Page 16 of Fated to Monsters

I turn, expecting him to be closer than he is, but he’s still in the hallway, where everybody else remains.

“What are you waiting for?” I ask him. “Come on.”

He shakes his head and places his hand along the rippling magical edge of the boundary which is very much still intact.

“Bo, I command you this instant, release him.”

Bo drops Sydney onto the hardwood floor, where he wheezes and clutches at his throat.

“Fucking psycho,” Sydney spits out.

Bo squares his shoulders. “If you don’t release them, I’ll show you a true psycho.” A growl rumbles in his chest.

Sydney scoots back and up onto his feet. “I’m not letting Tremont out.”

“I don’t care about him. But the rest of them, let them out,now.”

I step in front of Bo and inch carefully toward Sydney. “What he’stryingto say is, would you please let our people free? We have spent a lifetime in captivity.” I glare over my shoulder at Bo. “He lacks the proper manners to ask politely.”

Sydney rubs at his throat and flits his gaze between us. "Don't make me regret this." He snaps his fingers and a moment later, everyone except Tremont is free of the barrier.

“You can’t just lock me up in here.” Tremont pounds his fist on the invisible forcefield.

“I can, and I will.” Sydney swallows harshly. “Could I have a word with the rest of you downstairs?”

“Yeah, of course.” I shove Bo from his spot firmly in place. “Knock it off, grump ass.” I wave my hands at the rest of my group. “Go ahead, I’m right behind you.” I hang back to make sure they go without causing an issue and then walk down with Sydney.

Something in my gut tells me he wouldn’t hurt me, not if he doesn’t have a reason to. If my distant relative trusts him enough to marry him, that means I should be safe to be near him.

“Is he”—Sydney nods ahead—“one of your mates, too?”

I bite at my lip. If he had asked me yesterday, I would have said yes without hesitation, but now I’m not so sure what Bo is to me. Is he simply the alpha who left a mark on my neck? Or is he more? To me, he is one of the men I care deeply for, but I cannot force someone to want to be with me if they don’t want to. And I surely won’t be reduced to a piece of meat they take turns sharing. Perhaps Bo and I were always destined to remain enemies and nothing more.

I settle on responding, “It’s complicated.” Because that’s the truth and I’m sick of lies.

“I’m familiar with complicated.” Sydney matches my stride down the winding staircase. “My wife has four mates.”

My eyes widen and I turn to take him in, to assess whether this is another deceit. But when he offers me a soft smile, I conclude that he’s being honest, too.

I want to ask him more, to let the million questions rattling around inside my head spill, but upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, the rest of the group stands there in wait for their next command.

“Through here.” Sydney motions ahead and walks past them, leading us down another long hallway and into a grand living room with a large fireplace and lavish furniture. “Have a seat while I tend to the fire.”

Wes follows him over, mumbling something along the lines of, “I can help with that.” I don’t catch everything that’s exchanged, but it seems civil to say the least.

Sydney throws a few logs onto the fire and steps back, waiting for Wes to do his magic.

Wes balls his hand into a fist, the fire of his other half rising to the surface and creating a blazing orb that he tosses onto the wood in the brick hearth. The thing ignites instantly and settles down once the wood has been engulfed.

The two of them say a few more words and make their way over to the rest of us who have chosen a seat among the many in this room.

“For the sake of clarity, could we agree to be honest with each other?” Sydney glances around the room at the faces he’s only met moments prior in an equally hostile situation. “We didn’t exactly get off on the right foot, and I have to admit, you being anywhere near that man upstairs makes me immediately suspicious.”

“And you locking them into a wing of your house isn’t doing you any favors either,” Bo mouths off.

“I don’t know how it works back where you’re from, but there’s this thing called breaking and entering here, and it’s illegal.” Sydney leans against the arm of the couch Jade and Everest have taken up residency on. “Human law, not even supernatural. So the fact that you’re supernatural makes it that much more complicated when I show up to my childhood home to find a misfit bunch of creatures sleeping in my beds. Plus, the fact that they’re shacking up with my literal enemy. Anyone else may have killed you on the spot, but you caught me on a good day.”

Dash raises his hand. “I would have come back. And you’d have had to clean up all the ash and soot, and I’m not going to lie, it’s pretty messy.”

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