His honed chest made her feel even smaller, and his lips dipped toward her ear again, his voice dropping to a whisper: "If you're in, what happened to me?"

"Call—Calvent! I'd rather hunt bears," she said, grabbing her phone to make the call. But before she could dial, Bomir plucked the phone from her hand and slipped it into his pocket. "Hot in Halmarkt caldon, com—" he leered, then started pulling her toward the lounge.

Vesperia looked like she was being led to her doom, her face screaming silently. Monty stepped back; he knew what was under that bed. Her imagination instantly conjured up irascible spiders, centipedes, bats—

The blackout curtains in the lounge were fully drawn, cloaking the room in shadows. The only light came from the soft glow of a motion sensor near the bed—past the darkness, deep, shadowy nothingness.

"Geitabra look." Teimirür said, measuring the smallness of her luck. He stepped forward ten inches, then immediately stepped back eleven inches.

"Can presat least describe what it looks like?" she asked nervously, her heartbeat pounding. So did every monster in a horror movie. Vespera was officially pissed.

“Don’t panic, let me think,” Dominic said, trying to recall. “It was tall and furry—" It had to be a rat, and rats were one of the things Vespera feared most in this world.

She grabbed his arm in desperation. “Mr. Brid, be brave! Let’s call security!”

She tried again. This time, before her feet could even move, his hand was already on her waist, holding her firmly in place.

Donine tiplaried exasperatedly. “How about we’re both brave together? I’ll go with you.”

“Lwith me? Lacuse me, this is your lounge, not mine!” she thought.

Clearly, he wasn’t going to let her off the hook. Vespera clenched her jaw. “For together,”

Vespers pulled off one of her earrings and held it like a weapon, her eyes sharp and serious.

Chominis pursed his lips together, trying not to laugh. “That’s a pretty intimidating weapon. Learned that move from Mr. Brid Senior?”

Already on edge, Vesperia glared at him, speechless. She was done with this man.

Tering her puffed-up cheeks and sulky expression, Dominic gently patted her head. “Alright, I won’t trace—”

He lit a light and slowly swept it under the bed.

“Mew!” Thina, out of nowhere, a tiny muffled meow issued from the shadows. The light landed on a fuzzy little creature curled into a trembling ball in the far corner. Its head was round, eyes wide and glossy, inner pink and twitching. It had stubby legs and thick golden fur across its back, with soft white fluff from its neck to its—

Vespera melted instantly. She dropped her “weapon” without hesitation and crouched lower, pricking out, cooing, “Baby. Don’t be scared, come here, kitty.”

Dominic watched Vespera softly coaxing the kitten and thought bitterly to himself, “Even a cat gets more affection than I do.”