Page 30 of A Monstrous Claim, Part 2

However, it seems she’s free to travel between realms with no issue, especially with our monster blood masking hers.Thank fuck.

I briefly recall the day we found out about her warlock blood, the day that potentially saved her life. Azarius had been so sure about the magic in her blood since she survived the trip to our realm, and Ignatius had been more than willing to help figure it out.

Ignatius.

The name nearly causes me to stop in my tracks. I haven’t been able to get him off my mind for long, and I can’t help but worry about the sick possibilities surrounding his disappearance. Did someone manage to force their way into his house? Kill him? Kidnap him? Did he stage the entire thing and flee?

I want answers. Ineedthem. And not knowing is the hardest part.

Wherever he is, I hope the bastard is alright. Any world without him in it is a little less bright.

I shake my head, chasing away thoughts of our warlock friend, and gesture down the alleyway toward the street. There’s so much to do and so little time before we have to be back at the mansion to prepare. We need to get a move on.

We’ll take a cab to one of our apartments and get Devyn set up for the time she’ll be staying there. Then we have to say goodbye before our meetings with a couple of big shots here in the city to warn them of our impending call to action.

My heart isn’t ready, but I know it must be done.

I’ll face it when the time comes, but for now I refuse to think about it.

Devyn’s new temporary home is my current concern.

We have several places across the country for emergencies, business trips, and the like. It makes it super convenient for us not to have to check in and out of hotels, especially if we have to leave an area abruptly. While we could have chosen any of them, Devyn seemed most comfortable with Atlanta, since that’s where she was living when we found her.

“It sounds familiar,” Devyn says as we’re drowned in the dull roar of downtown noises. She can’t hide the upward curl of her lips.

As reluctant as she was to agree to this plan, I hope she’ll be able to find comfort here in a familiar place. Maybe it won’t be as terrible as we’re all imagining.

Who am I kidding?

It’s bound to be much worse than any of us realize.

“Hectic?” I ask, perking my ears up to listen to the commotion happening outside the alley.

It’s midday, just after lunchtime, and car sounds and chatter mesh into a cacophony of noise around us. As we make our way down the narrow alley and step out onto the sidewalk, it gets louder, engulfing us. It’s the polar opposite of the monster realm, where it’s quiet and peaceful unless things are fighting.

This is chaos, and I understand why Devyn longed for somewhere less busy before.

“Where is your apartment?” she asks, well aware of our plan. She asked us no less than a dozen times this morning where we were taking her and how she was supposed to survive for weeks alone with absolutely nothing.

“We would never abandon you, Princess,” I told her every time, which relieved some of her doubts. “You will always be taken care of exceptionally if I have anything to do with it.”

And she will be as long as there’s breath in my body.

Her eyes skate over the buildings around us and flick through the trickle of people making their way past us as she takes it all in.

“Not far from here,” Azarius answers her when I’m too distracted looking at her to form a reply. “Ten minutes tops.”

He whips out his cell phone and cuts it on, waiting for it to boot up before ordering an Uber. The thought puts a smile on my face. Who would have thought ordering an Uber four months ago would have landed us here?

It delivered us a mate we didn’t realize we needed, that we can’t live without. And now we’re repeating the process with her at our side. There’s something poetic in there, but I’m too distracted to realize what it is.

When our car arrives, the three of us slide into the backseat. There’s not much room, but having Devyn’s thigh pressed up against mine the entire ride is both comforting and tempting. If the gentleman driving us across town wouldn’t mind, I’d fuck her here in his backseat and tip him extra for leaving a mess.

However, somehow, I manage to keep myself composed until we arrive.

It’s a two bedroom, decent-sized apartment in a gated community near the edge of the city. Private, quiet, and the perfect hideaway for when we visit.

Devyn will be safe here.

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