Page 62 of Enticing Monsters

Foster mutters something that causes Tristan to yelp, but Sera’s gentle fingers on mine draw my gaze back to her.

“Kian?”

There’s no pressure from her, no pushing, but I can hear the concern clearly in her voice.

I squeeze her hand reassuringly. “I’m okay. This just feels so…”

I tip my head back so I can take in the moons. One appears gold against the black of the night sky, one in hues of purple, and the third a brilliant white, like the moon on Earth when it’s at its fullest. It’s beyond anything I could possibly imagine.

“So much like home.” It doesn’t make any sense, really. I’ve certainly never been to Faerie. Nothing here is familiar, but it’s as though something here pulses on the very air we’re breathing, beating in time with my heart, saying “welcome” again and again.

A startled laugh in the distance draws my attention to Tristan, where he’s smiling and shaking his head ruefully at something Foster is saying. His caramel-brown hair has grown out, flopping across his forehead in a casual way, barely visible in the nighttime glow.

“It’s good to hear him laugh again.” Sera’s voice is low, her eyes soft in the darkness as she studies Tristan and Foster farther down the path. “I’ve missed my golden-retriever boy.”

My eyebrows shoot up, my lips twisting up in a grin as I move my gaze back to her. “Please tell me he knows you call him that.”

Her grin is a bit sheepish when she shakes her head. “No, he doesn’t. But it’s what I thought when I first met him—that he had full-on golden-retriever energy.”

“What did you think when you first saw me?” My heart thrums in my chest, and I can barely catch my breath, waiting to see if she’ll answer me.

I doubt she had any positive thoughts about me, especially at first, but I want to know. I want to know how she sees me.

She reaches up and cups my cheek, letting me nuzzle against her soft skin. “I thought you looked lost,” she whispers, her eyes glowing in the night. “That you were hidden inside of yourself, just screaming for someone to see you—hear you. And I wanted to be that person.” Her thumb strokes gently across my cheekbone, tracing the line of it as if she’s memorizing the shape of my face. “What did you think of me?”

I reach up and tangle my fingers in the strands of her hair. With the brightest of the moons disappearing behind a cloud, I can no longer see the deep shade of pink they’ve become, infused by the mass of magic inside of her. In the shadows, they could still be the white-blonde strands that first caught my eyes, reflecting the light from the classroom.

“I thought you were my light,” I admit, letting the silken strands slide against my fingers. “You were all brightness and glitter and color in the darkness. The only sunshine that reached me in what felt like forever. And I knew I’d be your darkness, your monster, there to take whatever you shouldn’t have to, so that you stayed bright and brilliant.”

“Kian.”

My name is a sigh on her lips, and I close my eyes, soaking it up. God, I love the way it sounds when she says it.

Her eyes are on mine when I open them again, searching them as if she can see directly into my soul. It may be dirty, torn, stained beyond repair, but it’s all hers. My beautiful, strong mate.

“May I kiss you?”

My breath catches in my chest, and she makes a soothing noise in her throat.

“You’re allowed to say no, Kian. Anything between us will always be your choice. Do you know why?”

My blood rushes in my ears as I shake my head. Not once since I’ve been declared an incubus has anyone asked for permission to touch me. My creature made me public property, something to be used and discarded at the whims of others. An object, rather than a person. From my first kiss to my first time, they’ve all been taken from me, and no one ever asked me what I wanted.

“Why?” The word is so low, I’m surprised she hears me, or maybe she just reads it on my lips.

“Because to me, you are brightness and sunshine. It’s quiet, peaceful rays rather than the harsh burn of the summer sun. And you, Kian, are an amazing man. You aren’t darkness or a monster to me. Whatever happened in our pasts, and whatever choices we may have to make in the future, nothing will dim that light. You’re mine, Kian. Always.”

I don’t stop to let myself think, to let any memories burn their way into my brain, as I lean down and take her lips with mine. I groan at her sweetness, the taste of her exploding on my tongue. Will she always taste like this—like cotton candy and hope? With just one kiss, I know I won’t be able to resist more in the future. She’s consuming everything about me, sinking inside of me, in a way that can never be extracted.

“I love you.” I breathe the words against her lips, letting her feel and taste them. “I’ve loved you from the moment you walked into my life. Knowing you stood up for me, fought for me… It just was the icing on the cake.”

“I love you, too,” she murmurs back, drawing back to look into my eyes. “Thank you. For the kiss.”

“Any time.”

And for the first time…I mean it.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

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