But there was no doorbell buzz telling me a pissed-off monster was once again free to roam the world and setting his sights on me.
I suppose this makes sense though. Even though I had sent him on the errand that left him trapped, I didn’t have a hand in the cursing.
“Been a long time.” I stroll out my front door, unconcerned by the slavering beast before me. One that lets out another tree-shuddering roar at my flippant comment.
In a blink, monster has reverted to man, and I’m proud to realize I recalled close to exactly how Bo had appeared all those years ago. With as many decades as I have, certain things begin to fade.
“A long time?” He pants while the words come out between low growls. Sweat slicks his naked body, causing him to glow almost as bright as the moon he’s reflecting. “Seventeen years!”
“You’re right. Not nearly long enough. Would you like me to send you into an eternal slumber?” I wave my fingers, as if casting a spell. “At least that way, I could get some peace and quiet.”
It is a jest though. I have no interest in quieting Bo more than I already have. This is the most fun I’ve experienced in months. Maybe years.
“You knew where I was this whole time?”
Of course I did. I had sent him to Dimitri’s house in the first place.
“You had the power to free me,” he accuses.
I shrug. “Maybe. I’ve never tested myself against dragon hoard protection before.”
False. The results are … mixed.
“You should have?—”
“Georgiana.” I say the name at a normal volume, cutting him off at the knees.
Bo stumbles back a step and reveals too much vulnerability on his face.
Silly little monster.
“Have you seen her?” I press.
He swallows hard, eyes dropping. I’ll take that as a soul-crushing yes.
“Your beloved siren is alive. She is well.”
His head gives the barest nods for each of those facts.
“And she never once came to me in seventeen years to ask about you.”
His shoulders bow.
Bo was never a fighter. Not truly, though that beast form of his could decimate if he ever properly utilized it.
“And in seventeen years, I’ve always considered her debt paid. Despite you failing to uncover what I wanted. An item I have on good authority is no longer in that house.”
His shoulders dip more, likely with the loss of hope.
I savor his reactions.
The monster came to me all those years ago, desperate to save the woman he claimed to love.
His attempt at honor disgusted me. But more than that, his surety that the siren was his fated mate enraged me.
He thought he had found his mate?
He thought it washer? A woman so self-absorbed that I doubt she could’ve picked Bo out in a police lineup.
