Charming her monsters a.., p.1
Charming Her Monsters: A Paranormal Why Choose Romance (Bewitching Monsters Book 2), page 1
CHARMING HER MONSTERS
A PARANORMAL WHY CHOOSE ROMANCE
BEWITCHING MONSTERS
BOOK TWO
YVE VALE
Published by Entraverse Publishing
Sedona, AZ 86339, USA
YveVale.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, actual events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2023 Yve Vale.
Cover Art © 2023 Yve Vale.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
No part of this book may be used to create, feed, or refine artificial intelligence models, for any purpose.
To David,
thank you for being my Alpha… reader,
my sounding board, my cheerleader,
and my inspiration for many aspects
of my fictional guys.
For my fellow authors and the book community.
May you find your cinnamon roll monsters
and invite them into your heart.
CONTENTS
Author’s Note
1. Missing
2. Disaster
3. Heirloom
4. Flames
5. Safehouses
6. Home
7. Intimacy
8. Meals
9. Another Round
10. Muffins
11. Healing Magic
12. Taking Flight
13. Dreaming
14. New Sensations
15. Cracking Stone
16. Floofing
17. Interrogation
18. Boundaries
19. Building Bridges
20. Training
21. Informants
22. Tested
23. Revealed
24. Bonding
25. Returned
26. Bunker
27. Voyeur
28. Stuck
29. All Wrong
30. Hell
31. Sanctuary
32. Hunt
33. Caught
Acknowledgements
Books by Yve Vale
About the Author
AUTHOR’S NOTE
This is book two in the Bewitching Monsters series, a dark yet humorous paranormal why choose romance. Book one must be read to enjoy this novel:
www.books2read.com/bewitchingmonsters1
The female main character will end up with more than one of the love interests. Group scenes are on the agenda.
This series also has quite a bit of M/M romance within the group that will occur with and without the female present. But there’s no cheating.
So if this is NOT your jam, then put this book down now and walk away. You won’t be happy with this series, because there’s going to be sword fights.
Wink wink nudge nudge. You know what I mean.
If you believe love is love, you like to have some laughs too, and of course, some spicy times, then please charge forward!
This series also contains several dark themes that some readers may be sensitive to.
For more information, visit: yvevale.com
1
MISSING
ARRAN
Obsessive worry pulls my attention away from the chaotic scene I’m in, making me no use to the victims who are relying on me to rescue them.
Yet, I can’t help it. I need to get back to her. My heart, my love… my future mate, Jade.
I don’t know how long I’ve been moving debris and rescuing innocent supernaturals from the destruction of the community center, but it feels like days. However, perhaps that is only my dread. When I check the old grandfather clock that somehow escaped damage, I see it’s been less than an hour since my pack has been here to help.
I hate that so many have been hurt, and the longer we take to find the rest of the victims, the less likely their chances are to survive. Fortunately, reinforcements have arrived, allowing me a moment to take a breath.
Another pang of dread hits me. This time it feels different from the worry over the victims here. I scan the huge, demolished room and the frantic supes here to help.
Maxum has dropped his glamour and is in his huge demon form—red skin, horns, tail, and wings on display. Flint is in his stony, gargoyle body. Together, we are tossing huge beams and concrete aside as part of the rescue mission. But I don’t see our phoenix.
“Where the fuck is Calder?” I call out.
Maxum looks around and then turns back at me with confusion behind his eyes. “I don’t sense him nearby. I can’t say I have for a while now.”
That’s not good. The unsettling feeling that’s stabbing at my heart takes on a new urgency.
Is he okay?
Then my next thought is… where is he?
And … would he hurt Jade?
I sure as hell hope he wouldn’t. But he’s been on edge more than ever since Osen died. I don’t think he will ever recover from that loss.
Ironically, it only pisses Calder off more that Osen’s spirit has attached itself to Jade. You would think he’d be happy that his former lover wasn’t completely out of his life.
My heart pinches with hurt again. As though I’m losing a mate.
“Something’s wrong. Jade.” My skin ripples. My berserker beast is begging to be released. That’s not good. He might attack anyone in sight with his fear. Despite his crazed persona, he likes Jade. Dare I say he loves her—if that cursed part of me could ever love someone.
Could it be that our death-omen-sensitive phoenix felt Jade was in danger and checked it out on his own? It’s not out of the realm of possibility, but with his hatred of witches, I doubt he would care.
Unless my pack mate was worried about how Maxum and I would feel if we lost her. Or he might only care about Osen’s spirit trapped inside Jade.
I shift into my giant, dire wolf form and rush to the door.
“Wait!” Maxum calls, racing after me. “A portal will be faster.”
I keep moving but stop far from the commotion of the community center.
