Revealing the Monster (Playing with Monsters #4) - Amelia Hutchins Page 0,124

crept from the portal in that alleyway Alden took us to investigate? It seems that when they latched onto me, they liked what they saw and enhanced me a bit,” he snorted. “The better question is why the shadows didn’t like you, Lena?”

“Because I protect her, and no one would think to fuck with anything attached to me,” Lucian answered, pulling me back against his warmth. “How’s the hunger, Zahruk?”

“Endless,” he replied, tsking his tongue against his teeth. “I also occasionally shriek instead of making words.”

Asher snorted and jumped down from where he’d been sitting on the bar. “I told you, it’s how we speak. It’s also how the Unseelie communicates. You’re evolving.”

A high-pitched shrill ripped through the bar, and I clapped my hands over my ears for fear they’d begin bleeding.

A dark-haired female with iridescent eyes was facing Zahruk, shrieking in an earsplitting noise that had my brain pounding. Zahruk shook his head, responding with the same sound.

I screamed the moment the noise became too much to bear, and all eyes turned to me. Lucian growled in their general direction, and it was enough warning to make Zahruk and the female switch into actual words.

“Why did you scream?” Synthia asked, the only one catching on that it actually hurt my ears for them to speak as they had.

“It was splitting my head apart,” I admitted.

“You shouldn’t have heard it, though. Did anyone else hear it?” Synthia asked, searching the faces around the table before zeroing in on me. “Didn’t think so, but you did.”

“I don’t know why I could hear it. It sounded like shrieking. It vibrated inside my brain and hurt.”

“It’s because she’s in a human form,” Lucian explained. “She may have died, but her body remains human, fueled by the furies for their immortality. Without them, she’s just a human. Humans aren’t immune to the fae, which includes the Unseelie and Seelie. No matter which god or goddess crafted the species, they’re all creatures who prey upon her race.”

“Which is why my compass is pointing me to her to feed,” Zahruk admitted before holding his hands up, palm exposed. “I didn’t say I would, only that I craved to feed on her, Lucian. Believe it or not, I don’t want to taste that forbidden fruit. Lena has enough men trying to snack on her already.”

“Remember that,” Lucian growled, tightening his hold on me before placing a soft kiss against my throat, sending a shiver rushing through me.

“That shit isn’t helping me, asshole. Everything is heightened right now, including smell and knowing when a woman is responsive to a male.” Zahruk glared over my shoulder as Asher snickered beside him. “Fuck you, rainbow boy,” he snapped.

“Cool your balls, Zahruk. Soon enough, your transformation will be complete, and you will be able to turn it down a bit. Until that time comes, you can find someone who isn’t taken to ease that ache,” Elysian snapped back, her rainbow-colored eyes holding his in a challenge. “Go find Freya. She’s about to hit a dragon heat cycle. She’ll be so hungry she could eat a village of men with her pussy.”

“Fuck that noise. I don’t fuck anyone I have to see again,” Zahruk admitted, pain entering his gaze.

“Don’t even right now,” Synthia warned.

I glanced between them, making a mental note of the tension in their silent stares. Zahruk looked saddened, while Synthia appeared—detached. It was as if she had closed off her emotions or refused to feel whatever had briefly flashed in her electric-blue gaze.

“Back to the cluster fuck we’re about to walk into, ladies,” Ristan announced in a cheery tone, even though it didn’t reach his eyes.

We were all fucked up in our own ways, I realized. There wasn’t a single person inside the room that wasn’t fighting some sort of demon, and some were bigger than others, like Synthia and the Fae. They’d lost people, yet you wouldn’t realize it unless you noticed the pain shining from within them.

Lucian’s lips against my throat had me sinking deeper into his arms, needing the comfort he offered while I listened to Ristan.

“If the demons succeeded in reaching the catacombs below, they could be holed up down there. We packed it with enough supplies to last through another cold war.”

“Our fear is, if one of the changelings, a human transitioning into an Unseelie prince or princess, is inside, well, he or she could have done a number on them. It would explain why no one is contacting us from within the guild.