Monster Mate by Ariana Hawkes

Author:Ariana Hawkes [Hawkes, Ariana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-01-19T06:00:00+00:00

“Fuck! Are you seeing this?” Rayleigh’s exclamation came out of nowhere; one moment, they had been walking down the frosty lane towards Brock’s house, Brock trying not to notice that conversation had severely flagged since Rayleigh had declined his offer to let her stay with him.

The next, she was glaring at the end of the road, her arms flexing, her eyes flashing with fury. “That’s my truck.”

Brock peered at the snow-covered mound that was truck-shaped, and then he saw it—a group of figures, only shadows in this dim evening light.

They were huddled around Rayleigh’s truck, and Brock was trying to work out exactly what they were doing—

And then there was the sound of glass shattering.

“They’re breaking my windows!” Rayleigh growled. She ducked her head down, almost like she was honing in her energy on the thugs who were trashing her truck, and Brock’s lion could feel it.

A ripple of anger, thick enough to power an entire city.

But the inhuman roar that echoed down the icy street didn’t come out of Rayleigh.

It came out of Brock.

Every vein, every cell, every part of him was ready to shift, ready to reclaim Rayleigh’s truck, ready to protect her.

The figures around her truck paused, glancing up at Brock—he couldn’t make out who they were, but his lion could detect the faint scent of pack animals. Probably some lowlife street thieves, bored, trapped by the snow—Ragtown had plenty of them.

But Brock wasn’t about to let them get away with it.

“Brock.” Rayleigh’s whisper was fierce. “Wait.”

“No,” Brock snarled. “No, I’m not going to let them do this—they’re going to pay.” He could feel it, his lion, ready to make the shift, ready to emerge—

But Rayleigh touched his arm, right where his elbow bulged out into a rigid bicep. That was all it took.

The beast within was soothed.

Brock felt his lion retreat, and he stayed calm, even as they watched the figures run off and disappear in the trees beyond his yard.

They were gone.

“You—why’d you do that?” Brock stammered, tugging his arm out of Rayleigh’s reach. “You let them get away.”

“I could feel how angry you were,” Rayleigh said, her tone unapologetic. “I didn’t want you to do anything that you’d regret.”

Like rip their throats out—Brock understood what she was getting at. He’d been close to fighting angry, and that was never a smart thing to do—fighting angry led to trouble. He knew that.

“I… I know what it’s like,” she went on. “To lose control. It’s terrible. I wouldn’t want you to feel that way. Not if I can help it.”

But still…he was shocked that Rayleigh was able to calm him down so quickly.

He was engineered to be a weapon, after all, and once the gun was loaded and cocked, it was all too easy to pull that trigger…

But Rayleigh had stopped him.

She, too, seemed to sense the power in this moment. She studied Brock, her breath making clouds in the cold air.

He didn’t want to speak, didn’t want to break the spell of how angelic she looked, the snow falling around her, this calm and peace warming his chest.

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