Sleeping with Monsters
Sleeping with Monsters
by
Amelia Hutchins
Sleeping with Monsters
Smashwords Edition
Published by Amelia Hutchins on Smashwords.
Copyright ©April 2nd 2018 Amelia Hutchins
ISBN: 978-0-9970055-8-5
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This book in its entirety and in portions is the sole property of Amelia Hutchins.
Sleeping with Monsters Copyright ©2018 by Amelia Hutchins. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical without the express written permission of the author. The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com Kindle Direct and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
Authored by: Amelia Hutchins
Cover Art Design:Tenaya Jayne
Copy Editor: Gina Tobin
Edited & Formatted by: E & F Indie Services
Published by: Amelia Hutchins
Published in (United States of America)
!!STOP!!
Read the warning below before purchasing this book.
TRIGGER WARNING: This book includes scenes of graphic violence and sex does have scenes that might affect sensitive readers. Rape isn’t a joke, nor is it used for titillation in this book. If you know someone or have been a victim of rape yourself, get help. Don’t let this asshole get away with it because chances are, your attacker will do it to someone else. You’re not alone in this. Thousands of people are raped daily; there are hundreds of people who go free after attacking their victim because the victim is afraid to report or discuss the crime for a variety of reasons. No means no. If you or someone you know has been a victim of rape, get help. RAINN is available in many countries, and is a free confidential hotline. It is free to call and available 24/7 call
1-800-656-HOPE
Dedication
For Robert Blackburn, my family, my friend, and, my hero. Without you, I wouldn’t be here to write books, or have chosen the path I did. You touched every life you entered in a way that left fingerprints, and made them better for having known you. To the family he left behind, I love you guys. You’re brave, strong, and even though you feel broken right now, he’s with you every moment of every day. You were his everything.
For Olivia, who lost her heart when God called your husband home, we are with you.
Life isn’t promised, so live everyday as if you only have this one.
For Tammie, Gina, Melissa, Tasha and all the other girls who keep me sane during this process, I love your faces.
To the fans and girls in my author group, you ladies rock my socks off and humble me every day.
To my family.
This year has been a ride from hell already, so it’s a damn good thing we know how to handle these things together.
Eric, you’re my everything. You’re my best friend, and even though I spend countless hours writing and being lost inside my head, you keep me grounded.
Also by Amelia Hutchins
The Fae Chronicles
Fighting Destiny
Taunting Destiny
Escaping Destiny
Seducing Destiny
Unraveling Destiny
The Elite Guards
A Demon’s Dark Embrace
How to Train A Dragon King - 2018
A Guardian’s Diary
Darkest Before Dawn
Death Before Dawn
Monsters Series
Playing with Monsters
Sleeping With Monsters
Reading Order
If you’re following the series for the Fae Chronicles, Elite Guards, and Monsters, reading order is as follows:
Fighting Destiny
Taunting Destiny
Escaping Destiny
Seducing Destiny
A Demon’s Dark Embrace
Playing with Monsters
Unraveling Destiny
Sleeping With Monsters
How to Train A Dragon King - 2018
Warning
This book is dark. It’s sexy, hot, and intense. The author is human, as you are as well. Is the book perfect? It’s as perfect as I could make it. Are there mistakes? Probably, then again, even New York Times top published books have minimal mistakes because like me, they have human editors. There are words in this book that won’t be found in the standard dictionary, because they were created to set the stage for a paranormal-urban fantasy world. Words such as ‘sift’, ‘glamoured’, and ‘apparate’ are common in paranormal books and give better description to the action in the story than can be found in standard dictionaries. They are intentional and not mistakes.
About the hero: chances are you may not fall instantly in love with him, that’s because I don’t write men you instantly love; you grow to love them. I don’t believe in instant-love. I write flawed, raw, caveman-like assholes that eventually let you see their redeeming qualities. They are aggressive, assholes, one step above a caveman when we meet them. You may not even like him by the time you finish this book, but I promise you will love him by the end of this series.
About the heroine: There is a chance, that you might think she’s a bit naïve, or weak, but then again who starts out as a badass? Badasses are a product of growth and I am going to put her through hell, and you get to watch her come up swinging every time I knock her on her ass. That’s just how I do things. How she reacts to the set of circumstances she is put through, may not be how you as the reader, or I as the author would react to that same situation. Everyone reacts differently to circumstances and how Magdalena responds to her challenges, is how I see her as a character and as a person.
