28. Aliana
ALIANA
After the most mind-blowing sex of all eternity, the Devourer cleaned me up gently and laid me in bed, then tucked me in and even pulled that tapestry right up to my chin. He’d stared down at me wordlessly, and…something changed between us.
Something huge and wordless passed between that massive, monstrous beast and me. I don’t have a name for it—thinking about it too directly makes me feel like I’m staring into the sun.
But it doesn’t matter what it is or was…because he left.
He turned, still naked, and I watched his muscular ass as he casually strolled out the door, black tail swishing back and forth with each step.
I bit my lip to resist the urge to call him to get back here, to open my legs and demand that he make me come again.
I don’t understand why he left.
I’ve been thinking about it for an entire day and night, in which time I have not seen hide nor hair of him. Or fur, as the case may be. I’ve chewed my fingernails down as a million different scenarios have rolled through my head.
Was the mate thing all a trick? A way for him to fuck me and then leave me, like I’m nothing but a filthy fanger desperate to lick up whatever crumbs he decides to spare me?
God, I don’t know. Maybe.
It’s not as if he let me grab a nap and then woke me up with breakfast. He didn’t show back up with flowers, like the guys in the forest do. Nope. He’s just gone—as if it never happened. As if we never happened.
I let a monster come inside of me.
Fuck.
A fucking tongue. A Terror.
He came inside of me. I don’t even know what that means. Can a human have a monster’s baby? There are so many fangers here, clinging onto monsters despite the chances of getting killed. So many of them fuck monsters. Do they have monster babies?
Would a monster baby even be born normally? Or would it snack on my organs the way that a baby bird eats a yolk?
I’m freaking out. Panicking.
I’ve hyperventilated into my pillow more than once.
But no tears. I won’t allow them. Anytime they show up, I run over to one of the idiotic sarcophagi in my room and try to shove that sucker across the floor.
It’s impossible—the huge stone coffins weigh more than a ton—but I end up sweaty and panting, furious instead of… other things.
I run a hand through my hair, pacing back and forth—checking the lights to look for my ghost friend. He’s gone as well. Everyone is fucking missing!
“Yoo-hoo!” Filia pops a head around the door, her ebony face and long orange eyelashes a welcome sight for my sleepless, baggy, anxiety-ridden eyes.
“Oh. Hey!” I’m way too cheerful for the fact that I’m greeting a tongue. But life is what it is. Perhaps I’m just desperate for human connection…or monster connection. I’m going insane with nothing but my thoughts to keep me company.
“Zeelof made a special loaf of bread and wanted to see if you’d like some.” She jerks her thumb over her shoulder, in the direction I know the kitchen to be.
“Cannibal-free?” I ask, knowing his penchant for sneaking bits of humans into things.
“I think so. Come check.” She waves a friendly hand, so I follow her out of my room and down the hall, trying not to look at the gash on her chicken leg. It would be rude to ask how she got it, right?
Just like it would be utterly pathetic to wring my hands and ask what’s going on with Dev. He’s her boss. She’s a tongue. Just because she’s shown me kindness on more than one occasion doesn’t mean she’s my new best friend. I have to remember that, especially since a sliver of me trusts her.
Ugh. Part of me misses Tesq. Or maybe I just want to bury my fingers in Fluffy’s fur and go back to that moment where I thought we might become friends.
I have to blink back tears as Filia pushes open the door to the kitchen.
Zeelof is buzzing around the stove like always.
Marterial is in the back corner with another monster I’ve never seen before, one that looks like a deep-sea monster.
He’s naked, and his skin is transparent, allowing me to see his organs and bones.
His eyes are on two floating and bobbing antennae, which I imagine have to be disconcerting when trying to have a conversation.
“If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times. The fertilizer for the garden is not to be touched!” The unknown monster scowls and taps a scaly foot against the ground.
“How do you know I did it?” Marterial acts affronted, crossing his arms over his bulging, slimy belly.
Even I can read the caustic glance from the other monster, whom I’m guessing is the gardener. “Please.”
I don’t get to watch any more of this ridiculous exchange before Zeelof’s bright voice welcomes me over. The buzzing tongue flies up and over his own countertop. His black- and yellow-striped arms are suddenly around me, enveloping me in a hug.
I go stock-still, unsure how to respond. Why the hell is he hugging me? Did Dev clear him to cook me up? Is he feeling my muscles to see how tender I am?
“Heard you and the Devourer going at it the other day,” Zeelof says as he releases me. His bug-like face contorts into a wink. “Thank you for that.”
