Page 102 of Monsters in Love

Gripping Emmi’s hand tighter, she set a faster pace. Music meant they were beneath the Keep, and the Keep had to be where the exit lay—she’d checked all the other avenues herself. “Hurry, Emmi. We’re going to get out of here, and the demons can—”

Something grabbed the back of her skirts and gave a vicious tug.

The fabric wrapped tight around her knees, and she fell over her own feet. She crashed to the ground. Emmi’s fingers slid from her grip.

Worse, she lost hold of the torch.

She shoved hair out of her face and scrambled toward it on all fours, but the cursed thing had bounced out of reach and fallen into a slight dip. Broken stone and what might be bone blocked some of the light. Claws sliced the air between her and the torch and she lurched back.

The demons were already closing in.

Teeth and eyes burning red surrounded her.

Unable to reach her torch, she pushed Emmi behind her and brandished her flint. “Stay back.” She struck the flint against the stone floor, creating a tiny shower of sparks. “Stay away from us, beasts.”

The sparks disappeared and one of the demons lunged for her.

Twisting around to shield Emmi with her body, she closed her eyes and braced for claws to score her flesh.

Except the strike never came.

Shaking like a leaf in a storm, she peeked through her lashes.

Her mouth fell open with pure shock. Another demon had appeared, only this one stood between her and the rest of the creatures. The new one roared at the mass, muscles bunching along its back from the force of the cry. Arms wide, and massive panels of what looked to be leather hanging from them.

The other demons backed up, grouping together into a snarling bunch in the narrow mouth of a smaller tunnel. She breathed a tiny sigh of relief at the increased distance—only they all now stood between her and the source of the music.

Is trading many demons for a single one better?

She had to pray it was.

“Belle…” Emmi’s voice wavered.

“Hush.” She tried to sound certain. “Don’t look.”

The massive creature stepped toward the others, and then it kicked her torch closer to the mass of demons, temporarily trapping them in the smaller space; they’d have to venture into the light to pursue.

She swallowed hard.

The creature glanced over its shoulder and tipped its head to the right. It took a few steps in that direction, then repeated the gesture.

Was it asking her to follow it?

Emmi gripped her arm and hissed, “What do we do?”

“I… ah…” Belle stared at the torch.

It was already sputtering. They didn’t have much time.

Her gaze shifted between the mass of hissing demons, and the lone creature who’d driven them back. It motioned again, more urgently. Her heart stuttered at the sight of wicked talons tipping its fingers. The thing was massive, large enough to subdue its demonic kin.

Muscled and covered in dark fur and tall enough that its ears nearly brushed the tunnel’s roof.

A force to be reckoned with.

She had no doubt it could dispatch a number of its brethren. But there were so many. And clearly the others wouldn’t be blocked by her flickering torch for much longer. There was no way she could reach the Keep now, not with the torch on the brink of expiring and all those demons in her path. In fact, in this nest of twisting tunnels and hidden roads, there was only one path she could see.

“We follow this creature, Emmi,” she said. “And pray to the fallen gods this is no trick.”

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