Monster's Payment: Monsters in the Mountains, #4

By Leann Ryans

I'm taking his daughter as payment, but he's the one I'm going to kill.

 

I knew monsters were real, but the ones I'd met didn't have horns and claws.

When my father trades me to have his competition slain, I can't say it surprises me, but the creature I've been given to is a monster in the literal sense. 

I never would have thought fur and fangs were my thing, but when the monster promises to fill me with his seed, I find myself craving just that.

 

He killed to have me, so who am I to deny him what he wants?

 

***This is the fourth book in the Monsters in the Mountains series but it can be read as a standalone.***

• Language: English
• Publisher: Leann Ryans
• Release date: Jul 21, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223497455

Leann Ryans

I'm a wife and mother of four who's been an avid reader since I could pick up a book. It wasn't unusual for me to read a book a day, ignoring the real world as I was sucked into the pages of a great story. I grew up on sci-fi and fantasy books before discovering the world of romance. PNR has always been my go-to, and omegaverse is my addiction of choice. I love writing books featuring heroes who are a bit rough around the edges but aren't overly cruel. My heroines aren't always the take charge type, but neither are all women. They are comfortable in their femininity. If you're looking for a story that has dark themes without leaving you wanting to punch the hero in the face, mine might just be for you.

Book preview

Monster's Payment

Monsters in the Mountains Book 4

Leann Ryans

Copyright © 2023 Leann Ryans

All rights reserved

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Cover design by: Get Covers

Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Thanks

Chapter One

Mylah

I need you to wear this tonight. Be ready by sundown.

My father tossed a pile of cloth on my bed before turning and pinning me with a stare. I knew as well as he that there was no request in what he said, it was an order I had no choice but to follow.

I dropped my gaze to the floor, hands clasped in front of me.

Yes, Sir.

Satisfied with the proper response, he turned and left without another word. A breath of relief followed the door closing, and my shoulders slumped. I hated when he included me in his activities, and nothing good happened after sundown.

It was only three steps to the end of my narrow bed, my room barely large enough to fit it and a chest for my things. The cloth he’d dropped on my blanket turned out to be a plain, undyed dress, unremarkable other than it would barely reach my knees. A thin brown cloak lay with it, much lower quality than the one hanging beside my bedroom door.

Questions tumbled through my head, but I shoved them away, knowing it would do no good to indulge them. My father wouldn’t give me any answers and would punish me for asking. If I thought about it too much, I’d only upset myself, so I set the fabric aside and sucked in a calming breath.

Preparing the evening meal distracted me for a while, but once it was ready and the pots were scrubbed, there was nothing to keep my thoughts from drifting back to the scrap of fabric on my bed masquerading as a dress.

I didn’t know exactly what it was my father did. He had a shop attached to the side of the house that my brother and I worked in sometimes, and I knew he wanted to be seen as a wealthy trader, but there was more that the others in the village didn’t know about. Secret meetings and deals made in the forest after dark, despite the threats of the night. Sometimes he was gone for a couple meals, sometimes a whole day, and then he usually returned with something that was near impossible for anyone else to find.

This wasn’t the first time I’d been forced to come along with him to some rendezvous, but it was the first time he was requiring me to wear something he’d chosen, and the implications left a cold pit of dread in my belly. Especially considering the waves of heat and cramps that had been washing over me throughout the day.

My brother had been dragged along to meetings as well, though those stopped once he caught the eye of the blacksmith. My brother was my twin in all things, including our dynamic and our father’s disappointment in us, though Father’s mood improved toward him when the blacksmith stated his intentions.

A whine slipped from my throat as my belly tensed, and I shifted on my knees where I knelt beside our low table. I wanted to go curl up in my bed with all my pillows and blankets, but I knew better than to not be waiting where I was supposed to be when he came home.

As if that thought summoned him, the door opened, bringing the stench of rotting onions and boiled cabbage into the room to drown out the mellower scent of our dinner. My mother had been an omega too, and I had no idea how she’d found Father’s scent attractive enough to agree to mate him.

Then again, I knew my father well enough not to entirely believe she’d been willing. It wasn’t like she was here to ask. Her body had wasted away after the loss of the third baby he’d forced on her too soon after the previous losses. She’d delivered my brother and I,