Free A Monster and a Gentleman by Lila Dubois Page B

get made. I could have leaked the information and then profited from the success of the movie.”
    “No, there is no movie if our secret is exposed too soon.” If their secret was exposed, if they lost control of this situation, they would all go home and spend time together, as a Clan, before angry humans showed up and murdered them all.  
    “No movie?”  
    “No.” Maeve toyed with a lock of hair, debating whether to say more. “Did they tell you why we need to do this now?”
    “You mean come out of the closet? Yeah, a bit. I know you—your Clan is it? That you’ve moved around a lot to stay hidden, because humans have almost found you. But now there’s not a lot of places left to go. And I think someone said that the spell that lets everyone turn into humans is new too.”
    “That is part of it. Living in secret is not a realistic course, and the wonderful shifting spell is new.” It had taken her years, but she’d figured it out. “But there is another reason.”
    “What’s that?”
    “There are some humans who already know.”
    Oren sat back. “What?”
    “There is a group of humans who know we exist. They think we are demons from Hell. They’ve kidnapped, tortured and killed many of us. They killed Runako’s sister and tortured Seling.”
    “Seling? But he’s so...”
    “Mellow? He hides his anger, and his pain, well.”
    “If they know about you why isn’t that information public? Why isn’t it all over the news?”
    “They think they are waging a war against evil demons, while at the same time they hope to find a way to use us to make themselves strong.”
    “There was something Jo said the other day I didn’t understand. She said the wolf people, or something like that. Did she mean Blackwolf?”
    “You know them?”
    “They’re a security company, only they provide the kind of security that comes with guns mounted on tanks, and everyone who works there is ex-military.”
    “Those are the men.” Maeve bit the inside of her cheek to hold back the hurt and fear that came when they were mentioned.
    “And they know you exist?”
    “Yes.”
    “Oh...shit.”
    “Yes.”
    “So if they see the...”
    “Yes.”
    “Oh fuck.”
    “If I keep talking, will you keep using different curse words?”
    “Crap on a cracker.”
    “Ohh, that’s a good one!”
    Oren shook his head and smiled. Maeve’s belly tingled.  
    “The situation was bad enough before I knew all that. Now it’s worse. I guess that explains why you’re here.”
    “Yes.”
    “Then maybe we can work together. I came up with some stuff. I’d planned to look into it myself, to clear my name.”
    “Show me what you have.”
    Oren walked out of the room and Maeve stretched. She hadn’t lied to him. In many of his futures, she’d seen success. At least, that’s how she interpreted the vision of him standing onstage clutching more little gold statues to match the ones she’d seen in his past. The females her Clans-men had mated with had told her what the person responsible might be expecting—fame and fortune, appearances on TV and in newspapers. She’d seen those things, but always with an image of him holding a statue or standing with the human mates her Clans-men had chosen, or the males themselves. If his fame came from exposing them, they would not stand with him.
    In other futures, he was one of the first casualties of the war between monsters and humans, dying defending someone she could not see, though she could tell that it was one of her people.  
    She wouldn’t tell them, any of them, that if they didn’t find the leak and stop him, nothing they could do would prevent the war.
     
    Armed with a stack of papers and a roll of Scotch tape, Oren came back into the living room.  
    Maeve was now sitting on the couch.
    Well, sitting wasn’t exactly how he’d describe it. She was lying upside down, legs dangling over the back, hair pooled on the floor.  
    It was the first time he’d gotten a good look at