Monstrous Intent (Mischief and Monsters Book 1), page 3
But why would a chimera do something like this? Monsters are ruthless. They use their prey to feast on… and enjoy the hunt and the slaughter. They don’t plan things like this. Is it because of Baker’s status? Or is there something more to it than that?
It’s… fascinating… no! Nope. I’m not fascinated by this shit.
Lake lowers the man down and pulls the gloves off before tossing them to the side. Then he reaches out and makes the single biggest mistake he’s ever made.
He touches me.
Every warning in my body immediately goes off and what rushes to my mind is a blind need to protect myself. My hunter instincts have never been wrong before; it’s how I’ve stayed alive so long.
I grab him by the throat and shove him hard against the counter. “I don’t know what you are, but you will not fool me with your damn… charms and your—”
He nonchalantly reaches down and slips my phone out of my pocket like I’m not in the middle of threatening him. What the hell? When I threaten someone, they’re lucky to have not pissed their pants by the end of it and this man is acting like it’s a stroll through the park!
Granted, I shouldn’t be threatening him anyway, but there’s no way I’m wrong. This man is a… is a… what? Chimera?
“No, no, go on. I didn’t mean to interrupt you,” Lake says as he waves his free hand to the hand I currently have wrapped around his throat. “Please continue. Or did you forget where you left off? It was something like ‘I am big man who is compensating for my tiny penis by bullying the sweet and innocent man who was simply brushing a fly off my arm.’”
A growl escapes me. “Number one and most importantly, my penis is not small.”
He arches an eyebrow as a grin touches his lips. “Ah? I might have to have proof before I believe that,” he says as he holds my cell phone in front of my face. The traitorous device flashes to unlocked as he turns it around and starts fiddling with it.
“What the hell are you doing?” I say as I grab for it.
Lake pulls it in closer, fingers moving faster. “No, no. Please continue the choking. I was enjoying it. I’m simply adding my number so if you think of anything, you can give me a call, sound good?”
“I will never call you even if I think of an explanation for all of this because I don’t trust you,” I say. “And I want nothing to do with any of this.”
“I might be heartbroken,” he says as he smiles at me before slipping my phone back in my pocket so goddamn slowly that his fingers trail down my leg in a way that makes my brain betray me.
Then he grabs my wrist and drives it off his throat with far too much ease. “Now, before you get your panties all in a bunch again, please, this way.”
My hand clenches down tight like it’s still envisioning his throat. And I’m ninety-nine percent sure I’d have turned around and walked straight out of that goddamn room if he hadn’t unveiled the next body.
I still as I stare at the body of a chimera in its bestial form. “Is that a level four?” I ask.
To an inexperienced eye, it’s harder to tell. The lower levels are generally smaller and anything lower than a three can’t take human form. The most common are level ones and twos, some of which run around the city like rats, living off scraps and hiding in shadows. Rarely, we see a four, and while we know of level fives, I’ve never dealt with one personally.
The Department of Research and Defense—or DRD—work with the police to deal with chimeras and have kept the presence of chimeras down in the past years. There’s a department in nearly every big city whose main focus is to keep citizens safe. To see a level four in the city is shocking, to say the least.
“What the hell is this?” I ask as I slowly move closer to the table. “It got in?”
“There’s been a rise in chimeras invading the city. I’m sure you’ve seen it.” Lake stares at it for a long moment. “I guess… we never know what’s hiding out there. What I do know is they’re going to ask you to fight it.”
I give him a smirk and shake my head. “Not going to happen. I don’t know what all you know about this place, but it’s toxic. What you see on the surface is nothing compared to what’s at the root of all of this,” I say. “I got out and I’m staying out. Maybe you’d be better off to get out before you’re in too deep.” Am I saying that out of guilt for pinning him against the wall? Why the hell did I have such a reaction to him?
His aqua eyes almost seem to twinkle as he smiles at me. “Aww, it almost sounds like you care about me,” he says as he takes a step toward me.
“Do you honestly need to be threatened again?”
The door opens behind me and I shift to look at it. “Goddammit, Declan, we left you alone for five minutes, and you already threatened him?” Patrick asks.
“It’s okay, I enjoyed it,” Lake says.
I flip him off as he continues to smugly grin at me, like he’s enjoying every moment of this while I’m wishing death upon all in this room. “I’m leaving.”
I head for the door but Patrick steps in front of it, using his body to block it as his eyes narrow. “No, you’re not.” His stupid smile is gone, and in its place is a hard-set look. “Come on, Declan. They let you have your fun. It’s time you came back.”
“They let me?” I ask as I walk toward him. “Patrick, you seem to have quite the misconception of what’s going on here. They don’t let me do shit. I told them I was leaving so I left. Move.”
He shakes his head. “Stop being selfish.”
God, I miss my weapons.
Nope, no, that’s not what a normal person thinks.
“Patrick, I don’t believe bullying him into staying is the right way,” Lake says as he fiddles with something on the counter.
I step up to Patrick and look down into his eyes. “I told you no. You asked me to come help and I did, but guess what?” I ask as I grab the front of his shirt.
