Melting the Frost Troll: Monster Between the Sheets: Season 2 Read online

  MELTING THE FROST TROLL

  MONSTER BETWEEN THE SHEETS 2

  ELLA MAVEN

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2023 by Ella Maven

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means.

  Cover design by Clover Book Designs

  First Edition: May 2023

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Also by Ella Maven

  ABOUT MELTING THE FROST TROLL

  “She wants to cross my bridge… but not if I claim her first.”

  I used to have much more important things to protect, but now after sipping a strange drink at a party, I’m merely an ice troll guarding a frozen bridge. It’s not much, but it’s my duty.

  When I catch three thieves attempting to cross my bridge without paying the tax, they sacrifice one of their own to get away. The frightened but brave woman has never seen anything like me before. She doesn’t know what kind of monsters wait for her beyond the bridge in Screaming Woods. When she insists on going to the town anyway, I have no choice but to hold her captive with me. It’s for her own safety after all… and not because she’s melting my cold heart.

  Melting the Frost Troll is part of the Monster Between the Sheets Season 2. Each standalone book features a different monster and is full of heat, humor, and comes with a HEA guaranteed.

  Who says monsters can’t fall in love? In Screaming Woods, anything is possible. Welcome back to the little town turned monstrous by a party potion gone wrong. Your favorite instalove authors are bringing you hairier, scarier, and hornier monsters than ever before in this beastly series coming to your kindle in May 2023.

  ONE

  Scarlett

  I frowned at my cell phone’s lack of reception bars as I tread over the icy snow. Next to me, my cousin, Nathan, slapped his cell on his thigh. “How come there’s no signal?”

  “You think hitting it is going to change anything?” asked his brother, Derek.

  “Oh, like you’re some genius at tech,” Nathan snapped back.

  I rolled my eyes. They were close to thirty and still bickered like teenagers. “Can you guys stop fighting for two whole minutes?”

  Derek snapped a twig loudly while Nathan muttered. “Want me to set a timer for two minutes?”

  I raised my hand to smack him, but he skittered out of my reach like scared dog.

  “I wouldn’t have asked you to come with me if I knew you were going to be this annoying,” I groused as I pulled my coat tighter around me. I wasn’t dressed warmly enough. I hadn’t realized how cool it would be up here, and all I’d been able to find in my remaining pile of clothes was a tacky black and white faux-fur coat that I should have donated two years ago.

  “We wouldn’t have come if we knew it was going to take this long.” Despite the cold, Nathan wiped at his sweaty brow with the sleeve of his jacket. “How much longer?”

  I wasn’t so sure. I knew we were heading in the right direction but without reception, I couldn’t use my GPS to determine how many miles we had left.

  “Should have brought the snow mobile.” Nathan kicked at the trunk of an evergreen and a cascade of snow showered down on us.

  “Yes, roaring into Screaming Woods on a snowmobile and alerting every hairy thing with sharp teeth that still lives there is a great idea.” Derek shoved him from behind. “The idea is to sneak in, get Scarlett’s stuff, and get out undetected.”

  My stuff. I knew my cousins didn’t understand how important this was to me. To them, the bundle buried under an oak on the outskirts of Screaming Woods was junk. To me, it was all I had left of my mother who’d passed away a month ago from a sudden heart attack. Her heart had never been the same after her beloved home had been uprooted and changed overnight. Now, as far as the rumors went, Screaming Woods was full of monsters—former humans who’d unknowingly drank a potion at a party that had altered their forms into monsters of legend like yetis and gargoyles and other things that went bump in the night.

  My mother had buried her treasured belongings and fled on foot. Only on her death bed did she tell me where I could find our family heirlooms. As the only family I had left, I’d asked my cousins to come with me. Their parents had died years ago, so this should have meant something to them too. But since the heirlooms weren’t anything they could sell, they’d been less than enthused. They likely only agreed to come with me out of some old familial obligation to their late mother—my mom’s sister.

  I’d grown up an only child to a single mom who doted on me and treated me like a princess. I’d moved away from Screaming Woods—formerly called Stream in the Woods—about a decade ago to pursue my dream as an interior designer, and now I regretted not visiting my mother more often. When she died, I’d sold everything I had—including all my appropriate coats—in a fit of grief and currently rented a hotel room in the next town over. I seemed to be frozen in time after my mother’s death and unable to move on. So these monsters could shove it. I wasn’t leaving until I retrieved my mother’s belongings.

  A chattering sounded from above and a second later Nathan yelped and swatted his hand in the air. “Fucking squirrels. One threw a nut at me.” With a huff, he grumbled. “At least they have food.”

  “I told you,” I sighed. “Warm clothes. Water. And a granola bar. Simple supplies. You brought your useless cell phone and a vape pen.”

  He mumbled something under his breath, and I ignored him. I was starting to think that asking my cousins to join me was an error in judgement. I didn’t anticipate running in to any Screaming Woods residents. The tree where my mother hid her belongings was on the outskirts of town.

