Monsterland Mayhem (Fairy Tales With A Monstrous Twist)

16. Ailsa

16

AILSA

We’re going to die.

That thought echoes in my mind as I cling to Craze, my mouth parting on a soundless scream. Soundless because his palm is covering my lips.

Whistling noises whirl around us, the wind seeming to accelerate our fall.

Or that’s what I assume until we’re suddenly caught in a cloud of mist—one that jolts us right back up into the sky and begins to carry us along some sort of invisible current.

I glance up and then down, goose bumps instantly prickling my nape when I realize just how high up we still are. Oh, Gods…

My gaze flies to Craze, but his expression is tight, his lips forming an O.

Because he’s the source of the whistling .

I gape at him. However, he doesn’t seem to notice me at all, despite the fact that he’s hugging me tightly to his chest.

Whatever he’s doing is likely the reason we’re not falling, so I still and close my mouth.

He must notice that because he removes his hand and resecures his grip around me by lifting me a little higher. I wrap my legs around his waist in response, my arms encircling his neck.

Craze noticeably relaxes but continues to whistle. He has the hood pulled up over his head, hiding his dark hair, but I can still see his makeup-less face.

He’s incredibly handsome. Almost in a pretty way. Like his features are too perfect.

I can see why people would recognize him like this; he’s stunning.

Krolic has an aged charm to his features, one that commands respect and would easily render me silent.

Catum is all sexy, dominant male, his chiseled jaw and sharp cheekbones marking him as incredibly good-looking.

But Craze… Craze is perhaps the most striking one of the group.

There’s just something exceptionally beautiful about his features. He reminds me of the celebrity posters that used to hang on some of the walls back at Baroness Clarice’s estate. Her daughters were obsessed with supernatural actors.

Craze definitely fits the description.

Except underneath the clothes is a hard, hot, muscular male.

There were little divots near his hip bones that I didn’t know existed until he stripped off his pants.

And his cock…

My cheeks flame.

Oh. My. Gods.

I shouldn’t be thinking about it right now, but I can’t seem to help myself. I… I’ve never seen a naked male before. However, I’ve imagined what they look like. Fantasized about it.

Yet never in my life did I imagine metal. Down there .

A row of it. All the way up the underside of his shaft.

I clear my throat and try to erase the image from my mind. But I can’t. I just… it’s part of my brain now. Living there forever.

Along with the knowledge of how thick Catum truly is down there.

And Krolic’s masterful tongue.

I’m in trouble.

So much trouble.

These males are going to rip the sanity right from my mind.

“Ailsa?” Craze asks softly, making me blink back at him.

Yep. There it goes. No more sanity .

Because at some point we landed on top of a giant?—

I frown, glancing down as my feet touch the dotted blue surface below me. “Is this a mushroom?” I ask, my gaze traveling across the top of several rounded heads. In the distance, I can see the stalks, confirming my suspicion.

“Yeah, we’re in the Mushroom Jungle.” He doesn’t sound pleased by that. “I don’t know how good the enchantment is on your clothes, so we need to move, and quickly. It’s time for plan C.”

“And what’s plan C?” I ask warily.

“Caverns,” he murmurs, making me frown.

“I thought that was plan A?”

“The Black Caves were plan A. The Caverns are another area entirely.” I’m still frowning—because caves and caverns certainly sound the same to me—as he goes down on his stomach to look over the edge of the mushroom. “This is going to be fun.”

The sarcastic way he utters that suggests it’s going to be the opposite of fun.

“Come here,” he says, gesturing to his side. “I’m going to have to hold you on our way down.”

The wariness in his tone tells me I’m not going to like this. Not one bit.

I lower to my knees and then to my belly beside him and carefully glance over the edge.

Big mistake.

The ground is writhing .

“No,” I say, sitting back up. “No, no?—”

He grabs me by the waist so quickly I don’t have a second to scramble away.

And then we’re falling again.

I scream, my eyes squinting shut.

But we don’t land. We swing .

The sensation causes my stomach to drop and my limbs to tighten. I only belatedly realize I’m clinging to Craze again, my legs once more wrapped around his hips, except I’m tucked into his side this time.

He has one arm around me while his other—I peek my eyes open—is grabbing vines. Plural.

He keeps releasing and then grabbing again, having us swing with one hand.

I gape at his movements, stunned by his ability to release one vine in midair, just to grab another to keep us moving forward.

It shouldn’t be possible.

The long blue strands are helping him.

They’re thrashing like live wires, reaching toward us and moving with us as we swing.

I watch in amazement, then yelp when he comes to an abrupt stop as our feet touch the ground. It shifts beneath my shoes—an item I’m really glad I shoved on my feet in the closet earlier—parting to reveal millions of beetle-like creatures.

“Oh, gross,” I mutter, suddenly wishing my legs were still wrapped around Craze.