I don’t write love stories: I write fast paced, knock you on your ass, make you sit on the edge of your seat wondering what happens next books. If you’re looking for cookie cutter romance, this isn’t for you. If you can’t handle the ride, un-buckle your seatbelt and get out of the roller-coaster car now. If not, you’ve been warned. If nothing outlined above bothers you, carry on and enjoy the ride!
Chapter 1
My hair whipped against my face as the wind howled from the impending storm that was barreling down on Metaline Falls. I lifted my eyes to the moon, full and red from the smoke from the fires that were burning unchecked in the Pacific Northwest, from Washing
ton all the way into Montana. My eyes burned from the pungent smell of those fires as I waited in the heavily wooded area at the back of the exclusive nightclub.
Music pumped from inside the club; the bass pulsated from the walls and vibrated the ground, stirring excitement from those who’d stood in line for hours just for a chance to be allowed into the kinkfest that happened in the lower levels of Blackstone’s notorious club. The front of this place was no different from the back; lines started early and people waited hours in them, uncaring that only a select few ever made it inside without knowing someone or having an exclusive invite.
Immortals stood with mortals, something I’d been noticing more of as I watched Lucian Blackstone and what went on inside this place. I’d asked the coven to investigate him and his club, and instead of taking my concerns seriously, I was warned against meddling in his affairs. No one questioned his motive for opening a sex club in the middle of Little Town, USA, but I did, while the coven seemed to be ignoring the growing demon problem—even though I was sure it had something to do with this place.
I watched a couple as they groped each other, uncaring that others watched and enjoyed the lewd show they were giving. One man had a woman pressed against the building, and from the motion of his hips, he wasn’t just kissing her. Others watched, touching their partners, or petting themselves. I closed my eyes, imagining the dream that played on repeat inside my head. The one where I wasn’t the voyeur, but the one they watched. I opened my eyes and pushed the memory of it away. Anger shot through me, my pulse quickened, and I exhaled slowly as I calmed my body’s response to it.
That music... Every beat was meant to draw you in, dull your senses, make you shed inhibition, and I wasn’t so sure that it wasn’t magic, or something else hidden in the salacious lyrics or tantric melody. I smoothed the skirt I wore, pushing it down to cover my bare legs as I turned to nod at Kat and Dexter, who waited for the elusive owner to exit the club.
We’d planned this to the smallest detail. There could be no mistakes here. I’d studied Blackstone for weeks now, watching him, learning every detail as possible about him. Nothing went unnoticed as I danced inside his club, catching his eye and holding it for what felt like hours at a time, and yet he never took the bait, never approached me. On those occasions where I would approach him, the moment I got close he would leave the area or the club, as if he couldn’t stand the sight of me. It stung my pride, and bruised my ego more than it already was.
I hated that night after night, he filled my dreams with no explanation for why it was happening. All girls fantasize, but I’d used spells to stop mine, and nothing I did halted the dreams or erased the feel of him after the dream had passed. I knew the layout of the club, including the levels below the main floor, and yet I’d never been downstairs. I knew certain details about him that I shouldn’t know unless I had been intimate with him. The challenge with discerning between fantasy and memory was I’d never been intimate with him—unless I had and he’d somehow taken those memories from me.
When I’d asked my grandmother to have the coven investigate him I explained what was happening to me, but she’d suggested that I take him for my breeding mate since his line was as old as ours. That hadn’t helped me, and only served to frustrate me more. Nothing about him made sense, and she blithely dismissed my worries as if I was crushing on him. I didn’t even like this guy; he was an egotistical control freak who waved money around and got what he wanted. I hated that she ignored my fears; as if I was crazy to even think what I was telling her could be true.
The crowd inched forward, and my heart quickened and beat painfully against my ribs. I looked up at the moon, judging the time before I withdrew a vial of sleeping sand I’d created to knock Lucian out. The sand was powerful, but considering how big he was, I’d brought extra, just in case I needed it. I placed a little of the loose sand in the pocket of my jacket and pulled out a small apothecary bottle of Siren’s essence. I removed the lid, placed it against my lips and tipped it back, inhaling and taking it into my lungs.
The sounds of the crowd grew louder, an indication that the man of the hour was leaving the building. I watched him as he emerged from the doorway, ignoring those who called out to him. In the last few weeks of watching this man, I knew he always left here with one or several of those hulking men, who seemed to be some kind of bodyguards, or alone. He was hot enough that he could curl his finger and get any girl he wanted, and yet he never did. Everything about him was an enigma.
