Rescued By the Mothman (Monster Bounty Hunters #1)

Chapter 4

Clarissa

I tossed and turned for the second night in a row. By the time the birds started chirping outside my window, I was exhausted. Even here, safe in my bedroom, I felt tense. My older brother had agreed to meet me and he looked like a mess. Haggard and skinny. I’d said he could stay for a few days. He’d barely spoken to me that entire time. I heard him moving around the kitchen. He didn’t seem to have slept much either.

I needed answers. I showered and dressed, steeling myself to talk to him. We’d never been close, but it hadn’t ever been this bad. I found him sitting at the table eating.

“John, can we talk?”

He looked up and scowled at me. But I pressed on.

“You need to tell me what’s going on. Where have you been?”

He sighed with pure irritation.

“On the run.”

I sat down in a chair with a thump.

“What? Why?”

“Some godsdamn monsters rioted and then tried to blame the whole thing on me! I was just doing my job, the fuckers.”

I tried to lower my shoulders and ease the tension out of my neck.

“Why did they blame you? How?”

“I don’t know. I was trying to fix the alarm system that kept breaking. They said I was doing it on purpose to cause a riot. How in the hell could I cause a whole riot? I lost friends there.”

For the first time since he’d arrived, I saw a flicker of genuine sadness.

“I’m sorry, but I’m sure if we just go to the authorities and explain, they will understand…”

“NO!”

He pushed out of his seat and paced around the room like a caged animal.

“I just want to get out of here and settle down somewhere quiet. I just ran out of money, is all.”

And there it was. I didn’t know the full details of why my parents had cut him out of their will. Or why he’d fallen out with our uncle. But everything had gone to me with strict instructions that it was not to be shared with him. He’d left full of anger and told me never to contact him again. Of course I’d still tried. He was my brother. But he’d never responded to any of my messages. After a while, I’d assumed he’d blocked me and gave up.

“Why did you fall out with them and with uncle Rez?”

He whirled on me, eyes flashing.

“Still a nosy bitch, then?”

I recoiled. Anger flared like a spike of heat, but before I could snap back, I caught a glimpse of black at the kitchen door. An enormous figure loomed. The first thing I noticed was the way he stood. It was the cocky stance of someone who has never lost a fight. Black all over with strange antenna curling up from his face. There was something terrifying about him. I felt like he could have snapped me in half without breaking a sweat.

“Who the fuck are you?”

Somehow, my voice didn’t shake.

“I’m here to talk to your brother.”

The deep voice that came out of the winged creature in my house, was like velvet wrapped in a growl. He towered over us. Large biceps flexed as he fixed a glowing red gaze on John. His furry, muscled chest was bare, but he wore pants with a holster belt around his waist. There was a gun perched there. But I suspected he didn’t need it.

Before I could respond, I felt a shove from behind me and I toppled forward straight into the mothman who was now dashing forwards. He caught me before I hit the ground and pulled me up. Our eyes met, and we both froze. A shiver ran through me. I’d been told that mothmen were bad omens. I’d never seen one in the flesh before, let alone found myself suddenly in the arms of one that smelled like the forest.

I realized his hands had wrapped around me and were resting on my lower back. We had somehow moved closer and were pressed together. Warmth emanated from him. I was shaking like a leaf, but I wasn’t going to let fear hold me like a rabbit stuck in headlights. This intruder had broken into my house. I gritted my teeth and stamped on his foot as hard as I could. He yelped and blinked at me in surprise. I turned and ran out the now open back door.

There was no sign of my brother anywhere. How long had me and the monster in my house been staring at each other? I ran to my car and jumped in. The mothman walked slowly back out the front door with a confidence that bordered on cocky. Within a few long strides, he was in front of the car, where he stood and crossed his arms.

Fuck, his biceps were big, and he had thighs like tree trunks.

“Move!” I screamed.

I could have sworn the bastard was restraining a smile.

“No.”

My breath came in gasps as panic surged through me. Every part of me was shaking so hard I could barely get the car started.

“Listen ma’am, you don’t need to be….”

I slammed my foot down and drove the car right at him. He leapt into the air, large wings flapping, getting above the car just in time. I drove as fast as I could, tears streaming. Was he one of the people chasing my brother? Was that guy from the prison? The shaking subsided and turned to anger as I replayed the scene in my head. John had pushed me at the monster to help him get away. He’d left me, potentially for dead. Then I’d been in the warm arms of a monster. Something about that made my body react in a way that I didn’t understand and certainly wasn’t going to think about now. I drove as fast as I could all the way to my uncle's house, terrified at every moment that I’d see a dark-winged shape in the mirror giving chase.