“You’re going to murder me now?” he asks.
“I’m going to murder you if you don’t move,” I say as I drag him away from the door and pass through it. I step into the elevator and press the button for the second floor, but when the door refuses to shut with me inside, I realize that I need a key.
These assholes. Of course this is what they think they’re going to do. Just lock me in here until I oblige? I’m sure they think if they can sic Jameson on me I’ll cave, but I won’t. They’re not pulling me back into this.
I storm out of the room and over to the staircase where the door is also locked. Rage and, for some reason, panic fill me. They will not keep me here. They will not force me back into this bullshit again. I will not stop until I—
Lake walks down the hallway while whistling and gets into the elevator, then he looks right over at me and gives me a wink.
A growl escapes me, but I hurry over as he waits for me to get inside.
“I nearly had to kill all of you,” I announce.
He flashes me a grin. “I know you did, and as much as I’d love to watch the infamous Declan at work, I’d really rather not have you stain up my workspace with blood.”
“I don’t trust you,” I say as the doors close. Everything in my being is telling me that I shouldn’t be in the elevator with this man. That I have allowed myself to be locked in a small box with a dangerous predator that looks like a sweet and innocent human.
He tosses me a boyish smile. “Well, that’s not very nice, now is it?”
I grunt at him as the door slides open and I hurry out into the hallway as he trails after me. He opens the code panel by the door and inputs something that unlocks it, freeing me into the outside world. And as the door is swinging shut behind me, he goes, “It was a pleasure.”
I grumble at that and hurry out into the sun as soon as the secondary door opens, never realizing something could feel so damn good.
Glancing down at my phone to make sure Lake didn’t do something else to it, I see that he really did just add his name and number with a Lake XOXO.
I don’t know what the hell he is, but one thing I do know is that man is not human and is planning on doing something awful now that he’s gained the trust of the DRD, and I’m going to prove it.
CHAPTER THREE
LAKE
As I head down the hallway whistling my way back to the lab, I find myself oddly thrilled. It’s been a long time since someone’s piqued my interest the way that man just did. I shiver at the thought and try my best not to get too excited. There’s the slim possibility I’ll never see him again but, if I do… fucking hell… will I have fun with him.
When I step into the room, I look down at where Patrick is lying on the ground, cradling his… probably not broken nose.
“What the hell, man?” he asks as he wallows.
“You were in my way. I asked you to get out of my way and you refused,” I remind him as I step over him and head back to the bodies. “Were you really going to bully that man into staying here? I thought you were his friend.”
“You broke my nose!”
“Your nose shouldn’t be so breakable, then. Clean up that blood before you go,” I say as I head back to my work. Thankfully, Patrick leaves after a few more cusses and a little more groaning, but sadly, it’s not an hour before I get a new visitor just as I’m putting the bodies away.
“So you met Declan and then promptly let him go without permission,” the man says, sounding extremely pissed.
I glance over at Jameson who closes the door behind himself. He’s a man in his sixties with graying hair and blue eyes. While I haven’t been here long, I know that he’s been in charge of this department for the past twenty years and is the very reason I’ve been allowed to work here. “I did, we had a lovely time together. I invited him out for some tea later this afternoon.”
“Why’d you let him go when I specifically asked that he be made to stay until I spoke to him?” he asks.
“Because of the tea,” I say. “How could we have tea if he was here? It’s not very romantic sipping tea over dead bodies, now is it?”
Jameson’s eyes narrow as he walks up to me and grabs my face. “Enough of the smartass bullshit. You went against my orders.”
I grin at him. “He knew what I am.”
I love the look of shock on Jameson’s face before he quickly covers it up and shakes his head. “There’s no way he knew what you are.”
“So he pins everyone against the wall when he meets them and gets all grumbly while going ‘What are you?’ Dammit, I thought I was special, but clearly, I’m not,” I say.
Jameson hesitates since I really must be special. How exciting!
“Shit. How much does he know?” he asks.
I shrug, honestly not sure. But the moment Declan’s eyes met mine, he knew something was off. How? My disguise is perfect. There’s nothing that gives me away, so why? What was it about me that set him off? What was it that made him question who I was… and what about him piqued my interest so much?
Humans never pique my interest.
God, it makes me hungry.
“Did you say anything to him?” Jameson asks, drawing my attention off the human who makes my mouth water.
“Um… I told him he has a small penis, and… really, that’s all I can recall,” I say.
“But you let him go.”
“To gain the trust of a tiger, you don’t place it in a small cage, you give it something it wants until it chooses to return.”
“You don’t know Declan like I do,” he says as he rocks back on his heels. “That man’s not a damn tiger. He’s more ruthless than that. He’d kill you as happily as he’d give you a handshake.”
He sounds so delightful!
“And there is nothing, absolutely nothing that Declan has ever wanted that would get him to oblige.”
“Oh? How fascinating.”
Jameson holds his hand out, so I give him mine. He pushes my sleeve up, revealing the band around my wrist, which he presses his phone against. “Be good.”
“I am always good,” I say with a smile as I take my hand back now that he’s done checking the monitor.
