Gloam (Monstrous, #4)

by Lily Mayne

Was it wrong of me to be staring at a monster’s ass? I was pretty sure the answer to that, if I asked anyone in this camp, would be a resounding yes. Maybe a hell yes. Probably a what the fuck is wrong with you, dude?

“Nasty habit,” Lilac commented flatly after a minute of silence. I snorted, reaching up to rub my eyes, my cigarette clasped between two fingers. “So is killing people.” “If I start to crave killing like you crave nicotine, everyone in this camp should be worried.” His voice was dry and only faintly amused.

I am so scared that I will have to hurt you. I stared at the words, my body filling with cold fear. Have to hurt me? What did he mean? Why would he have to—

“I love you,” I told him, before I carefully enclosed his head back in the cage.

“Don’t make me get a boner while I’m kneeling in blood. Who knows what kind of kink could spawn from that.”

“You are my Androcles.” I grinned shakily even as I asked, “Who?” He chuckled. “The slave who pulled the thorn from the lion’s paw.” “Oh.” I had only vague recollections of the story, but I still flushed with pleasure. “And like the lion,”—Gloam reached out and cupped my chin—“I will be loyal to you always, my Adam. I will never leave your side.”

“I am your lion,” he said, his deep voice low, his words just for me. “Loyal to you until the end.”

“There are people approaching the camp,” he said in his flat voice, green eyes calm but alert. “One of them is big. And purple.”