He was dressed in an elegant bespoke suit, immaculate as always. His long hair was jet-black, pushed away from his sharp features. His strong jawline was etched in marble, a perfect contrast to the hard, sinewy lines of his body. His wide shoulders spoke of raw power, and thick muscles bunched beneath the suit, doing little to hide the raw, masculine form that lay beneath it. Midnight blue eyes lifted to the full moon before he gave the parking lot a quick onceover before pushing his way through the throng of people as if they didn’t exist.
Once he was far enough into the parking lot, I whispered his name, beckoning him to me with the lure of the Siren’s essence that filled my lungs, making it impossible for him to ignore.
“Lucian,” I purred, my voice all seduction, which carried to him on the gentle breeze. I watched as he paused, lifted those bedroom eyes and searched the wooded area bordering the parking lot where I waited. “Come to me.”
He began to walk in my direction, but then his steps slowed as our eyes locked across the crowded parking lot. Once he’d reached a certain point, the engine of a van roared to life as Kat and Dexter prepared to block the view of the bouncer.
“Come to me,” I said louder, watching over his shoulder as my words carried to a few people in the long line. Shit. “Lucian, I need you to come to me, now.”
I released a sigh of relief as he started moving faster, and alternated my focus between him, the bouncers, and Kat and Dexter in the van that were moving towards us. Power sizzled over my body the closer he got to me, and my hand dipped into my pocket, pulling out the sleeping sand. Once the view was blocked by the van and he was close enough, I crossed the distance to him, lifted my hand, and blew the sand into his face. Shock registered across his face before his eyes narrowed, his body swayed, and he started going down.
I moved to catch him, which ended with me on my ass in the dirt with a hulking male cradled between my legs and his heavy head on my breasts. Heat unfurled through me as our bodies made contact and I pushed against him to get him off of me. Okay, perhaps this wasn’t planned out as well as I thought it was. I heard the door of the old van protesting as Dexter opened it and hopped out.
“Damn, you move fast,” he teased as he tried to lift the sleeping male. “Shit, he weighs a ton and a half,” he grumbled as I struggled to get up.
I whispered a spell of weightlessness to help Dexter out and moved to the van, jumping inside as he approached. I laid out a blanket since the back of the van was dirty and covered in rust. Once Lucian was in, I covered him up, leaving his face exposed.
Once the van started moving, I stared down into his slumbering face. Thick black lashes dusted his cheeks and his hair, still perfectly in place somehow, shone in the moonlight that flooded through the windows. I checked his pulse and then lowered my mouth to his, brushing my lips against his as we left the parking lot and sped out onto the highway. Sparks ignited and I gasped as I lifted my hand and touched them where ours had just met.
“Are you molesting him?” Dexter laughed as Kat joined in.
“I’m making sure he’s still breathing,” I grumbled as a blush spread across my face. “Once we’re on the backroad, stay right at the fork. It is only a few miles from there to the cabin; my car is there. You will need to switch out, and then use the decoy spell we practiced. It will buy us an alibi if this goes awry.”
“I still don’t feel right leaving you there with him alone. What if something goes wro
ng?” Kat asked as our eyes met in the rearview mirror. “You’ll be alone with him, and no one will be there to help you.”
“Yes, but tell me, Kat, what can you do to help me? Our magic is limited, the coven is weak, and if we pull on them for anything, we’re fucked. No, you and Dexter will leave me there as we planned, because if anyone is going down for this, it will be me and me alone. Besides, what could possibly go wrong?”
“Everything, considering who we just kidnapped,” she grouched as her eyes moved back to the road.
“Positive thinking, please,” I mumbled as I stared at the man in question.
“I’m positive we’re fucked if he gets away,” she retorted.
I looked up to catch her eyes watching me, which unfortunately didn’t allow me to brace myself as we hit something in the road that sent me sailing forward, forcing me to land atop Lucian. I groaned as I righted myself, regretting the choice of being the one in the back with him. He smelled like sin mixed with sex, with a generous dash of male sprinkled on top of it.
“Just stick to the plan—no deviating unless something happens. If you come back and I’m gone, get back in the car; leave and go home. Don’t look for me, because if shit hits the fan, I’ll meet you tomorrow as we planned. The diner would be the best place for you guys to go tonight, it shouldn’t have a huge crowd even though it’s Friday. They also won’t hover, which is best since my doppelgänger will only be able to say a few things at most.”
“Are we even sure it will sound like you?” Her eyebrows rose skeptically.
“Yes, it is a mirror image of me, but don’t let it eat anything. It’s not real, so if it orders, don’t let it eat or drink, understand?” I peered through the windshield as the cabin came into view. I swallowed fear that crept in at the idea of being alone with this man, but I couldn’t back out now—we were in too deep.