  “Look,” I stopped and spun around to face my cousins. Derek was scratching at his hair under his beanie, and Nathan was eating snow. “If you guys want to head back, I think I can make the rest of the trip on my own.”

  Nathan looked ready to bolt, but Derek smacked his chest with a glare. “We’re here and we’ll see it through.”

  “We?” Nathan whispered.

  “We,” Derek growled back. “Plus, we’re almost at the bridge. Once we cross, we’re in the woods surrounding the town.”

  I peered up ahead and could just make out the outline of a bridge stretching across a large ravine. Butterflies took flight in my stomach. We are almost there.

  Feeling a renewed sense of energy, I marched ahead while chewing on a granola bar that I’d packed. Because I was prepared. I handed Derek and Nathan each a bar as well and they demolished them in seconds.

  The forest thinned out as we approached the bridge, and the snow beneath my feet gave way to cold dirt as we reached an area that got more sun. We stopped close to the bridge and eyed the structure.

  “When was the last time anyone crossed this?” Derek muttered. “1883?”

  He had a point. The bridge looked straight out of a time warp. Icy vines hung from the rope railings, and the wooden boards making up the treads were warped and cracked.

  “Is this going to hold us?” Nathan gripped one of the poles on the edge of the ravine and shook it. Snow and debris fell from the shuddering bridge. A plank somewhere in the middle rattled apart and fell to the ravine floor in pieces. Peering down, I shuddered. The drop was probably fifty feet. I could make out a structure below that appeared abandoned. The wooden planks clattered off the snowy roof, and I could have sworn I heard an answering noise. Probably just sound bouncing off the ravine walls.

  I chewed the inside of my cheek. “Well, no turning back now.”

  “We actually can totally turn back,” Nathan suggested. “Before we step foot on this death trap. Now is the time to turn back. Right now. Not once we’re on that thing.” He pointed at the bridge with a grimace.

  “The rope looks okay.” Derek tugged on the rope, which was made of dense, hemp-like fibers thicker than my wrist. “Just hold on tight. It’s not that long of a bridge.”

  This was my journey. My idea. I took a deep breath. “I’ll go first.”

  Derek raised an eyebrow. “You’re sure?”

  “Positive.” I placed my foot on the first plank and tested whether it could hold my weight as I gripped the rope with white knuckles. When it held, I shot them a smile over my shoulder. The bravado was fake, but I was a good actress. “See?” I placed both feet on the first plank, officially leaving solid ground. “All good—”

  A deafening roar sounded from the ravine below, and the entire bridge rattled. My legs buckled, and I hit the bridge on my hands and knees just as a figure rose from the icy depths below. I blinked, wondering if the cold had frozen my brain, because no way could I be seeing this. A furry beast holding a club landed on the bridge in front of me, blue eyes glowing as his face twisted into a snarl. “Who dares to cross my bridge?” his deep voice rumbled around fanged teeth.

  Trembling, I tried to rise, but the bridge swayed with the weight of the beast in front of me. He swung his club over his shoulder, and from behind me, I heard two frightened yelps before the po
unding of fading footsteps.

  “Hey!” I called over my shoulder only to see the backs of my cousins disappearing into the evergreens. Jaw dropped at the realization they’d abandoned me, I could only stare at their footprints in the snow before my head swiveled around to face the monster in front of me.

  I’d heard stories. Rumors. But nothing prepared me for seeing an infamous Screaming Woods monster in front of me. He stood on two legs, his face a mix of human-like features and prominent bone structure that reminded me of a troll. And he was huge—probably seven or eight feet—with a muscled chest and thick thighs that tested the seams of his worn and patched denims pants. I vaguely wondered where he found his boots as they seemed larger than anything a human could buy.

  My breath whistled through my teeth as I tried to rein in my panic and think through this situation. He was once human, right? So I could… reason with him?

  “Um, hi…” my voice shook, and I swallowed. Reaching up, I gripped the rope of the bridge and hauled myself to my feet. “I’m Scarlett. And I’m just passing through.”

  His head tilted as he took me in from head to toe, studying me like I was an ant on the sidewalk. “No one passes over my bridge.”

  “No one?” I squeaked.

  His nostrils flared. “No one.”

  I opened and closed my mouth as I searched for a way out of this. “But I just need—”

  “No. One.”

  I huffed out a breath. “Isn’t there like a payment or something? A riddle to solve? I’m good at Wordle. Anything?”

  His chest heaved. “Go back where you came from, human.”

  He wasn’t swinging that club at me or biting my arm off with his fangs, so I found an ounce of courage as I took a step forward. “I can’t.”

  “You can,” he answered. “Right now. Just like your companions.”

  Their abandonment burned. “I can’t,” I said again. “Can’t you just let me pass and pretend like you never saw me?”

  “But I have seen you.”

  “Right, but just like… close your eyes, and I’ll scooch past, and we can act like I was never here.” I clapped my hands. “Perfect.”