Maxum and Flint follow me.
Behind a shielded corner of a building, so no one can see the location of our safe house, Maxum opens a portal a few houses down from ours.
As I reach our house, I shift back into my human form so I can open the door and charge through. In my hurry, I neglect to test if there’s a magical booby trap waiting for us.
Maxum curses behind me. When he sees no spell has been activated, he runs inside and admonishes me, “You need to be more careful! If only for Jade’s sake.”
He’s right that I can’t die on her. She’d be pissed. Who knows what kind of power she has? She might catch my soul and punish me for decades for being a bad boyfriend.
“Jade!” I shout and run into my bedroom, where she’s slept since she’s been hiding out with us. “Calder!”
No answer, and she’s not in my room. I shout for her and Calder over and over. I check Maxum’s room, the bathroom, then Flint’s bedroom, and finally head to Calder’s.
“What’s all this racket about?” a tiny voice grumbles at me. It’s Jade's accidental and unofficial guinea pig familiar, Trouble.
He’s giving me a glare for waking him and the rest of Jade’s small rescue animals who now have taken up residence in Calder’s room.
“Where’s Jade? Or Calder?”
“I don’t know where Calder is.” Trouble yawns. “But I heard Jade talking to the grumpy ghost. She left… maybe two days ago.”
“Two days ago?” I shake my head at his complete miscalculation. Most animals don’t have any concept of human time. I have the same battle with my wolf half.
“Did you overhear where she was going?” I ask.
“Death.” He does the guinea pig version of a shrug. My stomach turns, and I almost vomit at the thought of Jade dying.
“Calder’s car is gone,” Flint reports.
I turn back to Trouble. “Did Calder take Jade somewhere?”
“No. I think she left by herself. She was arguing with the ghostman.”
Since Maxum and Flint can’t hear them like Calder and I can with our shifter abilities, I tell them what the magical creature said. “He says Jade left on her own to go to Death with Osen. What the fuck is going on?”
“Osen’s death spot?” Maxum guesses. “He probably coerced her to go there to investigate.”
“Open a portal,” I demand.
Maxum glowers at me because he doesn’t appreciate being bossed around. Yet, he wants to find Jade just as much as I do, if what I sense about his feelings for her are correct. He opens a portal, and we all step through.
I realize now that I’m naked and hope there are no police officers on the other side. Otherwise, Maxum will have to fuck with someone’s brain so I can escape a public nudity charge.
It’s late enough at night that no one is around. At least, no one we can see. Supernatural creatures might lurk in the shadows. It’s what they do in this neighbo rhood.
We spot Calder’s car parked on the side of the road, not but a dozen yards from the alleyway where Osen was murdered.
The heavy, metallic scent of blood fills the air. I glance over at Maxum, and see by his flared nostrils he smells it too.
“Danger,” Flint announces. His sense of smell isn’t like ours, but he can pick up danger or if someone needs protection.
Part of me doesn’t want to look down the alleyway. I fear that the woman of my dreams is already dead.
She might still be alive and need my help. I have to push forward and see what’s going on.
When I brave my fears, I see both Jade and Calder sprawled out lifelessly on the ground. There’s so much blood pooling around them. I’m sure they are dead.
Then I notice a glowing bubble over them like a protective shield. A small flower faerie huffs with the effort to keep it going.
“Help!” she shouts at us. But her voice is faint, weak from the strain of casting magic outside of her own realm.
“Are you slowing down time for our friends?” Maxum asks as he runs up to her.
“Yes. My mate and I stumbled upon these poor things being attacked by a strange warlock. We projected images of giant trolls, and he took off.”
“Smart,” Maxum approves.
“My mate left to get someone to help them.”
“A healer?” I ask.
She nods.
I continue, “How much longer can you hold this bubble?”
“Not much longer.” She grunts with the effort. “I’m sorry.”
“What’s your name, warrior?” Flint asks.
“Tavi of Elorith,” she says with a raised brow. “You are my first gargoyle. What do they call you?”
“Flint.” He grimaces that his kind is so rare she doesn’t know any. Besides, most gargoyles aren’t likely to associate with the flower faeries. “Tavi, we appreciate you helping our friends, but I sense you are harming yourself to do this. If you need to release the time bubble, you should.”
“Flint!” I shout. “Jade might die.”
He turns to me and stares deeply into my eyes, which unnerves me. Only Jade dares to do that, since she doesn’t understand what a challenge it is to my primal nature. “Arran, we don’t know how badly she is hurt. She could recover. And Calder… he will be reborn if he’s too far gone.”
Maxum places his large hand on my shoulder and squeezes. “No matter how much we want to, we cannot ask the faerie to sacrifice herself for Jade. I recognize Tavi’s name and description. She is a leader of her people and a friend to the Fae Queen.”
