Moth (Monstrous, #5)

by Lily Mayne

Now, I relished telling Hunter—my best friend of twelve years, the only guy in the world I trusted wholeheartedly with my life—that I preferred his big monster boyfriend over him.

“Don’t worry, josdo.” He pulled Hunter into him with a thick arm around his neck. “I still love you, even with your gut.” “I don’t have a gut!”

“Have you… have you fucked in my room?” “No,” Hunter said immediately. “Come on, man, we wouldn’t do that.” “We have everywhere else though,” Edin said with an evil grin. I shook my head, looking away. “You’re animals.” “Even the bunker,” he added.

Seemed like it wasn’t just Hunter chasing monster dick, then. Well—and Danny. I’d only met him briefly, but he had apparently decided on the most monstrous dick of monster dicks. The Soul Eater was… terrifying.

“Tiny horns,” Edin muttered in a conspiratorial tone to Hunter as we approached. He snorted. “So?” “Just saying.”

“Your mate is safe. And your… Charlie.” I cleared my throat. “I’m Hunter’s best friend. We’re not a throuple.”

“I just meant objectively, scratch.” His voice was tight, like he was trying to mask the discomfort. I snorted. “Yes, well.” Edin grunted and lifted his chin imperiously. “Just remember who you said was the hottest thing you’d ever seen when I was riding your—”

“How long has it been since you fucked? A while, yes? You must have—what was it you said the other day, Hunter? Blue balls.”

“I would have blue balls by now, I’m sure. Although, my balls are already purple—Hello, human.”

“So. Been discussing my balls with Edin, have you?” His cool gaze slid to my face. “Relax, champ. We weren’t talking about your balls. The term just, uh… came up in conversation and Edin asked what it meant.”

Edin had some incredible stamina, I’d give him that.

And they were aimed at Ghost with an embarrassingly obvious expression. Christ, his pupils had practically reshaped themselves into cartoon hearts. I suppressed my wince, glancing down at Ghost’s hand firmly tucked inside Aury’s. Tough break, dude.

Where did he get a sword from? Now I’d seen it, I kind of wanted one.

“Hunter’s not an introvert,” I said cheerfully. “He’s just an unlikeable asshole.”

Gloam stroked a big hand through his hair and smiled down at him. Geez, everyone was just loving monsters these days, huh?

Everyone just fucking loved the new human in the camp.

Edin’s surly human lover didn’t really speak to anyone or make an effort to ingratiate himself with the raiders, but the one with dark hair and grey eyes—Charlie—seemed to effortlessly draw attention and make people want to flock to him. With his big, stupid smile and smooth, low voice with a southern accent.

the people looking after me didn’t want me anymore. The ones after that tried for a while, but they didn’t want me either. They found me horrifying to look at.

I’d waited for them at first. Waited for them to come back, even though they hadn’t been nice. I’d had no one else.

I’d wondered if my mom had looked like her. If she’d been blonde and pale like I was, or if I got those traits from my other parent.

I didn’t fully understand what I was, but I knew I wasn’t like other children. Other people.

When the echo of her heels had faded, I’d crept forward and snatched up the bracelet. I’d curled back up clutching it, pretending it had belonged to my mom.

Pretending I had something of value in the world, even though it was just a cheap bit of metal.

And even though I obviously knew it didn’t belong to my mother, the lie I’d told myself as a child had become a twisted half-truth at some point, and now I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of it.

The charming, handsome newcomer who already had everyone eating out of the palm of his hand. Even Ghost, who kept literally everyone at arm’s length. Well—except Aury now. Searing jealousy tightened my chest again.

My face burned as Hunter and Edin fussed over me like I was their only child getting ready to go on his first school field trip.

It would be entertaining, at least, to see how deep I could make that scowl mar his overly perfect face, despite doing or saying absolutely nothing offensive.

He was irritatingly attractive. Even the back of him was. The wide shoulders and long legs. The sword. Why was the sword so hot? He should have looked like a douche.

“They had a giant orgy.” His brows shot up before he narrowed his eyes at me. “Are you lying?”

Okay, so… the sword wasn’t just for show.

He was a moody asshole, but he was a fucking beautiful one.

“It’s fine,” he said flatly, picking up his sword and easily sheathing it on his back, which was so weirdly hot.

“You just waltzed right in and they all fucking loved you. I didn’t offer to do this because I wanted to be a fucking hero. I offered to do it so Ghost wouldn’t have to.”

It wasn’t just about helping Ghost, despite what he’d said. He desperately wanted to be accepted by the camp, but he wasn’t. And he hated that I had been so easily.

couldn’t imagine what it was like, straddling both worlds. He didn’t seem to have been fully accepted by either.

My face went hot. “Um… just finger fuckers.” There was silence before Moth let out a choked sound. “Finger fuckers?”

Yeah, I was attracted to Moth, even though he was an asshole most of the time and in love with a raider. And I was pretty sure that he was attracted to me too, even just a little. I was also pretty sure that he hated it.

He called me army boy like it was a slur, and I hated that it made my face threaten to get hot every time.

“You got me a scarf?” I let out a blissful sigh, my warm breath heating my cold chin and nose under the fabric. “Thanks, Moth.”

He grunted, pale eyes flashing to me before he started walking again. “So you stop bitching about being cold.”

But he was just… so freaking beautiful. He still looked slightly inhuman, but that didn’t put me off. It just made him even more interesting to look at.

“I know it hurts, but that makes you a good person, Moth. You’ll find someone who wants you as much as you want them.”

And even though Moth was a complicated, prickly, difficult ass, I was wildly attracted to him.

God, Moth was the most infuriating person I’d ever met—and I’d spent over a decade in the company of Hunter.

Try and think of him like you do Edin, my brain suggested, and I almost physically cringed at the idea. I couldn’t. Mainly because I definitely did not want to fuck Edin—I’d seen what he was packing beneath that kilt; there was no way in hell I’d ever let that baseball bat anywhere near me.

But when I looked at Moth, I could never decide if I wanted to strangle him or start tearing off his clothes. He was infuriatingly attractive. His face was like a work of art—almost too perfect to be real. Definitely too perfect to be human. Didn’t stop me wanting to punch it, though.

For the millionth time, I wondered what Moth would be like in bed. Slow and seductive, or fast and rough?

He was almost overwhelmingly gorgeous, even when he was scowling and being snarky with me. But… I kind of liked his prickliness now.

Well, I couldn’t offer him the relationship he clearly craved with Ghost, but I could make him feel good, at least.

“I’m… You know I’m not all human,” he croaked. That wasn’t a no. “Yeah,” I said easily. “I know.” His head lifted, and his eyes were a mix of wariness and something like longing as he stared at me. “Don’t you care?” “No,” I said simply.