A knock on the door interrupted her.
“Shit,” Carys stood. “Wait here, Ulf. And please, be quiet, okay?” Ulf felt so much younger than Monster. The man knew the consequences of exposure, but she didn’t know if the beast did. From the images he showed her, he hadn’t had much time with Monster, so she couldn’t say what his social maturity level was.
She looked through the peephole, half expecting to see Todd standing there. Instead, it was some of the members of the Kings.
Opening the door, she beckoned them in.
“Where’s … shit.” The man she recognized as Bulldog said. “Where’s his cuff? Check his clothes, see if he had it in his pocket.”
“Um, I think he took it off this morning,” she said, remembering what Ulf had shown her. From those images, she realized Monster had to remove the cuff before Ulf took hold, and he always put it back on the instant he was back in charge.
“Hey, Chef, we may …” His words trailed off as Monster reclaimed the body he shared with Ulf.
The situation was anything but funny, not with all the loss and death they’d experienced, but a laugh left her, and the men filing into the room.
Monster stood before them on top of a pile of ruined clothes, save for a singular sock, clinging for life to his foot.
“Brother?” Bulldog said with an upward inflection, making the word a question. He now stood in front of Monster with a hand on his shoulder. Carys watched a silent exchange between them. One she wasn’t privy to. Monster gave his club brother a curt nod.
In a moment, another member strode past her and handed a pair of sweats and a tee shirt to Monster.
Carys was busy just processing what was happening when Monster grabbed her by the bicep.
“You’re coming with me.”
“What?”
“Keys?”
“Wait. Monster you’re hurting me.” She tried to stop their forward motion as he practically dragged her toward the door.
Monster muttered a curse followed by an apology and loosened his grip. He looked torn between wanting to shove her away and pull her in if she were reading it correctly.
He grabbed her purse, rifled through it until he retrieved her keys.
“Let’s go.”
As Monster led her through the door, she heard Bulldog shout, “You catch more flies with honey than vinegar, brother. Believe me, I know honey.”
Monster grunted and led her to her Jeep. He even opened the passenger’s side door and strapped her in. But there was reluctance on his face.
Once he settled into the driver’s seat, she finally found her tongue.
“What was that all about?” She indicated back toward the house and her person in general.
“That? He’s a bear.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” To say she was confused would’ve been a vast understatement. Confused left town on the five o’clock bus and was already two states away.
“His honey statement. Bear. Honey. Get it?” Monster wouldn’t meet her eyes, and he was talking nonsense.
“That’s the one thing that happened in there that you think I’m asking about?” Clearly, he’d taken a blow to the head, or he was deflecting.
“I mean, everything. For starters, Ulf showing me your life. Or the fact that you still haven’t let me explain, yet you won’t leave me and just go back to your life. I already said I wouldn’t talk and as soon as things are, um, cleaned up there’s nothing that will tie us together.”
Not that Carys wanted to let him go, but she needed to. She needed to start healing from, well, everything.
“I didn’t know he could do that.” Monster turned a sheepish look on her as he backed out of the drive.
