Pursued by the Minotaur: For the Love of a Good Monster, #2

By Gemma Cates

Slow-burn steam in the Land Across the Bridge

 

Francesca

I just started a new job in a world inhabited by minotaurs, witches, orcs, and who knew what else.

Exciting? Maybe, but that wasn't why I was here.

Was I qualified? No. Not even a little.

Did I speak the language? Definitely not.

But I had to make this position work. That, or I was headed home to Austin and my psycho stalker.

With the way my luck was running, I wouldn't last a week in this gig—and that was before I met the massive bull-man assigned as my local contact.

The one who refused to make eye contact, wouldn't come within ten feet of me, and made me shiver in all the best ways.

I was so screwed.

 

Note from the author: This fish-out-of-water romance features a heroine with heavy baggage but an opportunity for a bright future—if she can only believe she deserves it. It also contains a sinfully sexy, quietly patient minotaur who will do everything he can to help her accept the future she deserves.

 

Pursued by the Minotaur has all the steamy shenanigans and naughty words. Slow burn, but spicy fun awaits!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gemma Cates
• Release date: May 8, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224956890

Book preview

1

FRANCESCA

Istarted a new job today.

Some might even say a new career.

I should be jumping up and down, shouting for joy.

Full-time employment, the kind with regular pay and benefits, hadn’t been a part of my life, basically, ever. But even more importantly, I’d been in a hurry to get out of Austin, and this job couldn’t be farther from Texas.

I should be over the fucking moon.

Spoiler: my emotional state had yet to reach the appropriate state of joy.

The description for my new job read like a paid cultural-exchange program. The big difference being that my exchange was to a place that didn’t exist on Earth, was only accessible via a charmed bridge, and happened to be filled with magical people.

Mind blown.

Not only was magic real, but so were a lot of creatures, people, who looked like they’d been yanked directly from the pages of a fiction novel or an illustrated work of mythological creatures.

Part of the interview process included a conversation addressing this paradigm-shifting information. Magic, witches, vampires, dragons, and a whole bunch of other shit that sounded imaginary were real. Apparently, I even had a dash of magic in my blood—not that the miniscule contribution of magical DNA I possessed had made any difference in my life.

How I reacted to the Big Reveal had been considered when evaluating my suitability for the job. After the initial shock, I’d passed with flying colors because—why not? It wasn’t as if there wasn’t plenty of mystery and wonder in the world. Why not magic? And given my recent experiences, magic didn’t seem nearly as frightening as it might once have.

I was approaching this opportunity with a mix of cautious optimism sprinkled liberally with a hard dose of realism.

Also, I was trying really, really hard to delay forming an initial impression. If I let myself start forming opinions immediately, they’d be bad opinions.

The worst sort of opinions. The kind of opinions one makes when wearing heels walking down a road better suited to hiking boots.

Since my other choice was to wait in the middle of nowhere as the sun dipped lower in the sky, I’d started walking. The road only went in one direction—the other way was more of a deer track—so I figured I’d eventually stumble upon the person who’d been meant to meet me on arrival.

To be fair, I’d been warned the bridge would disappear after I crossed it. I’d also been informed that the place I’d land wasn’t in the center of town.

I paused and took a few deep breaths. Blisters were joy-killing bastards, as was the thought of the two large trunks that weren’t currently accompanying me on my journey. Was theft an issue here? If so, I could kiss all the worldly belongings I’d brought with me goodbye. Clean underwear, comfortable shoes, a few books… But I wasn’t dwelling. I was giving this new place, these new people—Taureans—a chance.

Another few breaths, a quick prayer to the gods of this new world that thievery was minimal and my ride was close, and I started off again.

Stupid heels. Stupid, crappy, unpaved road. Stupid freaking blisters.

I’d landed this gig as an ambassador through some pretty attenuated connections. A friend of a friend of a friend type connections. Given my current situation, I was having mixed feelings toward that guy.

