Page 46 of Monster's Obsession

Not to mention, the chattering and hollering were ear-piercing.

I blinked, slowly taking in my surroundings, finding myself on a stone balcony. We were inside the mountain still, in an oversized cavern to be precise, where the surrounding walls were carved with holes and other balconies for other monsters, and where the wall was empty, it had been carved into terrifying monsters. Red fabric hung from the ceiling in loops, reminding me of dripping blood.

Our balcony wasn’t far from the arena, if one could call it that–a circular platform in the middle of the cavern, secured by dozens of chains, suspended over a gaping hole seething with lava.

Surrounding the pit were ascending stone steps, cram-packed with monsters, with not a single empty spot left.

But where was Steele?

Everything around me was too much.

The shouting.

The deadly fighting ring.

Ominous feelings like I’d stepped back to ancient monster times.

The floor seemed to move with me, and I suddenly didn’t want to be there.

“I’ll be right back,” Ash whispered in my ear, then walked into the tunnel. But it was only when I glanced back to stop him from leaving me alone on the balcony, that I noted I wasn’t alone at all.

Seven and Tempest stood on either side of the entrance.

I swallowed hard.

Both of them couldn’t look more disgruntled if they tried, but they weren’t concealing the way they stared at me either, their gazes sliding up and down my body. Neither was in monster form; both were dressed in red suits, which made me wonder if it was a royal thing to stand out among the city’s population.

“Well, isn’t this fun,” I said over the shouting, though I doubted they heard me.

Seven said something, I could tell by the movement of his jaw, but with the bottom half of his face covered, I didn’t hear a thing. Only his eyes were visible, which was enough to see exactly how he felt. And right then, I got the impression he wanted to reach out to me.

I moved closer, wanting to hear what he had to say, desperately needing to talk to him. Since our last time together, there hadn’t been a word between us. Since I was possibly about to lose a man I loved, an urgency came over me to prevent him from ignoring me…and try to work out our differences. I couldn’t bear to lose any of them.

When I stepped closer, his eyes smiled, even if behind them, he seemed to carry the heaviest of burdens.

Strong clawed hands suddenly gripped me by the waist and spun me around to face Tempest, stealing me away from Seven.

“Red isn’t exactly your color,” he muttered, while I huffed and twisted back toward Seven only to see the back of him as he left the balcony. My lips curled upward at Tempest taking that moment away from me only to insult me.

Snapping back toward him, I pushed his hands off me. “What do you want?”

“The dress doesn’t suit you,” he remarked, eyeing me head to toe.

I was getting really sick of his insults. “Yeah, well, by the bulge in your pants, I’d rather think you love the way I look.”

Pushing away from him, I went to stand in the corner of the balcony, staring out at the masses. I felt sick to my stomach waiting for this stupid fight to start, and the hot prick of tears burned my eyes.

Tempest’s shadow fell over me, his hands gripped the balcony railing on either side of me, trapping me inside. I spun toward him, my eyes teary from how high-strung and stressed I felt.

“I can’t do this today with you,” I stated. “Insult me another day, but right now, I’m so scared for Steele that I’m going to pass out.”

He studied me for a long moment, and to my surprise, he shuffled backward, giving me space. I’d like to think he felt sorry for me, but I was certain it was related to me not making a scene, seeing as I expected Creed to join us any moment now.

“You get used to it after a while,” he said, loud enough for me to hear.

“What’s that?”

“Tragedy. If you learn to expect it, then it doesn’t hurt as much when it happens.” Turning from me, he went to stand at the other end of the balcony, staring out at the arena.

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