Page 1 of Monster's Baby

CHAPTER1

“I’m nervous,”I admitted to Grandfather.

We were in a fast yacht, speeding across the Irish Sea on the way to meet Aiden...and his family.

My hair whipped around my face, a tangled cloud of reddish-auburn in the late summer sun.

Grandfather was silent for so long that I thought maybe he hadn’t heard me.

I had just opened my mouth to repeat myself when he slowed the boat down, the loud hum of the motor dulling to background noise.

“Why?”He said it simply, but the weight of the question caught me off guard.

I studied him for a long moment.He was nearing seventy, but he looked good, like a movie star from old Hollywood.He kept his silver-white hair long, tied back in a low ponytail, not a stray hair out of place.His face was weathered from a life well-lived, laugh crinkles around his eyes and mouth.He held himself proudly, one hand resting easily on the steering wheel of the yacht, completely in control despite the choppy waters.The muscles in his forearm flexed as he held it steady.

“Aiden’s grandmother,” I said at last.

“Ah.”He stroked his strong jaw with his free hand.

“I’m worried that they’ll either blame me, or else they’ll repeat the past,” I whispered.

Grandfather frowned.“If they try to force that boy to abandon his soul bond, he will always have a home withme.”He poked his chest hard.“His grandfather should know better than to repeathisfather-in-law’s mistakes.He saw what it did to Bridget.Wasting away—” He cut himself off with a sharp breath.“That’s not the point.It’s notyourfault that Bridget had a soul bond with a wizard instead of a beast.And it’s not your fault that she’s dead.”

“It’s not yours, either,” I said softly, taking his hand and unclenching his fist.“You tried to save her by severing your soul bond.”

A muscle jumped in his cheek.“Hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

“I can imagine.”

I stood silently for a moment, trying not to think about how the severing charm had ricocheted back on Bridget, and failing.Her ex-best friend had interfered with the spell, but that hadn’t been discovered until the beginning of my second year at Blackthorn Academy.Grandfather’s name had been cleared.

“If anything, they should be grateful to you for uncovering her true murderer,” Grandfather muttered, obviously thinking along the same lines as I had been.

“Her true murderers were her parents, forcing her to stay away from you,” I replied hotly.

Grandfather chuckled.“Best not to say that while you’re under that roof,” he said.“I’m sure they regret it plenty.”

I seethed for a minute before letting go of my anger.

“It turned out all right, didn’t it?”He nudged me with his hip.“Neither you, nor Aiden, would be here if it hadn’t turned out the way it did.”

“It’s hard to be grateful for my life when it meant the end of hers.”

“She made her choice,” Grandfather said softly.“We could have run away.I offered.When she said no, I found another.We were very happy together, my Nessa and I.”

My heart clenched.“I can’t imagine a life away from Aiden,” I said.

“Yours is a vastly different relationship,” Grandfather said wisely.“You’ve mated.”He made a face.“Your soul bond is more intertwined than Bridget’s and mine ever was.”

“I didn’t know that,” I said, surprised.“I guess I assumed...”

Grandfather shrugged.“It wasn’t the way things worked back then.Courting was chaperoned, even if you were soul bonded.Especiallyif you were soul bonded, I should say.I’m grateful.It worked out for the best.”

I couldn’t imagine being close to Aiden and not being able or allowed to climb him like a tree.I shook my head.“That must have been so hard.”

“Not that difficult,” Grandfather said with a chuckle.“We didn’t know what we were missing.”

I wrinkled my nose.“Comforting, I suppose.”

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