Page 35 of Monster Mate

Riordan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “And what if he comes at us first?”

“Then whatever happens to him will be self-defense.”

Winton gave a fist pump. “Now we’re talking!”

She gave Riordan a stern look. “That motherfucker burned my house down, damn it. I need to be the one to reclaim my independence. I’m done running. So, if—when—he comes after me, I’ll be ready and I’ll defend myself. Got it?”

He looked mutinous as fuck, but eventually grumbled, “Got it.”

OK. Good. Now, all they needed was a plan. Easy, right?

She’d later find out she should’ve known better.

Nothing was easy in Sanity Falls.

CHAPTER 22

Promises were a tricky thing.

He’d promised Roxie he’d let her take care of herself and that he wouldn’t take any proactive moves against Neil on her behalf.

But he’d never said he wouldn’t do a little reconnaissance, right?

It was probably a gray area of the promise he’d made to Roxie.

Oh well, if she was angry with him later, he could beg for her forgiveness. Maybe do that thing with his tongue and tail that she liked so much.

Come to think of it, he’d very much like to do that thing again, even if she wasn’t angry with him later.

But that was beside the point.

The point was that he’d told Roxie he had to run an errand while she took Winston to his physical therapy session, and that hadn’t been a lie. It just so happened that his errand was to check out Neil’s home, see what he was up to, and determine what his next steps might be in regard to Roxie.

Fortunately, the street Neil lived on was quiet, and since it was the middle of the day in a working-class neighborhood, not too many people were out and about, because it would’ve been difficult for a 7’-tall, horned monster with a tail to blend into a crowd.

It was also a low crime area, so it didn’t appear that too many homes on this particular street had security cameras.

Not that security cameras would help much when the intruder was a teleporting demon. He could move so fast that to the human eye on camera, he’d look like nothing but a technical glitch.

So, he’d been hiding in the wooded area across the street from Neil’s house most of the morning, watching the entrances and exits, seeing if the bastard would be dumb enough to come home while the cops were actively searching for him.

Unfortunately for Riordan, it would seem that Neil wasn’t that dumb.

There hadn’t been movement in the house all day. The place was empty and there were no indications that the police were watching. He was going in. And if he left fingerprints or DNA at the home, it wasn’t like the local cops would have a single fucking idea what they were looking at, so them being able to track him down for questioning was unlikely.

There was a part of him that hoped he was wrong as he teleported into the living room of Neil’s two-bedroom bungalow. If he was home, Riordan could kill him quietly and quickly, then chuck his body into an alternate dimension where the humans would never have to deal with him again.

But alas, the place was empty. Empty and revolting. His nose involuntarily crinkled as he glanced around.

Clearly, Neil hadn’t lived here long. If he had to guess, he’d say this house was just a convenient stronghold that was close to Sanity Falls…and Roxie.

There was very little furniture in the living room, but what was there (a dirty plaid couch, a folding card table with one lopsided chair, a tv on a stand made out of concrete blocks, and a Rubbermaid tub for a coffee table) was covered in empty takeout containers, open soda and beer cans, and questionable stains.

Neil had given up on hygiene long ago, it would appear. He was either too far removed from sanity to care about cleanliness, or he was so focused on something else that household chores didn’t even cross his mind.

And when Riordan walked into the bedroom (after completely bypassing a bathroom that smelled like week-old roadkill), he realized it was probably both.

The man was far from sane, and his complete focus was on Roxie.

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