Heat floods the room, explaining why I’d woken up feeling too hot. He must have brought it with him when he entered through the portal. The air becomes acrid with a suffocating scent of sulfur. My eyes itch, then they water, then it feels like tiny claws are scratching my throat. I blink over and over, coughing, choking, gasping for air. My gaze whips around the room. All I see is the dark. Either he disappeared the moment the clouds covered the moon or this monster really is made of shadows. I’ve never tasted anything finer,” he replies with a low moan that makes my nipples tighten. “Where can I find more?”

The monster raises his arm in a slicing motion that causes the sound of tearing. My breath catches as a rip forms in the air. Shit. I’d heard of the fabric of time, but this is ridiculous. But a few minutes ago, I would have said that monsters were figments of overactive imaginations. Now, I’m suspended three feet off the wooden floorboards by a creature of shadow and tentacles.I’m human,” I say through panting breaths. “There’s no way a person like me could breathe, let alone survive in an atmosphere that toxic.” Dating apps are okay, but most of the guys there are either players, time-wasters, or catfishers. And then there are scammers like the Tinder Swindler. Please,” I say through the gag. This time, the tentacle around my mouth loosens to allow me to make a sound. The pulse between my ears pounds so hard that it muffles all sound, including the meditation I’d stupidly played to attract a soul mate. Had I heard him right? He can’t be taking me to his dimension. Dimensions are a thing of science fiction. They don’t even exist. I freeze. And blink over and over to see through the dark. My pink toy hovers close to where the monster’s mouth should be and my breath slows enough for me to hear the sounds of obscene slurping.

The monster hesitates for several moments. I can’t tell if he’s considering my words or deciding whether or not to take a risk with my life, but when he closes the rip in the air, I collapse with relief. I tried to run, of course, but he caught me around the waist and gagged me with one of his slippery appendages. Do me a favor.” “Yes?” I whisper as we approach the gates. “Next time you’re in the clutches of a psycho and you see someone sneaking up on him, don’t act surprised.” My jaw drops.” I woke up in the middle of the night to find a dark figure standing at the foot of my bed. He claimed to be my soul mate, but I’m calling BS.When I told him to get out, he sprouted tentacles.I tried to run, of course, but he caught me around the w... He pulls me away from the rift in the air and loosens the tentacle gag a little further. “Explain.”Before he can retaliate, I swing my legs out of the bed, only for a tentacle to curl around my waist like a whip. I have work tomorrow, and…” My voice trails off. Is that the best I can say under the circumstances? One thing led to another, and now I have a tentacle beast in my room who knows exactly how to make me moan. Instead, he says in a voice that seems to come from every corner of the room, “Come, my mate. We must leave for my dimension.”

What lies beyond my room is a landscape of volcanoes and fire. I would call it hell but even demons might find it inhospitable. I slip my fingers beneath the appendage to dislodge its grip, but it tightens. It looks like he wants an answer to his question. With all my spare time spent painting watercolors in the hope that one of them will sell, it’s near impossible to meet decent men. I tried to run, but he caught me around the waist and gagged me with one of his slippery appendages. I woke up in the middle of the night to find a dark figure standing at the foot of my bed. He claimed to be my soul mate, but I’m calling BS.I woke up in the middle of the night to find a dark figure standing at the foot of my bed, claiming to be my soul mate.

Panic spikes in my heart, pushing me into action. There’s no way I can let a strange man, let alone a creature of unknown origin, put anything inside my body. Every nerve ending on that side of my body tingles in anticipation of those tentacles. I can already imagine what he’ll do with them—the hours of endless pleasure he’ll give every part of me that needed his touch. The monster’s tentacles are everywhere—around my waist, between my thighs, and circling my breasts. The clouds concealing the moon part, flooding the room with silver light. I follow the tentacle to find his shadowy outline.