If I’d ever actually met the friend three times removed that got me the interview, I sure as hell didn’t remember. Rafe something or other, that was the guy’s name. Who was named Rafe?

Apparently some guy who hunted monsters for a living. My hookup for this new opportunity was a professional monster hunter. Some of those mythic, magical folk I’d just learned about weren’t the nicest people, and hunting the bad ones—monsters—was an actual job.

Welcome to this lovely new reality, Francesca, where things that go bump in the night need professionals to wrangle them.

That same guy thought a woman with no college degree and no pertinent experience was an excellent candidate for a job as an ambassador to a foreign colony populated by magical and non-human people. Perhaps Rafe wasn’t the brightest bulb. Again, he hunted monsters for a living. That took a certain kind of bravery and at least a dash of idiocy.

I stopped, considered my current situation, and decided I probably shouldn’t be calling anyone an idiot. Stones, glass houses, and all that.

I lifted my eyes to the purplish sky in another plea for help from…someone up there.

Maybe some mythic, magical supreme being heard me, because when I looked down the road, I discovered I was no longer alone. With any luck, the massive bare-chested bull-man rapidly closing the distance between us was my escort. That, or I was in some serious trouble.

He was enormous. Big enough to pick me up and toss me around without breaking a sweat.

At least half an hour of silence later, and I had no idea who Mr. Silent and Grumpy was.

Not my planned escort, because whoever was supposed to have met me also was supposed to speak my language. But I was waiting to form any opinions. Still.

I stared at my guide's broad bare back, rippling muscles included. I was following a minotaur. I was trailing behind him like a little puppy dog.

It was surreal.

He was a giant. Superhero muscular and closer to seven feet than six. Bull head, mostly human body, except for the tail that flicked periodically and massive cloven hooves that were near dinner-plate sized. He looked like a character ripped from a comic book or an illustrated guide to Greek mythology.

And here I was trotting along behind him, as if it was completely normal to be retrieved by a silent man-beast who appeared with no more explanation than a few hand gestures.

Maybe pointing at me, himself, then the road didn’t equal: I’m you’re escort.

Maybe it meant: Join me for dinner. You’re the main course.

Maybe this was all some elaborate setup.

Maybe I was a sacrifice. Greek mythology wasn’t something I’d given two seconds’ thought since my short-lived college experience, but I was pretty sure that the minotaur of myth had eaten humans.

Maybe those myths were based on fact?

Maybe the big guy was waiting to get me home to his roasting spit before munching on me.

And yet…I just kept following along.

Probably because as big and bulky and sharp-horned as this non-human guy was, he had kind eyes.

Probably because my unnamed companion, with all his size and strength and beastly otherness, wasn’t a fraction as monstrous as the human stalker I’d left behind in Austin.

2

BRODERICK

The universe was testing me today.

Of all the mornings for my friend Elias to be clumsy in battle.

Today was the day he and his off-world mate were scheduled to greet our newest ambassador, Francesca Carlyle, at the bridge.

It had been arranged that he and his mate, Cleo, would retrieve Francesca and deliver her to her new home. Cleo came from the same large village as Francesca and spoke the same language. Elias had undergone the mutual understanding ritual with Cleo that allowed them to share each other’s languages, so he too could communicate with Francesca in her native tongue.

The Taurean elders paired me with Francesca as her community liaison. I had one of the largest libraries in the community and had regular dealings with most households, a good partner for an outsider seeking to learn more about our culture.

It was my duty and my privilege to share our way of life with her. I’d hoped if all went well when we were introduced that she would consider undertaking the mutual understanding ritual sooner rather than later. Having access to each other’s languages was an important step in partnering together.

If she agreed to the ritual, she would have an immediate understanding of the language she needed to undertake her assignment. Otherwise, it would take her months to learn enough Taurean to accomplish even the most basic of interviews, and reading would be impossible.

She could choose to complete the ritual with another