Monsters of Durnbone

6. The Bedroom

f**k.

Fuck.I stared up at the bland white ceiling and grasped my pounding head, my stomach twisting and turning from the Midnight Moon I’d had last night. Slowly, I sat up and glanced around the room, my lips turning into a frown.

This was the first night that I’d slept in a bed since I had run away from Dad’s estate. It was much needed, a good time to relax. And, f**k, that dream I’d had last night of the four guys taking my diary was wild, telling me that they’d one day reenact all my fantasies and then me m**********g in front of them.

After swallowing hard, I pressed my legs together and pulled the blankets over to cover my body. Embarrassment washed over me, my cheeks flushing. If that had actually happened, I would die right on the spot.

But that would be a great new fantasy to place in my diary.

would I slipped my hand underneath my pillow, where I had hidden the journal after I moved into Calder’s pack house, and reached for it. But it wasn’t there. I tore the pillow off the mattress and threw it to the other side of the room. Nothing.

My heart raced, and I jumped out of bed.

Oh no. No. No. No. No. No.

Oh no. No. No. No. No. No.From my bed, to the dressers, to under the damn rugs, I searched for that diary like my life f*****g depended on it. Because it did. But the more I searched, the less and less hope I had of finding the damn thing.

If I really had given them that journal last night, then they knew all my secrets.

Every single last fantasy.

I needed to get it back before they read it in its entirety.

After pulling on a silky lilac robe that I might’ve stolen from Dad’s home, I tied it around my waist and stuck my head out my bedroom door. The guys all had separate rooms, but their doors were wide open.

Creeping down the hall, I glanced in all their rooms and found nobody. My gaze landed upon the last door at the end of the hallway, which was Calder’s. He had to have stolen my diary, because he was the most possessive and crazy one of them all. He must’ve had it in there somewhere.

I looked around one last time to make sure that nobody was watching, then stepped into the large room. Twice the size of my room with a king-size bed, dressed in a black comforter in the center of the room, Calder’s room looked like it fit more than just an alpha.

Spotting a pair of panties lying on the dresser, I clenched my jaw. Who the f**k did those belong to? I should’ve freaking known that he would turn into one of those typical alpha-holes that Dad had warned me about.

After scrunching my nose, I forced myself to look away from them and searched his room for the journal, cautiously preparing myself for more female items lying around here. Thankfully, I didn’t find anything else, but I also didn’t find that freaking journal either.

I walked out of the doorway, careful to leave Calder’s room exactly how it had been—even with those freaking panties glaring at me—and then headed back down the hallway toward the stairs. Four distinct male voices drifted from the first floor.

“f**k,” I whispered to myself, heart pounding. “I need to get that diary.”

I didn’t want to face them in the slightest, but I needed to get it as quickly as possible. Another minute that I waited was another minute they could be reading about my deepest and darkest desires.

Hell no.

Hell no.While I might’ve been best friends with them at some point, I barely knew them now. And that was far too embarrassing.

Once I descended the steps, I took a deep breath and entered the kitchen, where Gaian was at the stove, cooking some bacon while Darius made waffles. Calder and Thayer sat at the table, chatting loudly with each other. They were all completely shirtless with a thin layer of sweat covering their swollen muscles. At least, they had been talking with each other, but when I walked into the room, they snapped their mouths shut and looked over at me, even Gaian.

had been “Good morning,” I said, trying to keep my voice strong. I begged myself to ask where the diary was, but I didn’t want to say the words out loud. I didn’t want them to know how important that journal was to me.

“Morning,” Thayer said.

“Sleep well?” Gaian asked.

“Yes,” I said quickly.

At one point in my life—four years ago, to be exact—I had been so comfortable with them, even with the most uncomfortable things, like my period. Hell, they had bought me pads from the shops down in Durnbone when I needed them.

But now … everything had changed. We had changed.

We I teetered from foot to foot, my cheeks flushing. “So, I, um …”

“Spit it out,” Calder said, staring at me intensely.

Narrowing my eyes at him, I cleared my throat. “I need my diary back.”

The guys all looked at each other, none of them making a single move to say anything. In fact, they all returned to chatting with each other and stabbing at the waffles and bacon whenever Gaian placed it on the table.

Gaian handed me a plate and urged me toward the only empty seat. “Eat.”

Hesitantly, I pulled my robe together even further, noticing the way they all glanced over at me one at a time, eyes lingering on my chest. I loathed the way that my core warmed. I was supposed to be getting the diary back, not thinking about getting railed by four beasts the same exact way I’d fantasized.

not One taking me from behind, grasping my hips and smacking my ass. One sucking on and playing with my t**s. One forcing his c**k deep into my throat and f*****g me until I begged him to stop. One biting into my neck with his large canines as he pumped into me.

I pressed my thighs together tighter and cursed at myself.

Fuck. f**k. f**k. f**k. f**k.

Fuck. f**k. f**k. f**k. Fuck.“Pretty Bird,” Thayer growled, “if you don’t stop that, I’m going to eat you for breakfast.”

you Cheeks flushing harder, I cursed at myself for being so f*****g embarrassing and desperately tried to calm myself. This was not how I’d expected this conversation to go, but I couldn’t help it. I had fantasized about them for far too long.

not “Do you guys have my diary?” I asked, staring at the granite tabletop.

“Do you mean this?” Calder said, pulling the leather-bound book off his lap and holding it up toward me with a wide smirk and dangerously dark eyes.

“Yes,” I said, my heart skipping a beat, “that.”

When he went to open it, I stood up and reached across the table to grab it, my robe falling open slightly. He pulled it just out of reach, smirk widening, and glanced down at my t**s, just barely covered with silk fabric.

“Oh, come on, Pretty Bird,” Calder teased. “You’re going to have to try harder than that.”

I gritted my teeth. “Calder, this isn’t funny. Give it to me.”

“No. It’s ours now.”

“It’s mine!”

“She’s sexy when she’s angry,” Darius said, leaning back in his seat.

“I’d put that mouth right back in its place,” Thayer said, flicking his tongue over a lip ring near the corner of his mouth.

Hell, what had I gotten myself into?

Calder leaned forward toward me, matching my intense glare, and smirked. “I told you last night, and I’ll tell you again. We plan to read every last page of your little book, but if you keep acting out … then we’ll have to take matters into our own hands.”

“And how’ll you do that?” I asked, fingers paling on the table.

After pushing out his chair, he tucked the diary close to his side. “Tonight. Nine p.m.”