Page 73 of Misfit Monsters
I lift my legs instinctively, and he slides right into the place where I’m slick with need.
Another groan tumbles from Raze’s lips. They seek out mine for kiss after wild kiss as our bodies rock to meet each other. With each thrust, he surges deeper, until I’m as full as I’ve ever been, so full I can’t imagine ever feeling empty again.
This is how it should always be. I don’t have to meld with anyone else unless it’s just as fulfilling as this moment.
I hold him close and buck with him until pleasure radiates through every particle of my being. Until it peaks and crashes over me in a deluge that leaves me crying out and clutching him.
Until Raze bows over me with a cry of his own and nestles me tight in his arms like he’ll never let go.
Maybe nothing else matters. Maybe this means everything can be all right.
The joyof my interlude with Raze carries me through two afternoon classes, but by the end of a physical training session under Gnash’s scowling instruction, my feet and ankles twinge with every step.
I don’t want to complain to Fen, so I walk slowly down the hall with a sigh to suggest I’m just tired. Which I am.
“We’ve got an hour before dinner,” she says, bouncing with an energy I don’t normally see from her. “Let’s go to themedia room. I want to see if they have that movie we talked about in Mortal Culture class.”
The thought of walking into the dim room where the TV triggered my awful memories just days ago makes my gut knot. I take a deep breath.
At least I’ll be able to sit and rest my legs. And I have Jonah’s sorcery wrapped through my mind to hold back the worst of my powers. It would probably be good to face that spot and prove that it doesn’t have to bother me.
I smile at her. “Sounds like a plan!”
When we get to the media room, a few other beings have a different movie playing on the large screen. The roar of a car chase brings Fen and me over to the sofa.
One of the shadowkind motions for us to join them, and we end up sitting leaned against the sofa, watching as humans chase each other what seems like all the way around the world.
I’m pretty sure their argument could be fixed if they just talked to each other for more than five seconds, but at least they’re having fun.
With each passing minute, the frenetic thud of my heart smooths out. Iamokay. It was an unlucky coincidence that I stumbled in here when the worst possible thing I could see was playing, after I was already upset.
I surreptitiously massage my ankles, hoping the lingering pain will have vanished by dinnertime. When we get up after the ending credits, I feel a little steadier.
Fen shakes her head with a giggle. “Humans like to imagine getting very mad at each other, don’t they? I guess it gives them an excuse to drive fast and see lots of different places.”
I have to laugh too. “It seems that way. I think some of them get mad a lot for real, but it’s less exciting in theirregular lives. Maybe they like thinking they might get an adventure out of it.”
When we walk into the cafeteria, Fen claps her hands. “Oooh, we’re doing a buffet tonight. They always make those around themes. I wonder what region the food’s from today.”
A long serving table holds a dozen dishes covered by plastic lids to hold in the heat. Fen directs me to pick up a plate at one end, and we move from dish to dish with the line of fellow students, serving ourselves with massive spoons.
Fen puts a heap of yellow rice mixed with bits of chicken on her plate. “I think this is Indian. So many spices. Sometimes it makes my eyes water, but that’s better than my fingers dripping.”
I follow her lead, taking a little of everything. The savory scents swirling in the air make my stomach gurgle in anticipation. There’s a thick green curry with chunks of fried cheese, a mix of golden cauliflower and potatoes, goat meat in a brownish sauce and chicken in one that’s more orange.
Then Fen lifts the next lid, and the waft of the spicy smell makes my stomach tilt queasily.
The dish beneath is filled with chicken legs and thighs that shine vivid red. Like the pieces my captor would carry around in tin-foil wrapping; like the stain that’d coat his fingers and blaze on his tongue when he indulged in his favorite takeout.
The peppery smell would drift through the basement the whole night. Would waft off his breath when he’d lean close to the cage to poke at me?—
My hands wobble. My laden plate slips through my fingers and smashes on the floor.
Fen jerks around. “Peri?”
“What the fuck are you doing?” the shadowkind behind me mutters.
My gut is lurching like the cars in that movie now. Iwrench my gaze away from the familiar dish, but images of the past keep ricocheting through my head alongside the smell filling my lungs.
