Page 213 of Monsters in Love

Yes. I would. I’d do it all for him, for us, even if it meant giving up everything else. Even though I didn’t have to.

“Come on, I’d kill for some fresh water,” I said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. She supported me back to the complex, where someone found a wheelchair of all things and pushed me through to the medical bay. It felt like half a dozen people hovered in the room as my cuts were cleaned and medicated, my ankle wrapped. They were all asking questions, questions I didn’t know how to answer and then Nico came in, looking far more human than before. No trace of the monster I knew he was.

“I’m Nico, the owner of the retreat,” he said, holding out a hand for me to shake. I took it, head too full of thoughts and questions that I didn’t trust myself to actually speak.

Everything here was so normal, so mundane, as well as being a hive of activity. Gemma bustled in then, eyes going wide at the state of me. I wished everyone would just leave me alone. I was fine and the fuss was overwhelming me, the same way it had on the night we’d arrived. I needed out.

“Clear the room,” Nico commanded. “I think Tamara needs a moment. If you’d step outside with me.” He directed this at Gemma, who conceded with a concerned nod.

And then they were gone and I was alone, and I could breathe again.

I inhaled a long, shaky breath and leaned back in the chair, forcing my body to relax. I wanted to be outside again, on the trails, or back in the labyrinth with Kavi. It hit me right then that he gave me the same feeling I had when I was alone; only better. I’d barely been hanging on at work – was on the verge of quitting anyway. I had nothing to lose by taking Nico’s offer. This mad return to reality was showing me that. I needed to go. To get away from here and tidy up my life so I could get back.

Nico entered then, closing the door firmly behind him. “One of the staff will take you back to your apartment. You have two weeks to tidy your affairs and return.” He handed me a business card along with a small vial. “Drink it.”

“What is it?” I asked, turning it over in my hands. The glass was clear, and a deep blue liquid was flecked with silver.

“A vial of forgetting. If you haven’t called me before the two weeks are up, you’ll forget this place. Each day it takes you, a little more will fade.”

I shook my head violently and held it out to him. “I don't want to forget.”

“This is non-negotiable.” His eyes narrowed. He stared, as if he could make me drink the liquid just with the force of his eyes. “I must protect The Nest at all costs. This is my insurance policy.”

My hand shook as he reached out and removed the cap from the bottle. He pushed my arm back toward me, his dark eyes boring into me the whole time.

“No,” I said, even as I raised that bottle to my lips. Tears spilled down my face as I drank the bitter liquid down. What if I forgot earlier? What if it wasn’t enough time?

I closed my eyes, letting the empty vial fall to the floor, the bitter taste still on my lips.

“I hate you,” I whispered.

“Sometimes, I hate me too,” Nico’s voice was softer now. “But when you arrive, I’ll give you the antidote, and everything will be reversed. And you’ll understand just why I have to be the asshole.”

I hoped so.

After all, he was going to be my new ‘boss’.

Kavi

Time seemed to pass so slowly now. I roamed my corridors in a fury, smashing the walls with my hammer, and then feeling the need to clean up the messes, to make the space tidy and clean for when Tamara returned.

If.

I hated Nico; though I understood him too. We had rules here, and I had been stupid to think that I was exempt. That he wouldn’t realize exactly where she was. That he wouldn’t come.

But I had been so wrapped up in her; her skin, her laugh, her body. Everything else had faded for those precious hours when she had been mine.

Now I had nothing to do but wait. And prepare for her return.

And if she didn’t, I would have to go and get her.

My body ached, tired, sore, as if the loss of her damaged more than my heart.

I had claimed her, but she hadn’t claimed me. Until that connection was complete, I would weaken further.

Without her, I was nothing.

Tamara

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