The Monster Under the Bed (Monsters in the Dark Book 1) Read online

  She shouldn't speak to it. She really shouldn't. "I can hear you under there."

  The movements stopped at the sound of her voice.

  "It's very rude to interrupt a girl when she's taking care of herself." She almost giggled at the absurdity of it all. "I'm sure you have a valid excuse for it."

  She didn't expect an answer. Instead, she started to fall back into the motions of her self-pleasure, but then a deep timbre of a masculine voice, in a whimsical accent she couldn't place, stalled her once again. "It is far more impolite to tease me. I hear your sighs. Smell your arousal. Turn off the lights and invite me out to assist you." She was too stunned to comment. Then he added darkly, "If you dare."

  Her heart pounded. "You can speak?" Why hadn't he done so before? All these years and he'd been silent, so there had to be more to the reason than wanting her. Nobody waited ten years without a purpose.

  "You thought me uncivilized?" The monster chuckled. "That's fair, I suppose. Once I have my hands on you, my behavior will become quite primitive."

  A shudder wracked her body and she couldn't prevent herself from resuming her actions. "What I meant is, you can speak English?"

  "My mother is human, so she taught me her language." He paused, voice deepening. "You continue to tease me. Turn off the lights."

  Rebelliousness kicked in. It couldn't touch her so long as her lights were on. She had nothing to fear, and its desire for her only amped up her arousal. "I don't think I will. Who do you think I am to invite strangers into my bed when they show up under it?"

  It growled, and the sound was so inhuman she nearly jumped from the bed to flee the room. She didn't trust that it couldn't grab her ankle if she attempted such a thing. Then, softly, the monster said, "I know you know what I am. I saw to it after I scared you last night. For that I apologize."

  She sat up as the implication set in. "What do you mean you saw to it?" Had he set up the website for her to find?

  "Svartalfheim is a world of magic, not only darkness. I made sure you found the information you sought." He paused. "Again, my mother is a human. We have adapted to the times as much as you, in our own way."

  She shook her head. Impossible. "You hacked the Internet from another world? Wouldn't a computer light hurt you?" Not to mention, wouldn't the connection be absolute crap?

  "Not if it was created using the crystals on my world. Svartalfheim may be a land of eternal night, but it has beauty and wonders of its own. I could show you… Do you want me to?"

  Her eyes narrowed and she burrowed back into her sheets. It was trying to lure her into trusting and leaving with it. Stranger Danger! "You knew I would react this way."

  A long pause followed her comment. "I hoped. I did say you could send me away." He paused again. "You stopped touching yourself."

  Noticed that, did he? "Got bored." The dark elf was a bit too intent. Orchestrating scaring her and then setting up information so she'd find it…why though? Why didn't he start a conversation with her before? Wouldn't it be more beneficial to him than lurking alone under there?

  "Liar. Your arousal is stronger than before. You want me to crawl into your bed; merely thinking about it makes you yearn for me."

  "No, I don't." She kind of did, but it was all so surreal and she couldn't cope.

  "Madison Wright, turn off the lights," he said with enough authority she almost complied until she registered the control he was attempting to gain over her. Full name usage on top of it? Hell no! She didn't trust him yet.

  "I'm never turning them off."

  "You want to play it that way, fine. I'm patient, but I've waited years for you to mature and your scent to tell me you were ready to mate."

  "Is that why you never attempted to talk to me or touch me before?"

  He tsked. "You were not prepared for me when I found you, so I did my touching elsewhere. You're finally ready, and my patience ends now."

  She was about to scoff at his tone when the bed pitched sideways, closer to the wall, turning, and leaving a shadowy stretch in the corner away from any of the lights. "What the—"

  "You baited me tonight, one of the Dökkálfar."

  The mattress shifted and the blankets moved. Then bulgy creases in the blanket formed the shape of two arms creeping over the side. He was crawling onto the bed from beneath the covers. He'd moved the bed so there would be even less light near the floor for him to do it, and the comforter had been touching the floor on that side. That must have been how he turned the string lights off the night before. He'd pulled the sheets to the floor, crawled under them, and he'd unplugged the lights.

