Monsters in the Mountains

"I found her in the dark, and that’s where I’ll claim her so she can’t run." My heat is coming, and nothing will stop it. They killed my father, and now there’s no one to protect me, so I run. A cave in the mountains is the safest place I can find, but I am not alone. Is a real monster any worse than the ones that murdered my father to take me for themselves? ***This is a short romance featuring a human omega and a monstrous alpha. It was previously released as part of the Monsters After Dark anthology. ***

The omega doesn’t know it yet, but she’s mine. I've never been anyone's first choice. I would be happy living life on my own, but that's not allowed, and my heat is coming. I have to choose an alpha before it's too late, but I don’t want any of the ones in my village, because they don't want me as I am. I’m not their idea of a perfect omega. Then the gifts start arriving on my doorstep. Things that are thoughtful, useful, not pointless trinkets. I never get to see the mysterious alpha wooing me. He comes in the night, and all I have to identify him is his scent.

I wasn’t looking for a mate, but I’m keeping her now that I’ve found her. My mate died, but somehow, I survived, and my body didn't get the message that I don't want to go into heat. My brother nursed me back to health, but now I've become a bargaining chip.

"I’m taking his daughter as payment, but he’s the one I’m going to kill." I knew monsters were real, but the ones I'd met didn't have horns and claws. When my father trades me to have his competition slain, I can't say it surprises me, but the creature I've been given to is a monster in the literal sense. I never would have thought fur and fangs were my thing, but when the monster promises to fill me with his seed, I find myself craving just that. He killed to have me, so who am I to deny him what he wants?

The little omega distracted me, and now I’ll pay the price. I wasn’t expecting a monster to stumble across me as I was bathing, I just wanted to soothe the heat burning through my veins.

My family made my life a misery, but there’s nothing I can do to escape them. I have nowhere else to go. The monster I encounter in the forest overwhelms my senses, calling to the omega in me. I can’t believe I let him touch me, but I’m so starved for affection I can’t help myself. And then I do the only thing that makes sense…I run. But the monster hunts me down. He says he gave me a choice, but he’s not letting me go. He’s going to claim me as his mate.