CHAPTER ONE
CLEM.
The sea sparkles and the sun shines out of a perfect blue sky. Lying on a lounger, sipping on a pina colada and wearing my new polka-dot pink bikini, I should be happy.
But all I want to do is cry.
The resort I’m staying at is called Paradise Beach, but the truth is, it’s a fake paradise. The sea is actually a giant wave pool; the squeaky white sand is trucked in. The sky is an illuminated backdrop you can never reach. And it doesn’t matter how hard you swim, the waves will always push you right back to exactly where you started.
Welcome to Sparkle City, with its beach resorts and entertainment, nightclubs and stadiums, the glittering billboards and high-rise buildings promising an endless round of fun. The whole city, housing fifty thousand of us humans, sits under a huge, sealed dome to avoid the polluted air on Earth. Air that has been unbreathable since the apocalypse four hundred years ago.
At least, that’s what we’ve all been told. But lately, the story is showing seismic cracks.
And the problem is, I know too much about what’s really going on.
Like, way,waaaaytoo much.
To get you up to speed, my best friend Samantha Buggins—aka Sammy—ran off with a minotaur three months ago. Yep, you heard me—aminotaur. And that’s only the tip of the story, because it turns out there’s a whole labyrinth of monsters living under Sparkle City. They’ve been kept secret from us humans for centuries, toiling away in underground tunnels, mining for our raw materials and manufacturing everything else that we buy.
Oh, and add to that, my brother Jax, who’s one of the few humans that work between Sparkle and the Labyrinth, hasn’t contacted me for weeks. I’m worried sick about what might have happened to him.
All of this crapfest is going through my mind as I try to relax on my vacation. I’d rather not be here, but you don’t get to choose when you take holidays. DeVines department store, where I work, allocates employees’ time off.
I was due to come here with Sammy, but after she got sacked from DeVines by our horrible boss, Marsha Winters, she bumped into Arlo (the minotaur) that very same day in the parking lot. The next thing I knew, she’d got a job as his minder in the Labyrinth.
And then they fell in love.
So that’s why I’m here all on my lonesome feeling kinda sad and anxious. I don’t blame Sammy for leaving, neither of us have had any luck with guys here. Sparkle men are selfish jerks.
Good on her for finding a guy with horns and hooves who worships the ground she walks on.
Only trouble is, she can’t come back and visit me. The authorities know about her liaison with a minotaur, which means it’s too dangerous for her to be seen in Sparkle. And right now, I’m too chicken to go and find her.
I’m trying to push all those thoughts away, and wondering whether to go and float in the water for a while, when I realize there’s a guy standing next to me.
“Hey there, cutie.”
I glance up. He’s wearing mirrored sunglasses. His blond hair is flicked back to show his chiseled features. He smiles, and I’m almost blinded by his white teeth. “Want company?”
I shrug. “Not really.”
“Well, you’ve got it sweetheart.” He slithers down onto the lounger next to me and clicks his fingers at the waiter, who scurries over. He crosses his ankles lazily, orders a Negroni. Doesn’t say please. Doesn’t say thank you.
Black mark.
I like manners. If a guy thanks me for a fuck I might choose to see him again.
Might.
I side-eye him so hard I’m getting eye strain. His swimming trunks are slung low over ripped tan abs. And he sure is packing something in there. His trunks are striped and the stripesbulge. He’s the sort of mega-watt good looking dude I’ve dated so many times before. Disastrously, I might add. But… my sex life is a barren desert, has been for months, and at least he’s decent eye candy.
“Darian.” He leans over and extends a hand. Reluctantly, I shake it.
“Clem,” I say, wriggling my hand out of his grip and picking up my pina colada.
That movie star smile flashes again to match his diamond-cut jaw with its perfect smattering of designer stubble. Most women would rate him a 12 out of 10.
Strangely though, nothing is happening in my lady parts. My pussy is unimpressed, there’s not even a tiny ember glowing in my clit.
