Kelly understood they were monsters, but he was placing his faith in them. Owen and Alace might feel underneath everything that they had become like the monsters they hunted, but he wanted them to know the people who loved them could learn to live with it.
There were good monsters, too.
Epilogue
Bend, Oregon
She cowered against the wall just inside the swinging doors where the ambulance driver had told her to wait. Outside in the hallway, she heard a voice, deep and thundering, asking where his wife was. She knew that voice. Intimately.
The crowd of medical professionals surrounding the gurney in the center of the ER treatment room parted, and for the briefest of moments, she could see the face of the woman on the table. Lips tinged a dark and terrible blue, but apart from that, they could have been twins. Shining gold hair on the woman’s head echoed on that of her own, and the child nestled on her hip.
He was not quite three years old, head pillowed against her shoulder, asleep despite the bustle and noise surrounding them. Voices called out incomprehensible numbers and acronyms, things she could only imagine the meaning of as alarms sounded from multiple pieces of equipment.
The thundering voice drew closer, and she tightened her arms around the boy.
One man, a doctor based on the deferential way the other medical staff treated him, looked up at a clock mounted high on a wall.
No. The thought echoed through her head. She’d watched enough daytime TV to know what came next, and her knees threatened to buckle.
An arm, rigid as a band of steel, circled her waist, holding her upright. Heat pressed against her back, and a muttered, “There you are,” resonated through her. Butterflies in her chest took flight, breaths coming fast and hard at his proximity.
“Time of death…”
She blocked out the rest of what the doctor said, his red hands taking up most of her attention. With a towel handed off by one of the others, he wiped the color away as he walked towards them. His gaze fastened on her face, and she imagined he could see something was amiss. Something more than the death of the only person who’d ever loved her. The only person in her life she could trust. The man behind her shifted, and that look fled, a solemn mask settling into place instead. “We did everything we could.”
“We know you tried your best.” The blades of his words scraped at her control, leaving bloody furrows behind. “Death comes for us all.”
She must have made a sound, because his arm tightened around her with a warning pressure. He shook her once, rattling the boy awake, his cries joining hers.
“No, please, no.”
The man at her back gripped her hip tightly, bruisingly, nails sharp enough to be felt through her home-sewn dress. Her father let loose a sigh, shaking her again, less forcefully this time. “Her mother and I don’t blame you. We thank you for your kindness in our time of loss.”
She stared at her dead mother, wishing there’d been enough pills for them both, for the three of them. Wished with all her might to be away, to be gone from the pain that would inevitably follow. When he laid claim to her arm and pulled, she turned and followed. It would be futile to fight him.
And that’s how she became her mother, wife to her father, and mother to her brother.
The End
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING
An Embarrassment of Monsters!
This story is the third in what’s been a fun-to-write series. I’m so pleased you’ve taken this journey with me and my dark characters, and I hope you enjoyed and rooted for Alace and Owen as much as I did.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Raised in the south, Wall Street Journal & USA TODAY bestselling author MariaLisa learned about the magic of books at an early age. Every summer, she would spend hours in the local library, devouring books of every genre. Self-described as a book-a-holic, she says "I've always loved to read, but then I discovered writing, and found I adored that, too. For reading...if nothing else is available, I've been known to read the back of the cereal box."
Want sneak peeks into what she’s working on, or to chat with other readers about her books? Join the Facebook group! bit.ly/deMora-FB-group
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~~~~~
Also by MariaLisa deMora
Please note that books in a series frequently feature characters from additional books within that series. If series books are read out of order, readers will twig to spoilers for the other books, so going back to read the skipped titles won’t have the same angsty reveals.
Rebel Wayfarers MC series:
Mica, #1
A Sweet & Merry Christmas, #1.5
Slate, #2
Bear, #3
Jase, #4
Gunny, #5
Mason, #6
Hoss, #7
Harddrive Holidays, #7.5
Duck, #8
Biker Chick Campout, #8.5
Watcher, #9
A Kiss to Keep You, #9.25
Gun Totin’ Annie, #9.5
Secret Santa, #9.75
Bones, #10
Gunny’s Pups, #10.25
Never Settle, #10.5
Not Even A Mouse, #10.75
Fury, #11
Christmas Doings, #11.25
Gypsy’s Lady, #11.5
Cassie, #12
Road Runner’s Ride, #12.5
Occupy Yourself band series:
Born Into Trouble, #1
Grace In Motion, #2 (TBD)
What They Say, #3 (TBD)
Neither This, Nor That MC series:
This Is the Route Of Twisted Pain, #1
Treading the Traitor’s Path: Out Bad, #2
Shelter My Heart, #3
Trapped by Fate on Reckless Roads, #4
Thunderstruck, #5
Rebel Wayfarers & Incoherent MC
(NTNT) crossover stories:
Going Down Easy
No Man’s Land
Mayhan Bucklers MC series:
Most Rikki-Tik, #1
Mad Minute, #2
Pucker Factor, #3
Boocoo Dinky Dau, #4 (TBD)
Borderline Freaks MC series:
Service and Sacrifice, #1
More Than Enough, #2
Lack of In-between, #3
See You in Valhalla, #4
If You Could Change One Thing:
Tangled Fates Stories
There Are Limits, #1
Rules Are Rules, #2
The Gray Zone, #3
With My Whole Heart series
With My Whole Heart, #1
Bet On Us, #2
Alace Sweets series
Alace Sweets, #1
Seeking Worthy Pursuits, #2
An Embarrassment of Monsters, #3
Other Books:
Hard Focus
Dirty Bitches MC: Season 3
More information available at mldemora.com.
An Embarrassment of Monsters: A Dark Romantic Suspense Novel (Alace Sweets Book 3) Page 31
