Page 110 of Monsters in Love

Those gorgeous eyes flicked to hers. “I am a monster.”

Her heart lurched at the pain in his words. She ran her fingers through the short fur of his cheeks, shocked by how soft it was, and held his gaze. She was close enough to feel the heat of him along every inch of her body. “I don’t think you are a monster.”

His snout wrinkled with frustration. “Appearances to the contrary.”

Still holding his face, she stepped closer. “Indeed.”

His eyes widened.

“Do you think that some fur and wings matter more than this?” She jabbed a finger into his chest, right over his heart. Careful to keep her voice low, she continued, “Because if you dare say yes, I shall defy all laws of physical ability and reason and kick your ass from here to the fields.”

“Isabelle…” His expression softened. “I’m no longer human. I lost myself with the change.”

“You didn’t lose all of you,” she whispered fiercely.

“I lost enough.”

Dear Gods. He sounded so hopeless.

Was it possible for a heart to break over and over again, like a mirror that fixed itself only to be shattered once more on the floor? But no matter how much it hurt, she couldn’t leave him alone with his pain. Couldn’t ignore the wound gaping before her, even if it would cut them both to clean it.

“Tell me,” she pleaded. “Help me understand.”

His sigh shuddered through her. “I would protect you from this.””

“Please,” she whispered.

“Very well,” he rumbled. “Though, it will bring you no peace.”

He paused, as if expecting her to suddenly throw up her hands and rescind her request.Honestly. Human or beast, men could be shockingly dim witted. All those days following her father’s maps, and she’d never been more certain of her need to know an answer than right now.

She tipped her head to the side and waited.

He gave another sigh and rubbed the back of his neck with an enormous hand. Yet he didn’t pull away, even as he began to speak, words slow and weighted with reluctance. “After we were thrown into the tunnels, we were attacked. Two of us died in those first moments. My father and I escaped with the others. We were hunted, injured. Bloodied and cut by the demons, yet determined. Those of us that lived to see morning searched for a place to hide. We found this place, hidden in the side of the belfry, thought it was salvation—”

He looked out the window.

She rested her hands on his chest, taking comfort in the steady beat of his heart beneath her touch. Her Thomas had always been strong, always broad-shouldered and steady. Whatever came next in his story, that truth would not change.

“Only our tower became a prison.” He glanced at her. “We began changing.”

She sucked in a breath.

Thomas and his father had made it to this place. They’d found refuge, and they’d still become monsters? Questions lodged in her throat—she refused to give them breath.

This was her love’s story to tell. She had to let him.

“I don’t know if we were cursed or made ill from the tunnels themselves,” he rasped. “We’d all been cut by the creatures. We’d all eaten whatever food we could find—some of it in a terrible state. Yet… we thought we’d make it until we started seeing a creeping shadow at night. After it came, our wounds burned. Fever took us. And then our bodies betrayed us.”

She wrapped her arms around his waist, a silent invitation to continue—and a promise that she’d stand beside him.

“The pain of it…” He sucked in a breath. “We became monsters, and escape lost all meaning. We lost hope. Each other.Ourselves…” The word transformed into a harsh growl. “I lost myself for a time, Belle. Did things. Lived like the beasts below. It wasn’t until I chased another victim to this very tower—”

His massive body shuddered as if the memories struck a physical blow.

She tightened her grip on his waist. “You cannot blame yourself.”

“Why not?” He huffed, a throaty rumble of self recrimination. “I forgot myself. I pinned a boy I considered family against this very window. And I’d have killed him if I hadn’t seen you through the glass.”

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