  As the shape of a man slinked over the edge of the mattress, she shrieked and started to untangle herself from the sheets, but a warm hand wrapped around her ankle. His warmth surprised her. For some reason, she expected him to be cold to the touch. Elves didn't sound like they'd be warm creatures. Or maybe she only expected he wouldn't feel like a man so she couldn't think he was anything like one.

  "Kick off the sheets and I will drag you under the bed with me," he said. "Into Svartalfheim. Is that what you want?"

  "No!" How could a person be aroused and scared at the same time? I apparently have serious mental issues going on that I need to deal with starting first thing in the morning.

  "Stay put then." He let her go and continued dragging himself under the sheets until the full figure of a tall man curled into the space at the foot of her bed. Then his head swiveled toward her and he started to crawl between her thighs. She gawked, disbelieving the truth in front of her, but slapped her legs together anyway as the elf's melodic chuckles filled the room.

  Chapter 4

  "Are you going to turn the lights off now?" The elf slid his palms over her legs, and she shuddered before allowing him to push them apart again. Maddy wasn't sure what she'd let him do, but she was too curious to move—and not because she thought he might steal her away with him. The lights were still on, and it gave her an advantage.

  "I—I don't think I should," she said as her voice quavered. "What are you doing?" He'd moved his hands to her waist and slowly dragged both her shorts and panties down her legs. She should kick him off the bed with the blankets. She really should, but…what if she didn't?

  "Your scent has enticed me for ages."

  "So you've said." He'd confessed to being with other women during the time he'd been visiting her. Definitely male. She rolled her eyes. Yet, she wasn't annoyed by it. It made him seem almost considerate that he'd known she hadn't been ready to take this step. Maddy wasn't sure what changed, but now he was in her bed and she wanted to see what would happen next.

  "A mate always smells sweeter than other females, and when we find our mates this way, we linger, protecting them. It's not until the scent changes, ever so slightly, that you know your mate is ready to accept you. That she can handle you, and your own perception of her changes from interest to lust, and all other females will no longer intrigue us unless we are rejected and have to wait for a new possible mate to come into existence." He sidled closer and nuzzled her inner thigh. "So soft. So warm…"

  His hands and his face felt like a man's. Perhaps he wasn't a monster at all, despite being a dark elf and all that entailed. He had long hair, and the silky strands brushed against her skin, tickling and enticing. Not seeing him made it more erotic somehow. Forbidden. Maddy shuddered and the elf sucked in a breath.

  "Your body invites me to taste it. Look how it glistens within this sacred part of you."

  Her breathing shallowed. Would he taste her? Did she want him to? "Yes," she whispered without meaning to.

  The elf took this as invitation and ran a long tongue down her slit, lapping gently at the core of her body. She collapsed backward against her pillow and closed her eyes. Oh God, the monster was real. He was going to have sex with her.

  And she was gonna let him.

  His tongue circled her clit and she gasped as her legs fell wider apart. She grasped around under the covers for the remote. As if
aware what she was doing, he increased his ministrations, slipping a finger inside her.

  Maddy's own fingers curled around the plastic device and she yanked it out from under the covers. One light source after the other snapped off with a few deft button-taps until only the lamp next to the bed remained. She mashed the button and dropped the remote onto the nightstand. She was rewarded as he yanked her thighs closer to him, moving his body so her legs draped over his muscular, lean back. He lapped, nibbled, and sucked at her sensitive flesh until piercing hot rapture shot through her and she cried out while her body shook violently.

  The sheets pulled back and a shadowy figure crawled up her body, settling between her thighs. He was already naked, and a large, hard erection rested against her thigh. "You turned off the lights for me," he said, surprise in his tone.

  "Yes," she agreed, basking in the subtle aftershocks of passion coursing through her.

  "You want me to take you?"

