Revealing the Monster (Playing with Monsters #4) by Amelia Hutchins

Ryder scoffed and turned to Synthia. A silent look passed between them, as if they remembered something private. I smiled at the look on Synthia’s face as Ryder tugged her closer, placing a soft kiss on her forehead before turning her toward the map, hugging her from behind, his hands resting on her swollen belly.

Lowering my eyes to not appear like some creeper watching their every move, I shifted my attention to find Lucian studying me. A small, knowing smile tugged at his lips as Ristan pointed to the map.

“That’s the secondary doors. If the demons got past the first doors, the second ones should have sealed, locking them out. Erie helped us place runes here, here, and here.” He indicated several places on the map, slowly lifting silver eyes to Lucian that swirled much like Vlad’s. “If the demons bypassed these securities, then we need to worry that something bigger helped them get inside.”

“And by something bigger, he means Lucifer. When we built the guild, we didn’t add the fucking Devil to the list of shit we needed to ward against,” Synthia stated, tapping her fingers over the markings of the catacombs. “We did, however, reinforce the tunnels to withstand anything, and I mean anything.”

“Not anything,” Lucian corrected. “I can easily bypass wards, and any other protections that Erie can place,” he pointed out.

“Yeah, well, had I realized you were an actual thing, I would have added it to the list of shit to prepare for,” Synthia grunted, shaking her head while staring at the spot her fingers traced.

My gaze slid to her abdomen as her other hand absently stroked an area of her stomach that moved. The babe within her quickened, and a small smile touched her lips before she caught me looking at it. Synthia’s hand landed on the table, and I locked gazes with her.

“He’s really active,” she explained. “It calms him when I rub where he is.”

“How do you know it is a boy?” I asked.

“I know I carry a son,” she stated firmly. “Mainly because someone I lost said I would carry his soul into the new life and be his mother.”

“Dristan,” I swallowed, remembering how hard his loss had hit them.

“Yeah,” she grinned. “I’m really hoping the babe has his wild hair. He had the most beautiful hair I’ve ever seen.” Both Ryder and Ristan chuckled at her words. “What? He did.”

“So the plan is to go in expecting the worst and hope for the best?” Vlad asked, leaning over the table. “Lucifer could be the one who smashed through the front of the guild. After all, he’s aware of Lena’s fondness for Alden. It would be one way to draw her out.”

“I don’t think he counted on a full assault team of creatures coming to the rescue,” Zahruk stated, forcing my eyes to where he stepped out of the shadows.

“Holy shit, what happened to you?” I gasped.

He had huge black wings that looked soft, yet deadly. Thick black and silver brands pulsed over his shoulders, pounding audibly inside the room. Vibrant blue eyes held mine, the thin black surrounding the blue expanded, filling his eyes until it swallowed up the whites. On his shoulders, beneath the wings, were blades held by a harness with several other weapons secured to the leather. He now looked like sex had met and had a love child with desire, and Zahruk was the child left behind from the affair.

“Remember those inky shadows that 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.”