Making sure I have everything locked up, I head for the door and slip out into the night. I breathe in the fresh air, sick of the chemical smell I’d been forced to endure during the day. Night has set in, making the world around me dark but for the streetlights.
Even so, I listen, and I watch.
I’m oddly disappointed when I realize that I’m completely alone.
Turning toward home, I listen to the sounds of the city—noises that are crisp to my ears as I walk down the sidewalk before hearing the quietest sound that’s off. One that is so damn silent that I have to focus to make sure I’m not hearing things.
Ahh… my new friend is following me this evening. He’s good. He’s ridiculously good. But I’m better.
Even so, I don’t give away that I know he’s following me. I move through the city as I do every day I leave work. I stop at the house with the dog that stands up on the fence begging to be petted, I swing into the small store and grab some food to warm up, and then head into the apartment to enjoy my evening. I make sure to open the curtains so the hunter can enjoy his evening entertainment.
As I settle in front of my TV, I pick up my phone and type in the number that I’d just briefly caught while playing with Declan’s phone.
Me: I hope you like The Office. Nothing else of interest on tonight.
Declan: Suck a dick.
Me: Are you offering?
Silence.
How disappointing.
CHAPTER FOUR
DECLAN
“Now that school is over, what plans do you have for the summer?” Emma asks.
Besides stalking Lake so I can figure out if he really is a monster and needs to be put down? “Well… I was thinking of picking up a new hobby,” I say. Really, I shouldn’t be hunting monsters. There’s something in my body telling me that I need to… I’m drawn to figuring it out because I’ve never had a monster con me like this before. They’re ruthless and murder without hesitation but he’s so… different.
“Yeah?” she asks. “Anything catching your interest?”
Hunting Lake.
“Not really. You?” I ask.
“My parents have a cabin I might stay at for a week. Just need to find someone to sucker into going with me. If you’re bored…?”
A cabin? I mean… I guess that could help me with my minor obsession that’s definitely not normal.
“Uh yeah, sure. When are you thinking?” I ask.
She looks absolutely delighted. Far more delighted than someone inviting a friend out should be. “What about next week?”
“Sure. Are you inviting anyone else? Any hot guys?” I say with the hopes of reminding her that she is not a hot guy.
She won’t be deterred. “Nope! Just us.”
“Fun,” I say.
And as I pack up my stuff, a thought hits me. I could stop fretting about Lake if he was simply dead. I off Lake, I enjoy my trip. Simple as that. I mean… really, he’s obviously a monster waiting to murder everyone in the DRD… maybe that’s a good thing… maybe they’d no longer bother me then… Shit. I should not condone any of that. But still, there is absolutely no way he’s just a normal hunter. None at all.
If he thinks his life is threatened, he’ll show his true colors, right? If he doesn’t, then I’ll let him continue to pretend to be human. Simple as that.
Yes, quite simple and not at all morbid.
“You look very excited,” Emma says.
“Well, I’m not,” I say because normal people aren’t excited about murdering monsters.
Emma hesitates. “You’re… not?”
“Oh! It’s not about the cabin. Sorry. I was thinking about a meeting I have this evening.”
“Ah okay. I’ll call you,” she says before hurrying on her way.
I hurry on mine, not because I’m excited, but because I’m doing a good deed by ridding humanity of Lake’s annoyingly sexy face.
Simple as that.
I walk into the house I’d bought after quitting my job as a hunter. I had pulled up a realtor site, found the most boring-looking house and went to the open house. The number of people interested did little to deter me once I greeted each of the potential buyers. Funnily enough, by the end of the open house, I was the only one with an offer.
I seem to have that charm about me that gets me whatever I want… or need.
Four years I’ve been here now and honestly, I like the place. I like the permanency of it. Long gone are the days where I have no place to call my own, where everything feels unstable.
After a beer, I head straight for the spare bedroom and open the door before inputting the code on the large weapons safe that sits inside.
“Hello, old friends,” I say as I reach in and let my fingers dance over the guns, knives, and swords. I can’t have anything that stands out too much, and if he truly is a monster, I can’t threaten him well from afar without giving him time to shift and attack, but my fingers linger on a nice katana I’d been gifted many years back. Sadly, it’d be too suspicious if I waltzed around town with a katana strapped to my hip, so I settle on my knife set and fasten them in a strap around my waist, which will leave them hidden and flush against my body, unlike a gun or something heavier.
Reaching in to close the safe, my eyes fall on my beauty, and I decide that leaving a rifle in the car isn’t a huge deal in case I need it.
“Ready to have some fun?” I ask.
The gun doesn’t seem to give much of a shit, but I still have a beaming smile on my face as I head out to the car with it and find it a good spot on the back seat. Then I remember I’m a normal human who shouldn’t be excited about any of this and quickly cover it with my coat.
I mean…
Maybe just for tonight I can allow myself to not be normal.
Waiting outside the DRD building for Lake to leave turns into a chore. The past few days he’s left at different times but has always walked, stopped to pet the dog, go in the grocery store, and then continue on home where he opens the curtain and texts me something irritating.