Oh God.
“Yeah, he’s been in a better mood.” Filia walks over to the counter, plucks an eyeball out of a bowl, and pops it into her mouth like it’s an olive. “Of course, it didn’t last long before he got that call.”
“What call?” Dammit. I sounded too eager, didn’t I? I struggle to neutralize my face and appear nonchalant.
“Some Eights and Nines terrorizing a neighborhood on the Lower East Side.” Zeelof waves a hand. “Nothing to worry about.”
“Easy for you to say.” The gardener walks forward with his lips pressed into a thin line. “But I’m a One. You know what my fanger said the other day? She might try to level up and leave me.”
Filia gasps in outrage. Marterial shakes his head.
Zeelof buzzes back over to a sauce he’s stirring and says, “Well…did you eat her? Or do you want to? I have a recipe for legs that—”
“I don’t want to eat her! I love her!” the gardener exclaims. “But what am I supposed to do? I can’t protect her when things are getting this out of hand.”
Marterial says, “There are always skirmishes.”
“Not this many.” When the gardener shakes his head back and forth, the eyes on his antennae remain staring straight ahead, the bases twisting so that his eyes don’t move at all. It’s utterly creepy, but I find myself fascinated, caught up in other creature’s drama.
“Some fangers have gone over to be part of the Empty Man’s menagerie. Hell, I’ve even heard some monsters have joined.” Zeelof’s gossip is met with disgusted looks all around.
“Um, who’s the Empty Man?” I raise a hand and ask.
Everyone but Filia laughs. The ebony monster turns toward me and cants her head. “I thought I told you about the Four Terrors. Did you forget, girl?”
Embarrassment heats my cheeks, and I say, “Oh, right,” even though I’m ninety-nine percent certain she’s never mentioned him.
The other monsters are still busy discussing what to do about monster upstarts.
“The Devourer isn’t worried, so I’m not worried,” Zeelof states imperiously, moving over to a loaf of bread he had on a cooling rack. He grabs it and a cutting board. His gaze slides over to mine. “I baked tomatoes into it, from an old human recipe book I found.”
“Oh, good.” I nod enthusiastically. That actually sounds wonderful. And thoughtful. When he cuts me a slice, my mouth waters, and I quickly stuff myself as the monsters around me continue discussing the gardener’s fanger dilemma.
“Your fanger has to know she has it good.” Marterial pats him on the shoulder.
“She has it so good.” The other monster nods in agreement, and I can’t help but notice his strange eyes turn a little wistful when he talks about her.
I don’t know whether to be awed over the fact that this monster is apparently in love with a human or disgusted that he has a slave to begin with.
“I don’t keep her cooped up. I take her for walks on her leash.
I’ve never eaten a single finger, even though fingers are my favorite. ”
All my sympathy for this tongue vanishes. He thinks of his fanger as a fucking pet. He doesn’t see humans as equals.
God.
Is that how Dev sees me? When he says mate, does he really mean pet?
Suddenly, my appetite is gone. I swallow the lump of bread in my mouth and hold up the rest of the slice in my hand. “This is delicious. Really. Thank you so much, Zeelof. So thoughtful. But I’m feeling really tired now. I’d better go sleep.” I back towards the hall door.
Zeelof gives me a smile, but only Filia glances over and gives me a nod goodbye. The other two monsters are still caught up in their conversation.
I make it back to my room and shut the door behind me, then slide down until I’m sitting on the stone floor.
My thoughts begin to race again. All the comfort I found in the fact that the Devourer might not be avoiding me—that he was called away on monster business—has been erased by that gardener and his concept of a fanger as a pet.
I hadn’t gotten that implication from Dev.
I don’t understand. Did I imagine that moment? Did I imagine the look on the Devourer’s face as he towered over me and ran a clawed hand gently over my hair, telling me to sleep? Did I misinterpret it?
If he thought of me as more than a stupid pet, why did he leave without telling me?
For the next several hours, my thoughts continually circle back to that haunting question.
I know why I left Creep. I was trying to get my head on straight after doing something so unnatural but amazing.
Scary and forbidden but utterly mind-blowing.
And then, while I’d been wandering through the halls, Escape had popped her little head up, winking at me, and I’d had to try to chase after her.
What slave wouldn’t try to run if the opportunity presented itself?
Even if what they were leaving behind was…
Creep’s deep blue eyes. I still feel a twinge of regret over leaving him like that.