Page 77 of Stitched Up in You
“So, I just have one more question,” I tell him once the train starts moving.
“Just one?” he asks, a glimmer of amusement in his gaze.
I raise a brow, knowing my next query is about to make or break my little fantasy monster romance. There’s no way I can move forward without knowing what he did, and Aubrey, for whatever reason, didn’t tell me after it happened. “Why did Aubrey say you’re a monster?”
Chapter 29
FRANK N. STEIN
“She’s my best friend, and I’ve known her since we were kids, and I also know she didn’t mean your superpowers. So, what gives?” Bernadette continues.
I stare at her blankly, unsure of what to say, suddenly feeling as if my gray t-shirt and jeans are too tight.
She shakes her head, her face becoming flushed with annoyance at my not answering her, I assume. “I’ve followed you on socials for as long as I can remember and today, I found out you’re sheltering unicorns and keeping them hidden. Not to mention what you do for Brom and Dexter’s Laboratory back there,” she says, pointing back towards Jekyll’s lab, “so why did Aubrey call you a monster?”
It takes me a moment to place the name as she scowls over her glasses, until I realize she means Vlad’s human. Only, there’s no easy way to explain that. If I’d known the woman was his mate, I’d have never taken her from his castle. “Are you aware of what Vlad, Aubrey’s new boyfriend, is exactly?” I ask her, deciding to follow with logic, since she has shown herself to have a keen mind.
This afternoon has been a revelation, and I can’t remember the last time I’ve been so open with anyone, if ever. I never had the chance to share what I was with Anna as our mate bond never became what I know mine and Bernadette’s to be.
I can see the magic even now settling around us both, which is why I decided to take Jekyll’s advice and attempted to share some of my life with her.
If she decides to leave, it’ll be on his head.
“Yeah, he’s a vampire, and that’s what led me to looking into Talbot in the first place. I couldn’t find anything about him on the internet except one document linking him to you,” she says.
So that’s why she went looking into Talbot.That’s what put her on a path to me.
Energy wells inside of me, surging at the thought of never knowing that she existed. Even if things had been different and she hadn’t hacked into my company, I can’t say things wouldn’t have played out the same once I learned of her.
I’d pluck her off the street with her kicking and screaming the entire way with only an inkling that she was my mate. Instead, she found me and put herself on my radar in a way that has kept my attention for months, and now, I must keep hers. “I’m sure you can see how it doesn’t seem smart to open a vampire’s castle to humans when he hasn’t eaten in years,” I say.
A frown creases her brow. “Yeah, I can see how that could be an issue.”
“I did what I thought was necessary at the time. Until current events, it was frowned upon to interact with your kind. So, while visiting the castle, I saw an opportunity to split them up and I put her on a flight home,” I say.Until now, it was the only pact most of us upheld, and yet we’re all succumbing to the whims of humans like dominoes.
“You didn’t hurt her?” she asks.
“No, not a hair on her head. I drove her to the airstrip near the castle and had my pilot take her home. That’s it,” I say truthfully.
“That’s why she was so scared that night,” she murmurs.
I nod, giving her a blank stare, refusing to look away as she makes her judgment of me.
“Alright, fair enough,” she finally says.
My shoulders relax a bit more against the train seat, mollified by her reaction.
“So you’re truly not like Frankenstein’s monster at all, huh,” she muses.
“No.”
She frowns, scrunching up her nose, and I want to laugh at how adorable she looks.
“Then why did that woman call you that when we were in the village that day?” she asks.
I groan, and sigh aloud. “After hearing the tale, my maker thought it fitting, but I refused the name. Instead of grotesque and deformed, I was stitched together using magic by the woman you saw in the village.”
“The one that spoofed away,” she says.
