Page 29 of Forgotten Monsters
Rose?
“You said you wanted nothing to do with Dark Falls,” I argue, my palms suddenly sweaty as hell. Barron was a lot to take in on his boat, but here…I might never look away. How a man can look so intimidating wearing only jeans and a monochrome t-shirt is beyond me, but he does. His green-freckled gaze bears into me as though he can read my thoughts, like my pain is nothing but a crown I wear as an artifice.
He raises his hand to the flames. The warm light of the candles grows a shade darker—almost purple. “I changed my mind,” he says quietly.
I don’t know how, but his call echoes in my bones, the very marrow chanting for me to get closer to him. The dark thoughts I was plagued with a minute ago are gone, replaced by the incomparable need to touch him.
Lydia leans in, her elbows propped over the chess board. “Who isthat?”
“No one,” I whisper back.
The legs of the chair screech on the linoleum as I stand up. “You shouldn’t—”
Deveraux obscures Barron’s frame from my vision, freeing me from the unnatural, hypnotic hold. “Your father went looking for the unicorns. He thought we could never fix Dark Falls—or the realm—without their help. I disagreed with his plan, but now…I think he was right.”
She lifts her chin up at the sailor. “If we want to find Robert, we need a way through the mists. Mr. Barron here can lead us through them.”
Barron threads closer to me. “Ye can imagine I won’t find my brother in Miami as planned, so my schedule…freed up.” He extends his hand to Lydia. “I’m Kayde Barron.”
The redhead gapes. “Lydia Hawks.”
They shake hands, and the Scot’s gaze softens. “Yer grandmother was a close friend of mine. She was born in Scotland, did ye know? Her powers were unparalleled.”
Lydia nods, and her forehead wrinkles before she reaches for Barron’s arm. “Those are blakkr naetrelding marks.” She runs her hands over the skin of his left forearm before suddenly letting him go. “Shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to touch you like that.”
A quick smile ghosts over the sailor’s lips. “No harm done,Lydia. Ye lek exactly like her, did ye know?” The deep, sexual way he ushers the words irks my temper.
Close friend my ass.
A deep shade of red settles in the hollow of Lydia’s chest.
I cross my arms. “You could have warned us the time had passed quicker out here.” Whatever magic he used on me before has waned, but I’m still deeply unnerved by the phenomenon.
Barron continues to scrutinize Lydia with the most unabashed interest as he answers, “We sailed through a tempest, so it could have gone either way. Either you were gone for ten years—or ten minutes.”
I click my tongue. “Well, a head’s up would have been nice.”
The seer jolts to her senses. “Well…I’ll check the woods in case Flynn managed to leave me a message.”
Rose hands Barron a steaming cup of coffee. “And I’ll see what I can offer you in exchange for your services, Mr. Barron.”
The two women hustle out, leaving me alone with the Scot and his clearly vivid recollection of all the sex he had with Lydia’s grandmother.
My heart races as I walk to the stacks of books near Lydia’s desk and run my fingers along the spines. Most of them are ancient tomes, and I read the titles, looking for anything else to occupy my mind. History of the Three Realms. Lessons from Demons. An Underworld Lie. Undead Connection. The Phoenix Songs. Pazar’s Bestiary.
I slide the last one from the shelf and fan the pages, looking for a page marker or hand-written notes, but the sight of the dragon on the cover pulls my mind down a dark, rabbit hole.
The heat of his breath brushes my neck. “Don’t let it destroy ye.”
I spin around to face him, spooked by his closeness. I didn’t even see him move. The tremble of power wafts through the library once more in a nefarious shroud. “What?”
“Whoever he is. He’s not worth it. Believe me.” His gaze slews to my lips, and he leans down.
“How dare you—” I move to slap his cheek.
He catches my wrist mid-swing, his calloused thumb on my pulse point. “Yer fury sizzles. Yer pain suffocates. The taste of it is so thick, I can’t think.”
The compulsion to reach for him is undeniable, my arms shake in restraint, and my brain finally catches up with what’s happening. “You’re a vengeance demon?”