  Maddy started to reply and then remembered the information he'd fed her, and his wording gave her pause. "As in sex, here, or leave with you?"

  "Whatever you wish of me." Okay, that wasn't a straightforward answer.

  "You promise I cannot get pregnant without performing sacred rites in your world?"

  He stroked a hand over her hip. "I swear it. Until you bond with me, you cannot conceive."

  "I'm not ready to be a mother," she confessed, reaching out to touch him. His cheek was warm and smooth, and when he leaned his face against her palm an elongated, pointed ear was apparent. Though she couldn't see his features, she could feel him. He was tall, lean, and strong. He had long hair and elf ears, but no facial or body hair that she noticed. Just that on his scalp. "What is your name?" It was only fair to know his when he knew hers.

  "I cannot tell you this," he hedged.

  He was so free with answers on that website, but now he wouldn't answer her questions. "Oh, and why not?"

  "A dark elf cannot reveal his name to his mate until they are performing the sacred rites."

  She snorted. "That's archaic." How did they know what to call each other?

  "You wanted primitive." Amusement colored his voice. "Now you have it."

  She snickered. Touché, elf.

  "Maddy," he said, voice husky. "Say the word. Let me prove I am worth being your mate."

  Surprised, she sat up. After a second, he did the same, kneeling in front of her, a shadow made flesh. "You really cannot have sex with me until I ask?"

  "I can…" he evaded. "But discontentment—"

  "Ah, makes me harder to breed with. Gotcha." She wasn't sure she liked being seen as a baby-making device, more or less, but he said she couldn't conceive until they did the rites. So, they could postpone that. Maybe indefinitely. Maybe he wouldn't be a good lover and she could dismiss him completely. Her choosing sex with him here and now didn't have to be a commitment, and he'd said as much himself. Recreational sex.

  The elf lifted her hand in his and kissed the back of her knuckles. Then he pulled her hand down onto his erection, wrapping her palm around it and holding her there. He grunted at the contact and she gulped. While she didn't think his girth would be an issue despite being quite impressive, what if the length was too much? She let him move her hand up and down from base to tip and back again. He was a big one, but not monstrously so, and there didn't seem to be any hidden tentacles or extra appendages of any kind. Thank God.

  Maddy leaned into him, cupping the back of his neck with her free hand. She had to kiss him. No way would she make a decision without knowing if he was a good kisser. He seemed to realize what she wanted and claimed her lips with furious abandon. She quit her strokes and raised both hands to tangle in his hair, moving closer, straddling his knees. He grabbed her hips, sliding lower to her ass and pulled her against him, positioning himself. The tip of him pressed at her entrance, and she nearly whimpered with need. She didn't think she'd ever had so much anticipation before in her life.

  He nibbled her lips and she felt sharp canines lightly graze her skin, not quite like a vampire but longer than a normal human's. He was a monster, but not. He was a man, but…not like any she'd ever known. She should fear him because he represented the unknown, but she didn't. The elf sought to keep her for himself. He wanted to mate with her. Breed with her. Steal her away like Hades did Persephone.

  "Show me what it's like to be yours," she whispered against his lips. The corners of his mouth tilted upward against her skin as he pushed himself into her. She gasped at the fullness.

  "This has to go." The elf yanked her shirt over her head and tossed it behind him. "Yes, perfect. You're perfect." He slid his hands up to her breasts, groping, caressing. Then he kissed his way down her chin to her neck to chest, eventually latching on to her left breast as he started to finally move within in her.

  So swiftly that she didn't have time to register the movement, the elf pushed her back against the pillows, hands braced on the bed, and picked up the pace of his thrusts. She gasped, clutching his head to her breasts as he transferred attention to the right one, and she wrapped her legs tightly around his waist.