  “Do you know what’s on the other side of this bridge?” His voice was so deep, I felt his words like a drum beat against my rib cage. “There are monsters, human. Some who will swing first and ask questions later. You don’t belong here. Go home.” He lowered his club so the tip rested on the wooden plank in front of him. A clear warning.

  But I couldn’t give up. I’d made it this far. Fear threatened to freeze me where I stood, but the thought of my mother kept me warm enough to move forward.

  Surely the troll had expected me to retreat immediately just like my cousins, so when I took a step toward him, his heavy brow furrowed, and his lips parted. A white puff of air escaped his mouth. I kept walking, and his body stiffened more the closer I came. When I stood in front of him, he peered down his nose at me, and I didn’t miss the way his blue eyes coasted over my face and roam down my body. Was he… attracted to me? Was there some sort of human desire stuck in this furry body? I shoved the thought aside. My objective wasn’t to study the monsters left behind in Screaming Woods.

  I had to get past him, so I made one last desperate attempt. With an exaggerated gasp, I flung my arm to the left and pointed. “What’s that?”

  His body jerked at what he perceived as an apparent threat from the left. And me? Well I took off on my fastest run to his right, sliding around his body and the rope rail of the bridge. The loose wooden planks clattered under my feet as I ran. I couldn’t think about the fact that one of them might give way and send me plummeting to my death. This wasn’t a good plan, but this was the only plan I had.

  A roar behind me let me know the troll was hot on my heels. But he was big and lumbering. Surely I could beat him in a foot race, right?

  Wrong.

  A furry hand closed around the back of my neck and hauled me in the air. Legs flailing, I cried out as I fought the hold, but it was no use. The troll had me, and he wasn’t letting go. I waited for the blunt end of the club to bash me in the face. But instead my body was rotated until I faced the troll. His lips peeled back. “Wrong choice, human.”

  I held my hands out. “Wait—”

  He leapt off the bridge, still clutching me with one hand, and we dropped in a free fall to the ravine below. I screamed as my stomach surged into my throat. My head spun. My hair whipped around my face, and my coat blocked my view. We hit the ground with a jarring thud, and I didn’t have a moment to get my bearings before the troll marched me toward a small structure nestled into the side of the ravine. Before, I hadn’t noticed the small stream running through which the troll leapt over with minimal effort.

  Kicking open the door to the structure, he dropped me to the dusty floor. Dizzy and terrified, I tried to scramble away from him, but he easily hauled me back. He loomed over me, face scrunched in anger, as he tied my hands together in front of me before looping the end around a pole in the center of the room.

  After tying me to the pole, he rose to his feet and swiped his hands together. I tugged on the ropes frantically, but they were thick and tied so tight, I knew I’d never budge them in a million years. Frustrated, I plopped on the floor. My legs ached and that granola bar wasn’t sitting too well in my stomach. The last thing I wanted to do was puke in here.

  The troll watched me for a moment before turning on his heel and marching toward the door. “Wait!” I called out.

  He didn’t wait. He didn’t stop. He slammed the door shut behind him, leaving me alone on the cold floor of this shack. I hung my head. How had I failed this all so miserably?

  I took in my surroundings. The building couldn’t be more than the size of my former bedroom, maybe fifteen square feet. A mattress piled with blankets sat along one wall and in another corner was a small round table with one chair. A rickety chest sat nearby with clothes spilling out of it. So I was in his home. Although… it wasn’t much of a home. I couldn’t see any personal belongings. One window over the bed showed the sun was beginning to set.

  I didn’t know much about the aftermath of the incident at Screaming Woods. Did these monsters have memories of the time they were human?

  I tugged at the ropes again and blew out a frustrated breath just before my eyes caught on a shiny object laying on the floor a few feet away. I squinted my eyes, and nearly hollered out loud when I realized the item was a hatchet. He must have forgot it was in here.

  With my tongue curled over my lip in concentration, I stretched my leg out to toe the hatchet closer to me. I caught the edge of it with the tip of my boot, and it clinked on the floorboards as I slid it closer. The sound was loud in the tiny, barren space, and I held my breath to see if the troll would come storming inside to yell at me.

  When the door remained closed, I exhaled and continued to slide the hatchet closer to me. When it was close enough I leaned down and gripped the handle with my teeth. Straightening up, I dropped the hatchet in my hands with a soft whisper of triumph.

  Hacking at my bindings took longer than I expected as the rope was incredibly thick. But eventually, the rope fell away and I was free. When I stood up, my legs cramped from being in an awkward position for so long, and I stumbled backward. The back of my knees hit the bed, and I tumbled on top.

  My hand caught on something hard under the blankets. I withdrew the object to find a picture frame in my hands of a man in a suit and trench coat smiling at the camera. Next to him were two women who looked so much like him, I had to assume there were his sisters. Perched in front was a dog posing for the camera.

  A pit opened in my stomach. Was this the man the troll had once been? If he still had this picture, he had to remember his previous life, right? Here I’d been treating him as something “other” but he was like me… just a little different looking.