Page 19 of Monsters in Love

I cock my brow at him. Piercings are optional, especially when in the field. But I do like the idea of all those who look upon me to know that I am already claimed.

“Thank you for your report,” I say pointedly. “Now I am sure you have a lot of paperwork to file, so don’t let me keep you.”

“No more than you.” A shadow passes over Tag’s face as he thinks about something. “Will there be a new assignment at the Minotaur’s Labyrinth? There is a void in leadership now.”

I shake my head. “The satyr was no leader. At best, he was a puppet, a henchman doing the house’s bidding. With the name ‘The Viper’s Nest’ I assumed it was part of a Naga syndicate, but now I am unsure.”

Naga princes rarely do grunt work for anyone. Even if they are low-ranking, a prince is still a prince. I say so to Tag.

Tag scowls. “That Naga prince that poached Adalyn and Karis. The rest of my team went back to sweep through and see if we might have missed anyone. The Hollow is under new management. No one has claimed it yet, but all traces of the prince and his crew are gone.”

Not surprising, but I’m still not convinced that the Nagas had control over the hollow. “Something does not settle well with me about this. It is like we are seeing trees, but missing the forest.”

“Agreed,” the younger Taurine says. “Do you think it could be a Taurine?”

That thought had been in the back of my mind. “It’s one possibility. After all, it was originally our homeworld before it became a penal colony.” One that our ancestors abandoned to its fate.

I do not want to say much more because I dislike speculating. Outside of the Nexus, Taurines are often used as muscle-for-hire. Enforcers, berserkers, juggernauts…positions that would leverage our brute strength. Few outside of our fold would actively harm our own people. Sure, there are house skirmishes, but we fight to defend our homes and territories.

We do not enslave and sell our own people…do we? It is unsettling to think about.

We settle on a dry account of a report that would be on record as a routine part of our rounds in our territory. I give Tag the unwieldy task of ensuring all of Adalyn’s delayed guests at the stable are in an amenable mood.

“Where is your lovely new mate now?” Tag asks as he prepares to leave.

I do not correct my second. Though she has not accepted me as a mate, I have already declared that she is mine. The rest is just paperwork.

I tap on my console where a scrolling account of Adalyn and Karis’s movements has been updating every few minutes. “Adalyn insisted on treating Karis to a spa day. Karis pounced on that idea.” Her eyes had softened to a dreamlike trance. I could not resist encouraging her to take Adalyn’s offer. “I told her not to wander off too far.”

“Adalyn or Karis?” Tag asks.

I give him a flat look that says,what do you think?

“I see. Let’s see if Karis can follow your orders any better than Adalyn does.”

“That would be a miracle. Regardless of where she wanders, though, I will always be able to find her.”

Karis

When I stepped through the portal and into the Nexus, I was not prepared for how homey it looked. I was expecting either an ultra-utilitarian space station or a spaceship transport pad that features in all those science fiction shows where the cast treks across the galaxy on bold quests.

What greeted me looked more like the reception area of a posh hotel. Rich woods, polished marble floors…there were even framed images along the walls.

The images changed after a while, so they had to have some kind of tech behind them.

I felt overwhelmed and slightly panicked until Adalyn skipped toward me, plastering herself to my side, and demanding why I was not in a spa at that very moment.

First, I was taken aback at how Adalyn, small, adorable, smiling Adalyn, could command with such force as she did to Bronn, of all people. After I got over that shock, the second one came seeing all the bulls within earshot who were easily twice–thrice?—her size tripped all over themselves to do her bidding.

After an hour-long shower followed by a bunch of beautifying treatments I can’t name, Adalyn presents me with my lost backpack, a change of elegant yet comfortable clothes and takes us to the Waystation. It reminds me of a speakeasy nightclub in the roaring twenties.

Here Adalyn treats me to the meal she intended to share with me the day before. She has a client in a few minutes, and this was the most convenient place for her.

“So the Nexus is all interconnected to various hubs. And, we’re in space?” I ask.

“The Nexus is more like a space station,” Adalyn says. “This is one hub of the Nexus, which Bronn oversees.” She says it with glowing pride. I mention how it looks so different to my expectations, and Adalyn giggles. “That’s Bronn for you. The rest of the Nexus is different based on the house’s urso. Here, let me show you.”

She taps on the table, and it glows. It’s like a computer interface that I can eat off of. I flip through various images of the Nexus. Overall, it looks like a labyrinth, but instead of decaying stone and rundown streets, or a surreal landscape of twisting hedgerows and blood thirsty thickets, this is straight out of a computer game.

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