  How was this happening to her? She was an ordinary woman. There was nothing special about her in anyway. Yet a dark elf had chosen her—or fate had. It was all so…fantastical. Every thrust brought Maddy closer to the edge of another orgasm. He sat up and clasped her hands in his, pushing her arms above her head as he changed the pace of his thrusts into slow measured strokes. Each movement brushed that sensitive bundle of nerves that made her see sparks and caused tears to wet the corners of her eyes. It felt so good, too much to handle. Surely, she would rip apart when she came.

  He drew away and she started to protest, but then he flipped her over, pulling her hips high against him where he kneeled behind her. He entered her slowly, and it was excruciatingly sensual. When he seated himself to the hilt, even deeper somehow than before, he grunted as though pleased with himself. Before she could question what he was up to, he pulled back, almost completely, and thrusted into her with quick, hard strokes. She clenched the sheets in her palms and screamed as wave after wave of ecstasy coursed through her, but he wasn't finished. He kept his pace and it sent her mewling and shuddering into a prolonged release. Just when she thought she couldn't take any more, he tensed, jerking erratically, and warmth seeped deep within her.

  That was the last thing she remembered before everything went dark.

  Maddy wasn't sure how long she slept, but she woke up feeling like she was made of hot jelly and someone was caressing her hip and thigh. Her eyes shot open. Someone was doing that.

  The room remained swathed in darkness, and the clock showed it to be a quarter after five in the morning. She should wake up to get ready for work. Could she even stand? She turned her head and her shadowy elf leaned in and kissed her, slipping his tongue into her mouth to plunder and dance with hers. He slid two fingers into her and she moaned, moving against his hand.

  "See how your body wakes hungering for mine?" he whispered against her lips. "Has anyone else made you feel like this?" Quickly, he removed his fingers, lifted her leg, and then pushed into her. He traced lazy circles around her clit with his fingers while thrusting slowly. "Tell me you'd give this up for a life of mediocrity and I'll return to Svartalfheim, never to return. You could keep this night as your secret if you so wish it."

  In the back of her mind she warned herself not to make promises when distracted by pleasure. She moaned instead while he brushed the hair away from the back of her neck and kissed and nipped the flesh there. She didn't even know his name.

  He picked up the pace, rubbing her clit harder and faster in time with the strokes. "Say you want to leave with me. We could do this for days on end, without ceasing. Give up your world. Return to mine."

  Her legs started to shake. She was so close.

  "Say it, Maddy," he urged, groaning against her ear. His body was tense, about to snap and so in sync with hers.

  She shouldn't
. She really shouldn't say anything.

  He jerked against her, coming hard, pressing down on her clit with the base of his palm; he held her that way. It was so possessive, yet it sent her over the edge. "Do you want to leave with me?"

  "Yes!" she cried as rapture hit. She wasn't sure if she answered him or had only mean it as a benediction. At that moment, it didn't matter. The pleasure, the sensation, was overwhelming. God, her body was alive and hot and singing with satisfaction.

  And then, just as quickly as her orgasm hit, the dark elf slipped out of her and lifted her in his arms. She was too blissed out and didn't even have time to think or question his motives before he leapt to the floor, set her down and slid beneath the bed, disappearing before her eyes in the darkness. As awareness started to return to her mind, his hands shot out and he grabbed her ankles, dragging her underneath the bed with him to Svartalfheim.

  More Books by Rebekah Lewis

  -The Cursed Satyroi Series-

  Wicked Satyr Nights

  Midnight at the Satyr Inn

  Under the Satyr Moon

  Mercury Rising

  Satyr from the Shadows

  The Satyr Prince

  -Wonderland-

  The Vanishing

  The Unraveling

  -Monsters in the Dark-

  The Monster Under the Bed

  The Monster in the Closet

  -Other Books-

  Through the Maelstrom

  About the Author

  Rebekah Lewis holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature. She is also an award-winning cover artist for digital publishers and enjoys every minute of it when not immersed into the worlds of satyrs, Greek gods, and Cheshire cats. Always feeling the need to stay productive, she can be found creating something with words, images, or crafts. She currently resides in Savannah, GA with her cat, Bagheera.