by bit even as his dad told him how much he loved him and pleaded to be allowed to live. It’sworsethan murder, even. They’re still breathing, still existing, but everything that makes them a person, an individual, is completely wiped away.”

Well, fuck.

The truth is more complicated than that, but the queen is in no mood to be understanding or overly truthful. Clearly, we should have told Sera about his past before now, regardless of what he wanted. We could have made her understand. We could have shielded her. We could?—

“So?”

Even Gage whirls to look at Sera after she speaks, but she calmly spins the knife on the tip of her finger, glaring at the queen, unbothered by Foster’s sputtering and her family’s groans.

So?Did she just fucking say,“So?”

Devyn’s amused eyes meet my shocked ones, and he gives me the smallest of winks before turning his attention back to our mate.

“If they’re still alive, technically it isn’t murder. If he really murdered for fun, I doubt he would have just been let go. Besides, your son is one of my mates, and I know he’s truly killed a lot more than just one person.”

“V kills those who deserve it,” the queen snaps, drawing herself up to her full height and glaring down at my tiny mate, attempting to intimidate her, but Sera is having none of it.

Our girl may be shy at times, uncertain in these new waters, but she’ll burn like the sun to protect those she cares about.

My heart squeezes in my chest, and I have to fight the urge to scoop her up and hold her close.

Sera shrugs, her eyes flicking over to her family, a small smile on her lips. “We have a family rule. Kill first, ask questions later. If you’re expecting me to judge him, you’ve picked the wrong person to try to manipulate. Considering the fact that he looks like he’ll keel over any moment now, I’m going to guess that whatever happened, even if his dad deserved it, he didn’t mean for it to happen. You said he was thirteen?”

Her gaze unfocuses slightly, though she makes no move to lower her weapons. “So his powers had just come in.” She purses her lips for a moment and then scoffs. “Let me guess, he accidentally hurt his dad the same way Avril told me a lot of young fae hurt those around them when they learn their powers?”

“He didn’t hurt him,” the queen accuses. “That’s a weak, human word. He destroyed his very being, melting his mind until there was nothing left.”

Sera shrugs, flipping her blade in the air and catching it by the handle with practiced ease. “That just tells me I have a badass mate who’s good to have on my side. And it explains why everyone’s scared of him.” She pauses. “But he can heal too, so he gets two powers?” She shakes her head and then displaces the thought with a wave of her hand. “I’ll deal with that later.”

From the slightly wounded look she throws at Gage, I can tell there’s a lot that will be dealt with later. Even her hurt glare doesn’t dispel the outright worship on Gage’s face as he stares up at her from his seat as though he’s seeing the sun for the first time after years of imprisonment. It’s a look of utter awe that is nearly painful in its vulnerability.

“You’re insane.” The queen’s words are a murmur, her eyes tracking between each of us. “All of you.” She takes a deep breath, holding it for a moment before letting out a sharp huff. “It doesn’t change the fact that he’s left a shit ton of people in a coma, my daughter one of them.”

“You said killed earlier, not a coma,” Sera points out, sliding one of her blades away so that she can reach out and stroke a hand through Gage’s hair, offering her own support. “So they’re just injured, really, and they have a chance of waking up.”

From the way Devyn shuffles, she’s accurate in her guess.

“It’s what baku do, Sera,” her father calls out. “Gage is the only baku, the only person powerful enough to have messed with all of their minds at once.”

Sera freezes, processing that before she whips a blade at them. Her father only barely manages to snatch it from the air as she snarls at him.

“You’re the ones blaming him for this? And that’s fucking all you have?” Her words are a screech as she stomps over to her parents to stick a finger in their faces, ignoring the flames Foster erected. “No one knew I was a fucking skinwalker, let alone everything I can do. No one can explain this insane illness. No one could explain the serial killer that you were chasing when you moved us here. But sure, let’s just arrest and put a teenage boy on trial because his power could havemaybecaused this? Are you insane?”

“Sparkles, it wasn’t just us,” Caleb tries to justify, holding up a pacifying hand to his sister. “Devyn even?—”

“Devyn?!”She whirls on my brother and me, and I take an instinctive step back as her power thrums through her. “Lucy, you got some ‘splainin’ to do,” she singsongs, stalking towards my twin.

Well, this is going to get interesting…

CHAPTER TWENTY

SERAFINA

Once, when I was five, Caleb broke my pink, sparkly nunchucks—a creation I made myself out of painted toilet paper rolls and string. Tears erupted in my eyes, but I wasn’t sad. I waspissed. Furious, even. And those tears were my body’s way of expressing it.

Now, when I feel something wet prick the backs of my eyes, I know it’s not because I’m upset. Yes, I’m worried sick about Gage and V, but that isn’t the reason for these damn tears.

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