Shit. I can’t piss them off. Just as I’m about to give up my pressure on Tavi, a portal opens up.
All three of us react defensively. I shift back into my wolf and the others brace themselves for battle. We can’t know yet if the newcomers will be friends or foe.
A woman steps through with a half-shifted phoenix. His wings are out and flaming and he looks ready to defend his partner against us.
I snarl. She is a witch by the smell of her magic.
I can smell the magic of a hellhound on her, too. I back down, confused. What in the world? Why is this witch working with supernaturals?
A male faerie flies through before the portal closes behind them and rushes to help his mate hold the bubble in place.
“Amira?” Maxum asks in disbelief.
“Maxum?” she questions in a similar tone of shock. “It’s been ages.”
I shift back into my human form and demand. “A witch?” I sneer.
I suppose my prejudice against witches runs deep, and only Jade is acceptable in my eyes. Besides, I was hoping for a mage to heal her. A supe’s magic usually works faster.
The witch turns toward me with a glare, but her phoenix jumps in the way, blocking my nakedness.
He grumbles, “Do you mind not waving your dick and all that sexy in my mate’s face?”
“Mate? What the fuck is going on?” I say, but they all ignore me.
Maxum takes charge of the situation and informs the newcomers. “Our pack mate, a phoenix, looks to have severe head trauma, maybe more. It’s hard to tell. I don’t want him to go through a rebirth, but at least he can. We are more worried about the woman. She also looks to be banged up and losing a lot of blood.”
“You mean the witch?” Amira says with a curled lip of disgust.
Hmm. That’s odd… a witch-hating witch?
“Jade’s not like that. She didn’t even know that she was one, or that magic was real until a few days ago,” Maxum explains. “She also has a spirit attached to her.”
“Well, that’s… different.” Amira nods to her mate. “Raithe, when Tavi drops the bubble, can you look after your brethren? I’ll do what I can to stabilize the witch.”
“Jade,” Maxum corrects.
Amira frowns, stares at him for a second, and cocks a brow. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you had a bond with her.”
What does this witch see with her special sight? Did Maxum and Jade create a mate bond, and I just didn’t sense it?
The witch’s eyes shoot over to look at me. “Hmm. You, too.” Then she smirks at her phoenix. “Things are getting interesting. Let’s help this woman recover so she can return to her mates.”
I want to argue that Jade hasn’t accepted my bond. But my wolf argues it doesn’t matter. She is ours, and we will do anything for her.
“Do you have somewhere we can take her so I’m not treating her in the street?” Amira asks.
I finally notice a large bag the woman is carrying.
“Yeah.” Maxum walks closer to the bubble. “As soon as she’s free, I’ll open a portal, and we can go to our place.”
My instinct is to not allow this witch into our safe house. But Maxum seems to trust her. Flint isn’t protesting, so he must not be getting bad vibes off her either.
“Maxum, you can open the portal. Raithe, you grab the phoenix.” Then she looks at me and my beast flashes over my body. Her eyes go wide and then she looks at Flint, “Can you carry her?”
“No.” He staggers backward, looking downright panicked. “I can’t.”
Poor guy. He just can’t get over his trauma.
“I should do it,” I say. “I can keep my beast at bay for this.”
Besides, I need my hands on Jade to feel her once more. I need to pour my love into her, so she knows I’m here. Maybe it will make the tiniest difference to her staying alive.
Goddess, I don’t even know if she wants my love. Would it make a difference to her? Could she ever love someone as broken as I am?
Just because she had sex with me doesn’t mean she wants forever or even tomorrow. Maybe when she joked about monster fucking being on her bucket list, that’s all it was… a fuck.
My wolf howls inside my chest. He doesn’t believe that. He tells me she cares about us.
“Okay. Here we go,” Amira calls out.
The flower faerie—a creature with more strength and fortitude than I originally would have guessed—sucks in a breath as she releases the time bubble. I will have to track her down and her mate at some point and thank them for their assistance. No matter what the outcome is here tonight. They were brave for risking themselves when it was clear this was a dangerous place to be.
“Thank you,” I say quickly, with a nod of gratitude.
I scoop up Jade into my arms.
Her body is cold. That’s not a good sign. She doesn’t grunt or react to being moved, and my concern for her grows. Her beautiful silver-gray hair is matted with blood. My heart twists in my chest.
“I got you, my love,” I whisper in her ear. “Hold on for us, okay?”
Maxum has the portal open, and we are all running through. He’s portaled us right into our backyard. Which means he plans for us to abandon this safe house since it’s possible someone with the unique ability coupled with enough power could track the magical trail.
