Page 13 of Monsters in Love

“And then we wait. While we rest for the night, those who hunt us will probably perish. The labyrinth is not kind to outsiders. Too many secrets. Too many traps.”

A night. With Bronn. Alone. Under the stars.

He looks at me curiously. “Are you unwell? Are you having trouble breathing?”

I realize belatedly that I was holding my breath. I let it out in one long exhale. “Oh, don’t mind me, just thirsty.”

Without breaking stride, Bronn unclasps something from his utility belt and hands it to me. A water flask. Of course.

I accept the offer and sip, since that’s what you do when a kind gentleman hands you a bottle of water after you tell him you’re thirsty. “You know where all those pesky traps are, right?”

Bronn grins down at me. A near-feral gleam tinges his gaze. “Of course. I spent my training years patrolling this territory. Some traps I placed here myself.”

I blink at him. “If we stumble into any of the traps you’ve set, I’ll be so mad.”

Bronn throws his head back and laugh. He really should do that more. The sound of it warms me and fills my heart to the brim. “I promise you, I shall avoid them all. Come, we are nearly there.”

Bronn

“Iwant to make it perfectly clear that I can walk,” she says after awhile. Following her mind is as circuitous as the ever-shifting landscape of the labyrinth, and I find myself marking the boundaries and pathways as I would anything else I would explore.

I know you can walk,I say to myself,but I prefer feeling your hot body against mine, especially when you smell so sweet and enticing.

I swallow down my words. She just lived through the humiliating experience of being auctioned off and had to witness me killing one Taurine who couldn’t control himself around her mating pheromones, and a Naga who tried to force himself on Adalyn. She doesn’t need to witness yet another male who cannot control his base impulses.

Especially as her heat intensifies. Every time she sighs, every time she bites her lip before she says something clever, I think I will go insane. The worst part is she does not know her every little move makes her so enticing.

Focus, soldier.

“You mean to say that you can walk without tripping on brambles or bleeding over thorns? If you can, by all means, I will let you walk all on your own.”

Silence. I scowl, berating myself. My words were too harsh, it seems, and now she withdraws me. How many times must I remind myself of my tone around females?

“Okay, now that you put it like that, you’re right.” With a huff, she adds, “But if I’m an inconvenience or heavy or anything, just let me go, okay? I don’t need you breaking your back because of me.”

Even though it is safer on the move, I pause. Grasping her by her hips as modestly as I can, I hold her out in front of me so I can look her squarely in her eyes. “Do you doubt my virility?”

Her forehead crinkles in that cute way that makes me want to kiss it.

“What? No! I–”

“Do you think that something as small as you would exhaust me in any way?”

“Well, no, I–”

Her cheeks flame in a riot of pink, and it is only through supreme discipline I don’t drop my gaze to see if she blooms pink elsewhere.

“Good. Then enough. If carrying you were a burden, I would have found another way to transport you. As you are not, this conversation is moot. Agreed?”

“Yes, but–”

I tsk. “Agreed?”

I don’t move until I see her nod. “Good. Now say you are not a burden.”

She scowls at me this time, and I love every moment of her withering gaze. “I am not a burden.”

“Good, I’m glad we agree.” I cradle her in my arms once more. I do not get to feel the rise of her sweet backside under my hand in this position, but she can at least find some comfort pressed against me. And, if she ends up with more of my scent all over her, then win-win.

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