Rescued By the Mothman (Monster Bounty Hunters #1)

Chapter 8

Clarissa

So it was all true. My brother was the actual monster. But part of me still held onto the hope that I could change his mind. Surely I could make him see how he’d been behaving was wrong. Maybe it was far too late, and I’d never really known him at all. I felt the silence grow heavy and realized the two men were watching me. My uncle I was used to. But this newcomer had thrown me.

I looked him up and down properly for the first time. Black fur covered a humanoid torso. A very muscular torso now that I was looking at it. His large wings were tucked behind him. His pants and the belts he had strapped around him carried cuffs, a gun and some sort of spray. He could have been straight out of a tv program about a bounty hunter right down to the scarf around his neck.

His face was the least human thing about him. Large red eyes surrounded by more black fur that curled up into antennae. His fur looked soft. I wanted to reach out and stroke it. His mouth was barely visible as he frowned at me. I realized I’d probably been staring and looking him up and down for a while. Heat flushed my face, and I sat back in my chair. I needed the focus to be on someone else for a moment.

“So, what now, Sable?”

His eyes never left me as he answered.

“Now I figure out where your brother is and bring him in.”

“Please don’t hurt him.”

It came out in a whisper. I shouldn’t care. Not after everything. But I did. Sable scowled briefly but nodded.

“I’ll do my best.”

I knew somehow that he meant it. It wasn’t a throwaway comment to pacify me. In a difficult situation that had the potential for violence, he would do his best. I knew looking at the size and shape of him that if it came to violence, he would win though. Those godsdamn bicep muscles….

My uncle cleared his throat, and I flicked my gaze away from Sable’s arms. Blushing yet again, like a teenager.

“Did he bring any belongings with him? Should we check them for evidence?”

Sable shifted uncomfortably, watching me as he spoke.

“I’ve already looked through them and taken what I think is useful.”

I grimaced, annoyed at him again.

“Oh, had a good poke around my house, did you?”

“I only looked enough to find his bedroom and his stuff. I didn’t go through anything else.”

I harrumphed. The thought of someone just going through my things and walking around my house made me feel vulnerable. An equal but clearly disturbed part of my brain also felt put out that he hadn’t cared enough to want to rifle through my stuff. Had he been in my bedroom? I thought of him on my bed. All the things he could do with those belts.

“I should go. I’ve invaded your privacy enough.”

Sable’s voice was rough in a way that sent heat straight to my core.

“Yes, you have,” I said curtly.

Or maybe not enough, my lewd brain whispered.

He stood and nodded at us both before walking out stiffly without another word. His ass was magnificent. I wanted to bite it. As soon as he was out of earshot, my uncle leaned forward.

“Seems like he’s going to sniffing around here a lot more. Be careful.”

“I will. But he’s hardly sniffing around after me, is he?”

“If you say so. I’ll have a couple of wolves around monitoring you. Just in case John comes back.”

“He won’t come back. That would be ridiculous. And if he did, he wouldn’t hurt me. I’m his sister.”

“Are you sure about that?”

A wave of nausea rolled up my throat. I wasn’t sure. Not sure at all. I looked out the window in time to see the shape of Sable flying up into the air. There was something incredibly elegant about the way he flew. My uncle sighed loudly.

“What?”

“Just that bounty hunter?”

“What about him? He seems annoying, but he’s here for his sister. That’s how siblings should be. Not whatever John is being. But he’ll be gone and out of our lives soon enough.”

Why did I hate that thought? My uncle laughed.

“Ah, humans. You’ll figure it out, eventually.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Clearly.”

He leaned down and placed a kiss on my forehead before heading for the kitchen and beginning to bustle around while he made calls. I heard whirring, and then the smell of coffee hit me. He was in full caretaking mode. Like he was with my aunt when she was alive. I wondered what it would be like to have an attentive partner like that. Someone who adored you? Who looked at you like you were the world and the stars?

Once more, I thought of Sable and that long moment in his arms before reality and fear kicked in. Of how it could have ended if I hadn’t decided to fight him. I wriggled in my chair, trying to shake off the thoughts. No. He’d broken into my house and my uncle had alluded to him having a past. He would leave soon, and I’d forget him. And I was sure he would barely ever think of me again.