The Heart of a Monster: The Complete Series

Chapter 23

Quinn

The second time I woke up that morning, it was on the floor of the island shack, sprawled on the sleeping bag Crag had unfurled for me. From the angle of the sun and the small shadows cast by the men standing over me, it was nearly noon.

I pushed myself upright, rubbing at my eyes, and took in the newer arrivals. Torrent and Lance showed no sign of recent injuries, so they must have gotten clear of the hotel without any problems.

Lance dropped down onto the floor of the shack next to me with his usual carefree grace, and I motioned for Torrent to sit at my other side, mindful of the strain standing put on his legs. Crag stayed on his feet, alternating between peering over the ocean and glancing at us, but when our eyes met, a tingle shot through me in the memory of how we’d celebrated my newfound freedom.

Lance tucked his clawed hand around my elbow, and Torrent rested one tentacle against my back. I was left with the sense of being perfectly contained between my three monstrous men. We fit together so easily. Maybe having them in my life would be harder if I ever got to go back to a regular one… but with the harmony I felt in their presence, I had to believe we could make it work.

“How long have you been here?” I asked Torrent.

“We just arrived,” he said. “I had to pull a small craft along with me over the water to carry the dragon shifter.” He shot a wryly baleful look at Lance.

Lance let out a playful huff. “If you’d gotten a boat big enough to hold an engine and not just a shadow, I could have driven it myself.”

“But we didn’t want any chance of the wrong person spotting us. It seems that we got away clear.” Torrent took my hand and ran his thumb over my knuckles in a way that provoked another tingle. “I know this place isn’t up to the standards of your previous accommodations—I didn’t have much time to work on it?—”

“Wait, you built this?” I stared at the building around us. Yes, it was roughly made, but I hadn’t realized it was a recent construction. Because the wood that made up the small structure was weathered… but not by the actual weather, I realized. They were pieces of driftwood, some of the ends ragged—mostly flat boards, but ones that had ended up in the sea one way or another.

When I squinted closer, I couldn’t make out any nails or screws. The boards had been wedged against each other in a careful configuration that kept them stable, some of them presumably braced against the boulder at the rear of the building. Some kind of thick tarp or treated fabric had been wrapped over the roof to cover any cracks.

“It’s amazing that you put this together at all,” I said, taking in the details with an architect’s perspective. It might not be the kind of structure I’d dreamed of designing, but it was sturdy and functional in its simplicity. Staying up and doing what it was supposed to do were the most important qualities for our purposes.

Torrent’s mouth curved into a small smile. “I’ve sometimes enjoyed making sculptures and other fixtures along the beach for people to find. It’s a way of staying present in the mortal realm even if I can’t really show myself. I’ve picked up a few tricks over the years.”

“Well, it worked just fine for me to catch up on some sleep.” I yawned and stretched my arms over my head, but curiosity was already gnawing at me. “Did you see what happened at the hotel? Was there a fight? Has Rollick reached out?”

“We stayed behind watching long enough for the big bad beasties to show up,” Lance reported, drumming his other claws against the floorboards. “All human-like, so we’re not sure what kind of beasts they are.”

Torrent nodded. “And they found something they didn’t like. The window to Rollick’s suite was smashed just as we were taking off. It seemed like it’d get dangerous to stick around anywhere nearby at that point.”

My pulse hiccupped. If my monstrous stalkers had been busting up Rollick’s suite, then they must have found at least one piece of evidence I’d left that’d convinced them he was lying about not knowing where I was. But in my focus on getting me out of the hotel, I’d forgotten— “What about the other guests—the human ones? If the other shadowkind attack Rollick and his people, will the mortals around be okay?”

“These beings have still mostly been keeping up appearances in their other activities,” Torrent said, squeezing my hand. “I doubt they’d want to show off their monstrous forms in front of downtown Santa Monica. Both sides will want to keep the conflict contained away from mortal eyes.”

Lance tugged at his ear. “I think I heard a fire alarm going off as we were zipping away. That’d clear out the building nice and quick.”

Relief rushed through me. “Okay. But we don’t know yet how the fighting turned out? Whether either side took significant damage?” As monstrous as Rollick had proven himself to be, he was still more on my side than the creatures who were going around eating sorcerers and trying to kill my men so they could enslave me. I couldn’t help hoping that he’d come out of the clash better off than his opponents.

