Moth (Monstrous, #5)

by Lily Mayne

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.

i mean same i kind of hate hunter

There was a small forest behind it, and I could have sworn I saw the big, drooping head of a borolesh.

YES!!!! my borolesh babies ilysm

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.

petition for more scary monsters as love interests soon!!!

He clasped long fingers together in front of him, fidgeting. “I swear, I won’t lose control. I would never harm anyone in the camp.”

sweet baby aury

Aury smiled then—a proper smile. It lit his face up, transforming it from sombre into something sweet.

God, what had the military done to this monster? I swallowed and kept my eyes on the ground, feeling ashamed that I was part of an organisation that had traumatised and tortured creatures just for being different.

Edin let out a disgruntled snarl from the other side of him and smacked Hunter in the chest. It was immensely satisfying for me—and I suspected for Edin—to hear Hunter wheeze at the impact.

That was what had jarred me when I’d first spotted him, I realised. He was too perfect. Too stunningly beautiful to really look human.

Geez, everyone was just loving monsters these days, huh?

lol thats why we're here charlie

“Rig seems real nice,” I said to Gloam with a small smile. He gave me a big, fanged grin that somehow radiated love. “He is wonderful.”

my babies

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.

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.

lol cute

I gave Edin a small, grateful smile. He returned it with a big, fanged grin, palming my head to jerk it closer and rub his cheek over my hair. “Edin,” I muttered, my cheeks on fire as I glanced over to see if Moth and the others had seen. They had. They were all watching.

edin is like a giant cat i love him

He was irritatingly attractive. Even the back of him was. The wide shoulders and long legs. The sword. Why was the sword so hot?

I’d seen the weird tattoos covering his neck and hands. My belly heated when I wondered where else he had them.

I stared at the four people all thrashing on the ground, moaning in agony, blood pumping from their various severed appendages. Okay, so… the sword wasn’t just for show.

He rolled his eyes, nose wrinkling slightly. I tried not to stare at him. He was a moody asshole, but he was a fucking beautiful one.

But so… no other monster had ever told Moth about them? Did he not have any monster friends? Maybe he didn’t like them. Maybe he related more to humans. But I didn’t think so. He’d been distant at the camp, despite knowing those raiders for five years. He kept himself apart from them. Did he have any friends?

poor moth omg baby

I moved back and stood close to Moth so I could whisper in his ear. He tensed up at my proximity, but I ignored it.

When he went to move, I flattened my palm on his chest and pushed him back into the wall, frowning at him.

ok yum

Moth was slightly taller than me. When I glanced up at him, he was already staring at me, his eyes pale in the dark. I saw them dart down to my mouth, making my gut lurch, before he flushed and shoved me. “Get off me.”

I’d rather die than put Hunter at risk, and the thought of fucking over Danny and Edin and the Nebraska raiders—hell, even the Soul Eater—made my stomach turn sour.

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.

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.

I glanced over at him as he walked beside me. His eyes were down, watching the ground, shielded by dark eyelashes that were flecked with snowflakes. The snow was almost indistinguishable from his pale hair as it settled on his head.

hes so pretty

I’d seen Mallory—who was dead now, thanks to the Soul Eater—forcing that soldier to train for fights. It had looked like they were drugging him.

okay wait thought....could this have somehow been seraph??? ugh it hurts just to think about

He was breathing hard, and his pale eyes flared with relief when he saw me. All anger fled. I couldn’t stop myself from striding forward and pulling him into a hard hug, holding my gun down at my side.

“I’m sorry,” he said desperately, which made me go completely still with shock. “I didn’t—I didn’t mean to leave you.”

“I’m sorry,” I heard Moth whisper. My brows pinched. He sounded… broken. Defeated, like he was fully aware that I didn’t trust him anymore and he hated it. Which made no fucking sense.

I tried to block out how completely despondent he had looked—and how relieved his eyes had grown when he’d seen me.

“Are you in danger? Is something… bad happening to you?” How the fuck did you drop out of the sky? His head jerked up, and I went still when I saw the poorly masked desperation in his eyes. Like he wanted to tell me. Like he was about to.

“I’d help you,” I said gruffly as I pulled out some food. “Whatever it is.” He just shook his head and took a tiny bite of a cracker. He’d picked more food up for us at the raider market and given me half without saying anything. I exhaled and stared down sadly at the cracker in my hand.

My eyes drifted over to the bed opposite, heat curling low in my belly. Moth had said we didn’t need to keep watch, which meant we’d both be sleeping at the same time. But… surely he didn’t mean we’d share the bed.

oh shit one bed here we go!!!

He just grunted, lifting the bottle to his lips as he watched the fire. I tried not to stare at him. His face was faintly flushed from both the booze and being scrubbed clean. His hair was wet and braided back again. The firelight flickered over the tattoos on his neck and long fingers. My gut clenched with want, but I tamped it back. It was stupid to want him. I couldn’t even trust him.

He still looked slightly inhuman, but that didn’t put me off. It just made him even more interesting to look at.

His legs were long, encased in dark jeans, one knee cocked up and the other stretched out. When the piercings through his lips winked in the firelight, I wondered if he had them anywhere else.

He snorted again and lazily turned his head to look at me. His eyes were glassy and a little unfocused, but they roamed over my face. “Doesn’t it worry you?” he asked. “Being out here with a half monster?” That wasn’t what worried me.

“I don’t freak you out?” Moth’s question pulled me out of my thoughts, making me realise I’d been staring back at him. I snorted and looked away. “No, you don’t freak me out, Moth.”

“There’s nothing wrong with you,” I said immediately, brows pinching into a frown. “Fuck anyone who looks at you like that, Moth.” He exhaled and lifted the bottle to have another swig, muttering, “Everyone looks at me like that.”

He just huffed, staring down at the bottle again, his long, tattooed fingers picking at the peeling label. I really wanted to reach over and lace my fingers through his, just to give him some comfort.

His eyes were hazy from the booze, but still pained. My chest ached for him. I got the feeling he struggled with a lot of self-loathing because of his monster side.

“Well, I think it’s awesome,” I said, dropping my hand from his back. “You being half monster, I mean. Nothing wrong with being different.”

I glanced around the dark hallway. The thought of Moth living here alone was heartbreaking. In a dark, empty house on a dark, empty street in the middle of nowhere.

I was pretty sure Moth had no one at all. Even though I didn’t know him that well, and he was a prickly ass most of the time, the thought made me really fucking sad.

His back was to me, and before I could stop them, my eyes slid down his frame. His arms and back were covered in tattoos, most in black ink, but there was a line of symbols down his spine that looked like scarification. The skin between all the ink looked faintly scaly—it shimmered slightly pink in the candlelight, interspersed with sections of smooth pale skin in patches. Oh—and he had a tail.

we love a tail moment!!!!!

Moth had put on thick socks and a long-sleeved shirt, covering up every inch of his body. Because that was where all his monster parts were hidden.

Moth was quiet for a long time. Eventually he burrowed deeper under the blanket and tucked his chin down. “Just go to sleep,” he said quietly, which made me bite my lip.

The sheets smelled like him. Faintly citrusy. My gut lurched when a picture of his long, lean body flashed in my mind. His wide shoulders and tattooed skin. His legs were long and toned, and almost human in shape but… not quite. Like they could bend differently. His tail protruded above a firm, rounded ass, and I bit the inside of my cheek as I pictured the curve of it.

I understood why he kept his coat on all the time now. To hide his tail.

aww baby its ok tails are cute

Humans still managed to find a way to segregate those they deemed to be “lowlifes” or the worst in society, despite a fucking monster apocalypse.