“Shh,” he hushes me, his expression hard as he searches the landscape for something I can’t see. “There’s something strange going on.”

No shit , I nearly say back to him as I shake a vibrant blue beetle off my foot.

“Stay here,” he says.

“ What ?” I whisper hiss back at him.

“And be quiet,” he adds, his command like a whip to my senses. He’s been so jovial and playful that I didn’t realize he possessed a serious side. But it’s on full display now, his eyes radiating dominance.

I swallow and nod, telling him without words that I understand.

He brushes his knuckles against my cheek before nudging me closer to a mushroom stalk. Once my back touches the cool, hard texture—one that reminds me a bit of a tree trunk—he leans forward to press his lips to my ear. “I promise I’ll be back for you. Please don’t run. It’s dangerous here.”

With that soft request—very unlike the snap in his voice from seconds ago—he turns and runs.

I reach out for him instinctively, not wanting to be left behind. His name lingers on my lips, then halts when a growl echoes in the distance.

I swallow.

That… that doesn’t sound friendly.

The beetles around my feet scatter, making me jump back into the rough, bark-like stalk behind me. It snags on my sweater, ripping some of the fabric and nearly drawing a gasp from my mouth.

But I swallow it.

And listen as that growling grows louder.

My heart jumps wildly in my chest.

Why do I suddenly feel like bait?

Craze has disappeared. Yet whatever is emitting that grumbling noise is definitely getting closer.

Yeah, I’m definitely bait .

Fucking Craze.

He should have left me on top of?—

The mushroom across from me snaps in half as a giant boar-like beast plows right through the stalk.

Oh, I think, watching as the mushroom top crashes into the ground. Okay. Being on top of the mushroom would have been bad.

But now that I’m staring down this snarling horned monster, I’m not quite sure being here is much better.

His black eyes immediately lock on me, his tusks creating a tsking echo that stirs the hairs along the back of my neck.

“ Omega ,” he says, his voice raspy. “ Fertile Omega .” He seems to be tasting the words, his forked tongue licking his lips.

I don’t know what this horned beast is, but I’m not interested in being friends with it.

Unfortunately, he seems all too interested.

Because he frolics toward me.

Not charge. Not run. Frolics . Like he’s dancing on his two hooved feet.

His tongue lolls out of his mouth when he stops five feet from me and bows his head. “My pretty Omega,” he purrs.

“Not yours,” Craze says from behind him. “ Mine .”

A whistle sounds through the air as one of the vines appears and wraps around the boar-man, yanking him backward.

The monster snarls, spinning around, only to find himself even more wrapped up in the vine. His hooves claw at the ground as he loses his balance, then the purple ropes tighten and lift him right up in the air.

I gape at the hulking beast and flinch when he snarls his frustration.

That snarl seems to echo, the eerie noise skittering down my spine. It’s intense. Loud. And coming from several angles.

Because he’s not the only one, I realize as four more come charging into view.

Craze stands in the middle with one of those vines clutched between his hands, holding it like a jump rope.

He’s also shirtless.

I have no idea why. And I can’t find my voice to even ask.

Because he starts jumping .

It’s casual at first, the vine seeming to hypnotize the surrounding monsters.

Then he starts to sing, all while jumping rope and twisting his body in a rhythmic manner.

I… I just stare. I’m basically as hypnotized as the boars, if not more so, because wow. Wow . His body moves with a grace that shouldn’t be possible.

And suddenly the rope flicks out to the side, zapping the nearest boar-man. Then flashes out across the path to another, wrapping around the creature’s thick neck and yanking him right up in the air.

Another rope magically falls into Craze’s hands, his dance continuing as he ties up the other two in a series of steps that leave me breathless. It’s all so fast, making it impossible to track his movements.

Which is how I find myself suddenly entangled in a new rope, one cast by his hands as he yanks me into his hard body and tumbles us to the ground.

Except the ground doesn’t catch us.

It… it gives out beneath us, sending us spiraling down a hole.

A portal, I belatedly realize as the world spins in darkness.

We land a few seconds later in a room shrouded in obsidian rock.

Craze pins me to the wall, his lips parting on a slight pant, his body vibrating with barely restrained power.

I look up into his black eyes, utterly transfixed by the last few minutes.

He already proved himself to be deadly with those cards.

Now he just demonstrated how lethal he can be with a vine .

This Alpha is… fascinating.

And beautiful.

And pure, sculpted muscle.

I… I don’t even know what to say. I’m too lost for words to speak. The ropes tighten around me, holding me captive as his mouth hovers above mine, his hands on my waist.

My heart stops beating.

My lungs cease to work.

All I can do is stare at the man before me.

I don’t know if we’re safe here. I don’t even know where here is. I just… give in to the madness. The chaos. The Monsterland mayhem.

And press my lips to his.