Torrent shook his head. “Rollick said he’d contact me by phone when everything was settled. I haven’t heard from him yet, and no missed calls or messages from when I wasn’t available to answer. We couldn’t risk getting caught up in the skirmish by staying.”

“Of course not. I’m glad you’re okay. Both of you.” I gripped his hand tighter and leaned against Lance’s shoulder. A sigh slipped out of me.

The dragon shifter peered at me with a mix of concern and eagerness before reaching toward one of the bags of supplies. “Have you eaten yet? We made sure to grab many things when we were setting up.”

“I remembered the snacks you like best,” Crag put in with a pointed rumble.

Lance waved him off carelessly. “Yes, yes. But she needs all the vita-whats and so on too.” He plucked out an orange and started carving it into slices with his claws without waiting for my answer.

My stomach did gurgle then. I’d been so tense from our escape and then exhilarated that we’d succeeded that hunger hadn’t crept up on me before I’d dozed off. All I’d had was the gulp of water with my morning pills. “Thank you,” I said, reaching to accept the slices from the dragon shifter.

As the tartly sweet juice filled my mouth, Lance rummaged around in the bag, partly shredding the thin plastic with his claws, and pulled out a chocolate bar. “There, you can be helping keep her fed too,” he said, wagging it teasingly at Crag before handing it over.

It was actually my favorite type of bar—I must have mentioned that to the gargoyle sometime in our travels. I beamed up at him. “Thank you too. You all made this place perfect.”

But the world beyond this island was far from perfect. I took another bite, more pensive thoughts creeping up over me. “So, I guess now we just wait and see how things pan out, and then we’ll figure out where we go from here?”

I expected Torrent to agree immediately, but instead he paused as if debating whether to say what he was thinking. I straightened up to catch his gaze. “What?”

He tipped his head to the side, his mouth twisting at a crooked angle. “I did have a thought—something we might want to investigate while the shadowkind who’ve been searching for you are distracted.”

“Okay, and what’s that?”

He motioned in what I assumed was the direction of the mainland. “When I was scouting out enemy activities for Rollick, I came across evidence that there’s a sorcerer family in Arizona that our enemies were trying to track down. I’ve spent some time in that area on other missions for Rollick before, and I think I know exactly where the family is located. From what you’ve told me about the sorcerer Rollick brought to talk to you before, this bunch is more experienced and has more power.”

“I think most would be,” I said. “He seemed like his talents were pretty weak. But why would that matter right now?”

“You still need to sort out the problem of the magic in you—understanding how to work with it or even getting it out of you, if that’s possible,” Torrent said. “We could try to talk to them today. Heading to their little settlement here, we wouldn’t need to go anywhere near L.A.”

Hope trickled up through my chest. “Do you really think they’d talk to me?”

Torrent shrugged. “I don’t see why not. I’d imagine they’d have at least a little sympathy for your situation. If not, then we just leave, no harm done.”

Lance had tensed a little at my other side. I glanced over at him, my stomach clenching. “But we don’t know how they’d treat the three of you.”

The dragon shifter put on a grin that only looked a little stiff. “We’ve got you to vouch for us, baby girl. And we can always stick to the shadows farther out if we don’t want to tempt their voodoo.”

Torrent tapped him with a tentacle. “You should definitely stay well back—you can keep watch over the road leading to their settlement. It’d be hard for them to affect any of us—from what I’ve seen before, only one might be powerful enough to even attempt to coerce a higher shadowkind of our power—but after you’ve had your mind muddled with sorcery once, you’re more susceptible.”

Lance gave a snarl but didn’t argue. Crag drew himself up even taller, still in his gargoyle form, and spread his wings. “Torrent and I can keep a closer watch over Quinn. We won’t let her be harmed.”

“It’ll still be a little risky for you,” Torrent said, searching my gaze with his sea-green eyes. “There’s always the chance of shadowkind noticing you and passing on word. You’re safest here.”

I dragged in a breath. “But I need to figure out how to leave here eventually, and the longer we wait, the more chance there is that some other beings will go after those sorcerers and kill them. It’s better that we go now while we know the ones hunting me and them are distracted, like you said. Just a quick conversation, see if there’s anything they know that could help. If you’re all in.”

The men around me inclined their heads without hesitation. I pushed myself to my feet, ignoring the nervous twist of my gut. “All right. Let’s find out what these sorcerers can tell me.”