His Human Surrogate (Monsters Love Curvy Girls #2) - Michele Mills Page 0,39

is something called ‘sexy country music.’ It’s great that we’re on the same planet now and can indulge in our passion for this together.

We’ve done karaoke a few times in Riley’s kitchen these last few weeks, with only Kari and Loge as our audience. The babies are good natured about it, but it would be fun to get the other adults in Riley’s family in on our fun. We haven’t been able to do this live together for an audience since our last vacation together on Omega 9, where we dominated the stage and closed down the sing-along bar, three nights in a row.

Okay, I admit we’re crazy-obsessed. But hey, it’s fun.

Later that night I’m standing in front of an audience of two twin babies, Aegir Touchstone, Bestla, Methone and Grandma Narvi—all of whom are seated in the front room of Riley’s house, patiently watching us.

I look over at Riley. “Hit it.”

And she starts.

12

Bergelmir

I watch Chloe through the window of my brother’s domicile, like a lost ancestral ghost unable to find the doorway into the fields of flame. I steam up the glass with smoke as I press too close. My claws scratch against the windowpane. I can’t help myself—I want her that badly.

I’m watching my bound as she shakes her hips and loudly sing words to some kind of energetic human music alongside her friend. I am transfixed, listening to my female’s delightful singing voice.

She continues to surprise me.

I want to be in the room with Chloe and my family, enjoying this charming performance by the two humans, but I am unable. I must remain hidden to keep her and my offspring safe. And to save the world, yet again. It is the Touchstone way.

I’ve been living like this for the last month; on the outside looking in.

My entire family and my future bound all think I’m away on a mission. Even Aegir thinks I’m off planet. I thought this situation—where I’m Chloe’s secret protector and I’m living hidden in my safe room in my attic—would last only a week, tops. But it continues, and I see no end in sight.

I talk to my mother, my brother, my female… daily, through my tablet. They don’t know that during the last moon cycle I’ve killed three different assassins who attempted to break into my domicile and harm my Chloe.

Team Molten Lava is on house arrest while the government continues to search for me, but for males like us “house arrest” is comical. The team comes and goes as they please with none the wiser, and they often meet up with me at night in the wild preserve just outside the weak point in the wall surrounding my community. The exact spot the assassins continue to use to their advantage as they attempt to infiltrate my domicile. I’ve considered bringing this blind spot to the attention of the community guards—but then I’d have no way in and out myself.

“The President is in on this,” Hannibal tells me during our bi-weekly meeting.

“In on what?” Skoll snarls. The six other members of my team growl back in response. All eight of us are on high alert.

“Narcisstone hired the Mafia to rig the voting in his favor,” Hannibal explains. “That’s how he won the last election.”

“No flaming way.”

“Yes, it’s true.”

“We were sent on that mission as a ruse. We were all supposed to die out there so the President looked good and he got the spotlight off of himself and no one would know he’d rigged the election. But we screwed everything up by raiding the compound, killing Narcisstone’s key Mafia ally, and getting out of there alive. The President will continue to come for you, for us, until we are all dead, as well as our families. We are the only link to his illegal activities, and we have the evidence to bring this administration down.”

“What evidence do we have?”

“Our scans, pics and vids of the compound, showing it exists. Plus, all of our recordings of their communication. I’ve found coded messages sent between the Xylan Mafia and President Narcisstone. I think they were planning something else, beyond the rigging of the election, a way for him to remain in power indefinitely.”

Skoll growls.

I nod in agreement. “How can we bring them down?”

A grim smile spreads across Hannibal’s face. “We need to decode the conversation. I’m certain the key evidence we need to expose them will be there.”

Heh. “How long will this take?”

“A week, tops,” Fenrir, our best code breaker, confidently boasts. “Hugin and