Where Monsters Hide (The Monster Within 1)

We’re in the middle of the forest not too far from the training grounds. The air is frigid and the wind biting, though cut by the branches overhead.

Sawyer whips around to face me, his face cast in shadows. His candle has blown out. Smoke rises from the wick.

“What, Avery? Are you just going to insult my sex skills again?”

“No,” I pant, still catching my breath. “Sawyer, I—I miss you.”

My own admission surprises me, but I don’t take it back because … it’s true.

His face changes. “Avery, what …”

“What you did sucks,” I tell him, taking a tentative step forward through the snow. “But I think we can get past it, eventually.”

Sawyer takes a deep breath. “I miss you, too,” he says softly. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry too,” I say, walking toward him. “I’m sorry that I … have feelings for those douches.”

My second admission is no less true than the first, and though this one makes him wince, he doesn’t draw away.

“I guess that’s something I’m just going to have to get used to,” Sawyer says, carefully.

I nod, the cold air numbing my cheeks. “Yeah, me too.”

“And mostly, I’m sorry I drugged you.” He opens his arms and I step into them, dropping my candle, and he holds me close. The tiny light goes out, leaving its own narrow stream of smoke to waft up towards the treetops. I close my eyes and breathe in Sawyer’s scent, thinking of that night in the cabin.

“Well, isn’t this sweet?” a voice sounds from behind us.

I know it well. It’s Piers.

I turn and Sawyer’s face goes pale. Piers, Owen, and Bennett seem to have followed us. They stand in the brush just out of reach, their faces glittering darkly in the shadows.

I cross my arms across my chest. “What?” I snap at them.

“She has no idea,” Owen says with a grin.

Bennett looks impassive. Like always.

Piers nods at the bottle in Sawyer’s hand, which I’d forgotten about until this moment. “Sawyer’s been doing a great job, don’t you think, boys?”

“Maybe too great,” Owen tells him.

“What are you guys talking about?” I demand.

“Sawyer came to us with a little … problem, a couple weeks back,” Piers laughs. “He thought something might be going on between us, and he wanted answers.”

A pit forms in my stomach. I don’t like where this is headed. I take a slight step away from Sawyer.

“Sawyer, what is he talking about?” I keep my gaze trained on Piers, but I catch Sawyer shuffling his feet out of the corner of my eye.

Piers is watching him too, and under his gaze, Sawyer begins to squirm uncomfortably.

“I’m talking about how Sawyer here traded a piece of valuable information in exchange for some of his own,” he says.

“Shut up, Piers,” Sawyer says again. His hands have started to tremble, making the liquid in the bottle he carries slosh inside its container.

“Are one of you going to tell me what’s going on?” I ask. I’m about fifteen seconds from assaulting Piers or Sawyer, or both.

“Go on Sawyer, tell her,” Piers says, “Or shall I?”